Drowned Crew

The Sodden, Sunken, and Drowned Crew are bosses which appear in the Cove.

The Crew are a group of three undead smugglers chained to the wrecked ship aboard which they drowned, typically alongside a Drowned Anchorman that they can summon repeatedly in battle. Although they may appear to be individuals, the Crew are mechanically a single-target entity filling three consecutive ranks in battle. The Drowned Anchorman is not part of the larger group, and has his own HP, resistances, and set of abilities.

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Drowned Crew
"Prying eyes had become a nuisance along the old road, and so I undertook to receive my most curious deliveries by way of marine shipments. A sheltered jetty was accessible by a narrow stone stair off the back of the manor, and a discreet system of pulleys could hoist even the heaviest prizes up the rock face from a securely tied dinghy below.

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I employed a crew of particularly unsavory mariners, who for a time sailed the four corners at my behest, retrieving many valuable artifacts, relics and rare texts. Predictably, they increased their tariffs to counter my intense stipulations of secrecy. Such resources had long been exhausted, of course, and so I prepared an alternative payment.

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While the greedy dogs slept off their revelry, I hexed their anchor with every twisted incantation I could muster, imbuing it with the weight of my ambition and my contempt for their cruel extortion. At the witching hour, the anchor pulled with preternatural force, dragging craft and crew down into the depths. They must have cried out, but no sound escaped the swirling black waters.

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- The Ancestor.

History
As the Hamlet were made aware of the existence of Ancestor’s secretive experiments, whispers and rumors became too spread among the population, some of the people became fascinated and curious what the Ancestor was doing that they began to spy on his activities and watch out for Ancestor’s shipments arriving along the Old Road so that they could take secretive snoop what inside those crates.

As these prying eyes becoming a nuisance along the Old Road, the Ancestor began to have his more "unusual" materials and artifacts shipped in by a band of smugglers. They traveled the globe for him in search of idols, ancient manuscripts and other items of more darker nature. This particular crew was his favorite, until they began asking for too much money to keep quiet. With much of his family fortune spent, he decided to arrange "alternative" payment, in the form of a cursed anchor that dragged them and their ship to the bottom of the sea. However, the crew refused to stay dead, the curse that the Ancestor had place on their anchor would not let them die, forcing them to relive their final moments again and again, chained and drowning for eternity.

By the time the Heir arrives at the Hamlet, the Drowned Crew of sailors returned as Wraiths; with their tortured and vengeful souls trapped in their own dead and decaying bodies they gained a deep hatred for the Light and all living things. They continue to haunt the Cove and surrounding seas, and anyone that dare cross their path they will drag them in chains to Davy Jones’s locker... Since most of the supplies, recruits and trade goods that our Hamlet relies on arrive over land and by sea, it imported for us to keep those trade routes clear of any dangers.

Let’s sharpen our blades and give the captain and his crew proper sailor's death.

Behavior
The Drowned Crew will start the battle with "All Hands On Deck!", which moves a hero to the front rank and summons a Drowned Anchorman. The Anchorman will immobilize the first hero in line with its anchor and force them to experience the crew's horrible death. While the hero who is tangled in the anchor is free to attack, their stress will increase rapidly over time, and the Crew will heal health every time anyone takes an action.

Note that the Anchorman will change to a 'Drowned Puller' after immobilizing a hero, making it pointless to attack them if you're not going to finish it before it does so, since the Puller's health and DoTs are separate to the Anchorman's. In all other respects, the Puller is identical to the Anchorman.

The Drowned Crew will always start a round with "All Hands On Deck!" unless a hero is immobilized.

Any hero immobilized by the Drowned Anchorman can only be released either by killing the Anchorman, or automatically when the hero's stress reaches either 100 or 200. Additionally, when the Anchorman is summoned, it will have a buff that will drastically increase its Protection Points and resistances. It will keep this buff until it immobilizes a hero, after which the Drowned Crew will receive the buff instead until the Anchorman is destroyed.

