Hag

The Wizened Hag/Hag/Hag Witch is a Human boss that appears in the Weald.

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Hag
"I had collected many rare and elusive volumes on ancient herbal properties and was set to enjoy several weeks immersed in comfortable study. My work was interrupted, however, by a singularly striking young woman who insisted on repeated calls to the house.

Her knowledge of horticulturalism and its role in various arcane practices impressed me greatly. My licentious impulse gave way to a genuine professional respect, and together, we began to plant, harvest, and brew.

As time wore on, her wild policy of self-experimentation grew intolerable. She quaffed all manner of strange fungi, herbs, and concoctions, intent on gaining some insight into the horror we both knew to be growing beneath us. The change in her was appalling, and no longer able to stomach it, I sent her to live in the weald, where her wildness would be welcomed.

Narration_load_weald_01.ogg Narration_load_weald_02.ogg Narration_load_weald_03.ogg"

- The Ancestor

Behavior
The Hag always appears taking up rank 3 and 4, while her pot takes up ranks 1 and 2; neither she nor her pot can be moved from those positions. When empty, the pot cannot be damaged unless you only have one character left.

During the first turn of the battle, she will use Into the Pot! on one of your heroes. This places them in the Cauldron, where they cannot do anything and take constant HP damage every time you or the Hag makes a move. The Hag has multiple moves per turn.

The filled Cauldron has substantially less HP and can be attacked down to 0 HP to tip it over, which releases the trapped hero into the front spot of your group. The pot immediately respawns, however, and the Hag will duly put another hero in on her next move (possibly the same one). The pot automatically tips over when the hero inside reaches death's door. The pot doesn't have a lot of HP in this stage and doesn't cause a huge amount of damage to the trapped hero per tick (but it will mount up). Therefore, it's worth maintaining DPS from all your heavy hitters on the Hag and getting her down as soon as you can whilst whittling down the pot with your smaller guns.

It is worth noting that a hero currently inside the pot will not retreat with the rest of the party, but will instead count as having died. Furthermore, if three of your heroes die and the fourth is in the pot, you lose the battle and the hero in the pot is counted as dead.

Whilst a hero is inside the pot, the Hag uses Seasoned to Perfection, Meat Tenderizer, and Taste the Stew on the rest of the party, concentrating mostly on building stress. None of them do much damage, but since the Hag gets multiple turns and Meat Tenderizer hits the whole party, they are extremely dangerous to heroes at death's door. If there's only one hero left alive or all party members are at death's door, she will only use Meat Tenderizer.

Strategy
The Hag permanently sits in slots 3+4 and cannot be moved, so hitting these slots is required for the fight. She also has high resistance to stuns and blights, but she is somewhat vulnerable to bleeds. With 2 actions per round, bleeds and blights will tick quickly. Slots 1+2 are always taken up by the pot, which cannot be moved or destroyed.

You must be prepared to fight her with 3 heroes, as 1 will spend the fight in the pot. Even if they get out, she will promptly chuck someone else in. When someone is taken, whoever was behind them will move forward. Since you can't predict who will get thrown in, you must also be prepared for everyone to move forward at least one slot.

The pot deals 8.75% of a hero's max HP per action, including actions by both the party and the Hag. This will bring a hero from max HP down to 0 after roughly 12 actions, or 2 and a half rounds. However, the pot will not kill a hero outright; instead, the hero will automatically be dumped out when they reach 0 HP. This is the only real danger in the fight, as the Hag does little damage on her own. Rather, her frequent actions, especially the multi-target Meat Tenderizer, are designed to finish off heroes who exit the pot on Death's Door. Timely healing is key in disrupting this lethal combo.

Although it is possible to hit the pot to dump a hero early, it is often a waste of time, as the Hag will simply throw someone in again. Thus, unless the Hag happens to put your main damage dealer in the pot, it is usually preferable to simply focus on damaging the Hag. With a well-chosen party, it is entirely possible to defeat the Hag before even one hero gets boiled down to Death's Door. The best heroes for the job are those who can deal high damage to the back ranks, even if they themselves are forced to move forward. The Hellion excels in both these regards, as she can use If It Bleeds from the front 3 ranks to deal heavy damage to the Hag. Ripostes can also be useful, as the Hag frequently hits the entire party with Meat Tenderizer and will often be choosing from only 3 targets. If a hero does get boiled down to 0 HP, you will need to be ready to heal them immediately who can heal from any position; it would be wise to bring multiple healers to give yourself the best odds of beating the Hag to the punch.

Aegis Scales will not prevent a hero from being thrown into the pot, but they will block the first hit a hero at Death's Door would have received after exiting the pot, giving you a bit more time to heal them. Since Into The Pot! is the first skill the Hag will use, you can activate the Scales on all four heroes before entering the boss's room, as being put in the pot will not remove the buff.

When the Hag is slain, the pot will immediately release whoever is trapped and end the fight.

