Siren

The Captivating, Alluring, and Beguiling 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.

Narration_load_cove_04.wavNarration_load_cove_05.wavNarration_load_cove_06.wav"

- The Ancestor

Behavior
The Siren's main gimmick is her Song of Desire ability, which allows her to temporarily mind-control one of your heroes. Charmed heroes only have access to the moves on their bar and will move if they don't have a move they can use. Heroes will be put in a random rank either right in front of or behind the Siren (while she pushes herself backwards one rank) and 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. Note that if you flee the fight while a Hero is currently ensorcelled by the Siren, that hero will be lost. In addition, the Siren's charm is able to target invisible heroes.

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.

Aside from her powers of enchantment, the Siren can also inflict party-wide bleed and stress, or summon in Pelagic reinforcements. She 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
With high dodge and fair resists, the Siren is hard to hit. This combined with the fact that she will regularly charm one of your heroes means it's probably going to be a long fight. The good news is that her own skills are weak — she relies instead on monsters and charmed heroes to fight for her. A hero that can stun or ignore Guard is valuable, in case Pelagic Guardians come to her aid. She also has no PROT, so skills have the potential to hit hard if you can get them to hit in the first place. With 2 actions per round, debuffs are not optimal, but still usable on her. If you want to use damaging ailments, note that her blight resist is lower than bleed, just like most enemies in the area.

Due to charm, you must be prepared to fight with 3 heroes. Also know that heroes will move forward to fill any empty slots, while a returning hero will always drop in the back. Skills that move may be ideal to fix positioning between charms. Be wary of using multiple target skills, as you could very well hit your own heroes.

Also, charmed heroes can be pulled back to your side by landing a Crit Move Skills ( Pull ) or Crit Stun Skill on that charmed hero such as Bounty Hunter's Come Hither.

Charm has a fixed 70% chance to succeed, ignoring any debuff resist. Despite this, the Siren is prone to targeting the hero with the lowest debuff resistance. After it expires, she will target the 2nd lowest resist hero, then cycle between them for future charms. This means you can mostly predict who will be taken, and influence subsequent charm targets with Holy Water. You can protect 2 of your heroes from charm simply by having 2 others with lower debuff resist. This is one of the few boss fights where the Antiquarian is desirable, as her low debuff resistance and poor individual combat ability means that the Siren is very likely to take a largely irrelevant combatant.

Utilizing a Mark team, such as Arbalest, Houndmaster, Bounty Hunter, and Occultist actually has merit against the Siren, as whilst the individual heroes have average damage and above average enemy disruption, their ability to deal effectively double damage against Marked enemies results in one hero being charmed actually not being much of a detriment, as no single hero (save for Bounty Hunter with Flashbang and/or Uppercut) is able to match the damage output that the team altogether has. Additionally, the stuns from this team are able to suppress the Charmed hero sufficiently enough.

Charmed heroes can only use skills currently equipped, and as such, there's no worry of, for example, a Flagellant using Exsanguinate while you have four other skills equipped. Additionally, if a Charmed hero has no skills Equipped, they will try (and fail) to use Move on other monsters, remaining stuck in position.

Preferred Heroes

 * Antiquarian - Low debuff resist attracts the Siren's attention. Poor individual combat ability means your own heroes are not as vulnerable to harm. Just be mindful of either Flashpowders or Invigorating Vapors while Charmed.
 * Occultist - Even with the risk of a high roll, or even Crit Wyrd Reconstruction on the Siren, the utility of a Dodge Debuffing Mark, alongside Hands From The Abyss' sheer strength, can turn the tide, even with other heroes getting Charmed.
 * Arbalest/Musketeer - Apart from the moderate healing that Bandages can give, and the potential of being on the receiving end of Suppressive Fire, the Siren can't make much good use out of Mark-based Heroes.
 * Houndmaster - Once again, doubled damage against Marked enemies proves plenty useful against the Siren, as she can't get much out of the same strategy. Additionally, it is entirely possible to Dodge the Siren's Charm, and the Houndmaster is uniquely capable of this due to the special interaction between his Dog Treats and the Giant Oyster, which gives the user a +25 Dodge buff. Just be mindful not to have Hound's Harry equipped.
 * Bounty Hunter - Although Uppercut and Flashbang could prove problematic towards your team, there's nothing in particular which stops you from stunning him in return while charmed. Additionally, the mark damage proves extremely valuable, on top of the Camping Buff which provides another damage boost against Size 2+ Enemies, of which none of your Heroes can be.

