Dark Samus 3/4
Dark Samus 3/4 is the true final boss of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, found in Sky Temple Gateway in Sky Temple Grounds. She appears once the third phase of Emperor Ing has been defeated and Samus takes the energy in Sanctum, initiating the escape sequence. Defeating this boss is what triggers the end game sequence, which is where a successful speedrun will finish.
General Information
With current knowledge, there is no way to make DS4 skip 100% consistent with Screw Attack. Failing DS4 skip is known as getting "centered" since Dark Samus will move to the center of the arena while in DS4. This appears to be tied with a certain part of her behavior in which she won't be responsive to Samus' missiles and won't raise her shield up, which is what delays DS4 from happening.
Properties
- Health: 1380 (DS4 starts at 1076 health)
- 200% weak to Dark Beam and Darkburst
- 100% weak to Screw Attack, Annihilator Beam, Sonic Boom, Power Beam, Morph Ball Bombs, Boost Ball, missiles and Super Missiles.
- 50% weak to Light Beam and Sunburst
- 1% weak to Power Bomb
- Not affected by Cannon Ball
- Invulnerable to most attacks when performing her phazon attacks
Dark Samus 3
The Start
At the very beginning of the fight, Dark Samus will randomly choose between one of five Phazon Attack Points to gravitate towards. These points are all located in the top half of the arena, near the wall of phazon that blocks the portal. There are two on the left side, two on the right side, and one approximately in the center. Whichever one Dark Samus chooses, she will move in a circular motion near the point, giving Samus time to attack her. After a certain amount of time has passed, Dark Samus will perform between 2-3 phazon attacks at her chosen Phazon Attack Point, then she will land on the ground, changing her visibility to either the Dark or Echo visors. This is the part of the fight where DS4 skip is done. When Dark Samus gets in this state, she will retaliate in response to missiles, activating her shield and temporarily stopping her movement. This also allows you to spot her position without needing to use either the Dark or Echo visors. After enough damage has been dealt in this initial phase of the fight (starting precisely when she has 1076 health), Dark Samus will have the chance to enter the Dark Samus 4 phase of the fight, potentially killing your run. If Dark Samus drops below 1077 health before she does her phazon attack, she will skip directly to DS4, so it's important to not damage her too much before that point.
Different categories handle this portion of the fight differently, but the idea is roughly the same: get the health bar down to the final "s" in "Dark Samus" on the HUD. The strategies are as follows:
- Any%: A Super Missile plus 4 Dark Beam shots
- 100%: 25 Annihilator Beam shots, 1 Power Beam Shot
- 6%: 10 Dark Beam shots
As far as execution goes, this part of the fight isn't very consequential. The real challenge happens once Dark Samus drops below 1077 health and is at risk of entering DS4.
Initial Screw Attack
Now for the critical part. Try to stay aligned wither her during the beam attacks and a little bit in front of her, to the extent that the top of the screen cuts off around her torso area. Then, as soon as you see her do the animation where she waves her arm cannon down and signals she is going to fall to the ground, do a single jump a little bit to the right (or left) of her, let go of L when you land, and hold forward while pressing B three times to do a falling Screw Attack beside her. This is one of many ways to setup this Screw Attack, and if you want then you should find your own method that you're comfortable with. Whatever your method, a really good first Screw Attack will bring her health bar down to the "a" in "Dark". Anything around the "r" or "k" is still pretty good.
Additional Screw Attacks
As soon as you gain control after your initial screw attack, fire a missile and pull up dark visor to see her. Unfortunately, it is random whether or not she will respond to your missiles and go into Dark Samus 4. This section assumes she cooperates. When she blocks your Missile, purposely run into her shield and let yourself get hit. This will put you in hitstun which very temporarily means you can't take more damage/get hit. This is crucial because it means that you are able to go right through her shield in that temporary time frame, since normally it can be very annoying to try and avoid her shield if you don't do this. So, with that said, after you let yourself get hit, you can now freely Screw Attack right through her shield and pile on damage. Just do a falling Screw Attack to the side of Dark Samus as you did on the initial Screw Attack. Ideally, you will kill her on your first additional Screw Attack (so 2 total when counting the initial guaranteed one). If not, just keep firing Missiles, running into her shield, and immediately Screw Attacking beside her after getting hit. With favorable luck, you will eventually skip Dark Samus 4 and have a good end to your run.
Alternate Method (Slower)
A more consistent, but slower, method of DS4 skip avoids using the Screw Attack entirely, instead using missiles and charged dark beam shots. By spamming missiles and quickly shooting charged dark beam shots at Dark Samus, she will rarely get the chance to enter DS4. This method is not widely used by runners, as it is far slower than using Screw Attack.
Dark Samus 4
In the event that DS4 is not skipped, or DS4 skip fails in a run, the runner will be subjected to over a minute (if not more) of waiting for the phazon rain. This section is random in how long it will take. In more extreme cases, it can take several minutes. When Dark Samus is floating in the center of the room, she will do one of two attacks: the phazon rain attack or the missile attack. Avoiding the missile attacks is just a matter of moving around, and is relatively easy: how fast this part of the fight takes depends on the phazon rain attack, which Samus must send back to Dark Samus in order to damage her. Instead of targeting Dark Samus directly, aim above her, as this will make it far less likely that you will be damaged by the rain attack and lose it. When Dark Samus comes down, the possible damage you can give is capped at a small amount, so a charged Dark Beam shot or Super Missile are easy ways to reach that cap quickly. Repeat this until the fight is over.