Husk

Husk
Base statistics:
Bounty: £17 Health: 600 (+60) Damage: 15
Movement speeds:
Walking: 115 Swimming: 102

The Husk is one of the few specimens with a ranged attack. The others are the Siren, the Patriarch, and to a much lesser extent, the Bloat. It can make its first appearance on the second wave, regardless of game length. Its main attack is a projectile fireball, whose speed is similar to that of the L.A.W's rocket and inflicts fire-based damage with afterburn. Its melee attack, which it smacks the player with its gun, deals the same damage as the Gorefast's. They are characterised by their resemblance to the Fleshpound, their 75% resistance to fire, and their slightly burnt exterior.

There is a unofficial, whitelisted, Husks-only mutator called Hellfire. The Husks it spawns however, have modified stats to prevent Firebug impunity.

Contents 1 Biology 1.1 Appearance 1.1.1 Events 1.2 Behaviour 1.3 Historic data 2 Extermination 2.1 Charts 2.1.1 Total health 2.1.2 Head health 2.1.3 Bounty 3 Gallery 4 External links

Biology

Appearance

The Husk's skin is a reddish-brown color and appears slightly burnt. There are several metal protrusions on its body, including several spiked rings in their left arm and lower legs. It appears to be wearing a type of gas mask in place over their mouth, possibly to protect its lungs from dangerous gases contained in its fuel pack, nailed directly to its back, behind the right shoulder; the weapon, a prototype fireball launcher, has been mounted onto their right arm, replacing its hand and wrist. It also appears to be wearing a tattered pair of brown shorts held on by a belt around its waist; the rest of its clothing may have burnt off in the past.

Events

During the Twisted Christmas update, it was re-skinned as a snowman. This skin depicts a stereotypical snowman, albeit slightly melted, complete with stick arms and legs. Its right arm seems to be a stick that can throw flaming "snowballs".

For the Summer Sideshow update, it was re-skinned as "The Incredible Mechanical Man"; this skin depicts a shiny golden robot with the Husk's weapon on its right arm and it spoke in a robotic voice either making crude fire-puns, advertisements for fire, or a safety persuasion of no smoking during the show. For the Halloween Sideshow event, it was re-skinned as The Incredible Mechanical Man, albeit with a pumpkin design painted onto it and dubbed "The Husk-O-Lantern". When aiming for a headshot on The Incredible Mechanical Man, players were required to aim for the tank on its back, not the head of the robot, to accomadate for the unchanged hitboxes of the specimen.

Behaviour

The Husk attempts to fire upon a player on sight. At long distances, a fireball hitting a nearby wall, or the distinctive explosive sound of the fireball doing so, is often the first sign of its presence. Though many of its shots miss by several metres, the Husk is capable of accurately predicting the player's path and landing a good shot. Upon spawning, The Husk steadily walks towards the players between shots and, when within range, will attempt to hit them with its gun. The rest of the time, it will pause to aim before firing. Unlike other specimens, the Husk has high resistance to fire.

Historic data

While the Husk did not appear in the mod, it bears a resemblance to a specimen from the mod found in the source files that never made it into the retail version – a modified version of a Fleshpound that wielded a machine-gun on one arm, dubbed the Fleshpound Chain-gunner. The Chain-gunner had a similar setup of metal apparatus as the Husk, but used the same base mesh of the Fleshpound from the mod. The behaviour patterns and animations on it were incomplete; when readying its weapon, it would just snap into place and glide on its path towards its target, not stopping. Pushing the player along the ground much like the Fleshpound, as opposed to what you would expect of a ranged foe; to stop moving whilst firing.

Extermination

The Husk is of little or no threat to high-level Firebugs at range, thanks to their resistance to fire. The Firebug's primary weapon, the Flamethrower, is poorly suited to killing the Husk due to its own 75% resistance to fire; but doing so could earn you the achievement 'Flaming Hell, That Was Close'. Firebugs aren't totally immune to damage from Husks however, as their melee attacks can still cause them damage. However, Husks have no resistance to burn damage from the MAC-10. Three full ignites from the MAC-10 is enough to kill a Husk on 6-player Hell on Earth difficulty.

Husks have the ability to accurately lead their shots and hit moving players consistently. Shuffling in place by quickly strafing in opposite directions is often enough to confuse the Husk and cause most of his shots to miss by large.

The Husk's overall health is exactly double that of the Siren and similar tactics can be used to defeat it, but with different precautions; dodging the fireballs is viable strategy without distractions. The Husk is relatively difficult to decapitate with weaker weapons, but headshots are still a viable strategy for removal, especially for Sharpshooters. In addition, the Husk must stop to fire its weapon, at which point a player who isn't the target can blow them sky-high with a grenade or two. The Berserker excels at Husk removal, especially with the Katana.

Any tier 3 weapon can make short work of a Husk, especially the M14 EBR in the hands of a Sharpshooter aiming for the head. On earlier waves, a Support specialist with a Shotgun can eliminate the Husk within a few seconds at short range.

Charts

Total health

The base hit points of the Husk is 600; its total health on normal with one player, and for every additional player 60 hit points is added. This figure is then multiplied by 0.5 on beginner, 1 on normal, 1.35 on hard, 1.55 for suicidal, and 1.75 for hell on earth.

Players	Beginner	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
1	300	600	810	930	1050
2	330	660	891	1023	1155
3	360	720	972	1116	1260
4	390	780	1053	1209	1365
5	420	840	1134	1302	1470
6	450	900	1215	1395	1575

Head health

The base hit points of the Husk's head is 200; its total health on normal with one player, and for every additional player 10 hit points is added. This figure is then multiplied by 0.5 on beginner, 1 on normal, 1.35 on hard, 1.55 for suicidal, and 1.75 for hell on earth.

Players	Beginner	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
1	100	200	270	310	350
2	105	210	284	326	368
3	110	220	297	341	385
4	115	230	311	357	403
5	120	240	324	372	420
6	125	250	338	388	438

Bounty

Beginner	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
£34	£17	£14	£11

Gallery

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  The Christmas Husk.

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  A summer event menu image of the Husk.

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  The second summer event menu image of the Husk.

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External links

• Hellfire - Husks only - Tripwire Interactive Forums
• Fleshpound Chaingunner Mutator - Tripwire Interactive Forums

Characters

Humans Character packs (Original • Outbreak • Nightfall • Postmortem • London's Finest • Steampunk • Steampunk 2 • Urban Nightmare • Harold Lott • The Chickenator Pack • D.A.R. • Promotional) • Trader Specimens Clot • Crawler • Gorefast • Stalker • Bloat • Husk • Siren • Scrake • Fleshpound • Patriarch Related Extermination tactics (Scrake • Fleshpound • Patriarch) • Vocal responces (Squad • Trader • Patriarch)