A Monster-Hunting Experience
Welcome to the Dauntless Behemoth Power Rankings! Designed by Epic Games, Dauntless is a free-to-play third-person behemoth hunting game. Join up to three friends to take on more than 20 giant monsters. Each behemoth has its own unique design concept and behavior ranging from a beaver to a dragon.
Last week, the devs dropped a huge update, introducing the umbral escalation and plenty of quality of life changes. Now is a great time to get into the game if you haven’t already!
The internet is littered with strategy guides on how to be the best Slayer you can be. From specific build guides to tutorials on behemoth’s moves, you can be sure to be properly equipped on your next hunt.
Rather than saturate the space with another guide, that honestly wouldn’t be half as good as some of the guides already out there, I wanted to do something different.
In this post, I wanted to discuss each behemoth and compile a ranking. Which behemoths stand out as the best and which leave a bit to be desired?
Because the game naturally progresses in difficulty, I wanted to expand the grading criteria beyond how challenging each behemoth is. Similar to our Apex Legends Ranking posts, let’s discuss the tiers for the Dauntless Behemoth Power Rankings:
Dauntless Behemoth Tiers
S
S+ and S++ are the highest grades possible in Dauntless hunts. However, to avoid the amount of tiers approaching the number of behemoths, we are going to stick with the escalation grades only. These behemoths will be the cream of the crop.
A
A tier behemoths are still great behemoths but in comparison to S tiers, they leave a little to be desired.
B
B tier behemoths are the middle of the pack. Not great. Not terrible.
C
C tier behemoths may have one redeeming quality that keeps them from the basement of tiers. Passable, but barely.
D
The bottom of the barrel. Major changes to the behemoths design are needed to pull them up the ladder.
While most of our ranking articles are based mostly on opinion, we had resources like patch notes and general in-game meta to fall back on to defend our opinions.
The following, however, is going to consist almost entirely of my opinion. If you agree with me, great. If you don’t, even better. I’d love to hear what you think. Tell me which behemoths are your favorite and, most importantly, why!
Behemoth images courtesy of the Dauntless Community Wiki! Go check them out!
D-Tier Dauntless Behemoths
Drask
The Drask is the weakest of the shock behemoths and his move set pales in comparison to his brethren. Drask opens up with an easily dodgeable beam of lightning. Afterward, he falls into a routine of basic tail whips and swipes. He’s the only behemoth without a dire-level counterpart and it shows. I would make him faster and have a bite attack if asked to make improvements.
Moonreaver Shrike
There are quite a few avian-inspired behemoths in Dauntless. At the bottom of that list is the Shrike. Unable to gain an elemental advantage due to its neutral nature, the Shrike relies on swoops and charges. The Moonreaver specifically doesn’t improve on much, other than having a surprisingly annoying second hop on his slam attack.
Firebrand Charrogg
I smile anytime the Charrogg shows up for a dire or heroic patrol. If you have molten or fireproof cells, he just doesn’t offer much of a challenge. In Dauntless, mobile behemoths seem to be significantly more deadly. The Charrogg’s futile paw swipes and lava ball burp just aren’t doing enough. I do like his enraged attack where he spins slowly with fire emitting from his shell. His design is good, but he needs another attack to make him more of a challenge. Until then, thanks for the easy hunts.
C-Tier Dauntless Behemoths
Ragetail Gnasher
The Gnasher is the very first behemoth you fight in Dauntless. And yet, he escaped the bottom tier. At base form he is pretty pitiful, but his dire and heroic versions deal much more danger. Being a beaver of sorts, his tail is where the majority of the danger originates. He slams it down and causes rippling shockwaves. He will sometimes spin himself in circles, knocking any Slayers to the ground Slayers who aren’t respecting his range. True to the form of beavers, his other main tool is his teeth. This interruptable attack features the Gnasher jump diving at the closest Slayer as he gnashes away.
