Malicious Face

MALICIOUS FACE
General
Class	Lesser Demon
Health	25 (Boss); 15 (Common)
Weight	Superheavy (Grounded)
Rank	3
Locational Damage
Head (200%)
Limbs (150%)
Conditional Modifiers
Flammable
Airshot
Splatters
Magnet Pull
Damage Type Modifiers
	Ground Slams: 200%; Nails: 150%; Impact Hammers: 150%; Explosions: 0%;
Radiance Multipliers
Health	2x
Damage	1.5x
Speed	1.5x
Appearances
	0-1, 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 0-E, 1-E P-2; The Cyber Grind
Cyber Grind Data

The Malicious Face is a Lesser Demon introduced as a boss in 0-1: INTO THE FIRE, and is the first Demon-class enemy that the player encounters in ULTRAKILL.

They begin to appear as a recurring enemy from 0-4: A ONE-MACHINE ARMY onwards.

Malicious Faces appear to be large heads carved out of stone and are supported by four thin, transparent spider-like legs.

Behaviour

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

Upon reaching less than 50% health, Malicious Faces become visibly damaged, and on Violent difficulty and up, they will become enraged, almost exclusively shooting Malicious Beams and firing two beams per attack.

Malicious Faces have 100% immunity to all forms of explosions, and explosive projectiles such as cores from the Core Eject Shotgun and rockets from the Rocket Launcher will bounce directly off of the Malicious Face. If the Malicious Face is sprayed with gasoline from the Firestarter Rocket Launcher, its explosion immunity is removed and explosive projectiles will no longer bounce off of it.

If a Stalker is attempting to target a Malicious face, the Malicious Face will lower itself down so the Stalker's detonation can affect the Malicious face. If the Stalker is focusing on the Malicious Face, it will not detonate until the Malicious Face is in range.

When killed, Malicious Faces fall and become embedded into the ground, causing a large non-lethal shockwave. Malicious Face corpses are solid, cannot be healed from, and can be broken with a ground slam or the S.R.S. Cannon's cannonball. 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 whenever possible. 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 do not cause shockwaves.

Attacks

Projectile Barrage
The Malicious Face fires a barrage of 6 Hell Orbs that deal 25 damage each.

On Accessible^[?] difficulties, 3 projectiles will be fired instead of 6.

On Brutal, the Malicious Face will fire 10 Hell Orbs within a very small spread instead.

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, awarding the player with the + Chargeback style bonus and instantly killing the Malicious Face. 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, and deadly in groups, can be a significant threat 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 Magnets on a Malicious Face and then unloading the Attractor Nailgun into it will kill the Malicious Face 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 is 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 will 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 Charge Shotgun twice, then grapple onto the Malicious Face with the Whiplash, blast it with the Pump Charge 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 Charge 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 Revolver's alternate fire can reflect a Malicious Face's projectile volley attack back into it, killing it instantly. The Sharpshooter's alternate fire is the most consistent way of doing this, however, the Pump Charge 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 is targeting. However, this does not mean Malicious Faces should be underestimated due to its many projectiles, explosions, and tendency to spawn in groups.

Covering a Malicious face in oil from the Firestarter Rocket Launcher will remove their explosive resistance. This allows the player to pick off the Malicious Face from a distance using Projectile Boosts or Rockets that otherwise would be ineffective, and can also deflect its own Hell Orbs back into it for a quick kill.

One can also instantly kill a Malicious Face by grappling onto it with the Whiplash then punching it with the Knuckleblaster while using an Impact Hammer while doing so. This will instantly kill the Malicious Face as long as the Hammer's charge is above or at yellow.

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

Fires 10 projectiles in its barrage at a greatly increased fire rate and with slightly random spread.

Terminal Entry

Malicious Face

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

Icon
A Malicious Face shooting projectiles.
A Malicious Face firing a beam.
An enraged Malicious Face.
An enraged Malicious Face firing two beams.
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 is affectionately referred to as "Maurice" by the community. The affectation originates from an ULTRAKILL adaptation of a meme consisting of the text "pick youre^[sic] fighter" and the following options: "Gilgamesh the Consumer of Reality" (originally a large spider, The Corpse of King Minos in the adaptation) and "maurice" (originally a ladybug, the Malicious Face in the adaptation)^[2]. Although this name is unofficial, it has been referenced in-game with the + Mauriced style bonus.
The eyes on the Malicious Face are separate models from the actual enemy itself and were originally intended to have been part of a feature where shooting the eyes would blind the Malicious Face and turn its attacks wildly inaccurate. This was scrapped because it was deemed too demanding and complicated for such a simple enemy. In the Developer Museum, Hakita mentions how DOOM Eternal later came out and had a heavy focus on enemy weakpoints.
Malicious Faces killed in The Cyber Grind do not leave their corpses behind and instead shatter upon hitting the floor.
- The Gutterman similarly explodes upon the end of its death animation, removing itself from the arena.