Wendigo

Parias fighting two wendigos.

The wendigo is an enemy from Hexen. It appears as a slouched, hulking being of living ice and is typically found in cold environments. The wendigo is one of the more frail creatures in the game, with 120 hit points. As described in the manual:

"This fierce tundra beast fires shards of damaging ice, turning all who fall prey to its icy grip into frozen statues."

― Hexen instruction manual

Combat characteristics

Wendigos shoot a pair of ice balls, each of which fragment into a ring of smaller shards that are subject to gravity. If the player's health is reduced to 0 and the finishing blow is from a wendigo's ice ball, the player will become frozen solid, then shatter after a short while. Monsters that have freezing death states (all save for the heresiarch and Korax) will likewise suffer this fate when killed by a wendigo. Despite being ice-based monsters, wendigos do not have any elemental strengths or weaknesses; they take full damage from the Mage's frost shards and there is no bonus for using fire-based attacks on them.

Wendigos have no pain states at all (they never flinch when they are hit), so ideally they should be killed as quickly as possible. While they are easy to kill, their projectiles can cause heavy damage so it is usually not advisable to engage them at melee range.

Data

Wendigo data
Thing type	8020 (decimal), 1F54 (hex)
Enum	MT_ICEGUY (361)
Appears in	Hexen demo Hexen/DDC expansion
Hit points	120
Speed	14 map units per frame (122.5 map units per second)
Radius	22
Height	75
Mass	150
Reaction time	8 tics
Pain chance	144 (56.25%)
Pain time	1 tics
Flags	4718598 (decimal) 00480006 (hex)
Flags list	1: Obstacle 2: Shootable 19: Puffs vs. blood 22: Affects kill %
Flags2	549720064 (decimal) 20C41000 (hex)
Flags2 list	12: Pass over/under mobj 18: Can stomp (Telefrag) 22: Can push walls 23: Activates monster cross line 29: Does ice damage
Spawns	MT_ICEGUY_FX (iceball) MT_ICEGUY_WISP1 and 2 (vapor)

Sprites & sounds
Sprite name	ICEY
Alert sound	FROSTY1
Active sound	FROSTY1
Pain sound	-
Death sound	-
Freeze sound	ICEBRK1A

State	Frames
Idling	1 [A]
Chasing	4 [ABCD]
Attacking	4 [EFGF]
Hurting	1 [A]
Dying	1 [A]
Frozen	1 [H]

ACS
Name	T_ICEGOLEM
Number	20

Iceball ranged attack
Type	Projectile
Enum	MT_ICEGUY_FX (362)
Velocity	14 map units per tic (490 map units per second)
Damage	1-8
Radius	8
Height	10
Sprite	ICPR
Frames	3 [ABC] (in flight) 5 [DEFGH] (impact)
Sound	FROSTY2 (firing) SHARDS1B (impact)
Flags	67088 (decimal) 00010610 (hex)
Flags list	4: No blocklinks (Inert) 9: No gravity 10: Drops off ledges 16: Projectile
Flags2	536871040 (decimal) 20000080 (hex)
Flags2 list	7: No teleport 29: Does ice damage
Spawns	MT_ICEFX_PUFF (ice trail) MT_ICEGUY_FX2 (shard)

Ice vapor
Enum	MT_ICEGUY_WISP1 (366) MT_ICEGUY_WISP2 (367)
Velocity	0
Radius	20
Height	16
Sprite	ICWS
Frames	9 [ABCDEFGHI] 9 [JKLMNOPQR]
Sound	-
Flags	198160 (decimal) 00030610 (hex)
Flags list	4: No blocklinks (Inert) 9: No gravity 10: Drops off ledges 16: Projectile 17: Alternate shadow
Flags2	128 (decimal) 00000080 (hex)
Flags2 list	7: No teleport

