Ambush

"You died to who you call Ambush... It is a tricky one. Use what you have learned from Rush!"
-Guiding Light

Ambush is a supporting hostile entity in DOORS, appearing in the Hotel.

Appearance

Ambush's appearance is a pale, shocked face with a large, gaping mouth filled with a row of teeth on all sides, and a set of large black eyes with bags under them. It is slightly pixelated and emits an immense greenish-red or magenta-green aura, depending on how high the player's graphics are. However, this can be considered that Ambush takes the appearance of a ghost.

Behavior

Ambush has a small chance to replace Rush when spawning in, with said chance getting higher the further the player progresses throughout the Hotel, usually spawning past The Library. Unlike Rush, however, Ambush will not flicker the lights, making players rely on sound to hear it.

Ambush plays a high-pitched, distorted sound before it speeds into the room, shattering lights along its path. However, it will backtrack through past rooms to catch any unsuspecting players who are not hiding. This cycle of going back and forth can vary from 2 to 6 times. Ambush is also significantly faster than Rush. Unlike Rush, the next door will not be opened, likely due to balancing purposes (so as to not spawn other entities by opening the door).

Notes

• Contrary to popular belief, Ambush's spawning isn't limited to later doors (mostly after Door 50), as Ambush can rarely spawn as early as Door 2 (formerly Door 5), with its spawn chance increasing the further the player progresses.^[1]
  • In the majority of successful runs, it is almost guaranteed that Ambush will spawn at least once. However, it is possible to complete the game without encountering Ambush, but Halt would be guaranteed to spawn in that run.
    • It is also possible, albeit rare, for both Ambush and Halt to spawn in the same run. This was experienced by ItsFunneh during a livestream.
  • Although Ambush will usually spawn once in each run, it can sometimes spawn up to two or even three times. This video (language warning) shows an example of Ambush spawning twice, as well as this video showing Ambush spawning three times.
• Ambush's hitbox operates off ray-casting, meaning that aside from closets and beds, players can hide anywhere that is outside of Ambush's line of sight, (i.e., There is a straight path between Ambush and the player with no obstructions) such as basements, air ducts, blocked stairwells, sub rooms in locked rooms, and behind objects. This is called entity dodging. Using entity dodging to your advantage is recommended for beginners as Ambush is quite difficult to beat.
  • This strategy can be applied to Rush as well, although Rush's ray-casting is much smaller than Ambush's.
  • Because of Ambush's ray-casting, it is recommended for players to not hide in closets/beds that are facing the previous room.
  • It is also not recommended to watch Ambush approach when it is rooms away before hiding.
  • The origin or center of Ambush's ray-casting is possibly a bit higher than Rush's. This can be checked because Rush won't be able to kill you through fallen bookshelves and some beds, but Ambush can.
• Ambush will not attack in the following rooms:
  • The Reception,
  • Seek's Crescendos,
  • Seek's Chases,
  • The Library,
  • The Courtyard, (although, if Ambush spawns on a door before The Courtyard and the door to it is opened, it can pass through The Courtyard)
  • Dark Rooms,
  • Halt's Corridor,
  • The Electrical Room (Room 99 and Room 100),
  • Any room lacking a hiding spot.
• Ambush will not rebound when encountering a blocked or locked door obstructing the exit door, it will just phase through it, unlike Rush.
• If a player dies while Ambush is still rebounding, the game will display text reading: "Wait until it is safe" on top of the Revive button until it despawns.
  • This also happens during the Seek chase, in Halt's corridor, and for any other approaching entities.
  • The 30-second timer only begins once the revive can be used.
• When Ambush is close to the player's room, the lighting will very slightly dim to signal its arrival. The same goes for Rush.
• Ambush will also shake the screen slightly as it prepares to ambush the player.
• Post the Hotel+ Update, the lights will no longer flicker before Ambush's arrival, leaving players (for the most part) only able to easily identify Ambush's spawning by its sound cues.

Strategy

Because Ambush will likely return multiple times,^[2] if players linger in their hiding spot, Hide is likely to kick the player out of the space, which may result in death. This is made harder due to the fact that Ambush most often spawns after Room 50, where the time a player can hide is much shorter. To counter this, the player should get in a hiding spot when Ambush is approaching and leave it when Ambush retreats, and then return to the spot as it approaches again, repeating this process whenever they hear Ambush returning.

