The Many Strategies For Hunting Crawmerax the Invincible
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The first thing you need to do is view the video in the bottom, it will help you.(see video #1) He is at least level 64 on both playthroughs and is the toughest enemy in the game.You can only damage him by getting critical hits (shooting the eye and other "purple" areas). Therefore, it is best to use a gun that can scatter numerous shots over a large area such as SMG's. It's recomended to attempt this in a group due to the fact that it can down you in one hit and if all members of the group leave the top area he regains all his health. Therefore, it's best to have at least 1 Siren in the group so that if everyone else dies they can hide from Crawmerax and his minions until the rest of the party can regroup. In addition, having someone in the bottom area would be useful so that they can call the elevator back down - it takes about 20.56 seconds for the elevator to go from the top to the bottom and if you have to call it back down that's 40 seconds. This means that if you are downed and only one person is left then they will have to struggle to survive for 40 and a halfseconds as opposed to 20 seconds. As Crawmerax only regains health when your whole group leaves the top area, if the elevator is already at the bottom it will greatly increase the chance of getting to the top before your last group member dies- and thus, Crawmerax healing completely.
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Generally, a good weapon to use against Crawmerax is the Eridian Thunder Storm. Its shotgun-like spread effect gives you a higher chance of hitting the critical areas once or multiple times. Also, since the thunder storm's bolts have a bouncing effect, if you aim near Crawmerax's 'Armpit' area when he is facing you, most of the bolts will reflect off him and hit the critical areas on the back of his claws. Having two or more players with the thunder storm will allow you to keep a flow of bolts in the air (i.e : player 1 fires until depleted, then player 2 fires while player 1 is recharging, ect.). Another excellent weapon to use is a Chimera – the multiple damage types can be a great help against all crab worm types and Crawmerax himself. Still another great weapon to use is an Orion. If you aim just right, a little bit below the purple spot on his back, you get all three ricochets to hit. It's high fire rate, accuracy and magazine size are also all quite useful. SMGs with an electric element are also effective against Crawmerax. Another good weapon to use is an shock glorious revolution as its magazine size will give you enough time to hit the purple spots.
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A general strategy is to use 2 Sirens, 1 Soldier, and 1 Hunter. The Sirens will be the "survivors" - when everyone else is dead and trying to get back up, they can use Phasewalk to hide themselves until then. The Sirens should use Defender class mods for the shield capacity bonus or the catalyst class mod for the team cooldown reduction. The Soldier is the support. He would use a "Support Gunner" class mod to regenerate ammo and overall assist the team using his skills. Roland will most likely end up being one of the people doing the most damage. Lastly comes the Hunter. Mordecai uses a "Survivor" class mod, preferably one with the best possible Health regeneration. The Hunter will be the second person dealing most of the damage. Players should keep in mind that any combination of classes can defeat Crawmerax.
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Another strategy is to have everyone go up at the same time at the beginning. The first person to get downed should immediately respawn prematurely (unless it is easily possible to get a Second Wind) and queue the elevator to come down. Depending on the condition of the people still above, he will either wait for the next person or two to die and then go up, or go up right away. When two or more people are waiting for the elevator, whoever is up top should do one of two things; if they're a Siren, Phasewalk and sprint around the arena. If they're not a Siren, they should hug the rock arches on the inside to prevent major damage from Crawmerax until at least one Siren makes it back up. Getting a Second Wind can be absolutely essential to consistent success and understanding the weakness of any of the minions that attack you can help you get back up from any attack. Examples include using a Defiler revolver on armored worms, a Hellfire SMG on green worms and an Orion sniper or other strong shock weapon on maggots. Plan ahead and make sure your entire team has the proper equipment. Using this strategy, you can slowly whittle away at his health until he goes down, although it is still very, very hard. Make sure your team has good communication and a clean connection (more important than you may think), or else this will get messy quickly. Do not let the pressure of being up there alone impact your performance.
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Fight on the ledges where you spawn. As long as you stay crouched, you can avoid any push-off moves Crawmerax or the spawn will do to you. Juke any maggots and get them to fly off the ledge. If Crawmerax gets too close to you, duck down and allow a friend (if you aren't soloing, this strategy was done with a Gunslinger Hunter and a Mercenary Siren) to take aggro (get Crawmerax to chase him). Avoid the spawn, hit the purple areas, spam med kits/etc, and most importantly, hope you will win. with this strategy it is a good idea to keep the siren on the glitched ledge while sending the soldier to create a distraction, this way Crawmerax will keep his back to the siren most of the time allowing for the swift destruction of the critical hit locations on his back and claws. if crawmerax does decide to go for the siren, they can crouch or phasewalk to make him lose attention. Take note though that this strategy does not work on PC as Crawmerax and the worms can reach you on the ledge while crouched. The second ledge down, the crack tall enough for a player to stand in (seen on many video's) is an automatic death on PC if a player jumps down onto it, but works great on Console.
