Charred Warrior

The Charred Warrior is an aggressive undead melee enemy found in the Ashlands. It appears as a reanimated skeleton clad in scorched armor and wielding a large two-handed sword. Some variants wear distinctive curved helmets, giving them the look of the remnants of ancient, fallen armies. Although its movement is slow, it is still dangerous up close, and its attacks can be lethal if misread.

In combat, the Charred Warrior relies on a small set of sword attacks, including normal strikes and feints that mimic the opening of a real attack before changing timing or angle. Its standard swing is a vertical sword slash with a 3-meter, 115-degree arc that deals 150 Slash damage and can be used every 3 seconds when it is within 1.6 meters of a player. Its thrust is a forward stab that reaches 3 meters in a slightly arcing line, dealing 160 Pierce damage on the same 3-second cadence at close range. The feint versions are especially dangerous because they share the same windup as the regular attacks: the swing feint pauses before delivering a different slash with a 3-meter, 77.3-degree vertical arc for 130 Slash damage, while the thrust feint pauses before finishing with an upward swing for 160 Pierce damage in a 3-meter, 60-degree vertical arc.

These feints are difficult to read visually, but they can be identified by their distinct audio cues. Both feint attacks share the same sound set, separate from the normal swing and thrust sounds. A reliable way to handle them is to begin a parry against the first part of the motion; if no parry animation occurs, the attack is a feint, and the block can be quickly released and raised again to catch the second hit. Because the animations closely resemble the normal attacks, the Charred Warrior can also punish players who try to roll through its range instead of fully escaping.

• The enemy’s attacks are all close-range and trigger only when it is near the player.
• Feints are the main threat, since they are designed to look like ordinary swings or thrusts.
• Listening for the attack sounds is one of the best ways to distinguish real attacks from feints.
• It can catch rolling players if they remain within range during the delayed follow-through.

A Charred Warrior can also appear in groups, making its timing and feint patterns harder to track in crowded fights. Its appearance, armor, and weaponry mark it as one of the Ashlands’ undead frontline enemies.