Hermit

**Alva Lorenz**, also known as the **Hermit**, is a Difficulty Level 2 Hunter available for purchase after the completion of the prologue. He is one of **28** playable Hunters added to Identity V.

—Alva Lorenz (Deduction Quest No. 12)

## Appearance

Alva is an alarmingly tall and slender man with extremely pale skin, short, cropped white hair slicked back neatly, thick, furrowed black brows, a sculpted nose, pouty, pale lips, and haunting eyes with black sclera and amber irises. His body and face are ravaged with electrocution scars and burns in a nasty, blood red.

He wears a tattered dark grey priest's cloak with a high, rounded collar, shoulder-length sleeves, fraying coattails, and silver hems over a white shirt with loose, elbow-length sleeves, a dull and dark wine waistcoat with three dull silver buttons, skinny dark blue trousers, and pointed black shoes with heels. White linen bandages wrap tightly around his entire neck and arms, though the gaps beneath reveal a monstrosity of blood red flesh, presumably also electrocution scars. He wears a silver chain with a silver key with a yellow crystal embedded in it hung around his neck, and grasps a black, electromagnetic, metal scepter with the top crooked into a sharp, branch-like hook with a black, electromagnetic, metal sphere floating within, a gold carved figure of a cat curling just beneath the hook, and the hook and handle wrapped in white linen bandages in his right hand.

## Gameplay

The Hermit is a Hunter who specializes in controlling and stunning Survivors, as well as constantly deal damage slightly more than his original damage. He is able to Bestow positive polarities upon Survivors as soon as they touch a Cipher Machine, which they can reverse after a period of time, in which case Survivors will take the same damage as their teammates with the same polarity upon said teammate being hit, excluding Terror Shock. He can also create an orb and then an electromagnetic field which charges uncharged Survivors and stuns Survivors with the opposite polarity upon impact with an object, distribute and hinder decoding and gate opening progress, launch a Ball Lightning to create an orb, and even teleport straight to its location if imbued with his will.

### External Traits and Abilities

Below is a list of Hermit's intrinsic traits and abilities. For more in-depth information, please check the individual pages.

 Miracle | 0

### Character Statistics

**Press "Expand" to see the character's statistics.**

#### Movements and Interactions:

* Model volume: Radius 0.38 m
* Movement Speed: 4.64 m/sec
* Turning speed: 800.0 degree(s)/s
* Duration of vaulting over windows: 2.0 sec
* Duration of destroying pallets: 2.67 sec
* Duration of being stunned: 3.59 sec

#### Normal attack:

* Launching action for normal attack: 0.4 sec
* Effective range of normal attack: 3.37 m
* Duration of recovery action from missed normal attacks: 0.66 sec
* Duration of recovery action from normal attack hits: 3.52 sec

#### Charged attack:

* Launching action for charged attack: 1.15 sec
* Effective range of charged attack: 5.92 m
* Duration of recovery action from missed charged attacks: 0.47 sec
* Duration of recovery action from charged attack hits: 3.04 sec

#### Ballooning:

* Duration of ballooning: 1.87 sec
* Duration of being stunned after Survivor escaped: 5.92 sec
* Launching action for ballooning: 0.47 sec
* Effective range of ballooning: 3.04 m

#### Others:

* Fear radius: 32.07 m
* Duration of recovery action from hitting scene objects: 0.89 sec

