Ixillis and multiplayer

[Sterling]

I'll preface it by saying I'm no stranger to difficulty in games. I usually pick the hardest option from the start and deal with what comes next, but then comes the point: if the difficulty is just artificial and tries to punish everything the player does heavily and for no reason, I'll hop on the previous difficulty and see if it's difficult instead of complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Sometimes they're just really hard tests of game knowledge and skill, and other times they're just cheap and infuriating. It is not enjoyable, nor challenging to just be facing nearly impossible odds that are not beaten by getting better at the game. That was partially my experience with Ixillis, although I was solo and had the pleasure of forcing my way through that abomination of balance where you're forced to turn your back on a enemy that can easily knock you off the bridge, nuke you or some other thing that was added to give the impression that the fight is "challenging". This, however, became much more frustrating when playing in multiplayer, which stacked the issues of the mode with the issues of the fight.

I was in a group of clearly competent people who were coordinating to take down the wisps while also interrupting the scream and dealing respectable damage. Damage was not a problem, knowing the mechanics was not a problem and gear was mostly not a problem. What was a problem, however, was being constantly hit by an attack I cannot see coming because I'm busy with the other giant insect on the opposite side of the bridge that can ruin the fight as easily as the first giant insect. All it takes is getting hit once, then you are forced to heal to not get killed, which sometimes can be done by taking cover and healing, while other times you're mortared by some corrosive blob that you could not see coming, because you're too busy with the second giant insect. This stupid issue doesn't even need the second boss to come up, as it can easily be seen by the one player unfortunate enough to have to turn around to shoot the wisps and cover their teammates, only to get sweeped with a melee attack because, to no one's surprise, humans do not have eyes on the back of their heads. Add dodge lag on that garbage and you're going down more times than you should in a fight where you've already spent the past two dozen tries wiping, not to mention the obnoxious lack of openings for someone to revive you, while also being capable of ruining your bleedout health if the boss decides it's fun to throw a corrosive blob that both interrupts the revive and massively lowers your health, if not outright killing you and preventing the revive.

To simplify:

• Having the two bosses on opposite sides of the bridge is a recipe for disaster when the one you turned your back to can easily melee you without you knowing until it's too late;
  
• You do not need to have two bosses for the aforementioned issue to happen, as it can happen if you turn around to shoot at the wisps that spawn on the other side of the bridge, getting sweeped by Ixillis because you don't have eyes on the back of your head;
  
• In the event of you seeing the attack, it's possible for it to still hit you because of the "♥♥♥♥ you" multiplayer dodge lag that makes you still get hit during what otherwise would be your iframes ("then just don't join a high ping lobby" would not be a thing when I can't see the lobbies' pings);
  
• Getting knocked down from the bridge by a laser attack that doesn't even kill you is nothing short of obnoxious and ruins the purpose of armoring yourself to survive the attack in the first place;
  
• Barely having an opening to revive a player that dared die to an unseen attack is already bad enough (awful, even), but being able to mess up their bleedout health and near-future revive by accidentally drawing the attention of a corrosive blob is infurating.

Makes me wonder if the person in charge of this actually plays the game and would find it fun to add a debuff that has a 20% chance to one-hit the player every 5 minutes, because that's the idea I got after countless tries on a horribly designed boss with a competent group.

[glenn3e]

Use that mod that creates a standing shield for 10 seconds. It blocks most of the attacks on your team except the melee attack so it gives a breather. The wisps just crash into the shield and die.

[Sterling]

Originally posted by glenn3e:

Use that mod that creates a standing shield for 10 seconds. It blocks most of the attacks on your team except the melee attack so it gives a breather. The wisps just crash into the shield and die.

I tried it and gave up after seeing the melee goes right through it, since the melee's the bigger problem of the two.

