Last updated: X.26.0.0

**Malus** is the boss of the [Cultist Hideout](/wiki/cultist-hideout), a sub-area in the [Lost Halls](/wiki/lost-halls). He uses circle-shaped fire attacks and is the leader of the 5 cultists that serve as the bosses. {{template-realm-eye-lore | response=Malus led the White Titan project of the Lost Halls. He was an accomplished researcher into the art of infusing manmade golems with living souls.
He felt strong disdain towards the limitations set by the holy paladins guiding the project, eventually violating the restriction against using unwilling souls for infusion.
This made his spirit impure and unfit to be present when the Marble Colossus was to be activated. His folly was responsible for giving the Void Entity an opportunity to strike. }}

Stats

First Form

HP: 45,000 (+20% [9,000 HP] per player in Dungeon) DEF: 25 XP: 0 Location: Cultist Hideout Immune to Stasis Immune to Paralyze Leeches health

Second Form

HP: 130,000 (+20% [26,000 HP] per player in Dungeon) DEF: 35 XP: 20,000 Immune to Stasis Immune to Stun Immune to Paralyze Leeches health Back to top

Combat

Attacks

Damage	Condition effects	Speed (tiles/sec)	Range (tiles)	Comments
100	{{template-armor-broken}} for 4s	8	40	{{template-piercing}}
150	{{template-unstable}} for 3s	10	40	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
120	{{template-paralyzed}} for 0.8s	8	40	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
135	{{template-slowed}} for 3s	10	40	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
130	{{template-quiet}} for 5s	10	40	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
150	{{template-armor-broken}} for 3.6s	6	45	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
185	{{template-slowed}} for 3.6s	12	36	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
135	{{template-paralyzed}} for 0.6s	15	45	Second Form only BoomerangFaces Direction Amplitude: 2 Frequency: 2.5
170	{{template-quiet}} for 3s	10	20	Second Form only {{template-piercing}}
200	{{template-unstable}} for 3s	3	15	Second Form only {{template-piercing}} Amplitude: 1.5 Frequency: 2

