In a cauldron.

[LeftPaw]

I have entered my first cauldron, the one you are directed to and was wondering how you manage the boss robot and all the watchers when released. I have tried stealth but they seem to know where you are regardless. There are just to many of them plus the boss can near enough one shot you.

[JL::Jose-Juan Kenobi]

What's the boss? is it the Fire Bellowback?
What weapons/outfits/mods/skills you have at hand? What difficulty?

The Bellowback has two very big target weaknesses, the sac at the front under the mouth then the big sac at the back. Use hardpoint arrows and only aim at those areas, use Concentration for better aim.
You should be able to take down the watchers fast with one good shot to their eyes (regular arrows), or the big explosions from the Bellowback when you destroy their sacs should be enough.

You can also try freeze arrows and/or bombs, or even tie it down and deal with the watchers first.

Before you start the fight you can lay down all the blast traps and tripcasters you want.
Use proper outfit, fire resistance outfit + melee or fire resist mods, and fire resistance potions.

[gaqo]

It's also a good idea to practice on what ever robot is being made in the cauldron, first.

Learn how to take down in wild. It not only makes sure you know where to hit them to take them down, but also gives you the confidence when stuck in a room with them.

In Cauldron. Use double your blast traps and tripwires(ie: lay out the full quota and create more), any more more than that will de-spawn. Lay them where watchers enter, and all exits for 'boss' robot.

Create a defensible area with trips. I took out the Thunderjaw, with blast traps/trip wires and a couple of blast bombs. No hit to Aloy.

Good luck, it takes a few attempts to suss it.

[CindyK_JA]

Running a blast and bomb perimeter around the 'dome' before it opens works splendidly in the first two cauldrons. Plus, setting up for the machine that enters from the side...

[Eye of Newt]

One thing I like to do is "prepare the ground" ahead of time. I'll lay out traps and so forth with the idea that the machine will run through them when it first sees me, and I can get some early damage in. :)

And yes, the Fire Bellowback, if you hit the rear sac with arrows, you can get it to explode and that triggers the fire status effect which further weakens it.

[Voca]

Or get a Nora Protector Master/Adept and click away lol. Sometimes I do that.
You probably gonna need good mods.

[JapanGamer29]

Kill the watchers before releasing the Bellowback. That should help a bit.

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by JapanGamer29:

Kill the watchers before releasing the Bellowback. That should help a bit.

There are only 2 watchers before you release the boss or Bellowback and you can't take them over as they walk near a electric field that knocks you back when you try.
After you release the Bellowback though you get a virtual army of watchers that enter.

I have tried a lot of things the first one being to target the Bellowbacks weak parts but it one shots me before I can do much damage. Traps and such just seem to get it angry.
I think I have gone in to early and need to be more powerful. I am attempting this just after clearing the bandit camp.

I am playing on easy.

[Voca]

Originally posted by WetNose:

Originally posted by JapanGamer29:

Kill the watchers before releasing the Bellowback. That should help a bit.

There are only 2 watchers before you release the boss or Bellowback and you can't take them over as they walk near a electric field that knocks you back when you try.
After you release the Bellowback though you get a virtual army of watchers that enter.

I have tried a lot of things the first one being to target the Bellowbacks weak parts but it one shots me before I can do much damage. Traps and such just seem to get it angry.
I think I have gone in to early and need to be more powerful. I am attempting this just after clearing the bandit camp.

I am playing on easy.

Just wait a little more then. No point rushing cauldrons. In fact you can skip them if you want unless you wanna override machines. I have overridden a grand total of like what...3 machines?

[LeftPaw]

Yeah I gave up and re-loaded the save from just before entering. Outside was pack of those Bellowbacks, but I was able to kill those easily. The one inside is super hard and spams fireballs.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by WetNose:

Originally posted by JapanGamer29:

Kill the watchers before releasing the Bellowback. That should help a bit.

There are only 2 watchers before you release the boss or Bellowback and you can't take them over as they walk near a electric field that knocks you back when you try.
After you release the Bellowback though you get a virtual army of watchers that enter.

I have tried a lot of things the first one being to target the Bellowbacks weak parts but it one shots me before I can do much damage. Traps and such just seem to get it angry.
I think I have gone in to early and need to be more powerful. I am attempting this just after clearing the bandit camp.

I am playing on easy.

If its on easy it shouldnt be too early. It did this cauldron just now before the bandit camp but I did some hunting before that. The fire bellowbacks outside were too tough for me, and I only killed this one because it was required. Im playing on very hard.

I dont think the ones outside have better stats then the one inside.

On easy it should be easy to take out by using explosive tripwires for damage, or electric to stun them and then hit the cannisters at its bellow with fire arrows. Physical/impact on the sac and other weak points to destroy those.

If your problem is being oneshot, then you arent dodging enough. You can avoid all of its attacks.

That said, there should only be 2 or 3 watchers spawning, not infinite?

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Originally posted by WetNose:

There are only 2 watchers before you release the boss or Bellowback and you can't take them over as they walk near a electric field that knocks you back when you try.
After you release the Bellowback though you get a virtual army of watchers that enter.

I have tried a lot of things the first one being to target the Bellowbacks weak parts but it one shots me before I can do much damage. Traps and such just seem to get it angry.
I think I have gone in to early and need to be more powerful. I am attempting this just after clearing the bandit camp.

I am playing on easy.

If its on easy it shouldnt be too early. It did this cauldron just now before the bandit camp but I did some hunting before that. The fire bellowbacks outside were too tough for me, and I only killed this one because it was required. Im playing on very hard.

I dont think the ones outside have better stats then the one inside.

