Doshaguma weakness, location, and strategy in Monster Hunter Wilds

Doshaguma is a solid contender for your first big obstacle in Monster Hunter Wilds. Big is a deliberate statement — the bear-like towering beast uses its scale to attack with ferocious speed. Its hitbox may seem to be on your side, but you’ll be spending a ton of time just dodging its ground slams and massive fangs.

A recurring monster found across multiple biomes, Doshaguma is one target that you should always be prepared for. This guide covers the Doshaguma weaknesses and resistances to prepare accordingly, where to find it, and the best strategy to defeat one of the new foes introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Doshaguma location

You’ll first encounter Doshaguma in Chapter 1, during the Forest Findings main mission. As such, all you need to do to unlock the monster is progress through the main questline.

Doshaguma is usually found in the Plains biome, but there’s a chance of seeing it in the Forest and Wyveria during the post-game (once you finish Chapter 3). In the first chapter, the beast tends to roam around 8, 9, and 10, and can sometimes be leading a pack (which is the case when you encounter it in the story campaign). This varies in the Forest biome, but the monster’s “resting” place is the top of 10, and usually follows the river to either side.

How to prepare for Doshaguma

Doshaguma is part of the main story of Monster Hunter Wilds. As such, its encounter is likely to fit your Hunter Rank at that corresponding moment. It can be a tricky fight — however, your first smackdown with it is sort of orchestrated. The sequence serves as a showcase of harsh weather in Wilds, namely a lightning storm that takes place in the Plains biome. You’ll have to dodge lightning, but that also applies to Doshaguma, who isn’t as agile.

If your encounter goes similarly to mine, you’ll see that Doshaguma will have a few obstacles to contend with aside from lightning strikes. There’s a chance for a Balahara to show up and wrestle with the bear-like creature. And, toward the end, a sand pit will end the encounter prematurely.

None of this means that Doshaguma won’t put up a fight, though. If you have a weapon with Fire or Thunder as its main element, you’ll have the advantage of targeting an elemental weakness. As for armor, I was using almost every piece of the Lala Barina set, if only for the higher defense available at that point in the campaign, but your mileage may vary.

Since the encounter occurs during a main mission, you’ll be thrust into the fray after the introductory cutscene. As per usual, whenever you’re asked if you’re ready to depart, make sure that you’re carrying regular and mega potions with you. If you’re short on the latter, take a lap around the biome and loot any honey you come across.

In addition, don’t forget to eat — you can use the portable BBQ to grill a meal if you didn’t eat at camp. Increasing your health and stamina is essential, as Doshaguma packs a punch. You can use ingredients like Wild Herb as finishing touches to boost your elemental resistance, helpful for the lightning strikes, but again, I wouldn’t worry too much about that specific aspect of the fight.

For later encounters, carrying a few Torch or Thunder Pods will be beneficial — if either you or one of your teammates have a ranged weapon with Flaming or Thunder Ammo, even better. I also recommend investing in defense as much as possible. Remember that you can not only craft better armor, but also upgrade your current pieces. Even if you don’t have new monsters left to hunt to unlock more powerful sets, take the time to improve your gear and boost its stats.

Doshaguma weakness

Doshaguma can be a hefty obstacle if you’re unprepared — thankfully, as one of the first “complex” mons in Monster Hunter Wilds, there are multiple ways to use that complexity to your advantage. Doshaguma’s recommended elemental attacks are Fire and Thunder. The first encompasses Flaming Ammo, Torch Pod, as well as skills like Fire Attack, Critical Element, and Charge Master. The second encompasses Thunder Ammo, Thunder pod, Thunder Attack, Critical Element, and Charge Master. Both are in addition to your own weapon’s properties.

You can find a breakdown of Doshaguma’s elemental weaknesses and resistances below:

Effective status effects

• Poison: 2 stars
• Sleep: 2 stars
• Paralysis: 2 stars
• Blastblight: 2 stars
• Stun: 2 stars
• Exhaust: 2 stars

Effective items

• Flash Pod: Effective
• Sonic Bomb: No effect
• Shock Trap: Effective
• Pitfall Trap: Effective

Weak points

Doshaguma’s weak point is its Belly. Both its Forelegs (x2) and Tail Hair can be broken as well.

Before diving deep into combat strategy, here’s the breakdown of Doshaguma’s weak points:

For details about what to expect in terms of attacks and general behavior, the following section has you covered.

Doshaguma attacks and strategy

Doshaguma’s main traits are its aggressiveness and scale, which go hand in hand to be a major pain to deal with. When you’re facing it head on, it has a number of attack variations around biting and slashing with its massive paws. Some are quicker while others are slower but deal more damage. Here’s a rule of thumb that applies to almost everything Doshaguma does: If it opens its mouth to growl, that means it’s about to attack.

The head isn’t exactly a weak point, but it’s usually the area you’ll be hitting the most. Again, Doshaguma is quick to react, so it’ll be constantly trying to follow you. If you use quickstep to either side of the head, the monster usually scratches the ground for a quick hit — this is also one of the few attacks that isn’t prefaced by a growl.

Most of the time, the beast is going to stand up slightly and go for a slam attack, either with its paws or mouth. Remember that its forelegs can be broken, which are good areas to punish when you have a chance.

Fighting Doshaguma means constant dodging, to the point where it might take some time until you actually find an opening to strike back. It’s crucial to exploit any visible wounds whenever possible, which can give you the chance to stun it to the ground, exposing the belly, its weak point.

The enraged state basically amps up the aforementioned attacks, making them more frequent. One move in particular sees it spinning around in place before ending with a slam ground attack, so your best bet is to try and steer away from it — unless you can target a wound during the animation, which will potentially stop it altogether. To know when Doshaguma is enraged, look at its head, as it’ll be fuming from its nose.

Toward the second half of the encounter, there’s a “second” enraged state. The creature lets out a loud growl, and if you’re in focus mode, you’ll see multiple wounds appear on its body. This is good, but you shouldn’t attack it head-on. Now, most of its attacks involving slam grounds will create cracks on the surface of impact. They will usually happen in either pairs or trios, with the third being a bigger slam using both paws.

The last and probably the most dangerous move during this second enraged state is a reverse slam of sorts. Once Doshaguma creates these fisures, it sometimes does a lift animation that uses all that terrain against you for a huge attack. If you see it scratching the ground or spending too much time near ground cracks, try to put as much distance from it as possible. Whenever you see a window of opportunity, go for the wounds, but be mindful of how it’ll use the terrain to its advantage during this later phase. If you have traps in your inventory, this will be a good time to use them.

Doshaguma drops

If you’re wondering what the Doshaguma drops in Monster Hunter Wilds are, you can find a handy list below:

Low Rank materials

High Rank materials

If you’re looking for other creatures to fight, our monster list provides a full rundown of every encounter, while we have specific guides for Lala Barina, Nu Udra, Guardian Rathalos, Rey Dau, and Ajarakan.