Editing Heresiarch

[[File:Heresiarch-hexen.png|thumb|The heresiarch is attacking the player in [[Hexen]] on [[Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary]]. His invulnerability field is up and he is shooting fireballs at the player.]]
[[File:Heresiarch_Heretic.PNG|thumb|The heresiarch as he appears at the end of [[The Dome of D'Sparil|the third episode]] of [[Heretic]].]]

The '''heresiarch''' is a [[boss]] enemy from [[Hexen]] that appears as a large demonic sorcerer with red skin, a tail, and black robes trimmed in gold and violet. Three mana container-like cubes circle his head. He makes a cameo at the end of [[The Dome of D'Sparil]] in [[Heretic]] and appears as an enemy at the end of two hubs: [[Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary|Heresiarch's Seminary]], and [[Hub 4: Castle of Grief|Castle of Grief]]. In [[Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel]], there is one at the beginning of the [[Hub 2: Constable's Gate|Constable's Gate]] hub and another in [[Hub 3: Chantry|Chantry]]; finally, one appears in [[Hub 4: Castle of Pain|Castle of Pain]] while playing in single-player. He has 5000 [[hit point]]s making him just as tough as [[Korax]] himself. The manual describes him as such:
{{Quote|As far beyond the Bishops as the Bishops are above common men, these blasphemous beings control forces capable of sending mere mortals screaming in terror. The Heresiarch knows several spells, including a strong reflective spell, two types of magical attack, and a summoning spell that gates in Dark Bishops to aid the Heresiarch. Only a superb warrior can defeat a Heresiarch without sustaining serious injury.|Hexen instruction manual|nosource=true}}

== Combat characteristics ==
The heresiarch can cast four different spells:
* create a barrier that makes him temporarily invincible to all attacks except the Cleric and Mage's [[fléchette]]s and that also deflects most projectiles;
* shoot a stream of purple fireballs in a weaving pattern;
* summon two bouncing fireballs that home in on the target;
* when his health is low, he can also summon [[dark bishop]]s.

There are three cubes orbiting slightly above the heresiarch, and it is these cubes from which the heresiarch draws his power. The purple cube allows the heresiarch to cast the purple stream of projectiles and the homing fireballs. The blue cube allows the heresiarch to generate his reflective/invulnerability shield, and the green cube allows the heresiarch to summon dark bishops.

[[Baratus]] (the Fighter) has the highest level of challenge in killing the heresiarch when compared to the other classes, as [[Timon's Axe]] is the only weapon that can damage the heresiarch while the barrier is up. [[Parias]] (the Cleric) has the most success using the gas clouds spawned by his [[fléchette]]s, due to their pierce and high damage per second. For [[Daedolon]] (the Mage), the [[sapphire wand]] and [[Arc of Death]] are safe to fire upon the heresiarch as they are not reflected by the heresiarch's shield, albeit not piercing through it. An alternative strategy is to get up close to the heresiarch (preferrably with an [[Icon of the Defender]] and spam fléchettes, since they pierce through the heresiarch's shield and do decent damage.

When the heresiarch dies, the cubes will fall to the floor and bounce several times before exploding. The explosions are very powerful and the blast radius is much larger than is apparent from the explosion [[sprite]]s. Extra danger comes from the fact that a player might mistake the cubes for mana containers.

The heresiarch incurs [[splash damage]] from his own purple missiles. However, the [[ZDoom]] source port changes this behavior so that he does not.

== Anti-shield strategy ==
The heresiarch only casts spells when the player is within his line of sight. This includes his shield spell, so it is possible to minimize the amount of time that the heresiarch's shield is active by the following strategy: when the heresiarch first enters battle, damage him as much as possible, e. g. with one's relic weapon, which should always be available by the time you face a heresiarch in stock Hexen/Deathkings. Do not use the [[Dark Servant]], as it might provide the heresiarch with another target and foil the strategy. As soon as the heresiarch raises his shield, run and hide nearby but out of his line of sight and count to 30 (this approximates the amount of time it takes the shield to wear off fairly accurately). If the heresiarch begins to come into view before the shield is down, immediately retreat deeper into hiding. As soon as the count is up, though, rush out and damage the heresiarch as much as possible once again until he raises his shield, then repeat the process as needed to kill him. With this tactic, it is possible to prevent the otherwise annoying situation where the heresiarch starts casting a spell just before his shield wears off, choosing the shield spell to immediately restore his shield. As an added bonus, it also lets the player avoid suffering attack from the heresiarch during his invulnerable period (not counting pursuit by the possessed lava balls).

