Makron (Q2)

The Makron is the codename given by Humans to the supreme leader of the Strogg, chosen from the warlords based on strength, power, and endurance. The Makron resides in the northern area of Cerberon in the Palace City, where he commands the planet. The Makron serves as the link for all the Stroggs and his death would be catastrophic for their forces as they are left confused and in turmoil.

The Strogg are a mixed group of species with cybernetic implants, with the Makron being the most extreme example as it's just an organic brain sitting in a large robotic battle suit. Assassinating the Makron is Bitterman's final mission in Quake II and he serves as the game's final boss and main antagonist. The Makron will always go into battle piloting the Jorg exo-skeleton before confronting the player one on one.

Befitting his status as the final boss, the Makron only appears in the last level, Final Showdown. However, he unexpectedly (and inexplicably) also serves as the final boss of the expansion pack, Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning, apparently appearing in two places at once. In The Reckoning, the Makron battles Joker in the last level of the expansion, Command Center.

Combat Analysis
The player must first destroy the Jorg exo-skeleton before challenging the Makron. Once the Jorg is blown up, the Makron will appear and use three attacks as listed below. The Makron is arguably the most difficult and resilient enemy in the game, with more firepower than any other enemy. It's strongly advised that players come to the fight packed up with ammunition, stack as much adrenaline as possible, and spare some extra power-up upon going through the Palace levels.

Light Blaster
The Makron will launch about 20 light blaster shots in fast succession across the area in front of him. Each shot does 15 damage (15x20=300), but because the Makron primarily fires in a fanning pattern, sweeping the weapon from left to right and back again, it's very rare to be hit more than twice and is very easy to avoid any damage, even when standing in front of the Makron.

Rail Gun
The Makron's second attack is his head-mounted rail gun. Similar to the Gladiator's and the player's Rail Gun, except the Makron seems to have more of a pre-shot charge up time but no post-shot charge up, meaning the Makron can launch a Rail Charge and then follow up with another attack almost without delay. Each shot does a solid 50 damage which is enough to do some serious damage if the player isn't armoured.

BFG10k
The most powerful and notorious weapon in the game is now in the hands of an enemy. The Makron's BFG acts just like that of the player's, except his has no charge up time and can fire multiple blasts within seconds. Any ill prepared player will almost certainly be killed in this situation, but the Makron very rarely fires more than one at a time.

The energy ball deals around 240 damage with a direct hit but as it's slow moving, this will hardly happen. The more dangerous part of this attack is the lasers which fire from the ball at nearby players, dealing around 100 damage per second that the laser has contact with the player. If the player dodges the ball but takes a second to get away from the ball, it could still kill them despite dodging the attack. If the player is hit, the laser beam will have contact for around half a second before the ball hits, dealing around 300 damage.

The Makron can fire off a BFG blast a lot faster than the player, with no charge up or charge down time, which means he can and will launch multiple BFG blasts in quick succession. The Makron will normally fire up to three blasts at a time and so even if the player dodges all three energy balls, the laser beams could easily do 300 damage in 1 to 2 seconds, easily killing the player if he/she isn't completely armored with a lot of health. Although easy to avoid, three direct hits could do around 900 damage.

Final Showdown
The player will confront the Makron in Unit 10 after the Palace. After chasing the Makron through the Palace rooftop and to the Strogg leader's base in the asteroid belt, the player will defeat him and complete the game. The battle is split into two parts, the fight with Jorg and the fight with the Makron.

Once the Jorg is destroyed, the Makron will fight the player one on one. The arena is a large room with two elevators either side leading down to the escape pods and teleporter. In the middle of the arena are two large pillars providing excellent cover. Either side are located two switches which open floor panels leading to the tunnel under the arena floor where ammo and armor lies.

The Makron's BFG is the biggest threat. If the player is hiding behind a pillar and the BFG is launched, run away because the laser beam will still hit dealing around 100 damage. When running out of cover, keep an eye on the Makron so that he can't deal a sneaky Rail Gun round whilst the player is worrying about the BFG blast. A few audible beeps will be heard from the Makron as he tries to aim the rail shot.

