I. Abilities used through the run:
Overload 3; - Infinite Dash (overload 1) & increased damage Supply Drop 1; - Getting weapons you need Frag Thrower 2; - Burst damage energy spender for Mother fights, also used for Angels Dash 1-5; - Main movement ability, damage mitigation Power Attack 1; - Main damage ability Use of Weapons 1-5; - Ammunition, energy generation in combat Resource Optimizer; - More value from pickups
Optional abilities:
Stun Grenade; - Stun some early game bosses Personal Shield 4; - Another way to stun someone, decent energy spender for damage Reflex Booster 3; - Invulnerability for 4 seconds, can save an otherwise unlucky fight
II. Weapons:
TAS-6/AT-FUSION - shotguns, kills any regular enemy in the game with 1 good meatshot. Also used for early game bosses HF Blade/Armour Breaker/VIS Carver - boss killing melee weapons. Personal preference: HF > Armour > VIS BRT Lancer - best gun to use with Gun Fever (Use of Weapon 5) for energy. Raijin - a good gun for long range shootouts, also the most consistent weapon in the game to shoot Angel cores with.
III. Combos:
- Overload 3 + Power Attack 1 + Dash 1 + Resource Optimizer
This is your main combo for bossing. Dash 1 is used for damage mitigation when you engage/disengage. RO is supposed to keep you alive and charged. Use with 2-handed weapons only. You can also add Reflex Booster 3 if the fight goes wrong or you want to position yourself precisely by activating the slow-mo.
- Frag Thrower 2 + Dash 1 + Use of Weapons 5 + Resource Optimizer
This is what you want to use on Mother/Sister fights. You won't have UoW 5 on the first fight, but you should on second and the third one. Spam grenades and recharge energy by shooting with BRT-Lancer or something else like Vulcan (high ammo capacity + good damage)
- Projected Barrier 5 + Use of Weapons 5 + Supply Drop 2
Safe & cheezy strat for slower, but more consistent kills. Spam barriers at the boss and shoot them with BRT-Lancer. Supply Drop 2 is necessary for constant weapon pickups.
IV. Boss strats:
Jurek (Creeps Nest)
Haul AT-Fusion + Nano-7 from previous room. 5 good meatshots (first shot will usually be blocked by his shield) and then finish him off with Nano. The laser trap is too slow to activate IMO, so I wouldn't recommend to do it, but still you can try it: shoot him with shotgun to knock back towards the elevator, dash through the tripwire and back, keep shooting Jurek. The trap will finish him off. Wait until skillpoint appears.
Donvius (Creeps Firehole)
Prepare at least 2 shotguns for the fight (one AT-Fusion can be hauled from suiciders room) and optionally a Nano-7. Use Stun Grenade to stun him and knock him towards the northern side of arena. If you knock him towards the exit to Nerve he will start running around, repositioning, which can tamper with your aim. If you didn't kill him with 2 shotguns, finish him off with Nano-7 / Pipe + Shield Bash. Skillpoint is behind a hackable door, so don't wait near his body.
Nerve
You need to haul Armour Breaker from Creeps Firehole to kill this guy quickly. Use Power Attack with it to deal massive damage to him. Be mindful of his personal shield - if your first hit of whirlwind connects to the shield - all other hits will miss by default. Shoot with TAS-6 (hauled from Firehole as well) to deal damage from range if you need to. Charge your power attack before he appears and stay clear of the center of the arena - as soon as he spawns there - dash and release the attack.
Cpt. Bogdan (Hanza Compound)
Haul HF Blade from previous corridor. It's important to have UoW 1 now to have 16 weapon charges. When Bogdan lands, stun him and use power attack. Slow-mo will activate, during this you have plenty of time to check if you have enough energy for second stun + power attack (3 power bars) and if he doesn't have his shield on. If all checks out - stun him and spin, should be a kill or at least a very close kill. If he has a shield or some other shit happens, try to spin him from behind the shield, but don't use stun nades - preserve energy. Try not to kill him near the eastern side of the arena, since skillpoint can fall out of bounds there.
Mother 1 (Hanza Assembly)
Use TAS-6 from previous level or Shepherd from Bogdan. Frag thrower 1 + Dash 2 is important. You want to make sure you don't take too much damage and that your nades reach the target, because this fight starts pretty badly - there's a small delay before you can actually deal damage to the Mother. Test it with grenades and only then start using your main weapon. You want to dash to evade her beam and use grenades + shoot while you're not dashing. Go to southern Angel after the fight.
Mother 1.5 (Hanza Assembly)
If you went south for the first Angel, you will come from the northern corridor. There will be AT Fusion - take it. Once again, throw nades and spam main weapon, this time you can start as soon as you enter the arena. She will have much less health right now, so you can kill her before her first beam appears.
Hongshi (Hanza Cargo)
HF Blade will be in corridor beforehand. If you have full energy (you probably wouldn't) you can use Stun Grenade + overload + power attack. without full energy, use Overload + Power attack if you have at least 2 energy bars. In worst case scenario, just power attack him. Activate overload as soon as you get some energy pickups. Try not to dash along with his whirlwind, wait until he stops and comes back to you.