== Technicalities ==
The heresiarch uses the cubes to cast his attacks, the heresiarch himself does not actually fire these, this is why he can still attack when he is in a [[pain state]]. If one were to create an [[actor]] with these cubes, the cubes would still fire, but the actor would just be doing what it normally does, unless it has the same attack states as the heresiarch.

Hexen monsters have six byte-sized fields for a [[Action specials|special]] and five args, when the monster is slain the special is run with the given args. (This allows to have simple scripted events such as opening a door when a monster is killed, without having to use [[ACS]].) However, the heresiarch uses its args to communicate with the cubes, so using them for a normal action special would not be reliable. Instead, when the heresiarch is killed, it will execute the script with its special number. For example, in [[Hub 4: Gibbet]], the heresiarch met in single-player mode has a special of 20; when slain, instead of calling action 20 (Floor_LowerByValue), it runs this map's script 20.

== Data ==
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Heresiarch data
|-
| [[Thing types|Thing type]]||10080 (decimal), 2760 (hex)
|-
| [[Mobj|Enum]]||MT_SORCBOSS (371)
|-
| Appears in||[[Hexen]]/[[Deathkings of the Dark Citadel|DDC expansion]]
|-
| [[Hit point]]s||5000
|-
| Speed||16 [[map unit]]s per frame<br>(112.0 map units per second)
|-
| Radius||40
|-
| Height||110
|-
| [[Mass]]||500
|-
| Reaction time||8 [[tic]]s
|-
| [[Pain chance]]||10 (3.91%)
|-
| Pain time||16 tics
|-
| Flags||{{c|4718598}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00480006}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 1: Obstacle<br> 2: Shootable<br>19: Puffs vs. blood<br>22: Affects kill %
|-
| Flags2||{{c|12619808}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00C09020}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 5: Feet can be clipped<br>12: Pass over/under [[mobj]]<br>15: Major boss<br>22: Can push walls<br>23: Activates monster cross line
|-
| Spawns||MT_SORCBALL1 through 3 (cubes)<br>MT_SORCSPARK1 (cast fizzle)
|}
{{col-break|gap=0.5em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|[[Sprite]]s & [[sound]]s
|-
| Sprite name||SORC
|-
| Alert sound||SORBOSS1
|-
| [[A_Chase|Active sound]]||SORBOSS2
|-
| Pain sound||SORBOSS3
|-
| [[Types of death|Death]] sound||SORDIE2
|}
{| {{prettytable}}
! [[State]]!!Frames
|-
| Idling||3 [AAA]
|-
| Chasing||4 [ABCD]
|-
| Casting||3 [FFF]
|-
| Attacking||5 [EEEEE]
|-
| [[Pain state|Hurting]]||2 [GG]
|-
| [[Types of death|Dying]]||19 [HIJKLMNOP<wbr>QRSTUVWXYZ]
|}
----
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Spell cast fizzle
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCSPARK1 (381)
|-
| Velocity||0
|-
| Radius||5
|-
| Height||5
|-
| Sprite||SBFX
|-
| Frames||7 [ABCDEFG]
|-
| Sound||-
|-
| Flags||{{c|1040}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000410}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br>10: Drops off ledges
|-
| Flags2||{{c|129}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000081}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 0: Alternate gravity<br> 7: No teleport
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Orbiting cubes
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCBALL1 (372) - purple<br>MT_SORCBALL2 (373) - blue<br>MT_SORCBALL3 (374) - green
|-
| Velocity||10 map units per tic<br>(350 map units per second)
|-
| [[Damage]]||0-255 ([[Blast damage|blast radius]])
|-
| Radius||5
|-
| Height||5
|-
| Sprite||SBMP (orbiting) - purple<br>SBS4 (impact) - purple<br>SBMB (orbiting) - blue<br>SBS3 (impact) - blue<br>SBMG (orbiting) - green<br>SBS3 (impact) - green
|-
| Frames||16 [ABCDEF<wbr>GHIJKLMNOP] (orbiting)<br>5 [DEFGH] (impact)
|-
| Sound||BOUNCE2 (launching)<br>BALLS1 (rotating)<br>CORK (dropping)<br>SORBLEXP (impact)
|-
| Flags||{{c|66064}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010210}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>16: Projectile
|-
| Flags2||{{c|132}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000084}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 2: Bounces off floor<br> 7: No teleport
|-
| Spawns||MT_SORCFX1 (bouncing fireball)<br>MT_SORCFX4 (purple fireball)<br>MT_SORCFX3 (summon orb)<br>MT_SORCFX2 (shield orb)
|}
{{col-end}}

