Good strategies for dealing with Lil' Hunter?

Question

So I've been really enjoying Nuclear Throne, managed to sit on it a few times and most of the enemies I've got roughly figured out.

The only real exception to this is Lil' Hunter, the boss for the ice-city map (5-3).

So far the only thing that I've got that somewhat does it is "cross your fingers and unload all your ammo in his rough direction, hoping for the best."

Unsurprisingly, this usually does not work. Are there any good strategies to combat him, or exploits in his behavior/movement, or otherwise options to deal with him? It seems he is really fast, able to relocate rapidly, can summon friends, will kill you when he lands close to you, has very powerful attacks and also move to other nearby enemies, which gives you even more things to look out for.

How can I more reliably defeat him? Preferably no answers like "be this character", as I like to play with multiple (and want to aim for the "Loop with ever character" achievement eventually).

Answer 1

Before the Battle Starts

In general, as soon as you land in 5-3, you need to start clearing out the immediate area you're in of as many enemies as possible. You've got about 7 seconds, so act quick and make sure you have a decent area with plenty of cover for the fight. After about 7 seconds into starting the level, Lil' Hunter will fly down from the sky; keep an eye out for a shadow showing where he's going to land and duck behind cover when you see that.

When Lil' Hunter Arrives

Once the fight has started, he's got four moves to use against you: a bouncer shotgun-like weapon with a somewhat slow rate of fire and short range, a very fast and very long range assault rifle, he can call in IDPD units, and he can jet-pack off the screen and crash down on you (blue flames shoot out from around him on landing). The easiest way to take him down is to stay behind cover until you hear the siren sound when he's calling in the IDPD, where you have about 3 seconds to safely unload as much ammo into him before he goes back to attacking. When he jet-packs off the screen, watch out for the shadow and find a new place to take cover while he's coming down.

As long as you only attack while he's calling in IDPD units and you take care of the units early, he goes down fast. One last thing to remember though, after killing him, his jet-pack breaks and he begins rocketing around the room pretty quickly, trying to take you down one last time. This is easy to avoid, as he won't damage you if he hits you in midair, and he only explodes as soon as he makes contact with a wall, so stay away from walls and you're safe (not safe from leftover IDPD and other mobs though).