How to Fight a Mortifex

While Typhon and Enclave Assault battles will prepare you somewhat for what to expect in a Mortifex Epic Boss fight, once you reach level 500 and can finally enter one of these battles, you will quickly discover that Mortifex is quite nasty, even more so when enraged.

Unlike the previous team-health Epic Boss fights of Typhon and Enclave Assault, you will need TWO force setups in order to fight Mortifex, one for the pre-enraged state and one for the post-enraged state. Explanations below.

Note: This document is a Work In Progress by Todd-sama. Todd-sama 05:13, December 24, 2011 (UTC)

Pre-enraged Mortifex[]

In its pre-enraged state, Mortifex has the following attacks:

5x Mortifex Carapace (Structure): Each carapace can block one jam and reduce damage of all your attacks by 1.
10x Mortifex Claw (Armored): Each claw can deal an heavy amount of damage (~17.5/attack)
2x Mortifex Maw (Assault): Each Maw can deal some massive damage (checking on average, but could be triple of what the Claw's average damage is).

Pre-enraged Force Setup[]

Formations[]

For your pre-enraged force setup, there are three potential initial formations that can be used against Morifex until you can get Rage Vindicator formation.

Swarm Vindicator (8-25-12-1): This formation is one you will have been using for most Epic Boss fights. It has the advantage of allowing you to use either Omega (to jam an assault unit, boost robotic damage, and do nice damage) or Apex (take control of an assault unit, boost Xeno damage, do nice damage). Some people prefer to use Apex simply to take control over one of Mortifex's Maws, which is the biggest damage-enducing attack Mortifex has at this stage, and force it to do damage back on Mortifex. Combined with XMS unit, which can also take over a Mortifex Maw and be boosted by Apex, a lot of damage could be inflicted back on Mortifex. However, some tests between an Omega force and an Apex force show that Omega still has an advantage, even if you have a lot of Gravity Tanks.
Last Stand (8-28-10; special ability): If one has invested the time in getting Anvils, the Last Stand formation is probably the better choice as of this writeup. While you sacrifice the Vindicator unit and two structures, you gain three assault units. Plus, Last Stand has the special ability, also called "Last Stand," which does an average of 20.75 damage per attack AND an average of 19.25 healing per attack (~50% proc rate). There have been some tests, including by Todd-sama, which verify that there is improvement in your combat ratio when using Last Stand.
Artemis (8-20-20; special ability): If one has an excessive number of Sanctuaries, Purifiers and/or Mobile Encampment structures, there are those who say that using the Artemis formation is a good one. However, while you may have a good combat ratio, you won't be doing as much damage. Artemis will give your damage-causing structures to have a chance to do 30% more damage, so that's something to consider as well.
Rage Vindicator (10-30-14-1; special ability): Obviously, once you've done enough Mortifex fights to purchase this formation, you'll want to switch to it immediately.

Commanders[]

Some good Commander choices are as follows:

Korvald - This WC unit is well worth owning, if you have the War Chips, since it averages ~21.3 damage per attack.
Siren - She's recently been boosted to do more even more Epic damage and can bring in another Naval unit (Poseidon if you are using at least two Naval units such as Trident or Barracuda).
Gustmich - This commander can jam THREE assault units, meaning three Mortifex Maws could be jammed, saving your team from taking a great deal of massive damage.
Vile - This commander does very good damage and can jam one of Mortifex's Maws, saving your team from taking some very massive damage.
Cassandra - Can bring in four infantry units, such as Tactical Infantry or Sharpshooter. Plus, she can boost your base attack power by 25%, allowing you to do a bit more base damage.
Siege Captain Halcyon - Brings in four infantry units.
Field Marshall Riggs - Can bring in two Photon Walkers.
Stavros - Can bring in two Photon Walkers.
Attalia - This commander is a healer, doing 8-heal per attack.
Opak - This Commander can bring in two Rumbler units (8.5 damage/attack in Epics) and then boost their attack by 25%. Could be a good, reinforcement Commander.
Kaszatah - Even without a flying force, this Commander's 6-damage per attack is pretty nice.
Dracorex - Can jam a Carapace and bring in a Bloodthirsty unit (Infestor Tank).
Octane & Aiko - These two WC Commanders are good reinforcement units if you are running a heavy, Robotic force since they both do healing per Robotic unit in active force.

Assault Units[]

Since you need a lot of jamming units, here's a list of good units to use. Remember, you'll need a MINIMUM of five structure jammers, ten armored jammers, and three assault jammers. Units that can take control of a structure, armored unit, or assault unit is good as well.

