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Rulers of Kaon guide
SkBirdman
Posts: 391
Hi all,
So, a few days back I managed to finish Rulers of Kaon. It took me plenty of preparation and practice but I eventually got there, and given there seems to be so little discussion about what is the most difficult mission in the game I figured I'd share my experiences with it and put together a little guide for anyone who wants to have a serious crack at it.
1) Bot choice
This is without a doubt the most important part of the mission. You can be the best player imaginable but if you pick the wrong bots you are going to struggle to get any traction here. My recommendation is to get the TFTF 411 Bot on Line and look at the RoK bot list before you even start (thanks Trailfire for that!) and to watch the Youtube videos by iNightSkies, they will show you how the bots behave in game.
I eventually settled on the below listing, I've included Rank (R), Level (L) and Forge level (F) as well:
4* OG Optimus Prime (R4, L40, F100, Duped)
4* Ratchet (R4, L40, F24, Duped)
4* Shockwave (R4, L40, F62, Unduped)
4* Drift (R4, L40, F43, Unduped)
4* MV1 Prime (R4, L40, F19, Duped)
I will explain the matchups and the reasoning behind my choices a bit later on in the guide. Needless to say the OG Prime/Ratchet combo is a necessity, both bots are incredible in this and I have a new appreciation for Ratchet's power. The other bots are more specific hard counters for bots that I expected to give me trouble.
Having finished the mission now, in hindsight I would've made one change to this list and swapped Drift out for my duped Grimlock, basically the matchups I expected to need Drift to counter weren't that difficult anyway.
2) Energon
99.9% of people won't be able to get through this without using revives, myself included! Having spent a couple of months beating my head against Mixmaster and Sideswipe while practicing I came to the conclusion that I should plan for 1 team revive and repair per opponent. This equates to 1 tier 1 squad revive and 5 tier 4 squad repairs for my squad (some big hitters like OG Prime weren't fully healed after this however), which is 300 energon a pop.
Given there are 12 opponents I planned for 3600 energon. I actually went and started the mission a little under at 3561 (I got impatient hoarding all that energon!). However there was one matchup I wasn't expecting to be as ridiculous as it was (looking at you Mirage!) and given I didn't have a hard counter for the matchup I ended up having to purchase another 850 to get me through.
By the end of it I had spent 3837 Energon. Is that good? I have no idea, it could be a good run or a horrible one. I have no doubt that many players could do it for less however. Either way planning for 4000 energon to be used should give you some buffer.
3) Matchups
Ok, here we get to the good bit, the fighting! Below is a list of opponents, my preferred bot to use and any notes about the matchup itself. I also categorise each opponent as one (occasionally more) of the following:
Damage: This opponent is a damage dealer, either they or their mod allows them to dish out a lot very quickly or in bursts.
Control: This opponent controls the flow of battle, forcing you to be reactive and/or change your method of approach.
Tank: This opponent prevents/reduces damage. They may not deal a lot but the fights take a long time and they will wear you down.
I also give my perceived difficulty rating, out of 10 and will give a recommended bot (usually from my list but I also include other options).
1) Mixmaster
Type:Damage
Difficulty: 8/10
Recommended Bot: Shockwave/Prowl
Mixmaster's difficulty lies solely in his burst damage and that he is so unforgiving. If you make one mistake and get tagged by a special you are done for. You need to be very mindful of his power bar to ensure that he doesn't get too close to his SP3, he can be hard to bait into a special if his power bar gets too high.
I recommend Shockwave or Prowl for this one because their SP1's both drain lots of power and will keep Mixmaster under wraps rather well.
2) Sideswipe
Type: Damage/Control
Difficulty: 6/10
Recommended Bot: Drift/Hot Rod/Bonecrusher
Sideswipe is one of those bots I expected to be harder than he actually is but he is still a tricky guy to pin down. If you have a bot capable of reducing his evade use them otherwise this fight will be long. He is easy to bait specials for so don't worry about him hitting his SP3 too much.
One thing I noticed is that if you hit him with ranged attacks while his SP2 evade buff is up he gains power at a ridiculous rate, almost as if the game registers the hits as evades. Be very wary of this. (I think it's a bug because I couldn't find any mention of it in his power set or mod description)
3) Grindor
Type: Tank
Difficulty: 3/10 (if using Armor Break, otherwise 10/10)
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime
Let me start with saying you MUST use an Armor Break bot for this. If you don't Grindor will become nigh invincible after a couple of Armor buffs (only Bleed, other status effects and direct damage [Galvatron's Dark Burn etc.] will hurt him), and the buffs generated by the mod do not expire. If using OG Prime this is one of the easiest fights in RoK however, his heal synergy with Ratchet will outrun Grindor's damage easily and his SP3 will ensure that Grindor will always take some damage regardless of his Armor Buffs.
