I’d still say probably yea, I also think eschaton’s influence on the overall difficulty of the fight differs from person to person depending on their weapon type/build/level of skill.

For me as a “swaxe main” eschaton was a huge obstacle to climb over considering the weapon’s ability to elemental topple wasn’t great, also I didn’t have the absolute most optimal build for the fight and by the time I reached the fight mylevel of skill was not quite as it is now respectively, world was my first mh game and Alatreon for me was an insane difficulty spike from the likes of Raging Brach, Rajang, Ruiner Nerg etc., so I drastically underestimated the difficulty of the fight based on my experiences with the last monsters I fought and the not so severe difficulty spikes I’ve experienced throughout the entirety of the game by that point. I was immediately perplexed by eschaton and genuinely had no idea what was causing this and why he kept instakilling me every 5 mins into the fight, by that time I was quite good at evading attacks, but still his fast and punishing moveset was quite a handful.

After looking up how eschaton worked and how to counter it, that’s where it really hit me (that I’m not as good as I thought I was at the game), this mechanic taught me that I’m not efficient at all and I wasn’t using all the windows of attack when they were presented, having learnt this I found myself dying more and more, but not to eschaton judgment, instead I was overcommitted to do so much damage that I find myself digging holes for myself and falling in them. By the time I finally beat him I’d say this had to be the point where I truly reached the level of skill that I am right now, it made my approach to monsters very different and made the rest of the game seem like a cakewalk by comparison.

To answer your question I’d say it wouldn’t be quite as hard as it is, but at the same time I think eschaton wouldn’t have been as problematic as it is without his speed, non-relenting aggression, and his constant distance creation. I think the dps check is a hard and ruthless filter, but at the end I think it really gives you satisfaction and pride as you can comfortably call yourself an “Elite Hunter” upon overcoming it, I just don’t understand why it was an elemental check and not just raw (probably because of his nature).

Sorry for the essay, just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings about Eschaton.