Thargoid Combat: Difference between revisions

[[File:GoldenCobra EliteMk logoIII croppedvs Thargoid Interceptor 3310.png|250px|rightthumb|link=PilotsCobra Mk III vs Thargoid Interceptor Federation3310]]

'''Thargoid Combat''' is the most difficult content available in ''[[Elite Dangerous]]''. It requires a combination of advanced ships, specialized modules, and high-skilled piloting to be successful, but in return it is one of the most lucrative activities in the game, and thewas central focus of the current[[Second Thargoid War]] before its conclusion in narrative3310.

This'''Note''': this guide is designed to help players learn the detailshow to ''gethandle started''[[Thargoid]] fightingcombat thisstep-by-step. dangerousThe enemyrelated career is [[Xeno Hunter]].

'''Thargoids''' are an ancient race of ammonia-based insectoid aliens, who spend most of their time in [[Witchspace]]. They enter ourthe Milky universeWay to seed systems with their [[Thargoid Barnacle|Barnacles]], and periodically return to tend them for unknown reasons. These barnacles create [[Meta-Alloys]], a substance with incredible durability and material properties. Humanity's harvesting of these alloys has led to conflict between the two races, and as a result the Pilots Federation has placed hefty bounties on any confirmed kill.

== Thargoid Typestypes ==

Interceptors have a specialized organ called a 'Heart', which renders the interceptor nearly invulnerable to damage on top of its near 100% damage resistance to human weaponry. Hearts have two modes;: theirby default, statethey are inactive, whichand givesgive Interceptorsthe interceptor a slow, passive hull regeneration. If enough damage is dealt to the Interceptor, andthey will enter an '''exerted''' state, which lasts 20 seconds, and gives the interceptor almost instantaneous regeneration to full health.

=== Thargoid Shields ===

Thargoid Interceptors, unlike Scouts, have shields, which are generated whenever a Heart is destroyed. Thargoid shields function very similarly to human shields; unlike their hulls, they can be damaged by standard damage types, taking the most damage from Thermal weaponry. Unlike human shields, however, they do not regenerate if damaged, and in fact, they will gradually decay over time, eventually vanishing on their own after several minutes. Many players save ammo by not shooting at them at all, or only using lasers to accelerate their removal, or simply ramming the interceptor to break the shield.

|! Credit Payout

| 86,000500,000

| 2420,000,000

| 4034,000,000

| 6450,000,000

When attacked, Interceptors will deploy a swarm of '''[[Thargon|Thargons]]''',; small, independent drones, capable of firing their own caustic projectiles. TheyThe canmost alsodangerous becomeaspect of the swarm is its powerful 'agitated','phasing atdamage.''' whichWhile pointInterceptors smalldo groupsa ofstandard them10% willof employtheir adamage suicidethrough runshields, rammingThargon intoSwarms theirhave targeta formuch massivemore damagepotent toeffect, hulldealing andnearly modules.40% Agitationdamage occursdirectly whenthrough theshields swarmonto fliesthe throughhull. As a target;result, theshielded swarmtargets canwill thensuffer beextreme pacifiedamounts byof flyinghull throughdamage itdue ato secondthe time.phasing Naturallydamage, thisas comeswell atas thebeing riska oflarger takingtarget damagecompared fromto theunshielded agitatedvessels. swarm!

After the destruction of the first heart, all interceptors will employ a short-range lightning attack, which deals massive damage to shields, and will randomly overload and disable modules on the target ship. However, this attack does relatively minimal(about 5%) damage to armor. Devastatingly, this attack, will dramatically slow the target vessel, stopping normal movement entirely and reducing boost speed to less than a quarter it's normal value, making it very difficult to escape before it naturally ends.

