Heresiarch



The Heresiarch is a boss enemy from Hexen. Similar in appearance to D'Sparil from Heretic, the Heresiarch is incredibly difficult, having 5000 hit points, and even more difficult than Korax himself. He is found at the end of two hubs: Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary and Hub 4: Castle of Grief. In Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, there is one at the beginning of the Constable's Gate hub and another in Chantry, one of the maps in the Nave hub.

The Heresiarch is incredibly difficult for a reason. At all times, he has three cubes hovering over his head in a circular pattern. When the Heresiarch prepares to cast a spell, the cubes rotate faster. Even if the player were to hurt the Heresiarch, the spell does not stop.

The Heresiarch can cast spells that can do the following:


 * Cast a barrier that makes itself invincible and deflects projectiles.
 * Shoot a set of many fireballs in a waving pattern.
 * Summon two skulls that bounce along the floor and home in on the target.
 * When its health is low, it can summon Dark Bishops.

For players using Baratus (the Fighter), the Heresiarch can be hard to kill. However, players using Parias (the Cleric) can kill the Heresiarch easily with large numbers of gas clouds (using fléchettes). The gas clouds hurt the Heresiarch even when it has its barrier up. For players using Daedolon (the Mage), repeated pummeling with the Sapphire Wand, preferably from behind cover, is a slow but sure way to bring the Heresiarch down.

When the Heresiarch dies, the cubes that were circling around his head will fall to the floor and bounce several times and then explode. The explosion is very powerful and the blast radius for these cubes is much larger than is apparent from the sprites.

A sneakier tactic is to use the Wings of Wrath and Icon of the Defender to fly into the Heresiarch's cubes while he is alive. They will explode and render the Heresiarch defenseless as he depends on these to cast his spells.

A tactic for the Mage to use against the Heresiarch is to simply pummel him with Wand shots, preferably from a nook or other tucked-away position where the huge enemy's projectiles can't reach. This is quite easy in the boss battle for the Castle of Grief, where the player can hide in the side-rooms to the boss chamber and shoot. When playing the Fighter, the most effective strategy is to use an Icon of the Defender and slash the Heresiarch repeatedly with the Quietus whenever he does not have his shield up. A careful player should be able to use one batch of mana, but a Krater of Might can be drunk to refill the player's mana should that prove necessary.

Uses outside of Hexen

 * The Heresiarch is the final boss in Void by Mike "Cyb" Watson.
 * The Heresiarch also appears in the EarthBound Doom modification.