Preferred Heroes

 * Abomination - The highest base damage against Rank 3 with Rage. Very unlikely to be moved out of position if he starts the battle in Position 1.
 * Bounty Hunter - He can Mark the Hag for other party members, deal direct damage with Finish Him, or inflict Bleed and increase the damage she receives with Caltrops.
 * Grave Robber - Lunge can be used to deal massive damage to the Hag, and Shadow Fade can be used to re-enable Lunge with little to no time loss. Also, unlike other damage dealers, the Grave Robber can use Shadow Fade on Turn 1 to guarantee that she will not be put in the pot.
 * Hellion - Both Iron Swan and If It Bleeds can deal heavy damage to the Hag (provided that the latter's Bleed sticks). Furthermore, If It Bleeds can be used from any of the positions the Hellion may occupy while someone else is in the pot.
 * Highwayman - Both Duelist's Advance and Pistol Shot can deal good damage against the Hag. His Riposte triggers frequently, since only 3 heroes can be targeted and the Hag often attacks the entire party with Meat Tenderizer. Pistol Shot also deals a bit of extra damage against Marked Targets, which is a nice small bonus for Mark teams. He has to start in Rank 4 though, since the Hag will throw someone into the pot and he will move forward, for a total of 2 spaces forward. To still be able to Pistol Shot after that, he has to start in Rank 4. If the Highwayman does end up in Rank 1, he can use Point Blank Shot to reposition himself and free an ally from the pot at the same time.
 * Houndmaster - Can deal huge damage against the Hag with Hound's Rush, especially after using a Dog Treat, and provide support with his Mark. His Guard isn't great for saving Heroes that exited the pot, since the Hag can bypass his Guard with Meat Tenderizer, but it's better than letting that Hero sit on Death's Door without any defenses. Because he is relatively fast, his Guard can also be used before someone gets thrown into the pot to prevent a specific hero from being taken, and since his Guard raises his Dodge, it improves his chances of dodging the attack altogether, significantly increasing the amount of time it takes for the Hag to put someone on Death's Door.
 * Jester - Battle Ballad can be used to increase the party's offensive power, but only if the Jester manages to stay in the back ranks. If he does get moved, Slice Off can be a decent tool to deal damage to Hag, while Finale can be used on Turn 3 to deal the final burst of damage.
 * Occultist - Unlike most other healers, he can heal from any position for a good chunk, although the chance of healing for 0 (and possibly even a Bleed!) still makes him a bit unreliable. He can deal decent damage with Sacrificial Stab, but most of the time, his turn is better spent Marking the Hag so that other heroes can attack her instead of using up their own turns Marking her. Dark Strength, a Camping skill, can also be used to greatly increase another hero's damage.
 * Shieldbreaker - Her abundance of movement skills allows her to easily fix the positions of other heroes, and she deals decent damage to the Hag.

Reasonable Choices

 * Arbalest/Musketeer - With Marking support from other party members, she can deal very high damage to the Hag. However, because she can only do so from the back ranks, she struggles to recover from being placed in the pot, as she will exit the pot in Position 1.
 * Crusader - His only way of hitting the Hag is Holy Lance, and with the Hag constantly trying to throw heroes into the pot, it can be difficult to keep him in the back ranks. However, he does have the distinction of being able to heal any hero from any position--perfect for saving Heroes who are on Death's Door.
 * Flagellant - Rain of Sorrows can deal respectable damage, but he still struggles to match the damage output of true damage dealers. If he gets put in the pot, he can use Exsanguinate or Redeem to heal himself after getting out, but those moves are unlikely to see use otherwise, as the Hag does little damage to heroes outside the pot. Reclaim is largely ineffective for saving heroes from Death's Door because the healing happens when the character takes their next action, and in the case of someone who just exited the pot, that will not happen until the next round of combat.
 * Man-at-Arms - Like the Highwayman, he can use Riposte to get frequent counterattacks against the Hag, but his damage output is still not very high. He can also Guard a key party member to save them from the pot, but his lower Speed and Dodge make him worse for this purpose than the Houndmaster. However, his Command can be used to buff the party's offensive capabilities from any position, unlike the Jester's Battle Ballad, but in turn gives less offensive power as a tradeoff.
 * Plague Doctor - Due to the Hag's high Blight resistance, the Plague Doctor struggles to consistently damage the Hag. She can still provide a heal to get someone off of Death's Door, Emboldening Vapors to buff someone else's offense, and Stuns to limit the Hag's actions.
 * Vestal - Very low offensive power, and if she gets put in the pot, she will be left unable to use her healing skills after being dumped out in Position 1. However, she is the best at outhealing the Hag's damage and getting someone back to high HP after they exit the pot.

Discouraged Heroes

 * Antiquarian - Very low offensive power. Her Dodge buffs take too long to ramp up to reliably dodge "Into the Pot!" and do not affect anyone in the pot.
 * Leper - The only move he has that can reach the Hag is Intimidate, which barely does any damage and does nothing to reduce the damage caused by the pot. Furthermore, he can only use Intimidate in Position 1, which he will be pushed out of as soon as someone else exits the pot.

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

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* While in the cauldron, a hero cannot attack and will take damage each turn.

** Used only if a hero is in the pot.

Weald

 * Fungal Scratcher
 * Fungal Artillery
 * Crone
 * Unclean Giant
 * Hateful Virago
 * Necrotic Fungus

Bosses

 * Cauldron