The Octaking is a boss in Duke Nukem Forever. It is the leader of Octabrain alien sub-species. Due to the lack of an Overlord in Duke Nukem Forever, the Octaking took effectively the Overlord's place as one of the leaders of the alien army.
Description[]
Octaking is the greatest of all Octabrains, and appears just like his lesser brethren, except he is larger in size and possesses much stronger telekinetic and mental powers. Octaking is first encountered in The Forkstop (Part 1). After defeating all the enemies it will come out of the water and attack the player. Since Duke uses a turret, Octaking is quickly forced to retreat once it has taken enough damage, prompting Duke to say, "I'm not done with you yet, Octapussy!" (a reference to the James Bond villain "Octopussy"). This encounter is just a preview of a true boss fight in Generator Room level.
Attacks (Forkstop)[]
- Psionic Blast: The Octaking charges up and unleashes a large blast of energy. These will attempt to lead the target if the player is on the move and are much larger than normal Octabrain attacks. Manning the turret provides a layer of protection from the attack. Even though this attack has a large splash radius, the player will not take full damage and will able to handle several hits. If the player dismounts the turret prior to the attack reaching it, the player can dodge the hit, giving them a chance to recharge their Ego.
- Thrown Objects: The Octaking will grab a number of large objects that are bolted down to the ground and throw them at the player. These can hurt and should be dodged. Sometimes the turret will serve as a buffer, protecting Duke from getting it, bit it does not always work.
Combat Analysis (Forkstop)[]
The main way to drive away this boss is with the turret. While players can use explosives to damage it, it is doubtful they will have sufficient ammo to complete the job. Lay into it with the turret as quick as you can as the more damage the player can do, the less attacks they will have to deal with. It will begin to levitate and throw all the available heavy objects (Three of them) at the player, one at a time and rather slowly. Once that is done, it will start rapidly throwing Psionic Blasts at Duke. If the player runs low on Ego, they should 'exit' the turret and either just crouch, walk backwards slightly or run to the tentacle on the far right until Ego recharges. Run back to the turret and continue the attack until the Octakins runs out of health.
Notes (Forkstop)[]
- There is a hidden RPG on the opposite corner to where the Turret is separated by the steps leading up to it.
- The Octaking's HP is set to 1875, but the player must reduce it to 99 or less to trigger it's escape. The guide will list the damage required to trigger this outcome: 1776.
- Depending on what the player brings with them, it is possible on lower difficulties for a player to bring enough explosive ordinance to take on this boss without having to rely on the turret to defeat it.
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Later, Duke has a showdown with Octaking in Generator Room. There, it is aided by three Octabrains (at a time), and unleashes all it's powers.
Attacks (Generator)=[]
- Psionic Blast: The Octaking charges up and unleashes a large blast of energy. These happen fairly casually during Stage 1, but becomes non-stop during Stage 2 after all the cover has been destroyed. The shots try to lead the target, so move one direction as it charges up, then quickly change direction after it fires to evade it. These shots can also be destroyed if the middle of the shot is hit with an explosive weapon.
- Thrown Objects: The Octaking will grab a number of large objects that are bolted down to the ground and throw them at the player. These can hurt and should be dodged. Sometimes the turret will serve as a buffer, protecting Duke from getting it, bit it does not always work.
Combat Analysis (Generator)[]
The second encounter against the Octaking is a great deal more dangerous; many players would argue this is the most difficult boss battle in the entire game.
Stage 1: The Octaking will repeatedly summon up to Octabrains to assist in battle (depending on how many are in the room at the time) while it mostly hovers in the background and waits for them to kill off Duke. The player should concentrate their effort on the Octabrains exclusively, given how close they are to the player during the battle:
- The crane gives you immediate access to the Ripper (DNF) and the Devastator.
- Ripper can do the job, but the low damage output means the process will be slow and with the respawn time for an Octabrain dependent on when one is killed will greatly shorten the amount of available time a player has to score direct hits to the Octaking.
- Devastator can do lots of damage at once and will 'work', but is not the best choice since they will throw the occasional missile back at the player (The rate of fire from the Devastator greatly exceeds their ability to catch the missiles, so most will get through). Considering the Octabrain is not alone when engaging Duke, this is an ill-advised strategy unless trying this at lower difficulties or the player has consumed a Beer to shrug off damage.
- Shrink Ray & Pipe Bomb combination works very well and can quickly neutralize all three in quick succession.
- Freeze Ray in 3-D mode does a good job of freezing them quickly, but the player may need some way to finish them off (depending on where and they land). Throwing Pipe Bombs or using a Melee attack would do the trick.
Once all the Octabrains are removed, the Octaking will throw the occasional Psionic Blast at the player. It will also catch the occasional missile and throw it back at the player, so make sure to stay on the move while attacking. After a while, if the player has not depleted the boss' health by at least 650 points, more Octabrains will spawn, forcing the player to engage them again.
Stage 2: A scripted event happens where the Octaking will dislodge three large pieces of equipment off the walls and throw them at the player. They will be thrown at the far-left, far-right and centre of the crane (in that order), leaving room for the player to dodge. With all the cover gone, the Octaking will quickly and endless spawn non-stop Psionic Blasts.
There, Octaking is much harder, because Duke does not have access to a turret. Octaking uses his mental strikes, which are much bigger in terms of power and area of damage. He is aided by 3 Octabrains as well, and, after taking enough damage, uses telekinetic powers to throw big objects at Duke.
Stage 3: Once his health is depleted, the Octaking suffers a mortal damage all around it's body and looses an eye. After crashing to the ground at the other end of the room, it will start to use it's power to draw the crane which Duke is standing on closer in order to kill Duke with a massive explosion of mental energy. It obtains another health bar, but it is much smaller and requires far less shots to kill, but time is of the essence to prevent the "suicide bombing", finishing the giant octopus off for good.
Video Guide (Generator)[]
Notes (Generator)[]
- Interestingly, moments before the final encounter with Octaking in Generator Room, he can be seen lying on the ground in blood, seemingly dead. It appears that Octaking was trying to fool Duke Nukem for a surprise attack.
- In-game memory lists the HP values for Octaking as 2800 and 1100, but with minimum HP levels to trigger certain events.
- 1st time: When the HP goes down to 150, it semi-explodes,flops onto the floor at the far end and starts dragging the crane towards it.
- 2nd time: When the HP goes down to 100, it continues to explode some more and finally dies, ending the battle.
- Prior to the battle, if the player had picked up the available Beer on the crane, they can 'Load Last Checkpoint' and another Beer will appear, giving the player two avaiable Beers for the battle to help shurg off Octabrain damage and greatly improving their chances for survival.
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