Malicious Face

MALICIOUS FACE
General
Class	Lesser Demon
Health	25 (Boss); 15 (Common)
Weight	Heavy (Grounded)
Rank	3
Locational Damage
Head (2x)	✗
Limb (1.5x)	✗
Conditional Modifiers
Flammable?
Airshot?
Damage Type Modifiers
	- Ground Slams: 200%; - Nails: 150%; - Explosions: 0%;
Radiance Multipliers
Health	2x
Damage	1.5x
Speed	1.5x
Appearances
	0-1 (Boss), 0-4 1-1, 1-3; 2-1, 2-2, 2-3; 3-1 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4; 5-1, 5-2, 5-3; 6-1 7-1, 7-3, 7-4, 7-S P-2; The Cyber Grind
Cyber Grind Data

Malicious Faces are the first Demon-type enemy players encounter. They are first encountered as the final boss of 0-1: Into the Fire, before beginning to appear as a recurring enemy from 0-4: A One-Machine Army onwards.
They resemble large heads carved out of stone and are supported by four thin, transparent legs.

Behaviour

Malicious Faces slowly move towards the player, only stopping to fire a Malicious Beam.

Upon reaching <50% health, Malicious Faces become visibly damaged and on Violent difficulty they will become Enraged, shooting almost exclusively a more powerful version of their Malicious Beam attack.

When killed, Malicious Faces fall and become embedded in the ground, causing a large non-lethal shockwave. Malicious Face corpses are solid, can not be healed from and can be broken with a ground slam.
It is also possible to grapple onto a Malicious Face's corpse with the Whiplash.

If a Malicious Face's corpse falls on an enemy, the enemy will be killed instantly and give the player the +MAURICED style bonus.
Gabriel, Mindflayers and Ferrymen are exceptions to this, as they will move or teleport away from a falling Malicious Face Corpse.
Sisyphean Insurrectionists will also not be instantly killed by a falling Malicious Face corpse, however they will take 22 damage and be temporarily stunned if one does manage to fall on them.

In The Cyber Grind, Malicious Face corpses break instantly upon contact with the ground and don't cause a shockwave.

Attacks

Projectile Barrage
Maurice will fire a barrage of six Hell Orbs that do 25 damage each. The Hell Orbs can be parried and deflected back into the Malicious Face.
On Harmless and Lenient, 3 projectiles will be fired instead of 6.

Malicious Beam
Malicious Faces are able to charge a beam similar to the Malicious Railcannon's hitscan, creates an explosion on contact with any surface, Core Eject or Rocket dealing 50 damage. When they are finished charging the beam, they will attempt to predict the player's movement, and target the beam accordingly.
The attack can be parried or shotgun parried when the beam finishes charging, denoted by a sound and a yellow flash. The beam itself can also be ricocheted off of a Coin, giving the + CHARGEBACK style bonus.
When Enraged, they will fire two beams, one after the other.

Since the beam shares the same hitscan type as the Malicious Railcannon, it can also be used to perform a Core Nuke. If the player is riding a Rocket, the Malicious Face will attempt to target it instead of a surface, which can lead to rockets being hit while players ride on them.

Malicious Faces will not initiate the beam attack if the player is too far away unless they are riding a rocket.

Strategy

Malicious Faces, quite dangerous on their own, tend to spawn in small groups of 2-3, making them very dangerous for newer players.

Shotgun Swapping at point-blank range is the most effective way to take them out, as Malicious Faces take 4 extra damage from point-blank shotgun blasts. Parrying their Malicious Beam charge with a point-blank shotgun blast will deal massive amounts of damage to a Malicious Face and will also provide the player with a full heal. Nailguns are also extremely effective, as Malicious Faces also take extra damage from nails; placing a Magnet on a Malicious Face and then unloading the Attractor Nailgun into it will kill it in a matter of seconds. Only 90% of nails from an Overheat Nailgun burst need to hit a Malicious Face to kill it as long as it's not Radiant.

