For more information about other enemies, see Enemies
The Hideous Mass is a Greater Demon first encountered as a boss at the end of the mission [ 1-3: HALLS OF SACRED REMAINS ], returning as another boss at the end of the mission [ 6-1: CRY FOR THE WEEPER ], and can be encountered as a rare enemy in select arenas in the Cyber Grind. They serve as giant forces that demand attention, slamming the arena with shockwaves and shooting out immobilizing harpoons.
Appearance[]
The overall shape of the Hideous Mass resembles that of a scorpion. In design, it is almost entirely made up of featureless meat covered in armor that protects it from attacks. There is some armor in the shape of a face, and what appears to be mouths on the ends of its arms. Along with this, it has a head on top of it that appears to be a lion's head, which is most easily seen in its laying form. It bears six long legs despite the fact it never moves from its starting location. It has a long, scorpion-like tail with four glowing-eyed faces that it can use to fire a harpoon, and it alternates between an upright and laying form. However, when lowered to a certain amount of health, the Hideous Mass will become Enraged and lie on its back, exposing its weak spots.
Combat[]
The Hideous Mass has two different formations it can take: upright, and laying. In its upright form, the Hideous Mass uses its arms to fire two mortar projectiles up into the air, where they arc down towards the player with slight tracking. These projectiles explode, dealing extreme damage. With careful timing, these projectiles can be parried back. This attack is usually done twice before a slam, unless the player is close to it upon spawning.
Upon performing its slam attack, a damaging shockwave will be sent out, quickly followed by a clap attack that sends out a vertical shockwave in the direction of the clap. At this point, the Hideous Mass now assumes its laying form, with its tail raised and the weak spot on its belly hidden. The clap attack is then followed by its tail shooting out a high-speed harpoon, dealing damage and latching onto the player upon contact, slowing them down significantly and preventing additional movement, such as dashes and slides. The harpoon can be parried back with tight timing, and it can also be broken by either looking down and punching the harpoon or damaging the tail enough.
Enraged[]
Hideous Mass will become Enraged once its health is below 33% for the regular enemy variant, or below 20% for the boss variant. While Enraged, it flips over onto its back and fires its mortar attack constantly, making it highly destructive and dangerous. This state will last until its death, making its destruction a high priority. Its weak points are exposed in this form, which are guarded by its armored, flailing arms deflecting shots heading towards them.
Difficulty Changes[]
- HARMLESS
- Hideous Masses attack much slower than usual.
- The range and duration of their vertical shockwave is greatly reduced.
- They will not use their harpoon attack.
- LENIENT
- Hideous Masses attack slower than usual.
- The range and duration of their vertical shockwave is greatly reduced.
- VIOLENT
- Hideous Masses attack faster than usual.
- Their mortar projectiles home in more accurately.
- BRUTAL
- Hideous Masses attack much faster than usual.
- Their mortar projectiles home in more accurately.
- Their harpoon has increased health when attached to the player.
- They can use their harpoon attack while Enraged.
- Their boss health is increased from 175 to 263.
- Overall they kill you
Terminal Data[]
For more information, see Terminal
TYPE: Greater Demon
DATA:
Hideous Masses are a rare occurrence, when an excessive amount of Hell Mass is poured into a single shell, causing it to overflow and burst at the seams.Due to the broken seams allowing for mobility without having to bend the exterior, the stone has hardened more than the shell of most demons, making it completely impervious to all currently known attacks.
STRATEGY:
- Although its stone exterior makes for an impenetrable defense, the Hideous Mass' belly and tail remain exposed and vulnerable.- While standing up, a quick burst of close range damage is the most effective way to hurt them, though this will most likely cause it to change formations, so being quick and decisive is the key.
- When in its low formation, keeping a safe distance is recommended due to its melee capabilities and high speed tail harpoon, though the brave or suicidal may attempt to climb on its back to continue dealing close range damage to the tail.
- When caught by the harpoon, it's recommendable to either punch the harpoon or damage the tail to remove it.
Rending Apart[]
The Hideous Mass begins with a Mortar attack in its upright form, which is an opportunity to Shotgun swap or use an Overheat Nailgun heatsink on the belly. In the case of the latter, following it up with an Electric Railcannon can help finish it off thanks to the conductor damage. The tail can also be targeted during mortar attacks as the Hideous Mass stops re-orienting to face the player, and the tail can be more convenient to hit than the belly due to it being the larger weak spot and not having legs get in the way.
After two Mortar attacks, the Hideous Mass goes into laying form and begins slamming. While in this form, the tail is held high and exposed, allowing the player to easily attack it from any distance, particularly with projectile-boosted Shotgun shots, Revolvers, and Rocket Launchers. Pump Charge Shotgun overpumps are capable of taking half a regular Hideous Mass' health, which is easily done on the tail. The Whiplash can be used on the tail for getting into range for the overpump explosion. Using the S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher's cannonball and shooting it with the Electric Railcannon after it rebounds will deal 54 damage to it if everything hits its weakpoints.
