How do you beat mission 97 Surrounded! on inferno?

[Gasp]

I gotta know
and none of this "have 20k health and then just facetank every enemy and never be at real risk of dying cuz healthkits heal you so much"

[teravisor]

Which class are you trying to beat it as?

[Gasp]

everything but* wing diver so far

[BlueBomber]

If a mission seem to hard then the answer come down to:

1. not enough airstrikes
2. FENCERS
3. have 20k health and then just facetank every enemy and never be at real risk of dying cuz healthkits heal you so much

[teravisor]

Originally posted by American shorthair paladin:

everything for wing diver so far

Solo I presume?
Well then... Take very energy-effective weapon like rapier or lance and something far-shooting to kill saucers like sniper (however idunns and crossbows will work too I think) that won't get you into overheat (e.g. don't take monster) and jump like crazy trying to take everything down while trying to stockpile at least some energy. I like things with ammo clips because you choose when to reload them, they don't drain your energy right away. Prioritize getting away from enemies above killing them, and killing first flying things (as they are fast), then saucers, then things on earth.

It will take you long time to do it...

[Gasp]

sorry, every class except wing diver*

[teravisor]

Originally posted by American shorthair paladin:

sorry, every class except wing diver*

That makes things simpler, just take fencer and dash around field killing all things. There are youtube videos on how to do it with him (loadout I've seen was shield/lance+twin lance/twin lance). Idea was almost same: be much faster than anything that wants to kill you, stay ahead of them and never let them close enough without you raising shield first.

[Salty?!]

As a Ranger, you need someone suitable to pull aggro while you focus on the Transport Ships, Deroys and bosses (depending on difficulty). I recommend a Stampede and some sort of sniper rifle. By far, Ranger is the most difficult class to complete this as.

As an Air Raider, you stand a better chance for survival because of the fast vehicles you can use. A Gigantus tank is fast and can outrun the insects, but slowly gets chipped away by drones and dragons. Regardless, it remains your best bet if you plan on fighting on the move. Strafe Plan can clear lanes of enemies chasing you, or you can hop out periodically and use 150mm Whale Strikes.

When the dragons appear, theres a small house with a roof in which you can place Decoys under which the Dragons will swarm to. In that case you can take a Bazelart and machine gun strafe the houses as the dragons dive bomb into it. Just be sure not to blow it up. This is the standard strategy I've seen for Inferno players on that mission.

As a Fencer, the biggest challenge is finding time to reload your shield and finding a way to kill the Deroys in the beginning. Otherwise its just a matter of dashing around and killing things one at a time with a Blasthole Spear or Spine Driver, depending on your choice. Taking a dash-canceling kit is essential, but make sure your melee weapon is capable of reaching 160 meters so you can destroy the Transport Ships. Many players use a dash-canceling kit and a Force Blade/Ax of some sort for the ships and other long distance enemies, and a Spear and Shield for the dragons.

Best of luck!

[Zephyr]

I remember our multi strategy for that mission was a bit different. As a ranger, your best bet is to go to the closest corner and hide between the houses. Usually, you will die a few times. Destroying the deroys is important to give some breathing room to the wing diver(s)

Both wing diver and fencer also move to that corner, but stay mobile and try to clean as much as they can. The fencer(s) in particular must also focus on the deroys.

Air raider takes a balam, and airstrikes/artillery strikes he can uses really often, moving to the corner too and hiding. He will also probably die a lot.

When the initial waves are dealt with, the group should have enough points so the Air Raider can summon the balam. The balam will be used to tank the dragons as best as possible, swinging his arms while aiming at his feet to kill a maximum of them with the punches. The balam won't exactly last long, but it will definitively do the job as a tank. The dragons are absolutely brutal.

When the ships arrive, the wing divers must perch themselves on them, and the fencers take the aggro and try to lead the ennemies away while trying to murder the ships. Ranger must takes this opportunity to try to down the ships. With proper play, the wing divers can jump from ship to ship, destroying them in the process before jumping to the next. The benefit of being up there is the queens, golden ants and silvers spiders will remain under the ship as the wing diver aggro them, allwong the rest of the team to take them out.

This is by no mean easy. The wing divers and fencers in particular need to be extremely competent, have a lot of armor, and luck with the health drops, seeing they will be doing most of the job and the tanking.

[Johnson]

Originally posted by American shorthair paladin:

I gotta know
and none of this "have 20k health and then just facetank every enemy and never be at real risk of dying cuz healthkits heal you so much"

Cheat it

[Shoty]

Here is the famous easy tactics in Japan ( poor english sorry)
----------
1 fencer must need for this mission.(4ppl with all class is best)
----------
ranger: sniper rifle + nova (for quick kill center deloy)
diver: lazer lance + izner
raider: decoy(option coz diver can work as decoy) + Torchka + chopper (not neraid)
fencer:spear + catapalt (for dash cancel) + any weapons.
----------

1:
important:DO NOT KILL a lot of spider and ants (coz 2nd wave coming when they are low numberd)

ranger: quick kill deloy and drones. then get bite from ant or "down". (for correct aggro to fencer)
diver: quick kill right deloy with izner, and drones. then get bite ants or "down". (for correct aggro to fencer)
raider: call chopper after destroy deloy. then get bite from ants or "down".
fencer: correct all aggro. just run, highest priority is survive. running with 1/3 of map (behind from start position)

2: kill all drones then take some spider until ship coming. (stop killing when they are coming. do not open it yet.)

