Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic/Viewing Platform

The elevator from the command center takes you to the north side of the viewing platform, with a walkway to the south leading to its north edge, where Darth Malak stands watching the space battle outside through the large windows above. Walkways go down to either side of the entry walkway before going round the north perimeter to dead ends, while ramps to the south, east and west bridge a chasm between the platform below and a viewing deck round the south perimeter, allowing a closer look outside.

Darth Malak won't engage in dialog then combat until you step off the entry walkway onto the viewing platform behind him, so now is a good time to prepare for the upcoming battle by healing and using any shields, stimulants and Force power buffs of longer duration (as ever, Improved Energy Resistance is particularly helpful, although Force Resistance or Immunity will only be useful against his Force Lightning). Mines can also be set here for later.

This is also the last chance to enter the  Windows cheat to complete the game without fighting him.

Darth Malak
These two responses end this dialog most quickly:

Otherwise:


 * }

There's nothing to be done yet with the eight captive Jedi seen in electrical prisons around the viewing platform, so focus on fighting Darth Malak until this changes (once enough damage has been inflicted upon him).

Combat
Darth Malak's combat capabilities are considerable:

38 Defense is almost the highest in the entire game, but level 20 combat Jedi who focused on Strength or Dexterity shouldn't have too much trouble hitting him at this point (> 35 Attack always ensures maximum 95% chance to hit), and Master Toughness only reduces each damage type by 2 (fortunately he has no shields, and he never uses Improved Energy Resistance). Even Force users shouldn't have too much difficulty achieving > 18 Attack to always ensure more than minimum 5% chance to hit (an Adhesive Grenade's -4 Dexterity results in -2 Defense, while debilitation results in -8 Defense, adding up to 40% to chance to hit).

However, his Attack may well be the highest in the entire game. Although a Jedi heavily focused on Defense and Dexterity can achieve maximum 52 Defense (normally resulting in just 20% chance to hit with his Master Power Attack, but still 55% with his Master Force Jump), a more typical Jedi would struggle to achieve > 37 Defense required to ensure he didn't always have maximum 95% chance to hit: consequently, if he attacks he's almost certainly going to inflict damage, particularly with critical hits:

The maximum damage he can inflict in a single combat round is with two critical hits using Master Flurry, resulting in 92-176 total damage (134 on average) on Difficult. Fortunately, this is unlikely: even if a Jedi has < 39 Defense, which normally gives Darth Malak maximum 95% chance to hit and 100% chance of converting critical threats to critical hits, the chance of this happening would still be just 3.61% (100 * (0.95*0.2)2).

Combat difficulty can always be reduced (and be thankful he never uses Master Speed to add two more attacks), but even the magnitude of this worst-case scenario can be significantly reduced with shields or Improved Energy Resistance, both of which apply before combat difficulty: a single full charge of Yusanis' Dueling Shield (Deflection: Energy 100 points total) could almost entirely absorb energy damage from two maximum critical hits (54 each) before they were increased by 50% on Difficult, and a single full charge of a Verpine Prototype Shield (Deflection: Energy 70 points total) could do likewise for two average critical hits (40 each).

Even without shields, Improved Energy Resistance can significantly reduce this damage. Each critical hit is reduced from 26-54 to 11-39 energy damage (+5 universal damage), resulting in 24-66 total damage each on Difficult, or 48-132 combined (90 on average): that's a 44 point reduction, or ~32.8%. Improved or Master Toughness further reduces each critical hit to 9-37 energy damage (+3 universal damage), resulting in 18-60 total damage each on Difficult, or 36-120 combined (78 on average): that's a further 12 point reduction, or 56 (~41.8%) overall.

Ranged
Jedi using ranged weapons (most likely blaster pistols but possibly a blaster rifle, or even a heavy weapon) have the advantage of the Close Proximity Ranged Bonus adding 10 to attack rolls when in close proximity to Darth Malak, adding up to 50% chance to hit. The melee on ranged bonus will apply to his own attacks, but if a Jedi has < 39 Defense then he normally already has maximum 95% chance to hit anyway.

The only times Darth Malak normally won't use his melee attacks are when he's using Force powers, he's debilitated or he's running to close to attack range rather than using Master Force Jump. With care, hit-and-run tactics can be used to keep him far enough away to run, but not so far away that he decides to jump, but it can be simpler to use an Adhesive Grenade to entangle him. It's best to use it while he's using a Force power or otherwise standing still, then attack from beyond melee range but still close enough for the Close Proximity Ranged Bonus to apply. He'll remain entangled for 15 seconds, so he can be attacked for 4 combat rounds before using another to keep him entangled. Other advantages of using Adhesive Grenades are -4 Dexterity (resulting in -2 Defense), and Force powers cannot be used while entangled!

