Death wyvern

The Death Wyvern patrolling in the Hypostyle

The death wyvern is the first boss encountered in Hexen, dwelling in a secluded cavern and guarding the exit to the Hypostyle. Killing the death wyvern is the key to unlocking the bars in front of the exit, and hence completing the Shadow Wood hub. The death wyvern is a returning enemy in Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, where four of them are patrolling the outdoor areas of Brackenwood, without, however, serving there as a boss creature. According to the manual:

"Like the Reivers, these creatures are Undead, and their thirst for the blood of living creatures is surpassed only by their hatred of anything but themselves. The Death Wyvern is a formidable opponent, and should be dispatched immediately - if not sooner."

― Hexen instruction manual

Combat characteristics

Wyverns move along a set pathway, and attacks any players that get in its line of sight, by shooting medium-fast fireballs which explode on contact. It fires continuously as long as the player is in its path, but cannot adjust its facing to keep the player targeted if he moves away. When one of the fireballs hits the ground or a wall, not only will it make short work of anything standing there, but after a short delay, that same spot bursts into flame again, making the death wyvern's single attacks more damaging than other enemies in the game. The presence of other enemies to block the player's path can thus make the death wyvern's attack more deadly by preventing escape from the residual explosions.

The death wyvern cannot turn around in mid-flight, and is only capable of changing directions in wide arcs, so the best way to take one out is with the Wings of Wrath: the player can just fly behind the Death Wyvern while attacking it with close-range weapons. For a mage the Arc of Death is also handy as a hit from it will lock on to the otherwise difficult to target wyvern. The death wyvern has 640 hit points.

Technical

The death wyvern uses a different AI from other creatures, and cannot function if the map is not set up correctly for it. The first requirement is that the wyvern be given another object with a matching TID to its own; this will be its first destination upon awakening. In the Hypostyle a hapless ettin serves this purpose and appears to be slain by the wyvern during its awakening. The other requirement is a network of at least two map spots to serve as waypoints. The attributes of each waypoint specify the TIDs of one to five randomly chosen next destinations for the wyvern to fly to.

Outside of flying to its waypoints, the death wyvern has no pathfinding AI and will become stuck if a wall or solid object blocks its route to its chosen waypoint.

If set up incorrectly, the wyvern may remain stationary and repeat its sight scream continuously.