Elemental Strategy: Deep Blue

Deep Blue isn’t a great combatant on dry land until you get the Dragpool and Splash Down upgrades. Even then, many of Deep Blue’s attacks work best in conjunction with other Warriors. For example, you’ll need Deep Blue’s Aqua Cannon to make both Elemental Fire and Elemental Water Trolls vulnerable to attacks from other Warriors. Deep Blue’s Water Cannons also make very quick work of standard Fire Trolls—when you’re facing many of them Deep Blue is the Elemental Warrior for the job.

Underwater, Deep Blue is initially a bit difficult to control, because the control mechanics change (you must use the left trigger to thrust and the left stick to control his direction). Save yourself some frustration and spend some time with Deep Blue in the water to get used to this control mechanism. You need him in one of the more difficult boss battles (Corallis) in the game, and if you haven’t mastered his controls, you’ll pay the price.

Expert Tip: When fighting boats and submarines, you can shoot the chains with Deep Blue’s Aqua Blaster to send the mines floating up to the surface. Any boats striking the mines will be blown to bits and score a Brutal Bonus.

Deep Blue can still be formidable with the Dragpool and Splash Down abilities on dry land. The Dragpool attack grabs an enemy and drags them to their doom, scoring a Brutal bonus in a particularly satisfying fashion. The Splash Down technique sinks Deep Blue into the ground (like Pummel Weed’s Weed Creeper ability), and protects Deep Blue from most attacks. Furthermore, Splash Down allows Deep Blue to snatch up to two opponents at the same time (one in each of his two tentacles) and slam them into the ground. If he only has one enemy held in both tentacles, Deep Blue can slam him into the ground for an instant kill and a Brutal Bonus.

Deep Blue is remarkably effective if he’s fully upgraded. Buy his Dragpool, Splashdown and Spirit Up upgrades first, followed by his Slick Jet. Slick Jet is very useful, but more difficult to pull off effectively because you must have Ash or Thermite readied to take advantage of it.