Anura is the second dungeon or "Realm" you'll likely end up exploring in Cult of the Lamb. This roguelite town-sim made by Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital is a big hit so far for many reasons, with its core gameplay being one of the largest.
After you slash their way to the end of the Anura dungeon, you'll come face to face with the Heretic guarding it, Heket. So, let's look at who Heket is, what moves she has, and the easiest way for you to beat her.
Who Heket Is & How She Fights
Heket is the second Bishop players will brush up against in their quest to bring back The One Who Waits, and she's a fiery one. Heket had her throat slit in her confrontation with the Red Crowns' original owner, and as such, she uses starvation and famine against to Lamb's Cult in order to try and stop their progress.
Of course, given the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse symbolism this game seems to be going for, Heket is meant to represent Famine. Additionally, she also shares a name (sorta) with the Egyptian Fertility god Heqet, who is also coincidentally also a frog.
Heket's Attacks
Heket actually has a fair number of different attacks, but a lot of them have very similar animations. So, unlike other Bosses such as Leshy, this one is difficult for players to see coming beforehand and react to, so you'll need to react as the attack is happening. That said, most of her attacks are pretty simple in general, so it's not too difficult.
| Attack Name | Description | Visual Tell |
|---|---|---|
| Mob Summons | Unlike other Bosses, Heket doesn't directly "summon" the mobs for her fight. Rather, they just come in from the area outside the sides of the arena periodically over the fight. Also, doesn't seem to be any mob from the Anura region, but just the small red frogs that look like little Zepars. | No visual tell, frogs just hop into the arena from time to time from the side "grassy" area. |
| Leaping Attack | Heket jumps in a direction, sometimes at the Lamb, sometimes not, and creates a shockwave around her upon landing that can damage the player. | This is Heket's "quickest" attack and also the one she'll likely use the most. The only real visual tell is that Heket braces to jump, extending her forearms and placing her weight towards her back end before jumping immediately afterward. |
| Bomb Bug Burp | The Boss expels a large red "fly" of some sort that's covered in yellow lesions and explodes on impact with the ground. There's a blinking telegraph on the ground where the Bug will land. Has a couple of different "patterns" for this attack
| Heket quite literally looks like she's burping while using this attack. She closes her eyes with her mouth closed to build up to it, opens her eyes when she opens her mouth to expel the Bug, and repeats until she's done. |
| Tongue Attack | Heket aims her tongue or tongues and then unleashes them, creating a shockwave where the tongue makes impact. Depending on her health, she might only use one tongue or many tongues. | Very similar telegraph to Bug Burp, Heket closes her eyes then quickly opens them and her mouth to send out her tongue. The best visual tells are the telegraph(s) on the ground, as they're small than the Bomb Bug ones and let the player know what attack is coming. |
| Fly Swarm | The Boss lets loose a swarm of damaging flies that hone in on the Lamb. These flies can either be hit to destroy or will pop on their own if the player avoids them for a few seconds. | Again, similar to telegraphs for Tongue Attack and Bug Burp, but Heket does stretch her head upward a bit more while using this attack. Very quick animation overall. |
| Half-Health Frog Summon | At around half health, Heket jumps off the screen and leaves behind two Zepars, the previous Boss of Anura just before Heket. Once you defeat these two summons (the smaller summons don't impact this), Heket lands back down in the middle of the arena with the shockwave on impact. | Doesn't really have a visual tell other than knowing it's coming when her HP bar reaches about half-empty. |
Tips For Beating Heket
Now, Heket can be a bit of a frustrating fight, as her jumping attacks and her tongue attacks have deceptively large hitboxes, making it easy to get hit. Because of this, let's go over a few of the easiest tips for knocking this Bishop down a peg:
- Heket's Leaping Attack can be deceptive at first. Players might troll to roll when she jumps but should instead start the roll when she's about to land.
- Many of Heket's attacks aren't incredibly safe to attack Heket while she uses them like some other Bosses' are. You should try and focus on survival and evasion over raw damage for this Bishop in particular.
- The Fly Swarm that Heket expels from time to time is another deceptive attack. You may instinctively try to use your weapons or curses to clear out all the flies, but this often leads to taking a least one hit of damage. However, it's much easier to just avoid the Swarm altogether and wait for them to naturally disappear after a few seconds
- Lastly, watch the hitbox for Heket's Tongue Attacks. The blinking telegraphs are deceptive, as the small circle is where the tongues make impact, but they also release a shockwave around them that can hurt as well, similar to Heket's Leaping Attack.
Outside of all that, the Heretic of Anura isn't all too bad. Much like most of the other fights in this game, since the combat is deceptively simple, you just need to roll at the right time and punish Heket just after her attacks are finished.
