What am I missing with the assistant manager?

[Ramar]

Ok. I'm at a loss. I'm playing co-op. Now that we are at the Asst. Manager, we are unable to beat him. Over and over. It just seems like this battle is stupidly hard. I get the asst manager, even his TAZ. But really? Asst manager, Taz, R, Laser beams, etc.

Now, I have a tier 4 level 2 hammer, and Lady armor. Same with my partner. Now, before anyone mentions it, I've also used Beef Fuzz, slop, and an damage resistances that I can use.

But even with all that. Jumping beams, blocking, dodging and even trying different stratagies, nothing is working.

I'm wondering if we are just not strong enough. Even with Tier 2 level 4 hammers, (which is the specialty to kill the asst. manager) I'm barely doing any damage. I know, I know, take out the TAZ first (this is what I'm hearing) but even with all buffs and two of us pounding away, we don't seem to be doing much damage.

Is there something I'm missing? I read that there are only so many whetstones in the game. So with 2 of us, the ability to collect stones to upgrade weapons is cut in half. Assuming you share what you find.

Anything I'm missing would be helpful.

Thanks!

[FoamySlobbers]

you need tier 3 tools (to make it easy.) it can be done with a lot( maybe 10 ) of spiky sprigs (throwing not hitting.) black ox hammer things that will help you: try to focus on clearing the adds(smaller robots there are 3 waves of those) before you fight the Asst. manager at all. also I now fight in third person to not be confused with all the lasers, and stuff I run around (clock-wise) at the start so I only have to remember to jump the one laser. when the electric shock starts stay in the center. ***bring plenty of heals and food. roasts give alot of healing smoothies also can give you fighting buffs. ****

[Cranky Kong]

can't say i recommend going after T3 equipment. it's harder than taking out the asst manager and the way it's structured you HAVE to get things in the right order (first termites, then axe to harvest pupa, then hammer, THEN you can finally harvest everything). what i will say though is that after you kill the asst manager you can learn how to make infinite whetstones and plates out of sap and some bug parts. so go ahead and upgrade weps and armor to L5 on both players. healbasas are AoE healing items that are useful in multiplayer (careful not to heal the boss) and of course, spend milk molars learning how to put on multiple mutations and the first and second HP boosts are big (also buy the "meat shield" mutation, that and the first HP boost from milkmolars is a huge boost to HP). also shields are very very good in this game. use those too. you can bring a bunch of roast weevil for healing items. unless he is resistant to it, just use your primary weapon (not hammer) unless of course you have upgraded your hammer in which case sure, use that. if you have one player with the "chopper" mutation the axe helps a lot in reducing his defenses. my team beat it pretty easily and i was using a crossbow (probably worst possible weapon vs him, we did have 3 people though so we had to avoid hitting each other so 3 melee was a little tough sometimes). if you do think you need T3 equipment, your best option is to do the picnic table which gets you to the sandbox where you can collect antlion stuff and make a T3 greatsword without ever needing to fight your way through the upper yard (all the hard stuff is up there). what's a whole lot more important though is just ensuring you have upgraded your armor to L5, upgrades give you a lot of extra defense. also if you don't already have it for multiplayer i can't recommend enough the "reliable friend" mutation. kill each other and revive until you both have T3 reliable friend (it's quick) and try not to both die at the same time.

[pcdeltalink]

The only thing I can think of that would really help that you didn't mention is a ranged attack of some kind. By the end of the fight he overlaps the lasers and electric areas so often that it's difficult to even get a proper chance to attack him at all with melee. At least with a bow or crossbow you can be pelting him with arrows during that phase.

I went with an Ant Club lvl 5 primarily in my fight along with lvl 3 or 4 (don't remember which) Ladybug armor. Lvl 5 crow crossbow for ranged, basic arrows.

Here's my solo fight if it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhAZa-OkC1w

[Methrin]

My co-op buddy and I got railed by him too, in good Tier 2 gear. We're adventurous so we went and got early Tier 3 armor (antlion) and some T3 weapons, we went back and it was a breeze.

If you have a bow and arrows, antlions are very easy to kill and their armor is decent, you can then go in the sandbox and through the fallen barbecue area, past that it's up to you what you're comfortable getting from tier 3. We found it all fairly easy, if you're careful. Termites? They're not that bad. Pupa? Just remember to dry them on the jerky rack, get some near the first termites.

