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Boss Fighting Techniques Pro Tips

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by Lavender Aces, Mar 20, 2017.

  1. Lavender Aces

    Lavender Aces Space Spelunker

    Hey all!

    So I've been grinding for a while now trying to obtain every unique boss weapon, and I've learned a few things along the way! The following tips are on how to make the boss fights themselves quicker and easier. Enjoy!

    P.S I'm advising under the assumption you have end-game armor/weapons.

    Erchius Horror
    Let's be honest, if you can't beat this boss with end-game armor then you've got other issues than not being able to get the weapon. With end-game armor, you can run through them beams without a problem. Easy as pie!

    Ixodoom
    This boss is also pretty straight forward. However, I found it was easiest to use the Doomcannon because each shot will hit the Ixodoom [because of its large size] and Nuru is constantly hitting it [when the Ixodoom is doomed, Nuru's attacks will do MASSIVE damage]

    Asra Nox
    I reccoment grabbing a Asuterosaberu DX, because Asra has low health but deals high damage as you fight her longer. You can end the fight after the first phase of attacks [after the first morph ball attack] with the DX before she has a chance to use her more powerful attacks.

    Kluex Avatar
    I'm gonna be honest, I don't have many tips on this one. My biggest advice is to grab a sniper rifle and hit from range, because melee takes a long time to hit in the second phase.

    Big Ape
    Big Ape's most damaging attack is the laser spray he does after each sentry is downed. This attack is easy to avoid if you equip the wall-climbing morph ball and stick to the wall when he is shooting lasers. The beams are more spread at the far sides.

    Bone Dragon
    Two words: piercing shot. Get a sniper rifle with piercing shot, sit at the front gate, and the cultists will line up nicely for you to get 10+ kills at a time. As for the dragon, it really isn't that bad if you use some flame antidote.
     
  2. ShadowRecon97

    ShadowRecon97 Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Grab a shield and run through that erchius beam, it's very effective for me
     
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  3. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    Simplest solution to all the bosses is a Kluex Staff (except Big Ape, he is fast and his attacks rarely give you time to pause and aim for more than a few seconds) if you've got it. Any staff, really, since you can just charge up a whole lot of damage while dodging and aim it whenever they're in a phase that doesn't require a lot of attention to dodge. Also, the Kluex Avatar's pulling attack can't handle the spike ball, and it's small enough to dodge its projectile attacks relatively easily as well. The Bone Dragon can be a pain because it tends to chase you into a corner, but, like all the bosses, spike ball is the answer. Just take along two crew members, ensure they survive the initial battle, and bam, they take off a significant portion of its health. Alternatively, Doomcannon all the enemies while jumping over them, take along two soldiers, and watch as they shoot them for enough damage to set off the explosion. I've played with a mod that enhances crew members for quite a while though (they were pretty useful for bossfights even before that), so I might not know how much damage an unmodded crew member can do in a single hit.

    My strategy for Big Ape was to just use a missile launcher and dodge dodge dodge. That was a battle of attrition rather than skill.
     
  4. LazerRay

    LazerRay Cosmic Narwhal

    For the Big Ape tip you mentioned, I know the exact spots on the walls where none of his bullets hit, you have to be lined up with the top of the monitors with their top edges forming a line through the center of your ball.

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    (Note: The screenshots where taken after the battle, its hard to make images and fight at the same time)

    It also helps to have a rocket launcher with homing on it for Big Ape, Dreadwing, and some Vault Guardians, since they move around too much for precise aiming.

    For the Nox battle, just memorize her attack pattern since most are easy to dodge and the energy spray attack doesn't hit the lower corner she is directly above.

    Although the Vault Guardians have randomly built attack sequences, there is an easy one to dodge with Spike Sphere, mainly any sequence that has them make the entire floor a hazard, and if they use the large orbs after that, stick to the walls just below the platforms to dodge both attacks.
     
  5. Lavender Aces

    Lavender Aces Space Spelunker

    I think the general consensus is spike ball is god
     
  6. LazerRay

    LazerRay Cosmic Narwhal

    Its the only sphere tech I use after I unlock it as soon as possible, since its good in boss battles and general exploring, I even combine it with Rocket Jump to get to those hard to reach areas.
     
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  7. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    Huh. I prefer multijump in combination with spike ball, since the spike ball doesn't always stick when I hit walls with force, so it gives me another try. Plus, for minibosses, like outlaws, it means I can stay in the air longer, which helps when trying to dodge horizontal projectiles.
     
