Greater Priest

The **Greater Priest** is a common cybernetic enemy in *Ion Fury*. He is armed with a Ion bow and makes frequent use of its alternate fire mode, even at long range. He is recognizable from afar by his red cape and deep, echoing, augmented voice. They make a distinct bow charging sound while attacking, giving you a simple indication of hiding away from their line of sight or bear the consequences of it.

Scary thing about them is, they're one of a kind enemy to wipe you right away with a single well charged bolt barrage from long, hard to react distances as difficulty scales up. When noticed, *Greater Priest* will try to take cover or attempt steers depending upon the presence of obstacles between him and target; if there are solid obstacles from his sightline, he'll keep his position else, he may choose to cover distance by going closer to pelt you with charged bolts. They have a distinctive charge up sound for the Ion bow they carrying and just like when the player wielding it longer Greater Priest wind it up, larger the bolt barrage will spray for and deal more damage per bolt.

Always be on the move when dealing with them at the open or try to take cover right away when you heard them charging their bow. However it is possible to duck under their line of fire when the cultist have released their bolt barrage. Since they aim mostly at your upper body, if you crouch as you hear the sound cue of bolt barrage being fired, it may go above you. If player crouches too early before sound cue of the shot, Priest will have enough time to correct their aim. By positioning, it's ill advised to crouch at the sight of their porches at the open for being a sitting target or when at too close at the open. When trying to take cover, always use obstacles around or be sure they're at an elevated floor above you when you get near for a potshot. By taking cover, keeping distance or being on the move and crouching when you heard the sound cue of bolts fired, you can avert the threat momentarily to finish them at a better time once you dealt with what's infront of you.

He can be killed by two buckshot Disperser blasts from medium distances, or just one if at close range and aimed at the head. A well aimed, precise headshot from a 12-gauge shell at close distance also has a chance to gib them right away and drop armor shards on their death as a reward. As they appear in all kinds of elevated areas and ambush you from distance instead of approaching right in front of you, best retaliation answer is generally secondary fire of Loverboy to clear them as you enter their line of sight. At very long distances where Loverboy does not lock-on to targets a few manually aimed magnum shots might decapitate them, else Ion bow can dispatch them at range one by one.

In a crowded close range ambush, Disperser grenades proven to be superior to clear their porches if you have no where to hide or cover from their charged bolts. It rarely worths using Chain gun, Clusterpuck or Bowling bombs against them as it would be an overkill or waste but at rare occassions due to their advantageous positioning and being at the vicinity of stronger enemies they must be immediately dispatched for a recovery. If you manage to turn them into gibs by any explosive, Disperser or Chain gun headshots, they'll reward you with armor shards on death just like other cybernetic henchmen.

While having low-medium hit points, being lit on fire by Penetrator or being tazed by Electrifryer or Ion bow bodyshots do not faze them and they'll recover from stun and flinch states fairly quick compared to their lesser counter-part enemies. They'll keep charging their bow in hopes to deal damage before them succumb to the fire and shake off taze effects to charge up theirs right away. Their movement speed, reaction time, single shot accuracy and bow charge speed scale up with difficulty, while delay between bolt barrages and decision making for chase or cover also get shorter. When killed, they have a small chance of dropping Ion bow quiver to replenish your bolt ammunition.

## Trivia

* Although they were present in the initial release of the Preview Campaign, the crossbow could not be picked up from dead greater cultists nor otherwise until the Heskel's House of Horrors update.

## Gallery

* Greater Cultist Sprite
* Greater Cultist Kneeling Sprite