Crawmerax the Invincible

Crawmerax the Invincible is a boss in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

Involvement
He appears in the mission You. Will. Die. after you finish the main story included with the DLC.

Information
Crawmerax the Invincible is a fully grown Crab Worm with a heavily armored and spiked shell. The Larva Crab Worms seen in the Lost Cave and the Trash Coast are pathetic in comparison. He looks like a titanic grayish-brown version of a Larva Crab Worm with glowing purple critical-hit spots on his body.

It is one of the most difficult bosses, and if not the most time consuming in all of Borderlands. Even a four player party will have a decent challenge defeating him. However, if everyone in the party is equipped properly, of high level, and have chosen their skills and tactics wisely, they will have an easier time of it.

As stated in the loading screens, Crawmerax has a chance of dropping the rarest gear seen on Pandora (Pearlescent items).

Level Scaling
Regardless of playthrough,
 * Crawmerax will scale to 4 levels above the player, but has a minimum of 64 and a maximum of 72.
 * The Craw Maggots are scaled 1 level above the player, but have a minimum of 61 and a maximum of 69.
 * The Green Craw Worms are scaled 2 levels above the player, but have a minimum of 61 and a maximum of 69.
 * The Armored Craw Worms are scaled 3 levels above the player, but have a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 70.

Strategies
- For suggestions/guides -For notes/observations

Attacks and Behaviors
Crawmerax the Invincible is a daunting opponent, but the basis of his attacks narrows down to four main behaviors:
 * 1) Bite/Claw Attack: Crawmerax approaches the player, then proceeds to lunge and bite the player, no different than the attacks that normal Craw Worm enemies unleash. The range of this attack is phenomenal, but it is not unavoidable.
 * 2) Glob Storm: Crawmerax rears backward, then exhumes about ten purple globs against the opponents. These globs are each launched smart, meaning that Crawmerax will aim the globs at a position predicted that the player will be based on his or her movements.
 * 3) *For the least number of globs to hit, standing still will force the globs to be aimed in one spot. Due to the velocity and splash radius of these globs, only the first few should be attempted to be dodged in this manner. Changing movement direction drastically during dodging also increases the chance of avoiding the globs.
 * 4) *During this attack, Crawmerax nearly freezes in position, leaving his vulnerable spots stationary. Teammates positioned behind Crawmerax should take this opportunity to deal some damage. Players in front of Crawmerax will want to take aim at his eye, since this is the smallest and sometimes hardest to hit of his weak points. A few well placed Sniper or Masher rounds can disable the eye, but leaves the player vulnerable to the globs. If the eye is destroyed in the process, it will also stop the current volley of globs.
 * 5) *Crawmerax can shoot the globs in any direction regardless of which way he is facing. He will always face his initial target but if another player attracts aggro (e.g., if the initial target phase shifts) he can fire the globs directly backwards.
 * 6) Cry for Help: Crawmerax exerts a roar and burrows underground, reappearing after some time in a different location on the battlefield. This attack is most often seen when the number of minions on the field dwindles, or when Crawmerax has lost some portion of his health. At this point, Green Craw Worms, Craw Maggots, and Armored Craw Worms will spawn on various locations in the arena.
 * 7) Monstrous Dive: This is Crawmerax's most devastating attack to a group of Vault Hunters, as the radius of the attack covers a great portion of the battlefield. Crawmerax will burrow underground, then leap into the sky, creating a huge shockwave when he lands that sends players skyward. This attack completely wipes out shields and does severe damage to all that are hit.
 * 8) *Players can avoid damage from this attack entirely by using the pillars or other battlefield obstructions as cover.
 * 9) *Normally, players are sent flying into the air when this hits them. To avoid the launching effect of the shockwave, jump before Crawmerax dives up into the air. This will nullify the launching effect of the attack, but the damage is still taken.
 * 10) *If timed correctly, as it moves back to original position(after the second sub-surface), Sirens can Phasewalk to its back and take out its back critical spot, with an anarchy, or anything high raw firepower. Doing so may leave a player vulnerable to a bite/claw attack.
 * 11) If you are on one of the lower cliffs near the edge he can lunge at you and land on the ledge with you. It doesn't happen often, but if it does you need to get out fast or he can trap you there so you can't move. Needless to say he will down you and start chewing on your head.
 * Be sure to distinguish the difference between Cry for Help and Monstrous Dive, as they both have similar animations. While both involve Crawmerax burrowing underground, he roars during Cry for Help, but not Monstrous Dive. This can help players brace for impact should a Monstrous Dive be happening nearby. You will also notice that when Crawmerax prepares for the Monstrous Dive, he buries himself backwards, unlike while he performs the Cry for Help, where he buries head first.
 * Crawmerax only keeps three of any assorted type of minions with him at all times (though on rare occasions for whatever reason, glitch or probability, it's been experienced to see him only have two at a time, yet this is rare and often unexpected). By a process of elimination, you can in fact "choose" which of his minions remain with him. To do this, you must kill the unfavorable minions among the others yet leave the preferred minions alone i.e. Killing the Green and Maggot Craws yet keeping the Armored Craws alive. One might choose to keep the Armored Craws alive simply because they are the slowest moving minions available to Crawmerax. This is great for crowd control but can prove problematic as Armored Craws will randomly use their projectile attacks and can annihilate any player with their guard down of the unexpected attack.

