Monsoon (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

Monsoon is an antagonist and boss fight in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. He's the main boss of Chapter R-03. He is the third major boss fight, and overall, is the sixth boss fight of the game.

While Monsoon is not a pathetic boss, fans consider him to be one of the weakest bosses in the game.

Core Issues

While most of Monsoon's attacks deal very little damage on their own, his attacks come out very quickly and usually in rapid succession, making them very hard to avoid for newer players. See SNK Boss.
The above issues compound to make the boss extremely reliant on the player's use of blocking, and while the player can block consecutive attacks from Monsoon from one direction, he can often psych out the player and perform a cross-up, throwing off the player's directional input and causing them to take damage.
Some of Monsoon's attacks can cause a tedious and annoying dizzy effect on the player, stunning and making them wide open to attacks.
Monsoon can fog up the arena and ambush the player with an annoying jump attack. The startup to this move has a hitbox directly on the ground in front of Monsoon that cannot be blocked.
Monsoon has the most invulnerability periods of any boss in the main game.
Monsoon is one of the only bosses that have a cap on the amount of damage that can be dealt at any given time. Additionally, this is the only fight where Raiden cannot trigger Ripper Mode on his own, so the player can't use the increased damage output to make the fight go any faster.
Monsoon has six phases, each with an individual HP gate. Monsoon also has noticeably higher defense than any other enemy in the entire game.
There is only one checkpoint throughout the entire fight, which is right before the QTE at the end. Other bosses usually give the player a checkpoint whenever the boss changes phases, but Monsoon has none. This can make attempting to S-Rank the boss extremely tedious.
Monsoon is the only boss that cannot be hit by perfect parries, completely bouncing away from the player whenever they pull it off.
Even though the boss isn't that bad at first, things starts to go downhill when Monsoon's HP dips to 60%. Monsoon will glow purple and will avoid all of the players attacks by splitting himself apart in that direction. For many players, the only way to damage him is by parrying each one of Monsoon's body parts' attacks, and then hit the head, making Monsoon vulnerable for about 5 seconds, before returning to his normal state.
1. That being said, Monsoon can also be stunned by using an EMP Grenade, which true to it's name will negate Monsoon's magnetic abilities briefly, allowing the player to hit Monsoon with Blade Mode. This is hinted at by the fact that the debris Monsoon throws at the player will drop EMP Grenades, but due to the fast paced nature of Revengeance, it's easy to miss that that's what was picked up. He's also one of the only bosses that has a weakness to a subweapon, which makes this point even more unusual.
In the immediate next chapter, you also go through a random refight against another Monsoon, but with many of his attacks removed. Thankfully, the moves he doesn't have, in addition to the refight having less health, lower defense, and the smaller fighting arena make the refight much less tedious. You also have Ripper Mode actually available during this

Redeeming Qualities

As per the entire game, Monsoon has some seriously awesome music.
Monsoon also has a really awesome design, and the battle against him is super creative.
The fast pace, creative gimmicks and hype music make this one of the more memorable and exciting bosses, even if there's some frustrating design choices.
Monsoon himself has an interesting personality and makes for a fun antagonist.
Monsoon's battle isn't too bad considering the player can start parrying while being combo'ed, minimizing damage taken. It's fast pace and higher difficulty actually make him one of the more interesting bosses in the entire game, making the player utilize their blocking, parrying, and Blade Mode abilities to their fullest extent.
After the battle with Monsoon, you unlock the new ability called Ripper Mode, which doubles your attack power, so at least the battle will pay off and be worth it.
The Player has unlimited Blade Mode meter throughout the entire fight.

Tips

If you destroy the debris that Monsoon fires at you, you can gain health items and EMP Grenades.
Defensive play is the key to winning the fight. Blocking and parries are key here.
Make sure your Recovery Nanopaste is equipped by using the d-pad submenu. It will restore your HP should you take too much damage.
Use EMP grenades to stun him when he glows purple on the ground. This allows you to run up and immediately enter Blade Mode.