The Makron's first weakness is his slow movement, which is only slightly faster than a Tank's. So use the pillars for cover and take pot shots or if the player is feeling brave, it's possible to fight the Makron in open ground a long as one knows what to expect. If the Makron does close the gap between the player's pillar, then run to the other pillar and he will start walking towards that one.

The Makron's second weakness is his lengthy pain animation. If hit by a Rocket Launcher or Railgun, the Makron will fall down on his back and take a couple of seconds to jump back up. During these moments, the Makron will say something in clear English such as "Weakling!", "Not good enough!" or "Run, Human!". Using a Railgun or Rocket Launcher to knock him on the ground would also help for preparing a chain of BFG10k blasts before retreating.

This battle can be very quick and easy if the player saved a Quad Damage from the Palace. Use the Chaingun and both the Jorg and Makron can be killed within seconds. There are plenty of bullet pick ups in the arena, so the player should have enough ammo. Player can force Makron to come out faster by gibbing Jorg's body with a Hand Grenade, once the Jorg fell dead.

If he/she does run out of bullets, the Hyper Blaster works just as well. The Railgun is also an excellent option, since the Makron is not too fast on his feet. At average 6 shots from a Quad-enhanced Railgun will destroy the Jorg shell, and 3 more shots will finish the Makron off, making this possibly the shortest boss battle in the game.

If player do have Invulnerability, it will do the job just as good. However instead of hoping to stock enough at the fighting area, player have to manage ammunition for BFG10k and hopefully land a majority of their charged hits. BFG attacks will be uninterruptible, but you have to wait for the Makron to come out from the exo-skeleton on his own, since you lack the firepower to gib him right away.

id Gallery
Upon defeating the Makron, access to the id Gallery and Pool room is granted. The id Gallery contains pictures of the creators. Each picture does something, such as burn the player, play music, or launch gibs to name a few. At the end of the hall, is a hidden compartment in the floor leading down to the Pool room. The Pool room contains a Tank with two Iron Maidens crawling over him and two human prisoners on either side.

Death Message

 * Player died (BFG)
 * Player died (Blaster)
 * Player died (Railgun)

Trivia

 * As mentioned in Quake II, Makron is a codename applied to the Strogg leader by the humans. It comes from Greek μακρον, meaning literally "big thing", and is gender neutral, rather than masculine (which would be "Makros"), hinting at the creature's genderless, cyborg nature. The Greek word is also the origin of the English prefix "macro-".
 * The Makron is the only boss in Quake II with a visible weak spot, which is his brain capsule. Destroying it disables the Makron's upper half and makes him harmless.
 * If the Makron was equipped with Beta Class Gladiator's Phalanx Particle Cannon or shield (Both for Jorg and the Makron), he would have a total of 8600 Health, feature a devastating attack (100 per shot of Phalanx and big splash damage), and the final boss battle would become a lot harder. However, Beta Class Gladiators fought in groups of few seems to be even slightly more powerful than the Makron himself.
 * If on a custom map which features both the Makron and a Medic, the Medic will try to revive the Makron after his death. Once his legs fall to the ground, the Medic will fire a reviving beam at the Makron's legs. However, the Makron's legs will simply disappear and a message will say that no-class entity cannot be respawned. There's a possibly that after the Makron dies, he disappears and two animated corpses appear in the place of his death. Also, as the Makron's death messages just say "Player died", it's possible that the Makron is actually a non-monster entity.
 * Both halves of the dead Makron can be gibbed by doing 1000 damage, though only small common gibs will appear.
 * There are small spikes at the back of the Makron's brain capsule.
 * While other bosses utilize Chain Gun and Rocket Launcher (except the Jorg, who only uses a Chain Gun), weapons commonly used by human military, the Makron is the only boss who wields more unusual weapons.
 * The Makron's Blaster sweep attack seems to be a less powerful version of Tank's Machine Gun sweep attack - Tank's shots are hitscan and do 20 damage, while Makron's shots are not hitscan and do only 15 damage.
 * The Makron is the only enemy in Quake II who has a BFG10k.
 * The fight with the Makron and Jorg, is the only boss battle in Quake II where your enemy doesn't possess a Rocket Launcher.