Corrupted Master Controller


 * For the arena, see: System Root.

The Corrupted Master Controller is a boss in 's Expansion Pack Genesis: Part 1.

Starting the Fight
To access the boss fight, speak to HLN-A and select the "Arrival Protocol" option, then select a difficulty. Anyone can enter the System Root, but the Survivor initiating the teleport must have successfully completed a certain number of Missions.


 * GAMMA requires at least 58 missions to be completed.
 * BETA requires at least 116 missions to be completed.
 * ALPHA requires at least 168 missions to be completed.

There is a console command that unlocks all 3 levels of Arrival Protocol without doing required amount of missions:

Behavior
At first he floats in the middle, doing nothing but hurling weak insults towards the survivors. The same insults are effectively intertwined with in-game story. In the last phase, the Master Controller becomes more aggressive, firing lasers everywhere with his eyes that dismount the player on contact. His insults are more heated and frequent, but HLN-A quips back at him harder with a thermometer on her screen.

Appearance
This corrupted AI stands tall in the middle with a purplish hue and clad in purple armor which shatters on each phase. Once defeated, his face is revealed with a striking similarity to Edmund Rockwell.

Base Stats and Growth
Gamma=

Beta=

Alpha=

Unlocks
Gamma= Beta= Alpha=

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Corrupted Master Controller.

General
The Corrupted Master Controller is not to be underestimated. Like many bosses, only certain creatures can be transported to the System Root, the Genesis Simulation's Boss Arena and the domain of the Corrupted Master Controller. Also like most bosses, the Corrupted Master Controller summons minions to defend himself, but unlike other bosses, there is no limit to the number of minions allowed in the System Root at any one time, which allows minions to spawn endlessly and potentially overwhelm survivors. Finally, there is a 15 minute time limit for each of the four phases of the boss fight. As the phases become progressively more difficult as the fight progresses, by the final phase, Survivors will often find themselves struggling to finish off the boss before the timer hits 0.

A boss fight might not be made particularly difficult by any one of these restrictions, but all of them together, combined with the overall difficulty of the boss fight itself, makes the Corrupted Master Controller a very difficult boss to defeat even on Gamma difficulty, with the higher difficulties posing a challenge that rivals or even arguably surpasses that of Extinction's.

Master Controller is not a boss like any of the current bosses. Unlike the other bosses, he stands impervious to any form of attack, until reaching the final phase of the boss fight. There is a restriction of 10 survivors and 20 tamed creatures allowed into the System Root, which is typical of guardian boss fights on all other maps, excluding Extinction. Creatures cannot be released from s within the System Root, but creatures can be captured. Additionally, the bodies of any Survivors present in the System Root will be transported back to the area where The Arrival Protocol was initiated upon defeat, inventories intact. Therefore, if the fight begins to seem unwinnable, it is a viable strategy to attempt to capture as many creatures as possible in Cryopods before your defeat, allowing you to preserve them to fight another day.

If you defeat him the surviving tames will be teleported from where you teleported to the arena, and all items in your inventory will be lost. to prevent this put all of your items in a surviving tame's inventory and they will not be lost. This will only happen if you have a dupe in cloud. Normally this should not happen anymore.

Strategy
This fight takes place in multiple phases that grow in difficulty. Since the Master Controller is immune in all phases except the final phase, focus on crowd control and gather the data keys in order to progress. The faster you complete the task the less overall damage you'll take. Try to have a few people dedicated to running the data keys to the codebreaker terminal since each player can only hold so many data keys. You don't have to press E to pick up a data key; simply running over it will automatically add it to your count. Some players should dedicate to killing off the corrupted avatars and dinotars and keep the runners protected. Aerial attack drones are unexpectedly potent so make sure someone is clearing those with a sniper rifle, shotgun, or pistol. These drones will also drop Element for players using Tek weapons such as the.

At the final phase the Master Controller will initially be immune to damage and will fire beams that will stun creatures, dismount players, and can also stunlock players. Gather the as normal by killing off Corrupted Avatars and Dinotars. Send the data keys over to the codebreaker terminal to disable the shield protecting the Master Controller to harm him. Be warned that this is only temporary, and the boss will render himself immune after a while, which requires the whole process be repeated. It seems that there are hard damage thresholds that can't be exceeded so you are guaranteed to be doing this cycle multiple times. The maximum damage threshold you can do to the Master Controller is at most 1/4 of its health. As the fight progresses more dangerous dinotars such as Reaper and Giga variants join the fray which can deal immense damage. Attack drones will start to spawn out of control and need to be checked by AoE of sorts, possibly rockets. The thing to be wary of is that players and their tames need to kill dinotars and avatars faster than they respawn as the massive numbers can easily overwhelm players.

