Hornbreaker Prince

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**Hornbreaker Prince** is the Original Champion  of the Hellhorned .

His Starter Card is Torch.

## Lore

*Cursed with no horns, the only son of Grrrg has taken to collecting the horns of his opponents, dispelling any doubt of his fighting prowess and convincing me of his rightful place as champion of the Hellhorned.*

### Battle Quotes

* *For the Hellhorned!*
* *For Grrrg!*
* *It's a shame the Winged have no horns.*
* *Once Seraph is defeated, I'm leaving this train.*
* *What did you say about my horns?*
* *No being should have to live in this steel deathtrap.*
* *I'm not fond of this cold...*
* *Raaargh!*
* *You want to hear where I got these horns?*
* *Too quick for you?*
* *You will make a fine trophy!*
* *Hellhorned, rally to me!*
* *I could always use another trophy!*
* *It's gonna be a bumpy ride!*
* *My horns are sharp!*
* *You will fear the Hellhorned!*
* *Maybe I'll start collecting wings.*
* *My horns are quick!*
* *Soon we will return to the Plains.*

## Upgrades

**Slay:** +10.

**Slay:** +20.

 Wrathful

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 10.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 2.**

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 15.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 3.**

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 25.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 5.**

## Strategy

### Brawler

**Hornbreaker Prince'**s **Brawler** line gets a lot of **Multistrike**, giving it high damage potential. It's up to your deck to take advantage of this.

The most immediate problem with the **Brawler** line is its lack of initial power and lack of ability to scale that power on its own - its damage is the lowest of the three upgrade lines, even with Multistrike taken into account, and while its inital Armor is nice, it isn't sturdy enough to serve as a great tank. However, it is a lot easier for Hellhorned cards to scale  than it is for them to scale Multistrike, which gives this line a lot of potential. Cards that give Rage such as Fledgling Imp, Rage Serum, Ritual of Battle, and effects that amplify Rage like Resonant Shard, Collection of Tails, or Deranged Brute are what you are looking for.

Taking this upgrade line in Limbo on high Covenant Ranks is dangerous unless you either already have some ways to scale its  or have a strong start in general, but it is capable of getting very strong.

Taking upgrades in either the **Reaper** or the **Brawler** line later may be worth it if you haven't found great ways to scale its  or find yourself really needing the roles those lines fill, but given how strong Multistrike 4 can be with the right support, this can feel like a missed opportunity.

### Reaper

**Hornbreaker Prince'**s **Reaper** line hits hard from the start of the fight and gets stronger with every kill, capable of amassing enough  to kill bosses in just a few turns with the right support.

That said, it may require the most support of the three upgrade lines.

The most immediate weakness of this upgrade line is that it doesn't improve on **Hornbreaker Prince'**s 6 in any way, meaning it should be behind allied units at all times. **Sweep** and **Thorns** on enemies are an enormous threat to this upgrade line, and you should avoid taking Retribution unless your deck is strong enough to handle the combat without **Hornbreaker Prince**. It's critical that you find a source of defense such as Armor for **Hornbreaker Prince** if you have a deck that relies on **Hornbreaker Prince** on this upgrade line to handle bosses, as Highpriest to the Light and Sower of Sorrow are enormous threats to such decks.

Another need for this upgrade line is kill support. **Hornbreaker Prince** has high , but not enough to kill most front line units at the start of the fight. If it fails to get early kills, it won't be able to snowball its  over the course of the match. This can be fixed by softening up enemies with spells, lower floors, or the unit in front of **Hornbreaker Prince**. Boosting **Hornbreaker Prince'**s  early with Rage can work too.

Onehorn's Tome and other sources of **Multistrike** are extremely desirable for this upgrade line - both because of its high base  and because this will allow it to kill multiple enemies per turn, scaling its  to tremendous levels.

Mixing the **Reaper** line and the **Wrathful** line is very much not recommended, as **Wrathful** is intended to be a front line unit while **Reaper** is not. However, you will usually want to mix in a **Brawler** upgrade as either your second or third upgrade, especially if you do not have any sources of **Multistrike**. If you have no other ways to give **Hornbreaker Prince** **Multistrike**, **Brawler I** + **Reaper II** is almost strictly better than **Reaper III** (same comparison goes with **Brawler I** + **Reaper I** vs **Reaper II**):

* **Brawler I** + **Reaper II** has the same base damage and scaling/kill as **Reaper III** with **Multistrike** taken into consideration
* **Brawler I** + **Reaper II** has Armor 10 to help with **Reaper'**s issue with **Sweep** and **Thorns**
* **Brawler I** + **Reaper II** has a chance to get 2 kills in one turn, scaling twice

### Wrathful

**Hornbreaker Prince's** **Wrathful** line lets it serve as a tank for its team, snowballing into both an offensive and defensive threat by the end of the fight while providing space to tuck offensive back line units.

Unlike the **Reaper** line, the **Wrathful** line does not need to get early kills to scale, as it gains  by being hit. Instead, its longevity is very dependent on getting kills. The issue with this is that it often needs to take quite a bit of damage before it reliably gets kills, and its initial , while the best of the three upgrade lines, is not too impressive. As such, Armor to keep it alive longer and other sources of Rage to accelerate it early in the fight are important. Spells such as Torch and Imps to block in a pinch also help control how much damage **Hornbreaker Prince** takes over the course of a match, though it may be better to let **Hornbreaker Prince** take the hit if it is able to. Torch can even be used on **Hornbreaker Prince** to trigger its **Revenge** ability.

The **Wrathful** line benefits immensely from any means of giving it Thorns. Any enemy that dies to Thorns will trigger its **Slay** effect, almost always granting more Armor than was lost to the attack. This allows the **Hornbreaker Prince** to take hits from weak enemies, clearing them out while gaining both Armor and Rage from each hit, before using that Rage to hit a surviving enemy hard. If you can get Thorns on the Prince early in a battle, he can very quickly become a tank, sweeper and bosskiller all in one unit.

Branding Rite is a notably strong spell for this upgrade line, as it is able to do a lot of things that this upgrade line likes, including scaling **Hornbreaker Prince's** offense and defense simultaneously by using it on **Hornbreaker Prince**. Deranged Brute is a very strong partner for this line, increasing both its ability to get kills earlier and general scaling.

Onehorn's Tome can be immensely powerful for this line. While the Fragile debuff essentially reduces the Prince's HP to 1, his survivability comes from the Armor generated by his Slay effect. After only three kills thanks to the Multistrike granted by Onehorn's Tome, the Prince will have gained more Armor than the HP he "lost," allowing the Tome to *increase* his survivability while also doubling his damage output. As long as he can survive long enough to score those three extra kills, Onehorn's Tome provides a massive buff.

Mixing the **Reaper** line and the **Wrathful** line is very much not recommended, as **Wrathful** is intended to be a front line unit while **Reaper** is not. Mixing in a **Brawler** upgrade is worth strongly considering, especially without other sources of **Multistrike**, as **Multistrike** can help **Wrathful** **Hornbreaker Prince** scale quickly defensively if it can get multiple kills without sacrificing too much initial longevity, with roughly the same overall offensive power.

## History

*See: Version History*

**Slay:** +10.

**Slay:** +20.

 Reaper (1.0.6)

**Slay:** +10.

**Slay:** +20.

 Wrathful (1.0.0)

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 5.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 1.**

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 10.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 2.**

**Slay:** Gain **Armor 20.**
**Revenge:** Gain **Rage 4.**

 1.0.6
 2.0.0