Iron Maiden (Q4)

In Quake 4, an Iron Maiden is a female Strogg consisting of a female human-like upper body with no legs, instead having a dress-like series of energy ribbons that trail under them as they float through the air, unlike her Quake 2 counterpart. She can teleport short distances (which causes her to disappear for a few seconds before reappearing elsewhere in the room). Her agility allows her to avoid most projectiles, such as unguided Rockets. She is equipped with a Rocket Launcher mounted on her left arm, and a claw mounted on her right hand, and she can fire a short-range energy wave from her mouth that disorients any target hit by it. Iron Maidens are usually kept in special storage containers and released when a security breach occurs.

Iron Maidens are first encountered in Data Storage Security, and make regular appearances in the later levels, although they are generally fairly uncommon after they are first encountered (with only a few appearing per level after the first couple of levels in which they are seen).

Combat Characteristics
Iron Maidens float through the air while firing rockets at the player, with a brief pause between each rocket volley. They typically fire a series of 3 rockets in sequence, although they occasionally only fire a single rocket. Their rockets can be dodged at medium or long range, but have a decent-sized splash damage radius, which can be annoying when fighting them in very close quarters. She is a dangerous teammate killer due to her rockets.

At close range, they can scream and emit a short range supersonic energy wave from their mouth, which does modest damage and disorients your vision for a few seconds. At point-blank range they can slash with their claw, but they seem to prefer using their scream attack instead.

They're quite agile, and can abruptly strafe sideways several feet in mid-air to dodge rockets and other projectiles. They also can occasionally teleport to a different position in the room, which they often do immediately after being shot.

Like Gunners and Berserkers, Iron Maidens are mid-level Strogg units that are noticeably tougher than the basic cannon fodder Guards or Tactical Strogg, but not nearly as heavy as a Gladiator or Light Tank. On Normal difficulty it takes about 20-30 machine gun or hyperblaster shots, 3 point-blank shotgun blasts, or 3 rocket hits to kill one. Their increased agility, ability to dodge around, and ability to teleport make them somewhat more difficult to fight than Gunners or Berserkers, though.

Strategies

 * The Iron Maiden is quite a nuisance. Her rockets do a good amount of damage, even if you're caught in the splash damage. Your best bet is to keep on strafing. If you get too close for her rocket to be used, but not close enough for her to swipe you, she'll scream and emit a sonic blast that can make your screen twirl around if it hits you.


 * The Nailgun is your best bet against her. Lock onto her, then open fire. She can't avoid homing projectiles, so keep on firing until she teleports or dies. If you don't have a lot of nails, get close to her and shoot her with the Hyperblaster. This is a bit risky, as you can be slashed or hit with a sonic blast while you're doing so. If you're patient, you can use the Machine Gun. She can't dodge bullets, but it takes a while for it to kill one and you have to avoid all of her attacks until the combat is over. If you are brave enough, you can run up to her the second she appears and fill her with lead. Headshots should do nicely; if not, just blast her until she's on dead. The shotgun is useful at close range if you can dodge her attacks between shots. A shotgun blast at close range can sometimes stun her for a brief period. If there's more than two Iron Maidens don't sweat it. Kill one of them (the closest) and then pop out the nailgun and take down the other one after she teleports. You might have to dodge her rockets consistently to avoid being damage, especially in the later levels. Where health is not very scattered.


 * When first emerging from their storage pod, the Iron Maiden is briefly vulnerable to gunfire and won't shoot back, so a good time to blast them is just as they're coming out of their pod. It's possible to kill her before any damage is taken, but this requires a strong weapon and teammate assistance.


 * With other enemies, the Iron Maiden can be a real pest. Her rockets will constantly get in the way, and the supersonic energy she fires can completely disorient you for a few seconds, making you easy pickings for other enemies. Try to damage her enough so that she teleports, then focus on a stronger enemy while she's gone. When you hear her teleport back, focus on her some more until she's dead or teleports again. She should be the top of your "kill list" if you have teammates around, since she is quite a threat to friendly troops.
 * If the situation is dire, just fight fire with fire by using the Rocket Launcher. Keep in mind that even though she uses a rocket launcher too, Iron Maidens do not drop ammo.
 * Although it looks flimsy, the pink ribbon 'skirt' takes as much damage as the head or body - 2 or 3 shotgun blasts - and it's often easier to hit.

Trivia

 * The Iron Maiden is the only female Strogg unit encountered in Quake IV.
 * Similar to Repair Bots, the Iron Maiden has a large and completely exposed brain at the back of her head. This brain is quite large, indicating that Iron Maidens may not be "made" of human females.
 * In additional, according to early concept art, the Iron Maiden originally going to have legs like in Quake II, but this was scrap in the final product.
 * They're the only Strogg units with built-in teleportation systems. The teleport sound is identical to the teleporters in game.
 * The Iron Maiden has a distinctive breath sound, you can hear it before you see them. Interestingly, the same sound is first heard in the level of Recomposition Center right after Kane activated the device of the barrel process power.
 * The Iron Maiden is named after a very infamous medieval torture device, possibly due to the shape of the her container.
 * The Iron Maiden may also be named after the famous heavy metal band Iron Maiden.