COV Giant Monster 101

About a month ago I hosted a monster hunt event for my VG (Fallen Legion - Victory Server) and I wrote a short guide. I've been posting pieces of it in response to questions about COV monsters and I decided to finally get off my but and post the whole thing. Here we go:

Giant Monster 101 COV

What is a Giant Monster?
There are three GMs (Giant Monsters) in COV; Caleb, the Ghost of the Scrapyard, and Deathsurge. They really aren’t giants (at least not compared to COH GMs) Caleb and Deathsurge are about 20ft. and the Ghost is 9 or 10ft. In terms of power they're like an Archvillain that roams the zone (and only zones, they don’t appear in missions); decent attacks, thousands of hit points, and massive regeneration.


What level are GMs?
GMs don’t have a level, they scale to the player. What this means is when I attack with my lvl 40 Brute, the GM is a lvl 40 target to me and he hits me like a lvl 40 enemy but for the lvl 22 Stalker standing next to me he’s a lvl 22 enemy, at the same time. The developers set this up so everybody could get a piece of GMs, even lvl 1s.


How much damage do I have to do to get credit for killing a GM?
The team you’re on has to do at least 25% of the damage to get credit for the GM. You would get XP and the badge.


Caleb

Bio:
Caleb is the Circle of Thorns GM. He looks a lot like a Spectral Daemon Lord. He’s found in the Nerva Archipelago near Thorn Isle. You recieve the Hellbane badge for defeating him.

The legendary Caleb. You’d thought he was just a rumor – a tale told to frighten children by cruel parents. Yet here he is brimming with infernal power and reeking of brimstone from the darkest depths of Hell.

Summoning:
To summon Caleb you have to kill 100 Nerva Spectral Daemons before dusk and Caleb should spawn by dawn. It was once thought the Daemons had to be killed on Thorn Isle but now it appears that it’s anywhere in Nerva. One thing is certain, only NSD (Nerva Spectral Daemons) & NSD Lts sumon Caleb, nothing else. So there is no reason to fight any of the other CoT in Nerva if you’re after Caleb. We killed 100 NSD on Thorn Isle and Primeva and he spawned at dawn.


Spawn Points:
Caleb spawns near Thorn Isle but not over land. He can spawn several hundred yards away from Thorn Isle over water. He also spawns very high up, so high he’s difficult to see. The last two times I’ve fought him he was about 400 yds south of Thorn Isle and way up high. I’ve also seen him about 300 yds west and high up twice. Swarms of lvl 25 NSD will normally be around him. If you see a swarm you can follow it to Caleb. His eyes can also help you find him. You can see his glowing eyes long before you see his body. They look like white-blue stars in the sky. Finding him can be the hardest part of the whole thing. When we spawned him for the hunt he was not only high in the air over water, he was moving away from us at full speed.


Tactics:
This is one tough fight. He’s got all those wonderful negative attacks the other NSD have plus more. He’s got Fearsome Stare and uses it constantly to terrorize you (bring lots of break frees.) He’s also got Blackstar (negative energy Nova) that really hurts . Another factor is distance; Thorn Isle is well over a mile from the hospital or the VG base teleport location. That makes it important to have awakens or a rezzer (preferably both.) How high he spawns can also cause problems if everyone can’t fly. The best tactic seems to be to set up a kill zone underneath him. Then either a Brute will fly up and Air Superiority him down (works every time I’ve done it) or someone will have to be the bait and aggro him down. After that it's the normal dogpile until dead.


The Ghost of the Scrapyard

Bio:
The Ghost of the Scrapyard is a giant monster from Sharkhead Isle. He looks like a 9 ft tall, glowing, blue Scarpyarder. You receive the Hammer Down badge for defeating him.


Now this is disturbing. Captain Mako tore this guy to pieces years ago, yet there he stands, smashing everything in his way with his spectral hammer. You really hope every cape that had felt your wrath doesn’t pull this poltergeist routine. It’ll be a busy year if they do.