4) Starscream
Type: Damage/Control
Difficulty: 7/10
Recommended Bot: Ratchet
I underestimated Starscream. His mod is very easy to work around (his SP2 is unblockable but it's easy to avoid anyway), however his signature ability is what makes him lethal. It has an 80% chance to nullify any buff and the direct damage is huge. Screamer likes to play defensively and let his ranged attacks do their work, and he doesn't give you a lot of openings.
I used Ratchet for this one because of his reliable heal. The fight is slow but if you play it cautiously you can keep in the fight and come out on top. Be warned however that if Screamer hits you while healing it will nullify.
So, a few days back I managed to finish Rulers of Kaon. It took me plenty of preparation and practice but I eventually got there, and given there seems to be so little discussion about what is the most difficult mission in the game I figured I'd share my experiences with it and put together a little guide for anyone who wants to have a serious crack at it.
1) Bot choice
This is without a doubt the most important part of the mission. You can be the best player imaginable but if you pick the wrong bots you are going to struggle to get any traction here. My recommendation is to get the TFTF 411 Bot on Line and look at the RoK bot list before you even start (thanks Trailfire for that!) and to watch the Youtube videos by iNightSkies, they will show you how the bots behave in game.
I eventually settled on the below listing, I've included Rank (R), Level (L) and Forge level (F) as well:
4* OG Optimus Prime (R4, L40, F100, Duped)
4* Ratchet (R4, L40, F24, Duped)
4* Shockwave (R4, L40, F62, Unduped)
4* Drift (R4, L40, F43, Unduped)
4* MV1 Prime (R4, L40, F19, Duped)
I will explain the matchups and the reasoning behind my choices a bit later on in the guide. Needless to say the OG Prime/Ratchet combo is a necessity, both bots are incredible in this and I have a new appreciation for Ratchet's power. The other bots are more specific hard counters for bots that I expected to give me trouble.
Having finished the mission now, in hindsight I would've made one change to this list and swapped Drift out for my duped Grimlock, basically the matchups I expected to need Drift to counter weren't that difficult anyway.
2) Energon
99.9% of people won't be able to get through this without using revives, myself included! Having spent a couple of months beating my head against Mixmaster and Sideswipe while practicing I came to the conclusion that I should plan for 1 team revive and repair per opponent. This equates to 1 tier 1 squad revive and 5 tier 4 squad repairs for my squad (some big hitters like OG Prime weren't fully healed after this however), which is 300 energon a pop.
Given there are 12 opponents I planned for 3600 energon. I actually went and started the mission a little under at 3561 (I got impatient hoarding all that energon!). However there was one matchup I wasn't expecting to be as ridiculous as it was (looking at you Mirage!) and given I didn't have a hard counter for the matchup I ended up having to purchase another 850 to get me through.
By the end of it I had spent 3837 Energon. Is that good? I have no idea, it could be a good run or a horrible one. I have no doubt that many players could do it for less however. Either way planning for 4000 energon to be used should give you some buffer.
3) Matchups
Ok, here we get to the good bit, the fighting! Below is a list of opponents, my preferred bot to use and any notes about the matchup itself. I also categorise each opponent as one (occasionally more) of the following:
Damage: This opponent is a damage dealer, either they or their mod allows them to dish out a lot very quickly or in bursts.
Control: This opponent controls the flow of battle, forcing you to be reactive and/or change your method of approach.
Tank: This opponent prevents/reduces damage. They may not deal a lot but the fights take a long time and they will wear you down.
I also give my perceived difficulty rating, out of 10 and will give a recommended bot (usually from my list but I also include other options).
1) Mixmaster
Type:Damage
Difficulty: 8/10
Recommended Bot: Shockwave/Prowl
Mixmaster's difficulty lies solely in his burst damage and that he is so unforgiving. If you make one mistake and get tagged by a special you are done for. You need to be very mindful of his power bar to ensure that he doesn't get too close to his SP3, he can be hard to bait into a special if his power bar gets too high.
I recommend Shockwave or Prowl for this one because their SP1's both drain lots of power and will keep Mixmaster under wraps rather well.
2) Sideswipe
Type: Damage/Control
Difficulty: 6/10
Recommended Bot: Drift/Hot Rod/Bonecrusher
Sideswipe is one of those bots I expected to be harder than he actually is but he is still a tricky guy to pin down. If you have a bot capable of reducing his evade use them otherwise this fight will be long. He is easy to bait specials for so don't worry about him hitting his SP3 too much.
