Prophet

The Prophet is a boss which appears in the Ruins, and, like other bosses, has three variations (Sonorous, Fulminating and Gibbering).

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Prophet
"Excavations beneath the manor were well underway, when a particularly ragged indigent arrived in the hamlet. This filthy, toothless miscreant boasted an uncanny knowledge of my ambitions and prognosticated publicly that, left unchecked, I would soon unleash doom upon the world.

This raving creature had to be silenced. But doing so proved maddeningly impossible. How had he survived the stockades, the icy waters, and the knives I delivered so enthusiastically into his back? How had he returned, time and time again, to rouse the townsfolk with his wild speculations and prophecies?

Finally, resigned to his uncommon corporeal resilience I lured him to the dig. There, I showed him the THING and detailed the full extent of my plans. Triumphantly I watched as he tore his eyes from their sockets and ran shrieking into the shadows, wailing maniacally that the end was upon us all.

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- The Ancestor

Behavior
The Prophet spawns on rank 4, with wooden pews occupying ranks 1, 2 and 3. Breaking these pews will reward valuable Consecrated Pews at the end of the battle, summing up to 7500 gold if all three are broken. It's also worth noting that all remaining pews disappear after beating the Prophet, thus ending the combat.

The Prophet will always open the round with "Calamitous Prognostication" and end it with "Rubble of Ruin". In between them, he will cast one of either "Eye on You" or "Fulminate".

If one of your heroes is heavily stressed (>50 Stress), the chance of him using "Eye on You" will be doubled/tripled for Veteran and Champion level dungeons respectively. Conversely, if all of your heroes are virtuous, he will only utilize "Fulminate".

Strategy
The Prophet starts in slot 4 behind 3 planks of wood that act as walls to protect him. If you break the planks, he will start moving forward into empty slots. Each plank is tougher than the last, so you may want to avoid the third plank, which has the highest health. The planks are worth money if destroyed. Each plank is worth the same amount of money though, so don't expect a big bonus for the third plank.

The Prophet himself is unholy, making the Crusader effective once within striking range. Despite being unholy, the Prophet is equally vulnerable to blight and bleed. But the undead of the area are resistant to bleed, so blight would be recommended if you want to DOT. He only has 1 action per round though, limiting the effectiveness of any dots. This does make debuffs more effective, however.

You can either break the planks to get him within range of your heroes, or ignore them with a team that can target the backline. If you want to focus him, consider bringing a mark and/or dodge debuff to maximize your damage. The Arbalest in particular gets a large boost to mark. The Grave Robber gets a boost to mark and blight. For close range classes, 1-2 Crusaders/Lepers can chop through planks quickly, then start swinging at the Prophet. The Occultist's Weakening Curse can stack a damage reduction debuff on the Prophet, making the rubble damage manageable. The Hellion's Iron Swan is a great ability to target the backline if you choose not to break the pews with frontline characters.

Unless you can kill him incredibly fast, you must also deal with rubble falling onto your party. Your healing options are usually not strong enough to outpace the sheer damage. Your best bet are heroes who can Guard anyone in threatened positions, or DMG debuffs that greatly weaken this attack. The Shieldbreaker can use "Serpent Sway" to move into a threatened position and raise a block to negate the attack; an Aegis Scale will also function well.

Do not underestimate the Prophet in your final encounter. The damage output in this fight reaches a level that not even the best healer can sustain for long. Even with the entire party at 25% PROT, the raw damage from Rubble will quickly out-pace your attempts to heal through it. For that reason it's advised not to get too greedy with the pews. Focus the boss down quickly and then take out some pews if the current situation permits it.

Preferred Heroes

 * Man-at-Arms - Guards threatened heroes. Has great PROT bonuses to reduce rubble damage.
 * Houndmaster - Can also Guard threatened heroes, with a Dodge bonus to have a chance of completely negating the attack.
 * Vestal - Group healing can consistently keep the party out of Death's Door if the fight starts going awry.
 * Occultist - His healing, on a good day, can quickly undo damage from rubble. He can also stack DMG debuffs on the Prophet to significantly reduce rubble damage.
 * Shieldbreaker - Can easily reach rank 4 from anywhere. Use Serpent Sway to put her into a threatened position and block the rubble.

Reasonable Choices

 * Arbalest, Hellion - Great damage to rank 4.
 * Crusader, Abomination - Frontline area attacks can tear through the Pews quickly to bring the Prophet into melee range.
 * Plague Doctor - Can pile on long-range Blight and cure any Blight affecting the party.

Discouraged Heroes

 * Leper - Although Intimidate can heavily reduce damage from the rubble, his low range will leave him hacking away at the pews than actively attacking the Prophet.
 * Bounty Hunter - His only rank 4 attack is not very strong, although he can function well once the Prophet gets pulled up to rank 3.
 * Jester - Limited range and low base damage makes it hard to damage the Prophet until he starts getting pulled forward. He can compensate, however, with buffs and Stress relief.

Trophy
After completing the Prophet's champion quest, he will drop one of his eyes as a Trophy.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* Rank Marked marks the target's rank when the ability lands, not the targeted Hero.

** The blight inflicted by Fulminate lasts 2 rounds instead of 3.

Trivia

 * If you have subtitles on, during the intro before the level, the narrator will describe the prophet as a "miscreant", despite the text on screen reading "degenerate". In fact the subtitles are different in other parts of this intro too.

'''All Areas

 * Bone Rabble

'''Ruins

 * Bone Soldier
 * Bone Courtier
 * Bone Arbalist
 * Bone Defender
 * Bone Captain
 * Bone Spearman
 * Bone Bearer

'''Ruins Bosses

 * Necromancer