How to Beat Omega K'ong (Video Walkthrough)

[Projector]

Reposting here form the Guides section on the suggestion of @Glacier Peak (Thank you). Didn't realize this section existed. Just autopiloted to Guides and posted it there.

Over the last few months, I've gone down the rabbit whole of Hard Mode content and as I both have immersed myself in it as well as tried to help others, I realized there is a not a lot of information on how to actually do the different 4-star content. There aren't even a lot of videos demonstrating any of it, leaving a lot of it a total mystery.

So, I started posting video content of some of the runs I feature, including creating a video walkthrough of the Omega K'ong fight from my perspective as the tank. Since there is no way to practice that fight outside of a 4-star context, and it's so busy visually that it can be very hard to tell what's actually happening or why you die at certain moments, I wanted to demystify some of that, set proper expectations for different phases of the fight, and help new people understand the important considerations to keep in mind. 

 

It's a longer video because I wanted to explain the context of WHY it's important to approach things a specific way, not just explain what to do. This was done on Excelsior, and I know different shards have different ways of approaching content. This is probably not the only way to do it, but this kind of approach has also resulted in sub-30-minute runs of the 4-star LGTF, and it's the only way I know how, so I wanted to share it since I have found success. Note that you have 25:00 on timer when Omega spawns, and with 4-star optimized builds and no full teamwipes during the fight itself, we still only completed it with 9 minutes remaining (granted, fire/melee on my tank is NOT a great option in this fight).

Here are the main points for those who don't want to watch
Setup:

• 1 T4 Incan Core, 1 T4 Clarion Core, 4 Barrier Core Teams (T1: 2 people, T2: 2 people, Flex 1: 1 person, Flex 2: 1 person)
• Gather in hospital just before Dra'Gon room
• Lores out, buff Lores (tank does not summon lores as they can pull aggro off of tank. I learned that after this video)
• Barrier and Clarion timing:
• Team 1 Barrier and Clarion in Hospital once pets are out
• Incan runs in and incans onto Dra'Gon
• Target Lores onto Dra'Gon (VERY IMPORTANT)
• After 25-30 seconds, Flex 1 barrier is called, this timing repeats every 25-30 seconds in order: Team 1, Flex 1, Team 2, Flex 2. The person calling Barriers should be on Barrier Team 1, as their own Barrier cooldown of 2 minutes can be used to track when it's time to call for the next barrier.

Targeting Priority (once Kong spawns): War Priests, Chief Magus, Psi-Protector Primates, Dra'Gon, Assault Suits, Scientists.

Positioning:
Everyone fights Dra'Gon from behind, but hugs closesly to Dra'Gon for Kinetics buffs, heals, end, etc. 
Tank always keeps Dra'Gon in a corner after Kong spawns
Avoid Omega K'ong whenever possible. He will make whatever corner he occupies an instant death zone.
 

Fight Phases:

100-75%: Focus Dra'Gon (until Kong Spawns, no big AoEs or Judgements to avoid freeing psychicstt
75%-50%: Fold Space Chief Maguses to Dra'Gon, everyone bursts down one Magus at a time targeting through a shotcaller, killing a Primate during this if you can. Tank stays focused on Dra'Gon, Kin still heals off of Dra'Gon. It is not worth waiting to find a Primate before killing the Maguses. 
50%-25%: Fold Space Assault Suits so they don't teleswap you around the room or into Kong gas, kill a Primate, and then focus Dra'Gon with single target damage and let AoEs bring assault suits low. As soon as assault suits are low enough to spike, incan or move away from them and spike them before they are able to follow you into the next corner. Rinse and repeat until each Assault Suit is dead. And of course, avoid neural fields until they despawn.
25%-0%: Fold Space Scientists and let AoEs kill them. Kill Primate and focus Dra'Gon until he is dead. 

Hope this is all helpful for someone!

