Malus (Original)

Last updated: X.15.1.0

Malus is the boss of the Cultist Hideout, a secret area in the Lost Halls. He uses fire attacks and is the leader of the 5 cultists that serve as the bosses.

Stats
Combat
Drops
Tips

Stats

First Form

HP: 80,000
DEF: 25
XP: 0
Location: Lost Halls (Cultist Hideout)

Immune to Stasis
Immune to Paralyze
Leeches health

Second Form

HP: 400,000
DEF: 35
XP: 8,000

Immune to Stasis
Immune to Stun
Immune to Paralyze
Leeches health

Combat

Attacks

Damage	Condition effects	Speed (tiles/sec)	Range (tiles)	Comments
150	Armor Broken for 4s	8	60	First Form only Pierces through players
100	Armor Broken for 4s	8	60	Second Form only Pierces through players
100	Unstable for 3s	12	60	Second Form only Pierces through players
100	Paralyzed for 0.8s	12	72	Second Form only Pierces through players
100	Slowed for 3s	10	60	Second Form only Pierces through players
100	Quiet for 5s	8	60	Second Form only Pierces through players
150	Armor Broken for 3.5s	8	45	Second Form only Pierces through players
185	Slowed for 3.5s	12	36	Second Form only Pierces through players
125	Paralyzed for 0.6s	15	45	Second Form only Boomerangs Pierces Players Pierces Armor FaceDir Amplitude: 2 Frequency: 2.5
170	Quiet for 3s	10	20	Second Form only Pierces through players
200	Unstable for 3s	3	15	Second Form only Pierces through players Amplitude: 1.5 Frequency: 2

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 small spreads 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 and disappear.

When Molek is dead, the cultists will repeat the above process. When they are damaged enough they will summon Balaam and disappear again.

Once Balaam is dead, the cultists repeat the above process until they are almost dead. Once all of them are at low health, 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.

Phase 2

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 one. When using an attack, he will turn the color of the respective cultist and fire a ring of respectively-colored Cultist Shots before firing the actual attack..

If he remains red, he will fire several wide spreads of Fire Shots at the nearest player.
If he turns blue, he will fire rapid, nonstop shotguns of Ice Shots at the nearest player.
If he turns yellow, he will fire spreads of Lightning Shots that curve and fly back to him.
If he turns grey, he will fire a fast spiral of Light Shots.
If he turns purple, he will fire radial bursts of wavy Dark Shots that move in a crisscrossing pattern.

Throughout the fight, assorted Cultist Followers will spawn from 4 symbols at the edges of the pentagram to assist him.

Cultist spawner

Once he has been sufficiently damaged, he will transition to Phase 3.

Phase 3

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 the different Cultist Shots. This phase lasts until death.

Drops

Tips and Strategies

Malus is a unique boss in the sense that his attacks steal life, giving him a huge healing rate. This makes it so that how long the fight drags out depends on whether your group can handle his healing rate. 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, priortize the minions that spawn periodically. The combination of Armor Break and Slow from the enemies 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.

Notes

Malus’s name, along with the other Cultist’s names, is taken from the game 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 - suppressed with the help of the other cultists.