Why is Armstrong so Hard?
Senator Armstrong‘s infamous difficulty stems from battling him in a compact arena limiting movement, his ability to rapidly heal himself, and a varied mix of enhanced cyborg grabs, slams, and punches requiring total mastery of all Metal Gear Rising gameplay systems to overcome.
Armstong‘s Distinct Challenges
Raiden faces steep odds taking on Armstrong‘s nanomachine enhanced form within the cramped courtyard. The arena design hinders maneuverability while his healing factor and offensives pressure Raiden to utilize every upgrade and skill perfectly.
Claustrophobic Arena Limits Options
Unlike previous Metal Gear bosses permitting sprawling tactical movement, Raiden confronts Armstrong within a modest 50 foot courtyard beside the World Marshal headquarters. As we can see below, this heavily constrains angles of attack and space to dodge Armstrong‘s domineering 9 foot frame.
[Arena Constraint Image]Raiden can‘t rely on kiting or flanking strategies with Armstrong easily covering distance. Front on dodges also risk leaving Raiden cornered. In addition, camera issues given the tight quarters exacerbate difficulties evading attacks.
Regeneration Forces Commitment
Making matters worse, successfully damaging the hulking senator only briefly impedes Armstrong thanks to his irradiated nanomachines rapidly healing wounds. After sustaining 8-10 slash combos, he enters a defensive stance imbuing himself with golden nanites to regenerate around 65% of his 3 health bars within 5 seconds.
Raiden must interrupt this stance by entering Blade Mode to precisely strike a small highlighted target on Armstrong‘s lower back shown below. Failure to land this hit allows Armstrong to full heal which significantly drags out combat.
Combined with restrictions on running away, Raiden had no choice but to stay locked in exhausting close quarters combat with limited temporary windows to inflict lasting harm.
Offensive Onslaught Limits Reaction Time
On offense, Armstrong launches a series of potent limbs enhanced by his nanomachines. His move set consists of the following types of attacks:
Enhanced Punches – Armstrong throws heavy convention punches doing moderate 180 damage. But every 3rd hit sends Raiden flying back stunning him for 2 seconds making additional hits impossible to react to.
Grabs – Cyborg arms allow Armstrong to grapple Raiden from 6 feet away, lifting and brutally pummeling Raiden for 400+ damage if he fails to break free with timed button mashes.
Shockwaves – One of Armstrong‘s deadliest moves. He slams the ground unleashing radial shockwaves cracking the concrete doing 340 damage which can down Raiden in just 2 hits. Their wide area gives little time to dodge.
Charges – Rarely, Armstrong may bull rush with his shoulder lowered, doing massive collision damage on impact, sometimes into lethal walls pins.
In all, Raiden had to cope with diverse instant kill potentials limiting reaction time while confined.
Tactics to Counter & Defeat Armstrong
However, various tactics leveraging upgrades, alternate weapons/styles , and key fight strategies make toppleing this monumental obstacle feasible.
Upgrades to Safely Endure Attacks
Investing cybernetic upgrades into health, healing efficiency, damage reduce %, and blade mode sensory boost gear proved essential to enduring assaults while locked in close combat.
| Upgrade | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Vitality lvl 4 | +800 HP | $48,000 |
| Auto-Repair lvl 3 | +15 HP / second regen | $30,000 |
| Damage Absorb lvl 2 | 20% reduction | $60,000 |
| Augmented React mode | Slows time by 90% | $80,000 |
The extra durability enables eating grabs and shockwaves that would normally kill Raiden while high level auto-repair negates attrition as the battle drags on.
Meanwhile sensory boost gear ensured Raiden could still track and evade some attacks within the tight battle arena and cramped camera while endlessly exchanging blows toe to toe.
Alternate Styles to Recover Damage
Specialized combat styles also kept Raiden in the fight. The "Soul Siphon" and "Offensive Shield" upgrades allowed healing based on damage done (5%) and hits blocked (25 HP) respectively.
Against Armstrong‘s heavy blows, the "Offensive Shield" in particular gained chunks of health back to compensate. Styles prolonging blade mode up time also assisted landing the back hit to interrupt healing.