  8. Gobi Slave

    Gobi Slave Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Spikeball is almost too good, since I end up compulsively checking every inch of the boss dungeons in this game.

    On the topic of weapons, I found that the magnorbs are really good for the Bone dragon fight. They deal decent damage with high level armor and pierce infinitely, making them great against crowds.
     
    Lavender Aces and DraikNova like this.
  9. LazerRay

    LazerRay Cosmic Narwhal

    I tend to use an upgraded Crystal Eye as my main weapon for the Glitch mission replays, since that can rip through groups of cultists with primary fire and the secondary works on the stragglers, plus that same beam weapon tears up the bone dragon's health quickly.
     
  10. DukeLebowski

    DukeLebowski Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    The Erchius horror is actually more dangerous with high-tier armor, and here's the reason:

    When the player takes damage equivalent to a certain % of his health, let's say 5%, it triggers invicibility frames. That way, you can't take too much punishment from the Erchiu's laser beams.
    However, if the player wears good armor, the damage from 1 laser hit is not even equivalent to 5%, so the invincibility frames are not triggered, and thus, the player will take damage hits at an incredible speed while standing in the laser.

    I actually died more often trying to get the erchius' minitature while at end game, than during my first attempts.
     
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  11. LazerRay

    LazerRay Cosmic Narwhal

    You can use tier 6 armor for the crystal boss, just make sure you don't have the Thorns augment equipped. I'm actually able to quickly fight the boss with a stock tier 6 accelerator armor set, and a Healing III augment.

    A real good tip is to hit the switches on the left side of the room as soon as you enter (Before the boss wakes up), that way you are on the way to hit the third and fourth switches, followed by the laser (Hit it while still moving) then continue in a clockwise pattern.
     
  12. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    I've never actually seen that happen. Maybe I move too fast to get hit for more than one or two attacks.
     
  13. Gobi Slave

    Gobi Slave Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    That all depends on how long you stay in the laser. If you pass through it in less than a second, nothing bad really happens, but staying in the laser for a few seconds is quite dangerous.

    I wear an almost complete perfect armor set (minus the chestplate) and I just run through the beams. I do occasionally need to use some healing items during an Erchius Horror fight when I accidentally touch a beam for too long, but it's not a problem when you move through it fast enough.
     
  14. Lavender Aces

    Lavender Aces Space Spelunker

    Interesting everyone! I found that dashing through the beam helps minimize the damage. For sure don't stand in the laser though!
     
    Gobi Slave likes this.
  15. Gobi Slave

    Gobi Slave Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Another weapon that works surprisingly well is the Evil Eye. It doesn't look like it has good stats, but the weapon's secondary fire auto-aims and deals increasing damage with each successive strike. I've been testing it on boss fights and it works particularly well against the Ixodoom. I've yet to try it with the Bone Dragon, but I'd assume that it works similarly there, too.
     
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  16. Kalteas

    Kalteas Poptop Tamer

    Any tips for the final boss? I beat it on my second try, but used a lot of healing items.
     
  17. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    try to get a one had stuff that can summon those small portals which emit damage bubbles. The kind of damage doesn'T matters much. Then grab a grappling hook and a healing augment. hang around in the top of the room and just cast the staffs ability and focus down on the smaller mobs that come and when they aren't there you go for the boss. if you lern how to also dodge swing stuff like the smaller mobs its a cakewalk.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2017
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  18. Mythril-Jelly

    Mythril-Jelly Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Erchius Horror, you can often hit the two upper switches in the first phase before it wakes up, and in general you'll want movement speed. This is one of those few cases where Green/Blue Stims will be of great usage for making it quick.

    Kluex avatar, you can use the spike ball to dodge nearly every attack by staying off the floor, and the roll speed is just fast enough to avoid most of the red energy projectiles. The fire element is often the best time to strike with this method, as once you're on the platform dodging is easy.

    The sneaky spot on the Big Ape has been mentioned, but I can't tell you how many times I got KFC'd there before I found the right spot.
     
    Lavender Aces likes this.
  19. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    Any advice for dealing with the missile phase of Big Ape? That's always the one that gives me trouble.
     
  20. Lavender Aces

    Lavender Aces Space Spelunker

    Whenever I get wrecked I'm gong to say I got "KFC'd" now.
     
    Mythril-Jelly likes this.

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