BoP: Volcano Mining Facility

BoP: Volcano Mining Facility is a tier 5 alert in the Birds of Prey episode.

Combat Rating: 210 or better

Story[]

Follow intrepid reporters Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen as they investigate Luthor's hidden lair. No one's shocked that Luthor built a volcano lair, but he has plenty of surprises in store for uninvited guests!

Characters[]

Lex Luthor
Amazo
LexCorp Buzzsaw Foreman
LexCorp Jackhammer Foreman

The enemy combat rating is 304.

Locations[]

Volcano Mining Facility

Map[]

Walkthrough[]

You start the alert by joining Superman, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in the Volcano Mining Facility. Along with your group you proceed through several corridors, defeating LexCorp enemies along the way. Eventually you encounter a bigger room where robots will appear and attack you.

First boss: Waves of Robots[]

Very straightforward boss encounter and should be doable for most groups.

The boss encounter starts with fighting a single Worker Robot add, before several more Worker Robot adds spawn to join the fight. Defeat them.

Note that if you stand near a fallen Robot, they will arc damage to you, dealing mild damage (Pile of Robot Parts).

On each corner of the room are four consoles, and after the second wave of Worker Robots two of these at random will be able to be interacted with within a certain time. There will be onscreen text when this occurs, stating: "Turn off belts before another robot worker emerges!". If both of these consoles aren't activated in time,

After the console phase, there will be onscreen text stating: "M.E.R.C.Y. has blocked access to the terminals!", and another wave of Worker Robots will spawn. Defeat them. If both consoles were interacted with successfully before, only 2 Worker Robots will spawn, if not then 3 will spawn.

Afterwards there will be onscreen text stating: "Defeat the giant robots!". The Pile of Robot Parts on the ground will be transformed into a Buzzsaw Foreman sub boss. If the consoles before weren't interacted with successfully, a Jackhammer Foreman subboss will also spawn. Their mechanics are very basic, with brawling weapon abilities, and they may charge at group members. Try not to stay too close to them as they can hit quite hard if they hurt you with their attacks for too long. Defeat the giant robots to complete the encounter.

Afterwards, you proceed further into the facility, defeating more LexCorp enemies along the way. Eventually you enter a large room, where Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen attempt to investigate what is going on at the facility further. While doing so, Jimmy Olsen inadvertently spawns a more advanced robot, and accidentally names it "Amazeballs", before changing the robot's name to Amazo.

Second boss: Amazo[]

A very interesting and well designed boss encounter, but not especially difficult. Should be doable for most groups as long as mechanics are followed.

Mechanics:

Shortly into the fight, Amazo will jump and punch the ground (Coupe de Grace), knocking players back and dealing moderate damage. Around this time there will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo has surrounded himself in a shield of hard light!". Amazo will have increased defence until further notice.

Seismic Emission: During phase transitions Amazo may blink to the middle of the room. Players in range will take damage and be knocked back.

Superman/Batman phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo is combining the powers of Superman and Batman!".

Bat Mine: Amazo will spawn numerous Bat Mines around the room. If a player stands near them a timer will appear, and at the end of the timer the Bat Mine will explode. If this affects players it will deal mild damage and stun the player affected. Note that if multiple Bat Mines detonate and their respective AOEs stack up on the same player the initial mild damage can stack up to become major damage and may cause issues.

Superman/Flash phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo is combining the powers of Superman and the Flash!".

Snownado: Various tornados will spawn and move around the room. If a player is hit directly they will take some damage and may be encased in a large amount of ice. When that player breaks out of the ice they may deal major damage (possibly KO) to nearby players if those players are too close.

Superman/Green Lantern phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo is combining the powers of Superman and Green Lantern!".

Green Light Vortex: Amazo will blink to the middle of the room and have a red skull icon above his head. He will then create several train track constructs with train constructs all moving towards him. This is pretty difficult to avoid, but affected players will take significant damage and be knocked back by incoming train constructs towards the boss.

Pain Trains: Amazo will have a red skull icon while spinning a green train construct around him. Players in nearby range will take significant damage. Amazon may travel to several areas of the room while spinning his trains. Eventually he will throw his train construct away. Players who take any direct impact from the train constructs will take significant damage and may be knocked back.

Superman/Wonder Woman phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo is combining the powers of Superman and Wonder Woman!".

Lasso of Truth: Amazo will have a red skull icon while whipping around a large yellow lasso, before lifting all players far up in the air and then hard stunning all players. Players will need to spam a button (Square on PS) to breakout, and do so quickly. Amazo will then have another red skull icon above his head before doing a 360 degree Heat Vision Sweep laser attack. This will do heavy damage especially if affected players aren't blocking, so make sure you breakout of the lasso as soon as possible and then block the laser.