While in its upright form, it's also possible to lay an Attractor Nailgun magnet on their belly and fire sawblades from the Alternate Nailgun, causing said sawblades to go around and hit their tail once it begins firing mortars. If done right, this can kill Hideous Masses extremely quickly and easily, though at the cost of the limited saw supply. The JumpStart Nailgun can also be particularly devastating when combined with sawblades around a magnet, as the sawblades will speed up the cable's charge upon contact with the Mass' belly and deal massive damage if done correctly.
It is possible to kill non-boss Hideous Masses by Coin Adding, which is when a Railcoin is extended by throwing more coins during the Electric Railcannon's hitstop. Three coins are needed to kill its normal form, but less will deal large amounts of damage to it.
With proper timing, parrying the harpoon back into its tail can remove half of its health, and stun it for a few seconds, allowing the player to quickly deal some more damage to it before it has a chance to let out another attack. Although the timing is very tight, similar to the Sisyphean Insurrectionist's boulder, dashing right before parrying the harpoon along with good aerial positioning can help land consistent parries.
Patch History[]
| Patch 15b (2024/04/19) |
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|---|---|
| Full Arsenal Update (2024/04/15) |
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| Patch 14d (2024/01/18) |
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| Patch 14c (2024/01/17) |
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| VIOLENT NIGHT Update (2023/12/20) |
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| Wait of the World Update (2023/03/17) |
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| ACT II Update (2022/08/16) |
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| Patch 8b Lukewarmfix (2021/08/23) |
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| Patch 7: Hotfix (2021/06/25) |
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| GREED Update (2021/06/24) |
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| Soul Survivor Update (2021/04/13) |
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| YEAR.END.UPDATE (2020/12/19) |
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| Early Access Patch (2020/10/13) |
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Trivia[]
- The Prelude Demo version of [ 1-1: HEART OF THE SUNRISE ] teases a Hideous Mass boss encounter after the final room, in an extra arena similar to the one it is found in at the end of [ 1-3: HALLS OF SACRED REMAINS ]. It is unable to be fought, as the level ends once it fully emerges from the ground. This encounter was never meant to be a part of the final game, existing specifically to end the Prelude Demo on a cliffhanger.[1]
- A glitch discovered allows it to be seen, shown here. However, it has no AI, can't die, and won't do anything except stare at V1, as seen here.
- The design of the faces on the armor is likely a nod to the designs of Angels from the Bayonetta series, namely Fortitudo[2].
- It is possible to be skewered with multiple harpoons at once while fighting more than one Hideous Mass, though the movement debuff does not stack.
- Removing one harpoon is enough to completely remove the movement debuff, though the other harpoon will still remain lodged inside.
- The Hideous Mass cannot move in any direction, and thus is not affected by gravity.
- Similarly, a frozen Hideous Mass will be virtually impossible to distinguish from a non-frozen Hideous Mass, since they are not affected by gravity and have the exact same AI.
- The mouths on the ends of its arms look very similar to the doors in the Gluttony layer.
- Unlike most projectiles, the Hideous Mass' harpoon attack cannot be redirected to hit another enemy when parried, instead returning to hit the tail regardless of the direction the harpoon is punched from.
- The carvings on the fronts of its arms are of Adam and God as depicted in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.
- In the Cyber Grind, if Hideous Mass is the last enemy left in a wave, the wave will not finish until after its death animation finishes.
- The Hideous Mass cannot change into its Enraged state while performing an attack; this gives a small window of time to deplete its remaining health and skip the Enraged phase altogether.
- The Hideous Mass' backside faces also have their eyes light up when Enraged. This does not include the bear head, however.
- Despite making a shower of blood when dying, it doesn't heal until it explodes.
- The Hideous Mass' body somewhat resembles that of a manticore.
- The Hideous Mass can take damage from the gaps in its armor. However, any attack that hits this way will deal much less damage than if a weak point was hit.
- Its knees, despite appearing fleshy, still act as armor.
- The Hideous Mass can act strangely when set to max Radiance.
- When set to max Radiance, getting killed by the harpoon attack will cause the Hideous Mass to stop attacking. It will still face towards the player as they move, however. Triggering this requires the player to be positioned far enough away from the Hideous Mass in order for the harpoon to land before the vertical shockwave does. If the player is too close to the Hideous Mass, this won't work.
- Attacking the Hideous Mass in this state will cause it to start attacking again.
- Oddly, all variations of the Alternate Revolver can hit the Hideous Mass through its armor in various specific points, most notably at its face when facing it directly.
- On further inspection, the Hideous Mass' armor actually deflects the bullet and gets hit.
Gallery[]
![Hideous mass in [ 1-1: HEART OF THE SUNRISE ] prior to early access.](/wiki/File:Hideous_mass_in_demo.png "Hideous mass in demo.png (937 KB)")
References[]