3: fencer: wake up diver then quick back.
diver: must go away from fencer. some mob will follow diver,
so clear them then wake up other ppl.
raider:call 2nd chopper then set decoy for entrance at house near by river, north side.
(under roof) and set torchka for defence decoy.
ranger: get in 2nd chopper.

4: raider and ranger : stand by with chopper with low height, near by decoy house.(same height with embankment is better)
diver:hide with decoy
fencer: starting kill some spider.

5:dragons coming. but they are slow and weak than other mission.

fencer: stop killing spider, keep running and try killing dragons and queen from 8 o'clocks.
(still highest priority is survive)
diver: just keep shooting izner or lance from torchka until coming queen.
(need escape before queen attack)
ranger+raider: do not use missile, just killing dragons and ants queen with machingun.
tell to diver what queen coming.

6:diver and choppers stand by at 2 o'clock ship and 10 o'clock ship
(need quick take down them coz they spawn "bee")
fencer: killing something until ship open.

7: take down 2ship and kill all mobs at sky.
then diver go to top of 9 o'clock ship (normal ants ship). she can work as decoy.

8:take down other ship.

9:killing all mob under diver, then take down last ship

10:mission clear.

[Gasp]

where did you find that shoty?

[Zephyr]

It amuses me, because it just show the kind of strategy I've seen japanese players pulling out on the last inferno missions, and they are the ones who usually not only don't work, but conflict heavily with efficiency of actual good strategies.
Remind me of the guys I've seen use an actual laser as a wing diver for 96, or using a tank as an air raider...

While in theory it's the ranger's job to destroy the deroy(s) and drones, in practice, that just won't happen. You can't not die by being mobbed by spiders and ants, event with an heavy escort, unless you have some ungodly amount of armor... While taking an unreloadable weapon is a decent options on a short map, on a protracted engagement like 97, that's not a good idea, even if you don't live long, and only get revived toward the middle/end

As for wing diver, for your short range weapon, take a rapier, not a laser lance. A rapier is far better in terms of sheer dps, has a pretty fast reload and a better handling than a lance. A good wing diver can tank better than a fencer can hope to ever do just by dodging.

For air raider, an helicopter is BAD with a capital B. Helicopters have terrible controls, which may be alleviated if you use a controller, but I somehow doubt it. Not only that but they don't have nearly enough armor, nor killing capacity. Dragons can and will murder you at the first sign of defiance. Relying on turrets is also a terrible idea, as they take far too long to reload, can only cover a limited area, and worst of all, actually hit teamates. While decoys are good on paper, the ennemies will pop them anyway, and taking some will reduce your killing capacity, and killing capacity is what you want. You have the fencer and wing diver to do all the tanking.
You desperately need the balam to tank the dragons though, it's extremely hard to survive the dragons without the balam to act as a tank to them.

Now, if you manage to make it to when the ship open, the wing diver with a rapier can solo most of them by jumping from ship to ship. It helps if the fencer can destroy some of them, but it's pretty much a given the wing diver will do most of the heavy lifting. It's extremely important to leave one ship alive with the wing diver sitting on it to take aggro from the queens, until the queens are gone. Do not destroy the last ship where the wing diver is standing if the queens aren't dead, or it will make your life a living hell. Bees aren't that dangerous, but gold ants and silver spiders definitively are. That's what you want to prioritize in term of ships if you can.

Not only does the japanese plan is flawed from the start, but it also relies on a lot of things going well and ask for the two slowest characters to make it on the other side of the map, with limited to no real weapons. Even with 2 others players being tanking gods, this isn't something you can pull with ease. And they want you to survive the dragons with just a chopper and a bunch of decoys. I tell you right now, not gonna happen.

As such I'm more than sceptic about this plan. I know what worked four our group, and even then while our plan was sound, it took a lot of attempt because at the end of the day, you rely on your wing divers/fencers to play really well and get lucky with health drops, as well as having the balam to take the heat from the dragon wave long enough to allow clean up.

No matter how you cut it, this mission is horrible, and personnally? If I never play this mission on inferno again, it will be too soon.

[Salty Peanut]

♥♥♥♥ have been pulling that strat for years my dude. seen it done myself on multiple occasions. you just need a team that knows how to actually do it

[Gasp]

where did you even find that strat online?

[Archbishop Desmond Calorie]

Originally posted by Shoty:

Here is the famous easy tactics in Japan ( poor english sorry)

We did Shoty's one on PS4 too a lot. Its a safe bet but its best played with friends. In the west, and especially on PC there isnt really much of a dedicated playerbase, so finding people to pull this off with, would be a real pain.