How to kill Commander Zaoron?

[RixoFutu]

People just don't know their abillities and most importantly - they don't bother to interupt which is essencial in whole game. And then ... they are posting QQ about how they can't beat that or that.

[ImperialSun]

A lot of people posted that they struggled with the first two boss mobs however I breezed through them, but had a really tough time with Zaoron on my arsenal merc.

 

I had to go right back to basics and remind myself to use all defensive abilities at my disposal including Heroic Moment. The advice in this thread is correct, interupts and stuns are key...but also movmement!!

 

I was getting too focused on a dps race with him and naturally being a turret class I was initially very static and trying to weather the storm...it didnt work. This fight was a painful reminder that:

 

1. Turretting and trying to burn mobs down before they do the same to you is not always the answer (although it is for 90% of the game lol)

 

2. Mercs NEED A 30M STUN!!!!!!! Only being able to use my stun when he is on top of me using his hardest hitting attacks was good times...not!!

 

Driz

[Rafaman]

A lot of people posted that they struggled with the first two boss mobs however I breezed through them, but had a really tough time with Zaoron on my arsenal merc.

 

I had to go right back to basics and remind myself to use all defensive abilities at my disposal including Heroic Moment. The advice in this thread is correct, interupts and stuns are key...but also movmement!!

 

I was getting too focused on a dps race with him and naturally being a turret class I was initially very static and trying to weather the storm...it didnt work. This fight was a painful reminder that:

 

1. Turretting and trying to burn mobs down before they do the same to you is not always the answer (although it is for 90% of the game lol)

 

2. Mercs NEED A 30M STUN!!!!!!! Only being able to use my stun when he is on top of me using his hardest hitting attacks was good times...not!!

 

Driz

 

Heh. It used to be 30 meters, remember that? The good old days.... but yea, now that is 10 meters that stun means a lot more damage during activation with a melee heavy elite.

 

BTW, I resorted to switching my companions. Luckily I have Treek geared as a tank. So.. I let Treek engage and while she can't hold aggro the entire time her threat makes the mob switch back and forth making it much easier to burn him down and stun him for that matter.

[Cernow]

2. Mercs NEED A 30M STUN!!!!!!! Only being able to use my stun when he is on top of me using his hardest hitting attacks was good times...not!!

 

But you do have a 30m interupt in Disabling Shot. This is the one you should reserve for Zaoron's Reaping The Fields ability which is the one that really hurts. If you make sure to always interupt that then you should be fine. Don't waste your main interupt on anything else. If you can interupt other attacks such as Parting The Ways with other abilities, then good. But Reaping is the main one you HAVE to stop.

 

On an Arsenal Merc the best way to fight him is to Tracer Missile from maximum range followed immediately by Electro Net. This makes him run slowly to you and you can offload on him. When he reaches you, punt him away again with Jet Boost, but make sure to time it so it interupts one of his attacks. By now he'll probably have pulled you to him or come right back to you. So this time stun him and move away to maximum distance with Hydraulic Overides. Unload on him some more. Now you're probably out of escapes so if he's not dead yet you still have Energy Shield, Kolto Overload and Unity to help you if you need to turret the last part of the fight. Jet Boost is probably back off cooldown again too.

 

I've found Arsenal Merc / Gunbery Commando the easiest to handle this fight with. Melee classes get a tougher time of it I think as they have to go toe to toe with him.

[Silko]

Have soloed him on 5 toons so far and without a single death or issue. 4 of them using healing comps and the 5th being my Sorc using Khem. You need to interrupt his attacks and if your range use your knock backs correctly. The only group based content on that planet is Heriod 2+ Preemptive Strike and the Operations.

[anesvik]

easy to solo. I have 6 lvl55s. A sent, op healer, assassin dps, mara, merc dps, commando dps.

My commando had the worst gear going into it. He had a green lvl 49 relic with 61s and lvl 50 implant/earpiece.

The trick is to let your companions heal through the skills (my healing companions are not even in 61s ( some missing implants)

But the skill you NEED to interupt is Reaping the Fields. This hits harder than the other skills (which can be kited as the are melee skills).

If you add Supacommanda on the harbinger, I will walk you though it.

There are plenty of guides and youtube vids on how to do this fight, I am sure.

[Narq]

easy to solo

 

Ah, my most favorite, helpful comment the forums have to offer. That is, if you're looking for no help and want to be subtly left to feel inadequate.

[Satanski]

Killed him today as a healing merc. He was chewing my tank companion in seconds untill i started to use interrupts. When i figured which ability to interrupt fight went like a breeze. I liked the fight, at last some solo content that require some tactic.

[Rafaman]

Interrupt, interrupt, interrupt. And don't forget, you can kite him to stop channeled attacks too. But... how you fight him will depend on your class.

[TOR-tanic]

As a Sorc, I cannot fathom how you're having trouble with this. You should be able to Heal2Full and Make [Him] Pay for trying to kill you!

 

[BoneEater]

So yeah.

