Mizutsune has a rival now that Almudron has joined Monster Hunter Rise. Both are classified as leviathans, but while Mizutsune uses bubbles to attack hunters, it's Almudron's mud that players will be have to contend with in the late game of Monster Hunter Rise.
Prep, Hitzones, and Weaknesses
As mentioned, Almudron's primary gimmick is the mud it uses to attack players. This mud can on occasion inflict waterblight, so players will want to be prepared for that. It isn't going to be a huge detriment to players using weapons that don't rely heavily on stamina use. However, to cure it players can eat a nullberry or continuously roll. It will take a fair bit of rolling, though, especially since both waterblight and rolling affect stamina. Players can also spec for 20 water resistance through armor or dango to nullify the blight completely. If players anticipate Almudron's movement-impairing mud being an issue, they can use the muck resistance skill.
Fire and ice elemental weapons are near equally effective for fighting Almudron, but fire is a slightly better. Therefore, if players have a choice, they should go with fire. Thunder and dragon element weapons do a little bit extra to Almudron, but it resists water. In terms of status ailments, Almudron resists blast and has a one star rated susceptibility to everything else but thunderblight, which is rated at two stars.
Regarding hitzones, the head is going to be the best place to aim for with shot type damage and blunt damage. Severing damage from weapons like the long sword is effective at attacking the head, but that's not the place it's most effective. Players with severing weapons will want to target the tip of Almudron's tail for the most damage. Attacking the tail in general will give damage comparable to attacking the head. For blunt weapons, the tail tip is the second place to hit and is tied with Almudron's abdomen. Shot type damage's second best hitzone is also the tail tip, but it has relatively low hitzones everywhere but the head.
Fighting Almudron
Almudron's primary way of attacking is with its tail. It will sling mud at players that, unlike Jyuratodus', will come out in literal waves. This gives hunters a chance to either move around them or use wirebugs to jump over the waves. Getting caught in the waves will push hunters back and impair their movement. Some of the waves will knockback players and inflict waterblight on them. There isn't an obvious visual difference between the types of waves Almudron uses, so it's generally best to just avoid them all if possible.
Sometimes Almudron will create platforms out of the mud, and these are safe to stand on. Sometimes it even creates massive pillars of mud while it heads to the other end of the arena. Players can climb up these with wirebugs the way they would any wall to navigate to Almudron.
After most of Almudron's attacks, mud puddles will be left on the battlefield. Like Jyuratodus' mud puddles, stepping into them will impair hunter's movement. However, during the fight, Almudron's tail and mouth will gain a slight golden sheen to it. At this point, any of the mud it leaves behind will be more deadly. In addition to slowing hunters' movement, it will also do damage over time so players will want to get out of the puddle as quick as possible.
Of course, Almudron also has physical attacks. It will do a move similar to Zinogre's where it will slap its foot down onto the ground, followed by doing the same with the other. Like Zinogre, if players are hit by the first part of this attack, they should be careful when wirefalling not to put themselves in the line of fire of the second part. It will also use its tail to directly attack hunters, such as slamming it down on them or extending it rapidly to hit them. The latter move has really good tracking to the point it almost seems as if Almudron can predict the hunters' movement, so it's one to watch out for if hunters are in line of sight of the tail. If players want to cut Almudron's tail, they should know that it actually needs to be wounded first and then cut.
Almudron will also occasionally start diving around the arena. This isn't much of a threat, but it sort of forces players to chase it down. It will also occasionally form a ball of mud that it will hold with its tail. The creation of the mud ball will send waves out as Almudron spins in a circle so if players notice it doing that, be prepared for the waves. Once Almudron has the ball, its tail attacks will be more effective. Unfortunately, the previously mentioned attack still has great tracking and does increased damage, so players need to continue to be careful. The mud ball actually takes pretty good damage, but is also pretty dense so melee users may bounce off it. Gunners can make use of the new weakspot easily, however. When Almudron has the ball it will also get rid of it eventually by slamming it into a hunter, which also causes waterblight. The hunters will warn that this attack is coming, though, so players have time to prepare for it.
Monster Hunter Rise is now available for the Nintendo Switch, with a PC release slated for 2022.