Gutterman

For more information about other enemies, see Enemies

Guttermen are Greater Machines first encountered as a miniboss at the start of the mission [ 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT ]. They are tanky, slow-moving menaces wielding miniguns that rapidly fire hitscan bullets, alongside big shields that block all damage when hit.

Appearance

Guttermen are bulky humanoid machines. Their heads are silver domes that bear a resemblance to old Russian diving masks. Their waists are covered with some kind of black metal, with their belly and parts of their limbs seeming to be made of a flexible dark gray material while the rest of their form is adorned in brown plating. Red lines, markings and lights detail their bodies. Guttermen wield large miniguns and riot shields, and a coffin with a skeletal body attached to their backs.

Combat

Guttermen will slowly move towards the player while firing their miniguns. The minigun fires a concentrated spray of hitscan bullets that, while inaccurate at first, gradually gains better tracking the longer they are allowed to fire away at the player with maintained line of sight. Their bullets are also capable of detonating explosives upon hit, making it inadvisable to shoot explosives at them while getting shredded by their gunfire due to the explosives likely detonating in the player's face.

The shields attached to their left arms are completely impervious to all attacks, blocking all damage when shot. However, with a hit anywhere on them, their shields can be broken with a Knuckleblaster punch/blast, the Alternate Shotgun's primary fire, a punched landmine, or a dying Mindflayer if one is present. Breaking the shield will stun the Gutterman temporarily, and heal the player up to full just like a Parry. Shattering their only means of defense increases any damage inflicted on them, while also prompting them to track the player faster due to their freed-up hand.

If the player wanders too close to a Gutterman, it will attempt to repel them by bashing them with its left arm, halting their firing for a brief moment. If their shield has been destroyed, this will do slightly less damage and can also be parried. Parrying this attack will reset their tracking.

Upon death, it flops on its front and creates a small non-damaging shockwave, launching nearby enemies and the player in the air. Most enemies and bosses standing in front of the falling Gutterman will be instantly killed, similarly to a falling Malicious Face corpse. The Gutterman's corpse doesn't disappear and can be grappled onto with the Whiplash. Stomping the Gutterman's lifeless body with a ground slam will cause its body to violently explode, triggering a red explosion that damages surrounding enemies and launches the player into the air without harm.

Enraged

On Brutal difficulty or higher, Guttermen will become temporarily Enraged when their shield is broken, or when their bare melee punch is parried. While Enraged, the Gutterman's melee punch will become unparryable for the entire duration of their Rage. They will also attack more frequently, and their tracking improves faster when maintaining line of sight.

Difficulty Changes

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

• LENIENT
  • Guttermen move and attack slower than usual.

• VIOLENT
  • Guttermen move and attack faster than usual.

• BRUTAL
  • Guttermen move and attack much faster than usual.
  • They Enrage when breaking their shield or parrying them, temporarily making them attack faster and making their melee unparryable.
  • Their boss health is increased from 30 to 45.

Terminal Data

For more information, see Terminal

TYPE: Greater Machine

DATA:
Built in the early days of the Final War, the Guttermen were one of the first successful experiments in using blood as a fuel source, as well as the first automatons to be deployed in wide-scale conflict.

During the War's first phase, an era of trench warfare, these seemingly unstoppable walls were airdropped into enemy trenches, which they would then slowly and systematically clear out as all opposing soldiers would have to choose between being minced by the Gutterman, or running out of the trench and getting mowed down by machine gun fire.

Researchers had not yet found a way to keep blood inside the machine fresh, so a live fuel source was strapped inside, kept alive by minimal life support, before the Guttermen were welded shut. Although publically these fuel sources were claimed to be volunteer patriots, most were deserters, battle-fatigued returnees or prisoners of war.

Forces from far beyond took notice of the cruelty man was capable of, and the suffering of these human blood supplies served as an inspiration for the creation of Mannequins.

STRATEGY:
- The shield is a Gutterman's main defense. Destroying it with the Knuckleblaster will cause them to take increased damage.

- Although slow at first, their tracking will improve the longer they maintain line of sight. It's best not to stay out in the open for too long.

- Once the shield has been broken, the Gutterman's punches can be parried, which resets their tracking.

