Bulk Detonator on Salvage

[Dwarvin' Marvin]

I'm doing the current elite deep dive solo, and the current dive has a salvage mission with shield disruptor. I've wiped twice to a bulk detonator spawning on the side of the wall above me during the uplink sections. So I'm sitting there on Driller, knowing that it'll damn near one-shot me if I try to fight it in the uplink zone, so I back out. But I can't burst it down quick enough before the uplink reaches zero, and it's an insta game over.

Obviously, this isn't as much of a problem with multiplayer. You can burst it down more effectively, and you can balance stepping in and out of the uplink with your teammates.
But in single player, especially if the bulk spawns just as you start the uplink, you can't really back away without leaving the zone and risking mission control force-ending the mission when the bar drops to zero.

I've been trying to think about just how to deal with it. If Gunner notices it fast enough, it might be able to burst it down within the duration of one energy shield. Engi's decoy grenades might be able to lure it away long enough to kill it or stall out the uplink.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has any ideas for a way to deal with it using Driller or Scout, without just accepting that you'll need to kamikaze it down. I haven't been able to come up with a solution outside of just hoping that it spawns just as the uplink is about to finish, or spawns far enough away that I can deal with it before it gets too close.

[Bookslayer10]

Bosco electrical rounds are good for slowing a bulk down to buy you time

[V0lcanF1re]

Focus fire it, keep move in circle and kill it at all cost, some grenades more useful than others depend class, if he too close after dead move away from green circle and quick back in

[climbingeastofwinter]

I can't remember bulk collision, but you may be able to drill a hole for the uplink deep enough that the bulk can't dig through to you before you kill it, also you'll just have a single line of approach to worry about. You might be able to summon resupply pods adjacent to the uplink and kill the bulk just by dropping a pod on it along its travel vector.

[CCShad]

“Solo salvage bulk encounter during uplink as flamer driller” is admittedly one of the toughest things to work around in the game, and I can imagine it being near-impossible with certain builds and perfectly unoptimal bulk spawn time + location, simply due to lack of TTK.

This answer may sound like a cop-out, but the easiest way to deal with it is just to use a better build while playing Salvage missions solo as Driller:
Use the cryo cannon and axes so you freeze it, hit two axes, freeze it, hit two more axes, and boom, victory + nullifying its explosion. Or use the sludge pump to drastically slow it down while blasting it with your secondary - just be careful not to slow it when it gets close to the uplink zone, or you’ll inadvertently extend its area denial, increasing likelihood of mission failure (This applies to the CRSPR as well, to a lesser degree).
If you absolutely insist on using the flamethrower, I would personally recommend using it in conjunction with the wave cooker with the thermal shock mod, to give it better TTK for larger enemies. It hasn’t failed me yet in situations that demand quickly killing a bulk, such as salvages and escorts.

Scout shouldn’t have much issue with bulks? His main combat role in multiplayer is taking down high priority targets, so he has plenty of high dmg, short burst based builds. Overtuned particle accelerator drak, ai stability engine + weakpoint dmg upgrades Deepcore, and supercooled chamber m1k, to name a few. Tack on IFG grenades or cryo grenades to make it easier, to slow and increase damage against the approaching bulk(s). Cryo will take 2 grenades to freeze, but if you’re quick it’s enough time to drain around half of its health on Haz 5, making it worth it in desperate scenarios such as these.

And as a general rule of thumb as any dwarf in Salvage, you can preemptively figure out if bulk detonators are in the spawn pool by counting the disruptive enemies you see (Menaces, stingtails, goo bombers, wardens, shellbacks, etc). The amount of them that can be in the spawn pool for any given mission is limited (exact amount depends on the hazard level, the limit is 3 types in Haz 5), and consistent throughout the mission. If you’ve encountered bulks earlier in the mission, or 1 or more disruptive slots are mysteriously unaccounted for by the time you reach the uplink phase, you should take extra precaution and clear out the area around the uplink thoroughly, to give you more space to work with, and better line of sight. If you’re unfamiliar with counting disruptive enemies in the spawn pool, there are more detailed guides online.

