Soloing NK

[Shensen]

Well Batty was kind enough to share some strategy with me in regards to soloing NK so I thought Id document it as best I can for posterity. 

At CL90 you can run through the spiders and at most get one or two aggros, but if you just keep running you will lose aggro shortly. On the way down you will get to a small room with red crystal clusters then go up a spiral ramp to a large cavernous room. Note this location as you will need to come back here.

You will initially pass through the large cavern and continue upward in a large loop until you reach an NPC battledroid. Speak with the droid and you will need to now go back to the aforementioned room and get a red crystal. Once you get it head back to the droid and talk to it again. You will be whisked away into the Instance.

First, you have 30 minutes to complete the instance which is plenty of time, just telling you so you dont get in there and go afk, grocery shopping, start watching VH1s Best Week Everwhatever.

Once inside throw on your overhead map and head to the white blip which will be Truen. You must speak with him to start the instance, but before you do take note of the incline to the right which leads up to set of bars with droids on the other side. You will be using this tunnel so just keep it in mind. Ok now the fun begins.

Speak with Truen and as soon as your quest updates haul ass over to the base opening of the incline/tunnel mentioned earlier. You will see red and yellow blips spawn on your radar. From the safety of this spot just wait a few moments to see where NK heads off to. Most of the time he would wander away from the guards and down the hill towards where we can in. Whether he wanders off or not the strategy is the same it is just nice to have one less aggro to lose.

Ok so now throw on your buffs (I dont find stances necessary, but you can if you wish) and run up to the guard on the left and choke him, then run up the incline hugging the left wall. The unsnared guard (and possibly NK) will give chase but lose aggro well before reaching you up there. As soon as you see aggro break head back down and meet the guard you snared halfway and finish him off. Now simply repeat for the other guard.

Now you can use force maelstrom to pull the guard, but Ive noticed that either A) the weaker snare doesnt stick and you lose aggro on everyone or B) you just dont lose aggro at all. Doing it with choke from close range has worked like a charm everytime. Also important to note that if you simply run up the center of he incline many times you will not break aggro either so make sure to hug that left wall on the way up.

Alrighty then, so now the guards are deceased. Head back down to the bottom and on your radar you should see one last red blip (NK) and a couple yellow ones. Tab around and you should find one called simply Machine and another called Power cell. Equip a ranged weapon of choice and blow them up. These seem to be bugged to some degree (yeah what isnt in SWG?) sometimes when you blow up one of them the other disappears too (ok good bug), but other times the power cell gets placed in a certain spot and no matter what weapon you use or what angle you try, you will see the message You cannot see the target. All is not lost though, NK can still be taken out even with the power cell there it just takes longer and you will need to get some air as I say, more often.


Fighting NK (Saber Only)

Ok first and foremost make sure your Elder buff is refreshed (if you have it) and take your food/drink of choice. Mine happens to be Mando wine. Throw on both defensive and offensive stances and wait for it to regen. Once it is full hit NK with Force Maelstrom and once hes in range just hold down the default attack button and begin to watch your health while your action recovers from the special.

As soon as you lose life (more or less) throw out a heal. By this time you will see your stances flashing, but thats ok cause we have full action. Refresh the stances. Look at your heal timer and be ready to heal as soon as the timer recovers from the first one. Once your action recovers throw a choke on him and maybe even a Vapaad strike if youre feeling feisty.

That is the heart of the art so to speak. Keep your stances up, heal as soon as you are able, supplement with stims, throw a choke on him now and then. Also keep in mind sometimes you will see your stances flashing and will have the urge to refresh them immediately. DONT! Take a look at your heal timer first, then make a judgement call:

Do I have enough time to apply stances AND wait for the action to get up high enough to get off the heal OR hold off on applying the stances and get the heal off first. I will often go with the OR.

Getting some air:

This method of fighting is real simple. Once you get used to the timing and nuances of it, it does have a certain flow to it. BUT while you are getting used to it you may find yourself in trouble and need to take a break and get a little air between you and NK. Just throw a choke on him and haul ass away. Heal when you can and try to let the timer get back to full before you re-engage him.

You can repeat this Snare/Run/Heal method the whole fight and still win, but if you can master what Ive outlined then you can go toe to toe with just about anything PvE has to offer. Folks have asked about killing Ancient Krayts solo using just a saber and this is how it is done (by me anyway lol). Anyhow, I hope this helps someone and feel free to hit me up if you have questions about this. We can always arrange a come-see session.

Safia joined me last night and we did a walk through run where she watched and I explained each phase and then the next run I let her tackle with minimal aid AND she had the bugged power cell. She did great btw! She was going to do another run by herself (I had to leave) so I'm looking forward to hearing how she did.

[Oeree]

Yeah, this run is pretty easy now'n'days. Smuggler and jedi FTW!

[Jabe Adaks]

Why would you want to solo this? If the game has gotten to a point where you can't get a group - its not worth playing.

Jabe

[Shensen]

I enjoy soloing and not having to rely on a group. The more I can solo the better in my book.

[Oeree]

Snado takes on the big bad NK as I take down the two other buggers, and then after I'm finished with those two, I join in on NK, and Snado and myself both annihilate his ass.

[Orph@N]

Snado takes on the big bad NK as I take down the two other buggers, and then after I'm finished with those two, I join in on NK, and Snado and myself both annihilate his ass.

This PG-13? Hope you use protection.