I just got the quest from the penguin at the outpost to go to the testing facility to fight Shockhopper Mk II, but I can't seem to figure out how to defeat Shockhopper Mk II. He always manages to kill me before I can destroy him. Is there any strategy to defeating Shockhopper Mk II?
I don't want to resort to admin mode to defeat him, I want to do it legit.
Best Answer
The Shockhopper MK I has 4 stages, each of which makes it a bit stronger.
Stage one lasts between 100% health to 80% percent health, keep in mind that the penguin has 3363 hitpoints, and you can calculate how many times you'll have to hit him before the next stage(which may or may not be important based on how you're handling the fight). During this first stage, the mech will hover left/right to each side of the room, punching you when you get too close, which should be pretty easy to avoid. Every once and a while he'll also shoot 3 missiles out of his back, these do high damage, but can easily avoided with a low energy-per-shot gun (that can be a bit tricky if you're using staves :P), as the missiles explode in contact with bullets. After you've knocked his health down to 80%, you'll get to the intermediate phase between stages 1 and 2, in which he will rise up in the center of the room and start firing energy orbs in a circular fashion. These, again, can be fairly easily avoided by crouching in a corner, blocking any orbs that hit you with a shield.
Stage two lasts between 80% to 50% health, and is very similar to stage one, but more powerful. The first thing he'll do after he comes to the ground is fire his flamethrower at you, you can avoid this by utilizing one of the hovering techs available (think particle thrust/boost or butterfly boost). After the flamethrower, he'll shoot 4 missiles out of his back, goes to one of the corners and charges forward. You'll REALLY want to avoid this attack, as it can instantly kill your character. He will be momentarily stunned after he charges, however, so use this to your advantage. This cycle will repeat until his health is down to 50%, starting the intermediate orb phase again.
Stage three lasts between 50% to 25% health, and isn't very different. He'll do the same cycle, except he'll fire five missiles and charge from his corner and back. Again, I would recommend one of the flying/hovering techs to avoid this, or simply jump over him with pulse jump.
Stage four lasts from 25% down. It uses six missiles now, and dashes from the corner, back, and away again, which can easily be avoided with the same strategies in stage 2.
Sorry for the long read, but I hope it's useful in beating the boss! The shockhopper is a tough boss the first time around (and even after), especially considering the equipment you're given at that point in the game. Good luck!