Shadow (Hanza Cargo)
Use supply drop before the fight for a weapon of your choice. Overload + power attack. No need to stun, just attack aggressively and he will die very fast. Once he teleports, he cant use it for a while, this is a great time to charge at him.
TrafficKing (King's Lair)
Pickup HF Blade before the last elevator on previous stage. it's located to the left side of the corridor, near a hackable weapon container.
On chase stage, use Dash 5 + overload 1 to navigate through the gauntlet. Shoot the barrels to inflict self-damage and get energy for overload dashing.
On fight stage, don't forget to respec into Overload + dash 1 + power attack 1 + UoW 1. Dont use Overload until you activate the fans and TrafficKing becomes exposed. You can activate the fans with Frag Grenades if you want to, make sure you have these maxed out for reduced energy usage. Once the TrafficKing is exposed, charge power attack, use overload - unleash. He should die quickly.
Mother 2 (Hell)
Grab Vulcan on northern side of the arena before you approach her. spec into Frag thrower 2 + UoW 5 + Dash 1 to take her out. Spam nades, shoot gun, dash from beam, it's all simple. If you have very low health when you kill her, kill yourself by taking damage from the spawned Cyborg.
Cyborg 1 (Hell)
You should have a melee weapon from previous levels. If you don't - quicky summon one via Supply Drop 1. Respec after Mother 2 into Overload 3 + UoW 1 + Dash 1 + EO + Power attack 2. Overload + Power Attack the Cyborg. His abilities are easily telegraphed. You want to dash away when he swings his hands for the slam attack, then quickly dash back as soon as he finished the slam. When he shoots his energy ball projectile, you want to dash sideways. If you see that you have full health and energy, don't dash anywhere, just smash him.
Nayaak (Furnace)
Prepare melee weapon beforehand. You can try the following combo: Charge Attack, release before he appears as a targetable enemy, use stun grenade when he appears (you should still be spinning), activate overload. It requires precise timing so if you don't want to risk it, just use regular strats. Overload + Power Attack. Reflex Booster is very good on this fight so you can react faster to where he teleports after your attack. He has very low HP and usually will die in 1 good power attack.
Cyborg 2 (Mother's Womb)
Same as Cyborg 1. HF Blade is on northern side of the arena. Destroy vampires asap, if you don't have enough energy to quickly kill the Cyborg. Use Reflex booser 3 for invulnerability if you take too much damage.
TrafficKing Cyborg (Mother's Womb)
The strats are the same as for other Cyborgs. If you take too much damage - Reflex Booster 3. Pick up BRT-Lancer at the bottom of the arena, activate Overload, shoot & kite him around until he drops health or until the drone brings some health. Usually you want to deplete his health within 1-3 power attacks. Cheeze strats work perfectly here, but they are a tad slow.
Khog (Mother's Womb)
Overload + Power Attack + Frag Grenades (you will have a lot of energy on this fight). If you want to preserve some energy for The Heart level navigation, don't use nades, regular Whirlwind will be enough.
The Sisters (The Heart)
Frag Grenades 2 + UoW 5 + RO 2 + Dash 1. BRT-Lancer is located in the very first corridor of the level. Approach Sisters from point blank and spam grenades + your weapon, dash from beam, use grenades to also kill the Hosts that will spawn and approach you from behind. Resource Optimizer 2 used for extra health & energy and also because there aren't really any other skills you might wanna use.
Cyborgs 3 & 4 (Heaven)
Usual cyborg stuff. Prepare weapons beforehand (you will have a lot of free time in Heaven so it's not a problem). Overload, Power Attack, you can also use Grenades here since energy is plentiful - take damage from suiciders or kill guards for easy pickups.
V. Some other special stuff:
- After Shadow fight, use Overload 1 + Dash to travel quickly around the levels
- Angel cores can be exploded with Frag Thrower while they're being launched from the Angel itself
- Use Raijin located on the south of the Arena for Mother's Womb Angel to kill cores from distance and to give some distance between you and proximity mines
- HF Blade and Armour Breaker one-shots any non-special enemy in the game. VIS Carver fails to one-shot Harpies. Fox Blade is useless
- While Whirlwind damage is inconsistent, it appears that it deals more damage (inflicts more hits per each Power Attack usage) the closer you are to the center of the enemy hitbox. Dash can allow you to "penetrate" enemy hitboxes by placing you a bit inside of the enemy and can sometimes allow you to 1-shot bosses using only one Whirlwind
- You replenish energy when you take damage. Use this if you're low on energy, but have high health and unused healthpacks lying around (or before the Headhunt bossfight, where you will always get a healthpack from a drone)
- Railguns (BRT or Raijin) can shoot through laser walls. This is used in Mother's Womb, makes the arena with laser walls very easy
- Malfunctioning Angels are best destroyed with 1 Frag grenade or 1 burst from BRT Lancer. Raijin also works
- Use sound cues to track Triads and other teleporting enemies if they left your field of view