After the destruction of the second heart, the Interceptor will launch a wave of powerful ''Caustic Missiles''. These are slower and more easily dodgeableavoidable than the ones fired by Scouts, but deal vastly more damage. Like the scout variant, they ignore shields and deal phasing damage directly to hullsthe directlyhull, and theytheir docaustic damage over time does not go away on theirits own. TheyIt must be removed either by Decontamination Limpets, overheating the ship, or docking and repairing. Interceptors will launch additional missiles atfollowing the destruction of every additional heart, save the second to last one.

TheAll ThargoidInterceptors haspossess an unlimited number of these missiles, but will only fire one per target it can see. These missiles cannot be shot down by [[Point Defence Turret|Point Defence Turrets]] or disabled via countermeasures, so players wishing to counter caustic missiles should bring turreted multi-cannons or a fast ship to either shoot down or outrun the missiles (respectively).

Following the destruction of the second to last heart, the Thargoid will employ a Shutdown Field rather than a Caustic Missile; this is an EMP-like pulse that forcescauses all ships in a multi-kilometer10 km (3 km on [[Elite Dangerous: Odyssey|Odyssey]]) radius to shut down and reboot, leaving them helpless under the Thargoid's fire. This will always be announced via a warning message on the player's HUD, stating, "Energy Surge Detected". The Interceptor will also visibly glow teal or blue before firing off the pulse.

There are two general ways to deal with this. The first is to employ a Shutdown Field NeutralizedNeutralizer, a utility module that cancels the shutdown field entirely. This must be properly timed, because it heavily drains Distributor power while active. The general best practice is to count to three after the warning message, and then activate the Neutralizer until after the wave has passed over. In multiplayer instances, it may be wise to hold it slightly longer, in case the player is desynchronzieddesynchronsied. Do keep in mind that multiple Interceptors can deploy consecutive shutdown fields, so holding it for several seconds after the initial pulse can allow the player to negate subsequent pulses if fighting a group.

The second way is to boost away from the thargoidThargoid and turn Flight Assist off when the warning message is seen. This will cause the player to drift away from the Thargoid until the ship reboots, keeping them safe until their weakness has passed. This has the benefit of allowing the player to use the utility slot for other purposes, such as additional Heat Sinks or a Xeno Scanner. Do note that the reboot time is fairly significant, so not utilizing the previous method can drastically increase the amount of time needed to end a fight.

== Anti-ThargoidXeno Ships ==

While players often tend towards Large ships for standard PVE content, they are oftenconsidered a poor choice for Thargoid combat. Their large size and slower speed make them an easy target for Thargoids, and they cannot take full advantage of their higher number of hardpoints, due to the experimental weapons limit. More often, players choose Medium ships, which have better speed and agility, as well as a smaller damage profile to avoid enemy damage.

The '''[[Alliance Chieftain|Chieftain]]''' is the most common choice among expert players. It has incrediblyincredible agility and speed, especially in its lateral thrusters, which makes maneuvering to avoid Thargoid fire much easier than other choices. However, this comes at the cost of hardpoints, and it will typically run with two medium weapons and two smalls, leaving room for either a cooling beam or a flak launcher. However, many find its excessive agility frustrating to control.

The '''[[Krait MkII|Krait Mk.2]]''' is another common choice. It is slightly less maneuverable than the Chieftain, but makes up for it with a full complement of C2 weapons, paired with nearly perfect weapon convergence. Many players start with this ship. It can also mount a fighter bay, allowing for truly exceptional damage.

The '''[[Alliance Challenger|Challenger]]''' falls in a similar vein to the PythonKrait, trading agility for durability compared to the Chieftain. It also has the capability to mount four C2 weapons.

Other ships are become progressively more challenging to use. Some experts use alternative builds, ships, and methods, but they are beyond the introductory scope of this article.

== Basic Anti-Thargoid Modules ==

Thargoids are almost completely immune to normal human damage types, like Thermal or Kinetic. BecauseAs ofa thisresult, it'sthey necessarywill toonly usetake thefull specialdamage Anti-Xenofrom damageexperimental type,weaponry (which, despitesubsequently itshas name,a is only necessary for fighting Thargoids, not other alien races, like thedamage relicsdebuff ofagainst thehuman Guardiansships).

