Half-rose and half-spider, Lala Barina is all problem in Monster Hunter Wilds. She’s a problem for local fauna. She’s a problem for my HP bar. Now she’s even a problem for my wardrobe. As much as I adore the bone and alloy armor sets, they have nothing on Lala Barina armor. This devil doesn’t wear Prada, however. She just stabs you full of paralytic venom and then tramples your dreams with her 1-ton spider legs. Manage to slay her, and your prize is one not even Miranda Priestly could mock. Lala Barina armor might not be the most meta, but I’m hunting something else now: fashion.
From Practical Hair to Chiffon and Lace
During character creation, my fashion concerns were practical ones. Will this hairstyle hold up in the desert? Is there even any point of putting on makeup before fighting giant lizards in a swamp? I wanted a character who at least looked somewhat practical. Then I entered Scarlet Forest and met her, the spider, my new fashion role model. Lala Barina is my favorite monster in Monster Hunter Wilds. Malenia, Goddess of Rot meet Lloth, Queen of Spiders? Between her iconic look, unique attack patterns, and paralysis ability, there’s a lot to love. Watching her stomp around the inflamed, sucking bog, I couldn’t have dreamed of how her armor would look.
Monster Hunter Wilds includes some of the coolest looking weapons and armor in the series, and Lala Barina gear is a sterling example. Between the feathers, flowers, lace, and leather, LB armor is a festival of textures. Except for its rosy hightlights and accessories, it’s also white. Snowblind white. The kind of white that you know will stain at the first brush of mud. It’s a wadrobe that screams “I’m impractical for real-world conditions,” but what did I do? Ditched my early-game gear fashioned of iron and lizard skins for something more royal. In mechanical terms, of course, only the stats matter. Yet my fledgling fashionasta brain tells a different story.
Monster Hunter Wilds and Peacock Aesthetics
The vast deserts and forests of Wilds teem with life. From the fluttering Vigorwasps to the croaking Paratoads, everything plays its role. My role is to look as stunning as possible in my Lala Barina dress while eviscerating dragons with a paralytic Great Sword. Forget the meta. Forget combos, Talismans, and DPS. I have pink hair, a crown of flowers, and a knock-off Buster Sword drenched in spider venom. I don’t do the most damage, but it doesn’t matter when my Spiky Razor of Arachnid Murder-Death freezes enemes in place. Even if LB gear had the worst stats and layered armor weren’t a thing, I might still wear it. The spider fang drip is that good.
You don’t have to choose between looks and stats in MHW thanks to layered armor. In the end-game, fashion and ferocity stand united. Because of features like this, Wilds might be the most welcoming entry in the franchise. Alone or with friends, hunkered down behind layers of iron or pirouetting about in lace, you hunt the way you want. If Capcom hadn’t found such a strong balance between mechanics and cosmetics, I might’ve never experimented with Lala Barina gear and its paralyzing properties. Broadening my fashion horizons made me a more knowledgeable hunter. Slay, indeed.
