In today’s episode of highly inadvisable battle tactics, Zero attempts to shoot down a beastly armored warplane with a mere pistol. This challenge comes courtesy of another suggestion from ‪@cheesyweezy866‬ ; despite the simple premise, defeating Armed Phenomenon Harpuia with the Buster only is a quintessential example of a fight that looks routine but in reality, is rather cumbersome. Here are the details.
The foremost concern is an obvious one: how do you consistently damage a target with the Buster when said target spends most of its time well outside of the Buster’s firing line? Occasionally, AP Harpuia dives toward Zero, giving players a layup before having to dash under him, but waiting for these sparse chances to land shots is untenable for both players and viewers. Fortunately, there are more chances for offense present, but leveraging them transforms the fight into an unduly rigorous affair.
Whenever AP Harpuia is on screen, his vertical position changes in a smooth ebb and flow as he hovers. It just so happens that whenever he reaches the trough of this wave, Zero can barely squeeze a shot by the irritatingly enormous armor hitbox encircling his talons. You have to time the shot release at the crest of Zero’s jump while AP Harpuia is briefly in the correct position; a slight misalignment will have the charged Buster apologetically plink off the hardened metal claws. Keep in mind that your distance from AP Harpuia also needs to be considered due to the travel time of the projectile.
Naturally, this is far easier said than done. Even if you were given a blank canvas of a battle where all you had to do was land 16 of these shots without worrying about any counteroffensive from the boss, it’d still be a fairly intensive task. It’s certainly not a frame-perfect trick by any stretch, but it’s just as easy to miss 4 shots in a row as it is to land 4. Even with a plethora of chances grated by AP Harpuia’s hovering cadence, landing the vast majority of your shot attempts is the only quick way through, otherwise, this becomes a slog of unprecedented proportions. Unfortunately, the possessed Guardian does anything but stay idle; under normal circumstances, his attacks aren’t all that threatening, requiring only basic movements to dodge, but when landing even a single hit demands such precision, balancing your focus between evading what is a rudimentary pattern and dealing damage becomes a fair bit more onerous.
While his attacks are indeed simple, it’s imperative to analyze AP Harpuia’s patterns and how they synchronize with his hovering to discern where your opportunities for offense lie. His most frequent assault is a volley of 5 vertical-position tracking missiles; this can be repeated thrice, during which AP Harpuia will reach the lowest point of his hover multiple times, allowing for damage to be accrued quickly. His attempt to sweep Zero off the top of the temple can also provide an opening, but this depends on how many missile cycles were used beforehand. A tornado initiated just after AP Harpuia returns from a dive is always a potential chance to make a shot as is a tornado following up a full 3 volleys of missiles. The latter case is far riskier; the timing is such that Zero will have to land on a small portion of the ledge and quickly dash forward before getting hurled off the stage Smash Bros style.
From what I can tell, the lightning beams that emanate from AP Harpuia’s claws stifle any safe shot attempts if they’re used immediately upon reentry. However, if one missile volley is used first, it’s possible to slither past the last missile and the nascent lightning beam with a fancy jump while firing off a shot; a very dangerous but rewarding proposition. Magnetic Typhoon is the exact opposite case, you want AP Harpuia to use it the moment he returns from a flight; he’ll arrive at the bottom of his hover twice at the precise moments that the debris isn’t obstructing Zero from jumping. Standing in the middle and shuffling Zero along the ground is the key to evading the attack while positioning yourself for a shot. Lastly, keep a keen eye out for AP Harpuia’s dives, you never want to miss a freebie.
As mentioned, it takes 16 fully charged Buster shots to crash the flying monstrosity. Were I granted the luxury of equipping the Ice Chip and X Form, this number would be curtailed to 10, making the fight significantly more bearable. If, for whatever godforsaken reason, you wish to attempt this yourself, I recommend amplifying Zero’s power output with the aforementioned items. In this attempt, I miss only one shot, costing me roughly 5 seconds. Scrapping this take for that alone would transcend masochism and rocket straight into the realm of stupidity. This challenge is such that the difficulty exponentially increases the lower you drive your missed shot count, so I counted my blessings and left it be.
Thanks for watching! Any comments and questions you may have are welcome as usual.