{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Bouncing fireball ranged attack
|-
| Type||[[Projectile]]
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX1 (375)
|-
| Velocity||7 map units per tic<br>(245 map units per second)
|-
| Damage||0-30 (blast radius)
|-
| Radius||5
|-
| Height||5
|-
| Sprite||SBS1 (bouncing)<br>FHFX (impact)
|-
| Frames||4 [ABCD] (bouncing)<br>3 [SSS] (impact)
|-
| Sound||WOOSH3 (firing)<br>BOUNCE2 (bouncing)<br>SORBLEXP (impact)
|-
| Flags||{{c|65552}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010010}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br>16: Projectile
|-
| Flags2||{{c|132}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000084}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 2: Bounces off floor<br> 7: No teleport
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Purple fireball ranged attack
|-
| Type||Projectile
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX4 (380)
|-
| Velocity||12 map units per tic<br>(420 map units per second)
|-
| Shot count||18
|-
| Shot interval||2 tics (≈0.057 seconds)
|-
| Damage||0-20 (blast radius)
|-
| Radius||10
|-
| Height||10
|-
| Sprite||SBS4
|-
| Frames||3 [ABC] (in flight)<br>5 [DEFGH] (impact)
|-
| Sound||WOOSH3 (firing)<br>IMPACT3 (impact)
|-
| Flags||{{c|66064}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010210}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>16: Projectile
|-
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Summon bishop orb
|-
| Type||Projectile
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX3 (378)
|-
| Velocity||15 map units per tic<br>(525 map units per second)
|-
| Radius||22
|-
| Height||65
|-
| Sprite||SBS3 (in flight)<br>BISH (spawning bishop)
|-
| Frames||3 [ABC] (in flight)<br>10 [PONMLKJIHG] (spawning)
|-
| Sound||WOOSH3 (firing)<br>BISHAPP (spawning)
|-
| Flags||{{c|65552}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010010}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br>16: Projectile
|-
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
|-
| Spawns||MT_SORCFX3_EXPLOSION (spawn explosion)<br>[[Dark bishop|MT_BISHOP]] (bishop)
|}
{{col-end}}

{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Invulnerability shield orb
|-
| Type||Special
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX2 (376)
|-
| Velocity||15 map units per tic<br>(525 map units per second)
|-
| Radius||5
|-
| Height||5
|-
| Sprite||SBS2
|-
| Frames||16 [ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP]
|-
| Sound||WOOSH3 (firing)
|-
| Flags||{{c|528}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000210}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity
|-
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
|-
| Spawns||MT_SORCFX2_T1 (orb trail)
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Shield orb trail
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX2_T1 (377)
|-
| Velocity||0
|-
| Radius||20
|-
| Height||16
|-
| Sprite||SBS2
|-
| Frames||1 [A]
|-
| Sound||-
|-
| Flags||{{c|131600}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00020210}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>17: Alternate shadow
|-
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan=2|Spawning bishop explosion
|-
| Enum||MT_SORCFX3_EXPLOSION (379)
|-
| Velocity||0
|-
| Radius||20
|-
| Height||16
|-
| Sprite||SBS3
|-
| Frames||5 [DEFGH]
|-
| Sound||-
|-
| Flags||{{c|131600}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00020210}} (hex)
|-
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>17: Alternate shadow
|-
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
|-
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
|}
{{col-end}}

