Hexen II

Praevus serves as the boss of Hexen II's expansion pack (the Portal of Praevus). Not much is known about this evil wizard, except that he has been using the souls of the dead Serpent Riders to vastly increase his own power in an effort to become ruler of the lands.

Praevus has an unusual body structure: most notably, he has four arms and is always seen sitting in a lotus position while levitating - the game does not list his race, and he does not appear similar to any others seen before in the game.

When first encounted, Praevus will be surrounded by a spinning ring of energy shields (the shields will morph between 3 shapes: circles, rectangles, and a shield shape - this only slightly alters their hit boxes.) The shields will absorb damage intended for the dark wizard until they are destroyed. Note that certain attacks can punch through the shields and strike Praevus directly, such as the energy beam from Lightbringer, as well as area-effect explosions if placed properly. Once the shields are gone, they will not return during the battle.

During the battle, he will teleport between 3 separate alcoves, never pursuing the player directly. There does not appear to be any pattern to his teleportation, and he does not teleport more frequently when his hitpoints are low (unlike D'sparil.) His attacks are entirely ranged, so he has no need for melee capabilities.

Praevus has several magical attacks: a series of energy stars that will track the player and deal moderate damage, a flame column that appears on top of the player for light damage, a slow-moving fire wave that sweeps the chamber away from him - this attack is extremely damaging, and a thunderstorm that calls down lightning from the heavens. This final attack can be deadly, though it is usually relatively easy to avoid.

As damage is inflicted on the dark wizard, he will eventually cry out in pain and raise up his arms to shield himself for a few moments: this is a good sign that the battle is progressing well. Later on in the fight, when this happens the chamber will start to collapse with columns falling to ruins (the collapsing columns typically will not damage the player and are just for show.)

Finally, when defeated, he explodes in a burst of light and the souls of the 3 Serpent Riders are freed before they vanish into the unknown...

Tricks: If one enters the final chamber while invisible, Praevus may not immediately react to the player's presence. Combine this with a weapon capable of piercing his shields and directly damaging him, and one can get in a significant amount of damage on the wizard before he's able to respond.

Additionally, the teleporter into his chamber is not blocked off once the battle begins. This lets the player run from the chamber, return to the atrium area and collect more items, and then return to the battle.