Rage

Rage or Enraged is a mechanic in ULTRAKILL in which enemies can become faster and more aggressive when certain conditions are met.

Description

Rage is a buff that occurs on certain enemies and under certain conditions. It will usually make an enemy harder to deal with. Enraged enemies will be engulfed in a red glow and their body will usually turn red as well, and some Demons and Angels will acquire additional yellow color schemes. It is commonly seen in stronger enemy types and bosses.

The exact conditions to trigger rage, as well as what exactly rage does, changes on an enemy per enemy basis. In addition, some enemies will only become enraged on higher difficulties. Triggering rage will grant the +ENRAGED style bonus.

Enemies

Malicious Face

At Violent difficulty and above, the Malicious Face will become enraged when it reaches half health. In this state, the Malicious Face's beam attack will fire a second beam immediately after the first one. They also predict player movement better when enraged.

Swordsmachine

If any of the Swordsmachine's attacks are parried (other than its shotgun), the Swordsmachine will become enraged causing it to move and attack faster. In this state, the machine will only use its melee attacks, meaning that the player can easily avoid it by keeping in the air. When initially enraged, the Swordsmachine will become stunned for a few seconds, however parrying the Swordsmachine while it is enraged will extend the enraged duration without stunning it. The machine's rage will automatically deplete when it transitions from phase 1 to phase 2. An enraged Swordsmachine can also be baited into attacking off an edge onto either lower ground or a death pit.

Swordsmachines "Agony" and "Tundra" are incapable of enraging, though Agony behaves as though it were a permanently-enraged Swordsmachine.

Cerberus

When a Cerberus dies, all other active Cerberi will become enraged. When enraged, Cerberus will move and attack much faster than before but can fall off the ledges when performing a dash attack. Killing a Cerberus will not enrage dormant Cerberi or Cerberi in the middle of exiting their pedestals.

Hideous Mass

When a Hideous Mass reaches below a certain health threshold (35 HP or 20% max for the 1-3 boss, 20 HP or 33% max otherwise), it will become enraged. In this state, the Hideous Mass will flip on its back and begin firing its mortar attack at a consistent rate. Since it will always be facing the player in this state, shooting at its weak points is difficult from the ground but trivial with a height advantage. A Hideous Mass does not enrage immediately upon reaching its enrage threshold; instead, it will finish any attack it is currently performing before enraging, giving the player a window to kill the Unappealing Killograms before it enrages at all. On Violent and below, an enraged Hideous Mass can only use its mortars, while on Brutal, Hideous Mass can also use its Hook while enraged.

Mindflayer

At Violent difficulty and above, the Mindflayer will become enraged when its health reaches half. In this state, the Mindflayer attacks and teleports more frequently.

Virtue

Virtues will become unvirtuous (enraged) after they fire a set number of divine light attacks (5 on Standard, 3 on Violent). When enraged, the Virtue's attacks will attempt to predict player movement making it much harder to avoid their attacks. A Virtue cannot enrage while there are 3 or more active Virtues, or while blessed by an Idol on Standard difficulty, but it will still keep track of the number of attacks it performed; reducing the number of live Virtues or breaking the Idol after a Virtue has met its rage threshold will cause it to enrage upon the next attack it initiates.

Gutterman

At Brutal difficulty, the Gutterman will enrage when its shield breaks or when it is parried, similar behavior to the Swordsmachine. This allows it to become even faster and more precise with its tracking. Additionally, its melee attacks become temporarily unparriable.

Bosses

V2

V2 has two different triggers for its rage state. The first way is to constantly avoid V2 by keeping a certain minimum distance, which depletes its patience (indicated by the rising indicator gauge under its health bar); this is to discourage and punish passive, defensive approaches. The second way is to punch V2 with its stolen Knuckleblaster, though this will only trigger rage in its second encounter. When enraged, V2 will move and attack much faster while getting as close to the player as possible. In this rage state, V2 will neither throw nor attempt to shoot coins.

Gabriel, Judge of Hell

Upon defeating Gabriel's first phase, he will become enraged and enter phase 2. In this state he will teleport before the final hits of both his shortsword and greatsword combos, he is able to catch and rethrow his greatsword mid-flight, and his spear attack will thrust down an additional time before he throws it. At Violent difficulty and above, he also gains access to his Summoned Swords attack, which refreshes every other taunt.

Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl)

Upon reaching their third phase, the Knight & Owl become enraged, causing them and their projectiles to move faster.

Gabriel, Apostate of Hate

Gabriel is so horrifically pissed about his previous loss that he enrages immediately. He unenrages upon defeating his first phase, with his new taunts implying he is now enjoying fighting V1. Being enraged prevents Gabriel both from teleporting during his attacks and from manifesting light-construct swords to continue combos without canceling his sword throw projectile. At Violent difficulty, he will not have access to his Summoned Swords attack until he unenrages.

Big Johninator

Big Johninator can be enraged using the Alter Arm, as this is probably a leftover of V2’s AI. However, the effect won't last long and quickly dissipates.

Trivia

• Malicious Face, Mindflayer, Virtue and Gutterman are the only enemies with difficulty-specific rage states.
• Cerberus and Virtue are the only two enemies that have rage states dictated by other members of their species being present.
• Big Johninator is the only enemy who doesn't naturally enrage.
• Most Demons and all Angels have rage states while no Husk does.
• Per Andrei Mishchenko's concept art page for Gabriel, Rage is somewhat based on the Devil Trigger mechanic from the Devil May Cry series.^[1]
• Cerberi are the only enemies that make a separate noise upon being enraged.
• Hakita will become enraged when someone says V2 will return in Act III and every time someone mentions adding multiplayer, or sex.^[2]
  • Guess who's "back", "back" again

Gallery

• SFX played when an enemy is initially enraged.

• SFX loop played while an enemy is enraged.

• SFX played when an enemy's rage wears off.

References