This is a guide to the Outriders Molten Acari Boss. Here you will find out everything you need to know about the special abilities and attacks of the creature, all of the mechanics, phases and – of course – how to defeat the giant spider-like monster!
The guide contains light spoilers. Its goal is to help you defeat the boss easily, so keep reading if you’d rather not go into it completely blind or if you have already tried it and need a bit of advice how to beat it.
Table of contents
Reaching the Molten Acari’s Nest
In Outriders the Molten Acari is the second Major boss of the game, fought in the Eagle Peaks region of the story. This boss takes the form of a gigantic Lava Spider/Parasite.
To reach this boss, you must take on the Story Quest “Inferno”. This quest will see you scaling the volcano and taking on various non-human enemies. This will mostly be various Perforo and their Venomous counterparts.
Upon reaching the Acari’s Nest, you are given one last camp area to restock yourself for the upcoming fight. Use this chance to also swap out abilities and respec if needed. If needed, you can safely change your Story Point via the Game Lobby to access an area to swap your mods.
Preparing for the Molten Acari Encounter
Since this boss creates a lot of uneven terrain throughout the fight, skills that directly target an enemy, like Hunt the Prey, will not work for most of the fight. Be sure to swap out those types of abilities if you want consistent damage from them.
While this boss does have some projectiles, they exist to create AoE effects, so any manner of reflect ability will not help either. Everything else is fair game to make use of.
If you need some help with your class, here on VULKK.com you will find full and very detailed Guides to all four classes in Outriders!
Make sure at least one of your weapons is some form of Assault Rifle, Light Machine Gun, or Sniper. This boss will occasionally move to the edge of the arena where only these weapons will continue to deal decent damage. Shotguns are still useful as they are in range for them for the majority of the fight, just not those specific times.
If you are wiping continuously on this boss, check if your gear is updated and upgraded. Gear and Mods in Outriders play significant role for your combat performance and success. Another option is to just lower the World Tier (the difficulty of the game). However, keep in mind that the higher the World Tier, the better rewards you get.
For higher World Tiers building your character properly is done mostly through the crafting system in Outriders. And our dedicated guide will help you learn how to best use your resources and get the most out of your current gear.
The Molten Acari Boss Encounter Guide
The Molten Acari is the first boss to feature phases in its fight, of which it has three. Phase 3 is the only significantly different phase, while the first two are very similar. Though all phases will introduce new attacks.
Throughout the first two phases of the fight you can deal increased damage with your gun to the boss if you aim at the soft spots, located on the upper back of the monster. There’s a thick scale covering them, which you can break with some focused shots.
Shooting the soft spots (they glow in bright orange/red color) will allow you to deal more damage per bullet.
Phase 1: Entering the Nest
Upon first engaging the fight with the Molten Acari, after its monstrous screech it will leap towards you and your party, so be prepared to move.
After this leap, the Molten Acari has seven distinct attacks it can do outside of using a Melee Attack on any player it can get in range of. Stay away if you are not the “tank” of the team, or if you play solo.
The first is Leap in Place. When the Acari does this, it’s a free damage window most times. It will hop about in place, creating small waves that make the arena’s terrain uneven while it does so, more so than when it simply moves.
The second is Targeted Leap. The Acari will target a player and attempt to land on them. Unless you’re already on the move, this can be difficult to avoid some times. Staying mobile is definitely the key to avoid it, even though it does lower damage comparatively to other attacks.
The third is Molten Burst. The Acari will sit in place and launch two balls of lava at the player. Each of these lava balls will then burst into four smaller projectiles upon hitting a player or the ground. The pattern of the four projectiles will always split them apart into an almost cross-shape, though not perfectly.
The fourth is Lava Eruption. The Acari will leap into the center of the arena, covering the center of the arena in lava as well as create a lava trail to the edge of the arena from each of its legs. You can traverse over this lava, but it will set you on fire. Simply roll and it will negate the burn sparing you a lot of damage taken. While this attack is clearly indicated on the ground, you can know you’re safe by paying attention to it’s legs just before it jumps.
The fifth is Lava Geyser. The Molten Acari will target a player, and briefly inhale before exhaling a geyser of lava at them. Once it picks its target, simply sprint or roll to the side to avoid this attack. This attack will often be a follow-up after Lava Eruption, but not always.
The sixth is Charge. The Acari will target a player and charge in their direction to the edge of the arena. There’s a lengthy wind up that has the Acari rearing up on it’s legs, which gives you a clear tell to watch for. Be careful to not get caught at the edge of the arena with this attack, it has the potential to pin you to the wall edge of the arena and kill you quickly.
The final attack for this phase is Molten Rain. The Molten Acari will climb on to the wall and launch a series of lava ball projectiles.
These will not actively target a player like Molten Burst, but will typically cover the arena starting from the farthest point from the Molten Acari. You can see what direction each projectile is going and react accordingly to avoid them as they are small and do not land instantly after being launched.
With careful play, this can also be a very easy window to get damage in as this attack will keep the boss in place for awhile.
After taking down one-third of the Molten Acari’s Health, it will trigger a short cutscene of the Acari dipping into the lava where it will begin Phase 2.
Phase 2: Hopper Phase
This is the Molten Acari’s Add Phase or rather the phase it will consistently spawn additional, smaller enemies. These are called Flame Hoppers, hence the phase name. These little guys will leap at you and try to explode on you, which can deal a fair amount of damage as well as set you on fire. Kill them before they get to you to avoid unnecessary damage.
In addition to previous attacks, the Molten Acari get one additional attack, Lava Spray. The Molten Acari will head to the edge of the arena and begin to drink Lava.
The Molten Acari will then spray this lava out towards the furthest edge of the arena, sweeping back and forth as it covers a sizeable part of the arena. You can simply avoid this attack by being closer to the Molten Acari as it drinks.
Taking down yet another one-third of the Molten Acari’s Health will trigger another cutscene of the Molten Acari retreating into the lava. This time however, it emerges as a much larger parasitic worm-like creature.
Phase 3: Parasite Phase
This is both the hardest and easiest phase of the boss fight. The Molten Acari will be reduced to just three attacks, but they can do significant damage.
It’s best to avoid any targeted attacks that place you close to the enemy during this phase, as the Parasitic Acari is now surrounded by lava which will deal damage overtime in addition to setting you on fire.
The first of these is Flame Wall. The Molten Acari will constantly spew several walls of Lava from its body. The Molten Acari will then rotate, attempting to hit a specific player.
Avoiding this is as simple as staying closer the boss, as the inner edge of the wall will be easier to outpace than the outer edge. Be careful of the still constantly spawning Flame Hoppers and debris though, as both can stop you briefly and allow a chance for the walls to close in.
The second is Bite. The Acari will target an area of the arena and lunge at it, dealing damage to anyone in the area. Strangely, this doesn’t seem to actively target a player, but rather be an attempt to do something else which is unclear.
The last attack is Lava Dive. This is less of a direct attack, and more the Molten Acari covering parts of the arena in Lava, making it unsafe to traverse for a short duration.
As long as you stay mobile in this phase, the Molten Acari should go down quickly and easily. Once the Molten Acari’s Health is drained, a final cutscene will play, where it will collapse onto the arena. Collect your Loot and you’re free to exit the Volcano.
I hope you found this guide on how to defeat Molten Acari boss in Outriders helpful and useful. Be sure to follow our Outriders coverage on VULKK.com. We already have a number of great guides and more are coming!
If you need help with Moloch – the next boss in Outriders, check out our guide that will help you get past him easily.
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