Cerberus

For more information about other enemies, see Enemies

Cerberus
ballin'
Attributes
Appearance	Large featureless humanoid statue holding a glowing orb
Attack Damage	20 (Explosive Orb) 25 (Shockwave) 25 (Tackle)
Health	80 (Boss) 22 (Enemy) 30 (1-2 Secret) 44 (7-1 Secret)
Support Priority Rank	3
Damage Modifiers	150% (Rockets) 200% (Cannonballs)
Weight	Heavy
Susceptible to fall damage	No
Other/Misc	Aggressive, slow-moving heavy demon.

Cerberus is a Lesser Demon first encountered as a boss at the end of the mission [ 0-5: CERBERUS ], returning as a secret encounter in the mission [ 1-2: THE BURNING WORLD ], before becoming a common enemy in the mission [ 1-3: HALLS OF SACRED REMAINS ]. Statues of Cerberus can be seen as early as the game's Intro, though they are stationary and do not attack. They occasionally wake up from their slumber, slowly approaching with an explosive orb in-hand, ready to throw.

Appearance

Cerberi are massive, featureless humanoids with stone-like skin. They hold a yellow-orange energy orb which they can throw at foes. They serve as the guardians of Hell, even guarding the door bearing the famous quote from Dante's Inferno: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." The majority of Cerberi are completely dormant, little more than motionless statues. In this state, the Cerberus will remain stationary on its pedestal, pondering its energy orb.

Combat

Cerberi are initially dormant, only leaving their pedestal when the player enters the arena. In combat, Cerberi are slow and predictable, but deal high amounts of damage that can catch the player off-guard. They are strong in numbers, as it becomes significantly more difficult to predict their attacks. Once they are at half-health, large cracks will appear on their body and their head will have a chunk taken out of it, indicating their weakened state.

If the player is far away enough, Cerberus can chuck their energy orb as a high-speed projectile in the direction of the player, causing an explosion on impact. The projectile can be parried, though the projectile's speed and trajectory can make this counterattack difficult, this projectile also slightly seeks if the player is within its medium range. Cerberus will perform a forward dash in their direction, knocking them back significantly upon contact. Getting too close to a Cerberus will cause them to stomp the ground, creating a large damaging shockwave that damages and launches the player upward.

Enraged

If there are more than one Ceberi in the current encounter, and one of them dies, all remaining active Cerberi will become Enraged, moving and attacking much faster. This Enraged state is permanent, lasting until death. Enraged Cerberi can fall off ledges when attacking.

Difficulty Changes

• HARMLESS
  • Cerberi move and attack much slower than usual.

• LENIENT
  • Cerberi move and attack slower than usual.

• VIOLENT
  • Cerberi move and attack faster than usual.

• BRUTAL
  • Cerberi move and attack much faster than usual.
  • Their stomp attack creates two shockwaves.
  • They will perform their dash attack twice in a row.
  • Their boss health is increased from 80 to 120.

Terminal Data

For more information, see Terminal

TYPE: Lesser Demon

DATA:
Although they do not resemble the mythological three-headed dog, this name was chosen due to their nature as protectors of Hell. However, it’s not yet known why some stay dormant despite provocation.

Despite the fact that keeping an energy orb stable takes a considerable amount of focus and effort, they seem to always keep one in hand, most likely as a display of their power to scare off intruders.

STRATEGY:
- Due to remaining entirely stationary until awoken, they move quite slowly, so engagement distance is easy to control.

- They're quite adept at ranged combat by throwing their orb, but in order to avoid damaging themselves, they will not initiate a throw while their target is close, which can be used to manipulate their behavior, though once a throw has started, it cannot be stopped.

- Due to the extreme concentration of their energy orbs, thrown ones explode on physical impact, so staying close to surfaces such as the floor or any walls will make avoiding ranged attacks more difficult.

Rending Apart

Cerberi are large enemies that have a good amount of health. Thus, Shotgun swapping and the Overheat Nailgun are very good ways of dealing consistent damage. Using the Whiplash can help get the player close enough to use these weapons. Headshots with the Piercer Revolver, charged shots from the Pump Charge Shotgun, projectile-boosted Shotgun shots, and the Electric Railcannon can do quick bursts of damage to a Cerberus in a pinch. Their large hitbox and relatively slow speed makes them a prime target for Railcoining, which has the potential to heavily damage or even instantly kill a Cerberus.

Cerberi suffer 150% extra damage against Rocket Launcher rockets, and 200% damage against S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher cannonballs on top of their already high single-target damage, making these weapons especially useful for demolishing them from a distance. The S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher alone is able to kill a Cerberi near instantly by simply shooting it with a cannonball, then pulling it back with the Whiplash before parrying, or simply jumping forward and parrying it back into the Cerberus. For Cerberi rising from pedestals, placing two frozen Freezeframe Rocket Launcher rockets in front of them is enough to kill one in an instant upon activation due to the rockets becoming charged.

