I’m a hybrid Sniper-Revolver Mordecai. My normal loadout when trying to kill Craw is a Hellfire, Shock Revolver, Defiler, and purple-rarity Penetrator along with the Sniper COM. I’ve killed Craw twice, once chilling on the ledge (not the glitch-spot, just on the ledge) and once from glitch-central. Are there any legitimate strategies out there to help me kill Craw easier? I die 8/10 times to his adds and 2/10 from his purple orbs of F***-YOU-YOU-DIE-NOW-ness. He dies real quick to the Penetrator, I just can’t stay alive long enough to get the killing blow. Any input appreciated!
Here’s this for you to read right now. Lots of tips n trix already there. Writing up a bit of an edit/summary of my tips now, brb.
When it comes to Gear on Mordecai, I usually run a Gunslinger COM with a variety of revolvers. Gunslinger cause the playstyle it affords you is more versatile than a Sniper COM. Not saying it’s any better, but it’s certainly more… accessible. With 'Slinger you have access to Revolvers(high damage, accurate), Repeaters(solid elemental weapons), and Machine Pistols(spaaammmmmmmmm). To get specific about it though-
- A Masher for Crawmerax himself. Having a high-damage, accurate hand shotgun with innate bonus critical damage is exactly what most people want. A Jakobs Unforgiven will also work well(even more bonus critical damage), and an Unforgiven Masher is absolutely ace.
- A fire weapon of some sort. This is for the Green Worms. You want something that either procs often or big or both. You already are using a Hellfire, and that will certainly do what needs to be done. To get some harmony out of the Gunslinger COM, I’d advise a Maliwan Firehawk, as it’s the Hellfire of repeaters. Alternatively, most high quality fire revolvers will work well.
- Corrosive something for the Armored Purple guys. Defiler is first gun that comes to mind. As good as you’re going to get for a corrosive revolver. Dahl’s Hornet is pretty good, but I don’t find myself using it often(mine is low quality, still looking for a decent variant). Another notable corrosive pistol worth mention is the Pearlescent Nemesis, but by the time you see one of those, you’re likely to be skilled at killing Craw.
- Shock. For those little Maggot bastards. Notable pistols include… well, the Pearlescent Aries and Nemesis… but yeah, not likely anytime soon. Elemental shock revolvers overall again. They get mentioned so often cause they work, even if it’s a bit bland running into a fight with 4 of the same weapon type. Non-pistol mentionables… uhhh, the Orion. Procs every shot, multiple projectiles, huge magazine. Shoot the ground a few feet in front of Maggots to hit them 3 times per shot, and you’ll lay waste to them very quickly.
Minion management is pretty simple overall, but absolutely vital to surviving long enough to see the loot pinata.
When it comes to Green Craw Worms and Craw Maggots, destroy them immediately with fire and shock weapons(respectively). The Greenies’ charge attack is pretty tough to avoid and can hit you multiple times if you get caught on him, but they’re quick to burn to death. If I see a situation where there’s a Green Worm nearby but I know Craw’s about to cripple me, I’ll keep the Greenie around for an easy revive. Maggots, as you will learn, are absolute little bastards but have one and only one saving grace. Whenever they’re procced with shock, they’ll freeze in spot, and are easily stunlocked to death. They are also quick to die(fine, I guess two saving graces), but absolute death torpedoes before then. They’re extremely quick, move in a weaving motion, and attack relentlessly. High priority targets.
Last to the party and last to leave are the Armored Craw Worms, and are now your new bff’s in the arena. While incredibly tanky, these guys move so slow you can maintain your distance with your normal walking speed. What you want to do with these guys is baby them, nurture them, and keep them at a fair distance. When these guys pick up a Corrosive proc, it either lasts extremely long or until they die. Best to only hurt or kill them in an emergency. Craw can only have 3 additional minions on the field at the same time, but will keep spawning in more minions until he has three(new spawns potentially being dangerous Greenies and Maggots). So fill these spots with the big guys, occasionally dodge their projectiles, and focus on killing Craw. Speaking of…
Craw himself has a few moves, all of which are good to be aware of beforehand.
- Spit Salvo. He shoots off a volley of splash damage orbs. Very likely to kill you. If you see him starting to do it, start running towards cover(pillars) or the nearest enemy you’ll want to second wind off of. Be careful to not second wind too early while he’s doing it, I’ve been downed early in the salvo, gotten back up, and promptly finished off by the closing shots with no way to get back up.