Muon Walker - Can block one of Mortifex's jams and jam a Maw.
Barracuda - Can jam a Carapace and has a 50% proc rate, making it better than Front Line Warrior.
Alpha Mech - Can jam two Claws.
Trident - This WC unit has the best proc rate (50%) to jam Claws.
Quad Rover - For those who don't purchase WC units, Quad Rover is going to be your next best choice for a Claw jammer, but it only has a 40% proc rate.
Titan - Can do heavy damage (more vs. armored units) and jam two Carapace.
Xeno Mothership - Can take control of a Maw, causing Mortifex to do that damage to itself. However, you'll need THREE Xeno units in your active force (including XMS) to make this happen.
Tremor Wyrm - Can jam a Maw and fulfil the second Xeno unit requirement.
Daemon - Does some damage, but would be used to fufil the third Xeno Unit requirement of XMS. Have it bring in a Gravity Tank, if you have one.
Anvil - When using the Last Stand or Rage Vindicator formation, this is the unit you'll want to use to cause maximum damage.
Blitz Armor/Photon Walker - Always good, especially if you are using Swarm Vindicator.
Annelid Mass - Can jam a Maw and do OK damage.

Structures[]

Again, jamming is important as is healing to help improve your damage ratio.

Tesla Field - Jams a Carapace.
Mobile Encampment - Does very good healing per attack and a small amount of anti-heal.
Purifier - Does pretty good healing per attack.
Mystic Obelisk - This WC structure does half the healing as Purifier, but slightly more anti-heal than Mobile Encampment (which isn't important in this Epic since it does minimal healing to itself).
Adytum - For those wishing to chain in Opak --> Rumbler, this is a good choice. If you didn't have Attalia as an active Commander, bringing her in here is helpful, though she works better as an active Commander rather than as a reinforcement.
Sanctuary - This WC structure does 4 healing per attack and can chain in other Sanctuary units OR even bring in Rumbler.
Blockade - The best, Epic Boss fighting structure to date (24-Dec-2011).
Artillery Encampment - Very good damage.
Machine Mills - If you spent the WC, use this to bring in Photon Walkers or healing Robotic Commanders like Octane or Aiko. Could be used to create chains, using SkyCom Neuro-Core and/or Juggernaut.
Assembly Plants - These bring in the best Epic Boss unit to date (24-Dec-2011), Anvil.
Prometheus - Early on, it is probably wise to cut this unit, especially if using the Last Stand formation, since it adds another 10 points of damage per attack against your team health. However, once you have a much better ratio and use Rage Vindicator, Prometheus becomes a good option again.

The armored jamming Tesla Cannon and Command Center are structures one could use as additional Carapace-jamming units, but only as a suppliment to the ten other Carapace-jamming units you already have. That's because these two structures have a low proc rate.

Boosts[]

Medic Rush - Healing.
Fortify - Bring in two more structures.

In order to have a bit more energy to charge the Rally Cry device, purchasing the WC boost "Energy Overload" or the $150M "Energy Boost" might be in order.

Pre-enraged Tips[]

Having more jamming units than the minimum required will help since Mortifex can block five total jams.
Since the Maws do such devastating damage, it is more important that they be blocked. So, having enough assault jammers is key with an assault takeover unit like XMS or Apex as backup.
Make sure you have plenty of energy when doing a Mortifex! Don't enter this Epic if you are wanting to do missions as well. Remember, each 20-point energy charge of the Rally Cry results in 500 points of damage to Mortifex without any consequences to the team health. That will also help your overall damage ratio.
Mortifex can reduce each of your units damage by as much as five points! This is another reason you want to jam as many of Mortifex's attacks as possible.

Enraged Mortifex[]

In its enraged state, Mortifex has the following attacks:

8x Mortifex Carapace (Structure): Each carapace can block one jam and reduce damage of all your attacks by 1. That's a possibility of eight jam blocks and eight points of damage subtracted from each of your attacks!
13x Mortifex Claw (Armored): Each claw can deal an heavy amount of damage (~17.5/attack)
4x Mortifex Maw (Assault): Each Maw can deal some massive damage (checking on average, but could be triple of what the Claw's average damage is).
2x Mortifex Tendril (unjammable): Each tendril does huge damage per each reinforcement you bring in.
2x Mortifex Eye (unjammable): Each eye takes control of one of your Commanders. Gustmich is,or is near at the top of the control list.

Enraged Force Setup[]

Formations[]

For your enraged force setup, the formation you use will probably remain unchanged. In testing, Todd-sama did get a tiny ratio increase when switching back to Swam Vindicator, using both XMS and Apex as backups to grab the Mortifex Maw(s) which didn't get jammed, which has a ~75% proc rate and appears to average ~70 damage/attack and do ~7 healing/attack.

Commanders[]

Because reinforcement usage on your part results in some devestating damage to your team health, NO reinforcement commanders should be used, other than Siren who has high enough damage to compensate the slight increase of the Tendrils' strength.

