Thanks for the reply, Frightning.
I did eventually come to understand that putting DOTs on him in his fleeing and healing phase was the key to stopping him from becoming a perpetual motion machine; the problem was (is) always that I just can’t consistently get the DOTs.
The sandhawk is far, far too slow, even in the flying variant (which I have). It just sucks ass in this fight, except when he’s lying prone with his mouth open. The damage is tremendous, but its laggardly nature is, I gather, one reason why people prefer the CC in this fight.
Incidentally, I’m very underwhelmed with the sandhawk as a raiding weapon. I fought Leviathan a couple of times today to remind myself of what a fair fight feels like, and the flying sandhawk was too slow even for him. I just BeePimped him to death.
But to return to my dolorous theme, the problem I had (have) with Haderax is the ridiculous difficulty of getting DOTs on him, be it with fire or slag. And as I said above, even when I managed to turn his scaly ass purple, it only lasted five seconds at most. So, basically, he’d get the slag and it’d be over before he went from one hole to the next.
I’ve got the cheese spots down pat - that’s not the issue. I simply don’t understand how to reliably get fire/slag DOTs on him. I’m not sure I understand how to use the Grog properly, I admit - I deliberately avoid getting it and using it (not my style), and I only got it specifically because of my exasperation with Haderax the Intolerable - but it can’t be much more complicated than “point it, shoot it, color it purple,” can it?
I don’t know. One of the commenters above, in his video, seemed to get much better results with slag grenades, so maybe a magic missile or whatever would be more reliable.
And I do get that raid bosses aren’t exactly designed to be solo’d, though they’re not designed to preclude it either. Frustration is part of the game, and I endured it like a good Vault Hunting soldier with Dexi, Hyperius, & Co., but found a way to finesse around Maya’s inherent raiding disadvantages (most notably, the uselessness of her action skill). But with Haderax… it’s the healing, and what seems to me to be very, very poorly implemented hit boxes and responsiveness. The whole thing rubs me the wrong way - frankly, the Hector fight did as well. It’s a problem that crops up in this DLC more regularly than I’d like.
Believe it or not, I don’t have a Lady Fist yet. I haven’t finished my UVHM game, not because I can’t, but because I’m trying to savor it. I deliberately leveled up to 80 before beginning it so I could play it without having to worry about dumping and upgrading my arsenal every five levels. I love it. But the point is, I’m not at the Arid Badlands yet, so no Lady Fist.
What I want to ask is how exactly you’d get fire DOTs on Haderax during his flee-and-heal phase sans Lady Fist. Sandhawk is too slow, as noted; Pimpernel is a sniper rifle and wouldn’t work. Would a fire bitch do the trick? Do the projectiles travel fast enough? In theory, the fire CC would be ideal, but the weapon is so inconsistent for me in this fight. Sometimes I do great damage on his crit spots with it; but when it comes to just draining him with body shots, I detect no damage at all, and so, I’d assume, no DOTs.
I’m not eager to do the fight again, but I am eager to do my best to change my opinion of this boss fight. I want to see the good in it - some people think it’s brilliant - as it would only add to my immense enjoyment of BL2. If I can find some way to get more consistency in the results of an already clearly sound strategy, I’d change my tune happily.
So what would you suggest? Should I even bother trying to slag him? (I ask because, in fact, when I killed him the one time, I did not manage to slag him with the Grog.)
