Arch-Tempered Jin Dahaad: Full Hunt Guide

The new permanent event quest "Heart of Judecca" brings us Arch-Tempered Jin Dahaad, available after you reach Hunter Rank 100. This final arch-tempered apex monster has increased hit points, more damage, and some dreadful new attacks. He also appears in a free challenge quest for a limited time — earn a ranking by beating him within the time limit for exclusive pendant rewards.

This guide breaks down his notable movesets, how to counter them, and the strategy to beat him cleanly and take an A rank in the free challenge. First, the basics.

Weak Points & Element

This ice leviathan has solid hitzone values all over his body.

• Fire is by far his biggest elemental weakness — an elemental hitzone of 20 on the head and on his back iceplates when exposed during a knockdown, making it the best element to bring.
• For both blunt and slash weapons, the head is around 65 physical, the four legs about 45, and the tail can reach 95 on weak-point hits. You won't need Mind's Eye; Weakness Exploit works wonders.

The goal is to break every cooling plate off his body. Each broken plate causes a knockdown and reduces his cooling power. The plates on his four legs are the easiest to reach and should be your primary focus, then move to the head, tail, and lower back. The plates on his upper back stay at a fixed hitzone of 1 until every other plate is broken — so save them for last.

Recommended Skills & Items

Phase 1

• Ice Breath (variations) — he rears his head back, then breathes a long line of icy breath, often twice in a row in different directions: a frontal beam, a turn toward his hind leg (if you're on his feet), or a wide sweep. Anticipate the second breath and focus strike his head, which he often leaves exposed after the combo.
• Frost Mist — a downward ice blast similar to Savage Omega's, common early in phase one. He stands still, raises his head, and releases an icy cloud from his chest and armpit. It inflicts Frostblight immediately and binds you (or knocks you down if you have resistance). Sheathe and run out of the blast. He can release it from under his arm or between his legs — read his movement and listen for the sound cue.

In phase one I recommend going in with the Rocksteady Mantle. With Bind Resistance, focus his legs, trade blows, and quickly push him into phase two — very effective thanks to the powered-up Gogmazios Artian weapons.

Phase 2

Open by using one of the brittle ice pillars on the ceiling: follow Jin into the arena, slinger-clutch onto his right side to draw his attention, then drop the first ice pillar — he'll turn around and take the falling boulder.

Once enraged, he uses his most dangerous attacks:

• Concentrated Beam — he takes a deep breath, rears back, and fires a straight-line freezing beam. In the arch-tempered version the damage is amped hugely; a hit often one-shots you or leaves you near death. Expect it twice in a row.
• Wide-Sweep Ice Breath (new) — he raises his mouth high and sweeps the beam a quick 180 degrees. Stay near his hind legs or under his belly to be completely safe. He may expose weak points after the second beam, so be ready to capitalise.
• 360 Body & Tail Swing — the normal version had a wide tail swipe; the arch-tempered version does a full 360 body-and-tail spin. He coils and twists his torso back — that's your cue. Both body and tail are hitboxes over a wide area, but if you're under his chest when he starts, his curved belly passes right over you. Otherwise, perfect block or dodge into his body.
• Body Slam — one of his heaviest hits and a common cart. He rears up on his hind legs and slams down with his full weight. Dodge the first slam and don't rush in — the second slam will catch you. His back legs and tail are the safe zone; otherwise it's perfect timing for weapon counters (Hunting Horn hilt stab, Dual Blades perfect dodge, Charge Blade guard points).

Phase 3

As you push him into phase three, Jin loses enmity — a chance to open with a second sneak attack. This is likely where you break most of his smaller ice plates, creating openings to target the larger cooling plates on his back. If you know the Omega arena, there's a crumbling ice wall here for fixed percentage-based damage and a free knockout.

The goal this phase is hard control: force him to the final phase without letting him use his ultimate Ice Nova. If needed, switch to paralysis weapons or use mounts and knockouts to keep him locked down.

Final Phase

When Jin breaks the crumbling ice on the side of the arena and drops below, you face him in the final phase. Travel down with him and place a Shock Trap near the hanging ice boulder — he'll walk into it. This isn't to capture him (Jin cannot be captured); it's another damage window for final part breaks and knockouts.

He mostly repeats earlier attacks, but once all cooling plates are broken, his charges become the main threat: he lowers his body and bulldozes across the arena, sometimes climbing the wall to charge down at you. A Flash Pod is the best answer — it breaks him out and can even topple him off the wall.

Finally, his ultimate: the Ice Nova. His cooling plates work like PC heatsinks — the more heat he absorbs, the more cool air he produces, until he overheats and unleashes a massive arena-wide explosion designed to wipe the whole party. The most reliable survival is to pull down a ceiling ice chunk for cover and position it between you and Jin; the terrain blocks the blast. You can also perfect-dodge consecutively on weapons like Dual Blades, but the arch-tempered version comes much faster and may catch you off guard. From here he should be close to death — keep up your damage and finish him.

Key Terms

Cooling Plates — the ice plates across his body; break them all for knockdowns and reduced cooling power. Legs first, upper back last (fixed hitzone 1 until the rest are gone).

Frostblight — a debuff that can freeze you in place. Prevent the bind with Bind Resistance Lv3, or cure it with Cleansers + Speed Eating 3.

Ice Nova — his party-wipe ultimate. Deny it in phase three, or block it behind a ceiling ice chunk in the final phase.

RULE · Quick Takeaway — Bring Fire and Bind Resistance 3, break the leg plates first, and use the arena's ice pillars, walls, and boulders as both weapons and cover. Control phase three to skip the Ice Nova, and keep terrain between you and Jin when it fires.