EDIT: Someone more knowledgeable than me pointed out something I wasn't aware of: When K'ong and Dra'Gon are Psi-Protected, their health regen is frozen. That happens each time they get reinforcements, so the Magus, the Suit, and the Scientist spawns all also come with a psi-protect field. This actually gives you three really solid "checkpoints" if you need them.

For example, if you can hold out until a reinforcement point, and then a teamwipe happens, they won't regen at all! So, if barrier timers are weird or off because people were dying a lot, or you just can't seem to get into a good rhythm and it feels chaotic, or maybe things are rough and lores are about to come back up! That can be a good opportunity to wipe and reset. That being said, you shouldn't wipe if things are still going smoothly, even if lores are coming back up. Don't take those checkpoints unless you absolutely have to, as they will eat up valuable time. More than 2 wipes and you likely won't complete the fight in time.

Whereas, if you wipe and reset inbetween these "checkpoints," it's likely they will have regened either most or all of the damage that's been done to them. Luckily, you won't have to repeat each checkpoint, so if Dra'Gon heals above 75% after you dealt with the Maguses, you won't have to deal with them again.

So, don't kill a Psi-Protector Primate until you are confident your team will survive and everyone is in a good rhythm. It's totally safe to pause and focus all your attention on the reinforcements, then take out a Psi-Protector Primate and continue damaging Dra'Gon and K'ong! 

Edited May 28 by Projector

[Ukase]

This was very much appreciated! 

[Projector]

Wanted to make a quick correction on this, which I will also add as an edit to the OP. Someone more knowledgeable than me gave me some helpful feedback and pointed out something I wasn't aware of: When K'ong and Dra'Gon are Psi-Protected, their health regen is frozen. That happens each time they get reinforcements, so the Magus, the Suit, and the Scientist spawns all also spawn with a psi-protect field. This actually gives you three really solid checkpoints if you need them.

For example, if you can hold out until a reinforcement point, and then a teamwipe happens, they won't regen at all! Whereas, if you wipe and reset inbetween these "checkpoints," it's likely they will have regened either most or all of the damage that's been done to them. Luckily, you won't have to repeat each checkpoint, so if Dra'Gon heals above 75% after you dealt with the Maguses, you won't have to deal with them again.

So, don't kill a Psi-Protector Primate until you are confident your team will survive and everyone is in a good rhythm. It's totally safe to pause and focus all your attention on the reinforcements, then take out a Psi-Protector Primate and continue damaging Dra'Gon and K'ong! 

[Unifex1]

This is a wonderful breakdown. Hat tip.

[Shin Magmus]

The mechanics about the checkpoint on those Psi-Protector spawns is huge.  That gives a team notice that they can literally just wait on CDs and buff back up, which is the kind of thing that a struggling team needs to get back into it.  A+

[Spaghetti Betty]

Great write up! This is about the gist of the strategy being used by high level teams as well, but I would just like to add my own notes.

 

A well-oiled team will move Dra'Gon over to K'ong after gas has expired to maximize DPS. Since they share a health pool, this means all of the AoEs being used to suppress monkeys will also be doing overtime on the two AVs!

-Regen buffs also seem to have a stronger effect on K'ong than Dra'Gon. I'm not exactly sure of the reasoning, but I have observed the 2 Colds splitting their Benumbs between the AVs and it works better.

Rains and patches are incredible in this fight! They allow the team to control monkeys without breaking much of a sweat. Another win for Ice Blast!

Trick Arrow is an absolute powerhouse in this fight. It literally has an answer for everything!

Edited July 2 by Spaghetti Betty

[DarkRevelation]

For reference, this thread was brought up on a different thread in the Tanker section

 

Thank you again @Projector for this thread, as you are putting light on something that needs it IMO. 