• Alternatively, the player can hide in a basement, a room with a blocked stairwell, or generally behind any objects that block the line of sight between Ambush and the player.
• It is not recommended to hide from Ambush under a bed (and to instead opt for a closet), as the exiting and entering animations are slower than the closet animations.
• A unique ambient sound is played when a door is opened and Ambush is spawned. The player will then have around 3 to 4 seconds before Ambush begins to attack them.
• If the player has made it far into the run, it is recommended to open each door and run in the general direction of a closet/safe spot. This will ensure that, if Ambush spawns, they will not die looking for a closet.
• As an alternative to all the items listed above, the player could use a crucifix against Ambush, preventing it from attacking.
  • This is extremely helpful, as Ambush is a difficult entity to survive. However, if the player is experienced at surviving Ambush whilst playing solo (or they have teammates who are experienced in multiplayer) it's best for the players to not use a crucifix with that motive, as it may be put to better use in The Greenhouse against Rush (if it catches the player off guard).
    • When doing the above in a solo run, the player should consider trying to hide while holding the crucifix. If the player is caught while doing this, the crucifix will automatically be used, protecting the player. However, if the player successfully avoids Ambush while doing this, the crucifix will be kept and could be used for later.
      • Note that there is a small period lasting a few frames where the player is forced to put away the crucifix, but can still be killed when entering and exiting the hiding spot. Therefore, it is better to hide early than late.

Trivia

• Ambush was originally going to be classified as a "Mobble" entity, and an alternate version of Jack. This could be the new bed-entity.
• Ambush is the fastest entity in the game, followed by Rush (excluding joke entities).
• Ambush is the only entity with multiple attack sounds (in which the pitch is always randomly generated, equaling infinite tones).
• Ambush's scream comes from this audio.
• Ambush's scream is in the form of a Shepard's tone.
• If the player has a weak internet connection, Ambush's glow (magenta-green or red) will be stuck somewhere in the room.
• There were reports of a bug where, if the player dies to Ambush, its jumpscare sound will loop infinitely.
  • This was due to EchoSoundEffects being applied to Ambush's jumpscare even after the sound stopped.
• The image file for Ambush is called “scarywormface”, referencing its 2nd original design.
• Rarely, Ambush may spawn after the lights have flickered slightly. It is unknown if this is a bug or not.
• Ambush's jumpscare appears for players that try to exploit the game. That version of Ambush is called Anticheat Ambush.
  • It serves as an anti-cheat entity when attempting to exploit.
  • Prior to the Hotel+ update, A unique Guiding Light message would be shown, reading that Ambush has killed them infinite times, along with "bruh" repeated multiple times. After the Hotel+ Update, the message will display as if Ambush have killed the player regularly. It also takes away 100 revives from the player because they tried to exploit.
  • Now, it just plays the normal death message.
• Ambush is named after the event that it "ambushes" the player.^[3]
• It is possible that a UGC item may be based off of Ambush. ^[4]
• Should Ambush bleed, it can be killed, although it is unknown if it can bleed. ^[5]
• Ambush's design was created by Ghostly Wowzers combining facial features that make images scary, with what resembles a front-facing Jack, and was edited.^[6][7]
• Ambush's design wasn't difficult to draw, being mostly drawn in under a day.^[8]
• Ambush's magenta-green glow appears if a players graphics are set under 3.^{[citation needed]}
  • The red aura of Ambush is only seen if the players graphics are nearly maxed.
• Prior to the addition of The Greenhouse in the Hotel+ Update, Ambush could spawn in doors 90-98. In fact, it was very likely for it to spawn there.
• Prior to the Hotel+ Update, Ambush's sequence would begin immediately when the next room's door is opened. As of now, there is a significant delay before it spawns. The same applies to Rush.
• When the Hotel+ Update was first released a bug occurred where Ambush would spawn in the upcoming room instead of the previous room. It would then proceed to rebound in reverse, however this was fixed shortly after release.
  • This is very similar to the entity A-120 within The Rooms, although with A-120's case it is not a bug and that is how it is intended to act.
• After the Hotel+ Update, Ambush usually spawns between Doors 79-89 after players complete Seek's 2nd chase, if it even spawns.
• In a tweet by LSPLASH, it is said that Ambush tastes like "green".^[9]
• Ambush can rarely spawn while the player is in the Large Basement. The player will be safe if they are in the basement and therefore not within the line of sight of the entity.