Weaknesses

 * Green Craw Worms are weak to Fire damage, and their eye and claws are their main weak points.
 * Craw Maggots are weak to Melee damage and Shock damage. Their eye and underbelly are their main weak points. A high-level Thunder Storm can kill them in one or two shots up close. Also notice that they are stunned when shocked.
 * Armored Craw Worms are weak to Corrosive damage and they have the same critical location as any other Craw Worm: its eye. The Pestilent Defiler disposes of these quickly
 * If you intend to have a weapon equipped for each type of minion, an easy way to remember which element to use on each enemy is this: The enemies and their corresponding elemental vulnerability are both in alphabetical order (Armored Craw Worms: Acid, Craw Maggots: Electricity, Green Craw Worms: Fire). Keeping this in mind, equiping each of those elements in that order will minimize confusion.
 * Crawmerax is not weak to any particular type of element--its primary defense is the location of its critical locations (the only locations which damage it). The critical locations (all are marked by violet glowing areas) includes one on the eye, one on the upper back, one behind each of the large claws, and one between each of the small pincers for a total of six. Although the orbs that are the weak point of each pincer are on the back, they may also be hit from the front by aiming at the joint where the two halves of each pincer meet. Many shots fired at this point will miss, but some will get through, so high fire rate weapons are best for this purpose.


 * By shooting Crawmerax in the eye and eliminating it, Crawmerax's ability to discern where the Vault Hunters are is significantly hampered. This does not mean that Crawmerax cannot locate the players, as he will pursue targets. Crawmerax's area of awareness is cut down, allowing for players to escape more easily from being chased (and inevitably eaten). Crawmerax seems to be able to locate players that are firing weapons, moreso when the weapon is fired at him directly, better than those that are not. Because of this, multiple players firing at a blinded Crawmerax will often cause him to have difficulty focusing on one player.

Glitches

 * It is possible for Crawmerax himself to fly off the cliff. It's still possible to kill him, but any loot he drops will be unreachable.
 * Sometimes, you can be knocked off the cliff and still survive, with the screen turning red. Moving far enough in any direction will kill you and allow you to respawn, or you could kill yourself with grenades or a rocket launcher.
 * Just before going through the red barrier at the top of the elevator, a player can be superlaunched into the air with a well-timed jump. Spamming the jump button makes this easier.
 * When going up the elevator, jumping on teammates may push them through the elevator floor and leave them stranded at the bottom of the shaft. The button to lower the elevator will be unreachable, so another teammate must respawn and lower the elevator.
 * It is also possible for the aforementioned glitch to be performed due to poor connection. When going up the elevator, if one player has a poor connection, they may fall through the floor.
 * If you fall through the elevator, exit the game and re-enter before the host gives the elevator time enough to reach the bottom again; there have been cases where you can enter the elevator, although on your screen it has stopped half way. Once activated, the elevator will reach the top and then proceed above Crawmerax's area by half of its height before disappearing, leaving you at ground level for the fight.
 * There is a possibility for Crawmerax to use his area attack and knock players on to the surrounding cliffs, making him very easy to kill from a distance, as he can only use his ranged attack on you.
 * Killing Crawmerax multiple times without picking up any drops may cause new drops to be unavailable to players who aren't the host. These drops do appear over time and/or from death/re-entry via elevator. The error is likely caused by bandwidth constrants.
 * When Lilith is in Phasewalk, she can't be seen by Crawmerax. In solo play, if a Siren uses Phasewalk before passing the red barrier to enter the battlefield, Crawmerax will not spawn until she exits Phasewalk. This can be a useful tool for finding a vantage point before starting the fight, and allows you to kill his minions before he even spawns.
 * When exiting the elevator, a player can run to the left side (directly Northwest-West) and hide in the small crevice against the cliff. Crawmerax and his minions will not be able to see you there; they will simply roar without moving or attacking.
 * If any minions, or Crawmerax himself, are too close, they will attack you; simply killing them will make you safe.

Tactics

 * Every time one of Crawmerax's critical hit points is eliminated, he does a taunt/roar. As a Siren, just enough time is allowed to run around him and attack his back.
 * It seems that Lilith is probably the best character to use against Crawmerax since her Phasewalk can be used to escape from Crawmerax when low on health, good for flanking, and to take cover from long range attacks.

Trivia

 * Crawmerax is modeled after a real-life Crawfish.
 * Crawmerax is a possible reference to the Japanese monster "Gamera the Invincible".
 * Crawmerax may also be a reference to the Giant Enemy Crab meme that spawned from Sony's 2006 E3 keynote presentation, as you may only do massive damage by attacking its weak points.

Videos
Video:Crawmerax The (Not So) Invincible|One of the Strategies implemented against Crawmerax to near guarantee success. Video:Borderlands - Easy Way to Kill Crawmerax Solo|See 0:00-4:50 Video:Borderlands Crawmerax the Invincible Solo Fight (Siren) Video:Borderlands - How to kill Crawmerax. the least hard way with the highest success rate (Leviathan).| Killing using Leviathan, better method than just shooting towards him. Video:Borderlands - Crawmerax faster takedown using Leviathan | Faster kill using the Leviathan. Video:Siren's Dance with Crawmerax|Breakdown of taking down Crawmerax as a Siren.