Other grenades can be used instead of attacks (or Force powers), but he always saves against them and has Master Toughness:

Thermal Detonators are obviously the best, and although they have the disconcerting effect of appearing to knocking him down and out of the adhesive, he remains entangled in his new location for the remaining duration.

The disadvantage of using ranged weapons is that even though he can be easier to hit, he can still deflect blaster bolts unless debilitated, which doesn't include being entangled by an Adhesive Grenade: 36 Attack may always ensure maximum 95% chance to hit against 38 Defense, but his total deflection roll is 27-46 so he still has ~9.5% (36/380) chance to deflect any hit. > 44 Attack (> 35 if the Close Proximity Ranged Bonus applies) ensures the total attack roll is normally 46 or more, preventing him from ever deflecting a bolt.

Debilitation
Darth Malak can only debilitate you using Master Critical Strike, which can be prevented with Fortitude save > 27, Immunity: Mind-Affecting or a level > 5 Jedi Sentinel's Force Immunity: Stun.

Darth Malak's high saves and Immunity: Mind-Affecting granted by his Nerve Amplifier Belt mean that he can only be debilitated by using the following Force powers:

The light and dark side powers are against his highest save, Fortitude: Difficulty Class > 39 is normally required to have any chance of success whatsoever. A light side Jedi Consular with mastery can have maximum DC 50 for 55% chance of success, while a dark side Jedi Consular using the light side power Master Valor can have maximum DC 44 for just 25% chance of success, although Plague can be used to reduce his attributes and thus saves over time. Other classes shouldn't expect to debilitate him with these powers.

Force Whirlwind is much more likely to debilitate him since it's against his Reflex save: an Adhesive Grenade's -4 Dexterity while entangled can reduce it from 31 to 29, meaning a light side Jedi Consular with mastery can have maximum 100% chance of success (a dark side Jedi Consular using Master Valor still has maximum 70% chance of success, increasing to 80% once debilitated). Once debilitated, he's more likely to remain so since his Dexterity modifier (+4) is removed from his Reflex save, reducing it from 31 to just 27.

However, to use Force Whirlwind, Force Wave cannot have been selected. Being restricted to Force Whirlwind is inadvisable (aside from being unable to use it earlier in the game, Force Wave can still both damage and knock him down, hindering him from closing to attack range) unless playing a Scoundrel Jedi focused on Sneak Attacks as the main source of damage, who used other Force powers like Stasis Field or Insanity to provide area of effect debilitation earlier in the game.

Force powers
Darth Malak first uses Force Immunity, although this can be prevented by using any offensive Force power of your own against him beforehand. However, after draining each captive Jedi he uses it again, and this time using a Force power of your own against him won't prevent it unless it debilitates him. This means Force powers against which a saving throw can be made used by a level 20 Jedi will have no effect whatsoever 70% of the time. Force Breach is required to cancel it, or it will take up to a minute to expire each time.

He only uses Force Breach himself if Force power buffs have been used which it can cancel, and you have run away from him to put some distance between you. Although these Force powers can be reused (albeit at the expense of attacking or offensive use of the Force), he'll just use Force Breach again if he still has sufficient Force points and you aren't close enough to him.

Force Lightning and Throw Lightsaber inflict 10-60 (35 average) lightning and energy damage respectively on Normal, reduced to 5-30 (17.5 average) on Easy and increased to 15-90 (52.5 average) on Difficult. > 15 Will save is required to have any chance of saving against Force Lightning, and > 34 means you always save, halving damage (2-15 (8.5 average), 5-30 (17.5 average) or 7-45 (26 average) depending on combat difficulty). As ever, shields or Improved Energy Resistance can reduce damage, or even negate it entirely, before combat difficulty applies.

Damage Immunity: 100% vs. Electrical is granted by the Electrical Capacitance Shield belt: although unnecessary (and a little excessive), buying and equipping it can be a good way to get Darth Malak to waste all his Force points using Force Lightning if you stay between attack and Throw Lightsaber range.