Ice trail
Enum	MT_ICEFX_PUFF (363)
Velocity	0
Radius	1
Height	1
Sprite	ICPR
Frames	5 [IJKLM]
Sound	-
Flags	263696 (decimal) 00040610 (hex)
Flags list	4: No blocklinks (Inert) 9: No gravity 10: Drops off ledges 18: Partial invisibility
Flags2	128 (decimal) 00000080 (hex)
Flags2 list	7: No teleport

Ice shard ranged attack
Type	Projectile
Enum	MT_ICEGUY_FX2 (364)
Velocity	10 map units per tic (350 map units per second)
Damage	0-4
Radius	4
Height	4
Sprite	ICPR
Frames	3 [NOP] (in flight)
Sound	-
Flags	66576 (decimal) 00010410 (hex)
Flags list	4: No blocklinks (Inert) 10: Drops off ledges 16: Projectile
Flags2	536871041 (decimal) 20000081 (hex)
Flags2 list	0: Alternate gravity 7: No teleport 29: Does ice damage

Appearance statistics

In the IWADs the wendigo is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

Single-player
Game / Hub	1-2	3	4-5
Hub 1: Seven Portals	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)
Hub 2: Shadow Wood	-	-	-
Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary	-	-	-
Hub 4: Castle of Grief	-	-	-
Hub 5: Necropolis	Hub 5: Vivarium	Hub 5: Vivarium	Hub 5: Vivarium
Expansion Hub 1: Blight	Hub 1: Catacomb	Hub 1: Catacomb	Hub 1: Catacomb
Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate	-	-	-
Expansion Hub 3: Nave	Hub 3: Ice Hold	Hub 3: Ice Hold	Hub 3: Ice Hold
Expansion Hub 4: Transit	-	-	-

Cooperative
Game / Hub	1-2	3	4-5
Hub 1: Seven Portals	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)	Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)
Hub 2: Shadow Wood	-	-	-
Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary	-	-	-
Hub 4: Castle of Grief	-	-	-
Hub 5: Necropolis	Hub 5: Vivarium	Hub 5: Vivarium	Hub 5: Vivarium
Expansion Hub 1: Blight	Hub 1: Catacomb	Hub 1: Catacomb	Hub 1: Catacomb
Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate	-	-	-
Expansion Hub 3: Nave	Hub 3: Ice Hold	Hub 3: Ice Hold	Hub 3: Ice Hold
Expansion Hub 4: Transit	-	-	-

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

Single-player
Game / Hub	1-2	3	4-5
Hub 1: Seven Portals	16	24	34
Hub 2: Shadow Wood	0	0	0
Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary	0	0	0
Hub 4: Castle of Grief	0	0	0
Hub 5: Necropolis	4	7	7
Hexen	20	31	41
Expansion Hub 1: Blight	10	20	25
Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate	0	0	0
Expansion Hub 3: Nave	49	71	85
Expansion Hub 4: Transit	0	0	0
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel	59	91	110

Cooperative
Game / Hub	1-2	3	4-5
Hub 1: Seven Portals	16	24	34
Hub 2: Shadow Wood	0	0	0
Hub 3: Heresiarch's Seminary	0	0	0
Hub 4: Castle of Grief	0	0	0
Hub 5: Necropolis	4	7	7
Hexen	20	31	41
Expansion Hub 1: Blight	10	20	25
Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate	0	0	0
Expansion Hub 3: Nave	49	71	85
Expansion Hub 4: Transit	0	0	0
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel	59	91	110

Notes

• These frostbitten fiends are fairly rare and can be found in only three or four levels of the original quest, depending on the class the player is using: The Seven Portals (in the area with the second portal to Guardian of Ice), Guardian of Ice, Guardian of Steel, and Vivarium (when playing as the Mage). In Deathkings of the Dark Citadel they appear in the Catacomb and Ice Hold.
• The graphics and behavior of the wendigo's attack resemble those of the iron lich's ice ball in Heretic.
• The term "wendigo" derives from Algonquian mythology, however the Hexen creature bears little resemblance to its namesake.