Summoning:
It has been speculated that the Ghost is summoned when 100 Scrapyarders have been killed in Sharkhead rather then spawning on a timer like COH giant monsters. This would explain why he’s seen so often. Sharkhead is crawling with Scarpyarders and one of the first missions given there is kill X Scrapyarders. For the hunt we killed over 100 Scarpyarders and he spawned. I "believe" this is the way he can be spawned BUT I'm not going to claim that this is definately the way to do it. Having it happen once could have been coincidence, it would take multiple summons to prove this theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.


Spawn Points:
The normal place the Ghost is found is in the large open area between the ferry and the Arbiter in Port Recluse. Other spawn points include the road running west out of that open area, the S, SW, and W parts of Hellforge, and the NW part of Potters Field. The Ghost is always surrounded by an army of Scarpyarders with more joining him all the time. If you see a group of Scarpyarders marching, the Ghost is out and they're heading to him.


Tactics:
If the Ghost can be summoned the best way to do it would be to kill every Scarpyarder you see while searching the spawn areas for the Ghost. After he’s found it’s a standard dogpile to kill him (again.)


Deathsurge


Bio:
Deathsurge is a GM from Cap Au Diable. He looks like a 20 ft tall, humanoid outline made of red and blue lightning. You receive the Surging badge for defeating him.


This electrical horror has sprung forth from Dr. Aeon’s Power Transference System! Could this be a side-effect of tapping into Mount Diable?


Summoning:
Several people say that they have summoned Deathsurge by killing 100 Gremlins in CAD. Gremlins are found in only 6 spots in CAD, 6 power stations. 3 of the power stations are found along the huge PTS pipeline that runs West to East through Haven into The Devil’s Coat Tails. Another two power stations are found on another PTS pipeline that runs along the North edge of New Haven. The last power station is on the East-Central side of Vagabond hills. He was already out for the hunt so we didn't get to test the theory.


Spawn Points:
He spawns through out New Haven. The place I've seen him the most is a small plaza in the SE corner of New Haven near the bridge to Aeon City.


Tactics:
No special tactics, just dogpile him. Don’t get to close before you’re ready though, he’s got a very large aggro range.

Caleb 1
Caleb 2
Ghost of the Scrapyard
Deathsurge with two Gremlins 1
Deathsurge with two Gremlins 2

Nice possible for a CoH Version ?

I've been kinda suprised how easy taking out Deathsurge has been. I've done it three times now on teams ranging in size from 5-8. Easy badge and XP.

I heard 300 Gremlins was the key, but I have no clue. That seems like a lot considering how many times I've seen him.

Thanks for the guide!

Giant Monsters do indeed have levels. Check their info file. Damage to them and from them scales based on the level of the player, but they do have level indicating how many powers and resistances they have.

Deathsurge is spawned by killing 120 Gremlins. Exactly. Verified many times by several people who summoned him several times in a row.

It was claimed that Ghost of Scrapyard spawned with 180 scrapyarder deaths. Still waiting for a team to confirm this with multiple consecutive spawns.

You can have multiple Calebs and Deathsurges, but only one Ghost of Scrapyard.

The scrapyarders that follow GoS are actually his minions (set on aggressive/follow). If you attack one of them (or GoS himself), almost all of them are alerted and will retaliate. Ghost of Scrapyard is the ultimate Mastermind (excepting the fact that he himself is a Giant Monster and not a squishie).

I don't think that's credible proof.
Credible proof would be multiple Deathsruges on a screenshot.

I would like to think all the monsters are able to be summoned, but when I tried it, many times now, it still hasn't worked for me.

I've taken down Deathsurge once. It's true he does have a large aggro range and was suprisingly easy to take down (though I died twice from taking too much aggro. I am a brute, then again).

damn i was hopein only heroes would have monsters, i mean at least give us heroes sometin dat vilains dont already have. Oh and are we gettin new costume options?

very cool
im alittle dissapointed that the GMs are just large and not really what youd call "giant" :/
but your write up is great

[ QUOTE ]
I've taken down Deathsurge once. It's true he does have a large aggro range and was suprisingly easy to take down (though I died twice from taking too much aggro. I am a brute, then again).

