Boss Hunting Guide - Omar
Like almost every single other diep.io player, when bosses were first introduced, I always avoided them whenever I met them in FFA. Who'd want to fight an entity that has 3,000 HP, attacks any player who dares to approach, and has excellent defense and almost unstoppable offense?
The amount of times I've died due to getting sandwiched between a player and a boss is unreal. But after all, they still are AI controlled entities, and once you learn and memorize their behavior, and know what the right tanks and builds are, boss hunting will be a walk in the park.
Bosses can be defeated with many tanks in the game, but I'll only talk about the ideal tanks in this guide.
Here are the things that every player should keep in mind while boss hunting:
You want to attack horizontally. This hasn't been officially confirmed yet, but I'm certain that bosses have the same FOV horizontally and vertically, while players have more FOV horizontally. How do I know this? If you try approach a boss vertically, the boss will attack you while it's off your screen. But if you approach it horizontally while keeping your distance, it won't attack you until you throw the first punch. Do yourself a favor and keep the boss on your right or left.
It is recommended to have health regeneration while boss hunting; however, it is by no means a necessity.
If you attack the bosses from the direction in which they're moving, you are likely to get attacked by a player from the opposite direction, and if you fight the player there's a chance that the boss will attack you along with the player, and in a situation like this you will either run and escape (which is not all that difficult), kill the player and return to the battle with the boss, scare the player away, or you will die. However, you kill bosses more quickly if you attack from the direction they're moving. It's recommended in quieter arenas and with tanks that can actually survive a situation I just described.
Here are the tanks that can kill every boss in FFA except the Fallen Booster, and how to use them for boss hunting:
1. Predator
If you're boss hunting with the Predator, stay out of the boss's range, and use right click to know where the boss is. I do not recommend you hold right click or zoom in for too long, because you can get attacked by players while you're not looking. Bosses don't aimlessly wander the arena like players do; they move in a very specific manner. Predicting their location is usually stupidly simple. Therefore, you don't need to look away for too long to fight a boss. If you feel it's necessary, spam the right click or shift button to know the boss's location and at the same time not get flanked by players. I also recommend you stack your bullets, because if you don't, the bullets are more likely to miss the boss, making the process of boss hunting extremely slow.
Recommended builds: 0/0/0/7/7/7/7/5, 0/0/0/6/7/6/7/7, or your favorite glass Predator build.
2. Ranger
You'll kill bosses with the Predator more quickly than with the Ranger, but if you still want to use the Ranger, here's what you should do:
Keep the boss at the edge of your screen and turn on auto fire. That's it.
Recommended build: your favorite glass Ranger build.
3. Overlord
Boss hunting with the Overlord is more tricky due to its smaller FOV, but it's still really simple.
To kill the Guardian, get in its way, use right click to repel your drones to attack the Guardian whenever it gets in your FOV.
To kill the Summoner, put your drones next to the Summoner, approach the Summoner to lure out its drones sacrificing some of your own HP, and attack the Summoner using attract or repel. (Attract: move your drones normally with your mouse to hit the Summoner's body; repel: move them using right click). If you lose too much health, attack the Summoner from far away using right click while you regenerate.
To kill the Defender, try to navigate your drones carefully to avoid as many traps as possible, and attack using right click. Run away from the Defender's bullets in the final seconds before your attack. To escape its bullets, run either upwards or downwards until it stops shooting, then repeat the whole process until it dies.
The Fallen Overlord is different, because unlike the other drone bosses, it can and it will attack shapes. If its drones target a shape close to you, they will most likely target you after destroying it. Approach the Fallen Overlord, and in the process destroy as many shapes as possible. Once you see the Fallen Overlord, repel your drones to attack it while you retreat to safety.
I personally used 3/1/1/7/7/7/0/7 for boss hunting with Overlord, but any good Overlord build would work.
4. Factory
Mostly same as Overlord, with this small difference:
You don't actually need to lure out the Summoner's drones; you can attack it while its drones are on its body because your drones are powerful enough to destroy them then deal a good amount of damage to the Summoner. The only way you can kill bosses with Factory is by repelling your drones to hit the bosses while you retreat to safety. That's all.
Recommended build: you don't actually need any health regeneration to boss hunt with Factory; your favorite glass build will kill them just fine.
5. Overseer
You kill bosses with the Overseer with Overlord's strategies.
Yes, I know what you're thinking: Overlord has double the reload, why would I use Overseer instead?
Well, I wouldn't want you to use Overseer to boss hunt if you reach level 45; I want you to kill bosses with it at level 30. :smile:
The speed of the Overseer at level 30 is a huge advantage: it allows for much easier hitting and running, which is exactly how (and why) you kill bosses with this tank.
Build: 0/0/0/7/7/7/0/7 (if you accidentally level up, just put any extra points in health regeneration.)
Note: I have a theory that due to its speed, Overseer might actually be able to kill the Fallen Booster in FFA at level 30. Never got a chance to test it due to the rareness of the Fallen Booster.
6. Hybrid
Unlike the tanks mentioned above, the Hybrid can kill every single boss in the game: including the Fallen Booster.
The best way a Hybrid can kill a boss in FFA is by facing it horizontally and turning on auto fire, and, if it has 3 points or more in health regeneration, retreating to safety to regenerate if it takes too much damage and resuming the battle once it regenerates to full health. You will most likely only have to do this if you're fighting the Defender; other bosses won't be a problem. And yes, Hybrid kills the Fallen Booster: all it takes is auto fire + aim + running away from the boss.
Boss hunting with the Hybrid (or the Destroyer) is a walk in the park. I use it instead of the Annihilator because the big bullet takes too much damage from the bosses' drones, traps, and bullets, which weakens it and lessens the damage it does to the boss.
Recommended builds:
3/0/0/7/7/7/7/2 (favorite build; works on all the bosses.)
5/0/0/7/7/7/7/0 (movement speed is overrated to be honest. xD)
The following builds work on all the bosses, but the Defender becomes more difficult to kill:
5/0/0/7/6/6/7/2
3/0/0/7/6/6/7/4
7/0/0/7/6/6/7/0