The idea of a mimic is nothing new within the Lethal Company community. What I didn’t expect is how refreshing Lethal Company’s take on it. One of the few things that give employees comfort is the sight of a humanoid in an orange rubber suit. Imagine the fear that follows after finding out you are no longer looking at the familiar gas mask and only looking at the soulless eyes of a theater mask. That is the kind of threat the Masked pose in Lethal Company.
This guide will tell you what you need to know about the new mask item and the Masked entity that has been added in Version 45. I’ll tell you what happens when you pick up the mask and things you need to be aware of when confronted by something you may or not have known as a friend at one point.
What is a Mask in Lethal Company?
The Comedy/Dramatic Mask is a newly added white theater mask found on high-danger moons, Rend and Titan. If an employee presses the LMB (left mouse button) while holding the mask in their active hand, there is more than a 50% chance of the mask being possessed by the employee, turning them into the Masked.
Note: The mask has a cooldown period of 5 seconds per LMB press. Think of it as Russian roulette but with 4 bullets in the cylinder instead of the one. Those are not friendly odds by any measure.
It is perfectly “safe” to carry around a mask in your pocket. You can even bring it back to the ship to store as normal. As far as I know, the Masked enemy type has a chance of appearing on Rend and Titan exclusively. I don’t know the likelihood of masks appearing on starter moons and possessing unsuspecting employees. But I’d like to believe that there is a chance of masks being part of the basic loot pool.
Note: I haven’t tried putting the mask on while on Company grounds. I’m assuming that it loses the ability to possess a human body upon reaching the safe zone. I could be wrong, however, and employees could be spreading masks around like a virus before touching down on the landing pad.
When you return to the company, you can always sell the cursed item for a small amount of money. At that point, it is just another piece of junk that the Company is all too willing to pay for.
What are the Masked in Lethal Company?
The Masked is an entity that resulted in an unnatural bond between a mask and a host. It doesn’t matter if the employee in question was holding a Comedy mask or a Dramatic mask. As of version 45, nothing is distinct about one or the other apart from their appearance. Both masks function the same way.
There are two ways for a Masked to spawn on the map. They can enter the map by way of the vents, like most entities do. The other way is an employee’s willingness to tempt fate and allow the mask to attach themselves to their face.
Note: As of the writing of this article, the ship’s bestiary has no entry for the Masked. Additionally, if you scan them, the scan will come back empty. This is similar to the Ghost Girl as she also doesn’t register when scanned.
How to survive a Masked encounter
The Masked is a relentless entity that will chase down the first player that enters its line of sight. The possessed employee will slowly towards their target with random bursts of sprinting for that added tension.
From a distance, they will make footstep noises as if they are looking around for something. But it’s not junk that they are looking for, it is more victims to add to the hive mind.
If grabbed by one of the Masked, a short death animation will play out with the Masked spraying the employee in dark red liquid. Shortly after, the newly converted employee will receive a mask of their own and will proceed to look for more victims.
Important: I can’t stress enough how terrifying this new anomaly is. Previously, you could escape practically any indoor monster by running back outside of the facility. The Masked aren’t bound by this logic. They will chase all the way back to the ship if it means carrying out their twisted mission.
To survive an encounter with the Masked without the aid of equipment, you will need to get as much distance between the both of you as possible. There’s no stopping it once it has you marked. The best advice I can offer is for you to match when it is walking and sprinting a little longer than it does. Hopefully, it will lose interest in you and begin searching for someone else. Worst case scenario, you might have to leave the moon entirely.
Can you kill a Masked?
Yes, it is possible to kill a Masked. You can kite backward while hitting it with a melee weapon until it drops. It is a similar strategy to how you are supposed to handle a Thumper now that the rail strat has been nerfed to oblivion. It should be noted that the Nutcracker’s shotgun does not kill a Masked with one blast. It takes two shotgun shells at optimum range to put it down for good.
When a Masked dies, the victim’s arms will cross and its knees will slightly fold. They don’t go limp like regular employees do when they meet their end. On a final note, it is not possible to remove the mask from the corpse. The mask doesn’t appear to be an item anymore. It is only the entity that is the Masked that remains.
And that’s everything I have so far on the Masked in Version 45 of Lethal Company. Maybe one day they’ll be rebalanced the same way the Forest Keeper with their awareness lowered. But right now, their numbers are too few and encounters are as terrifying as one would imagine. We’ll wait and see how it pans out if it’s mentioned again in another update.
Why don’t you check out my other guides on entities you encounter in Lethal Company: