Bullying the archon king is pretty therapeutic

Lel

[@danielkitchen5313]

That was pretty good. I liked how you took advantage of all those various free attacks and status effects to mitigate the "Ruler Reaction" triggers.

[@Ephisus]

I didn't realize those one shots wouldn't trigger that

[@axios4702]

Today I beated him by equipping my Reaper with an extended magazine with six shots, and a repeater with 20% chance to insta kill. Went from full health to dead in one action, felt good.

[@S85B50Engine]

Banish with something likeAP or Talon rounds can be so op sometimes. If it's something like a berserker, even without the repeater kicking in, Talon rounds with thecrit chance MELT high hp targets.

[@bittybaff3541]

Same, only it was a regular sharpshooter, Richard 'Colt' Turner, freaking one shotted his floaty ass with the first shot

[@candy-ass4915]

@@S85B50Engine I've actually tried running talon rounds + laser sight on a reaper, but I don't think Banish can crit. Keep in mind I get 90% crit chance at CLOSE RANGE (really useful with silent killer, you get 90% chance to do a 12-13 shot), and I use a mod that shows the chances to hit/crit/dodge on shots. It shows banish shots as 0% crit, sadly.

[@mitchellgiles6869]

On my last playthrough, when I went to kill the Warlock, his "rival" or whatever was Pratal Mox so naturally I brought him (I actually did screw up the first two times and brought the wrong ones) and as soon I got to the last fight when the sarcophagus is destroyed, he teleported in right next to where Mox was on overwatch and Mox had a repeater. Mox executed him then and there

[@kyloben8537]

damn

[@JonatasAdoM]

10 damage in a grazed dodge? wow

[@feedthemeat543f]

Rupture at work

[@MortSalazar]

I despise the rulers and yet i can't bring myself to play without them

[@eiohnanananunu9871]

I found my new kink...

[@Paulunatr]

Bullying XCOM bosses is always a wonderful time. My personal favorite method is luring them onto destructible roofs and then blowing it out from under them. The fall causes extra damage and usually puts them in a position with little to no cover while I have height advantage. Trapdoor to fish in a barrel. Done at the start of the player's turn it's usually a death sentence for the Chosen. Doesn't affect the Archon, but it's a good defense against the Viper and Berserker, who generally have to waste actions finding a route back up, buying valuable reload or repositioning time.

[@somedude4087]

the axe flying off into the distance to then realise it was intended for the archon king and then flies into the back of his head is quite hillarious

[@Anvil1137]

"ROooOoOaAAaAGH!" -The Wise Archon King

[@dankmeme682]

So basically, in real time it started with an explosion coupled with the cannon rupture. Archon king moves forward to get intercepted with a rage pounce strike (I imagine he just leaps so fast and smashes the ground) and throws a friggin axe into his face which also combusts into fire. The skirmisher who was hiding right nearby barely catches him with his grapple and shocks him. Then ducks behind him to get a nice slash. The king realizing he's boned breaks free and opens a portal only to get a quick blade slash again. And as he looks onto the portal that could've saved him he gets grappled from the back as the skirmisher pulls himself in to finish the king off.

[@marijuanaforest46414]

Yeah, the ultimate form of bullying.

[@sharifbrown3567]

Lowkey an amazing strategy from a third person perspective.

[@Sage2000]

“Don’t let it escape!” -> meanwhile I am begging for my soldiers life want him to leave

[@jakemertens1382]

Just like the retaliation missions where Central says "they're ignoring our troops to get a better shot at the civilians"

[@Sage2000]

@@jakemertens1382 Exactly

[@frozenheartedgiant8330]

@@jakemertens1382his reminds me of a (failed) reaper only run I did a few days back. First retaliation mission I got 0 wounds, and rescued every civ (something that was a first for me) then the hunter shows up with reapers as the adversary, and shell shocked as his weakness. The hunter did not last long haha

[@commandermicrowave4905]

brings me back when i used a repeater on the archon king in a avenger raid and killed em good times

[@Anvil1137]

Same happened to me. I was using a SPARK with a Julian voice-chip who then proceeded to say, "Doesn't seem all that difficult to me."

[@Ahrone1586]

@@Anvil1137 julian is the best character. At least in the spanish voice (my language) is charismatic af

[@Anvil1137]

@@Ahrone1586 Absolutely!

[@ScottieMacF]

If I'm watching this correctly 1. Blasted by the Reaper's claymore first and the squad stayed in concealment. 2. Ruptured by the Grenadier who apparently has some incredible aim from that distance. Squad was exposed. 3. Archon King moved in for the fight. 4. Ranger hit him with a blade-strike Why didn't that give a Ruler Reaction? 5. The Ranger hit him with the hunter's axe, which is a free move. Ranger should have a move left. Saved that move and tabbed to the Skirmisher. 6. Skirmisher use the free Whiplash move. 7. Skirmisher used a Ripjack attack. 8. Archon King tried to move. Ranger bladestormed him. Why did the Archon King try to move before opening the rift? If I recall correctly, the bladestorm doesn't necessarily end the enemy's action, does it? 9. Archon King tried to open the rift 10. Skirmisher used Wraith to finish him off.

[@feedthemeat543f]

I used rage strike, it's a free move like the axe throw so they don't get a reaction from it

[@ScottieMacF]

@@feedthemeat543f good deal. I didn't notice that. I'll remember as I'm about to finish up the Berserker Queen and the Archon King always gives me a hard time.

[@algo1336]

The melee was a rage strike, which is a free move. Any free moves cost 0 action points and don’t count as a move, and the ruler won’t react as a result. Whiplash is a free move too, as well as the axe throw.

[@unnamedtheanonymous763]

IIRC Bladestorm reacts to actions, including open rift. Pretty sure I've had lancers try to melee my ranger, but got stunned instead, ending their action before it happens.