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One easy and heavily exploited glitch is to run near one side of the circular wall of cliffs surrounding the plateau when you expect Crawmerax to jump, so that the force of his descent propels you onto a ledge on top of a cliff, allowing you to remain on the plateau without sustaining damage and preventing Crawmerax from regaining health when your allies respawn. You can be hit by ranged attacks, however, but if you do not attract Crawmerax's aggro, it should not be an issue. If anyone happens to fall off, back into a corner on the ledges and relax for a minute while your partner gets back up and in position before firing; the person up top still will need to get Crawmerax's attention to give your partner time to get into position. Communication is key. Crawmerax has been bested in single player with Lilith using this strategy. If you are hit by acid, phase walk until it runs out, let Phasewalk get near full recharge, and keep firing. Do not fire until Phasewalk is almost back up. Apparently in the corner you are hidden, and until you fire you are invisible to Crawmerax, making it easy to keep dodging him until you whittle his HP down. This typically takes about 10-15 minutes per kill. After a while, the spawn stop coming up so often, and so a team can actually go out to the middle area and spread out. As he goes towards a person another would shoot him in the back to distract him and deal some damage to him. If anyone goes down a Soldier can put down a turret or someone can distract him while the team revives them. The only real worry is his area of effect jumping attack that can hit everyone. Soldiers with Cauterize are recommended when doing this. This strategy can be useful if you don't want to lose any loot, as some of it can fall off the ledge if Crawmerax is too close when he dies. Have two people go to each ledge and have another person as the reviver/ person who kills the grunts. Follow this Strategy Video
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It is possible for Lilith to solo Crawmerax by taking advantage of the Phasewalk ability to get out of situations and heal before attacking critical areas. However, the loot will not be as good compared to more people.
Use a Double Anarchy as your primary weapon with Thunder Storm, Hellfire, and Crux (Maliwan) for dealing with minions. SMG ammo regen is helpful too (but I usually kill him before needing to resort to my Savior and Mercenary class mod). The ideal skill set-up includes maxed: Hit&Run and Inner Glow (for recovery), Intuition (useful for evasion and flanking), Quicksilver and High Velocity (makes your Anarchy better).
Start by unloading you clip in Crawmerax's direction (just to get his attention) and move toward him (if he boosts you up you are less likely to fall off the cliff). When you get mobbed by minions Phasewalk across to the far side behind Crawmerax. Generally, the armored Craw Worms are easiest to dodge so mopping up the others types is handy (Thunder Storm for Maggots, Hellfire for Green Craw Worms). When low on health and waiting for Phasewalk to recharge, alternately run and jump to avoid the spit globs. Keep unloading your Anarchy when you are clear of minions. Eventually, all claws and eye will be destroyed. Lead Crawmerax (and remaining minions) out into the center of the battlefield and Phasewalk between the arched pillars. As Crawmerax tries to go around the archway he will turn his back on you (kill a minion to trigger Intuition for help flanking). Shoot him in the back until dead.
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Another good weapon to use is the Chopper. If 4 people with all support gunner open fire on him it will eat away his health.
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If you're Brick in a party, a good but sacrificial strategy is to get a high level Centurion mod with +4 bonus to Die Hard, with max Die Hard on the skill tree, let Crawmerax kill you and keep shooting him to attract his attention while your team gets behind him and unloads bullets at the distracted Crawmerax.
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The easiest way to kill crawmerax is with the Siren, you can Phasewalk over to a gap on the far left and none of the enimies will attack you so you can take out most of crawmerax critical point very easily, this can be done with other classes but is much easier with the Siren. Once again, keep in mind that PC gamers will not have these "sensory blindspot" glitches to take advantage of. The minions and Crawmerax will attack PC gamers in this situation. Plan carefully.
Above statement is not accurate. PC gamers can indeed take advantage of this glitch.