[Ramar]

Well, thanks for all responses. I'm clearly missing something. Even though there are no more icons (A,B,C etc or 1,2,3) are all done in the lower part of the yard. Only one number 4 left in the sandbox.
My point on that is I don't have anything most are talking about. I have found the ability to create a t3 axe but that's it. No tier 3 weapons of any kind. Someone said termites, but haven't found them yet either. Haven't figured out a way to get through the coals. It was mentioned earlier that there is something I can make, but I don't have that recipe either.
Ok, one other word of note. I haven't done the sandbox yet. That's all that's left. That's going to be our next step before going back to the Asst. Manager.
Maybe there is something in the sandbox we are missing.

[Maya-Neko]

The most important part about that fight ist to dodge the enviromental damage. The laser in particular can pretty much kill you relatively fast, but the tesla coils are strong as well. Rather just stand there for 10 seconds, just observing the situation than running into your death.

If you've ranged attacks, then you can obviously use them in that time. That also includes ant clubs (either red or fire ant) being thrown at the opponent, which you can just take a few with you for that specific fight (obviously doesn't upgrade those, which you want to throw).

Originally posted by Ramar:

My point on that is I don't have anything most are talking about. I have found the ability to create a t3 axe but that's it. No tier 3 weapons of any kind. Someone said termites, but haven't found them yet either. Haven't figured out a way to get through the coals. It was mentioned earlier that there is something I can make, but I don't have that recipe either.
Ok, one other word of note. I haven't done the sandbox yet. That's all that's left. That's going to be our next step before going back to the Asst. Manager.
Maybe there is something in the sandbox we are missing.

Keep in mind, that your tools are also weapons, so don't hesitate to use the Axe or the Hammer as such. On top of that most T3 weapon materials can be found on th upper garden (except for the first elevated area next to the hedge). The recipes are unlocked, once you find a specific part of the finished item (like the hammer is unlocked, once you analyze Pupa Leather or Black Ox Horns or just get to brainpower level 13)

On top of that the antlions in the sandbox are normally the first enemies to drop you a T3 weapon and armor. And this armor will also help you against the sizzle effect, especially in the sandbox, but you can alternatively also just eat 10 mint shards and get the same effect through a mutation.

Though for the coal it might be a good idea to get both effects, since it will still burn you alive even with tons of protection. This specific part is more about hit and run than just casually mining coal, so expect it to take quite some time^^

[FoamySlobbers]

once you find an ingredient, & scan it. you will be shown the things you can make from it. (can't get thru coals) look towards Big items in the world for (a shortcut.) study your environment.

[Vedren]

I did this with a tier 2 hammer not upgraded and its pretty simple. When the lasers activate go jam yourself in the corner of the room or jump duck to avoid them if you are good at that while attacking. When the electricity starts stand in front of the terminal. Take about 10 granola bars and use them when avoiding lasers or electricity and it's easy peasy. Always kill his adds first.

[blackphoenixx]

The front by the window and the back wall don't get hit by the electricity, giving you one less thing to pay attention to.
The AM also doesn't close to melee range on its own and its ranged attacks are very slow and easy to dodge.

If you have crow crossbows you can pretty much just stick to those safe spots, dodge the slow ranged attacks and jump/duck the lasers while shooting first the adds and then the boss, occassionally running in to retrieve your ammo.

Takes a little longer than going melee but unless you mess up you shouldn't take any damage at all.

[Razhul]

The biggest help for my friend and I in coop was to a) decide to stay outside of the corners (we were in front of the black monitors the entire time) which get electrified and b) to bring at least 10 beefy healing smoothies to keep our health up. The moment we stopped running around like headless chicken during the fight and stuck to that wall, we won the fight.

[Revalation]

if you are fighting the assistant manager, you should be strong enough to play around the sandbox and even in it.. there you can find higher tier items or the items needed to enter the upper yard and have more acces to even more higher tier weapons and armor. (antlion and sickly roly polies

the assistant manager is not really needed to be defeated before going into other part of the yard, so I would say go out and explore some more! I normally fight him with tier 3 armour at lvl 5 with my strongest weapon at that i have...

his last fase of the battle is where i struggle a bit otherwise I have most succes with fighting him in melee and backing of when lasers start turning. He is rather slow and that way during the moving and evading the lasers I often use my healing/buff items and that makes it doable. ( last part of the battle always feels kinda like a suicide misson because i try to not have him in his last fase for to long because the chance is bigger i screw my movement up)

Hope this helps and good luck in the Backyard!

