The Deadlock Protocol Protea Fight At MR6

[Ironkrieg]

INTRODUCTION

I have just completed The Deadlock Protocol as MR6 (yes, six).  The post will assume that it is the final Protea fight that is the problem, as the prior fights are pretty standard.  Also assumed is that the reader has pretty much just the basic gear that one would expect at MR6 (or lower).

GEAR

For gear, I chose a standard R30 Rhino frame, 60 slots, no Forma, not Prime.  The Xoris for Melee, of course.  NO secondary weapon (this is important).  My ranged weapon is a R30 Soma Prime, 60 slots, no Forma.  R30 Taxon (no weapon, no combat mod) for support.

*  Rhino for good survivability that does not depend on abilities.
*  No secondary weapon as one does NOT want to switch to that by accident!
*  I have Soma Prime as it is the best ranged weapon I have.  You want Large Magazine, High Capacity, Fast Reload (Breton would probably work if modded properly).
*  Make sure that your ranged weapon has Magnetic modded to take down shields quickly.
*  I just have standard mods, nothing special.  Max survivability on the Rhino, max damage on the ranged, max support on the Taxon.

PREPARATION

It is vitally important that using the Xoris properly becomes second nature.  So it is great that the path to the final battle is just loaded chock full of enemies to practice on.  When you first load into the mission, you will have some breathing space to gather yourself.  There are some goals for this practicing.

1.  Switching seamlessly and quickly between your ranged weapon and the Xoris.
2.  Using the basic throw of the Xoris to take out 1 to 3 enemies.
3.  Using the throw and detonate of the Xoris to take out lots of enemies.

While you can also melee with the Xoris, I would not recommend getting into the habit of doing that as it will get you killed very quickly when fighting Protea.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Xoris will NOT travel through doors or openings.  Draw the enemies out with gunfire, then throw the Xoris.  Do not go charging into a group of enemies.  The Xoris detonated to close to you will throw you back and knock you down.

By the time you zone into the final battle location, you should be very comfortable with the mechanics.

USING THE XORIS DETONATE

Using the Xoris detonate, when the Xoris is fully charged, is the secret to victory in the fight against Protea.  But before worrying about 'fully charged', learn the detonate mechanic well.  Basically, you throw the Xoris by pressing your secondary attack button.  Then, while in the air, and near your target, you press the secondary attack button again.  This will detonate the Xoris, causeing major damage to all nearby enemies and instantly return the Xoris to your hand.

THE FINAL BATTLE

Now that you have made it to the last area, the area where Protea lives, it is time to fight the good fight.  The fight takes place in two fundamental stages, the first stage has 3 rounds, the second stage has 4 rounds.

THE FIRST STAGE

In the first stage, you must free 3 prisoners.  You do this by 'charging' your  Xoris and then using the fully charged Xoris by detonating on a prisoner cage.  A fully charged Xoris has 3 filled diamond pips just to the right of the reticle (similar to the way the frame ability selection is shown below the reticle).  You charge your Xoris by detonating it in the midst of the floaty Specter mobs (twice usually).  It is possible to get all 3 pips with one strike.  Once charged, it is over to the prisoner to hit him with the fully charged detonate.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Don't get surrounded by the floaty Specters.  They do some damage, but most importantly, they can lock you down where you cannot move or shoot.  So stay on the move as much as possible.

Once a prisoner has been freed, recharge the Xoris and do the next one.  Then the final one.  After the final prisoner is freed, Protea will show and it is on to the second stage of the fight.

THE SECOND STAGE

The second stage of the fight is composed of 4 identical phases (just like the First Stage had 3 identical phases).  Each phase of the fight is based on taking down Protea health bars, of which she has 4.  It goes like this:

*  Fully charge your Xoris
*  Switch to your ranged weapon
*  Shoot Protea to take down the health bar (STAY OUT OF MELEE RANGE!)
*  Don't get surrounded by floaty Specters
*  When a Protea health bar is gone, she will attempt to time shift
*  Hit her with a fully charged Xoris detonate to stop the shift and go to next phase.  Begin again by recharging your Xoris.  Finish off the 4th health bar and you have won!

IMPORTANT TIPS

*  If you die, no problem.  You will respawn WITH your companion, full health, full power.  Remember, the goal is not to get Affinity, it is to finish the mission.  🙂

*  If you do die, when you respawn, get the heck out of there!  Especially if it was Protea that killed you.  Bullet Jump FTW!

*  Do NOT attempt to melee Protea.  She will make short work of you.  Ranged attacks are your friend.

*  Before you start the first stage, learn the path from your spawn in point to the central area.  Practice getting back there.  You can use that as a place to get a breather and regen.  The further you go back towards the spawn in point, the less enemies will follow.  Eventually, even Protea will stop following.

*  When Protea begins her time shift, she will go all golden glow and start to quickly head back to where she FIRST took damage!  That means you would have to chase her a long way to try to detonate on her and would probably not make it in time if you first shot her far from where she died.  So, don't shoot her and then run towards the safe area to fight her.  Just body agro her, then when she gets to the area you want to fight her, start shooting.  When she goes all golden, the detonate will be easy as she will stay in that area. 🙂

*  Conserve your ammo!  Use the Xoris throw attack to take out extra floaty Specters, or the melee attack if they are close.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This IS a tough fight, no doubt.  But it is about mechanics more than gear.  Practice, practice, practice, and you will prevail!

Good Luck!

[Psychotic22]

First off how did you use the soma prime at mr6 when its mr requirements are 7?

[Semper33]

OP's guide helped me understand how to take down Protea, but I thought I'd share what I did as it was slightly different.