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Another set up that is quite effective is a hunter with a sniper class mod that regenerates sniper ammo and the orion sniper (at least level 48 version is recommended). It is especially useful because even when crawmerax is facing you it can hit his critical spots through the front of his claws. Just get some cover behind a column or soldier's shiled, and start unloading on him. It should take him down in a matter of minutes if you can get constant hits on him, but it will probably last about an hour with dying and running adding minutes to your time. It makes things much easier if you have a siren character waiting down bottom to come up when crawmerax's back is left. Have them phasewalk as soon as they reach the top. Then have them get behind him, and unload on his back. When crawmerax turns around hit him with the orion. You can combine these two strategies as the soldier if you use a Support Gunner mod, by first throwing your turret as a distraction. This will give you enough time to make it over to the gap.
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If you're a soldier, you can go to the far left aclove where he can't see you. From this point you should be able to slowly whittle away his health. When all the criticals are gone in the the front, you can jump, touch the edge of the plateau, throw out a turret, and jump back into cover. Crawmerax should either go towards it and melee it or shoot acid. If he melees it then he may try to melee you. If he tries to melee you, just stay in cover and duck. He should head away eventually, and when does you can shoot his back critical spot. If he shoots acid then after you (most likely you'll die), you should try to get a second wind. If you get a second wind, you should be able to shoot while he walks away. This may take multiple tries as this tactic isn't foolproof (see video #2).
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If you are weapon farming, set up or join an online game with 4 people to maximize your chance of getting a rare weapon. A good method is to have a group spread out to the 4 corners of the arena and have one person go in the glitch spot to distract him and to survive if your teammates die. That is the basic jist, and dont forget to have a support gunner in your group and aim for the purple spots. This can be done with a group of three 61s and one 50 or above.
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If you use the strategy in the video (the right one) from 0:00-4:50 you will be stuck, unable to attack his back in the glitch. This is when you use the Leviathan's firing arc to attack the weak point on his back. While the way to attack his back with the spiral bullets is perfectly fine, attaining a gun with them is annoying. Hope you brought a truck full of 5.4mm ammo. You can always get a new Leviathan from Rakk Hive loot.
This plan works. It is possible to strike with Leviathan from the glitch position with no fear of reprisal and/or caustic goopage breath. And here's how:
Get yourself into position immediately, and beat off any annoying Armored, Green, or Light forbid, Maggot craw worms with the nearest large elemental stick. Scoot left into the crevasse as far as you can go. Now hopefully 'Rax won't be all of ten feet away and chomping, clipping, or vomiting on you, or you'll be forced to re-try. While Crawmerax is busy posturing and roaring his head off, look up. There is a series of barnacles, which look like knobs, on the cliff's edge above; two large above and two small below those, from this perspective. Unsling your Leviathan launcher. Now, 'Rax's position on the field doesn't figure very heavily into your aim here, as he remains more or less within the same twelve-meter radius no matter what, just sitting there being angry like a big, crabby child. You may need to scoot a step or two to the right to adjust position, but your aim is roughly the bottom edge of the lower-most large barnacle, not the small ones. Get half your target reticle full of knob and loose a rocket skyward while facing 'Rax. Where it hits - shell, claw, lobster face - isn't important, as long as it does hit him. You're only gauging at this point.
Now that you have his position, comes the harder part: timing. Crawmerax is still throwing a fit, roaring like Sharptooth from Land Before Time, so wait for him to finish his roar. Train yourself to anticipate the end of that roaring, and let go with Leviathan the instant it ends. You can afford to be a nanosecond early or late on the launch. If you like, pan down carefully and watch it impact, eyes open for that gratifying little red "CRITICAL". It's a bit of a crapshoot whether it hits the weak point or not, but with a full pack of 72 RPG shells it can usually be done with 40-50 munitions to spare. After that, just use your sniper rifle, or shotgun, or whatever else you wish, de-claw the overgrown crustracean, then put some rounds into his teeth. That's right, his teeth, not the eye. While that's technically the weak point, to inflict damage you need to aim just below it at his adventurer-corpse-ridden choppers. Boom. End, of, worm.
Enjoy your giant, evil purple crawfish boil. Hope you brought a nutcracker. Just shuttle back and forth between the plateau and the vending machines below as many times as needed to sell off your loot. And remember, 'Rax respawns every time you zone back to Deep Fathoms, so you can effectively farm him, however dishonorable it is. But, this isn't about honor. It's about the loots. Good way to level Weapon Proficiencies, too.
