For Mutants featured in RAGE 2, see RAGE 2/Mutants.
Mutants (also referred to as "freaks"), are hostile creatures encountered in RAGE and RAGE 2. They are humans who have been infected and mutated by experimental Authority nanotrites. Most are failed experiments created by the Authority in an attempt at creating a kind of mutant Super-Soldier. It is unknown if the common mutants were deliberately released by the Authority or if they fled and later began reproducing on their own, but in any case, the Authority evades taking responsibility for their creation: officials state that the Mutants were created by the radiation of Feltrite left over by the Impact of Apophis, but these are in fact lies, Feltrite isn't radioactive, and most mutants bear in-built defense mechanisms that make intelligent design the most likely origin for them.
While standard mutants are fairly weak, they usually attack in large groups, and their remarkable agility makes them a tough foe to foe to pin down. Mutants can be found in various locations throughout the Wasteland, such as in ruins like the Dead City, sewers, the Mutant Bash arena, and with The Scorchers add-on installed, the Hagar Caves, Bash Canyon, and Wellspring Tunnels. Most mutants carry clubs, shanks and daggers, while the Authority-controlled variants are able to carry and use advanced pulse weapons.
Variants[]
Club Mutant[]
This is the standard type of mutant. They show up less often than the Dagger Throwers, but are still found frequently throughout the Wasteland.
They stand slightly smaller than a human, and have three types of melee weapons: a metal rod, a parking meter rod, and a folded license plate attached to a rod. In terms of damage and range, they are all identical. They can very rarely be seen throwing daggers, despite wielding club weapons. This is evident when one encounters them in a vehicle.
An easy way to kill mutants early on is to find a chokepoint, e.g. a doorway or narrow corridor, and shoot them once in the stomach with the Settler Pistol. This will cause them to stumble towards the player, which leaves them open for a melee attack. This is a good way to conserve ammo early in the game, especially during the Wasteland Sewer Missions DLC.
Dagger Thrower[]
The most common type of mutant the player will encounter. Alone they're not dangerous, but in groups they can be deadly. They can become quite an annoyance later on in the game.
As their name suggests, they attack by first throwing a dagger at the protagonist and then quickly pick a new dagger out of their pockets and charge him with the dual wielded daggers.
They seem to share the moving pattern with the Authority Mutants in that they tend to run, crouch, stop, and then hop at the player to attack.
Scoop Mutant[]
These tougher mutants are made all the more dangerous by their ability to wield ranged weapons.
Their weapon seems to be a heat resistant bowl shaped glove with an unknown fire substance inside, which the mutant will throw towards the protagonist over great distances in a straight line. The substance explodes on direct impact if contacted with a living being, or a delayed explosion when thrown on anything else.
Their weapon is very similar to that of Jackal Clan crossbowmen except they throw it instead of launching it from the Striker Crossbow.
Dyno-Mutant[]
Armed with explosives like dynamite these mutants are walking bombs. They'll always charge at the player, sacrificing themselves to wreak explosive havoc. A good way to take them down while battling grunts is with Wingsticks. They actually carry two explosives so when they detonate/die, there will be two explosions.
Slime Mutant[]
Bigger than a grunt, smaller than a Kraken, Slime Mutants are green and covered with pustules. They use melee attacks as well as spitting out acid / noxious substance towards the protagonist. Unlike the other mutants in the Wasteland, it can be looted and drops Mutant Adrenal Gland. Note that a close-range shotgun blast will not kill them on the first shot, but will explode the pustules. They will be stunned, then yell, then swing. If one has time, this looping animation can be exploited to get free attacks on the slimers.
Their melee attacks seem to have a small range and thus can be easily avoided. Their charge attack causes massive damage and so does their acid / noxious range attacks. Their close range normal attack is weak. If the player is low on ammunition, they can try and melee them with the Fists of Rage. The player will take damage, but sparing the ammo may be well worth it.
Armored Mutant[]
Only seen in RAGE: The Scorchers, Armored Mutants live in the sewer tunnels beneath Wellspring and behave similarly to Club Mutants, but have thick, rock-like skin that acts like body armor and makes them highly resistant to standard bullets. Armor-piercing rounds are effective against them. They make a distinct high-pitched howling sound and are extremely aggressive, and are seen attacking and killing regular mutants. In fact, regular mutants will flee the area when they hear the howls of Armored Mutants approaching. However, Armored Mutants will fight alongside Slime Mutants.
Authority Mutant[]
They have an integrated arm pulse gun that fires rounds similar to the shotguns' Pulse Shot, and are armored. Their tactics include firing three round bursts from their arm gun and leaping and slashing like a grunt mutant. Their armor makes them extremely difficult to kill, taking up to three direct shotgun blasts, or two shotgun pulse rounds, and they can easily overwhelm the protagonist. Note that one Wingstick will also kill the Authority Mutant, if it strikes the head. Since they donĀ“t drop any loot, using Pop Rockets to instantly kill them with a direct or close indirect hit helps saving armor piercing rounds for the Authority Soldiers to get their loot.
They have similar AI to the Dagger Throwers in that they love to run, crouch, stop, and then hop at the protagonist to perform a melee attack in addition to firing at him with the pulse shot. Like the Authority Pulse Cannon, these mutants are encountered nearly in the end of the game, so one should use this weapon against them for a fast kill.