- A Gutterman's corpse can be ground slammed to cause a large explosion that damages surrounding enemies and launches the attacker high in the air.

Rending Apart

The Gutterman's shield can be destroyed by one hit of the Knuckleblaster, the Alternate Shotgun, or with a parried landmine, taking away their guard and fully refueling the player just like a parry. After that, its melee punch will become parryable and will reset its minigun tracking speed each time it's parried. In intense combat situations, the Knuckleblaster's shockwave can also be used to destroy the shield in a pinch.

The Gutterman can be instakilled by breaking its shield and then either railcoining it or slabcoining it.

After the Gutterman is dead, its corpse can be ground slammed to cause a massive red explosion that will launch the player in the air. The explosion will not damage the player, but it can do significant harm to any enemies within its blast radius. In the Cyber Grind, it's corpse will instead instantly detonate upon hitting the floor, similar to how the corpse of a Malicious Face will instantly break. However, this does not stop the falling corpse to crush any enemies in its path before exploding.

The shield is not as airtight as it initially seems, as the S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher and Screwdriver Railcannon can both entirely bypass it. Furthermore, there is a small area right in the middle of the four square slabs where shots from the Revolvers or Electric Railcannon can damage the Gutterman while still deflecting back off. Using the Railcannon's piercing Hitstop, this shot can be deflected off of a Marksman Revolver coin right back into the shield. With precise positioning and timing, this can be chained several times for a near-instakill.

Be careful when shooting projectiles at or near a Gutterman, as their minigun can cause explosive projectiles to detonate, doing nothing to the intended target at best and blowing up in the player's face at worst. This also makes them capable of shooting down Rocket Launcher rockets currently being ridden, essentially sniping the player out of the air.