(Optional) Red Sun Projector[]

To the east of the room there will be a teleporter to a shielded area with a terminal. If a player goes and activates the Red Sun Projector via the terminal, shortly after Amazo will be stunned briefly and will be knocked out for a short time. This will also remove his defence buff he gained earlier in the boss encounter.

Amazo absorb player's powers phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "Amazo is copying your powers!".

Amazo can absorb any group member's power, including all of the 15 power sets available in DC Universe Online (Fire, Ice, Gadgets, Mental, Nature, Sorcery, Light, Electricity, Earth, Quantum, Celestial, Rage, Munitions, Atomic, Water)

(Note that Amazo can only absorb the powers of the players in the group, and as such only 0-4 of these powers may be observed in a single play through. It is possible to skip through this phase as well.)

Turret defence phase:[]

When Amazo is at 35% health (approximately) onwards to the end of the boss encounter, 4 Defense Turret adds will spawn into the fight in each corner of the main platform where you are fighting Amazo. They will fire damage towards the group (Machine Gun).

There will be onscreen text when this occurs, stating: "M.E.R.C.Y. activated turret defenses!".

After Amazo is defeated, the group will proceed into an elevator and will transition into the next area of the facility. There are more LexCorp robots here but most can be skipped. There will be one corridor where the group will need to navigate through drone attack patterns and defeat a wall formed by Mini Drone adds. Once you have got past this, skip past the adds, carefully proceed past the Arachnobots and find Lex Luthor awaiting you in the final room of the facility.

Last boss: Lex Luthor[]

A fairly tricky boss encounter for regular alert standards. Requires decent damage and adherence to mechanics, and preferably a decent healer in the group also.

Mechanics:

LexCorp Toxic Resin: Lex Luthor will have a red skull icon above his head, before exploding various toxic AOEs to players in range. Does moderate damage.

Power Suit Blast: Lex Luthor will charge over to a random player and spin in the air, causing a shockwave. Affected players will take moderate damage and may be knocked back.

LexCorp Surface Strike: Lex Luthor will spawn an orbital strike on a targeted player. Does heavy damage over time and may stun an affected player/s.

Rocket Barrage: Lex Luthor may fire rocket projectiles around the room. These are easy to miss, however if a player is hit directly by them (especially if in succession) this can do moderate to considerable damage.

Rocket Launcher: Lex Luthor will have a red skull icon above his head, before firing rockets at a targeted player. Does moderate to considerable damage.

LexCorp Healing Salve: Lex Luthor will have a red skull icon above his head, before leaving a green gas AOE near his targeted player. Does mild damage and may stun the affected player.

Taser Pull: Lex Luthor will have a red skull icon above his head, before using a taser pull ability on a targeted player. Does mild to moderate damage.

Gravity Well: Lex Luthor will have a red skull icon above his head while looking at a targeted player, before stunning them with a cosmic energy. This energy deals considerable damage over time to the affected player and may hard stun them, and that player may have to spam a button (Square on PS) to break out. it is best practice for players to stay away from a player affected by the Gravity Wall cosmic aura, or they will also take heavy damage over time. There is a chance Lex Luthor may use this ability on more than one player at the same time.

Warsuit mechanic:[]

Periodically, Lex Luthor will spawn a Warsuit (Warsuit Mark I, Warsuit Mark II, Warsuit Mark III, Warsuit Mark IV) to assist him in battle. Players will need to defeat the Warsuit add in order to progress through the boss encounter. Note also that Lex Luthor will have a green shield around him, and will be invulnerable to incoming damage from the group while a Warsuit add is active in the boss encounter.

There will be onscreen text when a Warsuit spawns, stating: "A Warsuit has been activated!". There will be onscreen text regarding the shield, stating: "The linked energy between war suits is protecting Lex Luthor!".

If a player is stood close to a fallen Warsuit, they may take a mild damage over time and possibly arc damage to other nearby players. (This mechanic does not have a name in the combat log and it is implied the Warsuit is attacking the player directly)

Explosive trap mechanic:[]

Periodically, M.E.R.C.Y. will spawn several explosive traps around the room, which players can pick up and move/throw to another part of the room.

There will be onscreen text when this occurs, stating: "Avoid the explosive traps dropped from the ceiling!".

LexCorp Security Device: If a player is near an explosive trap when it goes off, they will take major damage.

Turret phase:[]

All turret phases:[]

4 Sentry Turret adds will spawn in the fight. Players should defeat these as soon as possible, especially in subsequent phases.

There will be onscreen text when this occurs, stating "M.E.R.C.Y. activated Kryptonite Turrets!".