[Bonemiser]

Yeah, Ixillis is definitely one of the hardest bosses in the game. Can't think of any other more demanding skill checks off the top of my head. There's a hard DPS check on the twin charge attack, needing to kill the wisps / "break the targets" with a semi-automatic weapon, and remembering exactly what the passive laser-spam Ixillis is up to.

it sounds like you already beat it (I hope), but for future runs there's two tips I use to make things easier to track:
1) If you stay at the entrance or exit, you can watch both Ixillis bosses. Keep one in your left peripheral and the other on your right. You can camp there until he throws a corrosive bomb, and when that happens just switch sides or run forward and back. Dodge into the wall for melee swipes.
2) One Ixillis is always going to use the "passive" laser beam attack pattern after the double charge attack DPS check. The lasers always start on the exit side and inch their way to the entrance, blasting inch by inch. Be mindful when it starts to move to the exit-side between any one of the wind-up laser beams (except the first, which blasts the exit) and you won't have to think about it anymore.

I very seriously doubt that there's a way to tank through the wisps or the scream attack, so you just have to perform to expectation. Flicker Cloak and Veil of the Black Sun did not work consistently for me. This also means don't bring Slayer Hunting Pistol + Crossbow here, you need at least one automatic weapon for the wisps.

I died a lot on this boss, and I don't recommend enraging it unless you're intentionally going for the item.

[zverozvero]

How gas bombs and spawns go in multiplayer? I allways did it solo and holding center of bridge baiting gas bombs close to one another to not hinder my movement was enough once i learned to not dodge away from bridge. One in the back is but a sham till beaming starts and it never start in center so i dont look back till i hear blasts then reposition on 'clear' side between blasts.

[Darth_Angeal]

Ixilis is tough yeah, but your issue seems a bit unfounded.

Only one of them always attacks you with gas bombs or standard attacks. The other is mostly in the background or using the laser in parts of the bridge, but the laser is something you can predict and dodge.
The only real trouble is the thing with the wisps, but if you´re fast enough, the boss won´t attack in the time you´re destroying them. (use swarm or repeater - pistol)

So i personally can´t see an issue like "I´ve to focus on a boss, meanwhile the other attacks me from behind.".
And if you mean the fast attack after the DPS - phase, you should ALWAYS turn on the one, which came to the bridge lately.

At last... "...purpose of armoring yourself..." ...you should go full DPS on Ixilis and learn to dodge the AA´s. As you mentioned, you can´t easy rezz someone or you can get knocked back from the bridge etc. It doesn´t make sense to go tanky VS Ixilis. This will just make the fight longer, you might do more mistakes, whatever. Just go full crit with damage VS weak spots and use stuff like swarm , breath of the desert or hot spot. If you´re in a 3 man party, one could come with the undying bubble and the damage aura.
This should beat Ixilis pretty easy in theory. Just get some practice on it. Especially bosses like Ixilis or the Queen are making this game more special and challenging across the board. I would love to see more bosses with mechanics like they have and new mechanics on higher difficulties.

Oh and don´t forget bufffood!

[Darth_Angeal]

Originally posted by zverozvero:

How gas bombs and spawns go in multiplayer? I allways did it solo and holding center of bridge baiting gas bombs close to one another to not hinder my movement was enough once i learned to not dodge away from bridge. One in the back is but a sham till beaming starts and it never start in center so i dont look back till i hear blasts then reposition on 'clear' side between blasts.

The boss acts like in solo. The only real difference, next to more health/ more damage, is, that wisps spawn on both sides of the bridge. Means someone has to look away from the boss to do them, but that´s not really an issue with focus from the players, since the boss don´t do anything for like 10s. (Otherwise you mods like swarm or the bubble to avoid the wisps.)

[Esak - Not a pleutre]

Getting knocked down from the bridge by a laser attack that doesn't even kill you is nothing short of obnoxious and ruins the purpose of armoring yourself to survive the attack in the first place;

You have like a giant light spot when she is near you and activate her laser....

[Sterling]

Originally posted by Darth_Angeal:

Ixilis is tough yeah, but your issue seems a bit unfounded.

Only one of them always attacks you with gas bombs or standard attacks. The other is mostly in the background or using the laser in parts of the bridge, but the laser is something you can predict and dodge.
The only real trouble is the thing with the wisps, but if you´re fast enough, the boss won´t attack in the time you´re destroying them. (use swarm or repeater - pistol)

So i personally can´t see an issue like "I´ve to focus on a boss, meanwhile the other attacks me from behind.".
And if you mean the fast attack after the DPS - phase, you should ALWAYS turn on the one, which came to the bridge lately.

