The Fanatic

"Madness can take many forms, but none so contemptible as man's belief in a mythology of his own making. A world view buttressed by dogmatic desperation invariably leads to single-minded fanaticism, and a need to do terrible things in the name of righteousness. This man is an animal - rabid, destructive, and incapable of nuanced understanding. He. must. be. put. down. Loading_fanatic.wav"

- The Narrator

A towering and domineering force of seething, zealous rage and terrible intent, the Fanatic is a monk who has gone rogue from the Church to hunt down and slaughter anyone and anything affected by the Crimson Curse anywhere it can be found. His heavily scarred face reveals a storied past of brutal and consequential encounters with the mutated inhabitants of the Courtyard, from which he has spilled unimaginable amounts of heathen blood. At his disposal are several iconic weapons and tools for slaying vampires; stakes, garlic, crosses and prayers. However, his most dangerous weapon is his unwavering conviction in the righteousness of his cause and the zealous fervor with which he pursues it, even if it means putting himself directly in harm's way. At times, the line between fervor and the wish for self-destruction can become precariously blurred.

To him, anyone or anything he merely even suspects to be tainted by the Crimson Curse must be cleansed in flames. Over the years, countless scores of innocent men and women have been burned at the stake without trial or a single ounce of pity or mercy by this madman in his single-minded pursuit to eradicate the Crimson Curse from the land. He will not rest until the last vampire has been hunted down and heaped upon the pyre or until the last breath has been drawn from his body.

While some may say or view him as misunderstood, overzealous, or even a fallen hero, this does not alter the fact that he has deemed himself to be judge, jury and executioner and that, given the chance, he would gladly incinerate the Hamlet and all who reside there in order to "save" their souls or worse, unintentionally awaken the horror below from the slaughter of the adventurers who had the unfortunate incident to become afflicted by the disease. He is a menace that must be put down like the rabid dog he has become.

Behavior
The Fanatic is a boss added in The Crimson Court DLC. He is a wandering boss, like The Collector and Shambler, and will hunt down your heroes, should they wander into a dungeon bearing the Crimson Curse. He will not appear in the game until a town event occurs announcing his arrival. Once he has appeared, he will randomly spawn somewhere inside a dungeon whenever you bring a party with members afflicted by the Crimson Curse in it.

If the game decides that the Fanatic is to appear during an expedition, a special loading screen with his face will show when the Dungeon is loading. This is your primary warning that he is lurking somewhere within.

The Fanatic will not spawn in boss quests due to their loading screen having priority over his. This makes bringing any amount of cursed heroes to these quests safe.

In particular, if you have 2 or 3 heroes infected, the chance of him appearing is 20% and 33% at medium and high infestation, respectively. If all four of your heroes are infected, there is a 75% chance at both medium and high infestation.

Upon entering battle, the Fanatic will always surprise the party. If you decide to run away from the Fanatic, he will appear in the next encounter, fulfilling his promise to hunt "the Cursed" down. He will spawn in the two back ranks with his stake and pyre in the front two rows.

During the first turn of the battle, he will perform "Sentence Rendered" on one of your heroes. This places them on the stake where they cannot do anything and take constant HP damage — every time any character takes a turn. The Fanatic has three turns per round.

While a character is burning at the stake, he will attack with 3 actions every round. His attacks move him forward and cause debuffs, bleed, stuns, and horror, and he has bonus damage against cursed and marked heroes, while his buffs move him backwards away from the front line.

Similarly to the Hag, a hero currently burning at the stake will not retreat with the rest of the party if the party retreats from combat, but will instead count as having died. In addition, if this hero had any trinkets on them when you retreated from combat, those trinkets will be lost.

Unlike the Hag's cauldron, the Fanatic's pyre does not restore its durability after a hero gets released from it. If the pyre is destroyed, the Fanatic will use Fury of the Righteous as his first move on every round, dealing physical and stress damage to your entire team in order to avenge his pyre.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

Loot
Drops Crimson Curse-related trinkets, such as the Ancestor's Vintage and the Coven Signet. Subsequent Fanatic defeats will yield gem loot and other trinkets related to the Crimson Curse. Additionally, he can drop a special item known as The Cure. Any hero who uses it will be immediately healed from The Crimson Curse. Like The Blood, all unused vials of The Cure will be stored upon returning to the Hamlet.

Strategy
The Fanatic is a relentless boss that you may not be prepared for when he decides to attack. At 3 turns per round, dots will progress incredibly fast on the Fanatic, which is also vulnerable to bleeds, but not blights. Since he has 15% prot, bleeding him out is probably going to be the best strategy. If you prefer direct strikes, consider the Grave Robber or Shieldbreaker to pierce his prot. Riposte is also quite useful, due to his numerous turns. What's not effective at all are debuffs, since his numerous turns will quickly drop them off.

The Fanatic will grab a hero to burn at his stake. They will burn until at 0 health, then come back at death's door. You could destroy the stake to stop this. If you do however, the Fanatic will use a new skill every round that targets the entire party for damage+stress. You must thus decide if you want to leave the stake, or destroy it. If you leave it, be prepared to heal heroes when they come back. If you want to destroy it, consider buffing defenses and virtue chances on the party.

Naturally, the Flagellant from the same DLC is the natural choice for the Fanatic. The Flagellant focuses on bleed attacks, and gets a free ride to < 40% health if put on the stake. If you destroy the stake, the Flagellant is practically unharmed by being stressed out. Other heroes which can bleed, such as the Hellion and Jester, are still effective for the fight. You may consider the Bounty Hunter because the Fanatic is human. A hero with riposte should take advantage of it because of the Fanatic's numerous turns per round.

Wandering Bosses

 * Shambler
 * Shambler Tentacle
 * The Collector
 * Collected Highwayman
 * Collected Man-at-Arms
 * Collected Vestal
 * Thing From The Stars

Trivia

 * The Fanatic is voiced by Youtuber/Streamer Baertaffy, whose longest and most popular series consist of Darkest Dungeon playthroughs, going well over 400 episodes and hundreds of hours of playtime. Baertaffy is also the voice of The Viscount and The Baron.
 * The Fanatic wears multiple Trinkets on his person, including a Book of Holiness, Fortifying Garlic, Glittering Spaulders, Holy Orders, and Martyr's Seals.