The Cerberus is one of the best targets for the Screwdriver Railcannon, thanks to its endurance that allows it to survive more than one full blood fountain cycle, its slow speed, and its relatively safe approach to the fountain healing range (as compared to the Malicious Face's projectile barrages, for example). Groups of Cerberi enable the screwdriver drill to be juggled between them as well.

When engaging multiple Cerberi, it is important to keep in mind that the others will Enrage when one is killed, making them significantly more dangerous. A good way to avoid this is to spread out damage across the multiple Cerberi, making it easy to dispatch them one after the other without needing to deal with their Enraged state. A Cerberus is at half-health when cracks begin to form on its body. In addition, if a Cerberus is killed before another one awakens, or during their animation, the awakening Cerberus will not become enraged. The enraged state can also be used to your advantage, as enraged Cerberi can fall off of the map.

Despite the orb in their hands, Cerberi will never be ballin and thus can damage themselves by baiting the throw attack and standing near it, causing it to aim there and the explosion to hit them for chip damage. This does very little damage, but can be useful and is necessary to beat 0-5's challenge, which needs you to not deal any lethal damage to any enemies.

Patch History

Patch 16b (2025/03/01)	Reduced Cerberus' Radiance speed bonus on Brutal difficulty. Fixed Cerberi dashing off ledges even when not Enraged.
ULTRA_REVAMP Update (2025/02/24)	Updated Cerberus model and texture. Reduced Cerberus Radiance speed bonus from 1.5x to 1.35x.
Patch 15d (2024/05/13)	Fixed Cerberus gibs not being deleted when intended.
Patch 15c (2024/05/11)	Cerberi no longer fall on Brutal difficulty while tackling or between two tackles.
Patch 15b (2024/04/19)	Added a short delay and a blue flash before a Cerberus performs a second tackle on Brutal difficulty. Altered Cerberus hitboxes for less janky collision on the chest.
Full Arsenal Update (2024/04/15)	Reduced Cerberus orb damage from 35 to 20.
Patch 14d (2024/01/18)	Fixed Cerberus projectile sometimes dealing 20 damage instead of 35.
VIOLENT NIGHT Update (2023/12/20)	Fixed Cerberus being unable to walk towards player if the player is too high up.
Patch 13b (2023/04/28)	Fixed a bug where a Cerberus would start moving at 5x speed if sanded in the period before Enraging after another Cerberus dies.
ACT II Update (2022/08/16)	Cerberi now have a slight delay after spawning before they can attack, excluding ones that start as stage props. Cerberi will no longer attack unless they have a line of sight to their target. Cerberi will no longer be able to fall off ledges by attacking unless Enraged.
Saw Your Heart Update (2022/02/17)	Cerberi will no longer keep the Enraged particle effect when dying the moment they Enrage.
Patch 9b Lukewarmfix (2021/11/5)	Cerberus' player prediction now considers the environment and large enemies.
Patch 8b Lukewarmfix (2021/08/23)	Fixed Cerberus' explosive projectiles not colliding with the environment. Fixed a bug where a Cerberus' projectile throw would sometimes directly hit the Cerberus itself.
Patch 7: Hotfix (2021/06/25)	Fixed Cerberi losing their sandification visual when changing texture with Outline Only Enemy Silhouettes enabled.
Soul Survivor Update (2021/04/13)	Cerberi now change to a cracked texture when below half health. Fixed a bug where the shockwave from a Cerberus stomp would sometimes spawn above ground level.
Early Access Patch (2020/11/05)	Fixed bug where Cerberus statues would sometimes lose the attack speed multiplier from playing on Violent difficulty or when Enraged.
Early Access Patch (2020/10/13)	Changed Cerberus' collider to be a capsule instead of a box to decrease chances of them getting stuck on ledges. Cerberus will no longer get launched by Bounce Pads to increase their threat level in areas with Bounce Pads. Cerberus now costs 2 more points for each Cerberus already spawned in the Cyber Grind arena.

Trivia

• According to the Terminal, every Cerberus statue is, in fact, a live Cerberus that simply chooses not to awaken.

• Technically speaking, this would make Cerberi match the Filth as the first enemies seen, as a pair illuminate the Filth in the Intro.
  • If the boot-up sequence when the player starts a new save is taken into account, Cerberi appear earlier than the Filth, as one is featured as the subject when configuring the game's graphics.
• Dormant Cerberi are much more common than active ones, totaling around 112 dormant compared to 49 active.
• Most dormant Cerberi appear in the Prelude and Limbo layer.
• During Seasonal Events, every soon-to-be active Cerberus will have the respective celebration's cosmetic, while dormant Cerberi will not.
• The Terminal implies that their energy balls are incredibly hard maintain without concentrated focus and effort - it is possible that every dormant Cerberus can also be simply preoccupied with maintaining their glowing ball, and the non-dormant have had enough with V1 sliding around them.

