The Fanatic

Upon entering battle, the Fanatic will always surprise the party. He has three actions per round, and attacks with various skills that can cause debuffs, bleed, stuns, and horrors, on top of moving him around the battlefield.

The most dangerous part of the fight is his "Sentence Rendered" skill, which, if not dodged, binds a hero to his pyre and causes them to take damage over time. Similarly to the Hag, a hero currently burning at the stake will not retreat with the rest of the party if the party retreats from combat, but will instead count as having died. In addition, if this hero had any trinkets on them when you retreated from combat, those trinkets will be lost. Once the hero reaches Death's Door, they are released from the pyre to the front of the formation.

Unlike the Hag's cauldron, the Fanatic's pyre does not restore its durability after a hero gets released from it. If the pyre is destroyed, the Fanatic will no longer be able to use "Sentence Rendered" to deny use of your heroes, and instead start using "Fury of the Righteous" as his first move on every round, dealing physical and stress damage to your entire team in order to avenge his pyre.

The Fanatic is a relentless boss that you may not be prepared for when he decides to attack. He behaves like a mixture of the Hag and the Shambler, as he has a pyre that occupies the other two ranks of his side. Unlike the Hag, he moves around a lot so close-range heroes have opportunities to hit him. However, like the Shambler, he will always ambush the party when he appears, which can throw unprepared parties into shambles. If you attempt to retreat he will chase down the party and appear as the next encounter. At that point, the only way to truly escape from him is to abandon the quest and return to town.

At 3 turns per round, DoTs - Bleed, especially - will progress on him very quickly. Since he has 15% prot, bleeding him out is probably going to be the best strategy. If you prefer direct strikes, consider the Grave Robber or Shieldbreaker to pierce his prot. Riposte from the Highwayman or Man-at-Arms is also quite useful, due to his numerous turns. What's not as effective are debuffs and stuns, since his numerous turns will quickly drop them off.

The Fanatic will eventually grab a hero to burn at his stake. They will burn until they reach 0 HP, then come back at death's door. You could destroy the stake to stop this. If you do however, the Fanatic will use a new skill every round that targets the entire party for damage+stress. You should decide if you want to leave the stake, or destroy it. If you leave it, be prepared to heal heroes when they come back. If you want to destroy it, consider buffing defenses and virtue chances on the party. Sentence Rendered can be dodged, at which point the Fanatic will only use his other abilities for the rest of that round and will not attempt to use Sentence Rendered until the next round, giving you an additional action with a character.

Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor, and the best option is to not encounter the Fanatic at all by properly managing your Cursed heroes. If he's found you while you're not prepared, you may want to cut your losses and abandon the quest.

• Crusader - Holy Lance to force him out of the back in the initial shuffle. Can support from the front lines with Battle Heal and Inspiring Cry, though they are minor boons.
• Leper - Delivers high raw damage to quickly cut down the Fanatic or smash apart the pyre. Struggles with the initial shuffle.
• Antiquarian - Largely unaffected by the initial shuffle. Invigorating Vapours can raise DODGE to avoid getting your heroes bound to the pyre.

• Plague Doctor - The Fanatic's three turns makes her Stuns less viable, and his Blight resistance neuters her specialization. However, with the help of some of her trinkets her Blight abilities will be an option, and the use of her Emboldening Vapours skill will not be a waste of a turn, should she end up in her unfavorable front position, or even regardless of her current placement.
• Occultist - His debuffs wear off very quickly, his pulls and stuns are largely irrelevant during the fight, and a heated battle like the Fanatic's fight is not ideal for rolling with his healing.
• Arbalest, Musketeer - Like debuffs, Marks are very short-lived, so you have little opportunity to strike the Fanatic for increased damage. They're great if you want to destroy his pyre quickly, but suffer a lot if they're the ones on the pyre.
• Houndmaster - The Bleeds he inflicts are really minor, and his stuns get shaken off very quickly.