The long wait is over Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been released. Players once again suit up as bounty hunter Samus Aran as they are tasked with exploring yet another dangerous, alien planet.
Similar to previous entries in the Metroid Prime series, players will once again have to fight against a plethora of different bosses. One of the first big bads you'll encounter is a massive plant called Carvex. Here's everything you need to know about this boss and how to demolish this oversized weed.
How to defeat Carvex
The Carfex fight is divided into two components: the large vines and the plant body itself. When the fight begins, use your missiles to blast the bulbous, armored part of the vine which is near the apex (shown above). Once the armor is blown off, shoot the gooey, weakened part underneath to cut the vine and make Carvex open his shell.
The vine will perform one of three attacks during this phase. It will either knock the vine down on Samus from above. Make sure it backs off, as this is the prompt to quickly dodge left or right before it strikes. Alternatively, Carvex fines can hit the ground and linger there for a moment. If this happens, it plans to spin around the arena, in which case you'll have to jump over it.
The final attack will see the vine spawn three floating seeds that will enter Samus' position. They always start in groups of two, and destroying them will give you energy and missile pickups when you start to run low.
Once the vine is cut, the Carvex will open, exposing a large weak point near the base of the plant. You can now freely blast away at Carvex and actually start draining its health bar. During this phase, Carvex will continuously shoot up spikes from the ground, so make sure you never stop in place. It's best to keep weaving right and left while shooting.
When Carvex loses about 1/4 of its health, it will go back on the defensive and summon two vines this time. This increase in vines will boost their attacks, like the spin move, which now requires you to dodge two of them at once. Also, to actually get the Carvex to open back up, you have to break them within 5 seconds of each other.
Meaning, focus on destroying each of their shells with missiles first, but don't actually blow up the weak points that get exposed. Cut both vines instead once the armor is removed. This should give you enough time to destroy both vines and make Carvex open again. Damage Carvex exactly the same way as before until it hits half health and shuts down.
This is where it gets a little tricky. Carvex will spawn three vines, and the strategy is still the same. You have to pop all three within a few seconds of each other, but the window for this is very narrow. First remove the armor until all three are actually exposed.
When all three are vulnerable, wait for the vines to snap to do the spinning attack. When this happens, stick to the back wall and start shooting as the vines fly towards you. Carvex cannot replace the vines during this attack, meaning you have a longer window to hit all three. Even if you only manage to get one and weaken the others, you have a couple of seconds as the boss returns to its normal state of destroying the vines before any missing ones reappear.
After destroying all three, the Carvex will open up and you'll be able to shoot it until it only has a quarter of its health left. Its final surprise is that a bunch of vines will shoot out and obscure your lines of sight between the three vines. Additionally, these vines will be much more aggressive, as they will always strike down if you enter their intended quadrant.
Do exactly as you did in the previous wine phase and shoot them while they spin. This will render the extra cover it creates to block your shots pointless and allow you to easily cancel all three. Once they are all destroyed, the Carvex will open one last time. Blast it with whatever you need to finally kill this boss.
Your reward for all your trouble will be Psychic Bombs for your Morph Ball form!
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Xelios Boss Guide
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