Any tips for all phases of the final boss?

[Meowcenary]

Pardon my language here, but I just spent 30 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ minutes on the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fist fight against Senator ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and I cant do anything about it. This is on very hard and I can't imagine what it's like on Revengeance. Anyone have any tips for this cause this guy will drive me up the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wall overwise.

[Nathan]

Yup a good tip
rather than cutting the rocks you quickly ninja run under the rock.

[Meowcenary]

Thanks I'll try that if I could get pass that stupid fist fight that I just can't do at all

[The Comedian]

Actually, he is easier on Revengeance. I do believe because QTEs count as counterattacks and do ridiculous amounts of damage to him. That punching QTE deals like 100 damage.
Though compared to hard, he is MUCH more aggressive in the second stage, when you are disarmed.
The general tips are learn his attacks, deffensive offense is extremely useful, because if timed correctly, you can evade some of his attacks while standing right next to him and attacking (AOE explosion and that move that he always starts his 3rd phase with), slide under the rocks he throws, because it's very hard to cut them (though you are rewarded with nanopaste and dealing damage to him if you succeed).

[Meowcenary]

Hmmm... So as long as I get passed the fist fight then, I'll be fine it seems... Right when can be bothered to come back to it then I shall try all these things. Also is the A+X dodge any decent in the fights because I have been using that and it has saved me a few times but it has killed me a few times too?

[The Comedian]

A+X is called defensive offence and it's very uselful, because you have a few frames of invincibility when you use it. Also you can press direction+a+x to dodge wherever you need. In the fist fight stay away from him and dodge his attacks with defensive offence. You have to survive 2 minutes or so. Don't try to deal damage to him, it won't help.

[decaff]

A+X is a MUST to fight Armstrong effectively, both the second and the third form.
In the fistfight, DO NOT BLOCK/PARRY at all. It only decreases the amount of damage you take, which is OK on normal/hard, but useless on VH. Study his moves, then dodge in the last moment to use the invincibility frames of the move when he attacks. I'm not sure if damaging him shortens the invisible timer of how long you have to survive, but I think it might, as getting him to 90% usually means the stage is passed when you get hit. When low on health, just dodge/ninja run around and try to keep Raiden on the opposite side of the arena than where Armstrong currently is.
Other than that, practice and learn from your mistakes. But having made it so far to VH, I bet you know that already :) Good luck!

[Miqs]

Fist fight is simple. All you have to do is run away (or dodge if you have dem skills for it) from him and dodge when he charges at you, continue that for couple of minutes and cutscene plays and third phase begins.

Something like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAvgqxRq_4#t=508

[Gunsmith]

for the first phase back off and use the pincers, swing once and hold to charger a rather rutheless combo attack, depending on difficulty (im assuming normal here) this should be over by the 3rd/4th hit.

second phase, dont bother trying to belt him, without your sword you'll take a pasting even parrying, you're objective here should be to waste time until you move onto phase 3, run around him triggering attacks and back off, be weary of his fast as ♥♥♥♥ charge near the end of the phase, when he drops on one knee hes going to chage, run at him and jump, he'll speed past you and kick at nothing, at times he'll stop mid way and try to yellow grab you, simply jump back over him when he does, dont leave it too late tho, he could still play college football with your face.

phase 3 is the best, once you learn his patterns and an ideal attack run you can insta gib his arse in less then 3 mins with an easy no damage run. but first we must understand our prey.

Armstrong has 4 charging attacks: FLAME: belting the ground causes 1 or 2 perfectly straight firelines, SHATTER: creates yellow cracks which explode upwards after a few seconds and CRACK which is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ worst as it not only homes in on you but divides the arena making manuevering harder and lasts until armstrong either disarms you or buggers off for his rock tossing shinanigans. the final is BLOW where he just blows the ♥♥♥♥ up, chances are he'll pull this when your near and pasting him, OD backwards twice to avoid it but dont charge back in too quickly, you stand a chance of getting caught in the wind down animation.