A Malicious Face's beam can also be used against it to perform a +CHARGEBACK. Well timed Coins can be used to ricochet a Malicious Face's beam and ricochet it to other targets. If it targets a Malicious Face, it'll instantly kill it regardless of its health. It can also be used to Auto Nuke, where one launches a Core Eject Shotgun core into the beam to create a Core Nuke without using a Railcannon charge.

One technique for more experienced players to quickly destroy Malicious Faces is the "Whip-Slam". To do this technique, first you must pump the Pump Shotgun twice, then grapple onto the Malicious Face with the Whiplash, blast it with the Pump Shotgun while also punching it with the Knuckleblaster, and then finally Ground Slamming on the Malicious Face, killing it and destroying its corpse.
A common variant of this technique is swapping to the Core Eject Shotgun and blasting the Malicious Face again instead of Ground Slamming on it, not only killing it but also preserving its corpse to fall and kill enemies instantly while giving the +MAURICED style bonus.

Well timed explosions such as the Pump Shotgun's Overpump Explosion, sniping the Core Eject Shotgun's Core Grenade with any Revolver's primary fire or detonating a projectile with the Sharpshooter's alt fire can reflect a Malicious Face's projectile volley attack back into it, killing it instantly. The Sharpshooter's alt fire is the most consistent way of doing this, however the Pump Shotgun's Overpump explosion, although difficult to master, can be used to instantly kill multiple Malicious Faces if timed right.

Dodging a Malicious Face is more trivial than it seems; its projectile volley can be simply dodged by walking around the Malicious Face while its predictive beam can be avoided by staying away from nearby surfaces or moving away from where it's targeting. However, this does not mean Malicious Faces should be underestimated due to its many projectiles, explosions and tendency to spawn in groups.

Difficulty Changes

Accessible

Malicious Faces only fire 3 hell orbs per barrage.

Violent

At half health, Malicious Faces will enrage and start firing a second beam quickly after the first one.

Brutal

Each barrage of hell orbs contains much more projectiles and each is shot with a random spread

Terminal Entry

TYPE: LESSER DEMON

DATA:
Demons are creatures born from the mass of Hell. They are most easily recognisable^[sic] by their hard stone-like exterior and slow movement.

Demons have higher intelligence than Husks, but are still incapable of rational thought and communication. No demons have been able to pass the mirror test, though studies are limited due to their hostility.

Malicious Faces are the most common type of demon, but are incredibly dangerous, especially in swarms, due to their mastery of the use of Hell Energy as a weapon.

STRATEGY:
- Due to their burst fire, they can be quite difficult to get close to, so despite the effectiveness of a point blank shotgun shot, nails are the recommended course of action, with magnets enabling long-range combat.

- Due to their invulnerability to explosions, they don't need to hold back the energy of their beam attacks, so staying away from walls and other surfaces is recommended when they begin charging an energy beam.

Media

A Malicious Face shooting projectiles.
A Malicious Face firing a beam.
An enraged Malicious Face.
An enraged Malicious Face firing 2 beams.
(click on thumbnail to view gif)
Projectile Fired

Trivia

Malicious Faces were going to have facial movements while firing, but were left out due to issues animating it. ^[1]
The Malicious Face is the first recognizable enemy shown off on Hakita's YouTube channel, first appearing on ULTRAKILL 07 - Enemy Projectiles. Excluding their incomplete model, it was only missing the Malicious Beam attack.
The Malicious Face has been given the unofficial name of "Maurice" by the community, this name originating from an ULTRAKILL adaptation of a meme captioned with "choose youre [sic] fighter" and the following options: "Gilgamesh the Consumer of Reality" and "maurice"^[2]. Although this name is unofficial, it has been referenced in-game with the "+MAURICED" style bonus.

Enemies

Lesser

Greater

Supreme

Husks