Scientific-Minimalist Guide to Dead Frontier Boss Hunting: Flaming Black Long Arms (with Video)
Key Points:
- Flaming Black Long Arms are one of three "Black Zone Mini-Bosses" that appear in the eastern regions of Fairview, mostly in Black and White Zones but also in Red Zones.
- Like the other Black Zone Mini-Bosses, Flaming Black Long Arms spawn in groups of five, each of which drops loot upon death.
- Of the three Black Zone Mini-Bosses, Flaming Long Arms are the easiest to hunt, even for recent graduate students who have yet to obtain ultra-expensive grinding weapons.
- Consequently, hunting Flaming Black Long Arms is an excellent way to rack up experience points and obtain easy loot.
BASIC STRATEGY: CIRCLE THE AREA
No special skills or weapons are required to hunt Flaming Black Long Arms. A graduate student (over Level 50) with stats in place, especially Agility, should be able to achieve success with the basic strategy used against other targets: circle the area to thin agro and separate the Flaming Long Arms, then focus firepower on the targets.
Agro is a problem in Red, Black, and White Zones, but Flaming Long Arms are fast enough to outpace most other zombies, so it is relatively easy to separate them from horde. After entering the area where the Flaming Long Arms are spawning, use your best grinding weapon to defend yourself while circling the perimeter.
One or two Flaming Long Arms should be able to stay out front. When there is a clear eye-line to them, switch to your best looting firearm and fire away until the agro catches up.
Modulate your speed carefully. If you move too slowly, the Flaming Long Arms will catch up and pause to strike. Even if they miss, these pauses provide time for the agro to close the distance.
After the first Flaming Long Arm dies, another should quickly arrive to takes its place. Simply repeat the process until all are dead.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS:
Group Hunting & Explosives
The most common difficulty encountered during Flaming Long Arm hunts is losing track of targets.
Though they are relatively fast, one or two Flaming Long Arms are likely to get lost in the crowd. Since it takes a long while to separate and kill a single Flaming Long Arm, it is possible that spawn time will end before five are killed and looted. (In our trials, we often ended up with only three.)
There are two possible solutions for this problem:
- Hunt in Groups
- Hunt with Explosives
1. Group Hunting of Flaming Long Arms
When working with groups of hunters, far more than five Flaming Long Arms are guaranteed to spawn (though only five will drop loot).
Group boss hunting has the additional advantage of saving ammunition. If ten hunters are shooting at the same targets, that means each hunter will use one-tenth as many bullets. This increases the profit made from the loot.
2. Using Explosives Against Flaming Long Arms
Scientific Minimalism generally discourages grenade usage against boss zombies, because grenades cannot focus their firepower on a single target. However, grenades can be effectively employed against a group of five Flaming Black Long Arms.
There are two aspects to this usage:
- During the initial engagement, which trying to outrun the agro, Explosives help insure that five Flaming Black Long Arms stay in pursuit.
- After the Flaming Black Long Arms have been separated from the agro, Explosives can kill all five almost simultaneously.
How Explosives Keep Flaming Long Arms in Pursuit:
The blast from Explosives impacts the 15 zombies closest to the epicenter. Unlike other weapons, Grenade Launchers do not need a clear line of sight to the target. Zombies that have been wounded by a weapon tend to follow whoever wounded them, instead of wandering off at random. The Flaming Long Arms and other wounded zombies will follow, but the other zombies, being weaker, will die sooner.
Since Explosives provide no knockback, it will be necessary to switch to another grinding weapon to fend off Spiders, Tendrils, and Flesh Hounds. Otherwise, keep firing grenades in order to lure the Flaming Long Arms into a kill zone.
How Explosives Kill Flaming Long Arms:
Try to lure the Flaming Long Arms around a wall or into a fenced area, such as a tennis court. Either way, the goal is to keep the other zombies trapped.
After the five Flaming Long Arms are isolated, circle them while lobbing grenades or heavy grenades into the middle of the group. Since Explosives spread their damage equally, all five Flaming Long Arms should die within moments of each other, though it may be necessary to finish off the last few with a single-shot weapon.
With five corpses side by side, separated by a wall or a fence from interlopers, picking up the loot is absurdly easy.
Just remember: Flaming Long Arms have 20,000 health points each. Assuming ever shot landed perfectly, it would take an Immolator over five and a half minutes to launch a bare minimum of 339 heavy grenades to kill five Flaming Long Arms. More likely, it will take more time and more grenades.
Nevertheless, this is a mere fraction of the bare minimum 1,852 rounds that a Wraith Cannon (the machine gun with the greatest DPH) would require to kill five Flaming Black Long Arms - at considerably greater expense.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
BOSS HUNTING GUIDE: TABLE OF CONTENTS
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