[Ramar]

Originally posted by Revalation:

if you are fighting the assistant manager, you should be strong enough to play around the sandbox and even in it.. there you can find higher tier items or the items needed to enter the upper yard and have more acces to even more higher tier weapons and armor. (antlion and sickly roly polies

the assistant manager is not really needed to be defeated before going into other part of the yard, so I would say go out and explore some more! I normally fight him with tier 3 armour at lvl 5 with my strongest weapon at that i have...

his last fase of the battle is where i struggle a bit otherwise I have most succes with fighting him in melee and backing of when lasers start turning. He is rather slow and that way during the moving and evading the lasers I often use my healing/buff items and that makes it doable. ( last part of the battle always feels kinda like a suicide misson because i try to not have him in his last fase for to long because the chance is bigger i screw my movement up)

Hope this helps and good luck in the Backyard!

Thanks Revalation!

I had planned to go up to the upper garden and explore but got stopped by the hot coals. haven't figured them out yet. However, after listening to you and others, I think that I should completely get through the sandbox first. then whine again if I can't do it. :)

I found another option to get up into the yard, but when I did what was there was waaaay above my level 2 tier 4 mosquito needle. :)

[DaftCanuck]

My brother and I beat the Asst Manager on "Woah!" difficulty, although I ended up dying during the fight and he had to finish it off.

I also just beat the Asst Manager in my single player game on medium difficulty. I used the insect hammer at level 5 and Black Ant Shield level 5. I wore ant lion armour because I went through the sandbox to the lab and forgot to bring my ladybug armour. I brought bandages, and beefy fuzz smoothies.

During the fight I ignored the Asst Manager until I had defeated his minions, and I would do this every time more spawned. With the lasers, pay attention to ensure you can jump and crouch at the right time, back away from the Asst Manager if needed. When he activates the 4 electric towers, go to the broken glass wall and wait it out so those don't hit you. As for attacking, I just ran in with the 3 hit combo and if I had time for more hits I would continue. When the Asst Manager or the Arc.Rs shoot their ball of energy that bounces around, I was able to parry those with my shield and cause them to bounce away from me.

It can be a tough fight, but if you keep your situational awareness up then you should be able to take him down.

[DaftCanuck]

Oh and as for limited stones, you will eventually learn to craft them so don't be overly concerned about using them for what you need.

[Shady]

There's too many robots. After about 75 attempts solo, I looked up a video on it, I was doing everything right. Ducking/jumping lasers, avoiding tesla coils. That's not the problem. The problem for me is stamina and the little robots. If I kill all the little robots, they just keep respawning, and I'm constantly out of stamina. I'm using antlion armor upgraded, antlion club. I have about 12 granola bars, 8 smoothies, 8 food, and 12 bandages. I run through all of them. It's the little robots stacking up during the tesla coils every time. There's nowhere to hide because you have to avoid the tesla coils, so all the robots move in at me at the same time, and there's nothing i can do. If i kill the robots before the coils start, the assistant manager has way too much health because I'm not hitting it.

What keeps happening to me is one of the little robots will shock me, I'll get stuck for a second without being able to move, and like 12 things will hit me at once. Then I'm running around spamming heal items keymashing trying to survive. If I somehow get lucky enough to avoid being shocked by one of the little robots, I end up getting mobbed by about 9 robots during the tesla coils.

All of the YouTube tutorials on this fight contradict each other. One person says kill all the little robots, another person says don't bother just avoid them. One person says to hide behind the corner pillars during the lasers, another person says absolutely don't do that. After watching about 5 different youtube tutorials on this, and everybody contradicting each other on how to beat this boss, I'm still left wondering if this is where I stop playing the game. I'm definitely not going to load back to a previous save and show up with salt weapons.

This boss is unnecessarily difficult. I understand that it shouldn't be too easy, but there is ZERO sense of accomplishment if I had to reload the game 100 times to beat it. I already feel like I'm cheating because I'm just spam re-loading saves.