Cronus



Description
Cronus is the result of Dr. Gunjan being injected with an unknown viral compound by Dr. Tanaka. He grows gigantic before emerging as Cronus, the powerful zombie abomination. He is a huge purple zombie-like creature covered in green pustules, with long green vein-like tentacles on his arms.

Walkthrough
Upon entering the lab, a brief conversation occurs between the Marines, and Dr. Tanaka. He explains that he has injected his lab assistant Dr. Gunjan with a virus, in an attempt to buy time. Immediately after this the effects become apparent. The doctor begins stumbling around, increasing in size. Eventually he explodes into a bloody splash, revealing his new form as the mighty Cronus. At this point the battle commences in earnest.

Cronus will chase the nearest player, attempting to simply pummel them into oblivion with his powerful claws. Unfortunately, the Flamethrower does not possess a taunt, and must take Cronus's agro via other methods. Reactive Armor should be used to mitigate damage. Any players in non-tanking roles should stay as far away from Cronus as they can, while still contributing to the battle. Cronus will also charge on Nightmare. As Cronus moves about, he lays creep, which he will make him immune to damage while he stands on it. The tanks must attempt to drag him off of this creep by any means.

Cronus will also periodically employ his most dangerous ability, a deadly laser blossom. If not dodged, it will inflict severe, if not lethal damage. To mitigate the damage of the Laser Blossom, players can get hit by Cronus's melee attack and receive the "Touch of Cronus" buff. This will protect them from the bulk of the lasers' damage.

Through a combination kiting, attacking only when vulnerable, and properly managing the Touch of Cronus and healing, Cronus should fall with minimal difficulty, but regardless of tactic he is a fairly long battle.

Laser Blossom
Cronus's signature attack, and his most lethal. When Cronus shouts the phrase "Prepare for Destruction" it is a warning that he is about to fire his laser blossom. It is a 5 pointed radial laser that inflicts severe damage and stacks numerous Ailments. In Nightmare Mode, the damage of the laser blossom is doubled. In non-nightmare games, this can be mitigated by receiving the Touch of Cronus, but even that is risky. It is safest to position yourself so that you will have ample room to dodge the lasers. If you can not dodge, the next best choice it to quickly sprint through the laser beam. This will mitigate the amount of damage taken. When injured or on higher difficulties, Cronus can fire off multiple laser blossoms at once.

Touch of Cronus
When a character is injured by Cronus's claws, he receives the buff "Touch of Cronus." This causes Cronus's lasers to deal 60% less damage to that character for two minutes. Cronus's attack is very painful as is, and it can be hard coordinating him to hit specific players. Mostly this debuff will help tanks injured from kiting Cronus about by offering them some protection from the lasers. However, in Nightmare Mode, this buff is not present.

Creep Regeneration
Cronus will periodically lay a patch of creep. When on this creep he will heal any damage taken. The creep is very annoying, and can greatly increase the length of the fight. Worse still, if Cronus uses his laser blossom while on creep, he will be totally immobile until the attack duration finishes. This is largely to prevent facetanking and keep the fight a mobile kiting experience. The Flamethrower(s) must try to lure Cronus off of his creep. If the fight drags on too long, huge areas can become covered in creep. The best way to deal with this is to kill him as fast as possible. Creep will also be more difficult to kill on Nightmare.