Razorback Battle: The Good, The Bad And Fugly

[Kaotyke]

With the Tac Alert ending in a few hours, I will put my thoughts about it.

 

The Good:

 

Its a Boss that requires more strategy than mindless shooting it to death, its an upgrated version of Jackal. It tests your ability to hack... or is a sink for those resources you never used to make Cyphers, and its not a Boss that can be killed easily.

 

The Bad:

 

The clipping: OMG, it shoulders of doom just clip through the pillars, if Razorback is going to become a normal Boss he will need a BIGGER arena.

 

The Missiels: I never thought thise things could hit me through the Rif, I tried to go with Limbo for Survivability and revive if needed and ended up feeling like a liability to my team, I have to thank the maxed New Moon of my Vazarin that I didnt make it worse.

 

Also, the missiels themselves, what kind of Lock-On they have? Because I hummed Benny Hills once and kept running from them for 5 Minutes to test how long they last, I got bored and just let them hit me. This was cheesy, there was no skill involved to lose them because they are so close and you cant, they track you like a shark tracks blood and Razorback just spams them when its health gets halved.

 

Suggestion: give the missiels a "Life period", after X seconds they explode mid-air. Give them a softer lock-on so they dont follow your exact trail like a Sentinel does, let them have a longer turning arc and if the Arena is bigger,  give better cover than those pillars.

 

The Fugly:

 

We need to rely on the Bursas to stun Razorback and allow us to attack. How many times I've seen the Bursa do nothing or go under Razorback and spam their knockdown that does nothing to it?

 

Either make the AI of this fight better or allow more control to the players by giving this boss a "Trial" feel:

 

Instead of Bursas, make that the place Razorback is in has Shield Generator(s) that gives him such powerful shields, we have to hack those Shields so they malfunction and instead of protecting it, they stun it. The new Deception mission you showed us gives us the option to Explode, Freeze or Magnetize the inviroment by using those Cells?

 

Make it similar here, Cells in a back room that we can only access with our Bullet Jump, like how we reach those platforms the Corpus appear above, the solution is this:

 

There are 2 Rooms up there: one with a Blue Generator in one side and a Red Generator on another. To Sabotage it, you need to put the Cell of the opposite room on them: Blue Cell on the Red Generator, Red Cell on the Blue Generator. You have to Hack a Terminal to spawn a Cell, but they only spawn 1 at a time, once you get a Cell, it wont spawn another until that one is used.

 

Maybe have Bursas spawn in those rooms as Guards? 1 at a time of course.

 

Once that is done they will slowly overcharge and after... say: 20 Seconds, Razorback will recieve a shock and be stunned and open to damage. After it recovers, the Cells are consumed, Razorback's Shields are back up, the generators are working propely again, the Terminals are hackable once more, raise and repeat till its dead.

[AM-Bunny]

Going to make a few other good comments here:

 

- The crewman snipers were actually placed strategically and functioned like snipers.

- The broken rail at the top of the battlefield that periodically dropped ammo and energy to keep us stocked was a nice touch

- Making the 'Bursa Hacked' message display on all player's screen was great ensure players were on the same page

 

Little details like these mean a lot to me, and show they put a little more thought into this fight. I never really had any problems with the Bursas attacking Razorback, but my main complaint with them was: it didn't really make any sense. Why were Bursas able to break through Razorback's Shields and we can't? I really wanted Lotus to make a short blurb about that, because - while it was an interesting boss mechanic - it certainly wasn't logical.

[Viedra_Lavinova]

The Isolator Bursas (knockdown ones) are really powerful for one shotting the Razorback with Bullet Attractor on, if the bursa stays alive long enough...

 

Everything else seemed really balanced within reason for the boss battle. If you have a lot of trouble with it, then the only thing I can say is get a good team that knows what they're doing. 

[RunningFox]

I agree that the Bursa's AI needs to be upgraded, and that the missles should have soft-targeting. I ran Endurance last night and every time he fired those missiles, I already knew my Ivara was doomed. they are WAY too accurate. I have heard that his drop table is too diluted, it doesn't make any sense for him to drop Cicero mods when Corrupted Vor does. But I only wan the mission two times and I got Auger Strike, so I can't complain.

