The Crone

Learn the Crone's unique abilities in Pyre, including her fan-shaped aura cast, swift slithering dash, and powerful masteries. Master her controls and strategies.

The Crone is a versatile character in Pyre, excelling at both offense and defense. Her unique abilities and masteries offer distinct playstyles.

Basic Controls

• Cast: Throws aura out in a fan shape in front of the Crone.
• Jump: A quick pounce with good distance but limited mid-air control.
• Sprint: A rapid slithering movement that is fast but harder to control on turns.

Strengths

• Unique fan-shaped aura cast.
• Very fast sprint ability.

Weaknesses

• Slow walking speed.
• Sprint ability is harder to control.
• Non-standard aura shape requires precise aiming.
• Long respawn time.

Masteries

Passions of the Wild Witch

• Tier 1 - Hex of Defeat: Deals an additional 5 damage when the Crone’s Pyre has less health than the adversary’s.
• Tier 2 - Greater Blast: The Crone’s Aura Blast arcs at a wide angle, banishing adversaries in a larger area.
• Tier 2 - Sudden Blast: Greatly reduces the charge-up time for Aura Blast.
• Tier 3 - Stubborn Flame: Adversaries deal -10 damage to the Crone’s Pyre when it has less health than theirs.

Sorceries of the Southern Bogs

• Tier 1 - Hex of Victory: Deals an additional 5 damage when the Crone’s Pyre has more health than the adversary’s.
• Tier 2 - Vital Pounce: Instantly recovers all Stamina after pouncing at an adversary.
• Tier 2 - Serpent Swiftness: Uses 50% less Stamina and moves +30% more quickly while slithering.
• Tier 3 - Feral Curse: Once per Rite, after saluting adversaries, turns them into fast-moving Howlers.

Summary

The Crone is an excellent anti-enemy character who can also score when needed. The fan-shaped aura cast makes banishing enemy characters much easier, especially if you can get down the timing for speed-casting it. The slithering dash is tough to control, but it is remarkably fast, allowing the Crone to easily sprint past slower characters as long as it has stamina. The jump is a very fast pounce, but offers little mid-air control, requiring precise aiming to land on a Pyre or hit an airborne orb carrier. The pounce is also quite stamina-intensive.

The Crone’s other weakness is its odd aura. Crones have a tight, cloud-like aura that doesn’t extend very far from them even with higher Presence. It’s not a small aura or a small character, but it doesn’t spread out in a big circle like the Demon’s, meaning that you have to actively control the Crone and cast its aura at opponents to make it a good defensive character. As such, the defensive mastery tree is often preferred, with the tier three ability that cuts damage to your Pyre while you're behind being especially useful.