PSA: Useful tips about Colossus weak points and grappling

[Riepah]

Hello!

Most of you probably know by now that by using TAB, you can see a Colossus' destructible/removable weak points.

Their default colour is dark blue. Each destructible/removable part, as well as the rest of the Colossus, is weak to one of the three weapon types. Once they have taken a good amount of damage (perhaps 25%?), they'll turn light blue. Once they take even more damage (perhaps 50%?), some of them will turn yellow - and at this point, you can use your grappling hook to latch onto that part. If someone latched onto any part recently, the yellow parts will turn grey for the duration and nobody will be able to latch onto the Colossus until that timer expires.

Not all parts will turn yellow - for example, the parts located at the knees of a Colossus can only be destroyed, never latched onto. This is where the distinction between "Destructible" and "Removable" parts comes in when you check a Colossus' details before starting the fight, like, for example, which part is vulnerable to which weapon type. You do pay attention to those details, right? Right?

Now, pressing LMB will cause you to mightily punch that yellow part you latched onto with your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship and deal a lot of damage to it. You can do this repeatedly, until the part is destroyed. Destroying the part in this manner will also conveniently cause the Colossus to get staggered. Marvelous!

However! The Colossi do not appreciate being pummeled by your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship, so they will toss and turn to try and throw you off. When this happens, as most of you surely remember from the tutorial, you are meant to hold RMB to hold on tight and keep them from throwing you off. Great!

You've surely noticed that bar on the right that starts decreasing as soon as you latch onto your favourite Colossus. Once that bar is fully depleted, your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship will lose its power of Justice and Friendship and you'll get knocked off the Colossus like a piece of trash that is tossed into the garbage bin. We don't want that to happen, so remember, RMB is your friend!

Another thing to note is that latching onto a Colossus can only happen every once in a while. So once you - or one of your trusty comrades - used your reliable grappling hook to grapple the Colossus and either smashed the removable part with your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship, intentionally or accidentally let go by pressing Space, or got thrown into the bin like a worthless piece of garbage, nobody else will be able to latch onto any part for a while. A buff shows up on the boss and until that buff is gone, all formerly yellow parts will turn grey. While they are grey, they are immune to your and your friends' grappling hooks and, by proxy, your Righteous Fists of Justice and Friendship.

Now the really interesting part.
While a Colossus is being latched onto and getting pummeled by your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship, it just walks around like a headless chicken, doing nothing except trying to shake you off and... walking around like a headless chicken. This means that your glorious friends and teammates can use this time to nurse their wounds, revive their fallen comrades or simply rain death, destruction and a hail of hellfire upon the chicken Colossus.

And here is where the fun begins! Because RMB works even while the Colossus is not actively trying to throw you off, but also when it is just walking around like a headless chicken! What this means is, that you can stall for precious time for your teammates to safely unleash their attacks and drown the Colossus in bullets by simply holding RMB instead of using your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship to destroy the part as fast as possible!

The trick is to pummel the Colossus with your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship until the part is so weak that the next glorious strike of your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship will destroy it, and at that point, you just hold RMB untitl the bar is almost depleted and you are about to get tossed into the garbage bin. At that point, instead of being garbage, you'll use your LMB to deliver a devastating blow with your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship to destroy the part, after having bought several seconds for your cherished friends, which will cause the Colossus to get staggered, buying even more time for excessive violence without any chance for retaliation!

But wait, there is more! Your cherished friends could cause some lamentable setbacks here. Namely, while you are gloriously holding onto the Colossus, pummeling away with your Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship - or just holding RMB to stall for time, of course - your friends might deal more damage to the very part you are holding onto, destroying it and tossing you off in the process, like a piece of garbage! And even worse than being likened to garbage in this manner, is the fact that this will not cause the Colossus to get staggered!

So, if you find yourself watching someone else gloriously holding onto a Colossus and manhandling them with their Righteous Fist of Justice and Friendship, avoid shooting the part they are holding onto, so you don't waste the stagger!

Now, once a removable weak point is destroyed in this manner and you enjoyed the Colossus being staggered and you are done pointing and laughing at the silly, weak, staggered Colossus, you might use TAB and see no more pretty colours. At that point, you might think to yourself: "Alas, there are no more weak points for me to skillfully target and destroy, all that remains for me to do is to aimlessly assault random parts of the Colossus until it finally breathes its last and perishes, so that I can claim my well-deserved spoils of war and let the Colossus' worthless carcass rot in the void for the rest of eternity."
But, worry not! As a matter of fact, there is a weak point under that destructible or removable weak point you so valiantly destroyed... or removed! You can keep attacking its weak point for massive damage, as if you were fighting a Giant Enemy Crab!

I trust most of you actually read all this, because you are all good people. I also trust you appreciated the wonderful humour I so lovingly poured into this post. Shame on those who didn't! But I'll do even those lazy, inappreciative bums a favour and include a TL;DR.

TL;DR:

Colossus part colour coding:

• Dark blue: ~75%-100% HP.
  
• Light blue: ~50%-75% HP / 1-75% HP if not removable by grappling hook.
  
• Yellow: ~1%-50% HP, removable by grappling hook.
  
• Grey: ~1-50% HP, removable by grappling hook, but the grappling cooldown is in effect.

DO:

• Use TAB to see the colour-coded destructible/removable parts of a Colossus.
  
  
• Shoot coloured parts until they turn yellow, or until they are destroyed, whichever comes first. Ideally, pay attention to the weapon type the parts are vulnerable to - you can check this in the detail screen when signing up for a Colossus fight.
  
  
• Use your grappling hook to latch onto yellow parts. Use LMB to deal damage, RMB to hold on, particularly while the Colossus attempts to shake you off. RMB can also be used while the Colossus is not actively attempting to shake you off.
  