Positioning: Exploit Blind Spots
Though simple on the surface, circling behind or closely beside Armstrong during punch flurries and combos gained advantage. As depicted below, it prevented him backing away to trigger his healing stance while allowing access to his weak point. Remaining tight left no choice but face to face confrontation.
[Positioning Diagram]Baiting grab attempts also gave rewarding damage windows as grabbing whiffs if Raiden dodges left/right correctly at the last second. Though risky, this "bull fighting" tactic racks heavy damage.
How Armstrong Compares to Other Metal Gear Bosses
Fan reception along with objective metrics of boss stats cements Armstrong as among the very toughest single entity fights in Metal Gear history barring psychic planswalker Psycho Mantis.
Health and Damage Ratios
Purely by the measurable numbers, Armstrong constitutes the tankiest humanoid boss in the series thus far on Very Hard difficulties. With 3 full health bars, he exceeds towering end game bosses like Metal Gears Ray and Rex.
In fact, only the cutscene boosted EXCELSUS mech itself with 10 health bars technically surpassed Armstrong‘s durability by numbers. Further, his shockwave and grab inflict some of the highest single hit damage values to Raiden in the franchise.
Testing Mastery of All Game Systems
As the ultimate adversary at game‘s end, Armstrong forced players to strategically harness every facet of Revengeance combat to overcome him. Simply relying on reaction and combo skills wasn‘t sufficient unlike prior battles.
Only by leveraging all gear upgrades, combat styles, parrying/dodging mechanics could Raiden endure and outlast. This total gameplay mastery test cemented Armstrong‘s status as the perfect climatic villain.
Build Up Through EXCELSUS
Narratively, Armstrong also capped off a gradual underdog progression for Raiden. The penultimate EXCELSUS fight established Armstrong as Raiden‘s physical better while teaching players to utilize the terrain and lure mechs into openings.
These skills translated directly to baiting Armstrong into punishing grabs and counter attacks to whittle his health after chip damage proved fruitless. So where EXCELSUS foreshadowed Raiden‘s triumph through strategy over brawn, Armstrong himself personified it.
Why Fans Revere Armstrong
Beyond mechanics though, reception of Armstrong‘s characterization and ideals also notably elevated his popularity especially in internet meme culture to adored villain status. This factored into perceptions on his boss difficulty.
Grand Villainous Vision
Unlike typical Metal Gear villains coveting power, Armstrong notably adopted a grand vision of America reclaiming its former glory within the difficult context of its declining economic and political influence amidst rising rivals Brazil, Africa, and China set in the then near future 2018 setting of the game. This complex critique of western liberalism‘s failings resonated.
"Meme-able" Personality
Additionally, Armstrong‘s boisterously defiant personality in boss banter made him an internet meme hit. Fans latched onto iconic arrogant but charismatic lines like "Nanomachines, son!" and the DNA speech. Fan art and cosplays surged in response. Almost akin to how Psycho Mantis enjoyed similar admiration for showmanship during his era.
Defining Game for the Franchise
Indeed, a Steam fan poll asking "Who was the character you enjoyed most fighting?" showed 35% of 18,000+ respondents voting for Armstrong – edging Solid Snake, The Boss, and rival cyborgs. Reviews frequently cite both Armstrong and the EXCELSUS fight as major highlights in an already well received game averaging critic scores of 9/10.
Subsequently Revengeance‘s financial success greenlit franchise continuation after Metal Gear Solid 4 was thought to conclude the canonical games. So Armstrong helped spur the title back into mainstream AAA space.
In summary Senator Armstrong confronted Raiden with a cocktail of challenges stemming from claustrophobic conditions, unchecked healing potential requiring absolute commitment to damage, and overwhelming physicality demanding tight mastery of mechanical systems – both upgrades and combat skill.
This epic final confrontation fittingly pushed protagonist and players alike to their limits, cementing the burly politician‘s legacy as both an exhilarating villain mechanically and iconic Metal Gear persona culturally for his vision and swagger. Few bosses across games can match that peak combination.