Korvald - This WC unit is well worth owning, if you have the War Chips, since it averages ~21.3 damage per attack.
Siren - She's recently been boosted to do more even more Epic damage and can bring in another Naval unit (Poseidon if you are using at least two Naval units such as Trident or Barracuda).
Gustmich - While this commander can jam THREE assault units, meaning three Mortifex Maws could be jammed, it becomes cannon fodder when Mortifex is enraged to be used against you.
Vile - This commander can jam one of Mortifex's Maws, saving your team from taking some very massive damage. However, it is at the top of Mortifex's list of commander's to take over, so its good damage will be turned on you. Considering that a Maw can do at least an average of 70 damage/stam, the tradeoff is acceptable.
Attalia - This commander is a healer, doing 8-heal per attack.
Kaszatah - Even without a flying force, this Commander's 6-damage per attack is pretty nice.
Octane & Aiko - These two WC Commanders are good reinforcement units if you are running a heavy, Robotic force since they both do healing per Robotic unit in active force.
Maion - Since you can't reinforce, you may as well have a chance to block two of Mortifex's jams. Also, this unit is #2 on Mortifex's takeover list.
Vyander - This WC Commander does almost 3 damage per attack as well as some healing per each of your Xeno units used.
The Magistrate - If you don't have WC commanders, Magistrate does some damage and some healing.

Other, non-WC Commander choices are ones that do damage or heal, but which do NOT reinforce, such as The Oracle, Boris, or Skullkeeper.

Assault Units[]

Since you need a lot of jamming units, here's a lost of good units to use. Remember, you'll need a MINIMUM of eight structure jammers, thirteen armored jammers, and three assault jammers. Early on, you'll pretty much need a force of nothing but jamming units since Mortifex can block quite a few jams. Units that can take control of a structure, armored unit, or assault unit is good as well. Also, remember that NO reinfocement units can be used.

Muon Walker - Can block one of Mortifex's jams and jam a Maw.
Barracuda - Can jam a Carapace and has a 50% proc rate, making it better than Front Line Warrior.
Alpha Mech - Can jam two Claws.
Trident - This WC unit has the best proc rate (50%) to jam Claws.
Quad Rover - For those who don't purchase WC units, Quad Rover is going to be your next best choice for a Claw jammer, but it only has a 40% proc rate.
Titan - Can do heavy damage (more vs. armored units) and jam two Carapace.
Xeno Mothership - Can take control of a Maw, causing Mortifex to do that damage to itself. However, you'll need THREE Xeno units in your active force (including XMS) to make this happen.
Tremor Wyrm - Can jam a Maw and fulfil the second Xeno unit requirement.
Gravity Tank - if you have one, it will complete the 3-Xeno requirement. Otherwise, any Xeno unit that does damage/heal, but does NOT reinforce.
Anvil - When using the Last Stand or Rage Vindicator formation, this is the unit you'll want to use to cause maximum damage.
Blitz Armor/Photon Walker - Always good, especially if you are using Swarm Vindicator.
Annelid Mass - Can jam a Maw and do OK damage.

Structures[]

Again, jamming is important as is healing to help improve your damage ratio. NO REINFOCEMENT STUCTURES!

Tesla Field - Jams a Carapace.
Mobile Encampment - Does very good healing per attack and a small amount of anti-heal.
Purifier - Does pretty good healing per attack.
Mystic Obelisk - This WC structure does half the healing as Purifier, but slightly more anti-heal than Mobile Encampment (which isn't important in this Epic since it does minimal healing to itself).
Blockade - The best, Epic Boss fighting structure to date (24-Dec-2011).
Artillery Encampment - Very good damage.
Fission Charge - Good damage.
Mortar Bunker - Good damage.

The armored jamming Tesla Cannon and Command Center are structures one could use as additional Carapace-jamming units, but only as a suppliment to the ten other Carapace-jamming units you already have. That's because these two structures have a low proc rate.

Boosts[]

Medic Rush - Healing.

If you had "Fortify" as a boost, you'll need to remove it.

In order to have a bit more energy to charge the Rally Cry device, purchasing the WC boost "Energy Overload" or the $150M "Energy Boost" might be in order.

Enraged Tips[]

Having more jamming units than the minimum required will help since enraged Mortifex can block eight total jams.
Since the Maws do such devastating damage, it is more important that they be blocked. So, having enough assault jammers is key with an assault takeover unit like XMS or Apex as backup.
Making use of the Rally Cry devices is even more important when Morifex is enraged. Make sure you have plenty of energy to keep dumping it into the Rally Cry. Also, remember that each 20-point energy charge of the Rally Cry results in 1000 points of damage to Mortifex without any consequences to the team health. That will also help your overall damage ratio.
Mortifex can reduce each of your units damage by as much as eight points! This is another reason you want to jam as many of Mortifex's attacks as possible.
Its been said many times, but needs saying again -- NO REINFORCEMENT UNITS! Mortifex can do insane damage with a normal, heavy-reinforcement force layout.