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A final strategy that works but is hard to use is to have four sirens whose skill tree utilizes phasewalk cooldown reduction and phasewalk healing. Each of the sirens should use the Catalyst class mod, if one of the sirens has a 30 team cooldown reduction and the others have 26, the team should duplicate the class mod. The team should try to phasewalk around Crawmermax shooting him in his weakpoints. If Crawmermax gets too close, phasewalk away to a safe location.
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You can use the strategy on the right and not have to use a Leviathan or weapon with spiralling effect, you can use any normal Rocket launcher (explosive). To hit the spot on his back, you must simply shoot the large spikes protruding from his back. This may require some guess and check, but works very well as every shot gets between 400-600 damage (damage doesn't seem to change with more powerful launchers).
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The best solo strategy for a hunter is to get a 600-700 Penetrator (a full auto sniper) and shoot at the base of the critical hit points (I killed Crawmerax in minutes using this strategy). Also, such weapons as a Jakobs Skullmasher or an Hyperion Invader will be the best choice, especially because of the critical damage enhancement and the capacity of scoring several critical hits in shot/bursts before Crawmerax can turn or react: the former, however is the best choice, since the latter has the nasty habit of chewing up all of the sniper rifle ammo really quickly, and should be coupled with a Ammo Regeneration Sniper MOD.
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To solo with the Siren: Upon arriving at the top of the plateau, wait a few seconds for Crawmerax the Invincible to approach, to where he is standing give-or-take in between the two pillars in the center of the arena. Once you feel he is in position, Phasewalk to the safe-spot (as highlighted in the video on the right) and pull out an SMG with high power, high rate of fire, and low accuracy. The low accuracy allows for a better spread of damage, allowing you to hit two pincers, and on occasion, his eye, without moving your reticule at all. However, it is recommended to use the Hyperion Bitch if possible, due to its increased critical damage. Use the SMG of your choice to destroy all 4 pincers, and possibly his eye. Alternatively, his eye can easily be taken out with a high-powered sniper rifle, revolver, or an accurate shotgun. Now comes the main problem: HIS BACK. So, If you're anything like me, you didn't hold onto ANY weapons that have bullets that ricochet. NOT a problem. See the stone arch to the right? So does Crawmerax. He cannot see you if you hide behind it. This is more difficult than the legs, as you DO have to face his minions. Before you do anything, be sure you have a high powered weapon, 1000+ damage per shot if possible. If not, no problem, but he will not go down as fast. Prepare your weapons, reload anything you may need to fight the minions, and make sure your final-kill weapon is fully loaded. Now: remember your target is the stone arch. Jump up out of the safe spot, wait a moment. Crawmerax should walk a few steps toward you. As soon as he raises up for a ranged attack, Phasewalk. Hide underneath the stone arch, where you cannot see him. Take out your power weapon. slowly inch out to the side until you can a small corner of the purple spot on Crawmerax's back. Aim true, take your shot. Depending on your weapon, he may go down in as little as 2 shots! If he turns around before you can finish him, do not panic! Simply phasewalk back to the safe spot, wait for your phasewalk to recharge, and prepare for another attack. (note: this strategy is safer if you have a smg with ricochet, if you hiding in the same place as the video on the right just do as he does with whatever you have.)
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This strategy can work with 2 people, one person goes in the glitch spot and takes out every one of his weak points except for his back, meanwhile, the other person survives until all weak points are gone except for the back. Once the back is the only spot left, the person surviving/hiding comes out and takes out the back.
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This strategy can only be used for Lilith, and it's recommended to use ONLY while soloing. Whenever you reach the top of the elevator, wait there and kill minions until Crawmerax gets within striking distance of you. At this time, Phasewalk and get behind the small rock arch, so that you break the line of sight between you and Crawmerax. If you have a very accurate weapon(prefferably a sniper rifle) with a high critical hit rating, you can inch out to the side of the arch and take shots at the criticals on his claws and back without him moving too much. If you do hit his crits, he will not turn around, so you can keep shooting them all you want. Note that if you move to the side of the arch where his back is exposed, he will turn around, noticing you. Also, if you hit him without hitting his one of his crits, he will notice you.This is a very efficient way to "loot farm" Crawmerax, especially if you have a Pearlescent Bessie.
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Yet ANOTHER good strategy is to have one person in the glitch spot and another in the small hole to the right of the map. This allows his back to be taken out with minimal hassle.
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In all scenarios, it's ALWAYS a good idea to keep an eye on the radar. Even if you already use it, it's especially important here. You can always tell when one of Crawmerax's minions is nearby by the size and positioning of the red dots. Also, when one of the minions attacks you and dives underground, you can track them with the radar.