Unlike all the other mutants, the Authority Mutants are part of the Authority forces and are totally under their control. They are never seen away from Authority forces so it is unclear whether or not they will attack bandits and regular mutants but it can be assumed they will.
Kraken Mutant[]
A large mutant that has grown a slime-covered tentacle to replace one of its arms. It also wears armor made from scrap metal. A Kraken has a large amount of health, and the only weapon that can kill it quickly is the Rocket Launcher.
However, if the player doesn't have a Rocket Launcher, another way to kill it is to keep firing at it while staying out of range. They won't be able to hit with their tentacle, but the player should watch out for their charge. If the player finds time to set up a RC Bomb Car, the explosion will deal great damage to the mutant. Any weapon with armor piercing ammo will also do the job, as long as the player focuses on the head. Pop Rockets for the Combat Shotgun work well too and can cause it to stumble. If the Anarchy Edition is installed, the Double Barrel Shotgun is an effective weapon against the Kraken by first getting close enough to maximize damage from the weapon as well as triggering the Kraken's tentacle attack, then shooting it as it is preparing to swing the tentacle - the combined damage of the shotgun pellets will cause it to stumble and cancel the tentacle attack, leaving time for the weapon to be reloaded and used against other nearby enemies, before repeating the cycle once the Kraken regains its posture.
Large Mutant[]
Large Mutants use some form of makeshift grenade launcher and are usually accompanied by a horde of smaller mutants. Their weapon's projectiles fire in an arc and explode on impact.
Killing these mutants is a challenge, especially when first met. Damage can be avoided by remaining constantly on the move. If the player has enough money, the Killburst ammo will come in handy. Once most of the grunt mutants have been dealt with, the player can shoot the creature in the head with Killbursts. If accurate, 7ā10 rounds should be enough to kill it, and the quick fire of the Killbursts ensures each shots hits the same spot. Sniper Rounds work great as well and about eight rounds to the head will kill it.
If the player doesn't have many of either of those rounds, Fat Mammas or even Fatboys will do, but the player will have to get close to kill it, and that will increase the risk of death. When the player is confident, charging the mutant with Combat Shotgun, or the Double Barrel Shotgun if the player has the Anarchy or Campaign Edition of the game, will work nicely: shooting it multiple times can frequently stagger it, allowing the player to line up more shots.
Since they often have other mutants accompanying them placing Sentry Turret(s) or Sentry Bot(s) will help cut down on the other mutants giving the player time to attack the mutant. It's advised to place the Sentry Turrets away from each other since the mutant's attack will destroy them in one hit.
Giant Mutant[]
A single enormous mutant, four and a half stories tall, is encountered in the game as an area boss shortly after arriving at the Hospital in the Dead City.
Its attacks start by throwing large chunks of debris at the protagonist's position. While it is doing this, its exposed heart area will indicate the player to fire at its heart in the abdomen with the Rocket Launcher (the machine the Rocket Launcher is found leaning against, after fixed duration, "builds" and supplies four more rounds of HE Rockets ammo). When it comes in for its melee attack, after it stumbles from a successful shot to the stomach target, it will utilize some sort of targeting laser that will act as an early warning system to the player. They can dodge these melee attacks by running from side to side on the platform until a plate on its head glows exposing its brain, which the player must successfully hit with a rocket. This entire procedure will have to be done three times until the beast is defeated which will cause it to stumble about and fall next to the protagonist's position.
Note that hitting the beast's heart isn't easy. The player must fire a split-second prior to the target being exposed, manually estimating where and exactly when it appears. Not doing so will cause the rocket to explode into the monster's side as it reaches for more debris to toss at the protagonist. If it stumbles backwards clutching its guts, the player should be prepared for the incoming melee attack and exposed "brain shot".
This mutant appears to be the same that appears in After the Impact, but much bigger. This one had been created by Antonin Kvasir, who named him "Precious". This one obeyed Kvasir, killing Colonel James Casey and several Authority troops, making possible the escape of Kvasir and Doctor Cadence. It makes sense to assume he-she stayed nearby his ''birthplace'' all his life.
Eventually, the Authority scientifics continued Kvasir's research, managing to create cyborg controlled versions of this mutant, named Crushers or ''Titans''.
Notes[]
- Unlike normal human enemies, with the exception of slime mutants and the giant mutant, mutants disintegrate a few seconds after they are killed, unless their bodies are shot many times after they are killed.
- Despite the fact they bleed red, they disintegrate and rapidly decompose into a pool of green blood.
- There are four basic character models for the standard mutants (Club, Dagger, Scoop, Dyno). Scoop Mutants always use the same model, and Dyno-Mutants also use one model, although a different one. The Club and Dagger mutants will randomly cycle between the four mutant models, even the Scoop and Dyno models but will use their respective weapons (clubs and daggers).
- On harder difficulty levels, the Club and Dagger mutants use more unpredictable maneuvers instead of running straight at the player. This in turn makes it harder to hit them while they do more damage.
- On harder difficulty levels, the Large and Kraken mutants have a lot more health and do more damage but otherwise act the same.
- Mutants are the product of Authority experiementation. The Authority possess technology from prior to the impact of Apophis -- similar to the technology in Raines' blood. Mutant disintegration is an engineered effect caused by the Authority nanotrites in their blood.
- Mutants and their behavior in the upcoming RAGE 2 are merely speculative topics at this time.
- Some mutants have greater intelligence and cybernetic abilities because of Authority nanotrites inside their body.