Mancubus (Doom 3)

The Mancubus is one of the few Doom 3 monsters that remain faithful to their original designs. It is greenish-grey in colour, rather than brown like the classic Doom version. Like the original version, the Mancubus is a very large, fat demon with a fireball launcher for each arm, but unlike the original, it does not fire the two launchers simultaneously, firing each in turn instead. The Mancubus stands about 2 heads taller than a normal human, and its bulk is about 2 to 3 times as wide.

Compared to the Classic Doom Mancubus, this one is more elephant seal-like or Cthulhu-like since the Making of Doom 3 book states the latter. Their strange head was explained by the game designers. The centre tentacle is a breathing tube, consisting of tiny holes along its sides (which are visible if viewed closely). Both side tentacles were actually supposed to be tusks, making them even more like elephants. Due to a graphical and model design glitch they were reduced to feeding tools, and are stated to be used like the mouth of an octopus. It is unknown whether they have a beak inside their mouth or not.

The main differences between the Doom 3 Mancubus and the Doom II Mancubus is the skin color, the face, and the feet. In Doom II, the Mancubus had a mouth, leather-imitating colored skin, and elephant-like feet. In Doom 3, the Mancubus has a small "trunk" instead of a face, pale skin, and their feet look like fanned out pieces of flesh.

Mancubi are quite rare, and only appear in 2 levels in Doom 3. They first appear in a sort of "mini-boss" fight against 3 Mancubi in Recycling Sector 2 (possibly mirroring the Mancubus' introduction in Doom II's seventh level), and several are also encountered throughout Hell. They also appear in Resurrection of Evil, although again they are mostly confined to Hell.

Combat characteristics
The Doom 3 Mancubus has extremely high offensive capabilities. Though it can only fire one cannon at a time unlike its classic counterpart, it more than makes up for this by being able to fire a steady barrage of powerful fireballs from each cannon, unlike the classic version, which can only fire three volleys from both cannons at once. It is also tougher than the classic version, taking 2 to 3 magazines of Machine Gun fire, a full magazine of Chaingun or Plasma Gun fire, or as many as six direct rocket hits to kill, making it the toughest (but also one of the slowest) non-boss creature in the game.

Furthermore, unlike the classic Mancubus, the Doom 3 version has a melee attack: both of its cannons can be used as hammers, which while attacking almost spontaneously, it is possible to use its long "recharge" time to actually kill the Mancubus with any melee weapon (chainsaw being the best bet). However, melee combat is not advisable as the Mancubus' crushing melee smash is one of the most powerful enemy melee attacks in the game, second only to the Cyberdemon's stomp.

Tactical analysis
Mancubi are real powerhouses, with extremely high health and a powerful ranged attack with a reasonably high rate of fire. Players are fully justified in using their most high-powered weaponry to bring one down. The weapons that are effective against the Mancubus are the Chaingun, the Rocket launcher, Plasma Gun, and the BFG. Grenades also work well due to the lumbering speed of these behemoths. Headshots are effective and quite easy to score on a Mancubus, since they are a slow moving and very large target. A Mancubus can be killed with about 4 rocket launcher headshots. If the Soul Cube or Artifact is available, by all means use it.

Trivia

 * If the Mancubus model is examined more closely (e.g. using the noclip cheat or a model viewer) it is possible to see hooks with suckers where the trunk begins, suggesting the trunks are actually feeding tools; when the Mancubus shakes its head, they flap around. This could indicate that the design of the Mancubus was inspired by Cthulhu, like much of Quake. The tentacles can also be seen in the beast's introduction FMV. The designer said that the Mancubus is not only inspired by Cthulhu but also of a shock site image of a man who took off his lower jaw from a gun shot.


 * Some of the original Mancubus grunts from Doom II are used for this version as well.


 * If the noclip cheat is used to get up close, nipples can be seen on the Mancubus.


 * The Vagary's transparent abdomen contains a malformed Mancubus fetus, leading to speculation that the Vagary is the "mother" of the Mancubi species (this could be technically incorrect).


 * These monsters are usually accompanied by Cherubs in the original and in the expansion. This has lead to some believing they are the offspring of Mancubi. This is highly unlikely, since they look and act completely differently (just like the example above of a Vagary gestating a malformed Mancubus fetus), though it still may be possible.