*Special Note: Most anti-ThargoidAX weapons fall under the category of ''Experimental Weapons''. These weapons have a special limit of 4 weapons per ship. This- meansthis thatcan abe Corvetteincreased couldto only5 carryor 46 AXvia multicannons,the evenExperimental ifWeapon it has other hardpoints to spare!Stabiliser. Some experimental weapons, most notably the Flak Launcher, do not count for the purposes oftowards this limit.

TheLargely mostineffective basicexcept typeagainst ofthe anti-Thargoidweakest weaponryof areThargoids, the AX weapons,Missile Rack and the AX Multicannon andare human AX Missileweapons Rackinitially developed by [[Aegis]]. These can be purchased freely from many stations and megaships, and were the first line of defense against the Thargoids before the Guardians were discovered. Unfortunately, these weapons are largely ineffective against anything but the most basic Thargoid forces. The main benefit of these weapons are theircheapness and ease of access; athe newonly playerobstacle canto buyaccessing themthese andweapons getare started on fighting the Thargoid menace right away!credits. Unfortunately, due to their low damage, they are mostly effective against Scouts and Hunters, requiring great skill to kill even a Cyclops using them. Killing a Basilisk using human AX weapons is actually considered to be one of the greatestmost challengesdifficult in thetasks in-game!.

Importantly, human AX weapons cannot be engineered., Whatunlike youtheir seeGuardian is what you getcounterparts. Additionally, following the adaptation of the Thargoids against them, AX Missile Racks cannot damage Thargoid Hearts; this makes them incapable of destroying Thargoids on their own, so be sure to take at least one weapon capable of damage the hearts.

Advanced Weapons are a special and rarely-used type of AX weaponry, and are humanity's first attempt at applying Guardian technology to technology of our own design. Coming in Multicannon and Missile Rack form, just like the standard AX weapons, these weapons instead do standard human damage types by default, and must be synthesized to deal AX damage. Unfortunately, the synthesis cost to create AX ammo (which requires Guardian materials) makes them an expensive choice for long-term use, and since they are generally inferior to the Guardian modules, they are rarely seen.

Guardian Technology is the core of human defense against the Thargoids, and what allowedtruly us to turnunlocked the tidecapability andto repeldestroy them, at least for thestronger momentInterceptors. Standard Guardian Modules are unlocked by traveling to a Guardian site, approximately 500ly from the bubble, charging the site by firing into the pylons spread across the site, fighting off the defensive Guardian Sentinels, and finally scanning the Orb to acquire Guardian data materials. These can then be brought to a Guardian Technology Broker to unlock a wide variety of modules.

===Hybrid Human-Guardian Weapons===

The default Guardian weapons are the Shard Cannon (Fragment Cannon), Plasma Charger (Plasma Accelerator), and Gauss Cannon (Railgun). These are Guardian-modified variants of their original human counterparts, designed to deal AX damage rather than normal damage.

The '''Shard Cannon''' fires a shotgun spray of energy pellets, dealing massive damage at short range. While these are somewhat effective against lowerall gradesThargoid of thargoidvariants, their short range places pilots at high risk of counter fire, especially tofor shielded AX pilots. However, the deadlyShard LightningCannon attackhas the highest potential damage output out of all hybrid weaponry. It has been widely used by both beginners and veterans of Thargoid combat.

The '''Plasma Charger''' has a unique mode of firing; the player charges up the weapon, and then can release the charged energy at will. These weapons uniquely deal pure absolute damage, unlike human plasma weapons which typically do either 50/50 Thermal/Kinetic, or 20/20/60 Thermal/Kinetic/Absolute. Unfortunately, Plasma Chargers have slow projectiles, low heart damage, and low Damage per Energy, making them the most challenging Guardian weapon to use for Thargoid combat. However, they are effective against both human and Thargoid vessels, albeit dealing lower damage than traditional Plasma Accelerators.