At last... "...purpose of armoring yourself..." ...you should go full DPS on Ixilis and learn to dodge the AA´s. As you mentioned, you can´t easy rezz someone or you can get knocked back from the bridge etc. It doesn´t make sense to go tanky VS Ixilis. This will just make the fight longer, you might do more mistakes, whatever. Just go full crit with damage VS weak spots and use stuff like swarm , breath of the desert or hot spot. If you´re in a 3 man party, one could come with the undying bubble and the damage aura.
This should beat Ixilis pretty easy in theory. Just get some practice on it. Especially bosses like Ixilis or the Queen are making this game more special and challenging across the board. I would love to see more bosses with mechanics like they have and new mechanics on higher difficulties.

Oh and don´t forget bufffood!

If by "unfounded" you mean I have to wipe 201 times instead of 200 to be able to say anything, sure, but what I said comes from time after time trying different things with them all failing miserably because of some random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the boss decided to do, be it sweeping me while I'm playing shooting gallery, lasering me barely an inch enough to push me out of the bridge and alive, screeching my entire team's health off because someone dared not pick slayer+devastator, or whatever else it has in stock to make the fight a miserable and frustrating experience. How am I even supposed to begin understanding the smallest details of the mechanics while I'm too busy trying to keep myself and everyone else alive in whatever way I can? The game never even hinted that I should turn on the one that came last amidst the shower of frustration the fight brings. It's poorly designed and it shows.

I'm glad you aren't one step from tearing your hair off because of those two stupid butterflies, but I cannot honestly agree it's a challenging fight. I've seen challenging, I've played challenging, and this is not it; this is masochism and punishing for the sake of it. It could easily be made a lot better by not having the player not focus away from one of two highly damaging bosses and telegraphing the attacks in a way that the player doesn't need to watch the boss, but just the area the attack will hit. Imagine if the laser had a pre-fire animation that guided the player on where and when it'll hit, instead of just being tossed out of the bridge; it would still need player skill and coordination, but it wouldn't basically be a surprise attack that says "♥♥♥♥ you for paying attention to the other part of the fight".

[Fuzz]

Get good.

[Senji]

Originally posted by Sterling:

[...]Sometimes they're just really hard tests of game knowledge and skill, and other times they're just cheap and infuriating...[...]

There is nothing rly hard on Ixilis there are way harder bosses where you need to manage the additional minions that come in or some phases that demand DPS to break them.

If you are no stranger to harder modes you should be smart enough to get knowledge of your boss and his mechanics.
That's a common thing for advanced players. Go in , test dps , test phases , adapt , easy.


1) The 2nd Ixilis charges his spear late and goes from left to right which means you can go to the left side after 1st or 2nd charge EASY.
2) You can hit the cocoon so the 2nd Ixilis alrdy has less exp to start with (best to kill it if the 1st one is at 75%~)
3) You can get Veil of the Black Tear , Sentinel , Flicker Cloak , Rift Walker , (not sure if Breath of the Desert works but also this)
4) Like i stated above if you adapt you take big weapons like sniperrifle, huntingpistol etc but combine it if needed with faster dps weapons for the projectiles it's no buisness after couple of tries.

EDIT:

Originally posted by Sterling:

Makes me wonder if the person in charge of this actually plays the game and would find it fun to add a debuff that has a 20% chance to one-hit the player every 5 minutes, because that's the idea I got after countless tries on a horribly designed boss with a competent group.

Which difficulty are we talking about ? If you have a "competent group" and can't make normal than that's not much competence .

Don't understand why ppl come with the "I'm naturally good but this game is ♥♥♥♥"-Statement.
Than you are obviously not smart enough to adapt .

[FlynnTheFearless]

I agree this fight has some issues for players on harder diffs in multi like you point out not seeing the enemy. However they have added a gift in this game that few use. Sound. Yes sound tells us experienced players quite a bit about the world our characters in. When attacks are coming what enemy where saw us at what point. All kinds of things including boss attacks can be predicted with sound.

[Korii]

I admit, its one of the more chllanging fights, but with good teameork and splitting it worked fine the few times if done her. . .