Valomyr
I moved the Valomyr around a lot in the tiers. In my first fight with him I remember dying quickly with many questions. His radiant attacks are quite good if you don’t understand what is happening. Skittles, as our group calls them, orbit the large purple beetle while doing a shockingly large amount of damage. When this isn’t happening he fires off a powerful beam from his head, tail or any limb that will knock a Slayer off his or her feet. In a way, he’s like a radiant tank more focuses on defense than offense. His final attack is when he forms a radiant shield around himself and spawns drone like things that emit beams. Cool concept but once you get the hang of him, he can he a walk in the park.
Rockfall Skarn
In a way, I hate ranking the Skarn so low. He has a soft place in my heart despite his hard shell. He’s the only behemoth who emerges from the ground, almost blending in with the aether vent. If you don’t come equipped with the right weapons, this defense-first behemoth can be one of your longest battles. Outside of his tornado attack, most of his moves involve him hunkering down until he’s ready to attack. Similar to the Valomyr, he prioritizes defense, but his theme feels a bit better executed.
Bloodfire Embermane
You either love or hate fighting the Embermane. This zombie-rhino-lion hybrid will back up and run at you, looking to ram you with his horn. Over and over. You can interrupt this attack. CAN being the keyword here. If you can’t, you are going to get frustrated and hit a ton. Outside of this attack, he will also back up and either fling fire up into the air at you or breath a stream of fireballs in a sweeping motion. If you learn the mechanic for interrupt he won’t be bad at all. Until then, good luck.
Frostback Pangar
The Pangar is a frozen…dinosaur thing. I’m not sure what real-life animal Epic Games was pulling inspiration from, if any. This roly-poly T-rex behemoth will attack you using a ground-covering rolling attack. When not doing that, he also has tail swings, foot swipes, and frost breath.
The danger of frozen status isn’t as high as other frost behemoths, but as far as an overall behemoth, the Pangar is pretty solid.
Scorchstone Hellion
The fire version of the Pangar, the Hellion is said to be its cousin in the game’s lore. Without molten, fireproof, or an effectively strategized cell arrangement, the Hellion can feel impossible. He fills the arena with fire more so than any other blaze behemoth. He will constantly spit out fire as he backs away. On top of that, he will spawn a volcano that saturates the land with more lava and fire. When he’s not doing that he will burrow into the ground before launching himself into the air, aiming to land on a Slayer. The Hellion really encompasses the essence of a blaze behemoth. I wouldn’t change a thing.
B-Tier Dauntless Behemoths
Shockjaw Nayzaga
With every new encounter, I grow to despise the Nayzaga more and more. At first, as a warpike user, I didn’t seem him as a threat. His electric pillars that shot shock balls were easily deflected and the rest of his moves weren’t too threatening. After experiencing him in a trial and more recent battles, he seemingly has gotten to be more annoying. His opening attack to slide back and forth is quite hilarious, while at the same time surprises me on how much ground he covers. His design seems to be based on an alligator or crocodile which makes the absence of a bite attack a bit of a letdown.
RazorWing Kharabak
Kharabak is one of my personal favorite behemoths. At the same time, I hate fighting against it. Dauntless’ take on a wasp has several attacks which are impressive. It can induce a wounded status with its swiping and slashing attacks. It can summon a swarm of mini versions of itself to severely slow down Slayers. Best of all, it can cloak itself as it continues to torment the skies with dash attacks.
Deadeye Quillshot
I have to admit, I once had the Quillshot as the most difficult behemoth (prior to me regularly doing escalations). At the heroic or heroic plus level, he will spam his quill attack for basically the entire fight. The damage from being shellshocked as these virtual missiles exploded on you could was ridiculous and can instantly deplete your health. Since he never wanted to stop this barrage the fight felt futile.
I was eventually forced to do some research and realized he can be interrupted while firing off his quills. That was the saving grace that has lessened his threat level, but he still can be a challenge in the right scenarios. The Quillshot is a perfect example of how less can be more. He has the typical physical attacks that most 4-legged behemoths have, but he truly shines via his quill firing. Kudos.
Dreadfrost Boreus
I just spoke about how I hate battling the Kharabak. Well, here is the behemoth that takes the gold medal in that category. No other behemoth virtually becomes immune in the way the Boreus does. If you aren’t in end-game armor with strong weapons, the battle drags on and on. After about the first quarter of the fight where the Boreus swings his tail and jumps around the battleground, the fun starts.
