The Black Widow Guardian protects the Gravity Well in the Quake 2 expansion Ground Zero. She serves as the games final boss and must be defeated before the player can destroy the Gravity Well and complete the game. The Black Widow Guardian is arguably one of the most, if not the most difficult enemy in Quake II: Ground Zero.
Description
In Quake II: Ground Zero, the Gravity Well has trapped the flag ships in orbit above Stroggos and stopped any pods being launched to the surface. Among those who managed to land before the Gravity Well is activated is Stepchild (the player). The player makes his way to the Gravity Well, creating a bomb as he goes. The player finally reaches the Gravity Well in the final level, Unit 5, but finds the Black Widow Guardian guarding the path. The Widow must be defeated to gain access to the Gravity Well.
The Widow is the one and only enemy in Quake II to have two forms. Her first form is a very tall humanoid with an organic torso and above and mechanical legs. When the player defeats her first form, the Widow will teleport away, leaving her legs behind in an explosion. After a while, the grand doors will blow up revealing her second form, a spider like beast with upgraded weapons and more armor.
First Form
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| Black Widow Guardian I | |
| Health |
4,000 |
| Attack Damage |
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| Found in |
Quake II: Ground Zero |
| [Source] | |
The Widow will walk around the arena which is a large circle with a round of pillars surrounding the inner circle, much like a web. The Widow has average speed and can be easily outrun by the player. Her weapons are fairly useless as her most common weapon is an upgraded light blaster which attacks in an arc. Use the pillars for cover, and when taking shots, always keep moving. Jumping around the outer area not only avoids the Widow, but also keeps the Stalkers away. There will be an unlimited supply of Stalker being summoned into the arena by the Widow. During this first fight, the Stalkers are more of a problem. The BFG is a good weapon to use because it will deal massive damage to the Widow but also attack/kill the Stalkers.
- Upgraded Light Blaster
- The Widow's Light Blaster is used in the way similar to the first Makron and is easy to dodge. This is the most common attack used by the Widow and is pretty pathetic, like the Makrons. Keep moving to the side to avoid this attack whilst returning fire.
- Rail Gun
- Every so often, the Black Widow will use her Rail Gun which appears to have very poor aim. The Widow rarely uses this attack, and when she does, it will miss most the time. Keep moving the one problem with this attack is the middle of the battle, in the dark room, it is hard to tell when the Widow will fire and a Rail charge can take the player off guard. (Whoever wrote this last "sentence", please correct it. I literally have no idea what it means.)
- Kick
- If the player gets close to the Widow, she'll kick him/her with her mechanical legs, sending the player flying backwards much like Armagons melee attack. which flings the player flying across the arena.
Second Form
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| Black Widow Guardian II | |
| Health |
5,000 |
| Attack Damage |
|
| Found in |
Quake II: Ground Zero |
| [Source] | |
When the Widow is defeated, she'll teleport away and get suited up with better legs, weapons and armor to become arguably the most powerful enemy in Quake. Her new spider like legs allow her to move faster and her new weapons are far more effective at killing the player. The ability to summon Stalkers remains, adding to the difficulty of this fight. The Widow's new attacks allow her to easily continue inflicting damage, be it the very accurate Plasma Beam or a few homing shadows, with the Stalkers also constantly attacking. With all this going on, the player will loose a lot of health very quickly and the problem will be the player being unable to deliver the fatal 5,000 damage before he/she gets maimed by the Widow and her Stalkers.
- Plasma Beam
- Similar to the players Plasma Beam, the Widow can launch this powerful beam with unlimited range and pin point accuracy. The Widow can either use the beam in a sweeping motion at the area in front of her, dealing small damage or put the beam directly into the player with minimal hassle, dealing high damage. The best way to avoid this is to hide behind the pillars.
- Homing Shadow
- The Widow can launch multiple balls of darkness which home in at the player much like the Vore's Fire Pod but a lot faster and harder to see in the dark arena. The shadow balls make a unique, easily heard sound so the player knows when there is one coming after him/her.
- Pincers
- The Widow's melee attack now involves the giant pincers on her new spider legs. If the player gets anywhere near the Widow, a web like claw will shot out her legs, pull the player towards where they will be sliced n' diced by per pincers. As with any melee attack, it is easy to avoid as long as the player doesn't get near the enemy.
The Widow's Lair
The final level of Ground Zero only has two objectives, Destroy the Gravity Well and Engage and Destroy the Black Widow Guardian. Despite this, the level is one the hardest. The difficulty is not just down to the Widow her self, but her ability to summon Stalkers into the arena as well. Any player will have had enough experience with Stalkers through the game to know their a pain.
Note that you can cowardly fight her up from the access well: you will take no damage at all, hurling grenades or BFG blasts at her. This might take a while but it will allow players to defeat the Black Widow who otherwise, are having a very difficult, almost impossible time fighting her. Note that the video on this page shows off a very easy tactic to surviving long enough to defeat the Black Widow.
Videos
A video of a player confronting the Black Widow Guardian using jumping to avoid being hit by the Stalkers and returning fire with the powerful Railgun and BFG to bring the Widow down as quickly as possible.
| thumbframe|300px | |
| Black Widow Guardian | |
| Found in | |
| [Source] | |