Mirror Master - Metal Pt. 1: Scarlet Speedster

I don't think it should be toned down. I do think it shouldn't be a pre-req for open world.

For someone coming up if solos aren't their cup of tea I don't think they should be effectively blocked off from the Metal I content until the grind out even more JLD gear so they can beat the solo. Moot point for me as any toon I would eventually run to this level I ran when it was the event version, but none the less I think gate keeper content is a bad idea.

And that's assuming they have JLD gear as the two episodes are sold separately. It's a good job event versions of the newest episode are available or else someone could find themselves in the annoying state of having bought an episode they could on paper play and then literally never get into it. Well, possibly, I can't remember how high Atlantis gear scales just to reach that point, and I think the Teen Titans/Death of Superman stuff maxes out too low? It's academic anyway but speaking of Atlantis gear, I find the seahorse really good for Mirror Master.

Hey guys great advice and tips on how to get through this solo, but I think you'r all missing the point.
Its not that I want you to change the difficulty of the solo but "Why can't I have access to Metal Gotham without finishing the solo?"
Please open Metal Gotham so I can have some fun too.
Please!

Be honest: How many of you are honestly, truthfully defeating the Solo at Minimum Gear Score with Average Skill Points?

I don't care if you're 290+ with 300+ Sp. The minimum to get into the instance is 253, and the Average Gamer isn't going to have 300+ Sp.

Just as a test, I took 3 'free' 255 jump toons through the solo when they hit 264 (Solo minimum, 253 was JLD minimum). All had around 100 SP, are free so no orbitals, SD, tactical mods or league buffs, and just had a regular old Extreme soda. Toon 1 is sorc using HB/Bow, I built up a Grand summoning and messed him up easily...only having to avoid a few pools, which I blocked and rolled out of. I cleared the museum of adds to build another SC and repeated with Red Death. 14 min start to finish, no deaths 1st try. Toon 2 is mental no SC using DW/flurry on Mirror Master, finished him easy. Died once in the museum because I got waaaay too many adds by the time I got the puzzle room (thinking like my main who can just drag them from room to room with shield and kill them in a pile). Regrouped and just killed my way through. Died once on Red Death because I got stuck in a pool and the cheater busted my barrel on me. Tried again, this time putting in Mass Hysteria in the loadout...got through it 2nd try using the SC. Toon 3 is gadgets, acrobatics and brawling...3 things I do NOT excel at. Still was able to take out MM on the first try, cleared the museum of adds and died 1 time on Red Death...again he busted my barrel...which is crap. Got him on the 2nd try.

So yes...it is very doable at minimal CR/SP...on at least a few powers. Now I've heard a lot of people say they struggle on one toon vs another because some powers do better. I didn't try with all the powers/weapons, but if I could do it with gadgets/brawling, anyone should be able to as I do not normally use either and have no 'skill' with them. Block and roll, use shield, use soda. The biggest thing is learning the timing of the pools. It's about 5 seconds. When you get good at it, you can roll out before the pool even appears. The big difference for me is that I'd run the solo no less than 100 times before I tried it on these 3 lowbies. Getting through it the 1st time, I'd guess, will be more difficult...so I see where it could be frustrating, but it shouldn't take long to get the timing down. Not saying I'm particularly skilled, just saying I learn from my mistakes and know how to make corrections if I'm struggling. I'd think most can do that if they tried.

I do however agree that this solo should not have been a gate to the content. For better or worse, some people find it too difficult, and if that's the case the outside world is blocked to them, which is a primary source of the gear and marks they will need to 'get gud', so it's counter productive.

Glad I found this. Thought I was alone. Yes I would like to reiterate on all of this. I think we should tone it down a bit as well. I’m trying to run it right now currently on one of my alts who is a fire dps cr280 with nearly 285sp and they still can’t beat it. My alt is already onto metal II content and way past the the suggested CR. What’s gives? I do the shields and trinkets and pets and I got them all laid out ready to go and I move around and all that jazz but I still can’t beat it. I’m stunned alot and am always tucking and rolling. There’s not much intermittence between his mirrors and they wipe my health even as soon as I drink a soda. They don’t even give you enough time to even finish a combo but MM sure is finishing all of his. I agree I think it’s a little unbalanced. I mean when I’m already on to higher content already it’s a little redundant now. What’s the glitch?

I hear what you’re saying on this too. My particular alt cannot access any of the missions in Metal Gotham until they finish the solo which they can’t. Perhaps if they were able to access some of the missions in Metal Gotham and could get some gear and maybe they could finish the solo. They kinda created loophole where you hit a wall. Luckily thanks to the BOP events I’ve managed to get gear and level up to get into Thanagar and I am successfully running content. So my alt is past the cr required but still can’t finish the solo yet either which makes no sense.

What is your problem with the encounter? The only real damage comes from the Speedforce Vortex that has 1-2s delay until it does damage. There's even audio telling that the Vortex spawns and it always spawns at your feet.
Mirros break on a single hit.
Asking this seriously because I went in there with Chaos Gotham gear for the 1st time and some blues and purples with alts.

I'm Fire and got through this just fine. With Empowered Channeling (5% Defense Buff)...

Mirror Master:
Orbital Strike -> Lunge and use Flashpoint -> Inferno clipped with Stoke Flames -> Heat Vision (180 Artifact) -> Fireburst or Absorb Heat.
Stay in area where mirrors appear to Flashpoint clipped with Stoke Flames and destroy them quicker. When temporal displacements appear, stop what you're doing and Lunge or roll.