One thing I noticed is that if you hit him with ranged attacks while his SP2 evade buff is up he gains power at a ridiculous rate, almost as if the game registers the hits as evades. Be very wary of this. (I think it's a bug because I couldn't find any mention of it in his power set or mod description)
3) Grindor
Type: Tank
Difficulty: 3/10 (if using Armor Break, otherwise 10/10)
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime
Let me start with saying you MUST use an Armor Break bot for this. If you don't Grindor will become nigh invincible after a couple of Armor buffs (only Bleed, other status effects and direct damage [Galvatron's Dark Burn etc.] will hurt him), and the buffs generated by the mod do not expire. If using OG Prime this is one of the easiest fights in RoK however, his heal synergy with Ratchet will outrun Grindor's damage easily and his SP3 will ensure that Grindor will always take some damage regardless of his Armor Buffs.
4) Starscream
Type: Damage/Control
Difficulty: 7/10
Recommended Bot: Ratchet
I underestimated Starscream. His mod is very easy to work around (his SP2 is unblockable but it's easy to avoid anyway), however his signature ability is what makes him lethal. It has an 80% chance to nullify any buff and the direct damage is huge. Screamer likes to play defensively and let his ranged attacks do their work, and he doesn't give you a lot of openings.
I used Ratchet for this one because of his reliable heal. The fight is slow but if you play it cautiously you can keep in the fight and come out on top. Be warned however that if Screamer hits you while healing it will nullify.
15
Comments
Type: Damage
Difficulty: 8/10
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime/MV1 Optimus Prime
Bludgeon was surprisingly hard as well. His mod boosts his ability trigger rates but given that it doesn't affect critical chance it doesn't mean there's a lot more bleeds coming your way and it's not a major issue (He does Armor up more often though). His main problem is that he is very aggressive and can catch you off guard, plus his Metallikato sig gives him 250% critical damage when it triggers, which adds up quickly. He downed all of my bots once before I managed to close him down.
6) Soundwave
Type: Control
Difficulty 4/10
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime/Windblade/Any bot without a ranged heavy or Specials
Soundwave is Soundwave. He plays exactly like he does anywhere else and is very predictable. His mod only increases his block proficiency so it really means little. The only thing to be concerned about is his Sonic Shield reflecting 90% of the time, which is why I do not recommend bots that have ranged Heavy or Special attacks.
7) Grimlock
Type:Tank
Difficulty 0/10 (He’s not buffed!)
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime
Consider Grimlock the intermission. He’s not buffed so comes in at roughly 3500 PI, and is a standard fight. He also has a little story tidbit that presumably leads into the next Legends of Cybertron mission.
8) Barricade
Type: Control
Difficulty: 5/10
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime
You really don’t need to bring a warrior to this one, the evade buff is very manageable and he really doesn’t play any differently to any other Barricade fight, he will try and pin you with ranged attacks then dash in occasionally. OG Prime is useful because of his heal, it will allow you to mitigate any damage provided you are mindful of any Backfire stacks.
9) Mirage
Type: Damage
Difficulty 15/10
Recommended Bot: Grimlock
Let me come out and say this, Mirage should not exist in this form (Please change him Kabam). His mod deals 300% of his attack over 7.5 seconds per ranged hit. This roughly translates to 10k damage for a volley of 3 shots. I spent more energon clearing him than the rest of RoK combined (over 2000) because my bots would only survive long enough to deal 10-30k damage each.
Grimlock is the only bot that would have half a chance against him due to his debuff nullification (unless you were using Beast Purification synergy) but even then expect to revive a lot. I really wish I had realised how bad Mirage was before I started, as mentioned earlier I would’ve run Grim instead of Drift.
10) Bonecrusher
Type: Damage
Difficulty: 5/10 (if using MV1 or Grimlock, otherwise 9/10)
Recommended Bot: MV1 Optimus Prime, Grimlock
Use MV1, that’s the long and short of it. Grimlock will last longer than most but MV1 will actually gain ground off the bleeds. This fight was the sole reason MV1 was in my team, and it was worth it.
11) Ultra Magnus
Type: Tank
Difficulty 2/10
Recommended Bot: OG Optimus Prime
The easiest fight in the whole mission (excluding poor Grimlock). His armor pierce mod boosts his damage but not to a point where it is threatening. Simply heavy spam with OG Prime to ensure the heal keeps coming and continue to plug away.
12) Megatron
Type: Tank
Difficulty: 5/10
Recommended Bot: Ratchet
This is a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG fight. I know iNightSkies used OG Prime for this despite the class disadvantage and he is a good choice, however his heal will quite often be overrun if you get tagged by a special or two. I instead used Ratchet for this one (after my Prime got downed after 20% or so) and finished up this one without too much trouble.
And that’s it! Aside from Mirage (which made me almost throw my phone) it was an enjoyable challenge, way more enjoyable than I expected. It’s also quite doable too if you have the energon and the patience (fights are anywhere from 10-25 minutes each). I also recommend that you pace yourself, the fights can be very draining. I did it over 4 days and no more than 3 fights per session.
