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. Narration_load_crypts_04.wav 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? Narration_load_crypts_05.wav 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. Narration_load_crypts_06.wav"

- The Ancestor.

History
Around the same time the Ancestor began the excavations beneath the Manor, there arrived a man at the Hamlet, and he decried publicly that the Ancestor was a harbinger of doom if he wasn't stopped. While appearing to be a dirty homeless man, this Prophet seemed to possess an uncanny amount of knowledge about the Ancestor’s ambitions and secretive experiments he had done. He drew the attention of the townsfolk with his wild speculations and prophecies, which may have inspired the people of the Hamlet to rebel against the Ancestor and his blasphemous experiments.

Nothing the Ancestor did could stop this prophet, and all murder attempts failed as well, doing nothing to quell the growing worries and suspicions of the townsfolk about him and his secret experiments. The Ancestor eventually lured the Prophet to the dig site underneath the Manor where he revealed all of his plans to the prophet and showed him what he had dug up, resulting in the prophet completely losing what sanity he had left, tearing out his own eyes and running away, screaming that the end was upon us all.

By the time the Heir arrives at the Estate, the Blind Prophet continues his apocalyptic ravings in the darkness of the Ruins, becoming the leader of the Cultists that wander the land. Instead of warning people of the coming doom, he uses his power of prognostication to tell his new flock about the wonders their new god will bring, what wondrous gifts will bestow upon the faithful, and the new world their new god will create for them when he finally awakens from his countless eons of slumber.

Now, it is the task of you and your heroes to do what your Ancestor could not — kill him.

Behavior
The Prophet spawns on rank 4, with wooden pews of crescent hitpoints on rank 1, 2 and 3. Breaking these pews will reward valuable Consecrated Pews at the end of the battle.

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".

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.

** Rubble of Ruin can only be cast on heroes occupying Marked Rank. Heroes in Ranks that are not marked will not be affected, even if it says 100% +1 extra target. In fact, the extra target is the other hero occupying the marked rank.

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

Strategy

 * Back-Row Burst Damage — The Prophet will remain in rank 4 and with a 300% (or higher) Move Resistance, he's not going anywhere. Unless you intend to hack through all the pews, defeating him will require attacks that can target rank 4. The Prophet's lack of PROT makes him vulnerable to high-damage rank 4 attacks, such as the Hellion's Iron Swan or the Arbalest's Sniper Shot. In general, Marking teams are excellent at single-target burst damage, and will typically perform well against the Prophet.
 *  Stack Damage Debuffs — While focusing all of your attacks on the Prophet is the quickest way to end the fight, taking the time to destroy his wooden Pews first will reward you with a hefty gold bonus. Because this fight has only a single damage dealer (the Prophet himself), it's possible to focus-fire him with multiple damage debuffs instead of killing him outright: an Occultist's Weakening Curse (-30% DMG debuff) and/or Leper's Intimidate (-20% DMG debuff), applied each turn, will very quickly reduce the Prophet's damage output to almost nothing and give you plenty of time to grab those valuable pieces of wood. If you can, increase those characters' Debuff Chance with Trinkets, especially if you intend to try this tactic against higher-level iterations of the Prophet.
 * Consider Stun Resist & Blight Resist/Curing — The Prophet has both Blight and Stun attacks in his repertoire, so tune your party to resist them.
 * Manage Rubble of Ruin Damage — Rubble of Ruin, the Prophet's most damaging attack, is always foreshadowed by a Calamitous Prognostication (which marks ranks for Rubble of Ruin). This gives you a turn or so to plan for the incoming damage. Unlike most marks, Calamitous Prognostication marks the rank (i.e. position) it hits, rather than the character. So, if your party has a lot of maneuverability, you can replace squishy characters in harm's way with a tanky character to absorb the hit. If you have defensive buffs, especially guarding abilities like the Man-at-Arms' Defender or the Hound Master's Guard Dog, use them to protect characters in targeted ranks. Note that the Arbalest's Rallying Flare does not clear the rank mark.
 * Aegis Scale Defence — The introduction of the Shieldbreaker DLC also introduced the Aegis Scale item, which, when used, allows a unit to ignore one attack. Bringing a number of these would enable you to mitigate Rubble of Ruin entirely, provided your supply outlasts his health. The Scales can be acquired by bringing the Shieldbreaker camping; during the night, snake monsters spawn in and, upon defeat, drop Aegis Scales and usually a randomised Shieldbreaker trinket. Doing so also grants a 3% crit buff for the remainder of the mission.
 * Stress Damage is less of a concern — While the Prophet doesn't cause as much stress damage as the Necromancer, it can still become a problem if he decides to focus-fire one of your characters with Eye on You, or gets lucky with Fulminate's high Crit chance, that Stress is going to pile up quickly. However, there's not much you can do about it: neither the Jester nor the Crusader are especially good in this fight, and at any rate you won't want to waste turns trying to heal Stress. Instead, try to enter the fight with low Stress: keep the light high throughout the dungeon; avoid bringing heroes who are easily-stressed in the Ruins or by Unholy encounters; and wait to camp until you're near the boss room.
 * Watch out for Fulminate — Rubble of Ruin is a very damaging attack that can deplete all of a hero's HP in 2-3 turns, but since it always occurs at the end of each turn, you'll typically have a chance to heal your heroes. The real threat, in terms of Deathblows, is the Prophet's Blight attack — Fulminate — which can easily finish someone at Death's Door before you can heal them. Applying Holy Water on the whole party is a great way to increase their survival chance, and you should also consider bringing trinkets to raise blight resistance.
 * Consider bringing an Occultist — Occultists are incredibly useful for this fight: not only can they mark the Prophet for the Arbalest and Houndmaster, but their Weakening Curse also affects Rubble of Ruin, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the Prophet's hardest-hitting attack. On top of that, they can help heal off the damage you take during the fight.
 * One viable party composition for Stygian Gibbering Prophet is Man at Arms / Occultist / Crusader / Leper. With Occultist spamming Weakening Curse and others boosting PROT and dodge or accuracy plus critical chance, the prophet's major threat, Rubble of Ruin, will become a joke. While the prophet is dealing negligible damage, your front liners have plenty time to hack through the Pew, giving you bonus gold and an easy kill. Bear in mind that your Occultist needs to equip a +debuff trinket to safely land the debuff on the prophet. Equipping your Crusader with the Necromancer's Collar and the skill Inspiring Cry will help you survive the journey to the prophet.

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".