 

I am interested in the builds that are being using for this content, and more so the design concepts of the builds. I've been wearing out the test server lately. My focus was originally on just a tanker build, but I have moved to all types of ATs and builds. Being able to use the incarnates for defense/resistance/status/etc. opens up a whole new game that is not accessible in general play. I have dove down the wormhole of max damage and I have started by looking at the pylon threads for builds, as they are the best burst damage builds that I have seen. My question is can they be translated to something usable in starred content, i.e. can you move with it and be effective, where is it effective from (ranged/melee), can the endurance hold out, etc.? I think at least some of them can, and it is what I have been working on lately. 

 

@Spaghetti Betty put out a build in the Tanker forum a few months back that got me started on this journey. Its not my build, so I don't like bringing up others builds without asking if it is ok, but Betty posted it on the Tanker forum and has some videos of that build in action, so I believe it will be all right to point it out. 

 

It was a eye opener on how we could make tankers do more damage while still being able to tank.  I ran that build up and have used it to do all kinds of things in the game. So thank you @Spaghetti Betty.

 

 

@Projector I have read what you have said on Ice/Cold and how effective it is in starred content. I would assume that others could fill some of those roles, but to what degree of effectiveness I guess is the issue.  For example, I have a dark/dark controller that can floor to-hit in most content, but is it enough to slow down 4 starred content? It is only filling one role really, with some mitigation for other things such as fear, where the Ice/Cold does more. Have you been looking at any other ATs/power choices, and if so, have you had any luck? What have you found to get the best 'bang for your buck' as far as debuffs and buffs go? 

 

For tankers, I know Rad works well for most starred content. I use another one of Betty's builds, a Rad/Fire, to tank whatever is available. For a lot of content, like Hamidon, I swap the Alpha incarnate from Musculature to Spiritual Core, for the healing/recharge which puts the Regen Debuff resistance at roughly 90% w/o external buffs. It lowers the damage output through procs not proc'ing as much. That brings me to my question; at what point have you seen where a trade-off like that is warranted for this content, i.e. regen protection vs. damage? What have you seen in that content that works for the tankers?

 

 

 

 

[Spaghetti Betty]

6 hours ago, DarkRevelation said:

I am interested in the builds that are being using for this content, and more so the design concepts of the builds.

 

See, the thing about 4* builds is that they are extremely specialized in maximizing performance under the influence of Barrier/SB/FS/Clarion/Heat Loss. Diving into this kind of play will see builds with very, very little personal armor, minimal Slow RES (since SB, 2x Arctic Fog, and a Winter's Gift IO will cap you), and a surprisingly small amount of global recharge.

 

You will mostly see 4* builds geared towards Max HP and proc bombing heavy hitters. What gives Tankers QoL in this regard is they already have high base/Max HP and mitigation, so they're able to cover a large variety of content with a general purpose "scrapper build", as I like to call them. As I said before, a focused Brute or Scrapper will still see better performance in the Taunt role in a coordinated team (since Barrier and shields will make them just as safe but with more DPS), but certain Tanker combos are up there as well.

[DarkRevelation]

15 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

 

See, the thing about 4* builds is that they are extremely specialized in maximizing performance under the influence of Barrier/SB/FS/Clarion/Heat Loss. Diving into this kind of play will see builds with very, very little personal armor, minimal Slow RES (since SB, 2x Arctic Fog, and a Winter's Gift IO will cap you), and a surprisingly small amount of global recharge.

 

You will mostly see 4* builds geared towards Max HP and proc bombing heavy hitters. What gives Tankers QoL in this regard is they already have high base/Max HP and mitigation, so they're able to cover a large variety of content with a general purpose "scrapper build", as I like to call them. As I said before, a focused Brute or Scrapper will still see better performance in the Taunt role in a coordinated team (since Barrier and shields will make them just as safe but with more DPS), but certain Tanker combos are up there as well.

 

 

I appreciate the information. Basically don't build for what you have in the past, swap to new targets. Trying to hit max HP will make for an interesting build. 

 

I would assume that an offensive armor set is the mark for tanker/brute/scrapper, with the caveat of hitting as high of HP as possible. That gives me a good starting point, so I appreciate the information.