Defeating Maha Ganeshariff with a Single Shield Boomerang Throw
29It’s a battle of boomerangs: Maha’s Tusk Boomerang versus Zero’s Shield Boomerang. Only one can prevail. Here’s how Zero can win with a single throw of his Shield Boomerang.
An obvious thing to note is that there’s no way to fight Maha with the Shield Boomerang during his own stage. It can only be done during the refights in Neo Arcadia Core since defeating Maha is a prerequisite to getting the Shield Boomerang in the first place. It’s a blessing really, since Maha’s door being present near the start of the final stage means that it’s possible to get consistent RNG easily. For this pattern, simply cut down every Pantheon on the way to the door and avoid wall sliding or firing any shots with the Buster. Easy enough.
This battle is less of a test of precise execution and more of a puzzle. The aim here is to find the exact set of movements that manipulate Maha’s attacks in your favor. For a single-throw win to go off without a hitch, it’s imperative that you regulate Maha’s pattern such that you never see him use his swinging attack or attempt a Sonic impersonation while the Shield is orbiting Zero. Locking him into constant use of Tusk Boomerangs and E. Honda slaps is the game plan. The Electric Chip is indispensable in this endeavor; without its stun effect, Zero would quickly get overwhelmed by Maha’s astonishingly quick attack selection speed.
If you follow the steps outlined above, the first thing you should see from Maha is a spindash. Jumping over this early is ideal since it gives you more time to walk Zero into the right corner. From there, performing an upward aerial Shield toss is required; the orbit created by the downward toss is inadequate, as you’re nearly guaranteed to get sniped by Maha’s tusks while attempting to jump around the Shield. As a reminder, upward aerial Shield throws are done by first releasing the Shield button on the ground, then quickly jumping up—there are a few frames before the animation of the throw is fully drawn where Zero can still jump. For reference, Zero should already be airborne and in the process of throwing the Shield before Maha turns around.
It’s worth noting that I have the Shield fully leveled up here; throws with a level 1 or 2 Shield don’t cover as much distance. I’m unsure if level 3 is explicitly required to replicate this strategy, but even if it is, farming Shield EXP on the Totem Cannons outside of the Resistance Base is trivial.
Ideally, the Shield should barely graze Maha’s head for the first hit. It’ll briefly go off-screen before taking a sharp downward path toward Zero. Dashing forward just before the Shield contacts Zero will lure the Shield into position and establish the necessary orbit. The long travel time after the initial throw means that Maha will take a second hit after your first jump around the Shield.
From here, Maha will attack with the following sequence: Tusk-Tusk-Slap-Tusk-Tusk-Slap. Simple memorization to be sure, but there are a few things to be wary of regarding movement. Getting into the habit of exaggerating your jumps toward the right corner during each jump over the Shield is useful; doing so subtly alters the Shield’s trajectory, buying you more time to walk under a Tusk Boomerang and prepare for the return trip. Maha’s Boomerangs do return even when thrown off-screen, so be attentive and don’t forget to take them into account while maintaining the Shield’s orbit.
The key to avoiding Maha’s hand slaps is the knowledge that you don’t need to walk close to Maha before leaping over the Shield like you do for his Tusk throws. Since there’s no need to delay your jumps for the purpose of avoiding his Tusks, you can jump over the Shield early and remain out of his melee range. The slaps get interrupted quickly, so there’s little danger of walking into the attack after it starts.
The best summary I can give is that this is one of those things where everything will flow correctly and you’ll almost unwittingly dodge Maha’s attacks if your initial timing was solid, but it’ll be a complete disaster in any other circumstance. With that said, I suppose it can’t be all that challenging considering that this was by far the fastest success I had in any Shield Boomerang challenge thus far. This took something like a grand total of 15 minutes of recording attempts, and I ended up with two ever so marginally different attempts to choose from. Even the planning phase wasn’t all that strenuous or lengthy. For that reason, I’d actually encourage others to give this one a try; it’s a great way to get familiar with the potential of the Shield Boomerang.
Thanks for watching! Feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have.
Other Videos By DZ3
Other Statistics
The Shield Statistics For DZ3
There are 2,257 views in 8 videos for The Shield. Less than an hour worth of The Shield videos were uploaded to his channel, less than 0.51% of the total video content that DZ3 has uploaded to YouTube.