There will also be onscreen text stating: "Protect Superman from Kryptonite Turrets!".

Though these turrets will be focusing damage at Superman, if a player is hit by the turret's Concentrated Energy Beam they will take major damage over time while directly affected by the green beam.

Second turret phase onwards:[]

When Lex Luthor gets to approximately 50% health, the fallen Sentry Turrets will spawn again with more defence.

There will be onscreen text stating: "The turrets have been repaired and made sturdier!"

There will also be onscreen text stating: "Protect Superman so he can freeze over the ruptured tubes!".

From the second turret phase onwards, each of these phases acts as a damage check and possibly a heal check also. The Sentry Turrets need to be defeated as soon as possible.

There will be onscreen text stating: "Coolant has been released into the room!". Alternatively there may be onscreen text stating: "Thermal energy has been released into the room!".

Environmental Energy Spill: Groupwide AOE that deals consistent moderate damage over time. If the turrets take too long to get defeated the damage over time will increase to become considerable damage over time, on top of other mechanics. This is likely to be one of the more troublesome mechanics of the boss encounter.

When the turret phase is successfully passed, there will be onscreen text stating: "Superman froze over the breach!". The Environmental Energy Spill damage over time will stop.

Power core phase:[]

There will be onscreen text stating: "M.E.R.C.Y. healed Lex and increased his defenses!".

Lex Luthor will have a shield for the remainder of the boss encounter that will mitigate incoming damage from the group.

There will then be onscreen text stating: "Gather power cores to create an EMP blast!". The fallen Warsuits from earlier in the fight can now be interacted with in order to gather their power cores. The player will then need to interact with The Huntress to give her the power core. Once all power cores have been obtained there will be a short wait before an EMP blast detonates Lex Luthor's shield, defeating him in the process and finishing the boss encounter.

Once you have beaten Lex Luthor you have completed the alert.

Rewards[]

3 Source Marks, Loot Items
1 Catalyst (Augments)
Birds of Prey: Large Treasure Box (members/owners only)

Collectibles[]

Briefings and Investigations[]

Pulitzer-worthy Research (Briefings)

Collections[]

n/a

Feats[]

Brr! It's Cold In Here!: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in the Lex Luthor fight, in a single run, use bombs to ensure that only the Coolant Environment Control Tubes rupture before defeating Lex Luthor. (50 points); Grants title: The Cool
Hard No-Core: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in the Lex Luthor fight, defeat Lex Luthor without using the power cores from his fallen warsuits. (25 points)
Hottie Tamales!: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in the Lex Luthor fight, in a single run, use bombs to ensure that only the Thermal Environment Control Tubes rupture before defeating Lex Luthor. (25 points); Grants title: The Hot
Ivo's Folly: Recover the Damaged Android's Legplates of Omnipotence from Amazo in the Volcano Mining Facility Alert (Normal). (10 points)
Last Robot Standing: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in the robot wave event, secure enough terminals to ensure that only one large robot emerges and is defeated at the last phase of the fight. (25 points)
Shock to the System: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Event or Normal), make sure that no one gets knocked out during the drone hallway challenge. (25 points); Grants title: The Shocking
Spider, Spider, in the Hall: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Event or Normal), in a single run, navigate the hallway patrolled by LexCorp Arachnobots without being detected before entering Lex Luthor's chamber. (10 points)
That's so Amazo!: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in a single run of the Amazo fight, defeat Amazo without turning off the shielding on the turrets or turning on the Red Sun Projector. (50 points); Grants title: The Amazing
Turretial Downpour: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Normal), in a single run of the Amazo fight, defeat Amazo without destroying any of the turrets. (50 points)
Whack-A-Moley!: During Birds of Prey: Volcano Mining Facility (Event or Normal), in the Lex Luthor fight, take out the Kryptonite turrets each time they are actvated before moving on to the next phase. (10 points)

Trivia[]

It is revealed that Lex Luthor has been working with the heroes (such as in Earth 3, where he alluded to having a secret plan to villains but never said what it is) to study and copy the powers of the Justice League for Amazo to use.
Lex Luthor has captured The Council of Luthors (except for Future Lex Luthor), encountered in Nexus of Reality, and used them to upgrade his warsuit.
Despite Lex Luthor having a mechanic called Gravity Well in his boss encounter, this Gravity Well has no resemblance in animation or impact to the target compared with the Gravity Well ability from the Quantum powerset.
The Amazo boss encounter marks the first and only time in DC Universe Online that an enemy can absorb one of any powerset in the game from any player in the group. As such there are a lot of abilities Amazo can potentially use depending on the situation, and no two encounters against Amazo will be the same (depending on the powers the group members are).