Boss Tricks: Flaahgra
Discovered byCtrlAltDestroy2, kip
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Notes:
- It is possible to beat Flaahgra without ever flipping over a solar panel, after the very first one. Learning to fight him this way only takes a little practice and is much easier than dealing with the panels. It's also much faster; he can be killed in under 30 seconds using this method. You need space jump for this though.
- The first round is no different, use either a missile or a charged shot to flip the panel to your left. Missiles travel slower but can be fired without charge time, making it possible to hit the panel just as it comes down if you can aim quickly enough. The splash of the missile also gives you more room for error when aiming. A charged shot travels more quickly but requires time to fire. After the familiar cutscene of Flaahgra falling over, roll over to the bomb slot and activate it.
- When the second round begins, look up slightly and use Flaahgra to dash to the right, using both jumps; dash a second time using both jumps when you land. You'll be near your next bomb slot and Flaahgra will pick a way to attack you. Just to the right of the bomb slot is a place you can space jump to and not fall off; if you morph here, you can activate the bomb slot from outside and damage Flaahgra, but depending on how he attacks you this round can be tricky. You can ignore him and activate the bomb slot if he does the spitting attack, but if he does the vine bridge, it's harder to do it without taking damage or compromising speed.
- In the next cutscene Flaahgra will start slashing at where Samus is, but you won't take damage from this. Unless you dazed him before using the bomb slot you can expect to regain control of Samus just after his eighth slash. If you did daze him, you'll probably be slashed before you can do anything about it, and this is why you want to avoid dazing him before the fourth round.
- Now the third round begins. Just as in round two, look up slightly and dash to your right using both jumps. Before you land by the next bomb slot, however, you pass right by a panel that you'll want to shoot with a missile. Not only does this knock Flaahgra back and stop whatever attack he was about to do, but it makes him ignore you and flip the panel back instead. Of course, this is perfect since you won't be needing the panel to damage him.
- After flipping the panel and landing from the dash, space jump over to the left side of the bomb slot and use it. The fourth round begins after another cutscene. Again, dash right and use both jumps. Before you land, Flaahgra will do a vine bridge. Pay attention to where he does this; he will either do it just to the right of where you land, or he'll do it on a completely different side of the room like an idiot.
- If he does the vine bridge on a different side of the room, ignore him but get to the bomb slot quickly, space jumping to the left side like in the third round. However, if he does it near you, he'll literally be in your way, so you'll need to shoot a missile at him just before landing from the dash. The missile will knock him back, but since you're relatively close to him now, he'll try to slash you twice, and he's very quick with this.
- You have a choice now; you can try to reach the bomb slot before getting slashed, which is fast but very difficult, or you can fire more missiles to daze him while space jumping to the bomb slot (which seems like it can be just as fast if done well enough). Getting slashed completely stops your movement and will cause you to fall in the toxic water if you're above it, so you can't just take the hit and keep going on your way to the bomb slot, even if you have the energy to spare. Since this is the last round, dazing him is perfectly fine.
- That's the basics of how it's done, but there is much more to say about the fight. It's worth explaining why the first round is done the same as before. None of the bomb slots work until you've seen the cutscene of Flaahgra being knocked over, which is triggered by flipping the panel to your left when the fight begins. But since the game places you right in front of a bomb slot after that cutscene, it's faster to just roll to it instead of bombing it from the outside.
- The second round could also use a little more explanation, due to it being unpredictable. As mentioned before, Flaahgra is easily ignored if he does the spitting attack, but the vine bridge complicates everything. Sometimes he will do it at a different side of the room like in the fourth round, but more often than not it ends up next to you, and so he ends up in between you and the bomb slot. This is the worst thing that can happen because it means this round might end up being a little slower than if he did something else.
- If this happens, there are a lot of ways to react. You can try space jumping over his scythe arm to reach the bomb slot, which won't compromise speed. Another way to prevent losing time is to fire one missile to knock him back, and getting to the bomb slot before he slashes you, although this is risky. You can also daze him, but this means you'll be hit as soon as the third round begins, and it's slower than the other options.
- If you've tried this method of beating Flaahgra already, you might have sometimes had a tentacle move around and hit you just before you activated a bomb slot. This does enough damage that you should try to prevent it from happening every round, because the most efficient speed run routes require doing this fight with 99 energy. The tentacle won't move if you're not right next to the bomb slot, but there also isn't much space to be on without falling in the toxic water; keep this in mind when positioning Samus before morphing.
- There are two options after you morph and place the bomb. You can deliberately fall in the toxic water (which does very little damage). It's also possible to linger on the invisible space far away enough from the bomb slot that the tentacle doesn't move, yet you also don't fall off and end up in the toxic water (hold up to stay on the space and change direction as you desire). If you can do that, you can win the fight without even taking damage, but it's much easier and safer to just fall in the toxic water. If Flaahgra already never hits you, the little damage the toxic water does won't matter at all.