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Another good strategy is to go with 2 Soldiers and 2 Sirens. The Soldiers should use the turret to heal the party and restore ammunition. When you try to kill Cramerax you should use a gun of each element and 1 shot gun.
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A good solo strategy with Lilith (or maybe Roland {unconfirmed}) makes use of their abilities, the glitch and The Chopper spot to take down Crawmerax very easily. First, hide in the glitch spot and destroy all the critical spots that face you. Then, either using Lilith's Phasewalk, or Roland's turret to distract Crawmerax, get behind the rock arch, where Crawmerax cannot see you. Wait for your abilities to recharge and then come, out and spray Crawmerax with The Chopper. If on the first attempt, he does not die, use your abilities and get behind the other rock on the other side of the arena. Repeat until Crawmerax is dead. NOTE: The Chopper chews through ammo insanely fast, if it is used up, change to another fast firing weapon, e.g. Double Anarchy etc.
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Solo Lilith Approach: Kill CMaxx with little damage taken. Three Prerequisites: 1) Strongest, most accurate Double Anarchy, 2) Equip an ammo regen mercenary class mod, and 3) Minimize your Phasewalk recharge. Just after breaking through the red field, and before the lift levels with the ground, Phasewalk directly towards the left ledge where it meets the rock wall. Place Lilith on, not the first, but the second flattened area (two steps below) and crouch before your Phasewalk ends. By now you should have not gotten CMaxx’s attention but he has spawned with NO minions. NOTE: DO NOT stand up from your crouched position. This will trigger minions and may cause CMaxx to shoot more purple acid projectiles than necessary. If done properly, you will be shot at sparingly. Also by crouching, you will never be damaged by any CMaxx melee attack. In the rare case a Minion appears, take him out respectively with an elemental weapon – Cmaxx should not be interfering with your systematic eliminations of any minions. Sometimes they fly themselves off the edge! Turn to face CMaxx, you should be able to find his location as he will just be repeating an animation. Fire off a shot to bait him to you; he should make his way directly in front of you and start to melee attack. It’s important you don’t fire off any more shots while he approaches, as this may prompt him to shoot his acid balls at you. If he does, simply Phasewalk in place to avoid damage and after Phasewalk, he will not attack again until prompted. Once he is idle again, fire off another shot or two to bait him to you again. Once baited and attempting to melee you, you should be firing off at any of the five visible purple orbs. Continue to systematically eliminate them until they are not glowing and his limbs are off. Once all the visible orbs are gone, he will try to dig into the earth and appear again, this gives you the opportunity to shoot at the last remaining orb on his back. If at any time he digs himself into the grown while shooting and appears further away, you can always bait him back with just a couple shots. If you are feeling adventurous, you can step out of your crouched little hole to find a better shot but I recommend staying put to ensure collecting your loot.
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- The most usefull tactic to kill Crawmerax is as follows: Send one Siren up to Crawmerax. When they get to the top, stand still and wait until the minions of Crawmerax are almost at the player. When they are about to strike, the player should use Phasewalk ability and run to the North-West, to the point at which the walls sorrounding half of the arena end, and walk onto the ledge right here. Now it should be impossible for him or his minions to attack you: they should sit there and roar at you. Sit here with an electric gun, playing to his weakness, and shooting his criticalls as they pop up. It is possible to eliminate all save for his back. When only his back is left, either have a second player come up, draw the aggro, and you pelt his back and kill him ASAP, or the player phasewalks to hide behind a rock formation behind Crawmerax. Easing slowly out, you can get a shot or two off before he turns. Then just repeat this until he dies.
- It is possible to use the above strategy with a Sniper and Soldier. (Not a Beserker, unless Sting like a Bee is currently active) Just working around to the exact spot should be good; either run at the start or, during the course of the battle, just work your way to that spot. Soldiers have the added bonus of dropping their turrets at the beginning of the battle, to atempt to draw some aggro to buy time for the sprint.
- This technique allows a player to effectively solo Crawmerax. The ideal loadout, however, is a Siren or A Sniper using the above tactic, paired with a Soldier for ammo regeneration. A Siren with a powerful electric smg can also make use of the Mercenary class mod to regenerate ammuntion. After the Siren or Sniper eliminates all the criticalls except the back, have the other character come up and draw the aggro. Then just blast away, and collect your loot.