== Appearance statistics ==
In the [[IWAD]]s the heresiarch is first encountered on these maps per [[Skill level#Hexen skill levels|skill level]]:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break|width=50%}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan="4"|Single-player
|-
!Game / ''Hub''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
|-
|''[[Hub 1: Seven Portals]]''||-||-||-
|-
|''[[Hub 2: Shadow Wood]]''||-||-||-
|-
|''[[Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary]]''||[[Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)]]||Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)||Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)
|-
|''[[Hub 4: Castle of Grief]]''||[[Hub 4: Gibbet]]||Hub 4: Gibbet||Hub 4: Gibbet
|-
|''[[Hub 5: Necropolis]]''||-||-||-
|-
|''[[Expansion Hub 1: Blight]]''||-||-||-
|-
|''[[Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate]]''||[[Hub 2: Constable's Gate]]||Hub 2: Constable's Gate||Hub 2: Constable's Gate
|-
|''[[Expansion Hub 3: Nave]]''||[[Hub 3: Chantry]]||Hub 3: Chantry||Hub 3: Chantry
|-
|''[[Expansion Hub 4: Transit]]''||[[Hub 4: Castle of Pain]]||Hub 4: Castle of Pain||Hub 4: Castle of Pain
|}
{{col-break}}
{| {{prettytable}}
!colspan="4"|Cooperative
|-
!Game / ''Hub''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
|-
|''Hub 1: Seven Portals''||-||-||-
|-
|''Hub 2: Shadow Wood''||-||-||-
|-
|''Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary''||Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)||Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)||Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary (map)
|-
|''Hub 4: Castle of Grief''||Hub 4: Gibbet||Hub 4: Gibbet||Hub 4: Gibbet
|-
|''Hub 5: Necropolis''||-||-||-
|-
|''Expansion Hub 1: Blight''||-||-||-
|-
|''Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate''||Hub 2: Constable's Gate||Hub 2: Constable's Gate||Hub 2: Constable's Gate
|-
|''Expansion Hub 3: Nave''||Hub 3: Chantry||Hub 3: Chantry||Hub 3: Chantry
|-
|''Expansion Hub 4: Transit''||Hub 4: Castle of Pain||Hub 4: Castle of Pain||Hub 4: Castle of Pain
|}
{{col-end}}

The IWADs contain the following numbers of heresiarchs per skill level:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break|width=50%}}
{| {{prettytable|style=text-align: center;}}
!colspan="4"|Single-player
|-
!Game / ''Hub''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hub 1: Seven Portals]]''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hub 2: Shadow Wood]]''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary]]''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hub 4: Castle of Grief]]''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hub 5: Necropolis]]''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|[[Hexen]]||2||2||2
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Expansion Hub 1: Blight]]''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate]]''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Expansion Hub 3: Nave]]''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Expansion Hub 4: Transit]]''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|[[Deathkings of the Dark Citadel]]||3||3||3
|}
{{col-break}}
{| {{prettytable|style=text-align: center;}}
!colspan="4"|Cooperative
|-
!Game / ''Hub''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hub 1: Seven Portals''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hub 2: Shadow Wood''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hub 4: Castle of Grief''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hub 5: Necropolis''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|Hexen||2||2||2
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Expansion Hub 1: Blight''||''0''||''0''||''0''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Expansion Hub 3: Nave''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|''Expansion Hub 4: Transit''||''1''||''1''||''1''
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|Deathkings of the Dark Citadel||3||3||3
|}
{{col-end}}

== Trivia ==
* The heresiarch which appears at the end of [[Heretic]]'s [[The Dome of D'Sparil]] [[episode]] has led some to believe that the heresiarch was the original design for [[Korax]]. That some wall textures depicting Korax also bear a stronger resemblance to the heresiarch strengthens this notion.{{cite web|author=Various|title=|url={{dwforums|58248|Heresiarch/Korax}}|publication=[[Doomworld Forums]]|publishdate=23 December 2011|accessdate=3 September 2018}}
* The heresiarch is referred to as the "sorcerer" in Hexen's game data and [[Hexen source code|source code]], which can be deduced from the shortened variants "SOR" (for audio [[lump]]s) and "SORC" (for graphics lumps), and the enumeration constant {{c|MT_SORCBOSS}} in the source. This provides further evidence for the above case, as [[D'Sparil]] was referred to similarly in Heretic's game data.
* The heresiarch's sight and active sounds appear to be the phrases "my sacrifice" and "your weakness" reversed and put through a filter.

== References ==
<references />

* The '''Heresiarch''' also appears in the [[EarthBound Doom]] modification. They start off with a forcefield to block most enemy attacks and to repel players or other monsters that get in close, but will drop the forcefield temporarily to attack the player, raising it shortly after it finishes the attack. They can also additionally fire more shots at a time, and spawn in '''[[Disciple of D'Sparil|Disciples of D'Sparil]]''' in addition to '''[[Dark Bishop]]s'''. They also have double the hit points to make them more difficult. Causing them to 'flinch' will stop their attacks as well as opposed to the usual.

{{Hexen monsters}}
[[Category:Boss monsters]]