### Gameplay Tips

**Press "Expand" to see tips about playing as and against this Hunter.**

#### As Hermit

* Connecting cipher machines immediately when the game starts heavily improves your chance of cipher controlling as doing so will slow down the decoding progress outright and the survivors who decode those connected ciphers will receive the charge, allowing you to share the damage to them. Note that any charges will be removed upon receiving damage until a survivor touches a connected cipher or comes in contact with a lightning orb.
	+ If you are confident, you can risk spending a lot of time hunting the same survivor and shares the damage to everyone else to improve your chair guarding game. It isn't recommended to do so but possible and when you manage to pull off, it is rewarding.
		- Otherwise, at least share the damage to other survivors once. No matter of how much it has been shared, they will still be injured unless there is a Doctor.
* Despite having the ability for hunting in early game, you should remain calm with your chase.
	+ You can utilize the Hunt persona if your play style prefers not to share damage a lot early on.
* Hermit's charged attack range is significantly longer than his normal attack. Utilize it like Xie Bi'an (White Guard) or The Feaster.
* Take note that connecting cipher machines together only takes away 15% of decoding progress in total. Most of the decoding progress are only spread to other cipher machines. This means that if you leave all the remaining cipher machines connected when survivors only need to decode 1 more, survivors can prime the cipher machine from any cipher machine on the map.
	+ This is where cutting the connector yourself plays a role. Check the decoding progress of each cipher machines. If a cipher is nearly finished on the last cipher machine, cut the connector.
* With the ability that Hermit can share the damage, Impact persona is proven to be effective as this buys even more time to stall the decoding progress.
* Just like Photographer, the extra damage from Hermit's regular attacks allows you to 2 shot Mercenary without letting him delay the damage, assuming that he isn't injured in the first place at all.
	+ With this fact, Hermit is a great counter to Mercenary, especially since he can share the damage.
* If harassers like Forward are nearby and you are waiting to pick up a survivor, apply a charge to the harasser if they don't already have one, and then put down a charge where the survivor is downed to prevent a stun when you pick up the survivor.
	+ If done correctly, you can pick up the survivor and land a hit on the harasser as well.
* When camping, if the rescuer has a charge, you can use the lightning orbs of the opposite polarity to stun them and either delay or prevent the rescue entirely. If they don't already have a charge, give them one and quickly switch to the opposite polarity.
* Electric charges are best aimed by using the top of Hermit's head as a guide to where they will land, similar to using Ripper's hat as a scope.
* When using Attachment, Hermit can still use Miracle, allowing him to aim from a higher viewpoint.
	+ This can also help with faster stuns, as you don't need to go through the aiming animation and can still switch polarities.
	+ Keep in mind, Miracle cannot pass through walls like Attachment can.
* Attachment can be used to bait survivors into rescuing, and then canceled to terror shock them, with mechanics similar to Geisha's falling trick.
* Hermit can use Attachment from second floors or other platform locations, such as the big boat on Lakeside Village, or the roller coaster stops on Moonlit River Park. This allows him to move even greater distances, since he can view a target location from a higher standpoint.

#### Against Hermit

* Hermit's power collapses once all cipher machines are decoded, similarly to "Undead" but less extreme. Unlike "Undead" however, Hermit has a powerful cipher stalling ability, rendering cipher rushing tactic ineffective. Take note that the exit gates can be connected, and will give you an electrical charge.
	+ This means that all decoder type survivors (Lawyer, Mechanic, The Mind's Eye etc.) are weak against Hermit.
* Try to decode unconnected ciphers, as your goal is still to decode 5 ciphers in total, not all 7. Generally, it's best to not spread out progress among ciphers when possible. Decoding a cipher not connected in a circuit can speed up your decoding progress overall.
* Teammates should try to take turns sharing damage with the kiter. If each decoding teammate shares a hit or two before getting healed, the kiting survivor can contain the hunter for much longer than if they were to take all the damage alone.
* Survivors with extreme kiting abilities such as Forward, Wildling, First Officer, etc. can heavily delay the time Hermit can hunt in early game.
	+ However with the instinct of experienced players, the Hermit player will already avoid hunting these survivors.
	+ Once Hermit unlocks the Attachment ability, these survivors' kiting power are negated, especially that Hermit can stun you with the ability as well.
* Survivors with damage blocking ability such as Professor and Seer can be excellent in preventing other survivors from taking damage.
	+ The only exception is Perfumer whose damage reversing ability from the Euphoria cannot reverse the shared damage dealt to other survivors.
* Doctor is Hermit's biggest counter- if there is a Doctor present on the team, she should tank hits for teammates or otherwise share a polarity.
* Similarly to Xie Bi'an (White Wu Chang) and The Feaster, kite looping can deny Hermit's inhumane charged attack range.
	+ Take note however that Hermit can stun you instead if you have a charge attached.
* Any charges can be removed by stepping into a locker.

## Concept / Design Notes

### Planning design ideas

The "Prisoner" Luca Balsa and the Hermit Alva Lorenz take the roles of teacher and student centered around the perpetual motion machine. Their stories are focused on said machine, and different concepts of "structure" and "energy" presented in their skills. In the story, Alva Lorenz was once a famous inventor which, after experiencing a series of accidents, dies tragically. Miraculously he was resurrected by the Eye of Darkness after the fire, and has converted to new faith since then.