If you are fighting the Corrupted Master Controller solo, bring loads of food, medicine, recipe foods, armor, weapons and various types of tames on different types of behavior. Be sure to have a high damage weapon to hit the Corrupted Dinotar Giganotosaurus as this will easily enrage them. Make sure to bring several disposable tames to the fight to make sure it goes aggressive on it, damaging both the tame and surrounding hostiles around it while you have spare tames for more mass key gathering opportunities and your main damaging force is relatively undamaged.

In the stages, make sure to remain at an area to make gathering code keys as easy as possible as running round the arena for a key costs time and your easily spreads out your tames.

Don't get cornered in any stage of the fight as the Corrupted Avatars can easily shred through health and armor of both you and your tames.

Weaponry
Offensively you would be advised to bring powerful quality fabricated weapons such as the, , and. If you are able to wield it, bringing a quality Tek Rifle is also advised since the corrupted attack drones drop element to refuel your element supply. If you have a high-quality, they are effective at disposing of the Attack Drones that spawn. Having a close range weapon such as a high-quality or  can help in a pinch if you boost your melee damage. A Tek Rifle is great at killing the Corrupted Dinotars during the final phase.

Defensively, bring a few sets of quality flak armor, even for Gamma. Players must be on foot to collect the Code Keys so they are susceptible to damage. s and soups such as and  can help out with stamina and health regen. A Riot Shield on the last phase is recommended to help reduce the damage of the hard-hitting Corrupted Dinotars that spawn in this phase.

Throughout the fight, it is helpful for one tribe mate on foot to have a with  and normal s to get rid of the dinotars. The gravity grenades pulls everyone nearby, compressing all the Corrupted Avatars and Dinotars into a single spot, making it easier for the Tek Grenades to kill droves of them at once, giving time to collect the numerous keys on the floor. Be sure to fire the Tek Gravity Grenade from a distance or else you will get sucked in and instantly die from the numerous Corrupted Avatars and Dinotars.

If a party has a member that has a high melee stat, assign them to only deal damage to the boss as a grappling hook and a sword or tek sword can allow them to safely damage the boss.

At Phase 3 of the battle onwards, will periodically spawn, with even greater chance in the final phase, and as it can inflict the Gnashed effect, it can easily end up killing the dino if not dealt with.

Recommended Tames
This fight is extremely difficult due to the massive numbers of Corrupted Avatars. But when utilizing the various creatures within the Genesis Simulation to make creative tag teams, players can be able to overcome the final test and the Corrupted Master Controller.

Bog biome Creatures


 * is a great tame to bring to the fight as its bipedal attack has high damage and attack range. Having an opposite gender spino with you can greatly increase damage for the spinosaurus you are riding. If players teleport to the mission in a shallow pool of water in the Bog biome, the spinosaurus will have an infinite water buff, giving the spinosaurus a huge advantage in the fight and can single handedly handle killing the Corrupted Avatars with its increased speed, tight turning radius, and increased damage that can make it deal more damage than a Rex. A well-bred Spinosaurus with high stats, and maximum imprint on single player can deal enough damage to kill dinotars and Corrupted Avatars in several hits. The bipedal stance has a high range that they can attack the Corrupted Dinotar Giganotosaurus, enraging it, and can close in the distance to easily kill it before they start applying the gnashed debuff.
 * s are a decent tame for helping transport code key runners to a code breaker in a short time. They can also grapple itself and its player to safety to allow players to properly deal damage to the Corrupted Master Controller.

Arctic Biome Creatures


 * Having a is always a good due to their courage roar ability and generally good stats.
 * Having a can be useful, as it has attacks that have heavy splash damage in a massive area that is greater than a Rex, allowing droves of Corrupted Avatars to be killed.  Treat the Mammoth as a miniature Ice Titan and it can easily kill Corrupted Dinotars and Avatars in several hits. It also has a tight turning radius, allowing it to attack anything from behind. With TLC 3, mammoths alongside an X or normal Yutyrannus can act as a debuff team to reduce damage from Corrupted Avatars by a considerable amount while increasing damage being dealt by friendly tames.
 * s are good damage dealers and have a compact size, allowing more Corrupted Avatars/Dinotars to funnel into its killzone. However, be careful around Corrupted dinotar Rexes for the increased damage to herbivores.
 * A ridden may be quite useful due to their high damage output, strong knockback, and boulder throw to deal with both grounded and aerial enemies. Since element is dropped by attack drones you can keep replenishing the Ferox's longevity. They can also be given armor via helmets to increase durability, but have extras as the helmet will eventually break mostly from the Avatar's hits.
 * Having a couple of s can be useful during the final phase, as a single charge can do an abnormally high amount of damage, capable of mowing through entire hordes of Corrupted Avatars. Keep in mind that the Rhino will be vulnerable once its charging momentum is at zero and it is out of stamina.

