MISSION 17 – Destroy The Cloudburst
This mission is basically one big boss fight against the Arkham Knight. After a brief drive to reach Bleake Island, Batman will get Alfred to seal off the island as the confrontation begins.
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BOSS: ARKHAM KNIGHT (CLOUDBURST TANK)
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Phase 1: Cobra guard
Initally as the boss fight begins, you will be badly outnumbered. The Cloudburst tank (easily spotted on the map) will be flanked by six Cobra tanks. They also seem to have the uncanny ability to move roughly in your direction, no matter how well you are hidden which makes them difficult to deal with.
One of the most important things about this battle is finding the network of underground pipes underneath the area where the Arkham Knight and his minions are patrolling. These allow you to slip out behind the Cobra tanks for silent tankdowns (unless you count the explosion) and for quick exits when the enemies are on to you. They also act as safe ways to get from one side of the area to another quickly without running into the sight cone of the enemy tanks.
Basically the inital phase is similar to every Cobra fight to date, wait for a Cobra to move away from the others (or lure it away if it won't split off by waggling your delicious unexploded ass at it) before popping into cover and back attacking it. The only difference here is the dangerous Cloudburst Tank in the center of the group. The good thing is that it only has a small cone of vision which slowy rotates in all directions.
The bad news is that if it sees you it goes totally nuts and flies after you extremely fast firing all kinds of damage dealing projectiles at you. So staying out of it's sight is crucial to staying alive at this point. While slow and tedious, the stealth and lure approach is the only real way to deal with the surrounding Cobra tank guards.
Phase 2: Cooling system
After the final Cobra falls, you'll move on to the next phase of the fight. This time you will want to use a combination of the tunnels underneath the area and the large gully/ waterway at the rear of the area to scan the Cloudburst Tank's cooling system. You should be able to sit on the upper ledge of the waterway and safely scan the Cloudburst Tank as it trundles by below without it spotting you. Or you could try and use blind corners and avoid the rotating cone of sight to scan it. Either approach works, just the first one is easier.
Once the weak point has been revealed (a large orange glowing disc on the front of the tank), you can fire on it in a similar fashion to the Cobra tanks. You'll need to wait a couple of seconds for a lock on before firing a shot at it. When you do, the Cloudburst Tank will go ballistic and begin hunting you down with full force. Drift around corners and race through narrow gaps and through tunnels to avoid the pursuing hunk of metal (how does that thing move so fast?).
The best way of doing this is to wait in a side area off a street with cover as the tank moves towards you. When it's cone of vision passes by, race out and aim the attack and then fire before afterburning away. You'll need to repeat this three or four times to successfully disable the Cloudburst Tank's main turret and move on to the final phase of the fight.
Phase 3: Finishing off
This is where you get the real choice of the battle. Depending on your skill level and happiness with risks, you can either confront the Cloudburst Tank directly in battle (quicker but more dangerous) or continue your spree of backstabby stealth attacks (slower but safer). If you want to go the stealth route, just continue the techniques outlined in phase two. For those that want to take the aggressive approach, drive up so you are facing the front of the Cloudburst tank and get ready.
The Cloudburst tank will open fire with everything it has, but without it's main turret you can shoot down and/ or avoid everything it throws at you with enough skill. During this dodging fire off your cannon at the orange disc on the front of the Cloudburst tank to drain it's health. This method is much faster than stealth if you can pull it off. Once the tank's energy is finally empty a scene will play out involving the Arkham knight.
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Objective: Investigate what has happened to Poison Ivy
After the boss battle ends, the scenes conclude and you regain control of Batman it's time to race back to where Ivy is trying to deal with the fear toxins. Carefully glide your way across the rooftops, avoiding the swirling mists of death below until you drop down next to the giant plant where Ivy is waiting. Interact with the trunk to trigger a scene. After it ends, so does this mission.