On easy it should be easy to take out by using explosive tripwires for damage, or electric to stun them and then hit the cannisters at its bellow with fire arrows. Physical/impact on the sac and other weak points to destroy those.

If your problem is being oneshot, then you arent dodging enough. You can avoid all of its attacks.

That said, there should only be 2 or 3 watchers spawning, not infinite?

My traps took care of most of the watchers but didn't dent the boss. BTW the trip wires won't work in there.
I put 50 arrows into it's weak spots and barely damaged it. Also focus is useless as every time you focus you are hit by a fireball or leap which breaks the focus.
I tried everything I could think of before I gave up. I manage everything else in the game without problem but I can't crack that cauldron.

[CindyK_JA]

You might want to revisit the tripwire function. It took me awhile to get the hang of how they worked. I placed them in the openings (on the sides of the wall around the dome ). I put 1 fire and 1 explode on each break. I have the 'Disarm' skill to retrieve them when unused. But this took care of all the watchers and the main beast. I only fired a couple of arrows to finish it off. Check that you are aiming the trip wire at a surface that it can stick to and then stick the second side to draw a 'line.' So, it is two 'shots' per wire. I was at a pretty low level when I tackled the first cauldron but I had health potions, just in case.

[Malkor2]

If you're talking about Cauldron Sigma then there should be one Fire Bellowback and 2 Watchers in the final room. There should also be no endless spawn of Watchers. First off, don't go down when you reach the room. If you have the Triple Shot skill you load your Hunters Bow with 3 fire arrows, aim and hit a Watcher. That is enough to kill the Watcher because the fire damage over time will finish him off. Do the same with the second Watcher. Before you release the Fire Bellowback, scout the area and pick a spot to which you can retreat to if necessary.

Now go back to the Fire Bellowback and start by laying down blast traps and blast tripwires in the direction of the area to which you want to retreat. You can stack the blast traps on top of each other, while the wires need to be placed apart from each other and the traps. Hopefully you have a Sharpshot Bow. Load it with 3 precision arrows, activate the thing and as soon as the force field goes down you fire those precision arrows at the large sac on the back of the Bellowback. That will cause an explosion and do lots of damage to him. Now simply avoid getting hit, take a health potion if needed and lure the Fire Bellowback into your traps and wires. If that wasn't enough to kill him then a second hit with 3 precision arrows should finish him off.

About your retreat spot, you need to secure it before you engage the Fire Bellowback. I would lay down some shock wires and in case stuff goes sideways you go there, the Bellowback gets stunned and you can then hit him with precision arrows. If you have a Ropecaster already you can use that to tie him down if you want. I think the Fire Bellowback requires medium ropes so you would need a Carja Ropecaster here. But a Ropecaster is not needed, you will be fine without one. If you have a Warbow with freeze arrows then you can wait for the Fire Bellowback to run into the shock wires you placed near your retreat spot, freeze him with the arrows first and then hit him with the precision arrows. Frozen machines take way more damage than machines that aren't frozen. It also slows them down. Be careful when you tie a machine down with the Ropecaster first and then freeze it, because if you hit the machine with too many freeze arrows or freeze bombs the machine will start to take damage which then shortens the timer of the machine being tied down, so it will get back up much faster. The goal is to tie the machine down and then hit it with the right amount of freeze arrows or bombs to freeze it while dealing no damage to it. One then switches to precision arrows and starts dealing massive damage until the machine gets back up. Then you simply repeat the process of tieing it down, freezing it and then dealing damage until the machine is dead.

[Lord Of War]

Bloody hell, I remember that cauldron, was stupid enough to get there literally right at the beginning with just arrow and few resources on Ultra Hard. Spends minutes dodging his fire spits and shooting weak arrows.

WetNose, tripwire is your best friend in this game. Upgrade it like there's no tomorrow (400+dmg per wire is not a joke )

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by WetNose:

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

If its on easy it shouldnt be too early. It did this cauldron just now before the bandit camp but I did some hunting before that. The fire bellowbacks outside were too tough for me, and I only killed this one because it was required. Im playing on very hard.

I dont think the ones outside have better stats then the one inside.

On easy it should be easy to take out by using explosive tripwires for damage, or electric to stun them and then hit the cannisters at its bellow with fire arrows. Physical/impact on the sac and other weak points to destroy those.

If your problem is being oneshot, then you arent dodging enough. You can avoid all of its attacks.

That said, there should only be 2 or 3 watchers spawning, not infinite?

My traps took care of most of the watchers but didn't dent the boss. BTW the trip wires won't work in there.
I put 50 arrows into it's weak spots and barely damaged it. Also focus is useless as every time you focus you are hit by a fireball or leap which breaks the focus.
I tried everything I could think of before I gave up. I manage everything else in the game without problem but I can't crack that cauldron.

Tripwires do work. I used a bunch of them in there. You cant hit every surface with it, tho. I usually aim for some objects to place the two sides on. Explosive tripwires are crazy good against a lot of enemies.

What kind of arrows? There's a few different ones you can use. Did you get a sharpshooter bow?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2730728848

Personally I dont really use basic arrow except to kill Watchers. They dont do much damage, atleast on very hard. Sharpshooter arrows do about 6-7 times as much damage but they are more expensive to make.

Focus is something you best used before a fight. Against that enemy you wont have the time to use it during fight, but once you know where its weakspots are and what is effective against them, it wont be needed. Seeing its weakpoints via the Focus isnt required to deal damage to them.

For me fighting it was pretty hard because I confused the weakness indicators so I thought its weak spots were weak to tear. But that was wrong. They are weak to physical damage, so regular sharpshooter arrows do a good amount of damage to them.