Anyway I hope this helps you get through the mission and get your own T3 class crystal and Titan hand! (I got an R5 Bonecrusher out of it!)
Signing off,
SKBirdman
Thanks! Sounds like you had a way better run than me, I had to revive part way through Sideswipe Who did you use?
bots I'm planning to bring:
Rachet
OG Prime
MV1 Prime
Ironhide
Prowl
after reading what you wrote it seems that IH could be replaced by a warrior bot. Hmm... still a very good and informative sharing! Appreciate you taking the time to do this!
Thanks.. will consider your advice appreciate it lots.
sales of potions will help too
Allow me to explain. First and foremost, with a full crit armour stack, every opponent will do 40% less damage, and any damaging debuffs will effectively do 80% less damage.
Now for the specific matchups:
Primal Vs. Bludgeon
Makes him a complete cakewalk. Use your s3 to get full Crit armour stack, and never drop it.
His Sig is 100% nullified by this and any bleeds you take expire in under 1 second, converting to heal.
Primal vs. Mirage
You don't even need beast synergy for this (but it does help). All you need is to be agile enough to charge s3 once... Or block until the armour builds up on its own.
Once you do this, the shock duration is shortened by 80%, and it really makes mistakes more manageable.
Primal vs. Bonecrusher
Man... Bonecrusher doesn't stand a chance vs Primal. Once you have a full Crit armour stack, go make yourself a cup of coffee and come back.. you'll still be alive.
Primal also works well vs Barricade and Soundwave. Eliminates Barricades crit rate, and shortens shock debuff duration on SW.
I had been practicing the last few weeks & I managed to take down mix & ss using ratchet alone (r4-40/40-80-duped) then came grindor so I used ratchet too after 1 hour of fighting I couldn’t take down 5% of his health so I just quit playing.
All the rest can all be done with OG and his sp3 while using Ratchet as a support bot. Bringing Mirage will also help against Mix and Demotron, but OG can also handle those guys too. A maxed out Deep Wounds mastery couldn't hurt either.
So my list would be:
OG
Ratchet
Primal
Mirage
Random support bot for OG (Soundwave, Motormaster, Grimlock, Megatron)
I used OG, Ratchet, IH, Mirage, and HR. I ended up only using Mirage for Mix and Mega, IH only for BC and the rest was all OG. HR had a small run against Sideswipe, but he was only rank 3 and was there just to give Mirage synergy. I don’t really count him lol
You guys keep saying primal is good for ROK.. I wanna hear it specifically from someone that had beaten ROK using Primal without beast synergy (for instant purification effect) .. Then I will listen lol. Too much talk without results sometimes. ROK ain't like normal battles just check their PI rating and you'll get why.
Unfortunately my Primal wasnt an option, only rank 2 and unduped!
Shockers worked best for me too, but one mistake and youre ruined (and ranged play is not my strong suit!)
I finished ROK with Primal, and while I used beast synergy, it was actually not necessary against mirage or any bot. His AI is so quick, he would just sidestep my heavy purification and shoot me again, landing shock... So I decided to stack max Crit armour to shorten duration instead. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't being a beast team at all.
My team was:
Dinobot (replace with UM or OG)
Rhinox (replace with Mirage or Ratchet)
Primal
Drift
Ironhide
I used primal against
Mirage
BC
Bludgeon
Barricade (after i lost drift)
Megatron (as well as other bots on my team)
If he is duped he is incredible vs both bludgeon and BC.
Stops Bludgeon Sig completely
Stack armour against BC to keep his bleeds short, don't even worry about beast purify. and then spam s1 the entire match... I took over 40 bleeds from BC, and the bleed on my s1 was ticking at over 750hp by the end of the match:
Spent about 1700 energon. Would have been less if I took UM or OG plus mirage instead of Dinobot and Rhinox.
Beast synergy isn't as effective in ROK as you think it will be, if you take advantage of Primals skillset properly.
I spent most of the energon on Grindor. Dinobot is not a great choice for him. For mirage it only took me about 350 energon, Primal did very well against him.
I was hoping to use mv1 whenever I rolled him, along with ratchet, if I ever get him...
In my opinion, yes. You need Primal Sig or you won't heal off the bleeds.. and you're gonna take a lot of bleeds.
nice bro not bad.. completing ROK now officially makes you a veteran of the game! congrats!
gonna attempt mine soon too. just a few masteries off and needing some energon in my stockpile before I attempt.
I went for a healing team, which worked perfectly. Just spent 660 because mirage is an ass. But OG Prime, MV1, Tronus, Ratch and WJ did the job!
Megatronus made rok a easy peasy task
My team were I to do it again would be just like yours @Kenner1980 but with Grim instead of MV1. He'll do better against Mirage.