 

Full 156 gear, heal comp, interrupt and stun all down and he still kills me. The only way I was able to kill that guy was with another player. Is this supposed to be a joke? It's a daylie solo mission, not a H2+, jesus christ, when is this getting nerfed already?

 

inb4 lol l2p oh whups it's already in here

[Aries_cz]

Interrupts, stuns, knockback and mobility are you friends. Use them

[tekhiun]

The Watchower isn't a Heroic 2. That's actually solo content.

 

Just interrupt Reaping/Harvest and run away or stun him during Ravage.

 

 

THis. These 2 attacks are the sole reason he hits hard do that and stun him around 30% health , I just leveled a sage and had no trouble killing him with lvl 45 blues.

[Icebergy]

Ah, my most favorite, helpful comment the forums have to offer. That is, if you're looking for no help and want to be subtly left to feel inadequate.

 

Well, this doesn't necessarily apply to the OP, but most people making threads like this are crying about it being too hard and begging for nerfs. In which case, it is appropriate to make them feel inadequate.

[Satanski]

So yeah.

 

Full 156 gear, heal comp, interrupt and stun all down and he still kills me. The only way I was able to kill that guy was with another player. Is this supposed to be a joke? It's a daylie solo mission, not a H2+, jesus christ, when is this getting nerfed already?

 

inb4 lol l2p oh whups it's already in here

 

What was your class and companion?

[BoneEater]

What was your class and companion?

 

Operative, and as a companion I went with the Doc. Didn't work so well. Wanted to try it with Kaliyo but she's so horribly undergeared she'll probably die in 2 hits. Thought it might work better though if I have him off of me and have a little time to dps him until my companion dies, but alas, undergeared comp.

 

Had a Sorcerer group up with me, he wanted to see if he can actually do it solo, 32k life, heal companion as well, dead after Zaoran lost 2/3 of his health.

 

Seriously, every other solo daylie is completely fine with my heal companion, but of course the elites only have 50k life as where Zaoran has 72k and hits like he just ate a bowl of steroids. Just ridiculous.

[Aries_cz]

Operative, and as a companion I went with the Doc. Didn't work so well. Wanted to try it with Kaliyo but she's so horribly undergeared she'll probably die in 2 hits. Thought it might work better though if I have him off of me and have a little time to dps him until my companion dies, but alas, undergeared comp.

 

Had a Sorcerer group up with me, he wanted to see if he can actually do it solo, 32k life, heal companion as well, dead after Zaoran lost 2/3 of his health.

 

Seriously, every other solo daylie is completely fine with my heal companion, but of course the elites only have 50k life as where Zaoran has 72k and hits like he just ate a bowl of steroids. Just ridiculous.

 

Then this is a L2P issue.

 

I managed to kill him with my Operative (geared in Makeb commendation mods) without much problems.

And if sorc with 32k HP cannot kill it as well (even when coupled with healer), well, I am not even going to describe how incompetent that someone is.

 

The Commander is easy to kill, each class has at least 1 instant stun, 1 interrupt and most have some form of knockback. Just interrupt his buff and debuff abilities (not sure about the names), drop some defensive cooldowns, knock him back etc.

[BoneEater]

Then this is a L2P issue.

 

I managed to kill him with my Operative (geared in Makeb commendation mods) without much problems.

And if sorc with 32k HP cannot kill it as well (even when coupled with healer), well, I am not even going to describe how incompetent that someone is.

 

The Commander is easy to kill, each class has at least 1 instant stun, 1 interrupt and most have some form of knockback. Just interrupt his buff and debuff abilities (not sure about the names), drop some defensive cooldowns, knock him back etc.

 

Well, it doesn't really surprise me that acussations of incompetence and "l2p" are being flung around again knowing that the swtor forum was toxic since release, but please, it's not an l2p issue. Everything you have suggested I am already doing, as well as saving my interrupt and stun for his two most damaging channeled attacks.

 

As I already said, if he would be in line with the other quest elites on Oricon I wouldn't even be here since I really, really loathe this forum. And for the meager reward the daily offers, it really doesn't seem worth the hassle.

[Benlightenment]

Well, it doesn't really surprise me that acussations of incompetence and "l2p" are being flung around again knowing that the swtor forum was toxic since release, but please, it's not an l2p issue. Everything you have suggested I am already doing, as well as saving my interrupt and stun for his two most damaging channeled attacks.

 

As I already said, if he would be in line with the other quest elites on Oricon I wouldn't even be here since I really, really loathe this forum. And for the meager reward the daily offers, it really doesn't seem worth the hassle.

 

Not to sound like one of the toxic members (I don't come here often either) but it does sound like practice is the only issue here.

 

Zaoron kicked my *** at the start. I tried a few times, wasted a couple of Heroic Moments and then gave up until a friend came online so we could duo it.

 

After a bit of time to collect myself and get some marginally improved gear, I went back for more. I switched from Malavai to Broonmark (Marauder here) and changed my tactic. I let Broonmark soak the damage a little first, then used Charge as my first interrupt. A quick burst of damage, then one more interrupt, Force Choke, Intimidate, interrupt...