The two key words of "science" and "faith" can be extracted from his character story, so in terms of character skills, he has the powerful electromagnetic abilities after the change bestowed by the Eyes of Darkness. In order to strengthen the characteristics and highlight the background story, Alva's appearance is more inclined to the priesthood. He is wrapped in layers of thin bandages and a dark robe, with lightning-like electric shock scars on his body, which embodies his belief hidden in the secular world, as becoming one of the Eyes of Darkness after experiencing resurrection through electric shocks and fires. The tall and straight figure emphasize his arrogance, indifference, and majestic temperament. The vertical pupils, similar to the cat's eyes. are the symbol of the Eye of Darkness and embodiment of his new identity.

### Art design ideas

According to the background of the Hermit story, we decided to design him as an indifferent and proud priest, with eyes full of melancholy after being repeatedly hurt by the past. Overall attire references are religiously inspired. In the first sketches, we experimented with different clothing and hair styles. The main problem is that the modeling ratio is too realistic, he lacks desirable features, and his temperament is not strong enough.

In the second version of the sketch, we adjusted the proportions of the model, and changed his clothing to a white shirt, a vest, and high-necked robe (which reflects the story of the character.)

Finally, we adjusted the modeling structure, strengthen his temperament, and complete the refinements.

### Character details

1. His skin is covered with bandages, a hideous and terrifying scars could be vaguely seen under them.
2. A necklace in the shape of vertical eye is worn on the hermit's chest, perhaps this is related to the mysterious power he has obtained...
3. The scepter in his hand is shaped like a standing black cat, mysterious and noble.
4. The entangled wires are faintly visible on the scepter. There are two buttons on the grip, to switch between the magnetic poles.

## Change Log

September 1st, 2022
* Adjustment: Improved the logic of landing spot selection for Hermit's Second Dawn, allowing Hermit to access different levels easier when encountering some obstruction.
* Adjustment: Optimized the usage logic of the Hermit's Reverse Polarity, it can now be used during the backswing of some abilities.
* Adjustment: Improved Miracle's judgment when used on the Toy Merchant while she is gliding, allowing it to take effect directly.

September 22nd, 2022
* Adjustment: Added the option to set a custom button size and position for the Hermit's ability of Reverse Polarity and Meditation. (Mobile only)

January 4th, 2024
* Adjustment: Added a Descend button on the left of the screen after the Hermit uses Attachment and gains aerial vision.

## Trivia

* He was revealed alongside Antiquarian at the 2022 Call of the Abyss finals.
* He shares his name with the middle name of Thomas Edison.
	+ His apprentice, the "Prisoner", is based on Nikola Tesla. Tesla worked under Edison for a short time before the two became rivals.
* He was originally mentioned on "Prisoner"'s Background Story and later on "Disciple"'s Character Day Letters before his official release.
* Hermit shares an English voice actor with Xiao Wang, Antiquarian's father.
* The electrocution scars on his body are also known as Lichtenberg figures.
* He and "Disciple" apparently share the same god as their "savior".

## Other Languages

 🇺🇸 | English
 🇲🇾 | Bahasa Melayu
 🇹🇭 | ภาษาไทย(Thai) | ปุโรหิต (อัลวา ลอเรนซ์)
 🇻🇳 | Tiếng Việt(Vietnamese) | Ẩn Sĩ (Alvar Lorentz)

## References

1. ↑ While Hermit's current career is also a priest of the Eye of Darkness, the exact career term was never confirmed.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Translated from the official 2024 Character Days announcement post on Weibo https://weibo.com/6140485374/4985311753405780
3. ↑  In-game Voice. https://wiki.biligame.com/dwrg/%E9%9A%90%E5%A3%AB
4. ↑ In Academy Cafe Live 2D (Twitter), In Comiket 102 Live 2D & Promotional Video
5. ↑ As Lead Consultant in the Halloween 2023 Song. Announcement by the song's writer - Instagram
6. ↑ In Hermit's Character Trailer and as Warden in the Season 22 Essence 3 Trailer. Announcements by the voice actor - Twitter, Twitter
7. ↑ Hermit Design Notes - https://weibo.com/6140485374/M4vz1v7EZ