  
• Use RMB to stall for time as long as possible before delivering the final blow to the removable part with LMB. The Colossus will not launch any attacks while someone is latched onto it, buying precious time for the rest of the team.
  
  
• Shoot the part beneath a destroyed/removed weak point. There is still a weak point, just no longer a destructible/removable one that will be highlighted by using TAB. You will know you are hitting it by the yellow damage numbers.

DO NOT:

• Forget to use RMB to avoid being thrown off after you have latched onto a yellow, removable part of a Colossus when it is attempting to shake you off.
  
  
• Attempt to latch onto any part that is any other colour than yellow when pressing TAB. Only yellow parts can be latched onto.
  
  
• Press Space to interrupt your grappling. It will trigger the same cooldown, during which nobody else will be able to grapple any parts, and waste a window of opportunity where your friends could have attacked the Colossus without fear of retribution.
  
  
• Shoot a part somebody else is latched onto. If you destroy this part instead of letting your grappling teammate destroy it, the Colossus will not be staggered. Let your latched-on teammate destroy it, target some other part in the meantime.
  
  
• Die. If you get downed, wait and hope for one of your teammates to revive you. If 3 people get downed and are not saved in time, the battle is instantly lost, even if others are still alive. If you are in danger, prioritize your own survival, even at the cost of DPS.

Here is a link to my guide - it contains a little bit of extra information and a TL;DR screenshot section: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3294726744
Thank you. Have a nice day!

[StarExile]

Thx

[Talle]

a little advice for the next post use screen shots to show what you are talking about instead of explaining it so it will be a more easy read

but if people dont know this info it can be a helpful guide you might have wanted to put it there instead of in the discussion forum lol

[jandraelune]

I never did a grapple attack on a colossi even in the tutorial.

[Riepah]

Originally posted by Talle:

a little advice for the next post use screen shots to show what you are talking about instead of explaining it so it will be a more easy read

but if people dont know this info it can be a helpful guide you might have wanted to put it there instead of in the discussion forum lol

Hmm, I didn't think of that. I've never written a guide before, do you think this is worth being posted as one?
I guess I'll go ahead and give it a try. Maybe I'll update it with a screenshot sometime, but maybe it'll help someone in its current form already.

[Talle]

Originally posted by Riepah:

Hmm, I didn't think of that. I've never written a guide before, do you think this is worth being posted as one?
I guess I'll go ahead and give it a try. Maybe I'll update it with a screenshot sometime, but maybe it'll help someone in its current form already.

yeah this will work as a guide to the game i would post it as one if i were u

[ric]

Is there any point to grappling up if you're doing the fight solo? (I haven't been able to beat any of the harder Colossus with a group) It sounds like it would just be wasting time.

[Talle]

Originally posted by ric:

Is there any point to grappling up if you're doing the fight solo? (I haven't been able to beat any of the harder Colossus with a group) It sounds like it would just be wasting time.

yes it will stun the boss if you break a part by beating it off.

[ric]

Originally posted by Talle:

Originally posted by ric:

Is there any point to grappling up if you're doing the fight solo? (I haven't been able to beat any of the harder Colossus with a group) It sounds like it would just be wasting time.

yes it will stun the boss if you break a part by beating it off.

From what I remember, I'm going to be up there fighting for much longer than he's stunned. eg; seems like an overall dps loss.

[Talle]

Originally posted by ric:

Originally posted by Talle:

yes it will stun the boss if you break a part by beating it off.

From what I remember, I'm going to be up there fighting for much longer than he's stunned. eg; seems like an overall dps loss.

well no bc it forces him to be still so it gives you a chance to attack weak spots he has with powerful weapons with out the chance of missing.
its kinda just used as a time to destroy all of his breakable parts

[Riepah]

Originally posted by Talle:

yeah this will work as a guide to the game i would post it as one if i were u

Thanks for the encouragement, I went ahead and did that. My first guide! Hooray!

[Riepah]

Originally posted by Talle:

a little advice for the next post use screen shots to show what you are talking about instead of explaining it so it will be a more easy read

I updated the OP with a link to my guide, which contains some extra information and a TL;DR screenshot section now. Thank you!

Originally posted by ric:

Is there any point to grappling up if you're doing the fight solo? (I haven't been able to beat any of the harder Colossus with a group) It sounds like it would just be wasting time.

It allows you to stagger the Colossus. Attacking it while it is staggered allows you to easily hit its weak points, and any damage you do while it is staggered does not increase its Rage meter, meaning, it won't trigger its next invincibility phase so soon.

[spyke2009]

Mods... Pin this thread and, pin a medal on this wonderful player.

[Babda]

you guys dont kill coloosi in seconds? waht do you mean mechanics? we play the same game right?

[Lunacy]

The only time I've been able to grapple one of these is the grave walker, the rest the grapple hasn't seemed to have worked on their weakened parts and the parts just break from gunfire.

[Riepah]

Originally posted by Lunacy:

The only time I've been able to grapple one of these is the grave walker, the rest the grapple hasn't seemed to have worked on their weakened parts and the parts just break from gunfire.

Grapple should always work on yellow parts - you just have to actually hit them with your grappling hook. Some parts can be a little tricky to hit. Spam grapple until you get it - there is no cooldown to your grappling hook to worry about! For some high up, hard-to-reach places it's easier when you have the high ground, like Obi-Wan did.

Have you reached Void Intercept Battle Hard yet? On Normal, you often get matched up with players who already have level 100 weapons, the removable parts of a Normal Colossus often don't have enough health to stand against that for long. On Hard mode, you'll usually get enough time to grapple.