[@N1ghtwalk3r]

Blasestorm is actually like covering fire in the sense that it triggers on any enemy action, not just mouvement

[@jacobely6826]

man. i dont think ive ever killed him this late, then again i literally never integrate the dlc and always do the snake mission with conventional weapons, which means that ive usually killed all of the rulers before i get plasma weaponry due to how early i encounter them. i wish you could integrate dlc seperately, spark mission is a pain in the ass with conventional weapons and just far too long for me to be bothered with it. but i find the rulers with integrated dlc appear a little too late to be useful for very long.

[@feedthemeat543f]

I've done the non integrated missions enough at this point that I can't be fuckin bothered with them anymore tbh lmao And I get to pick and choose when I want them to die. So that's a plus

[@jacobely6826]

@@feedthemeat543f true enough, though i always found the snake mission to be quite enjoyable, not so long that it makes me hate it... like the SPARK mission. i always found it fun to slap repeaters on every one of my soldiers for the snake mission and execute that snake every damn time.

[@randorookie8587]

I find it best to wait for mag weapons before doing the snake mission keeps the rulers off your back till your equipped to at least handle if not kill them

[@death5484]

@@randorookie8587 yoo what do yall mean by doing the snake missions? i just started and im tryin to get better

[@randorookie8587]

@@death5484 the alien hunter mission the fist one that adds the rulers you fight the viper king and a bunch of neonate vipers every time it’s marked by three skulls on pikes if you don’t have the alien hunters DLC you can’t get the mission

[@sirrismendozasunlessrealms5775]

I am just noticing how much later you were killing him. At that point his armor isn´t much of an upgrade, lmao.

[@feedthemeat543f]

It looks cool so meh

[@rougedragonwhiteflame3990]

It is in terms of mobility

[@zarithhex1124]

Honestly, give the archon king armor to someone useing the bolt caster. You can still reload, use the free movement to get a better shot or better placement to still get that sweet damage out with it. Now granted, the cool down is the only downfall of it

[@Krispe]

@@zarithhex1124 Yeah even at that stage in the game it's amazing for snipers or bolt caster users. Great piece of armor.

[@zarithhex1124]

@@Krispe true, I didnt even think about giving it too a sniper. I normally give the viper king armor to my best sniper. I might have to try that out.

[@mitchellhasto3003]

Using reapers and snipers to cheese bosses is hilariously cathartic

[@aldrigvila]

How can this engine still be so poor. The fucking framedrops and lags and stutters are horrendous. Nicely done though!

[@OV221Beats]

So satisfying to watch

[@monsterific5337]

the archon king for my run spawned in the alien ufo. thinking it was all good since its indoors and it cant use pinions on me since i mindcontrolled one archon and saw it cant be used indoors. run and gun my best ranger and blasting his ass with rapidfire. turns out, the fucker just grabbed my ranger and flew up since i cant go up the structure it just knocked my best guy out without a way to get him. that was an xcom moment

[@sponge9553]

Leon would get recruited into XCOM hes get experience fighting out of this world horrors

[@old-royking]

had to do that with rangers as got the free attack move skill if put it on the group

[@pauljones1376]

Rulers are fairly standard its when you have a c9cktail of advent and a ruler its a pain

[@s0methingrarer]

Seeing that felt good - he forced me to quit my run. New player here, not knowing what im doing, I started that mission too early i think - ran into him (viper king and queen berserker? first) and had not researched magnetic weapons yet. Anytime one of my team would move or take an action, he would immediately counter with a ruler reaction - always killed my team and just several turns - and would appear on whatever map I selected next. I couldn't escape him, couldn't it beat him, and my run was ruined - even sadder was that I was already on Casual difficulty.

[@desertdude8274]

I didn't even know it could get that bad. Though I guess I've always bum rushed magnetic weapons.

[@One.Zero.One101]

As a newbie to this franchise, this game relies heavily on meta-gaming. When to research mag weapons, what research gives mag weapons, what corpses open mag weapons. Playing it blind didn't bode well for me at all. I'm the type who tries to avoid meta-gaming as much as possible.

[@CornHubb]

We have the same Skirmisher

[@JonatasAdoM]

I've beaten these guys without many of these abilities and noone of the armors because apparently I'm a masochist. Not a pretty sight.

[@frozenheartedgiant8330]

Reminds me of a Templar only run I tried. Templars do not have a good time vs rulers lol

[@Joe-ve9xz]

Was just playing yesterday and was fighting the viper king, his first action was pulling my grenadier out of cover and bounding him then my sniper who was positioned above him with a Gauss rifle and superior repeater took the first and only shot on him executing him instantly, I even got the rare achievement of encountering and killing one of them on the same mission.

[@Introvertnet]

Too surgical for me. It's not a proper rulers encounter unless both sides get really bloody.

[@nicepups6697]

Я как-то убил одного из этих боссов (того кто на мутона похож), просто потому что поставил мудоль на оружие, которое даёт шанс в 5% убить цель не смотря на количество его XP. И как раз перед тем как он прыгнул в портал... 😁

[@annoyedorange112]

nice

[@sunspear3227]

Nice

[@spiritofthewolf1880]

Nice

[@datwee7576]

baby stuff, got that execution on the first shot

[@haunttitik660]

Nice

[@JozsefPocsi]

Nice

[@Sage2000]

Indeed. He almost wiped me out last run

[@AxoCatWasTaken]

Was that grapple at the end really necessary?

[@feedthemeat543f]

Tbh? Not really, I just felt like it since he was basically already dead at that point Might as well end with a flourish

[@AxoCatWasTaken]

O ok

[@awanderer3047]

nic

[@annieleonhart5918]

Nice

[@sucktitles]

This is so ruthless when you imagine it in real time.