[Dwarvin' Marvin]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll try the bunker strat winter was talking about and probably switch for the sludge pump. I think it'll work fine as long as I make manipulate the space right.
The window with the cryo cannon for freezing and killing it with the axes is pretty small because of how fast it defrosts, and not something I have enough experience with yet, not totally comfortable trying to pull it off more than half way through a deep dive. I imagine if you had the timing down, that would be the best way to handle it, though.

The issue I was having is less the death explosion, and more how it's AoE slam pretty much completely covers the uplink area once it reaches you. I think playing around with the environment more is probably the most reliable solution, just tricky because of the way the area around the drop pod likes to spawn half way buried in the ground most of the time. Even if the bunker doesn't work out, I imagine wider sight lines would make it easier to spot it before it even gets close and trivialise most of it.

[Chris!!]

I thought bulk detonators weren't supposed to spawn on solo salvage?

[babuk.fracal]

As solo driller

Ask bosco to focus it
Make sure to slow it with your weapons

If you can, try to make a build that can kill it

The easiest solution is subata with t5a while building the weapon around weakpoint damage

Bulks have weakpoints that multiply damage by 3 by default

Originally posted by Chris!!:

I thought bulk detonators weren't supposed to spawn on solo salvage?

They do spawn in that situation

[Chris!!]

Originally posted by babuk.fracal:

Originally posted by Chris!!:

I thought bulk detonators weren't supposed to spawn on solo salvage?

They do spawn in that situation

In what situation again? I don't follow.

[babuk.fracal]

Originally posted by Chris!!:

Originally posted by babuk.fracal:

They do spawn in that situation

In what situation again? I don't follow.

Solo salvage

[Chris!!]

Originally posted by babuk.fracal:

Originally posted by Chris!!:

In what situation again? I don't follow.

Solo salvage

What, just in general? Pretty sure Season 05 changes stated that Bulks will no longer spawn on solo salvage.

[babuk.fracal]

Originally posted by Chris!!:

Originally posted by babuk.fracal:

Solo salvage

What, just in general? Pretty sure Season 05 changes stated that Bulks will no longer spawn on solo salvage.

Not sure where you get that from

Didn't see any patch saying this since Season 5

Only thing I can think of would be the removal of bulk spawn on the tutorial

And maybe solo deep scan during the drillevator

[Dwarvin' Marvin]

You're thinking about deep scan. They don't spawn on the solo drillevator.

[Chris!!]

Originally posted by Dwarvin' Marvin:

You're thinking about deep scan. They don't spawn on the solo drillevator.

Oh, well that's peachy.

[CCShad]

Originally posted by Dwarvin' Marvin:

You're thinking about deep scan. They don't spawn on the solo drillevator.

Was there an actual patch note for this? I may have encountered an oversight the other day if that’s the case: A bulk spawned in the initial wave that spawns after starting up the drillevator, in a solo mission.
My guess for how this happened would be that they set it so bulks can’t spawn under a certain depth in drillevator missions, but still have a chance to spawn above ground while the drillevator is just beginning to move.

[kestrel]

Originally posted by Dwarvin' Marvin:

Engi's decoy grenades might be able to lure it away long enough to kill it or stall out the uplink.

bulks ignore lures and pheromones

What I'm wondering is if anyone has any ideas for a way to deal with it using Driller or Scout, without just accepting that you'll need to kamikaze it down.

for scout, you can try either electric focus shots or marked for death with the M1K. the former will massively slow it down, giving you more time to kill it with hipfire and secondaries. the latter will let you kill it much faster, but it's a less flexible overclock compared to EFS. i would not base my entire loadout around trying to deal with one enemy, least of all on a deep dive
no matter what you pick, bring IFGs because they hard counter bulks by slowing them and making them take more damage, on top of just being really good in general

for driller; good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ luck. i guess cryo and heavy hitter EPC?