He can be prevented from using Force powers entirely by debilitating him, or entangling him with an Adhesive Grenade. It's best to entangle him while he's using a Force power of his own or otherwise standing still (be sure to stand far enough away to avoid being entangled yourself, or you won't be able to use Force powers either) and, once entangled, Force powers can be used up to 4 times before needing to use another Adhesive Grenade to keep him entangled. Otherwise, 175 Force points mean he can use Force Immunity, Force Lightning or Throw Lightsaber (costing 20 points each) up to 8 times unless depleted by Force Storm's 8-58 (33 average) Force point damage.

Even if his Force Immunity can be prevented or canceled using Force Breach, the most consistently damaging Force power to use against him is (Advanced) Throw Lightsaber: a level 20 Jedi inflicts 8-58 (33 average) energy damage, the same as Shock, Force Lightning or Storm but with no chance of saving against it to reduce damage. 10 throws will kill him on average, costing 200 Force points (and possibly 3 Adhesive Grenades).

The dark side power Kill could finish him with just 3 uses, but it is against his highest save, Fortitude: a Jedi Consular, particularly dark side, can never achieve a high enough Force power Difficulty Class to ensure his Fortitude save always fails, and DC < 40 normally ensures it always succeeds, resulting in just 18 physical damage (although failure to save results in 52 points every 2 seconds for 6 seconds, averaging 78 per round).

If you absolutely, positively must have the satisfaction of choking the life out of him, aside from selecting Kill for a light side Jedi Consular, it's best to use Plague before dealing with the captive Jedi and let it run its course while you do so: after 36 seconds (halfway through its 72 second duration) -6 attribute damage reduces him from 23 to 17 Constitution (CON +6 to +3), which in turn reduces his Fortitude save from 38 to 35 (and maximum Vitality from 327 to 267, which reduces Kill damage), adding 15% to your chance of success (so 25% would become 40%, and 55% would become 70%).

Mines
A maximum of 15 mines can be set at once and, although Darth Malak always saves against them and has Master Toughness, this is enough to kill him: Deadly Plasma Mines each do 34 (72/2 - 2) points of energy damage, so 10 will kill him; Deadly Frag Mines each do 25 (54/2 - 2) points of piercing damage, so 13 will do likewise.

It's best to set any mines on the entry walkway before stepping onto the viewing platform to engage him for the first time, then wait until all captive Jedi have been killed or released before leading him to them. Although he's aware of the mines, he'll still walk or jump over them if he cannot use his Force powers due to being out of range or Force points.

Captive Jedi
There are eight captive Jedi held in electrical prisons around the viewing platform.

'''[The Jedi hangs in the grasp of the electrical prison. Only by using the power of the Force could you free him now.]'''

You cannot do anything further until sufficient damage has been inflicted upon Darth Malak (the amount required declines as combat continues), for him to disengage from combat and run to one of them.

He demonstrates by draining the life force of the captive Jedi, restoring himself to maximum Vitality and Force.

He'll do likewise with the remaining seven captive Jedi whenever sufficient damage has been inflicted upon him (and once again, the amount required declines as combat continues). Although you're obliged to follow him the first time, later you won't: this means that by leading him away from the captive Jedi, using the walkways to the north or the deck to the south, you can give yourself more time to heal and prepare yourself to continue the battle while he runs back and forth.

However, it will shorten the battle considerably if one of the following Force powers can be used to kill or release the captive Jedi before he does, some of which will also restore you to maximum Force and Vitality points:

Use of any other Force power results in the following message being displayed:

[The Force power did not affect the Jedi captive or the machine that binds him.]

After Darth Malak has drained the first captive Jedi, get a head start on him by stepping back and using an Adhesive Grenade while he uses Force Immunity, debilitating him or slowing him down by using Plague, which also inflicts attribute damage for its duration (Stasis or Statis Field will also slow him down if he saves against the debilitating effect, albeit only for 12 seconds, not 72 like Plague). Once his pursuit has been temporarily stopped or hindered, run ahead of him to deal with the captive Jedi.

The pairs of captive Jedi to either side of the entry walkway to the north are closest together, and thus can be dealt with most quickly: Force Storm and Death Field have a large enough area of effect that they can even kill each pair with a single use. However, if Darth Malak isn't entangled or debilitated then use the deck to the south to create distance: run up or down one ramp and when he follows, run up or down another to deal with the captive Jedi on the deck above or platform below: ranged weapons and Force powers can sometimes be used across the chasm between the two, but it cannot be jumped across. Make sure a captive Jedi is within range whenever a Force power is used, otherwise time is wasted closing to point-blank range to use it.

Once all captive Jedi have been dealt with, reducing Darth Malak to < 11 Vitality will finally defeat him.