[Kripion]

And my two cents:

 

- lasers disabling panes shall be unreachable by razorback attack - maybe hidden in a same place where corups crewmans spawn? Its quite annoying when im forcet to play the frame i dont like cus im wild open while hacking those damn panels. Hacking bursa is risky enough for me.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Kripion

[JudasMaiden]

Tbh, the Razorback boss battle is one of the *better* boss battles in the game IMO. Unlike some other boss battles, which are way too obvious (Yes, Raptor and Ambulas, I am looking at you) or way too tedious (Vay Hek, please), this requires you to play strategically, instead of spamming your most powerful dps weapons, abilities. And yes, it has its faults too, some of which you mentioned here. I think overall, i like this boss better than many others. As regarding the faults, well, nothing's perfect. DE should fix those and make him an actual game boss on some new planet/tileset.

End of rant.

[matto]

I like Razorback's design for sure.

 

What made this fight one of the worst I had was the Bursas AI. It resulted in some misunderstanding among players on what works and what doesn't. Bringing a Mag with Bullet Attractor, for example, received mixed feeling. Some saying it was a good strategy, some saying it was useless because they thought the Bursas wouldn't properly shoot Razorback after they saw a few failures. But everything was depending on Bursas AI in the first place. Also, that bug with Razorback that could die in like 2-3 Bursas hacking without obvious reason.

 

Also, not knowing where this Razorback came from and how the Corpus faction managed to get such technology was a huge disappointment.

 

I like how crazy a room could get when triggering the alarm. But I didn't enjoy the constant room locking when a teammate was stupid enough to just run through rooms without even caring for cameras. Anyway, this kind of mayhem mechanic would be nice if it concerned only one or two rooms. Even in normal Corpus missions. For example : Lotus message warns you that you entered a special room with special Security forces that could appear if you trigger the alarm. Once you're out of it, mission gets back to its normal routine. It would bring some kind of new excitement and surprise (the room could appear in a mission or not).

 

Anyway, a lot of good ideas, but still a stupid AI that makes everything boring.

 

Also, to OP, playing ninja from one pillar to another, going high and low on them, would make you stay safe from those rockets. For once that pillars have a real use...

Edited February 16, 2016 by matto

[JudasMaiden]

I like how crazy a room could get when triggering the alarm. But I didn't enjoy the constant room locking when a teammate was stupid enough to just run through rooms without even caring for cameras. Anyway, this kind of mayhem mechanic would be nice if it concerned only one or two rooms. Even in normal Corpus missions. For example : Lotus message warns you that you entered a special room with special Security forces that could appear if you trigger the alarm. Once you're out of it, mission gets back to its normal routine. It would bring some kind of new excitement and surprise (the room could appear in a mission or not).

 

Just imagine this situation in an exterminate mission.

Triggering an alarm would mean enemy count increase. The more alarms you trigger, the more enemy Bursas and their goons spawn, thus starting a scary and endless loop of enemy spawn in exterminate missions, filled with locked rooms and....Bursas.

*Shudders*

[Necrius]

I agree with all your points. While it is more than usual boss fight, it's still very flawed and a poor execution of boss invincibility.

[LogenVos]

Actually, Bursas can directly attack the Razorback without hacking. Nyx's Mind Control can do that. Couple it with Mind Freak and Loki's Switch Teleport cheeses the encounter. But sometimes, the Bursas just do nothing; they just run around and not even shoot. Also Nyx's Mind Control only lasts for 10 secs (or was it 8 secs?).

 

P.S. 1 shot of Mind Freaked gun stumbles the Razorback. That is if it hits.

Edited February 16, 2016 by LogenVos

[TheLexiConArtist]

After some 40 runs of the boss fight (accounting for abandonments and completions of the non-endurance), I'm quite content with the consistency of my experience, so here's my observations:

 

Path to the Boss:

A penalty to being spotted is fair, but there should have been a grace period after releasing lockdown of 5-10 seconds where being spotted again would not reinstate the problem. It's possible to get practically trapped with some specific camera spawns and a lack of punchthrough if they trigger the lockdown in a separate room to where they are.