Reasonable Choices

 * Plague Doctor - Whilst her Blights are plenty powerful in this circumstance, her stuns could prove more beneficial for her compared to you. Blinding Gas isn't as disruptive, as she'd only stun one hero instead of two, but Disorienting Blast could definitely prove a monkey wrench in your plans.
 * Grave Robber - Although a Lunge could prove very painful to be hit with, that's also a Lunge you can open the fight with, and it's entirely possible that, if charmed to the Frontline, she could use Shadow Fade, only to return to your side with the damage boost. Funnily enough, once the Charm has ended, she's in prime position to Lunge again.
 * Man-at-Arms - Whilst he doesn't excel at anything in particular in this fight, there's nothing he falters at either. Crush remains as respectable damage, Rampart works well as a stun, and Bolster could prove really helpful for your team. Just be mindful if he uses Bolster whilst Charmed, which could prove incredibly problematic.
 * Crusader - Whilst hard to recommend either way, Crusader's generalist performance, on top of the potency of Holy Lance both for and against your team, can prove either very good or very bad. Thankfully, the healing he can provide is sufficient for your team, and nonexistent for the Siren.

Discouraged Heroes

 * Leper - Between Chop, Purge, and Intimidate, and Hew, all of these skills would be nasty to be on the receiving end of.
 * Abomination - In Human form, the Stuns can be rough to manage, on top of the damage. If he decides to transform, his stress stacks high quick, along with his damage output.
 * Flagellant - Redeem's percentage healing translates into a big number if used on a boss.
 * Highwayman - Having Riposte active while Charmed effectively neuters any AOE attacks that may be used, alongside risking a full damage Point Blank Shot, if both relevant skills are equipped. Not to mention nullifying the ability to stun him down.
 * Shieldbreaker - She already maintains an incredibly high damage output on her own, not to mention Pierce ignoring all Protection, and Puncture bypassing Guards on top of breaking them, in addition to disrupting your formation.
 * Jester - Between Battle Ballad's incredible buffs being entirely usable while Charmed, along with a potential Dirk Stab/Solo into Finale being used against you, it's easy to see how a Charmed Jester can quickly become a problem.
 * Vestal - Unlike the Crusader, she has actually strong heals to contend with, and a Crit Divine Grace can set back at least a handful of attacks that have gone into the Siren. Still, Dazzling Light and Judgement could work, if need be, not to mention Divine Comfort if your team is looking weary.
 * Hellion - Her massive damage output, ESPECIALLY with skills like Bleed Out equipped, can easily prove lethal if things go wrong. Additionally, unless Breakthrough is equipped, you will have a hard time getting Hellion back into the fight once the Charm has ended.

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

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* 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. ** The Siren will summon either a Stinger, a Grouper, or a Guardian. The Guardian is twice as likely to be summoned.

Related Enemies
Cove: The Pelagics


 * Pelagic Grouper
 * Pelagic Shaman
 * Pelagic Guardian
 * Sea Maggot
 * Deep Stinger
 * Uca Major

Cove: The Drowned


 * Drowned Thrall
 * Squiffy Ghast

Bosses


 * Drowned Crew
 * Drowned Anchorman

Trivia

 * Her singing during Song of Desire can be also heard at the beginning of Darkest Dungeon's Official Launch Trailer.
 * In keeping with her "alluring" theme, the Siren's head sports the same shiny bulb on her forehead as the anglerfish's.