MK4 is to hard

[Kiyumi]

It sounds to me like while a part of the issue might be the mech itself (I just call it out loud which sides are safe, keep repeating it and memorize it as well as possible before it happens), another seems to me is snapshotting.

So here's the thing,

The /moment/ an AOE marker is gone, the snapshot is taken. The area is now safe. This /feels/ wrong, but you can walk right into beams and flames and everything that looks like it'll kill you and it will /never/ hit you. The moment it feels like it's the least safe to be there, it's safe. Walk right into those tasty beams like a moth!

[Packetdancer]

The only time I ever get it right is if I'm right at the line to move between the front and the back. If I move a little too far when dodging, I'm cooked, without fail.

The snapshot on it seems a little over-eager at times, so if you have to book it more than a few steps to swap sides you may be in trouble, yeah; I've seen people move and die as they move.

But, as you observe, if you stay right smack beside the line it's fairly easy to shift safely.

[mallleable]

The first threefold laser blast move always alternates. If you know the first hit, you know the rest of the pattern. I think Fourfold mostly follows a pattern like orange-blue-blue-orange or other way around. So position on the side that won't get hit, wait for the first blast to go off, move to that side, wait for the other two blasts to go off, and move back. Fivefold can be tricky. I like to chunk it, and track them as 3 plus 2 hits instead of trying to remember each hit individually. So I am keeping track of 2 patterns instead of 5 individual hits. Also stay in the boss's hitbox when dodging.

[Shinku_Tachi]

It sounds to me like while a part of the issue might be the mech itself (I just call it out loud which sides are safe, keep repeating it and memorize it as well as possible before it happens), another seems to me is snapshotting.

So here's the thing,

The /moment/ an AOE marker is gone, the snapshot is taken. The area is now safe. This /feels/ wrong, but you can walk right into beams and flames and everything that looks like it'll kill you and it will /never/ hit you. The moment it feels like it's the least safe to be there, it's safe. Walk right into those tasty beams like a moth!

So lets say it's Right, Left, Right, Left

After the Right beam starts, it's safe to go ahead and move over there before the Left beam starts? You don't have to wait for the animation to complete?

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Threefold cannon is always alternating, so you swap after each shot.

Fourfold cannon has you swapping sides twice and staying for a shot once. Simply remember the timing when to stay put and otherwise keep dancing.
Fivefold cannon same story, but has a total of three swaps, regardless how it looks. You again just look for when you DON'T move and otherwise keep switching.

Bonus tip - stay closer to the intersecting line between the two middle tiles for faster side switching.

[Packetdancer]

left left right right only happens twice? ughhhh mommy help!!!!

To try to simplify: for each blast, you will either need to change sides ("Swap") or stay in the same spot ("Stay"). There will only ever be one "Stay" per set (and may be none, in the three-hit variant). So if the pattern of which side she was hitting was "Left Right Right Left Right", you would start on the right side (since she's hitting left), swap to the left side (since she's hitting right), stay put (because she's hitting right again), swap to right (because she's hitting left), and swap to left (because she's hitting right).

Hence, "Left, Right, Right, Left, Right" and "Swap, Stay, Swap, Swap" are the same thing; saying "it will only ever do the same side twice in a row once" is just another way of saying "there will only be at most one 'Stay' step in the dodging pattern." Really, all you need to know to dodge correctly is which step is the Stay.

[sagacious]

Leaving aside whether or not M4N is difficult or not -- because that's going to be something of a subjective measure -- and just focusing on your lament about how to read the "3/4 of the arena is vanishing" mechanic...

When she finally finishes making the gun and swings it around to aim at the arena, she will be aiming slightly to the east or west. If she's aiming west, the three western columns will be going away; the far east column will be safe. If she's aiming east, the opposite is true; it's the west-most column that's safe. You can thus stand right on the center line in front of her as she starts to prepare her gun, wait, and book it to the safe side as soon as you see her take aim. The first couple of hits actually don't actually hit that hard, so what's important is just to make it to the safe side before that last hit (and the floor going away).

