Late game boss WAY too hard

[MegaMetalManX]

Has anyone reached a point in the game where you fight this huge glowing mecha thing with multicolor neon wings and Touhou bullet patterns? Is this boss optional or what? It honestly feels like it is, because even on the easiest settings and having basically every upgrade, it still takes minimal damage from my most powerful weapons, and can wipe the floor with my ass in under 2 minutes. If anyone has any pointers or strategies to beating it, I would REALLY like to know, because right now it seems damn near impossible

[Dos Equis©]

The one at the top of the big shaft in the middle is in fact optional

gravity harness is pretty clutch for it

[Animach1ne]

It is optional. I managed to beat it late game with almost every upgrade. First phase, I used the lance aiming down while being above it, this way you're kinda floating because of the wapon's knocknack. Second phase (after it splits into two) I used charged missiles aiming diagonally while staying grounded. Third phase (bullet hell) was sketchy, I basically stood far away and finished using missiles.

[MrUnbecoming]

This boss took me 5 hours cumulative, but that's because for about 4 hours of those attempts I didn't have certain equipment and that made it way harder or possibly impossible. Wait until you get the jet boots, hover boots, charge missiles, power bombs, and slide boost.

[myrontaslov]

Originally posted by MrUnbecoming:

This boss took me 5 hours cumulative, but that's because for about 4 hours of those attempts I didn't have certain equipment and that made it way harder or possibly impossible. Wait until you get the jet boots, hover boots, charge missiles, power bombs, and slide boost.

Also there is an item that will cut the damage you take in half. That's pretty crucial to the fight, but I also still needed to turn on accessibility features to beat that boss. IMO the upgrade you get for fighting them isn't that great and unless you're going for one of the completionist achievements/endings, I'd skip it.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by myrontaslov:

Also there is an item that will cut the damage you take in half. That's pretty crucial to the fight, but I also still needed to turn on accessibility features to beat that boss. IMO the upgrade you get for fighting them isn't that great and unless you're going for one of the completionist achievements/endings, I'd skip it.

Oh I don't think I ever got that. Even though all the slots on the equipment screen were consumed. Maybe it was the magma armor or whatever it's called that had that as part of its benefits. I didn't even read it, I realised what it did as a baseline straight away. But also got that after the boss. Also yeah the upgrade reward for the fight is just pretty terrible, but the actual fight was really fun to do over and over so I didn't mind too much.

[Kalir]

I actually discovered a pretty handy trick for one of the phases.

The X-Missile has a hidden feature to it: if you have a missile combo charged, you can fire a bomb instead for an alternate attack with different properties. Using this feature with the Plasma Arc makes the second phase go SO MUCH smoother.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Kalir:

I actually discovered a pretty handy trick for one of the phases.

The X-Missile has a hidden feature to it: if you have a missile combo charged, you can fire a bomb instead for an alternate attack with different properties. Using this feature with the Plasma Arc makes the second phase go SO MUCH smoother.

I just used the power bomb every time he fired his missiles, no charging needed.

[Kalir]

No that's true and great, I'm talking more about damage for that phase. The method I indicated above fires plasma in both horizontal directions, hitting both targets at the same time.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Kalir:

No that's true and great, I'm talking more about damage for that phase. The method I indicated above fires plasma in both horizontal directions, hitting both targets at the same time.

Oh I see what you mean. I knew about that but not its interaction with plasma arc. I discovered by accident with the main weapon that it shoots straight up, and it seemed useless so I didn't even bother testing anything else with it.

[Kaisharga]

Good ol' Six-Jets. I wasn't sure I was even really doing any damage to him until I turned Damage Received to zero in Assist settings. Turns out all my myriad deaths were very, *very* early in the fight.

[Aria Kawa]

I've beat the gam.e, got 98% map completion and about 140 items, and I can't see myself beating this guy, Pretty sure he's guarding the last piece of gear in the game, but he's just really hard to cheese because his health goes down way too slow.

[MrUnbecoming]

Originally posted by Aria Kawa:

I've beat the gam.e, got 98% map completion and about 140 items, and I can't see myself beating this guy, Pretty sure he's guarding the last piece of gear in the game, but he's just really hard to cheese because his health goes down way too slow.

You can do it, you just need to use certain tactics. There really is not a lot of leeway with how you can fight him. I would explain the strategy if you want, but I think it was more fun bashing my head against the wall and figuring it out tbh. It's a battle of attrition, he does way more damage than you possibly can, and WAY faster. I will say, don't forget you have charge missiles, and if you have as many missiles as you say (98% map completion and 140 items) You probably have enough missiles to skip entire phases. Don't be afraid to use power bombs, because they will destroy his homing missiles and drones. There is a way to avoid the aggressively homing missiles without using them but it's super annoying and inconsistent-feeling.