Patch History

Trivia

• Guttermen were teased in a rather unusual way when compared to other enemies.
  • They were first witnessed in the last few frames of this teaser, where their shields and arm cannons could be seen coming out of the fallen payload shells.
    • Concept art for their shields was later shown in the 7-2 OST preview.
      • Their full design and their names were revealed in this post at the end of the unofficial Ultratober event of 2023, hosted by Paula Caulfield (@GlowDarkness) and space cadet (@spaccadt) on Twitter.
        • Finally, a proper teaser was posted on November 18th 2023, almost 2 months after their first sighting.
  • Many people believed the Gutterman was on treads during their first teaser because it didn't have any animations at that time.^[1]
• Guttermen are one of the few enemies which do not ragdoll, explode, or gib when killed, instead falling over and making a loud thud.
• The Guttertank's punch can one shot a Gutterman, although the former will likely get [+PANCAKED] by their corpse posthumously.
• The Gutterman is the only enemy that can be parried with the Knuckleblaster, as breaking the shield with it counts as a parry.
• It is assumed the Guttermen were made in Russia, as the abbreviation on their right shoulder "ЧТ-01"^[2] uses letters from the Cyrillic alphabet, and is short for "ЧЕЛОВЕК-ТАНК 01" (MAN-TANK 01).
• Its enemy design may be inspired by the infamous Heavy Weapon Dude from DOOM II: Hell on Earth.
  • Its design may also be inspired by the also infamous Big Daddy from the BioShock Series.
• When killed, the coffin on the back of the Gutterman can be broken open with a majority of weapons that deal large damage or create explosions, including the Knuckleblaster, the Electric Railcannon, the Malicious Railcannon, the Alternate Shotgun, or any explosion.
• Guttermen, Malicious Faces, V2, the Flesh Prison's eyeballs, Big Johninator, and Sentries are currently the only enemies in the game to use hitscan attacks.
• During Seasonal Events, both the Gutterman and the corpse inside its coffin can be found wearing the seasonal hats.
• Guttermen display various unique behaviors not typically seen in normal play.
  • Guttermen will actually stop firing after a long period of time. After a brief cooldown, they continue firing as normal. This is presumably to allow the weapon's barrels to cool.
  • Gutterman bullets ricoshotting off coins can sometimes backfire and hit the player instead. These backfired coins will deal the same damage as the minigun.
  • Guttermen take fall damage, although this behavior is only observed with use of the Spawner Arm, as Guttermen are naturally immune to knockback.
  • Trying to get another parry out of a Gutterman by standing too close to it after parrying its fist attack will make it keep firing until it reaches full accuracy, after which it will then attempt its fist attack again.
• Guttermen might be capable of vocalization due to the groan-like sound they make when dying, although this could simply be the metal joints of the Gutterman groaning due to sudden strain.
• Gutterman shields can be broken even when protected by an Idol.
• Guttermen can be [+CATAPULTED], as shown in this video. This makes them the heaviest enemy that can give the [+CATAPULTED] Style Bonus.
• The death noise is a modified version of a death noise from the anime Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still.^[3]
• If a Malicious Face dies on top of a Gutterman corpse, it will float in place on top of the dead Gutterman, similarly to falling on top of an empty skull pedestal.
• Interestingly, when returning back to the Train Station in [ 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT ], there is a single Gutterman without the coffin on its back. The coffin can be found in the Courtyard building next to the hole in the ceiling.
  • The coffin can be broken open, revealing a body with a crushed skull, and a book that was presumably by a Gutterman thanking the person who once fueled it.
    • While only a theory, it is heavily implied that the Gutterman without the coffin was the Gutterman who had destroyed its own "mother".
    • The Prime Terminal at the end of [ P-2: WAIT OF THE WORLD ] implies that the Terminals gaining not only sentience but also even the capacity for emotion has something to do with them being fueled by blood, which by extension suggests that the same can happen to other blood-fueled machines (explaining the personality and capacity for a grudge shown by V2, the Mindflayers' seemingly pointless fixation on their bodies, the fact that machines can become Enraged, the messages from V1 in the game over screen, etc). Going by this, the poem suggests that the Gutterman became self-aware due to its blood fuel, came to view and care about its human fuel source as its own mother, and eventually decided to put her out of her misery and abandon its coffin once it no longer needed her to live.
• In [ 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT ], leaving the room with the boss version of the Gutterman after breaking its shield (without killing said Gutterman) results in the Gutterman having its arm positioned as if it is still holding the shield.
  • However the arm goes back to its actual position after the Gutterman uses its fist swing.
• The Gutterman possesses a number of glass openings on the top of its head, which appear to glow yellow similarly to its eye-slit when enraged. It is entirely possible that these openings could be used for complete 360-degrees of vision of its surroundings.
• Although it is never mentioned, the Gutterman's midsection is cloth, although why exactly this is the case is unknown. It could be possible that the Gutterman's interior is structured similarly to a human's, having a mechanical "spine", since the Gutterman is suprisingly articulate in its movement, although this is purely speculation.
• One crucial weakness of the Gutterman, is the complete lack of any means of gripping to the floor. This could be a weakness, as the floors of trenches could be wet and muddy and thus slippery. While it is clear that the Gutterman would mostly rely on sheer weight to keep itself standing upright, if the Gutterman does fall over, whether it be forwards or backwards, it may not have a way to right itself.

Gallery

Official render, by Victoria Holland.

Render from behind, by Victoria Holland.

Gutterman's high-poly model.

Earlier Gutterman design iterations.

Early concept art for the Gutterman.

Gutterman concept art, drawn by Andrei Mishchenko.

Alternate colors.

More alternate colors.

Gutterman, drawn by Hakita for day 31 of ULTRATOBER.

The thumbnail of the Gutterman teaser video — "ULTRAKILL 80 - Gutterman".

Close up of the body in the Gutterman's coffin.

Ditto, but with the Santa hat added to enemies around Christmas time.

Possible alternate design iterations.

Ditto.

Enraged version of the Gutterman.

The previously mentioned Gutterman without a coffin.

The previously mentioned Gutterman without a shield but with his arm in wrong position.

References

Enemies

Husks Filth Stray Schism Soldier TCoKM(?) Stalker Insurrectionist Ferryman Machines Swordsmachine Drone Streetcleaner V2 Mindflayer V2 (2nd) Sentry Gutterman Guttertank 1000-THR Defence System Earthmover Demons Malicious Face Cerberus Hideous Mass Idol Leviathan Mannequin Minotaur Angels Gabriel, Judge of Hell Virtue Gabriel, Apostate of Hate Prime Souls Minos Prime Sisyphus Prime Other Something Wicked Cancerous Rodent Very Cancerous Rodent MDK&O(?) Big Johninator Puppet Flesh Prison Flesh Panopticon