Guide and Videos: Very Hard

**Note: If you are playing on Story, Easy, Normal, or Hard, I would recommend that you follow the guide for Ultra Hard.**

Before starting the challenge, follow the steps in the main section of this level guide to prepare (set up your Hunter's Kit, tag enemies, familiarize yourself with your loadout, swap weapon techniques). On the platform, craft the following traps:

6 Advanced Purgewater
5 Elite Acid
3 Advanced Blast (on top of the 5 you begin with)

I like to organize my Hunter's Kit to cycle in the following order: Smoke Bomb, Advanced Purgewater Trap, Elite Acid Trap, Advanced Blast Trap, Overdraw Potion, Large Stamina Potion. If you have access to the Sunwing, you will have one additional slot available; Large Health Potions or Cleanse Potions are both good options for this space. Set up your quick swap to cycle between the Elite Canister Ropecaster (the ammo type doesn't matter) and Tear Precision Arrows.

Now you’re ready to enter—but before you do, wait for the machines to get into position. You want the Thunderjaw to be as close as possible. Ideally, the Scorcher will be far away, but its position is less important overall.

When you jump in, immediately use the Penetrating Rope weapon technique on the Elite Canister Ropecaster to begin to tie down the Thunderjaw. Four Penetrating Rope weapon techniques will be sufficient to lock the Thunderjaw down; unfortunately, you only have enough stamina for three. To ensure you can tie it down without wasting a stamina potion and without risking getting eaten, there's a tricky (but very consistent) approach.

First, immediately use a smoke bomb upon landing. Then move to the side (but not outside of the smoke!). During this time, you are waiting for two things: For your stamina to regenerate, and for the Thunderjaw to begin a new animation (either walking or using the scanner to locate you). While you're waiting, you can craft a cheeky additional smoke bomb—it will absolutely come in handy later. As soon as the Tunderjaw begins to move toward your previous location, use another Penetrating Rope technique—and another, and another. Because the rope is hitting it while it is already in another animation (walking), it will take a moment before it can reposition and initiate an attack. This should be just enough time for you to get it fully roped down.

Of course, all of this is dependent on the Scorcher not noticing you, so make sure you've got your wits about you.

Once (and while) the Thunderjaw is detained, you can deal with the Scorcher. Before it notices you, you have a free opportunity to shoot the Scorcher's Mine Launcher with one of your Tear Precision Arrows. With practice, you can also ensure this shot removes the Scanning Ears, which deals a noticeable amount of component removal damage. After the Mine Launcher is off, swap to your sling.

Hitting the Scorcher with Advanced Explosive Bombs helps to build up to a knockdown. You can also use Braced Shot as soon as your stamina regenerates. Once you knock it down, place four Advanced Purgewater Traps directly next to it (if you only have time for three, that's OK—make sure you're not standing in range of the trap explosion when it gets up). Then swap back to the blast sling so that you can explode the traps before the Scorcher has a chance to run away.

You want to repeat the knockdown strategy one more time using explosive bombs and Braced Shots. Once it's down for the second time, you should be able to place the last of your Advanced Purgewater Traps; exploding them should kill the Scorcher, leaving you alone in the Arena with the big boy. Loot the Scorcher before you turn your attention to the Thunderjaw—you'll want the extra shards to craft Explosive Bombs.

Assuming the Thunderjaw is still tied up, place three Elite Acid Traps directly in front of it. Consume your overdraw potion. Then swap to Tear Precision Arrows and remove a Disc Launcher (try to remember where it ends up). Removing the launcher should cause the ropes to break. The Thunderjaw always charges you as soon as the ropes break, so it should be easy to get it to run into the traps you set.

After the traps explode, reassess what parts remain on the Thunderjaw. I like to immediately remove the Rapidfire Cannons if they survived the acid traps. I also use Tear Precision Arrows to take off the other Disc Launcher.

Now swap back Advanced Explosive Bombs (or just the regular Explosive Bombs if you’re out) to build up knockdown damage. Don't forget to use more Braced Shots as your stamina regenerates, as well. You want to get the Thunderjaw to fall over so that you can target the blaze canisters on its belly. Note: If the acid traps didn’t corrode the armor plate that typically covers these canisters, you may need to use a Tear Precision Arrow to expose them. Once you’ve got it down and the canisters exposed, swap to Light Fire Arrows on your warrior bow and shoot as many canisters as you can. These will cause high-damage elemental explosions that light the Thunderjaw on fire.

At this point, the Thunderjaw should be unable to perform the majority of its ranged attacks, meaning you'll be experiencing a lot of charging attacks. This is good because you want to lure it back into some more traps. Use the rest of the Elite Acid Traps and start to mix in some of the Advanced Blast Traps whenever possible. You can use your smoke bombs to help buy a second to place traps—or to go pick up a heavy weapon (the Disc Launchers or Mine Launcher). If you’re nervous about your dodging, you can use your valor surge to gain a big boost to your defense for this part. As stamina becomes available, don’t forget to swap back to the plasma arrows to use your Braced Shots.

If you were able to craft the sneaky additional smoke bomb earlier, you should have one left. Before you use the smoke bomb, make note of where the disc launchers have fallen. Daze the Thunderjaw with the smoke bomb, set any traps available, and then sprint to pick up the disc launcher. Ideally, you will be able to reach it before the Thunderjaw starts any attacks—and hitting it with a disc should stagger it and enable you to unload the entire clip without taking any damage. Determining when to pick up any other heavy weapons will require a bit more finesse, but you should try to look for any possible opening to do so.

If the Thunderjaw is still alive, you have one last resource to exploit: The metalbite canisters on its back. Again, swap to the blast sling and Braced Shots (consuming Large Stamina Potions as needed) and work on building up knockdown damage. When you get another knockdown, run to the back/top of the Thunderjaw and remove the covering over the metalbite canisters, then quickly equip your Light Acid Arrows on the warrior bow and fire away. Those elemental explosions should be sufficient to end this nightmare.

This is a lot. Let's see it in action.

For this level, I didn't just record one sample video—I recorded 10. Here's my favorite:

And here are nine more. Note that there are many subtle differences in these attempts—sometimes I accidentally destroy the Scorcher's Mine Launcher; sometimes I forget to loot it; sometimes I get hit while attempting to use the ropes and have to drink a stamina potions; sometimes the Thunderjaw shoots my traps with his face lasers and I have to resort to other attacks; etc., etc., etc. I hope watching a couple of them will give you a better sense of how to react in real time, think on your feet, and adapt to changing circumstances.

**Bonus:** **Here's Wallison Paulino's guide to completing this challenge on Very Hard and Ultra Hard difficulties.** His video includes a couple of different strategies.