Mindflayers are Greater Machines introduced in the mission [ 2-3: SHEER HEART ATTACK ]. They are formidable foes, and high-priority targets in the Cyber Grind.
Appearance[]
Mindflayers are floating, humanoid machines with teal, feminine bodies and robotic heads. The machine itself is integrated into the head and upper body, having a blocky "head" with two shoulder segments and a pair of rectangular protrusions that jut from its back. Lines along the metal glow with teal light, and five tentacle-like cables extend from different points, ending in glowing stingers that leave behind trails of teal light.
The rest of a Mindflayer's body is shaped like a human's, made up of teal plastic. The chest and abdomen take upon feminine contours, while the lower arms and legs are augmented with metallic parts. The entire body gives off a faint teal-colored aura.
Combat[]
Mindflayers levitate in the air, circling the player and frequently teleporting around the arena to attack the player. They remain stationary while using their ranged attacks. They make high-pitched vocalizations as they prepare attacks and take damage, and give off an anguished shriek as they die.
Due to their strange physiology, Mindflayers have unique weakpoint locations. In addition to their arms and legs, attacking a Mindflayer's tentacles and their shoulder segments will result in a limbshot. Attacking the middle-upper portion of the Mindflayer's main body (including the two protrusions on its back) will result in a headshot. An illustration is provided to show these locations.
A map of a Mindflayer's weakpoints. Yellow is for limbshots, red is for headshots.
Upon death, a Mindflayer curls in on itself, shakes, and shrieks before exploding. This damages both the player and enemies.
Attacks[]
Mindflayers have three primary attacks that are performed in random order, and will explode upon death.
- Summons a spread of five teal homing projectiles, telegraphed by a low-pitched charging sound and the Mindflayer breathing in and clapping its arms together. While these projectiles start slow, they slowly accelerate until they either hit the player, the ground, or until despawning. These projectiles can be parried or deflected by explosions such as the Knuckleblaster's shockwave. A well timed explosion can instantly kill the Mindflayer (Except on Brutal difficulty) by deflecting the volley back at it.
- Charges a laser beam attack that sweeps across the air toward the player. It is telegraphed by a high-pitched charging sound, a blue flash, and a thin, teal line that indicates where the laser will start. This is a good attack to guide enemies into as it will damage large groups and kill most fodder enemies.
- Lunges forward and performs a parryable melee attack with its arms and tentacles, telegraphed by a short charging sound and a yellow flash beforehand. The Mindflayer will teleport above the player in close range to perform this attack. It will also attack if the player moves too close to the Mindflayer. Parrying does not interrupt this attack, requiring dashing to dodge it after parrying.
- Upon death, it curls up in place and shrieks before it explodes, dealing massive damage to both V1 and any other enemies caught within the blast radius. Blood can be attained from the dying Mindflayer, making it a risky, yet lucrative opportunity to heal and guide enemies into the explosion. This explosion can be blocked by Soldiers.
Enraged[]
On Violent and Brutal difficulty, Mindflayers will become enraged after losing half their health. While enraged, Mindflayers will begin glowing red and yellow. They attack more frequently and teleport erratically. When using their melee attack, they will always teleport before swinging as to avoid being parried.
The Cyber Grind[]
In the Cyber Grind, Mindflayers are dangerous enemies that should be dispatched as soon as possible. Fortunately, there is a limit to their spawning: the number of Mindflayers that spawn in a wave determines the number of subsequent waves guaranteed to not have Mindflayers. For example, if two Mindflayers spawn in one wave, the next two waves will not have them.
Terminal Data[]
For more information, see Terminal.
TYPE: GREATER MACHINE
DATA:
Rare but extremely dangerous, the Mindflayer is a machine that has adapted and mastered the use of Hell Energy alongside its own technological prowess.The machine itself is only the top part of its apparent body, the rest of which is a plastic shell in the form of a human, which they seem to have built themselves.
The plastic body serves no function and is only for aesthetic purposes.
Despite it being a waste of resources, Mindflayers will use everything in its power to protect the plastic body from harm, even if that means destroying itself in the process.
Mindflayers seem to prefer a female form, though very rare occasions of male forms have also been recorded.