He freezes himself completely and calls on 3 types of minions that I have personally nicknamed. The basic bois, the fat bois, and the sniper bois. The basic bois are bat-like creatures that stab at you if you stay near them too long. The fat bois will float near you and eventually blow up, dealing splash damage to everyone in the vicinity, including the Boreus. Last but not least, the sniper bois will stay at a safe distance and launch ice projectiles at you. They are incredibly effective at interrupting your combos and resetting any buffs you may have active. The Boreus himself isn’t bad at all, but all of this working against you can be quite annoying.
Winterhorn Skraev
Owls are typically portrayed as wise, regal, yet vicious creatures. This ice-wielding behemoth fits all of the above. The Winerhorn Skraev presents an intense challenge if you are not properly equipped. You will spend much of the battle frozen or lost in a blizzard. When you are in these vulnerable phases, he will come slamming down on you. Rinse and repeat. Like other birds, he has the swoop, jump and walking punch attacks. The winter addition can really make this experience frigid.
A-Tier Dauntless Behemoths
Riftstalker
Pound for pound, getting past the Riftstaker the first few times has been the most challenging part of my Dauntless career. My friends and I got our butts handed to us several times as we felt hopeless and underpowered versus this ugly bat-cat behemoth. He is seemingly the fastest behemoth, never staying in one place too long. Additionally, his moveset is incredible. Let’s talk about a few.
The first and most infamous move that the Riftstaker has is when he pulls you into his version of the shadow realm with 3 to 6 portals facing you. He then proceeds to play his sinister version of whack-a-mole, where each wrong decision could severely cut into your health points. Another move I want to mention is when, I believe, he becomes aether charged. He then does a series of 4 or 5 attacks where he sends himself hurling between portals at rapid speed like a deadly boomerang. If you are new to Dauntless and still struggling on Riftstalker, godspeed my friends!
Tempestborne Stormclaw
From one horribly difficult behemoth into another. The Stormclaw, like the Embermane, is a behemoth that will force you to be mechanically sound. Else, face a long, strenuous, uphill battle as you chase after this electric dog-lizard. This behemoth recently had a run at the Trials and it was awful. Without the pack of stupidly strong minions chasing you around, the Stormclaw has a variety of moves making him a great behemoth.
I need to start with his electric fences. After some time has passed the Stormclaw will eventually try to herd and imprison the Slayers into a pen of electric fences before diving at you. To get out, you must destroy the posts. Much more frequently, he will create separation and fire off high-speed shock balls that either need to be dodged or deflected back to stun him. My personal favorite attack is how he will spawn a storm cloud above each slayer that strikes down lightning. Knowing that any of these attacks will induce the shocked status, leaving you unable to heal, revive, or use any consumable, makes the Stormclaw a behemoth to be reckoned with!
Rezakiri
If and when there is a radiant escalation, I will be interested to see how they build upon the Rezakiri. He feels like a boss. His general stature keeps most of his body out of harm’s way as you attempt to hit his tail. I believe it has the worst hitbox in the entire game, outside of the shock escalation boss we will get to shortly.
Being a radiant behemoth, the Rezakiri’s moves definitely look more intense and seemingly hit harder. He will utilize radiant fireworks or beams from every which angle and slam his body down in between. My favorite two attacks from him are pretty incredible. Similar to the Valomyr’s force-field shield, the Rezakiri has adapted its own version. Instead of around the behemoth, he will put a shield around you, preventing you from moving until you break free. This leaves you as a sitting duck for a follow up radiant attack. Additionally, the Rezakiri will flashbang the entire arena, blinding you with a white screen for a few seconds. To be honest, I’m not sure if this is avoidable. Either way, the effect leaves you feeling helpless knowing you are about to get hit by something you can’t see.
Thrax
I hate to disrespect the Thrax like this, but he will be the only escalation boss not in the S tier. The newest behemoth to Dauntless is found at the end of the umbral escalation and he reminds me of a Men in Black bug alien thing. As far as the concept goes, I think much is left to be desired. As far as aesthetics, the Shrowd feels like it should fall higher on the pecking order.
