Quick Links
The Lavaback is an aggressive Kemono inWild Heartsthat uses the forces of a volcano to overwhelm its foes. Launching fire from its back, this Kemono can make large areas unsafe while pressing the attack, forcing you into unfavorable positions.
Related:Wild Hearts: Gritdog Boss Fight Guide
If you go into this fight unprepared, expect to get burned. To successfully hunt the Lavaback, you’ll need preparation and quick thinking in equal measure. Below, you can find each of the Lavaback’s strengths and weaknesses, the best equipment to use to fight it, a breakdown of its attacks, and the rewards you can earn.
Lavaback - Strengths And Weaknesses
The Lavaback is aFire attributeKemono, and isweakest to the Waterattribute. The Lavabackresists the Fire, Wood, Wind, and Earth attributes, and theAblaze, Frozen, and Entangled ailmentsare nearly ineffective. On the other hand, the Lavaback isweak to the Poison and Fatigue ailments, making them great tools if you have them.
The Lavabacktakes the most damage on its head, but due to the Kemono’s size, hitting it consistently with a melee weapon will be difficult. Luckily, its body takes almost as much damage, making aiming here a good choice too. To compensate,Slash and Pummel-type weapons deal a bit more damage than Lunge weapons.
Best Equipment To Fight Lavaback
For your first fight with the Lavaback, we recommend grinding out the materials needed to craft theGrithide armor set. This set will providedecent overall defenseand some much-neededFire resistance. Due to the Lavaback’s high number of Fire attacks, a high resistance of this element is almost necessary.
Long-range weapons like the Bow are much more suited to this fightdue to the Lavaback’s ability to deny areas outright with its spreading ember attacks. If you do use a melee weapon, choose one withhigh base damage rather than elemental damage.
Be sure tobring the Glider and Crate Karakurifor this fight. During the battle, you will be able to awaken to theHealing Mist fusion Karakuri, created bystacking three Gliders on top of each other. This Karakuri will create ahealing fieldthat will restore your health over time, which perfectly counters the Lavaback’s ability to set you on fire.Combining the Crate and Glider will get you the Elemental Lantern, which provides a nice defensive bonus against elemental damage.
Lavaback - Fight Breakdown And Moves
The Lavaback is an extremelyfast and mobileKemono that won’t stay in a single place for long, making a dodge/counterattack playstyle a bit more difficult to pull off. As its name suggests, the Lavaback will use Fire-based attacks tocover areas in flame and generate explosions. If you are hit by these, you will build up theAblaze ailment, which will causedamage over timewhen the bar is full.Rolling around a few times can put out the Fire, or you can set up aHealing Mist Karakurito heal through the damage.
The Lavaback mainly attacks with its arms, slamming them in front of itself to deal damage. This attack presents agood opportunity to counterattack, as the Lavaback’sback is openduring the animation. Similarly, the Lavaback may perform anunderhand swipe to its front, creating a line of explosions. This attack can be avoided by being behind the Kemono, but itwon’t leave itself open for long.
When the Lavaback performs a backflip, prepare for a big attack. Next, it maydive kick forward, moving a great distance and dealing damage along the way, or it may follow up with a body slam. Both of these attacks leave the Lavabackopen to damagefor a while, so get ready to dodge them before moving in to attack.
The Lavaback can also advance around the battlefield byspinning its arms in a whirlwind, dealing damage as it moves and covering a large area. If you can dodge this attack behind the Kemono, you will be in a position to attack it for a moment while it recovers.
If the Lavaback jumps into the area while scraping the ground, be prepared tododge a large attack. This move will have the Lavabackslam dunk a large ball of fire onto the ground, creating a massive explosion. Use aSpring Karakurito get away from the area, but try toremain close to take advantage of the windowafter this move in which you can counterattack.
After the Lavaback has taken enough damage, it will enter itsenraged state. The volcano on its back will grow in size and a red glow will cover its arms and back. While enraged, the Lavaback’s attacks will become empowered, causing several of them to incorporateexplosions at the end of their animations.
When entering the enraged state, the Lavaback willspread embers over a large areabefore causing them toexplode. This attack can deal a lot of damage, so be sure to get far away, using aSpring or Glider Karakuri. Sometimes, the Lavaback mayspread these embers without causing them to explode, like after its enraged body slam. In this case, you are free tohit the Kemono while it recovers.
While enraged, the Lavaback’swhirlwind attack will deal damage over a larger area, thanks to the increased size of its arms. Be extra careful when dodging this attack, as itswindow of recovery is shorter when enraged.
Lavaback - Drops And Materials
Upon defeating the Lavaback, you will obtain the following materials, which can be used to craft theNinja armorset and variousFire attribute weapons.