There were way too many Hyenas at once. The Pack as an actual boss fight has fewer spawning at once than I had to deal with when I wasn't just stealthing through the level. Issues hitting them with melee when Crowd Controlled due to being too low down.

 

Bursas:

Fighting Bursa units without CC is tough. Fighting Bursa units and four or five Hyenas without CC is nightmarish to impossible.

Bursas should trigger a loot drop when hacked; I went looking for rare mods on the non-endurance run a couple times (deliberately triggering cameras) and felt it broke game flow to have to stand around waiting for the Bursa to die, whether or not I hack it, to see if it dropped a mod.

Hacking Bursa units is practically suicide sometimes, unless stealthed.

 

Razorback Fight

Good:

Snipers being actual snipers, although they were relatively negligible in comparison to the rest of the mess going on around me.

More interaction-based fight than "put the pointy part in the moving thing until it stops moving".

Resupplying mechanic befitting of a potentially long fight (although less RNG would be nice. Sometimes the boxes just never want to drop energy orbs...)

 

Bad:

Teamplay was completely non-beneficial due to damage cap and very step-by-step process, and occasionally actively detrimental (nonstealth allies triggering stealth-seeking missiles).

Isolator Bursa routinely fails to aim at the Razorback thanks to its close-quarters preference; served better to not let it drop down and have it shotgun from the corner ledge while player holds the aggro and manipulates the position of the Razorback itself.

Bursas in general sometimes relegated themselves to 'defense' mode. Hacked AI behaviour should favour more reckless offense since they have a limited lifespan anyway.

Too many damage stages in Endurance. (Yes, yes, 'but it's endurance'.) The novelty and positive aspects of the fight design wear incredibly thin when you're repeating yourself 10 times per run.

The shotgun of laser orbs with instant Heat proc and oneshot-capable explosions at the end of their life is a little ridiculous.

 

Awful:

Being locked in hacking screens is completely at odds with any 'avoid or die' capable mechanic. If the Razorback happens to fire missiles just as you start hacking a Bursa close by (which is encouraged if not enforced due to the time limit before the unit destructs) completing the hack is a non-option, but similarly due to forced magnetic proc and the animation of "stepping away" from the panel before control returns, aborting is also a non-option. As Gene Wilder would say: You lose, good day sir.

Rockets that ignore stealth.. and frequently fail to render a smoke trail. You only get the audio cue, and by the time you hear it, you might as well be dead.

 

Rewards:

Cicero mods do not belong in the drop table of an event any more, with how readily availale they are through Corrupted Vor. These endurance 'rewards' are worthless compared to the non-endurance reward of 5 Rare-5 Fusion Cores.

 

 

My farming strategy:

Solo

Ivara

Zenurik Focus (to mitigate uncooperative supply boxes)

 

Begin mission.

 

Prowl to Razorback to avoid cameras, making judicious use of rolling.

Before triggering Razorback, bullet jump up to, and fire a Dashwire between, the Bursa Release hack-panels' ledges

Wield melee.

(prowling) Trigger fight.

 

Repeat steps until victory:

(prowling) Ascertain location of Bursa, ascertain type of Bursa.

(prowling) -If Denial/Drover, hack panel and allow to drop. Follow down and Sleep Arrow, then stab in the hack-panel, hack, and un-Prowl.

(prowling) -If Isolator, parkour to corner-room, Sleep Arrow, stab and hack, then un-Prowl.

Slide into view of Razorback to get its attention, while always blocking, guide it to remain in best line-of-sight of Bursa (but facing away from it) to be shot. Use pillars to avoid any missiles.

Bursa should pretty reliably knock Razorback down while you have it facing away.

Bullet jump to downed Razorback, firing Sleep Arrow on the way.

Stab in the head/legs until standing.

Bullet jump to prepared Dashwire, enter Prowl

Continue from first step.

 

Prowl to exit.

Collect Cicero mod.

Sigh.

Repeat.

 

_{I don't know why I just typed all that with 20 minutes left on the clock, but hey. Maybe some console user will save and make use of it when they get the tac alert.. or perhaps if Razorback is instated more permanently for us PC users...}