If you mean the shifting back and forth on the safe one, she just telegraphs it ahead of time with sort of aiming circles; it's easy to start on the side opposite the first circle, and then just sort of tell yourself "Swap" or "Stay." For the four and five hit variants, there will always be only one "Stay," so a five-hit one might be "Swap, Swap, Stay, Swap" --- coming up with that in your head will make it a lot easier.

To elaborate slightly -- she'll be standing right on the dividing line between two of the 'squares' on the floor, and you'll see a sort of targeting circle appear on one or the other end of the gun; if you turn your camera so you are looking directly across the arena, you'll see the circles to either the left or right side of your screen. That's the side she's going to hit; you can immediately position yourself on the opposite side of that dividing line.

After that, you just look at whether the circle is on the same side as the previous one ("Stay") or the opposite side ("Swap"). Since there will be at most four moves -- you've already parked yourself in the safe spot for the first hit -- and only one of those is going to be "Stay" it is (hypothetically) easy enough to remember the pattern, like the "Swap, Swap, Stay, Swap" that I mentioned above.

This is a good read I will copy this down and read it many times ty ...... best answer <----------

[Packetdancer]

After the Right beam starts, it's safe to go ahead and move over there before the Left beam starts? You don't have to wait for the animation to complete?

For what it's worth, the vast majority of telegraphed attacks in this game are instant snapshots rather than sustained damage; in those cases, you can move in before the animation is complete, because the damage has already been calculated/resolved when the animation started. (And yes, this is one of those.)

I say "the vast majority" because there are exceptions. But if you get used to dodging into mechanics after they go off but before the animation is done, you will very quickly find the handful of exceptions scattered throughout the game. Trust me on that; I speak from experience here.

[sagacious]

Threefold cannon is always alternating, so you swap after each shot.

Fourfold cannon has you swapping sides twice and staying for a shot once. Simply remember the timing when to stay put and otherwise keep dancing.
Fivefold cannon same story, but has a total of three swaps, regardless how it looks. You again just look for when you DON'T move and otherwise keep switching.

Bonus tip - stay closer to the intersecting line between the two middle tiles for faster side switching.

I also like your answer and you look bad ass

[NanaWiloh]

Leaving aside whether or not M4N is difficult or not -- because that's going to be something of a subjective measure -- and just focusing on your lament about how to read the "3/4 of the arena is vanishing" mechanic...

When she finally finishes making the gun and swings it around to aim at the arena, she will be aiming slightly to the east or west. If she's aiming west, the three western columns will be going away; the far east column will be safe. If she's aiming east, the opposite is true; it's the west-most column that's safe. You can thus stand right on the center line in front of her as she starts to prepare her gun, wait, and book it to the safe side as soon as you see her take aim. The first couple of hits actually don't actually hit that hard, so what's important is just to make it to the safe side before that last hit (and the floor going away).

If you mean the shifting back and forth on the safe one, she just telegraphs it ahead of time with sort of aiming circles; it's easy to start on the side opposite the first circle, and then just sort of tell yourself "Swap" or "Stay." For the four and five hit variants, there will always be only one "Stay," so a five-hit one might be "Swap, Swap, Stay, Swap" --- coming up with that in your head will make it a lot easier.

To elaborate slightly -- she'll be standing right on the dividing line between two of the 'squares' on the floor, and you'll see a sort of targeting circle appear on one or the other end of the gun; if you turn your camera so you are looking directly across the arena, you'll see the circles to either the left or right side of your screen. That's the side she's going to hit; you can immediately position yourself on the opposite side of that dividing line.

After that, you just look at whether the circle is on the same side as the previous one ("Stay") or the opposite side ("Swap"). Since there will be at most four moves -- you've already parked yourself in the safe spot for the first hit -- and only one of those is going to be "Stay" it is (hypothetically) easy enough to remember the pattern, like the "Swap, Swap, Stay, Swap" that I mentioned above.

*strokes chin*hmmm, We the people of bad explanations agree that this is a excellent explanation. *smashes with stamp of approval.*