The Mauler is a Boomer class Locust that carries around a large metal shield and mace. The Mace tends to have some kind of sparking tip that causes an explosion when making heavy contact with a surface. The shield is impervious to nearly all damage and in some cases can reflect bullets back at the shooter. Some variations of the shield can be rotated to create a near 100% chance to cause ricochet as well as providing a deadly saw like motion. If an enemy gets caught in it, they will be instantly killed.
Appearance
As part of the Boomer Class, Maulers are the tallest of their kind standing at about 8' 3" to 8' 5". They wear armor over most of their body including a easily identifiable horned helmet and a large shield on their right arm. In their left hand they carry a metal flail. Most of the time, they are hudled behind their shield, slowly advancing toward an enemy position until they get close enough to attack.
Equipment
tend to wear a very large and tough horned helmet that covers their head. While the helmet itself is impervious to damage, it can be hit hard enough to be dislodged, revealing the Mauler's head in the process.
The Mauler wears more armor than any of the other Boomers and carries a rather heavy shield on their right arm. When not in use, the shield folds down slightly to a more compact form but when the Mauler is threatened, the shield opens up in all four directions to provide more coverage. Despite the heavy armor, there are Elite versions of the Mauler that are even better armored. In this case, most of the armor is metal plated and covers almost their entire body.
Combat Strategy
The Mauler will first walk slowly towards their enemies, slowly swinging their weapon around. If they are attacked, they'll quickly huddle up behind their shield and slow to a crawl. When they are walking like this, they are almost completely hidden behind their shield except for their leading foot which is partially exposed. If they are left unattacked for long enough, they'll come out from behind their shield to close the distance more quickly. Regardless, once they get within a certain distance of their enemy, they collapse their shield and sprint at their enemy with their weapon ready for attack.
If their attack lands, you can be almost assured that you will go down but not out with that first strike. Any successive strike by them or other Maulers will instantly kill you. The attack has a surprising range because the tip of their weapon has a small amount of explosive that is set off on contact. If they get close enough to attack, it is generally unlikely that any evasive moves aside from getting behind the Mauler will help you avoid damage.
There are several ways to defeat the Mauler depending on the state that he's in. At first, when he is lumbering towards you, a couple of powerful shots from various weapons would be effective. The Boomshot, Longshot, or Torque Bow tend to be good candidates. While your first hit is unlikely to kill them, if you are patient and wait for their shield to drop again then you should be able to follow up with one or two more shots that result in a kill.
When they huddle up behind their shield, the best way to combat them head on is to go for their leading foot. You can usually hit this spot just under their shield and it is best to use the Lancer Mk2 for this because it's the best combination of damage while allowing the precision necessary to hit the foot and not the shield. However, if you have good position then you can take advantage of the fact that the shield will always be leading the way.
The Mauler is incapable of strafing so if there is only one path leading to your position and you can get on the side of that path, you'll have plenty of time to shoot around the shield while the Mauler slowly creeps towards you. Otherwise, there is only one weapon capable of getting through his shield: The One-Shot. A well placed shot to the shield will go straight through and kill the Mauler instantly.
If all else fails and he gets too close then you need to just fire away into his chest as much as possible. The goal at this point is simply to kill him before he hits you. The only other alternative is to turn around and immediately run before he swings. At that point, you would start the process all over again.