The '''Gauss Cannon''' is the most powerful of the default three weapons against Thargoids. They have an incredibly high 140 Armor Piercing, are hitscan, and deal heavy heart damage, making them the most effective of the standard weapons, and defaulta recommended choice for manymost yearsbeginners. Players who simply want to get into Anti-ThargoidAX combat as quickly as possible should choose this module to unlock. However, theyunlike cantheir alsohuman berailgun difficultcounterparts, tothe hittrigger with,must duebe toheld theirfor railgun-style1 firingsecond style,before wherein you holdfiring the trigger for one secondweapon, atmaking whichits pointusage theyslightly automaticallymore firedifficult.

Released several years later, these are specially-modified Guardian weapons created by thean individual who calledknown himselfas '''Salvation'''. TheyThese are dramaticallycommonly moreregarded potentas thanthe theirbest standardGuardian formsweapons available, and finallyare createused clearcommonly competitionamong with Gauss for bestveteran anti-ThargoidAX weaponforces. However, these weapons are more difficult to acquire; unlike standard modules, they cannot be unlocked and then purchased in unlimited quantity, but instead must be purchased using guardianGuardian materials each time. However, makingthey themcost dramaticallymuch moreless per unlock than their traditional counterparts, but will require a separate blueprint per expensiveunlock. They also can only be acquired in the Mbooni system, which requires a permit from the ''Glorious Prospect'' megaship in the nearby '''LHS 1163''' system.

'''Modified Shard Cannons''' have double the Armor Piercing, four times the projectile speed, and half the spread of their standard variants, in exchange for massively higher heat generation. They deal even better DPS to Interceptors than Gauss Cannons, and even better heart damage, while their spread and speed has been improved enough to make hitting a breeze. They also do not require learning the challenging firing style of Gauss Cannons. However, their massive heat can be challenging to control for beginner pilots. Additionally, their distributor draw is low enough that 6 of these can be fitted to a single ship at once.

'''Modified Plasma Chargers''' have 6037.5% more Armor Piercing, 66% more damage, and four times the projectile speed of their standard variants. Their damage is absolutely massive, far exceeding Gauss or Shard Cannons, but because of this, their distributor draw is equally massive, making it nearly impossible to sustain them over long periods of time. Furthermore, their heart damage falls substantially behind either gauss or shards, which is compounded by theirthe massiveaforementioned distributor drawissue. Generally, they require more specialized builds to use (such as Large ships), or combination with other weapon types.

Finally, '''Modified Gauss Cannons''' are the only variant that are not strictly an upgrade. They fire a burst of four shots instead of one single shot, but the total damage per second is the same, and they have lower effective range, making it more difficult to use them effectively. They do have higher ammo totals, but these are better considered a 'side-grade' than a pure upgrade, like the other variants.

|97.7

|1714.28

|43.26

'''Guardian PowerplantsPower Plants''' are effectively pre-engineered G4 Overcharged power plants. They are not as powerful as fully engineered Overcharged power plants, but also do not have lowered integrity. They are a great way to get a new ship or build going more quickly without spending time engineering. However, they do increase heat generation substantially, and the extra power may not be necessary at the cost of cold running.

'''Guardian Power Distributors''' are similar, functioning effectively as G4 Charge Enhanced power distributors. These, however, do have a unique perk, increasing the power output of any power plant (not just Guardian) to a new maximum of 104%. They are a great way to get a new ship or build going more quickly without spending time engineering.

'''Guardian Module Reinforcements''' are a Guardian variant of the standard Module Reinforcement. It offers slightly superior integrity in exchange for a power cost. However, the effective protection value remains the same, so for players using an AFMU to repair their module reinforcements, their benefit is small. While they claim to protect against module shutdowns from lightning, the effect (if any) is minimal due to the incredibly rapid damage of the lightning.

'''Guardian Hull Reinforcements''' offer resistance to the 'caustic' damage type, in exchange for a power cost and lower raw hull integrity. Notably,All '''Thargon'''Thargoid kamikazedamage missilesis arecomposed theof mainsome sourceor ofall non-caustic thargoid damage. All other damage types(except for lightning'','' whichso doesthis negligibleresistance hullcan damage)be isconsidered offairly theuniversal causticfor damageAX typepurposes. WhileWhether thereor isnot athis significantresistance degreeis ofworth depthit todepends theiron perksa andnumber drawbacks, overall, they can be summarized asof followsfactors:

* Furthermore, they functionally boost effective repair rates and speeds, sinceas repairsany ignorerepaired resistances,hull whilecan incomingresist more damage does not.

The dividing line lies at about 1200 repairs. If a player is going to repair less than 1200 hull (about 4 C5 Repair Limpets), then human hull reinforcements are superior - however, at that point, players are better off swapping repair modules for more hull reinforcements, which will give more than 1200 hull. Often, this higher hull total will still make some amount of Guardian Hull Reinforcements worthwhile, but this will vary based on the ship and build.

If a player is going to repair *''more*'' than 1200 hull, then the resistance values of the Guardian Hull Reinforcements will result in a player ending up with more hull in the long run, with the tertiary benefit of greater module integrity. Assuming sufficient power is available, Guardian Hull Reinforcements are generally a good idea. EDSY now has a section that shows effective health including repairs, which can be a useful tool for determining which choice is superior for your build in particular.

'''XG9 Lance'''

The Lance is a powerful fighter for AX combat, carrying a gausssingle cannonGauss withProjector, highallowing enoughit armorto piercingeasily topenetrate heavilyeven damagethe all typesstrongest of interceptorThargoids. This fighter can deal damage nearly, but not quite, as powerful as a single medium gauss cannon, or four AX Multicannons. In NPC control, it is more than capable of killing scouts quickly and effectively. In the hands of an Elite NPC, it is fully capable of singlehandedly exerting a basiliskBasilisk interceptor,variant an impressive accomplishment for most players, let alone a solo NPC in an SLF!Interceptor.

'''XG8 Javelin'''

The Javelin is incredibly powerful, but limited by short range and slower projectile velocity. It carries aone Shard CannonLauncher with the highest fighter DPS in the game, but its spread and projectile speed makemakes it challenging to use. In practice, it offers similar DPS againstwhen Thargoidscompared asto the Lance against interceptors, but inferiorstruggles resultswith againstsmaller targets scoutssuch as Scouts. ThisIt SLF,is too,also capable canof exertexerting a Basilisk, thoughbut somewhatmay lessstruggle consistentlyagainst thanstronger a Lanceinterceptors.

'''XG7 Trident'''

The Trident is the weakest of the Guardian fighters for AX purposes. It uses a plasmaPlasma autocannonCharger that deals pure absolute damage. It does respectable damage, but not on the same level as the other two fighters. This fighter cannot typically exert a Basilisk on its own, but can easilyconsistently exert Cyclopses.

There is one more type of fighter, but it is not of guardian design. The AX Taipan uses AX multicannonsMulticannons, and so deals significantly lower damage than the guardianGuardian fighters. However, it is also significantly more durable, and can survive swarm fire far longer than other alternatives.; Itit can be a good way to distract the swarm for several minutes, if outright destruction is not necessary or desired.

By default, Thargoids emit alien signals that confuse sensors, hiding their health values, preventing module subtargetingsub-targeting, and filling the HUD with gibberish. This can be overcome by equipping the specialized '''Xeno Scanner''' utility. This allows for two different scan modes; the first, basic scan occurs automatically, and allows players to see their health values. The second, deeper scan requires the player to close toapproach below 500 meters of range and activate the scanner. If they can maintain that range for approximately 10 seconds, then the Interceptor's Hearts will become subtargetablesub-targetable, and their health can be seen in the standard subtargetsub-target menu.

Most players doing Thargoid combat will typically carry some means of Repairsrepairing. There are two different choices for this purpose; Repair Limpets, and Decontamination Limpets.