Volcano Biome Creatures


 * rushing is always a good tactic due to their high stats and they can use tek saddles as well. However, players will find themselves doing things the hard way due to their turning radius.
 * Bring a to deal with Stage 1-3 damage dealing but beware of their turning radius as several Corrupted Avatars can attack you and your Rex from behind.
 * Bring 2 packs of since their pack buff and fast attack speed can shred most of the avatars creatures in seconds.
 * s and s can act as mines that can be buried, but since the Corrupted Avatars can't damage them while they are "underground", they can act as a diversion, making gathering easier.  In the final stage, bury one basilisk or purlovia underneath the bridge, preventing them from getting stunned, and allowing the diversion to remain indefinite.
 * For players that are focusing their fighting in one location, one player can ride a to quickly transport two code-key players to a code breaker due to their running speed being able to outrun most of the Corrupted Avatars. This potentially can save time for the fight.
 * s are a great crowd control and area of effect tame to inflict lots of burn debuffs to multiple enemies. Since Ambergris can heal a magmasaur, it is a great tank and diversion to allow a singular area in the arena to be devoted to code key gathering.

Lunar Biome Creatures


 * A combination of with two mate boosted  wielding mastercraft/ascendant level swords is useful in dealing high damage against the dinotars.  When using this combination, be careful to not get the Corrupted Avatars underneath the Karkinos. To increase the combo effectiveness, have some players to ride the mantis as well as carrying several swords for the prolonged fight. This is problematic as damage to the mantis will also damage the swords they are wielding.
 * can help transport players or creatures who are carrying code keys by jumping to a code breaker with a few jumps and have increased damage respectively.
 * A has many qualities that make it an invaluable ally in the System Root, including high damage attacks and a very large Health stat, the latter being complimented by the 80% damage reduction provided by the Reaper's natural armor. The Reaper can attack enemies in all directions with its tail swipe attack, and can simultaneously escape a horde of foes and cross very large portions of the arena with its incredible jump. Additionally, a skilled rider can take advantage of the ability to use the standard bite attack in midair to destroy entire swarms of airborne Attack Drones with a single jump. All of these qualities make the Reaper a fantastic mount in this fight, especially for solo players.
 * s are a great way to transport the code key runners due to its rolling nature being able to pick up momentum as well as the saddle dealing damage to anything it hits and carry passenger players.
 * es are good for the above average stats that are better than a or a.


 * A is mostly recommended in this fight as the Corrupted Avatars and Dinotars will exhaust your other tames health without a break. The Daeodon rider can also help with clearing enemies via their own weapons.
 * If you are trying a solo attempt, have around 4-6 tames as this will make it easier for a player to manage them in a single location. Have two of each creature that you will be bringing and of the opposite gender for the mate boost.
 * Do not bring too many large tames to the fight as it becomes difficult to keep them in a single location and this will concentrate the fighting in a single location, allowing code key gathering to be much easier.

Dangers
Master Controller himself is not much of a danger, even in his last phase, but his lasers can hinder even the toughest survivor and tamed dinos due to its stun and dismount effect. The bigger issues are the Corrupted that spawn endlessly around the arena, constantly overwhelming survivors without a single break. Moreover, as the Code Keys are only gatherable on foot, this makes gathering more risky. On top of that, only a limited number of keys can be on the floor at once, draining time away if a majority of the keys are on the other side of the arena.

Even though the Corrupted Dinotar Attack Drones aren't much of a threat, considered a nuisance on the arena and swarms of them can be taken out with a single shotgun blast, their constant ranged energy attacks can keep player's health from regenerating.

To mitigate the laser stunning, it is recommended to take cover among the shelter as the laser can't hit anything under it.

There is a glitch where the Master Controller has a specific area when his shields are down. Some of these areas include his forehead, armor, face, or even the back of his head. When a player shoots at the wrong area, no damage is being done. Make sure to bring a pistol to test out where the damage will be done. The Corrupted Master Controller can soon glitch out of the center and begin to float way above. In some instances, the Corrupted Master Controller can glitch outside the arena's barrier, making him invulnerable for the entire 15 minutes.

Weakness
Despite the arena's danger, Master Controller can only attack with his lasers and is unable to move anywhere. This makes him a huge bullseye mark for killing when his shields are down. He also does not have too much health when vulnerable.

Despite having a seemingly endless amount of hostiles spawning, there seems to be a limit on how many Corrupted Avatars can spawn, particularly in the final phase. This is an advantage by making it a priority to kill the Corrupted Dinotars first until all that is left are the avatars, giving a small gap of rest for your tames to mop up all of the Corrupted Avatars and gather a huge amount of code keys.

