Siren

The Siren is the first Boss of the Cove. She has 2 turns per round.

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Siren
"My lofty position wasn't always accompanied by the fear of office, and there was a time when I could walk the streets or raise a glass in the tavern without concern for molestation. Faithful as the tide, one precocious village waif made it her hobby to shadow my every errand. It was charming then, troublesome later. In financial desperation, I struck a bargain with the ancient things that surfaced in search of sacrifice when the moon was right. Their price was the delivery of an obscure idol and one other item of more troubling portent. The pact struck, my new-found accomplices slipped silently beneath the brackish water. A fearful stirring at the edge of the torchlight betrayed a familiar witness and gifted me with malign inspiration. Under the blood moon, I lured my wide-eyed prey to the pier's edge. Before she could properly appreciate her position, I clamped down a manacle, chaining her to the leering idol. A small push was sufficient to send both into the icy waters. And, when at length the tide receded, jewels of the most magnificent grandeur lay scattered upon the shore."

History
"The aquatic devils have remade the poor girl in their image. She is their queen... And their slave."

Before he went fully off the deep end, a young, homeless village lass had a crush on the Ancestor, and followed him everywhere he went. While he originally found it charming, she eventually became a nuisance when his darker and more secret experiments were going on. When he needed some extra money, he gave her to the Pelagic fish-men who infest the Cove. Now, she is their queen... and their slave.

Trophy
After completing the Siren's champion quest, she will drop her conch as a Trophy.

Abilities
* A hero controlled by the siren takes 10 stress damage on each of their turns. When a hero is released from the Siren's control they will go to rank 4 and gain a buff for 20% resist debuff. ** The Siren will summon either a Stinger, a Grouper or Guardian. The Guardian is twice as likely to be summoned.

The Siren's main gimmick is her Song of Desire ability, which allows her to temporarily mind-control one of your heroes. Charmed heroes have access to their entire class' skill repertoire - not just the ones you've selected - and can use them from any legal position (e.g. the Highwayman can use Point-Blank Shot from Rank 1, the Vestal can use Judgment from Rank 4 etc.) Heroes will typically fight for the Siren for two full turns (taking minor stress damage for every turn they spend charmed) before returning to your control - they will, however, be placed in Rank 4.

Aside from her powers of enchantment, she can also inflict party-wide bleed and stress, or summon in Pelagic reinforcements.

Behavior
If it is the first turn of the round, and the following conditions are met, the Siren is guaranteed to use Song of Desire:


 * You have at least 1 hero not on Death's Door.


 * You have at least 2 heroes remaining in your party.


 * The Siren hasn't already charmed one of your heroes.

If it is not her first turn, but previous conditions are nonetheless met, the Siren still has about 1/4 of a chance to use Song of Desire again.

When choosing which hero to target, she will disregard heroes with high Debuff resistance in lieu for those who have a lower one. Namely, your hero with highest debuff resistance will never be targeted by the Siren, whereas the one with lowest debuff resistance is three times as likely to have it used on them.

The Siren will generally use one of Pressure Crash, Devour, or High Tide on her second turn. They are all equally likely to be used, unless the Siren has been unable to charm one of your heroes, in which case High Tide is twice as likely to be used in order to bring in additional firepower.

Strategy
Focussing her down to end the fight quickly is viable, but since most of the Siren's damage comes from her summons and charmed heroes, it's also possible to slowly whittle her down. Skills like the Boutny Hunter's Uppercut and the Hound Master's Blackjack can keep a charmed hero stunned without doing too much damage to them. Her summons, however, should be dealt with quickly: they can easily guard her, or stun your already-weakened team.

Song of Desire is technically considered to be a debuff, so items, trinkets, or skills that increase resistance to debuffs will make it less likely for the Siren to turn your heroes on you. In particular, having the entire team use Holy Water before the battle will make the first few rounds much, much easier. The Arbalest's Rallying Flare (which gives a +20% debuff resist to the entire party) can also help keep the Siren from ensorcelling your heroes.

Remember that once a hero returns to your control, they'll be placed in Rank 4. Consider bringing skills that will allow them to move back up, such as Lunge or Duelist's Advance.

In terms of preparing for the fight, you should probably avoid stacking damage buffs on a single party member - if they're the one that gets taken, you could find yourself on the receiving end of your own damage bonuses. Likewise, you probably shouldn't bring the Man-At-Arms: his abilities offer little assistance against a Siren's attacks, and if he is charmed, he can stun, use buffs and place a Guard effect on the Siren, forcing you to stall, waste a turn stunning him, or even kill him outright.

Bringing an Antiquarian with a low debuff resistance can actually be an effective strategy: her underpowered combat skills pose minimal threat to the party, her healing ability is weak enough that it won't be disastrous if she uses it on the Siren, and lowering her debuff resistance will cause the Siren to prioritize her with Song of Desire.

To avoid having your best attributes used against you, consider building a party with the following strengths:
 * Self-heals / Secondary Heals / Buffs -- The Charmed hero will pick a random ability from their set, so there is a chance they will pick a self-heal, inconsequential secondary heal, or self-buff. (ex. Crusader, Leper, Antiquarian)
 * Bonus damage against Eldritch -- No effect on attacking party members (ex. Occultist)
 * Bonus damage against Large enemies -- No effect on attacking party members (ex. Bounty Hunter, though his stuns and move skills can cause chaos if not planned for)
 * Mark -- Even if a Charmed hero Marks a fellow party member, they are unlikely to stay charmed long enough to attack the Marked party member. Furthermore, the summoned Cove enemies do not have attacks with bonuses against Marked targets. (ex. Occultist, Arbalest, and Bounty Hunter)

If your party contains a hero with a good movement skill (such as the Bounty Hunter), you can further decrease the damage from charms by bringing classes with heavy positioning restrictions (like a Leper in the back rows, or an Arbalest in the front) and moving them to their weak positions after they're charmed by the Siren. Compared to disabling with a stun, moving a hero like this can be more efficient - stuns last one round and impart stun resist bonuses for successive rounds, whereas move skills can be used every round without restriction, and if you can place the hero correctly, a positional move can disable some charmed, slow-to-maneuver heroes for two rounds. For example, moving a Leper to the back row will cause him to waste two turns moving forward, as he can only move one position per turn and can take literally no other action in the back two rows.

Note that if you flee the fight while a Hero is currently ensorcelled by the Siren, that hero will be lost.