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Behavior

Malus is found in a large square room with a red pentagram painted in the middle. He stands on one corner of the pentagram, with his 4 other followers on the other corners. When the cultists are approached, they will provide some dialogue before attacking. ####Phase 1 Malus teleports around, firing circle-shaped bursts of red Cultist Shots at nearby players. When sufficiently damaged, he will teleport back to his corner of the pentagram and remain invincible and dormant until all the other cultists have been damaged enough. When this happens, the cultists will summon [Molek](/wiki/molek) and disappear. When Molek is dead, the cultists will repeat the above process, albeit now firing 3-round bursts of their shapes. When they are damaged enough they will summon [Balaam](/wiki/balaam) and disappear again. Once Balaam is dead, the cultists repeat the above process, albeit firing omnidirectional bursts of their shapes instead. Once all of them are at low health, Malus will move into the center of the pentagram and the other cultists will sacrifice themselves to give Malus their essence. Malus will then taunt **"The power...it's overwhelming! IT PULSES THROUGH ME!"** and transform into his second form, identifiable by its glowing eyes. ####Phase 2 (100% HP) Taunt: **"Rise, my friends! Strike them down!"** Malus' second form has significantly higher health and slightly higher defense than his normal form. He now has immunity to Stun, and retains his life-draining abilities. Malus can now use the other cultists' attacks in addition to his own. When an attack is finished, he will teleport to a random other location in the room before firing another random one. When using an attack, his eyes will turn the color of the respective cultist and he will also take their form. - If his eyes remain red (himself), he will fire several wide spreads of Armor Breaking Fire Shots at the nearest player. - If his eyes turn blue (Basaran), he will fire rapid, nonstop shotguns of Slowing Ice Shots at the nearest player. - If his eyes turn yellow (Gaius), he will fire spreads of Paralyzing Lightning Shots that curve and fly back to him. - If his eyes turn grey (Dirge), he will fire a fast spiral of Quieting Light Shots. The spiral will frequently change direction. - If his eyes turn purple (Argus), he will fire rings of wavy Unstable Shots that move in a crisscrossing pattern. Malus will always use his red/fire attack first, and will be invulnerable for the duration of his first attack. From this point onwards, random Cultist Followers will start spawning from 4 symbols at the edges of the pentagram to assist him. They will spawn in groups of four at fixed intervals. ![Cultist spawner](//i.imgur.com/O0TrS2B.png "Cultist spawner") ####Phase 3 (~50% HP) Taunt: **"Azamoth will protect me!"** Malus discards his elemental attacks and begins teleporting around, using variants of the other Cultists' shape attacks. Like before, his eyes and form will change to match the Cultist whose attacks he is drawing from. Every time he teleports, he will pick a random Cultist and fire several attacks using the respective Cultist's shapes. * For his own attack, he will fire four rings of seven red circles that inflict Armor Break * For Basaran's attack, he will fire four rings of eight blue triangles that inflict Slow. * For Argus' attack, he will fire four five-round spreads of purple crosses that inflict Unstable. * For Gaius' attack, he will rapidly fire six three-round spreads of yellow pentagons that inflict Paralyze. * For Dirge's attacks, he fires four 4-way bursts of Quieting grey squares in a cross pattern, rotating the burst 45 degrees each time to cover the cardinal/intermediate directions. ####Phase 4 (~10% HP) Taunt: **"Even if you are victorious, that...that THING still crawls in the halls! You make an irredeemable mistake by defeating the only people keeping it suppressed!"** Malus teleports to the center of the room, and fires fast rings of all of the different Cultists' "shapes" of shots (in order: red, purple, yellow, blue, grey). He will be invulnerable while firing, and will become vulnerable and stop shooting after firing his last ring. If he isn't killed fast enough, he will become invulnerable again and repeat the process. Once he dies, all Cultist Followers will stop spawning, although any left alive will still persist. Back to top ###Drops {{template-drop |purple= {{template-drop-row|first=true |item1={{template-item-link|page=mark-of-malus|name=Mark of Malus|externalIcon=//i.imgur.com/LT8LixL.png|guaranteed=SB}} }} |cyan= {{template-drop-row|first=true |item1={{template-item-link|page=vial-of-pure-darkness|name=Vial of Pure Darkness|externalIcon=https://i.imgur.com/j0RaAEh.png|guaranteed=1}} |item2={{template-item-link|page=helmet-rune|name=Helmet Rune|externalIcon=https://i.imgur.com/he4NSIZ.png}} }} |blue= {{template-drop-row|first=true |item1={{template-item-link|page=potion-of-life|name=Potion of Life|icon=Consumable/Stat Potions/Potion of Life.png}} |item2={{template-item-link|page=potion-of-mana|name=Potion of Mana|icon=Consumable/Stat Potions/Potion of Mana.png}} }} |red= {{template-drop-row|first=true |item1={{template-item-link|page=rings#tier-6|name=Tier 6 Ring|externalIcon=https://i.imgur.com/dfGpRit.gif}} }} |whiteSpan=2 |white= {{template-drop-row|first=true |item1={{template-item-link|page=staff-of-unholy-sacrifice|name=Staff of Unholy Sacrifice|externalIcon=//i.imgur.com/jsi1jrb.png}} |item2={{template-item-link|page=skull-of-corrupted-souls|name=Skull of Corrupted Souls|externalIcon=//i.imgur.com/wXEiGHE.png}} |item3={{template-item-link|page=ritual-robe|name=Ritual Robe|externalIcon=//i.imgur.com/ymPfzOk.png}} {{template-drop-row |item1={{template-item-link|page=bloodshed-ring|name=Bloodshed Ring|externalIcon=//i.imgur.com/1485mxJ.png}} }} }} }} Back to top

Tips and Strategies

Malus is similar to Lord Ruthven in the sense that his attacks steal life, giving him a significant healing rate. This makes it so that the fight has a potential to drag out depending on how often your group gets hit and how potent their DPS is. If in a small group, prioritize dodging so that he cannot heal off you. If in a large group, prioritize damage so you can steamroll him before he uses too many attacks. After Malus fuses with the other cultists, prioritize the minions that spawn periodically. The combination of status effects from the enemies, especially Armor Break and Slow, can be deadly. Only damage done to Malus after fusion will count towards soulbound damage. Also, do not stand on the small red symbols they spawn from as you can take heavy damage or possibly instantly die when a minion spawns. When soloing or doing Cult in a small group, a very useful strategy can be used. When the first wave of small cultists spawn from the dots, the player can drag them to a section of the Hideout, then run past or teleport away from them. This will prevent additional small cultists from spawning in the second phase of the fight and significantly reduces the difficulty. All small cultists will chase aggressively, except for Yellow which has to be dragged at a pace of 0 SPD and White, which can be ignored and left in the room as it is very difficult to drag far and can be ignored by standing on the side of Malus that it is not on. Back to top

Notes

Malus's name, along with the other Cultists' names, is taken from the game [Shadow of the Colossus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus), where it is the name of the final and most powerful Colossus. Malus in particular is also Latin for the word "bad", even though Malus keeps the ultimate evil - the [Void Entity](/wiki/void-entity) - suppressed with the help of the other cultists. However, it was later stated by [the Realm Eye](/wiki/the-realm-eye) that it was his fault that the Void Entity was even able to manifest in the Lost Halls in the first place. Back to top

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