Armstrong will also CHARGE you from time to time, it has 2 possible outcomes. STANDARD or COLLEGE BALL

STANDARD you can just parry and carry on kicking his ass,

COLLEGE BALL is a yellow unblockable, mid charge he'll often suddenly pull this, Offensive Defence this and stab him in the back.

in addition to this there is also:

DISARM is a fast charge at you, it'll showmo just before impact. parry at the right moment for a QTE sequence resulting in an 11 hit rib combo, if you fail the parry you'll be knocked down (without taking damage) and be given a QTE to kick him away. both disarms class as counter parries whicnh on revengeance mode mean either a 40% slap or a whopping 100% slap. both events mean you need to go get your sword again once their over.

the ROCK TOSS is a piece of piss, ignore the amatuers telling you to run under them and stand your ground like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ beast, bonus man points for singing along as you do. there are 2 rock tosses to bare in mind, the standard one and the finisher, standard is a 4 hitter whilst the finisher is a 6, their patterns are always the same.

I'm using a mouse for this so I aim for each cut before the Zandy prompt appears. its then a case of quickly using movement to line up the cut and then slice with either horizontal or vertical cuts along the hot boxes, you need 3/4 to cut it but ive been able to get away with 2 if im lucky.

imagine aiming for numbers on a clockface (dont be a clever and say you wear a digital watch) and aim,move and cut in the following pattern.

1st rock
1 o'clock/no move/Vertical
2nd rock
10 o'clock/move up/Vertical
3rd rock
3 o'clock /move down/Horizontal
Armstong Lunge
10 o'clock/move right slightly/Vertical

the whole sequence should take less then 3 seconds using no more then 18/20% blade battery.

The finisher is a bit tricker but still better then running under them like a ♥♥♥♥♥

1st rock
12 o'clock/no move/vertical
2nd rock
10 o'clock/move up/vertical
3rd rock
3 o'clock/move up high/Horizontal
4th rock
10 o'clock/move up/vertical
5th rock
7 o'clock/move down/Vertical
Armstong Lunge
10 o'clock/move right slightly/Vertical

now you know his tricks, lets go to the kill itself. this will work on easy, normal and hard, V hard and revengeance require a little more beating to get him to ROCK TOSS but the opener should always be the same

move key
FLRB = Movement, LH = Attack type

as soon as the fight starts Armstrong with go with a FLAME, open with the pinwheel (shaddap i dont know what its called) (HLLL) before landing 2 quick L hits whilst hes still charging, blade cancel and prepare to Offensive Defence (OD) forward in his face as FLAME lands, OD will make you invulnrable for 0.33 seconds as well as slashing at your target, OD 2 FLAMES (you might get one) and nudge forward upon landing the OD (this resets your standing position and prepares you better for the next atteck), Armstrong should follow with another charging attack, he might pull some other ♥♥♥♥ but the chances are rare, open with a Flurry kick (HHH) but switch to light attacks after the 3rd kick hits and you'll stagger him before he finishes charging, blade cancel and Flurry kick (HHHHHH) until you you're stabbing his ♥♥♥♥ with the blade between your toes, get a few hits in before blade cancelling and follow through with an immediate launch (FF+L) once airborn jump up after after his ♥♥♥♥ and lightning strike as he lands (F+H), blade cancel the landing and either pinwheel or flurry until he gets up, by now you should wrecked 50%-70% of his health and he'll have had enough, he might swing at you but he'll more then likely run off for a ROCK TOSS.

Sing IT HAS TO BE THIS WAAAAAY and cut his ♥♥♥♥ up like a king, once thats over he'll go for a REGEN or a DISARM (rare), trot behind him and blade mode his weakspot, as soon as you do follow with an immediate Pinwheel (HLLL), blade cancel the landing and partial Flurry (HHH+LLL) cancel that and Launch (FF+L) before ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ his landing up with a full Flurry (HHHHHH), by now you'll have pretty much killed him, depending on your pacing he should run off for another ROCK TOSS standard or a ROCK TOSS finisher.

if its a standard, SING and slice through the above paragraph again, if its a finisher (look at the markings on the rock (and his health bar)) SING LOUDER and slice through the finisher.

once he lands he'll do a disarm on you, follow the on screen promts and ♥♥♥♥ him up, or just mash reset and go again, THE FUN NEVER STOPS

;)