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One of the best features ofHeroes Of Hammerwatch 2is that it doesn’t throw you in the deep end with mechanics. Features are slowly bled to you the further you get in, and one particularly fun thing you get to wrap your head around are Pyres. But don’t worry, it’s pretty straightforward.
These are more than just spooky set dressing as they’re part of a core fixture of the game that you’ll have to contend with fairly often after you get past a certain point. They’re heavily intertwined with Shadow Curse, and if you’re afflicted with it then this guide will help. To dive right in, here’s a helpful guide to Pyres in Heroes Of Hammerwatch 2.
What Are Pyres?
Pyres are basically a shrine like the potion refill that you interact with to remove Shadow Curse. This isa debuffthat’s applied when you pick up Shadow Cursed Itemsfrom a certain floating shadow ball merchant in the Courts level. When applied,Shadow Curse lowers your armor ratingbased on the amount of Curse Stacks applied by the item.
The Pyre’s themselves resemblea large bonfire that’s sitting in a stone hearth, and are always found within a room that haspurple candleslining its walls. To use a Pyre, just walk up to it andhit the interact button, the mound will light up and stacks of Shadow Curse will be removed from your character.
Worth noting is thatthe amount of curse removed is relatively random, but it does take off at least half or a minimum of eight. This also applies if you have less than eight, so you’ll essentially clean yourself out in those cases.It doesn’t cost anything to use, but it only works if you are Shadow Cursed.
For example, if you had say200 Armor, but 100 Shadow Curse. Then your armor rating would be 100. Cleansing at a Pyre wouldreduce the curse to 50, thus bumping your Armor stat up to 150. It’s a relatively simple system that’s easy to manipulate once you’ve encountered it on a few runs.
Where To Find Pyres
Whilst Pyres may sound like something you’ll be dealing with often, in reality you won’t always run into them. Unlike other parts of the game such asthe Lightning Bird or Travelling Cook, Pyres are randomly spawning. So you could go an entire run Shadow Cursed without ever encountering one.
For first time players,Pyres won’t appear until the mid-game part, roughly when you start going into theDark Citadel and Court areas. But if you’re already visiting those areas, then it’s worthhunting down the Architect. Thisfriendly NPCcan be paid a small fee at the start of each run toguarantee a Pyrespawning.
To find the Architect you’ll need tofight all the way to the Crypt. From there look for a large room that’s filled with an absolute ton of monsters andan obelisk that fires shards of iceat you. He won’t always appear in that location, but once he does and yousend him to your camp, you’ll be able to pay him to spawn Pyres for you.
Should You Always Use Pyres?
So fun fact about Pyres, you don’t really need to use them on every run. Whilst Shadow Curse can be a complete bane toclasses that are armour dependant, mainly melee focused ones. For those that useranged attacksit can be quite beneficial, and even recommended in certain cases.
For example a Rogue,the Wizard, Warlock and Sorceror can geta nice powerboost from Shadow Cursed Itemswithout having to deal with the armor deficiencies. This is because they’re alreadyglass canons by default. So you’ll be used to being spongy, and by that point you should havebuilt a character that can melt everythingfrom range anyway.
So next time you find yourself stuck with a Shadow Curse, instead ofbee-lining it to a Pyretry checking whether the curse might be beneficial to you in the long run. It often is.