But, and this is a big but, the Thrax quickly eliminates any further doubt once he starts attacking you. His moves are incredible. Like the Rezakiri and yet to be discussed Malkarion, he has a long and dangerous tail. However, the corruption attacks and charges are what makes him incredible. Since he is umbral, he does a great job of filling the entire battleground with corruption – an effect that currently doesn’t have a cell to counter. Thrax may not be S tier because of his appearance, but he very well could be the hardest behemoth currently in the game.
I must also add that the umbral escalation is the best looking one so far, by miles. The purple tones and shadowtouched behemoths all add to the lore. I especially like that the escalation is physically a de-escalation or descent to get to the Thrax. That was a brilliant decision as the Thrax seems like it would dwell in a cave rather than a mountain. I’d guess the frost and terra escalations might follow a similar path.
S-Tier Dauntless Behemoths
Shrowd
Ah, the Shrowd. The nightmare umbral raven/crow behemoth. To truly understand what makes the Shrowd so great and daunting is to fight him with no preview or briefing on what it can do. Umbral and Radiant behemoths seem to hit different, and harder. The Shrowd specifically, though, really puts everything together. It looks menacing. It sounds terrifying! Of all the birds, it is the strongest. And most importantly, its moves are phenomenal.
While the Riftstalker will pull you down into his shadow realm lair, the Shrowd seems to bring the shadow realm to you! During this time you are in complete darkness while you try to use audio cues and periodic visual cues of the Shrowd’s purple eyes to track him down. I must say this is the best-executed attack in the entire game to date. It’s equally creepy and frightening. The Shrowd also has the ability to trigger an instability ball that, if not dealt with, will expand and explode leaving every Slayer at 1 health. This is all when it’s not slinging or slamming corruption upon you.
As much as I hate fighting the Shrowd, overall it is what other behemoths should aspire to be.
Torgadoro
The blaze escalation boss is a giant gorilla seemingly born out of a volcano. Like many primates, this large ape is known for it’s daunting strength and agility. Even after many encounters with Torgadoro, his moves felt authentically eradicate and devastating.
To start, the Torgadoro will also utilize a spinning arm attack, kinda like Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Additionally, it will punch its fist into the ground of the arena and infuse them with lava before it lets off a smash shock wave that would make the Hulk proud. About halfway through the battle, he will scale the mountain. After letting out a great gorilla laugh, he will cannonball himself into the middle of the arena causing splash damage in every direction.
Best of all, if you aren’t careful he would do the following, as I described to a friend who hasn’t played the game. “He grabs and shakes you in his fist as if you were a can that he wanted the soda inside to be flat before spiking you into the ground like he just scored a touchdown.” Epic.
Malkarion
Is there any surprise here? It’s a freaking dragon! When it comes to mythical beasts/animals, nothing sits atop a dragon as far as fierceness and coolness. Simply being a dragon isn’t where this stops. Known as the “storm dragon”, the shock escalation boss was done right.
It is large and quick – a rare combination for Dauntless behemoths. Often times it positions itself to only have it’s tail be accessible to damage. And when you get too close it makes sure to remind you that the tail is also a weapon. Otherwise, you’ll spend most of your battle trying to keep up with the dragon as it creates distance to fire off spirit bombs, like shock balls from above. The Malkarion has 3 different swooping attacks. Best of the bunch is where it will grab you in its mouth and chew on your Slayer. I’ve asked for biting attacks for other behemoths and this is the only one with the capability. Once you can farm him enough you will be treated to arguably the best-looking armor set in the game. Just don’t think that will come easy.
Recap
Here’s the list in a top to bottom view. If your list looks different than mine, let me know in the comments below!
- Malkarion
- Torgadoro
- Shrowd
- Thrax
- Rezakiri
- Tempestborn Stormclaw
- Riftstalker
- Winterhorn Skraev
- Dreadforst Boreus
- Deadeye Quillshot
- Razorwing Kharabak
- Shockjaw Nayzaga
- Scorchstone Hellion
- Frostback Pangar
- Bloodfire Embermane
- Rockfall Skarn
- Valomyr
- Ragetail Gnasher
- Firebrand Charrog
- Moonreaver Shrike
- Drask
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