[Darth_Angeal]

Originally posted by Sterling:

Originally posted by Darth_Angeal:

Ixilis is tough yeah, but your issue seems a bit unfounded.

Only one of them always attacks you with gas bombs or standard attacks. The other is mostly in the background or using the laser in parts of the bridge, but the laser is something you can predict and dodge.
The only real trouble is the thing with the wisps, but if you´re fast enough, the boss won´t attack in the time you´re destroying them. (use swarm or repeater - pistol)

So i personally can´t see an issue like "I´ve to focus on a boss, meanwhile the other attacks me from behind.".
And if you mean the fast attack after the DPS - phase, you should ALWAYS turn on the one, which came to the bridge lately.

At last... "...purpose of armoring yourself..." ...you should go full DPS on Ixilis and learn to dodge the AA´s. As you mentioned, you can´t easy rezz someone or you can get knocked back from the bridge etc. It doesn´t make sense to go tanky VS Ixilis. This will just make the fight longer, you might do more mistakes, whatever. Just go full crit with damage VS weak spots and use stuff like swarm , breath of the desert or hot spot. If you´re in a 3 man party, one could come with the undying bubble and the damage aura.
This should beat Ixilis pretty easy in theory. Just get some practice on it. Especially bosses like Ixilis or the Queen are making this game more special and challenging across the board. I would love to see more bosses with mechanics like they have and new mechanics on higher difficulties.

Oh and don´t forget bufffood!

If by "unfounded" you mean I have to wipe 201 times instead of 200 to be able to say anything, sure, but what I said comes from time after time trying different things with them all failing miserably because of some random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the boss decided to do, be it sweeping me while I'm playing shooting gallery, lasering me barely an inch enough to push me out of the bridge and alive, screeching my entire team's health off because someone dared not pick slayer+devastator, or whatever else it has in stock to make the fight a miserable and frustrating experience. How am I even supposed to begin understanding the smallest details of the mechanics while I'm too busy trying to keep myself and everyone else alive in whatever way I can? The game never even hinted that I should turn on the one that came last amidst the shower of frustration the fight brings. It's poorly designed and it shows.

I'm glad you aren't one step from tearing your hair off because of those two stupid butterflies, but I cannot honestly agree it's a challenging fight. I've seen challenging, I've played challenging, and this is not it; this is masochism and punishing for the sake of it. It could easily be made a lot better by not having the player not focus away from one of two highly damaging bosses and telegraphing the attacks in a way that the player doesn't need to watch the boss, but just the area the attack will hit. Imagine if the laser had a pre-fire animation that guided the player on where and when it'll hit, instead of just being tossed out of the bridge; it would still need player skill and coordination, but it wouldn't basically be a surprise attack that says "♥♥♥♥ you for paying attention to the other part of the fight".

I get your point, but i think, you´re a bit to hard emotional about this one. We died a lot to Ixilis too, but we progressed. My friend was like you so "bäääh bs boss blablubb".

The thing is, he´s not so hard as it feels. The boss has a clear order in the mechanics based on the health. The laser is a big fat lightning and can be heard behind you.

You just really need to get used to and remember the order of the mechanics. It´s like a Raid - boss in an MMORPG. At this time happens this, then happens that..., i´ve to stand here, i´ve to go there, etc...
Ixilis just don´t forgive mistakes especially on higher difficulties, but that´s pretty normal in every game with such boss - mechanics.

And tbh... not every game is meant to take the player at the hand. Even guides or the wiki are community - based and those guys had to find XY stuff by their own too.
It´s trying again and again + checking everything that could be a help like the sound when the laser is loading. It´s all about experience and wiping again and again to find out the skill order and best strategy for every boss. Pay attention and you´ll get what the boss is doing and when he´s doing that. You could even stop shooting and just check "what can happen". You´ve the time.

PS: If you think Ixilis is masochism, you should stay away from the queen. ;)

[FlynnTheFearless]

Originally posted by Darth_Angeal:

Originally posted by Sterling:

PS: If you think Ixilis is masochism, you should stay away from the queen. ;)

So true.

[blue bloods]

l kill lxilis few time , solo and coop .machine guns an canons are my bess works tools , an move fast !!!!!