Kraid

Kraid
Location	Kraid Room, Cataris
Health	6500

General Knowledge

Kraid has 6500 health. Kraid's second phase is triggered once he has gone under 4200 health

At the very start of the fight when Kraid opens his mouth he does not take full damage from any ability. Once he closes his mouth for the first time he will then take normal damage.

He will also take reduced damage inside of a counter sequence.

His mouth can be opened by shooting his eyes with either Missiles or Charge Beam.

Once his mouth is open he can be damaged with either Missiles or Charge Beam.

In Phase 2 his belly button can be damaged with Missiles, Charge Beam or uncharged shots.

Course of the fight and strategy

Phase 1 Strategies

The optimal strategy for this phase is to perform a technique known as Charge Missiles while aiming at Kraid's mouth and eyes. In this application of the technique you will want to do Quick Charges for the Charge beams in order to make it faster than just firing missiles. Ideally you can fit 7 sets of Charge Missiles within the time frame of his first scream such that the 7th missile lands right after it ends and opens his mouth again. After his mouth is opened again it should take no more than four sets of Charge Missiles in order to finish the phase out, as long as every charge particle and missile hit his mouth. This strategy saves roughly 3-4 seconds and saves on ammo for use in Phase 2.

An alternative strategy, and one that is recommended for beginners, is to only use Missiles to open Kraid's mouth and damage him. This will put more emphasis on firing missiles at a rate that is close to the missile recovery cooldown and less on aiming while jumping and/or turning around.

After the first scream is over if Kraid ends up spitting it is recommended to use Quick Charges to clear out the orbs and hit his mouth. If you get his nails attack instead you can just continue to fire missiles at him.

Phase 2 Strategies

On the Floor

The goal in this section is to get up to the top so you can damage Kraid as soon as possible.

The most optimal way to get to the Magnet rail at the top is to do the Morph version of Infinite Wall jumps, you will need at least 4 to reach the magnet. Otherwise you can fire at Kraid's belly button until he fires off 3 spikes from his belly to bring the magnet rail down to you, simply grab it and ride it up to continue the fight.

It is worth noting that he can do an attack where he fires his belly spikes in succession from bottom to top allowing you to jump on them and get to the magnet rail this way however, this is not guaranteed to happen and is often slower to wait for rather than just attacking the belly button.

On the Magnet Rail

Once you have gotten up top, you can then start to damage Kraid more efficiently. Since you have limited mobility it is recommended you just fire missiles at him.

It is a good idea to keep track of the number of missiles you have damaged him with in this phase so that you are prepared to end the fight ASAP if he happens to be mid attack while he is low HP. If just using missiles then you will only need 42 missiles to kill him at most. If you are using any amount of charge beams it becomes harder to keep track of the exact amount of damage you have done. A single piece of the charge beam does 75 damage while the full charge does 225 damage. A full missile does 100 damage as a reference.

When you have to jump to dodge his punch that cannot be countered you can perform a quick charge starting when you jump and finishing when you land back on the magnet

If you get the punch that CAN be countered you can use the Charge Beam that the counter gives you without triggering the counter sequence. This can be done easily by firing uncharged beam shots right before pressing melee to counter, countering, and then pressing shoot to fire the Charge Beam. It is important that you do not hold the missile activate button while firing the charge shot as it can fire it too early and trigger the counter sequence.

If you run out of missiles on the magnet and you are currently in a no counter punch attack then it is best that you try to do Quick Charges off the magnet. If you can not do those then just do standard Charge Beams.

Phase 2 charge missiles

It is optimal to use Charge Missiles in this phase as well, but it is significantly more difficult and saves less time than it does in Phase 1 as it can not be done with every attack.

ALWAYS start the phase at the top of the magnet firing one missile to open Kraid's mouth then, follow these directions:

Jump and fire two sets of Charge Missiles while keeping an eye on what attack he decides to do If Counter Punch

• Then, sit on the magnet, you can not get anymore charge missiles out before he becomes invulnerable.

If Claw Attack

• Then, do not jump again, fire missiles at his mouth and claws until the attack ends

If Non-Counter Punch

• Do Two more Charge Missiles and switch over to using just missiles as he reels his head upwards. After dodging the punch you can fit in two more Charge Missiles and then react to the next attack he does.

Here is a video example of the Charge Missile strat on the magnet:

Note: This is only one possible combination of attacks he can do, it's possible you never get a punch at all and this strat isn't even relevant in that case.