• The only destructible dormant Cerberi are in the first Swordsmachine arena in [ 0-3: DOUBLE DOWN ] and the Malicious Face chase tunnel in [ 4-S: CLASH OF THE BRANDICOOT ].
• Certain ornamental Cerberi hold differently-colored orbs than normal to better suit the palette of their surroundings. All Cerberi in [ 1-4: CLAIR DE LUNE ], [ 7-1: GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS ], and some in [ 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT ] hold white orbs, while the two Cerberi flanking the main exit in [ 2-3: SHEER HEART ATTACK ] have blue orbs.
  • The orb of the Cerberus in [ 0-S: SOMETHING WICKED ] is completely unlit, revealing the stone orb underneath.
  • Some Cerberi in the Violence layer are colored white, matching the white stone of the layer.
• The second Cerberus that spawns in [ 0-5: CERBERUS ] has exactly 40 health, and the secret Cerberus in [ 1-2: THE BURNING WORLD ] has 30 health. Meanwhile, the pair of Cerberi that guard the Blood Orb in [ 7-1: GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS ] have 44 health each.
• Certain specific Cerberi have scale multipliers making them larger than common Cerbi spawns.
  • The two boss Cerberi in [ 0-5: CERBERUS ] have a 1.25x scale multiplier.
  • The two Cerberi associated with the Blood Orb in [ 7-1: GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS ] have a 2x scale multiplier.
• The pose of a dormant Cerberus is similar to Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker".
• Despite being visually different, Cerberus' name and role as guardians of the afterlife is a reference to the three-headed dog from Greek mythology and Dante's Inferno.
• In the game's files, Cerberus' mesh is called "Andre". The mesh is reused from a previous project of Hakita's called Untraceable, and Andre is so named because the statue held an apple, and "Andre's apple" sounds like "Untraceable".
  • Though the Andre model appears to have also been the basis for the earliest iterations of the Filth, they are just Toni Stigell's initial zombie model without textures applied.
• When asked, Hakita has stated that the reason Cerberi are able to "see" V1 is because its vibes are off. The same answer was given for Filth and Sisyphean Insurrectionists.
• Cerberus, being a singular character in Greek mythology, was rarely, if ever, referred to in a plural sense before ULTRAKILL's popularity. As such, there is some debate within the community as to what the correct plural form is. This confusion derives from the fact that, originally, a Greek creation by the name Kerberos was translated to Latin as Cerberus, and in Latin, nouns ending in "-us" are often pluralized by ending them with "i," leading to "Cerberi."
  • The plural form of the original Greek word "Kerberoi" would be translated into Latin as "Cerberi". This form is the one used here on the wiki, and ULTRAKILL's patch notes typically pluralize Cerberus as "Cerberi", though an instance of "Cerberuses" has also been observed.
  • Cerberus is also a genus of snake, which are broadly pluralized as just "Cerberus" due to the nature of biological taxonomy, possibly adding to the confusion.
• An in-game Cerberus won't be enraged if a Cerberus spawned in using the Spawner Arm is killed and vice versa. This is due to the Spawner Arm only spawning in "clones" of the enemies' game files instead of using the source file.
• Cerberus and Leviathan are the only enemies with levels directly named after them.
• The Cerberus can, in fact, ball.
• A room in P-2, where 4 Cerberi can be seen standing next to one-another, is nicknamed the "Weezer Room" due to their similarity in positioning to that of the band members in the album cover of "Weezer" 1994
• The Cerberi are similar to The Pillar Men from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, as they both appear as mere statues until they awaken and attack their respective protagonists.
• “IT COMES FREE WITH YOUR XBOX.”
• 🗿

Gallery

Old model

A mural of Cerberus as seen in the Greed layer.

Model viewer displaying the name "Andre" in reference to the 3D model of Cerberus.

Height difference between a common Cerberus and boss Cerberus.

Andre's Apple, close up.

The model that would become Cerberus, as seen in Untraceable.

Two large Cerberi with darker colors seen in [ 4-S: CLASH OF THE BRANDICOOT ].

A closer look at the darker colored Cerberus.

A large white Cerberus seen in [ 7-1: GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS ].

Ditto, compared to a Size 2 Cerberus.

Ditto, but compared to a Cerberus roughly the size of those in [ 0-5: CERBERUS ] and a normal one.

Cerberus not getting into the Enraged state triggered by the dead clone.

Cerberus' current design as seen on Hakita's YouTube.

Concept art by Francis Xie of the updated Cerberus model.