Red Death:
Orbital Strike -> Lunge and use Heat Vision -> Turn off temporal bomb closest to Red Death if you can get there in time to do it. Then before he becomes active Inferno clipped with Stoke Flames -> Heat Vision -> Absorb Heat

Don't go near health barrel until after a phase of temporal bombs appear. And don't be afraid to hit Inferno -> Stoke Flames before he becomes active. The Inferno will be where you're at and he'll come to you! Just be prepared to hit him with Heat Vision or Absorb Heat at point blank range as long as it's safe.

The trick is only use Fireburst if you're positive you can make the shot without being canceled. Otherwise use Absorb Heat.

i wasn't able to beat that solo and decided to skip the whole dlc and focus on the current dlc in event mode. also, there are far better positive answers than telling something to basically get good.

Made a few VS Red Death videos after reading posts like this. Posted some of them in this very thread.
Although you have inspired me. The next video I will make I will reduce my CR to 280 AND I will do it with 0SP.

Here is the latest version I made.

I don't think the instance should be made easier, but there's no reason for it to be a gate for the entire DLC.

I have a level-jump Atomic character that I rarely play. It's CR264/SP92. I got absolutely wrecked as DPS. I couldn't survive past about 50% on Mirror Master. I repeatedly died fighting 3+ trash mobs in the Flash Museum. I didn't even try Red Death. Switching to Tank, which I've literally never played, I got through both bosses on the first try. Those fights took way too long, but they were easy. Exact same thing happened when played this on a Fire character about a month ago. DPS was impossible. Tank was slow, but reasonably easy.

It seems extremely inconsistent with the rest of the game to have an instance gating the entire DLC that pretty much won't let you play as DPS unless you're significantly above the minimum requirements.

The next thing you do is the Police Annex. Doing it as DPS, the trash mobs in there never got me below 50% health, even when fighting 6 enemies at once. That is extremely inconsistent. There's no logic to having a DLC-gate that is harder than anything else in that DLC except Metal Man-Bat, who is just an &%#.

I took my Quantum Troll in when he hit the minimum CR and I had a real rough time beating Mirror Man, but eventually I did (though I was very close to being KO'd when I won). A thing I noticed was I had to do my best to avoid getting stunned. Vortex's seem to spawn right when that happens, and I often couldn't get up and move far enough away in time. Gets frustrating to drink a Soder and 2 seconds later lose all that health you just gained because of a stun by a vortex.

Other thing that was frustrating was I'd bust the health barrel and almost instantly a vortex forms in the area, so I had to move away and get very little health. I tried busting it from a distance, then running to it, yet the vortex always forms right when I arrive.

At times it seemed as soon as I dodged one vortex and stopped to attack, another instantly started, one after another after another. I was thinking 'how do I use powers / weapons when I can't stop moving?'

As frustrating as the fight was, I don't know if I'd 'nerf' it. It can seem impossible to beat, but even I did it. You have to move constantly, smash the mirrors as soon as they appear (they break usually with one hit) and try to knock Mirror Man on his butt as much as you can. Pop shields to help mitigate his pistol damage while you are moving. Sometimes when health was low I'd just run around non-stop popping shields until my Soder timer was up.

Everyone told me Red Death was going to be a lot harder, yet I was able to beat him easier. When he does his 'Full Speed' run at you (with the big V over his head) I just kept running and constantly changed directions and I was able to avoid his hits or at least not get one-shotted by a hit. Shields are a big help. Biggest pain is if you want to repair from the vendor, you spend a lot of time running back to it and then back to Red Death.

I probably should add my latest videos to this thread.

This solo actually hurts the game. Metal 1 in general is the best DLC I can think of yet people are locked out because of a plot device. Imagine you had to deal with this kind of solo in tier 2 or 3 to get the next gear etc? 90% would quit and never return.

Having said that the AI is useless so there are some things you can do to increase your chances. First run away in both battles, the further you are away the more time to evade or block. Precision attacks work well because you can easily knock the bosses over which lets you use some might based attacks. Pets as well, Mirror Master can be significantly hurt by the seahorse.

But the biggest trick is use your role (healer, tank or contoller) with DPS gear. You hit hard but still get the effects from your role.

Best to expect to need 3 sodas for each fight as well.

You have to adjust your loadout, to a move jumpable setup. Basically if you see 1 of the red sphere looking things jump roll, best way to do this is have tumbling master foot white mod.

If you can heal or tank do it as those rolls. I run all solos as healer so I never have issues, sure I may die 1 or 2 times til I figure out what I am supposed to do

That's pretty stupid if you meet the "requirement" for gear to even get into the instance and still can't beat the boss. Not everyone has great reflexes or top end gear/mods you know.

I beated the solo for first time at level, laying in a hospital bed, and using only the 8 buttons on my mouse, no keyboard as my left wrist was destroyed by a motorcycle crash. Under the influence of strong painkillers, so almost dazed. I died twice on first boss, and once on last.
The solo is pretty easy if you pay some attention and use some strategies. Of course, you can't just pew pew on the bosses standing still on one place. But this is true for almost all content in the game so if you can't beat this solo maybe this is not the game for you.

then turn your audio up and listen for its audio ques

Is this still a gate instance? I remember doing metal gotham before I did this solo on the switch. Hmmm.

This instance isn't fun at level and really was a detriment to a leveling character. That's neither here nor there, because it's always get gud. And really what happens is either they walk away or skip it. Not a good model for the developers to do. Solos are meant to be completed by the minimum gear entry, but somehow ones like this pop up. Hal needs help comes to mind, which is still one of the most difficult at entry and it had to do with how it was built and when.

Anyways, my 2¢.

If anyone is still having trouble with this instance, the biggest part of damage is the vortexes. You have to stay mobile. I would recommend quick low power cost attacks that don't lock you in an animation with passive damage going. Like a dot or pet. That way you can run around. The flash fight is far worse and the health barrel often gets broken by red death. (Can't believe it's still a thing they can heal themselves.)