STRATEGY:
- When encountering a Mindflayer, it's imperative to keep track of their actions either through visuals or audio.- Due to their homing projectiles being fired in a burst, a safe explosive such as a Knuckleblaster blastwave is the most efficient in deflecting them.
- Their instant teleportation can make consistent positional advantage quite difficult, but a Screwdriver drill will temporarily stop them from teleporting.
Rending Apart[]
A Mindflayer using its laser attack, along with an eye looking suspiciously at it
Mindflayers are powerful enemies with deadly attacks and a large health pool, exceeding the health of a Hideous Mass if all hits land on weak points. They are especially dangerous in the Cyber Grind, where multiple Mindflayers can end a run by chaining attacks and blocking movement thanks to their Heavyweight status. Most weapons work against the Mindflayer, though it is important to note that getting too close will cause the Mindflayer to retaliate with a parriable melee attack, making using the Shotgun and Nailgun risky if it is not attacking. While Mindflayers demand your attention, tabs must be kept on other enemies as well, lest they land easy hits on you while you're distracted. If you let a Mindflayer leave your sight, remain aware of their positioning and attacks through sound cues.
They have a unique hard weakness to the Screwdriver Railcannon, wherein its drill will temporarily prevent them from teleporting as well as acting as a healing source for the drill's duration. If they are low to the ground while drilled, point-blank Shotgun Swapping can be used to quickly shred their health. They can also be Railcoined and/or Slabcoined, dealing massive amounts of damage or even killing them outright.
The Revolver and the Electric Railcannon are reliable ways to deal damage to Mindflayers at range, and magnets from the Attractor Nailgun can also turn nails and rockets into effective long-range options. The Alternate Piercer's charge shot can consistently deal decent amounts of damage. Ricoshotting with Coins can increase damage output and make hitting the Mindflayer easier, having the potential to instantly kill it if four coins are splitshot.
One must be careful when a Mindflayer dies, as it explodes on death, which deals a whopping 50 damage to V1 if it does not dash. It also deals 5 damage to any other enemies caught in the blast, which instantly kills most fodder enemies and heavily damages tankier enemies. Note that the dying Mindflayer still can be attacked for Blood, which is useful as it makes enemies crowd under it before the explosion while healing you. When a Mindflayer prepares to self-destruct, it can be launched with the Knuckleblaster, and can also be reeled towards with the Whiplash, which is useful for killing crowds of enemies or simply getting the explosion out of the player's way. Punching a Mindflayer with the Knuckleblaster will reset its death timer.
With very precise timing, a Mindflayer can be instantly killed. The exact moment that a Mindflayer uses its projectile attack, an explosive attack such as the Knuckleblaster's blast, the Core Eject grenade, the Pump Charge Shotgun's overcharge, a Projectile Boost, the Malicious Railcannon, the Rocket Launcher, or the S.R.S. Cannonball's explosion can reflect all five projectiles into the Mindflayer. This deals friendly fire damage and kills the Mindflayer instantly. It is worth noting that Mindflayers also always use the orb attack first upon spawning. The laser they fire is unique in that it does not qualify as a hitscan projectile, meaning it cannot be Chargebacked with the Marksman Revolver.
Trivia[]
- Mindflayers are intended to be ULTRAKILL's equivalent to conventional succubus characters, being sexualized feminine caricatures introduced in the Lust layer.[1]
- Prior to the Wait of the World Update, Mindflayers could sometimes be tricked into teleporting into the Cyber Grind's red kill plane, killing them and yielding the [+ZAPPED] style bonus. This trivialized Mindflayer spawns once Rocket Surfing made the kill plane more exploitable, leading to its removal.
- If the Mindflayer is picked up by the spawner arm's move tool and released, its floating ability behaves strangely. The Mindflayer will constantly move in one direction, and sometimes not even face the player. If it hits a surface, it turns to go around it like some kind of rigid-body. The sweeping beam attack is also affected by this, sometimes only ever stopping randomly.
- For reasons not yet known, this doesn't work with the Invincible Enemies cheat.
- The internal name for the Mindflayer is "milf", as seen here. This is unique to the mindflayer and the reason is currently not known.
- The reason is very much known, we all know why it is.
Gallery[]