Notes/Trivia

 * In Multiplayer, the maximum number of Code-Keys that can be carried by a single survivor is 20, regardless of phase, requiring a minimum of four trips to the code-breaker in each of the first three phases. In single-player mode, however, while the final phase remains unchanged, the first three phases see the maximum number of keys able to be carried quadrupling to 80 per survivor, thus only requiring one trip to the code-breaker per phase.
 * Unlike the other bosses and like the Titan, Master Controller shows no sign of changes in different difficulty, apart from HP.
 * Unlike the titans though, the background of the arena tells the difficulty.
 * If a survivor dies in this fight their body and items can be found at the location where they teleported in, assuming it has not been harvested. However creatures that die can not have their items recovered.
 * There are cases however, that survivor's body vanishes without the corrupted dinotar harvesting their corpses. This makes recovery of their item impossible.
 * If you run out of time in the arena, your items will not be returned and all tames will die.
 * This is the second time Edmund Rockwell was shown as a major antagonist/boss in a ARK Expansion Pack, the first being from Aberration
 * This is also the second time he is completely immobile when fought.
 * Upon shattering the master controller's helmet down to its jaw, it reveal a mans face that resembles an almost twisted variant of Edmund Rockwell, with a very 19th century facial hair design.
 * Edmund Rockwell's head uses the same model as the standard male survivor head, but with an older look and unique hair and facial hair.
 * In the Genesis Tidbit notes, HLN-A notes of something called a "keydule", a pass key that edits itself but can have disastrous results if dropped in the wrong part of the simulation. The energy beam that tears at the Corrupted Master Controller/Rockwell's armor could be a result of what a keydule does: it is dismantling the corrupted master controller's armor by making it edit itself and its code out of existence.
 * While can be brought into the fight, if enabled, the tek armor usage restriction still applies within the arena.
 * Interestingly, most of the missions technically help prepare players for the fight against the Corrupted Master Controller
 * The Hunt and Boss missions help prepare players by making them able to handle difficult targets.
 * The Race missions help prepare by making players able to do things at a quicker pace.
 * The Gauntlet missions prepare players for the fight by making them able to handle fighting creatures on foot.
 * The Escort missions help players to prepare for protecting their code-key runners against the Corrupted Avatars.
 * The Checkpoint missions help players who will be code-key runners to quickly head to terminals to insert their keys. It also helps players that will kill the Corrupted Avatars to hold down their position to concentrate their fighting at a single location, making code-key gathering easier.
 * There is a Bug when teleporting into the arena, you and all of your dinos may fall through the mesh and die.
 * This and King Titan are the only bosses to have 2 battle themes (one on the platforms and other on the final test).

Lore
The Corrupted Master Controller is the digital final form of Rockwell, who has hacked into the Genesis program and took the form of the Master Controller after escaping Aberration. This is evidenced in the dialogue during the boss battle and the ending of Genesis: Part 1 where Rockwell can be seen. How Rockwell accessed the Genesis Simulation as well as changing his appearance outside the simulation is unknown.

Anytime HLN-A and the survivor fixes a glitch that is related to Genesis: Part 1 story, Rockwell´s interactions, overall, is him insulting the survivor about how little they know on what is really going on behind the curtains. A notable interaction is him asking what Helena, the other Homo Deus, and Rockwell himself are preparing the survivors for with the Genesis Simulation.

Throughout the battle against him, he reveals his motives to the survivor: to use the Genesis Simulation as a garden to test, enslave, and gather survivors who show a sign of servility or being subservient to his will and vision of the new world he will create with the dawn of The Arrival. He rigs the Genesis Simulation by deleting most of the master AIs and editing the final test where he is present to be the final obstacle. He uses and turns inactive survivors into Corrupted Avatars to help build his corrupted army. Outside the Genesis Simulation, he uses Element to infect both the survivors that have passed his test and the survivors that aren't active. If a survivor passes his test and they weren't showing servility, he simply kills them to ensure his grand vision isn't threatened.


 * He knows who Helena Walker is, and states she knew him well.
 * He has a need for servants, people who are subservient to him and will allow him to do his testing on them.
 * The Corrupted Master Controller speaks of visions of a world in his image and the foundations of human civilization being forever altered, something that Rockwell mentions in a vague way where Element will "help" propel humanity into the future all the way back in Scorched Earth.
 * Rockwell says the survivor is too rebellious and as a result, unworthy of living in his world. This is something he mentions in his explorer notes in Aberration where if anyone is unworthy or insults him, they will face inevitable doom.
 * In the end cutscene, one of his tentacles bursts forth from the room where we were being held and pulls us away from HLN-A, leading into Genesis Part II.
 * As of the Genesis 2 Chronicles 5, Rockwell clearly tells the player that the Genesis Simulation is fully under his control via his Corrupted Master Controller Avatar.