Rockets do seem to be pretty effective. I’ve been repeatedly mauled up close trying to time the super shotgun with his green eye flashes. His ball and chain just chews me to shreds. I’ll try keeping my distance with the rocket and ballista.
I think I started doing better with the plasma rope when I decided to limit my spastic reactions. So now I back up as far as I can while only moving to position myself underneath the high sections of rope without ever trying to jump the low ones. It was too much!