Well, since I just hit 30 on Recursion, I'm soloing Gargy right now. This thread here inspired me to make this. Although I think Bayamos said in this thread that the easiest way to solo him is using Proxies, I have to disagree.
After the first three Gargoyle kills I got to know that killing him with a Rifleman build is so much easier than anything I've seen so far with soloing this boss.
Some advices/information:
1. Load: Rifles. Especially important is the ability Three Round Burst, which can be used when the enemy is staggered. It's important to have, since it can be used OoIL (Out of Interlock). What else you load to this is secondary. At first I used a crossload with Dual Handgus, then a crossload with Sniper. Damage wise, I'd go with crossing Sniper. lvl 30 Twin Westeks on power did about 50 damage to him, lvl 30 LaLone Sniper rifle did 60. Although there's a rather large difference in reuse time, it doesn't really matter. But for those who aren't used to sniping, you better crossload with dual handguns.
2. The Gargoyle:
- It is VERY important that the Gargoyle never interlocks you first. It will make it more difficult for you to withdraw from combat
- As Bayamos found out, the Gargoyle has Martial Arts attributes. That makes it so much easier to kill him OoIL.
- Sometimes your damage will dramatically drop. From the above stated 50 damage from lvl 30 twin pistols, down to 11-16 damage. I can't say wether this is a bug, but I belief he has used the Aikido Ability Iron Body, which enhances his damage resistance over a short period of time. But don't bother about this. He'll get back into his former state soon enough ^^
3. Most important: DO NOT STAY IN IL (Interlock). He is double as difficult to kill him in IL than outside of it.
The procedure:
1. Attack him with ranged weapons. Preferably those with higher default ranged damage (pistol, twin pistols, sniper rifle in case of lvl 30). When he gets near, IL him. The moment you ILed, press withdraw. If withdraw gets untagged (normally it means that the tactic springs from withdraw to speed tactic), redo withdraw tactic. You can take the damage he does in a few rounds.
2. Now it's important: Everytime the Gargoyle looks like he's trying to IL you, or is already attacking your shield. IL him FIRST, then withdraw immediately. When you yourself withdraw it has the effect that he will with a large probability not try to IL you again anytime soon. The moment you've withdrawn do not attack him with abilities that would root him (immobilizing shot, covering fire, etc.) since he will try to move around after the root wear off, threatening to destroy the "calm" state he's in. Also you have to stand exactly where you are to make sure that also the Gargoyle won't move and thus will not try to IL you. Of course, this state will not hold forvever. So if it breaks, IL him and withdraw to get him back into this state. Most of the time when he's in the state, he will not use ranged weapons upon you. So this has only positives ^^
3. Always keep point 2 in mind. Attack him with power ranged attacks. Everytime he's staggered, use your Three Round Burst. Of course, to ensure that it hits better, use speed attack with it, but you can do it with power too ^^. Use Firearms skill every now and then to do awesome damage (also in conjunction with the Three Round Burst). With twin Westeks I did 90-99 damage with power, with Lalone Sniper Rifle 110-120 damage with power while having Firearms skill on.
Generally, apart from Three Round Burst and FireArms Skill I didn't need any abilities that used up IS. The only danger there is, if he gets you into IL.
All in all, I can kill him that way in a few minutes, in most cases ending the fight with full HP and half IS left. You don't need boosters or HPs (Health Pills), although these are recommended for a longer stay in any Construct ^^
Maybe that will also help the other builds like hackers, proxies and spies for this boss. Unfortunately this won't work with MAs but they can solo him in IL, although soloing him with Rifleman is so much more relaxing ^_^
EDIT: fixed typos, also the "calm state" as I explained it, is a behaviour error in the Gargoyle's AI. Everybodies known that especially construct bosses behave "weird" when it comes to different styles of combat. The "calm state" as I called it has those attributes:
- He probably will not use any ranged weapons or ranged abilities. I have yet to get to know if that procedure works for other construct bosses like Tengu or Taskmaster as well since both of them have ranged abilities.
- He will stand still for a while and do nothing (exceptions see above). If he's hit by debuffs like stun or rooted, it will force him to move after the debuff is gone, making him release this state.
