The Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase for March 2025 aired earlier this morning, detailing news about the upcoming Title Update 1 and teasing a bit of what’s in store for Title Update 2. In that small sliver of footage, fans saw signs that the much-sought-after return of Lagiacrus could be happening.
Right at the end of the Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, over the Title Update 2 text, we hear some aquatic sounds, followed by a telltale clawed foot and scales. The signs feel fairly obvious that this is going to be Lagiacrus, a monster that hunters have been eager to fight again for quite some time.
Introduced in Monster Hunter 3, a.k.a. Monster Hunter Tri, Lagi was the “flagship monster” for the game, which meant it appeared on the box art. Alongside being the posterboy for Tri, the monster was fairly unique for one key reason: it incorporated underwater fighting. Submerged bouts were a big thing for Monster Hunter Tri, and Lagi was the prime example of that. Later versions in Monster Hunter Generations moved the fight back onto land, and the monster has been largely unseen since.
At one point, Capcom confirmed it had prototyped a new Lagiacrus fight for Monster Hunter: World, even showing some visual confirmation of it during a GDC 2018 panel. It was ultimately pulled, though some of its tech was incorporated in another monster, Jyuratodus.
Still, the time spent apart has not dulled players’ love for Lagiacrus. For some, Monster Hunter Tri was a big entrance into the series. And this fight, with its fairly unique look and mechanics, the possibilities for a Lagiacrus fight are simply exciting. As one user pointed out several years ago in a thread asking why people are so excited for Lagi, “People who wish for Lagiacrus to return generally mean for underwater combat to return also, it’s sort of a package deal.”
Unique mechanics aside, Lagiacrus has remained popular in its own right. The leviathan came in third in a popularity poll for Monster Hunter’s 20th anniversary, beaten out only by No. 2 Nergigante and No. 1 Zinogre. One of its variants, Abyssal Lagiacrus, also came in 12th, beating out Monter Hunter Wilds’ Title Update 1 addition Mizutsune at 14th.
In 2022, speaking to IGN, Monster Hunter producer explained why Lagiacrus wouldn’t see a return in the current game at the time, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Though the producer acknowledged the “desire is definitely there,” the technical implementation is difficult.
“Unfortunately Lagiacrus is just a very technological…difficult monster to implement. It’s very snake-like, its parts are all kind of touching the ground at different moments,” Tsujimoto explained at the time. “So it’s very like a writhing sort of ground-based monster.”
Yet now, Capcom has elected to bring the writhing monster back. Whether this is a solely land affair, a new variant, or we see some sort of implementation of water mechanics all remains to be seen. Fans, however, are certainly enthused. Refrains of Lagiacrus being “peak” and patient fans celebrating their apparently successful manifestations litter the comments sections.
We’ll get more details as we move past Title Update 1 and on towards the summer window for Title Update 2. But yes, it looks like Lagiacrus is going to lead the summer festivities in Monster Hunter Wilds, and that’s some very exciting news for hunters new and old.
Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.