[/ QUOTE ]

Deathsurge is incredibly easy. I duoed him with my Rad/Rad and some random brute. Very disapointing :/

[ QUOTE ]
very cool
im alittle dissapointed that the GMs are just large and not really what youd call "giant" :/
but your write up is great

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, you're basically looking at it from an in-game perspective. Toon to Giant Monster ratio. In real life, if you see a 10 ft electric being walking around, I doubt you'd think otherwise.

Just to make a note:

All giant monsters are cake if you have atleast 3 damage dealing ATs there.

Took out Caleb with no one on an 8 man team goin below 2/3 health and that was with 3 melee people.

Ghost of Scrapyard and Deathsurge have both been taken out with teams of 3 or 4.

Only thing to worry about with them is if you're level is the same or close to the same as the little squad of MOBs that they spawn with.

There aren't really "tactics" to beating anything in this game hehe not like Shadow of Colossus or anything where you have to use fire to light the surrounding oil to contain them so you can do X or Y :-p

[ QUOTE ]
All giant monsters are cake if you have atleast 3 damage dealing ATs there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any two ATs, if one of them is the right debuffer (esp. Rad/Dark/Poison).

Yeah, Ol' Elec Head is easy...Except, that one elec power of Deathsurge is a killer.

There seem to be two different versions of Deathsurge; I've fought him several times, and most of those times he was indeed cake, with no one on the team even getting seriously hurt, but there was this one time I was fighting him and he wiped the floor with us, up, down, sideways, in and out. Three full team wipes before we finally managed to take him down, and most of the team was 35+ and the rest were lackeyed. After the extreme ease of the previous fights with him, it felt like we'd won the whupass lottery.

I have seen double instances of Caleb many times. He typically circles around the edge of Thorn Isle high up in the air.

The Ghost of Scrapyard spawns in the Shanty Town by the mine and walks to the dock area as his minions follow. I presume this is where Mako took him down.

Damn. those things a triny compared to the CoH GMs. like Mini-Me compared to a taller-than-ur-average-basketball-player basketball player. Give us some real monsters!

[ QUOTE ]
Oceanborn: I don't think that's credible proof.
Credible proof would be multiple Deathsruges on a screenshot.

I would like to think all the monsters are able to be summoned, but when I tried it, many times now, it still hasn't worked for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, Doubting Thomas, here is a screenshot of two Deathsurges. Notice the size of the player characters in comparison lest you think they were Gremlins.

In fact, here's two Deathsurges with a Gremlin for size comparisons.

Now, I and several posters on the boards have said that there have been multiple Deathsurges, yet you refused to believe. Now, seeing the evidence, will you believe us when we say the CoV monsters are spawnable? Afterall, I had to kill 240 freakin' gremlins to get that screenshot.

(And, coincidentally, after I saw a Ghost of Scrapyard get zapped by a drone last night in Sharkhead, I had pity on the crew trying to kill it for the badge and went around massacring scrapyarders so as to respawn GoS for them, which I did within 15 minutes time.)

Remember: All CoV monsters are player-spawnable. No CoH monster is player-spawnable.

And if someone wants to make the claim that Croatoa monsters are player-spawnable, do a forum search first for the explanation of why you think they are, but they're not really.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think that's credible proof.
Credible proof would be multiple Deathsruges on a screenshot.

I would like to think all the monsters are able to be summoned, but when I tried it, many times now, it still hasn't worked for me.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't have credible proof, but I know that multiple Deathsurges can be spawned at once. I was hunting through Haven for Electrician, and I found Deathsurge. Being a squishy Mastermind, I ran away. I still had him targeted. I then ran into another one, without circling the block. I had a Deathsurge targeted, and was looking at an entirely different Deathsurge. Not credible, but I've seen it.

I can take down that ghost of the scrapyard by my self with my ill/rad really good fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRpl0e0Itpk
got a new video going up were he goes down in 5 min by my self. oh and i love your post

Thanks for the information. I have a hero that I rolled V Side for the badges and Deathsurge and Caleb are the last remaining GMs on my shopping list.