Sacrifice God Feature: Part Five

Pyro

In anticipation of Sacrifice's ever-nearing release date, we started a recurring feature that profiled each of the game's five gods nearly one month ago. With every update, we've discussed the gods' respective spells and minions, which they make available to players who pledge allegiance to them. To date, we've profiled Charnel, god of strife; Persephone, god of life; James, god of Earth; and Stratos, god of air. Our fifth and final profile features Sacrfice's Pyro, the powerful god of fire. He rules over the land of Pyroborea, an ashen land that lies wasted - forever scorched and burned. Only the most courageous of wizards will choose to stand by his side and accept his twisted view of progress: to burn everything.

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Stratos and Charnel are Pyro's greatest enemies. pyro.wav [1180kb]

Spells
Pyro doesn't know the word to describe or classify his school of sorcery. In fact, all you need to know is that you can use his fire spells for both offensive and defensive purposes, which is why they are some of the most dynamic spells in Sacrifice. What follows is a complete list of all the ones you'll find in Pyro's spell book.

Speed up: Casting this spell will give any targeted creature a hotfoot - no pun intended. The extra burst of speed is perfect for making quick getaways when situations get a little too hot to handle.

Fireball: Take a little piece of Pyro wherever you go. Fireball is a simple yet effective ranged spell that causes a significant amount of damage when thrown at your foes.

Heal: Like all the other gods in Sacrifice, Pyro has the ability to heal your wizard's health. This spell can also be used to regenerate any of your battle-worn minions.

Fire form: Although its effects might appear to be devastating, the fire form spell creates an aura of fire that actually protects your wizard. But although fire form is primarily a defensive spell, you can use it as an offensive spell by casting it on your wizard, running him into a group of enemies, and then watching them burn to cinders.

Ring of fire: More of a tool for torture than anything else, ring of fire envelops enemies in chains of flame that slowly sap the strength and speed of their victims. Only the most powerful of creatures can survive the effects of this spell.

Dragonfire: Casting this spell will summon forth a mighty wyrm of pure fire that will attack multiple targets before it explodes in a blaze of glory.

Explosion: This devastating spell has a wide area of effect, and it ignites any plot of land with a cluster of explosions that can tear apart anything caught unawares.

Fire wall: No, fire wall isn't a handy server that keeps unfriendly hackers at bay. This spell creates a massive wall of fire that can prevent your enemies from escaping your wrath or keep them from attacking your vulnerable forces. Enemies who touch the wall will have their energy rapidly depleted and find their mobility severely handicapped.

Rain of fire: A favorite of gods past and present, this biblical spell parts the skies and calls forth a shower of fire and molten rock. Creatures caught underneath this barrage will most assuredly die an excruciating death.

Blind rage: Blind rage creates within its victims an inner fire that sends them into a blind fury. Creatures affected by this spell will tear each other apart in an attempt to quell their maddening tempers.

Volcano: Easily one of the most visceral and visually pleasing spells in Sacrifice, volcano will raise a fiery mountain from the earth that spouts forth hot rocks and globs of lava into the air and then down onto the enemy creatures below.

Bestiary

By pledging allegiance to gods, you will not only be able to make their lists of powerful magic spells available to you, but you'll also be able to call upon their unique creatures to aid you in your conquests. All the creatures available to your wizard within Sacrifice fall into one of 11 categories. They are pursuers, scouts, flyers, snipers, bruisers, support, bombers, siege, crowd control, juggernauts, and ultimate. Like all the gods, however, Pyro has only ten of these creatures, as he lacks a juggernaut unit. Not that it matters, since Pyro's minions are some of the most powerful you'll find throughout Sacrifice. Their ability to inflict physical as well as fire damage makes them the envy of the other gods. Here's a thorough rundown of all the creatures you'll find in Pyro's menagerie:

Cog (pursuer): In Pyro's menagerie, the cog is one of the few creatures that doesn't inflict any kind of fire damage. The heat it generates is used to power its deadly bludgeoning weapons. When killed, the cog explodes in a cloud of searing steam that will injure any minion within its vicinity, be it an enemy or friendly.

Flame minion (scout): A long time ago, the earth god James gave Pyro a number of earthflings as payment for services rendered. Pyro took the earthflings and transformed them into these flame minions, who now spit fireballs from their mouths. They also have the ability to generate bursts of energy for running away or initiating surprise attacks.

Spitfire (flyer): Although a single spitfire can't take much damage or dole out much punishment, these creatures are actually quite deadly when grouped together. They spit a cone of fire that damages numerous creatures at once, and they are hard to hit when they're swarming together.

Tickferno (support):These four-legged creatures are the results of failed experiments to create a more powerful minion by Pyro. The tickferno can fire a beam of intense heat that doesn't do much damage but can significantly drain its targets of mana, which makes this unit great against spell-casting units.

Firefist (bruiser): If the firefist looks as if it has giant Bunsen burners for fists and fuel tanks strapped around its body, well, that's because it's got burners for fists and tanks around its body. With a devastating punch that causes flame damage and with the ability to inflict more pain as it loses health, the firefist is a formidable melee unit.

Pyromaniac (sniper): Pyromaniacs are actually gnomes that have defected from Persephone's order to worship the god of fire. Their tinkering ways have yielded them a handheld weapon that can hit enemies instantaneously, causing health to be drained from their victims at a significant rate.

Pyrodactyl (bomber): Perhaps one of Pyro's deadliest creatures, the pyrodactyls will swoop down on their enemies from above and spray them with a coat of viscous oil. This oil not only makes the pyrodactyls' targets more flammable and thus susceptible to flame damage, but it also blinds them. Blind units will forget the orders issued to them by their wizards and will remain useless until given new direction.

Bombard (siege): Very close cousins to Pyro's flurries, the bombards heave flaming boulders at their enemies. While not very accurate, these boulders cause a great deal of damage over a wide area, and they can wipe out a small group of enemy minions in a matter of seconds.

There are other creatures that you can get if you fall into favor with Pyro. Of course, you'll have to burn and scorch your way into Pyro's heart - but once you've got his attention, he'll grant you two impossibly powerful minions to use as you wish. Sacrifice is scheduled to hit store shelves any week now, so we'll leave it up to you to uncover Pyro's final minions. While you wait, be sure to go back and read up on all of our Sacrifice coverage and take in the updated screenshot gallery by following the links on the upper right. We've enjoyed profiling the gods of Sacrifice these last five weeks, and we hope you've found these updates both informative and entertaining.