Wanted: Dead gives you a wide range of options to work with regarding its combat system, allowing you to cut through enemies with your Katana or light them up with a well-built AR and expand on those features with Skills. And, like most games of its kind, you can expect a decent amount of boss encounters that will put you to the test.
The game's first boss encounter occurs during the first Mission in the Dauer HQ and is a Spider Tank covered in heavy armor yet remains elusive and highly mobile. Seeing as it's the game's first boss, it won't be too grueling but can be a bit of a pain if you don't notice what you're expected to do.
Spider Tank Phase One
There are two phases to the Spider Tank encounter in Wanted: Dead, with the first phase being much more manageable and slower-paced. While you can deal damage via Grenades, your Katana, and Guns, you won't deal much with them. Instead, there is a strategy you should take advantage of if you want to dispatch this thing quickly and painlessly.
Phase One Strategy
When the encounter starts, you will notice a rogue enemy soldier running around the arena alongside the Spider Tank. They will be your primary target as they wield a Grenade Launcher called the "Flying Pig," you can pick up after killing them, then turn around and use on the Spider Tank for massive damage. Furthermore, these units will keep respawning after a set period of time, allowing you to keep reloading the Grenade Launcher.
As mentioned above, you can, theoretically, beat the Spider Tank with your default weapons, but we would advise against doing so, as getting up close and personal with it will almost always spell your death. Nonetheless, equip the Grenade Launcher, hide behind the various bits of cover provided in the arena, and let loose on it.
After depleting around half of the Spider Tank's health, it will begin flashing. This is your queue to run up to it and perform a Finishing Attack by pressing the 'B and Y' buttons simultaneously (Xbox Controller). This will trigger a cutscene, launching the Spider Tank into its second phase. But before we get into that, let's go over what you can expect move-wise from the boss in the first phase.
Spider Tank Moves: Phase One
Again, being the game's first boss encounter, the Spider Tank's moveset is rather basic, especially when considering the 'challenge' of the fight is learning that you can obtain a Grenade Launcher to make quick work of it. That said, you can find a complete round-up of its attacks in the table below!
|
Attack |
Description |
How To Evade |
|---|---|---|
|
Charge |
The Spider Tank charges straight ahead, destroying everything in its path. |
Run to either the left or right. You can land two to three shots from the Grenade Launcher after you evade this attack. |
|
Focused Beam |
Charges its canon and launches a singular shot of focused energy at its target. |
Either time an Evade (dodge roll) and negate damage with the invincibility frames by rolling toward the boss, or run to the left or right as you see it begin to charge the attack. You can land one or two shots from the Grenade Launcher afterward. |
|
Sporadic Shots |
Fires a barrage of attacks at its target. |
Run to either the left or right and keep heading in that direction. The shots will follow you but will land behind you, allowing you to evade all of them. You can land roughly two to three shots from the Grenade Launcher after dodging the last shot. |
|
Chainguns |
Unloads a steady stream of bullets from its two chainguns at its target. |
Resolved the same as its 'Sporadic Shots' move. Simply run to the left or right and keep running until the shots stop, then retaliate with two to three shots from your Grenade Launcher. |
Spider Tank Phase Two
If you made it to phase two of the Spider Tank encounter, congratulations, you saw everything the boss has to offer regarding its attacks. That's right, this boss fight consists of only four attacks, but the second phase drastically increases the tempo. While there is really no other strategy here than 'Do what you did in the first phase, except faster,' we will say that we recommend taking one-less shot than usual to better prepare and dodge the next attack.
However, we suggest consistently positioning yourself near where the enemy with the Grenade Launcher spawns, near the northeast portion of the arena, as you can quickly dispatch them and refill your ammo. For this phase, you should always be moving, only stopping to shoot at the Spider Tank. Hiding behind cover or trying to play passively will likely get you hit and maybe even killed.
With the vast majority of the Spider Tank's attacks whiff when you simply run away from them, you can just keep running around until you see an opening and land a few rounds from your Grenade Launcher on it, and repeat until you successfully defeat it. This may seem too simple, and it sort of is whenever you obtain the Grenade Launcher, which is the biggest 'obstacle' you need to overcome and discover during this encounter.