- Nova attack. If you’re from BL2, boss Novas are nothing new to you, but BL1 is a bit more forgiving about them. You can get to cover, or simply far enough away, as it doesn’t cover the entire arena. Running away takes time though, but Craw does have a bit of a tell on this move. He’ll start crawling faster for a second(animation plays faster), he’ll roar, and then slide into the ground backwards before coming out. If you jump at the right moment near the walls, you can get launched onto the walls of the arena. Rare, but fun. Oh, one last thing. Sometimes this move will take you to minimum HP, and the fall damage can finish you off. Because of this and other reasons, I advise a quick recharging sheild.
- Standard Claw Swipe/Bite. Keep your distance. Getting hit by a 3-storey lobster hurts like hell. He can also attack you through the pillars, so keep your distance.
- There’s also his Summon “move”, but there’s not much to say about it other than it’s a good time to get a few quick shots in(he roars and gives you a nice view of his arm spots).
Movement and shooting Craw consists of one big strategy.
Ovals.
Right out of the gate you’re going to get to the arch as quickly as possible, if you’re feeling confident take a few shots at Craw(or kill dangerous minions) but don’t take too long. There’s usually a minion in the way, kill it, or run around it if it’s one of the big guys(you might get hit once by it, if you get to its north side and jump at the right moment he can push you further along).
After this you’re in Oval Mode. Run around the pillars, avoiding/killing the minions, and taking shots at Craw’s spots when able. Now, you’re running around the pillars because Craw has a tough time with his AI when you’re out of view. This causes him to show you his vital back spot each time he rounds the pillars(hopefully), giving you a chance to take it out. And that back spot is vital. At every opportunity you get you should be putting bullets in it. Dying after taking out his other 5 spots because you couldn’t get to his back is infuriating, so do what you can to keep it from happening. Even if it doesn’t look like it, you can hit all of his other points when he’s facing you(aim for the joints, some shots will slip through).
To sum up.
A high damage critical damage weapon for Crawmerax. Fire, Corrosive, and Shock for the minions.
Eat your Greens and Maggots, take care of your Armored Worms.
Ovals, and take his backspot out ASAP.
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Also, what skills/build do you use? Asking since with Mordecai, Bloodwing and Out For Blood are essential.
That’s the gear I have that fits what you were talking about, and my build. Thanks so much for all the advice you’ve given, I’ll try out that strategy as soon as I have a moment.
No problem, hope you’re able to take him down.
Just to add a bit to the excellent write-up above… exploiting Craw’s pathing AI with the pillars is essential to getting good back shots. Early on in the fight, you’ll have fewer movement options because of his minions. But once you’ve thinned them out a little, look for opportunities where you can get Craw to come towards one side of the Arch and then double back around to the other side. If you time this right, you can confuse him and get a bunch of good back shots. Ideally, you can time this when you see that he’s about to launch his killer blob attack and dodge that while you’re at it.
I’ve been running with Lilith, and Phasewalk is obviously a big help for her (at the expense of Mordecai’s damage output). But learning to properly abuse the pathing AI still made all the difference for me. Before someone here pointed it out to me, I was often blowing out all his other spots and then getting myself killed trying to get a clear back shot. Even when I was successful, the fights were crazy long. Abusing the Arch to open up more back shots cut my times in half and improved my survival rate from about 50% to 90+%.
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Just wanted to add to your map picture, the basic loop you’ve got there is good, and I always go right at the start, but after that, for various reasons you may not want to stick to that looping pattern. I found that is sometimes helpful to pull a figure 8 between the arch and pillar to reverse the direction and get at the other side of craw (for his other 2 claws). Also, if I’m in danger of getting cut off between craw and his minions at either the pillar or arch, I often pull a wide arch kinda near the back wall of the lair to get around them and to the other side.
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You should run 5/5 un Guncrazy w/ a pistol build like that, completely multiplicative damage steroid with no downsides.
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Agreed. I didn’t want to get too into it in the image with my tendency to embellish and embellish. I’d clutter that image up quite a bit if I drew “what to do in X/Y/Z case”.
Here is another tip to manage your surviving skill in the Craw area : always keep an eye on your Compass.
Because Craw and his minions could spawn right back to you without a single noise, and the only way to be aware of that is to see the red dots on your Compass.
The biggest they are, the closest is the threat !
I can’t tell you how many times a look at my Compass saved my life during a Craw run 