Monster Hunter World: How to Unlock Kirin Quest

Kirin is an extremely rare monster in Monster Hunter World that makes a return from previous games.

Kirin is only available in select quests. The game doesn’t tell you about this, so here is how to unlock the Kirin quest!

There are actually multiple Kirin Quests, the first one is a low-rank 5-star optional quest called “Gone in a Flash”:

5-Star Kirin Quest (Gone in a Flash):

1. After earning the right to play 2-star assignments, check the Biologist NPCs in Astera regularly. The one called Smart Biologist will have a quest available when there’s a yellow exclamation point (!) above his head. He is standing near the Botanical Garden on the lower level of Astera. He will give you a series of quests that you must complete, ranging from 2-star to 5-star! Play all of these quests. More become available when you earn the right to player higher-star assignments!
   1. Optional Quest #1 (2 Stars): Snatch the Snatcher (capture Kulu-Ya-Ku).
   2. Optional Quest #2 (3 Stars): Landing the Landslide Wyvern (capture Barroth).
   3. Optional Quest #3 (4 Stars): White Monster White Coat (capture Paolumu).
   4. Optional Quest #4 (5 Stars): Man’s Best Friend (capture Odogaron).
2. After those 4 quests are done, the Impatient Biologist in Astera (standing in front of the botanical garden) will give you the Kirin Quest! Now you can fight and slay Kirin and craft armor from his drops. Also, you earn the item “Thunderproof Mantle” after the quest, when you report back to the Impatient Biologist. This will make future Kirin encounters much easier.

9-Star Tempered Kirin Quest (Thunderous Rumble in the Highlands):

1. Beat the story and then reach Hunter Rank 49 to unlock this as a main assignment on the questboard. That’s all there is to it. Hunt large monsters after the story to rank up and you will get this quest. Beware, this is a tempered Kirin and one of the hardest fights in the entire game! So better bring a group of high-level players and put on that Thunderproof Mantle you earned earlier.
2. If you don’t want to wait until Hunter Rank 49, there is an easy workaround. Just go to the questboard and search for an SOS flare, set it to high rank and specify Kirin as the target. Then you can join someone else’s game. You don’t actually have to be HR49 for it, just the host needs to be. After having successfully beaten this quest it will turn into an 8-star optional quest on your board and can be repeated as often as you want (talk to biologist afterwards to unlock it permanently).

You can farm Kirin easily by searching on the questboard for SOS flares and specifying this monster in the SOS search settings (Select Target function). Of course you can also repeat the optional quest(s) as often as you like.

For more info on Kirins weaknesses and ailments, check out the Kirin Monster Page.
For all other monsters, crafting items and tips, check out our Monster Hunter World Wiki.