Monster Hunter Stories 3 players will encounter an Espinas sleeping in a hidden cave in the Broadleaf Basin region of Azuria. Although its sleeping figure may not seem menacing, it is easily one of the most dangerous monsters in this area.
The cave behind Espinas contains a chest, some resources, and a Poogie, so players must battle it to unlock these items. We'll go over Espina's weaknesses, the best way to wake it up, and how you can win a fight against it in this one Monster Hunter Stories 3 guide.
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Here are some helpful tips for hunting Namielle looming over Azuria's Mirror Lake in Monster Hunter Stories 3.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 Espina's weaknesses and resistances
Espinas is a dangerous monster whose weaknesses and resistances depend on its condition. For those Espinas that sleep in Azuria, the three states they can be in are sleeping, waking while normal, and waking while enraged.
Espina's weaknesses and resistances while sleeping or awake normally
- Elemental Weaknesses: No
- Weaknesses in the disease: Blastblight, Darkness, Sleep (awake only)
- Attack Type: Drive
When asleep or awake in a normal state, Espinas are highly resistant to all elements and have resistance to most ailments. In addition, it will use The force moves with the element of fire.
Espinas is most dangerous when sleeping because of that Sleep counter skill. This skill will cause Espinas to directly counter any attack your party makes, dealing tons of damage to the attacking party member. The only way to avoid it is to not use any attacks on a sleeping Espinas while you wait for it to wake up, or to wake it up as soon as you enter the fight.
Since your NPC companion and their Monstie will likely attack Espinas while it's sleeping, the safer option is to wake it up.
Because of the dangers of its sleep state, you should be careful not to put Espinas back to sleep after it wakes up. However, that doesn't mean it's easy to fight it in its normal state either. Since it still has many resistances in this state, the first goal players should have after awakening Espinas is to push it to its agitated state.
Furious Espina's Resistances and Weaknesses
- Elemental Weaknesses: Ice, dragon
- Weaknesses in the disease: Blastblight, Darkness, Sleep
- Attack Type: Speed
Espinas is most easily defeated when angry due to the change in its elemental resistance. Instead of having a high resistance to all elements, it will only be highly resistant to fire and somewhat resistant to thunder. It will have no resistance to non-elemental attacks and water attacks, mild weakness to dragon attacks, and a large weakness to ice attacks.
When you're angry, you want to watch out for it Raging Rush skill, which deals a large amount of damage to everyone in your party. If your party is a high enough level, you'll be able to get at least one use of this skill while keeping everyone alive at low health. If not, your best option is to stun Espinas before it uses Raging Rush.
Best Monstie to use against Espinas in Monster Hunter Stories 3
- Recommend Monstie Elements: Ice
- Recommended Monstie Attack Type: Technical
Since Espinas are most easily defeated when enraged, you'll want your Monstie to use technical and ice attacks to take advantage of its weaknesses in this state. The Aurora Somnacanth is a techy and ice-like Monstie found relatively early in the game, making it an easy pick for this fight.
Players will find Aurora Somnacanth in Frozen Grotto region of Canalta Timberland.
The major downside to using Aurora Somnacanth is its weakness to Fire Element attacks. If you are worried about this weakness or trying to fight Espinas at a lower level, you can use Rite of Channeling in the stable to transfer an Aurora Somnacanth's ice-like abilities to a new Monstie instead.
Best companion against Espinas in Monster Hunter Stories 3
Gaul is the best companion for this fight due to his support abilities and his ice-type Monstie. Gaul's inventory contains many useful items, with the most important for this fight being Dust of Life. This item will heal your entire party to full health, making it perfect for recovering after stocking up on one of Espina's Raging Rush skills.
While the Gaul is extremely useful for his healing, he will also take his own fair share of damage when not healing. Additionally, his Monstie companion, Legia, will work hand-in-hand with your Ice-type Monstie to deal Espinas tons of icy damage.
How to awaken Espinas in Monster Hunter Stories 3
Espinas is coming wakes up naturally after three turns have passed. However, during these first three turns, any attacks your party makes will be directly countered by Espinas' Sleep counter skill. Avoiding this requires players not to perform any attacks against Espinas, which is difficult because the NPCs on your side and their Monstie will choose their own actions.
Instead of waiting, we recommend using a Big Barrel Bomb against any part of Espinas on your first turn. Not only will this wake Espinas up immediately and avoid the sleep counter entirely, but it will instantly turn it into its furious state. This allows you to take advantage of its Ice Element weakness in your first few turns instead of having to wait for it to wake up and rage.
How to defeat Espinas in Monster Hunter Stories 3
You will find this Espinas in a hidden cave in Broadleaf Basin region. Before you challenge it, you want to level up your party to the low to mid forties. You should also make some preparations beforehand, including the following:
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Add your Ice-Type Monstie and Gaul to your party.
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Have at least one Big Barrel Bomb made.
- Eat either a meat or fish dish which increases your combat power, which Bubbling Magma Stew.
- Save before battle if you want to start over.
Once you're prepared, enter the cave and enter the sleeping Espinas to begin the battle. Your first move should be to use a Big Barrel Bomb. This will wake up the Monstien, preventing it from using its sleep counter and instantly shooting it into its raging form.
Since Espinas will both wake up and rage on this first turn, they won't use any attacks or skills. This makes the first turn the perfect time for your Monstie to use any skills that will boost attacks. Gaul will likely use this turn to use a potion that prevents a future status effect, and his Monstie will take the opportunity to either cast a skill that enhances its ice attacks or use an ice attack on Espinas with no aftereffects.
In the second turn of the fight, Espinas is most likely to use his Raging Rush Skill to attack your entire party. Since players will not have built up their affinity meter enough to perform an affinity skill, their only option to avoid Raging Rush is to attempt to stun Espinas. But if your team is high enough, you can also tank the first use of this skill.
If your team manages to lose the hit from Raging Rush, Gaul will use the dust of life item to heal your entire team back to full health. This gives you the opportunity to focus on depleting Espinas' Wyvernsoul Gauge. Depending on your weapons, you may want to attack the meter directly or destroy it by breaking Espina's parts.
We found it easiest to focus both our Monstie's attacks and our own on the part of Espinas that had taken the most damage, cutting it down until it broke. Continue doing this with each part of Monstie until its Wyvernsoul Gauge breaks.
When attacking Espinas, pay close attention to any potential Head-to-Head attacks. Losing one of these is an easy way to lose one of your three lives, so make sure both you and your Monstie only use technical attacks when a head-to-head attack is possible.
Since Espinas is a normal monster and not a wild or invasive, reducing its Wyvernsoul meter will knock it down and let you deal some extra damage through a Synchro Rush. This will also help you fill up your affinity meter so you can perform an affinity skill on your next turn.
After completing Synchro Rush, your affinity skill should be filled all the way, if not all the way. Gaul should also have his kinship meter built up at this point. Perform Dual Affinity skill here should be enough to defeat the Espinas, or at least drain its health to near zero.
After you're defeated, there's a small chance Espinas will retreat to a lair, allowing you to collect its eggs.
- Released
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March 13, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen/Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, In-Game Purchases