The main difference between these two is total repairs. As a rule of thumb, both repair about the same ''rate'', but Repair limpets repair for a significantly greater duration. Decontamination Limpets repair for a shorter duration, but can also remove the caustic damage over time left by caustic missiles., Eitherwhile repair limpets repair longer, and can berepair usedthe effectivelyship's canopy. Since the release of Caustic Sinks, accordingthe utility of Decontamination Limpets has been somewhat diminished, leaving most players preferring repair limpets, outside certain niche toscenarios playerlike preferenceMaelstroms.

*Most importantly, the Thargoid lightning attack deals massive damage (~50x compared to armor) to shields, and avoiding it relies on careful range control that many players do not have.

*Adding to this, Thargon Swarms fire a shotgun spray of bullets, andwith Shields40% phasing damage. Since shields widen the hit profile of ships, causing shielded ships tocan take moredouble to triple the amount of damage.

*Shields also require far more pip usage to properly take advantage of their durability and regeneration. This dramatically increases the complexity of a fight. The worst outcome is if an interceptor targets a player when their SYS capacitor is empty, preventing them from using a Heat Sink, forcing them to either discard their shields by activating Silent Running, or soak up enormous damage trying to escape while running hot.

Engineering is heavily encouraged for Thargoid Combat. While Guardian modules do reduce the engineering requirement for an Anti-ThargoidAX ship, players should still engineer the following modules:

*'''Power Plant''' - Armored, for lower heat, higher durability, and higher power generation.

*'''Power Distributor''' - Charge Enhanced, for higher regeneration on all modules.

*'''Armor''' - For maximum raw strength. Standard human resistances should be ignored.

*'''Engines''' - Possibly the most critical of all engineering, it takes a powerful engine to cold orbit; the more powerful the engine, the more easily the orbit can be maintained. Dirty Drives and+ Drag Drives are the only good choice.

== CombatGetting Started ==

To find a lone thargoidThargoid Interceptor, players should look for NHSSs with not just the AX combat icon, but also the Salvage and, Search, and Rescue icons. With this combination, Threat 5 Non-Human Signal Sources will becontain a lone Cyclops, Threat 6 will be a Basilisk, Threat 7 will be a Medusa, and Threat 8 will be a Hydra. ThreatThreats 3 and 4 will usually contain Scouts in varying numbers.

The meat and potatoes of Thargoid combat is based on a practice known as '''Cold Orbiting'''. Thargoid Interceptors, just like human ships, have a hard time targetingfollowing very cold targets. While they can still see them visually, they lose the ability to predict their direction of movement, instead firing directly where they appear to be. Since their weapons have travel time, if a player is able to move laterally (sideways) fast enough, their projectiles will pass harmlessly by. There are three primary ways to maintain low enough heat.:

*'''Thermal Vent''' experimental engineering on Beam Lasers can be used to maintain low heat indefinitely. This is an excellent way to practice cold orbiting when first starting. However, guardian weapons need full usage of a player's distributor, so using a beam laser at the same time is typically a bad idea. The best engineering for this is Long Range, because being able to vent at full capacity at longer ranges is critical for survival.

While this sounds simple in theory, in practice can be substantially more difficult. Thargoids will attempt to match velocities with the player so their projectiles can hit, and during later parts of the fight, they will use alternative weapons such as lightning and caustic missiles. Players will need to maintain a distance between 800m (maximum lightning range) and 1500m while sustaining fire to break the Thargoid's regeneration and/or destroy the hearthearts.

An often-forgotten aspect of Thargoid combat is fire groups, specifically in relation to heat. While Heat Sinks can counteract almost any amount of heat generation, they cannot stop the heat from appearing in the first place. If a player fires too many hot weapons at once, their heat will briefly spike over 20%; more than enough for the Thargoid to briefly see them, and potentially deal heavy damage. While a brief few seconds of damage might seem insignificant, it can really add up over a prolonged fight.