Trophy
After completing the Drowned Crew's champion quest, the captain will drop his bell as a Trophy.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

While "Heave to!" is the Drowned Anchorman's ability, it's worth mentioning here. It immobilize the hero in the first position, and it gives the Drowned Crew a buff that will heighten its protection and resistances, while also dealing stress damage to the hero and healing the Drowned Crew every turn.

Strategy
A battle with the Crew is an endurance fight, similar to the Brigand Pounder - it has low damage, but the stress, pulls, and bleed that it can inflict, combined with healing from the Anchorman, can grind down your party over time if you get careless.

In terms of weaknesses, the Crew has low Blight resistance and, despite being Undead, relatively low Bleed resistance. Stun Resistance is average but manageable, although Stun isn't particularly useful against them - multiple attacks each turn render stunning them ineffective. Stunning the Anchorman and using the opportunity to inflict some damage, however, is perfectly viable. The Crew also has no PROT, so they're incredibly vulnerable to direct damage from any heavy-hitter you prefer. You should also consider using trinkets which boost move resistance, such as the Heavy Boots - it'll prevent the Crew from pulling your characters out of formation.

Your main problem will be the Anchorman's "Heave to!" skill: aside from the stress damage, it allows them to heal every turn - meaning you won't be able to do enough damage to kill them while they have a hero in chains. You'll need to kill the Anchorman quickly - the Leper's Chop and Highwayman's Point-Blank Shot do enough damage to kill it outright, or at least leave it weak enough for another party member to finish off. A fast hero able to stun the Anchorman before he can act can also prevent the "Heave to!" attack for a time, allowing you to focus your attacks on the Crew rather than the constantly-resummoned Anchorman.

Alternatively, you can ignore the Anchorman every other turn. Because the Anchorman gets the PROT buff once he's summoned, it leaves the Crew vulnerable to damage.

"Heave to!" can be dodged, even though it's considered a debuff - as such dodge trinkets or buffs are valuable for your frontman. The hero with highest dodge possible is the Grave Robber: using Toxin Trickery repeatedly to boost her dodge stat can allow her to dodge most attacks. However, the Crew may use "All hands on deck!" on other characters to move them to the first position, so be sure to issue move-resist trinkets to other members of your team if you attempt this strategy.

The Crusader does bonus damage against unholy, and as such is a good choice for this fight. The Highwayman can also work very well in Rank 1 - while immobilized, he won't be knocked backward when using Point-Blank Shot (so he can use it a second time the next turn). And of course, the Leper's powerful sword attacks can help finish the Crew off faster.

Virtuous Heroes are immune to "Heave to!" - if you can put and keep them in the front, you'll be able to wail on the Crew without worrying about the Anchorman.

Lastly, using a pull attack, such as the Bounty Hunter's Come Hither, or the Occultist's Daemon Pull, can theoretically drag the crew in front of the anchorman before he can throw the anchor, leaving him trapped and unable to act for the rest of the battle. However, the Crew has substantial move resistances, and the ancorman is immune to movements, so while this is a good trick to keep in mind, it's not one to be relied upon. Use trinkets to increase your chances if you wish to attempt it. A Plague Doctor or Bounty Hunter can also try shuffling the ranks with Disorienting Blast or Flashbang, moving the Anchorman to the rear.

One effective strategy for Stygian Drowned Crew is placing Houndmaster with both dodge trinkets at the very front and spamming Guard Dog. With almost every "Heave to!" dodged by your Houndmaster, you can take your time killing the Crew with bleed or blight.

Trivia

 * The animation of the attacks show a different crew member using the attacks. "All Hands On Deck!" and "Mutiny" are the captain shouting and raising his bell, "Drink With The Dead" shows the middle crew member attacking by drinking a bottle while the insanity symbol appears above its head and "Boarding Clutch" has the lowest crew member attacking by striking with a long hook weapon.