Mega Man X4 No Damage (Zero): Storm Owl

Twitter:   / magnus_blade  

Other Mega Man runs:

MattTheNoMoreHero's Maverick Hunter X, Vile No Damage Run (Hard Mode):    • Mega Man MHX - Vile Run (No Damage)  

Challenges:
-No Damage (Even in Ride Armors)
-No Heart/Energy/Weapon Tanks
-No Black Armor

---

A very fun stage. The Air Force was an incredibly well-designed stage, though falls behind on difficulty. I don't believe you need to memorize enemy placement here to no damage clear, but that doesn't really mean it's the easiest of them all or anything. There are a few parts that are a bit worrisome.

Area 1: The flying blue ships need to be destroyed ASAP. If you let it stay up long enough and you're still in front of it, those homing missiles are hard to dodge. My personal favorite strategy around this is to leap over it the moment it spawns on the screen, and destroy both it and the missiles from behind before they can properly lock onto you. Also, the little blue runner enemies can catch you off guard a bit since they appear from off screen in such a quick manner, just like the stairway segments of Split Mushroom's stage...however nowhere NEAR as irritating. Just some careful timing and you'll be fine here.

Area 2: ...Actually, I have nothing to say here.

Boss Anaylsis: Now THIS is where the difficulty picks up. Storm Owl is no one to joke around with. He may look like a pushover in the beginning, but this guy can be a pain to deal with all around. If he just starts randomly flying around doing nothing, he's trying to grab you with his talons whenever you're in range underneath him. And if you're above, he'll just use a Cyclone Shot. But when he appears on the screen at the bottom and does that flying, staying on the top platform is heavily advised...it's nearly impossible to dodge that talon grab when he's on ground level. You still can do it, but you need some strict precision and a lot of timing. But efficiently, the top platform is better. I could have hit him after the Cyclone Shots, but I wasn't thinking at the time. You'll see it in the Boss Rush, though.

And then you have his other attacks. The triple tornado he does on the ground is somewhat unpredictable, but not entirely. He's more likely to do it when he's near death, but sometimes he could just not do it at all, and shoot out his three-way shots...or just fly around. When he's near death, it's best to just stand still for a second to observe his animations and know how to avoid something.

You've also got...his Cyclone Shot x4. This is a PAIN to dodge, but the giga attack gives you enough invincibility frames to avoid it completely given that you time it right. And his special attack he does when at about two or three hits from death isn't too bad to dodge, actually. You just have to stand under him and watch which direction they'll travel in. However, I just take that opportunity to kill him, lol. But overall, Storm Owl is more or less the toughest maverick boss for Zero in my opinion...legitimately. Slash Beast was my most frustrating due to his randomness factors...

Overall Stage Difficulty: 7/10, mainly for Owl.

As for the skill you get...just as it says. Enhanced Z-Saber that can erase shots. Ehh, not too useful for this run. But hey, at least it's a purple sword now.