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The First Descendant Pyromaniac boss fight just continues to be the next in a series of escalating brutal encounters, with the Pyromaniac using fire attacks and flamethrowers, as well as burning chains. It's definitely on theme, but that won't be of much comfort to the players who are struggling against it. Fortunately, there is an approach that you can use to beat this Void Intercept encounter, and one that works both on Normal and Hard difficulty.
We'll go into more detail below, but ultimately players fighting the Pyromaniac should use a mixture of high defense, Chill-element damage and long-range attacks at the bot's weak points. The Pyromaniac is a close-quarters fighter whenever you encounter it in The First Descendant, so staying at a healthy distance is what will give you your best chance.
Tips for beating the Pyromaniac in The First Descendant
Here's our summary of everything you need to know on how to beat the Pyromaniac in The First Descendant.
- The Pyromaniac is weak to Chill-type damage, and has multiple weak spots.
- Players should not just seek out Fire-Resistant modules, but also buff health and defense generally.
- The Pyromaniac's attacks struggle at long-range, especially on fast targets. Fight from a distance where possible.
- The summoned chains mean that the Grapple is vital for avoiding its attacks.
- In groups, have one fast Descendant distract the Pyromaniac while everybody else targets weak points.
- Of all The First Descendant weapons, the best here are those that deal high weakpoint damage and rapidly build Chill/Frostbite status effects.
Of course, that's a rough overview of what's more likely to be a very complex and ongoing encounter. Let's get into more specifics, starting with the big one - exploitable weaknesses.
Pyromaniac weaknesses
The Pyromaniac's main weakness is Chill-type damage, with Toxic as a secondary option if need be (though you really should be using Ice-type powers). If you can get Viessa, she's one of The First Descendant best characters for this encounter, but you can get by with a weapon outfitted with Chill damage and the right modules, like Chill Enhancement and Snowflake Conductor. You absolutely want to level these up a few times at Albion - our guide will help you find The First Descendant Kuiper Shard farm if you need help paying for those module enhancements.
Speaking of which, the best weapons overall are either those with very high weakpoint exploitation - sniper rifles and pistols - or those that can pour in Chill damage effectively (many have recommended powerful machine guns like The Tamer).
Beyond that, the Pyromaniac has a few obvious weak points - the shoulders, eyes, knees and heart. Considering how slowly it moves across the battlefield, there's no excuse for not targeting these whenever possible.
Pyromaniac strategy
Before starting the fight, you'll want to equip all the Fire-resistant modules you can get, like highly enhanced versions of the Heat Antibody module. Not only that though, the build you need to emphasise is purely defense, fire resistance, Max HP increase and shield increase - effectively making yourself a tank. The Pyromaniac has multiple attacks that are borderline impossible to dodge, so the only option is survivability and durability. Sooner or later, you are going to get hit - and you can't afford to take big damage from it.
Once in the arena, you want to focus on long-range combat. Similar to the Executioner, the Pyromaniac is slow, and while it can teleport and draw you in with certain attacks, it's generally safer to stay far away and target weak points, using what cover there is to protect from the fireballs it launches at you. If it gets out the flamethrower, you need to strafe to the side as fast as possible, or use the grapple hook to pull yourself out of reach.
The Pyromaniac also does a lot with summons - both the smaller Hummingbird/Kingfisher robots, and expanding circles of chains that damage the player if you touch them. You'll want to have at least one player constantly thinning out the robots, as they do reasonable damage, but you'll also all want to keep an eye out for those chains. When they start spawning in, the best thing to do is grapple up to the top of a tower or piece of floating debris to get above them.
Finally, in Frenzy mode, the Pyromaniac will be temporarily indestructible and take no damage - with one exception, the tube on its back. Though hard to reach, the best strategy here is for whatever player it's focused on to try and lure it forward, purely attempting to avoid the attacks, while everybody else gets behind and targets that weak spot. This is a generally good rule as a whole for fighting the Pyromaniac - and many bosses in The First Descendant - but in these moments it's practically your only option for success.
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