I was late to the game and just did the fight today at MR8. No forma, no potatoes, and no prime gear whatsoever, but all gear maxed. I originally tried the fight with a maxed Oberon, maxed Hek (then a maxed Boltor), maxed Lex, and unranked Xoris and had a terrible time 😅 Decided to max the Xoris before my third attempt since I want the MR anyways. I think the main thing is practicing with the Xoris before going into the fight and getting used to how it bounces, how to detonate it when you're switching between your primary and melee vs. when you're dual-wielding your secondary and melee, timing of the detonation, etc. as well as having the right loadout. Used a completely new loadout today and finished the entire mission in about 10 minutes. Here's my build for it.

Warframe - Rhino:

• Energy siphon (maxed)
• Steel fiber (unranked)
• Vitality (rank 8)
• Flow (rank 4)
• Streamline (maxed)
• Intensify (maxed)

The only ability you really need is Iron Skin, especially when you're in the Granum Void. So long as you don't drop it, you're golden. I used Energy Siphon because, on the first attempt, RNG decided I would only get energy orbs on the ship (none dropped in the Granum Void 😔). Better safe than sorry this time around 😜 Flow and Streamline are a bit redundant, but I just didn't want to have to worry about my mana pool at all. If your weapons aren't quite maxed, that's fine. You can use Roar to boost their damage. Also, if your position management slips a little and you end up stuck in the middle of a mob of Corpus on the ship, one Stomp should be able to clear the crowd for you (especially with the Intensify mod).

Primary - Ignis:

• Serration (rank 4)
• Stormbringer (maxed)
• Infected Clip (maxed)

Note: You can also do this with maxing either Stormbringer or Infected Clip and then using the other mod unranked and including an unranked Sinister Reach instead if you're worried about getting too close to Protea.

In the first stage on the ship, Ignis will kill the treasurer really quickly. This weapon was also the key to success against Protea. I originally tried magnetic like OP suggested (on Hek and Boltor, not Ignis), but it didn't really help that much against Protea, so I went corrosive instead to melt through her health before her shields came back up.

Secondary - Lex

• Hornet Strike (maxed)
• Target Cracker (maxed)
• Pistol Gambit (maxed)
• Quickdraw (unranked)
• Concussion Round (unranked)

Unlike OP, I did bring a secondary so I could try and save rifle ammo for Ignis because my Carrier is quite low level and will die very quickly (don't want to be running out of that in the Granum Void since that'll be your main source of damage on Protea). I got comfortable enough with Xoris en route to maxing it that I didn't have issues switching between the dual-wield detonation and the detonation when I was wielding my primary (I'm still relatively new to the game, so I don't know all the terminology for this. I'll call this the primary mode for now).

Melee - Xoris (as required by the quest)

• Stance - Gleaming Talon (maxed)
• Virulent Scourge (unranked)
• Voltaic Strike (unranked)
• Condition Overload (unranked)
• Carnis Mandible (unranked)
• Relentless Combination (unranked)
• True Punishment (unranked)
• Weeping Wounds (unranked)
• Fury (unranked)

I had Iron Skin on while on the ship, so I didn't mind attacking in melee range. Basically, I would aggro a bunch of Corpus so they'd follow me and have them bunched together. Weave in some Ignis attacks too because of Condition Overload. Jump out really quickly, throw in Xoris and detonate. Entire mob deleted. First attempt at this fight, I tried to speed run it and just kill the treasurer, ignoring the rest of the Corpus. But when I got to the hand where you use your Granum Crown to get into the Granum Void, it kept telling me to clear all nearby enemies first, so make sure you kill them along the way. Again, went corrosive instead of magnetic because it helped more against Protea, which was the bigger problem.

Xoris detonation mechanic:

Tap E (i.e., melee attack) to just melee attack. Hold down E (i.e., melee attack) to throw it. From what I can tell, the longer you hold it, the further it'll throw (it'll release on it's own when it's maxed). You'll also see a second circle expand from your aim cursor's circle when you're holding down E. Then detonate it near your target. I play on PC, so for me, the detonation key is the middle mouse button (i.e., the scrolling one) when dual-wielding and the detonation key is R (i.e., heavy attack) when wielding my primary. You can also see when you're in dual-wield mode vs. primary mode by your aim cursor (test it out in an easy mission like on Earth, so you can see the difference).

Sentinel - Carrier (level 9):

• Ammo case (maxed)
• Vacuum (maxed)
• Enhanced Vitality (unranked)

Don't want your sentinel drawing aggro, so don't equip Assault Mode. The longer it stays alive, the better. I mainly wanted Ammo Case to keep my Ignis ammo topped up for as long as possible. And max range Vacuum just helps speed up ammo pickup along the way. My Carrier actually died right before I got into the Granum Void, but my ammo was all full, so it was fine.

Actual fight against Protea:

The double detonation in the specter mobs that OP mentioned is definitely the quickest way to fully charge your Xoris. You'll know it's fully charged when your aim cursor has three orange stars/dots next to it. Don't use your primary on the specters. Save your ammo for Protea. Once you've freed the last captive, immediately charge your Xoris again. Get to Protea (she'll one-shot you in melee range so keep your distance) and begin shooting with your primary. Ignis burned through her super quick. Once you take down one of her health bars, you'll see a golden afterimage. Throw your Xoris and detonate on her as soon as you see that. That's one health bar down. You'll see her floating in midair after the detonation, and that's when you should be charging your Xoris so that you don't have to try and shoot down specters while she's also trying to shoot you down too. Repeat 3 more times, and you've won the fight! So long as you stay mobile and have Iron Skin up, you should never have to run back to your spawn point, unlike OP's suggestion.

Hopefully this gives a good alternative to OP's guide!

Good luck Tenno!