- You can recognize if you succeded in bringing him there, if he's just 1 meter outside of IL range. If he is closer and inside the IL range, he is not in this state.
After the first three Gargoyle kills I got to know that killing him with a Rifleman build is so much easier than anything I've seen so far with soloing this boss.
Some advices/information:
1. Load: Rifles. Especially important is the ability Three Round Burst, which can be used when the enemy is staggered. It's important to have, since it can be used OoIL (Out of Interlock). What else you load to this is secondary. At first I used a crossload with Dual Handgus, then a crossload with Sniper. Damage wise, I'd go with crossing Sniper. lvl 30 Twin Westeks on power did about 50 damage to him, lvl 30 LaLone Sniper rifle did 60. Although there's a rather large difference in reuse time, it doesn't really matter. But for those who aren't used to sniping, you better crossload with dual handguns.
2. The Gargoyle:
- It is VERY important that the Gargoyle never interlocks you first. It will make it more difficult for you to withdraw from combat
- As Bayamos found out, the Gargoyle has Martial Arts attributes. That makes it so much easier to kill him OoIL.
- Sometimes your damage will dramatically drop. From the above stated 50 damage from lvl 30 twin pistols, down to 11-16 damage. I can't say wether this is a bug, but I belief he has used the Aikido Ability Iron Body, which enhances his damage resistance over a short period of time. But don't bother about this. He'll get back into his former state soon enough ^^
3. Most important: DO NOT STAY IN IL (Interlock). He is double as difficult to kill him in IL than outside of it.
The procedure:
1. Attack him with ranged weapons. Preferably those with higher default ranged damage (pistol, twin pistols, sniper rifle in case of lvl 30). When he gets near, IL him. The moment you ILed, press withdraw. If withdraw gets untagged (normally it means that the tactic springs from withdraw to speed tactic), redo withdraw tactic. You can take the damage he does in a few rounds.
2. Now it's important: Everytime the Gargoyle looks like he's trying to IL you, or is already attacking your shield. IL him FIRST, then withdraw immediately. When you yourself withdraw it has the effect that he will with a large probability not try to IL you again anytime soon. The moment you've withdrawn do not attack him with abilities that would root him (immobilizing shot, covering fire, etc.) since he will try to move around after the root wear off, threatening to destroy the "calm" state he's in. Also you have to stand exactly where you are to make sure that also the Gargoyle won't move and thus will not try to IL you. Of course, this state will not hold forvever. So if it breaks, IL him and withdraw to get him back into this state. Most of the time when he's in the state, he will not use ranged weapons upon you. So this has only positives ^^
3. Always keep point 2 in mind. Attack him with power ranged attacks. Everytime he's staggered, use your Three Round Burst. Of course, to ensure that it hits better, use speed attack with it, but you can do it with power too ^^. Use Firearms skill every now and then to do awesome damage (also in conjunction with the Three Round Burst). With twin Westeks I did 90-99 damage with power, with Lalone Sniper Rifle 110-120 damage with power while having Firearms skill on.
Generally, apart from Three Round Burst and FireArms Skill I didn't need any abilities that used up IS. The only danger there is, if he gets you into IL.
All in all, I can kill him that way in a few minutes, in most cases ending the fight with full HP and half IS left. You don't need boosters or HPs (Health Pills), although these are recommended for a longer stay in any Construct ^^
Maybe that will also help the other builds like hackers, proxies and spies for this boss. Unfortunately this won't work with MAs but they can solo him in IL, although soloing him with Rifleman is so much more relaxing ^_^
EDIT: fixed typos, also the "calm state" as I explained it, is a behaviour error in the Gargoyle's AI. Everybodies known that especially construct bosses behave "weird" when it comes to different styles of combat. The "calm state" as I called it has those attributes:
- He probably will not use any ranged weapons or ranged abilities. I have yet to get to know if that procedure works for other construct bosses like Tengu or Taskmaster as well since both of them have ranged abilities.
- He will stand still for a while and do nothing (exceptions see above). If he's hit by debuffs like stun or rooted, it will force him to move after the debuff is gone, making him release this state.
- You can recognize if you succeded in bringing him there, if he's just 1 meter outside of IL range. If he is closer and inside the IL range, he is not in this state.