 

I'm not saying Operative is as easy as Marauder (which it is now I know how) but all it needs is a little re-thinking on how you approach him. He's not like most other elites, so he needs slightly different tactics.

[Aries_cz]

Well, it doesn't really surprise me that acussations of incompetence and "l2p" are being flung around again knowing that the swtor forum was toxic since release, but please, it's not an l2p issue. Everything you have suggested I am already doing, as well as saving my interrupt and stun for his two most damaging channeled attacks.

 

As I already said, if he would be in line with the other quest elites on Oricon I wouldn't even be here since I really, really loathe this forum. And for the meager reward the daily offers, it really doesn't seem worth the hassle.

 

I am sorry, but if majority of people can kill the guy without problems, then the fault is most likely with the remaining players.

 

32k HP on sage equals to having Arkanian/Underworld gear. If someone cannot solo one elite mob with that gear WITH healing companion, that player obviously does not know what is he doing.

On Operative, not sure what your gear and talents are, but as I said, killing him with mods from Makeb vendor (58, I believe) and in healer tree was a bit harder than with my NiM-geared TK sage with DPS comp, but it was not a problem. I also had no problem with Healer commando in /Black Market/Verpine gear.

 

So, simply put, it is a L2P problem, not a problem of the guy being impossibly strong. He is difficult, yes, but not impossibly so. I was having much more problems with the Terraformer quest boss (not sure about the name).

 

He has two attacks you have to look out for - one buffs his damage, the other reduces your armor. One is just normal Ravage, I believe, so no problems there. The self-buff attack is much more important to interrupt/stun, as armor reduction is usually not that important in comparison and can be offset by defensive cooldowns.

As an Operative, you should have one hard stun (debilitate), one "soft" stun (Flashbang) and one Interrupt (Distraction), and possibly one root from talents. With three/four abilities you should have no problem of stopping him.

[BoneEater]

Aaaanyway, disregard what I said earlier, Tank companion actually works. Geared Kaliyo up a bit with classic gear, interrupted his attacks and stunned him so she wouldn't die immediatley, and voilá. Soloable. Don't know why it is recommended to take a healer. Allthough I guess it depends, if you're in tank specc heal would probably make sense.

 

This is how it worked for me finally though.

[maxjam]

Operative, and as a companion I went with the Doc. Didn't work so well. Wanted to try it with Kaliyo but she's so horribly undergeared she'll probably die in 2 hits. Thought it might work better though if I have him off of me and have a little time to dps him until my companion dies, but alas, undergeared comp.

 

Had a Sorcerer group up with me, he wanted to see if he can actually do it solo, 32k life, heal companion as well, dead after Zaoran lost 2/3 of his health.

 

Seriously, every other solo daylie is completely fine with my heal companion, but of course the elites only have 50k life as where Zaoran has 72k and hits like he just ate a bowl of steroids. Just ridiculous.

 

 

I had the same problem myself a few days ago... I levelled an Operative over the recent double xp weekend and ran around with Lokin - everything was easy bar the final Oricon daily in which I got slaughtered in a few seconds.

 

I geared up Kaliyo and went back a few days later to try again and can now do it comfortably.

 

In short both you and kaliyo both need to be geared to beat Zaoron.

[Satanski]

Aaaanyway, disregard what I said earlier, Tank companion actually works. Geared Kaliyo up a bit with classic gear, interrupted his attacks and stunned him so she wouldn't die immediatley, and voilá. Soloable. Don't know why it is recommended to take a healer. Allthough I guess it depends, if you're in tank specc heal would probably make sense.

 

This is how it worked for me finally though.

 

Thanks for the report. Good job!

[mokkh]

Aaaanyway, disregard what I said earlier, Tank companion actually works. Geared Kaliyo up a bit with classic gear, interrupted his attacks and stunned him so she wouldn't die immediatley, and voilá. Soloable. Don't know why it is recommended to take a healer. Allthough I guess it depends, if you're in tank specc heal would probably make sense.

 

This is how it worked for me finally though.

 

I usually pop unity right after engagement as well. Seems to give a nice lead in damage before all of his high powered channel effects really kick in. That companion tip is just a suggestion, I almost always use Kaliyo with my sniper while soloing regardless of the situation. But grats on nailing this encounter down. It doesn't matter which toon I'm on, I have to really pay attention when fighting this guy.

[DarknessInLight]

No, that doesn't work. Also healer companions are useless. When I asked for tips in general chat after I died about six times, the overwhelming consensus was to bring a friend or be overgeared. And this was coming from people that had way better gear than me.

 

Interrupting Reaping and Harvest takes the bite out of Zaoron. I see at least one request every time I am on Oricon from a 55 geared toon who still doesn't understand that the Tower Commander encounter is totally soloable. If I can do it with a Healer toon with a DPS companion, you can definitely do it with a DPS or Tank.

Edited December 15, 2013 by DarknessInLight