Even though I've beaten this Boss, I keep thinking about different Ability combos that could work against him. I overlooked two things in my previous post. Specifically, I overlooked two Self Abilities that could help significantly: Concentration and Berserk.
I've never thought much about Concentration, since it grants perfect accuracy with ranged weapons--specifically, a rifle--and I've played melee for quite awhile. However, Concentration Rank 2 also grants Haste. Need to run fast, often? This Ability will work for you. Go see Mikral, the Commando Trainer in the Shadow Market on Bespin.
Overlooking Berserk is entirely stupid on my part, I'll admit, since it's generally used with a melee Ability set up. I always stayed away from it, though, because both Rank 1 and Rank 2 Imperil the player, not the enemy. Ugh. On the flip side, Berserk grants Strengthen and Haste. Rank 2 increases the duration. This becomes a very powerful Ability at Rank 3, since it no longer Imperils the player. If you're either lucky or cunning enough to have the Silver Faction currency for Rank 3, you can use this Ability *all* the time. Go see Gurnot, the Enforcer Trainer at the Konn-Nevos Spaceport on BKonn.
PART 1:
ReplyDeleteThere's no denying that the level 97 droid is DIFFICULT. There is a pattern of sorts, but it's less regular than the PPK droid, so it's difficult to practise for. I also suspect (and this is a view I hold without any evidence to back it up) that there is a random "less difficult" round that pops up every so often. I think I encountered one of those when I beat the droid.
That's the background, now on to specifics. I beat the droid with some 7* saboteur armour - not maxed (yes, I picked up the special offer), a maxed 4-6* battle rifle, and the following abilities: DG2, berzerk2, HoB3 and Intimidate 2.
As I mentioned, there's only a loose pattern, so there's no rhythm in the same way as there was with PPK. Some guiding rules:
* keep the droid on the edge of your screen. Don't stay so far away that you can't see it. This is important because you need to see which way it's headed so that you can keep your distance without it surprising you. It takes a bit of trial and error, but 'safe' visible distance is right at the edge of its spinning lasers (you should just be able to see the droid's legs at this distance, but not fully see its body). Also, if the droid decides to bomb the whole of screen, this gives you that little bit of time to get as close to the edge of the damage area as you can (more on that later).
* after its spinning lasers, close in to get the droid to perform its 'shotgun' move. Try to get it to shotgun away from the direction with the most running away space. You want to get it to shotgun, cut around and behind it, HoB it with berserk, the run away using berserk speed to get out of range of its next attack. This is not an essential step, but I found that if the droid was facing away from where I wanted to run to, it gave me that extra half second of HoB and run time.
* you can run under the droid. In fact, if you time it right, you can focus the droid to get it to shotgun you, then scoot underneath it, rather than around it, to HoB it from behind.
* when the droid does its bomb the screen move, Intimidate it. If you time it right, intimidate will interrupt the bomb move. If not, stay as close to the edge of the bomb damage area as you can if you can't escape it entirely. I can't confirm (others, please correct me if I've got it wrong), but I think the bomb damage diminishes the farther away from the centre you are.
* with the use of DG, it's all about timing. Too soon, and there won't be a shield to take down, meaning you've wasted that grenade. Too late, and you won't be able to take a shot because you'll be too busy running away.
* don't be greedy. The temptation will be to hit the droid as long as you can to try and kill it quickly. You won't kill it quickly...better to hit, run away, then plan where you want it to go, and where you want to run away to.
PART 2
ReplyDelete* overall, I totally agree with Zoj's post on this droid, and also the post on tank vs melee: try to control the narrative. It is possible and necessary in order to complete this mission. Get the droid pointing the opposite way to where you want to go after its spinning attack. get the droid moving away from your escape route before closing to trigger its shotgun move. Try to tempt the droid into an early spinnin laser by staying at the edge of its range, closing until it does it's pre- laser 'squat', then moving out of range.
* try to get as much damage done as you can when the droid is intimidated.
* if you can, try to keep the droid moving around the middle of the screen using the 'control the narrative' techniques above. It's cunning, and will box you into a corner and cut you up with its spinning lasers if you're not careful. Keeping it near the centre of screen moving up and down keeps the corners free for your escape.
* damage wise, 2 x spinning laser hits will kill you. One screen bomb will kill you if you've already been hit by the lasers. The shock grenades do a surprising amount of damage if you trigger them - the droid lays them in a cluster, so you trigger one, you trigger the cluster.
A typical run looks like: move to edge of spinning laser range; close after laser attack and DG the droid; run through the droid's grenade attack circle and close with the droid. Try to get it to chase you up or down an imaginary line slightly away from centre of the arena in the direction opposite your direction of escape; when it is where you want it to be, close with it to trigger shotgun (it doesn't move while shot gunning); move under or around it, and back to edge of laser range, be zero, and HoB; keep on the edge of its laser attack and watch what it does. It will either squat and launch spinning laser attack, drop a fire grenade (which will have an attack circle) or bomb the screen. Rinse, repeat...
Be patient. Some runs are slightly friendlier than others - I can't support this with evidence - it could be real or imagined. I've been trying ever since beating PPK, and on the night I completed the mission, I'd run it 17 times to failure before succeeding. As Zoj and Mike said that night 'stick with it, you'll get there' and they were right.
Good luck. Get through this and your path to a light sabre is almost assured - the next mission, if taken slowly and carefully, is straight forward.
On a final note, I beat this after the 3.0 update, so there weren't any revives. It is possible to beat this mission without reviving. Good hunting. You'll look bada$$ carrying a sabre!