Design an enemy group (Speculation/ Wish fulfillment)

[Billbailey96]

If you could develop an enemy group, what would it look like?
1. What is the Level range?
2. What kind of origin/ concept are they based around? Are they a gang, paramilitary group, cult, monster horde?
3. What's their MO? Are they an enemy group for Villains, Heroes or both?

4. What zones would they go in?
Also if the inspiration takes you feel free to describe what their minion, lieutenant, and bosses would be. 

[Billbailey96]

Personally I would like a Court of Owls-like group. For those unfamiliar with them they are kind of a secret society made up of wealthy families that tried to control Gotham in the Batman comics. So this group which I am going to call The Regents are made up of the old money families of Paragon that are trying to take control of the city in a more direct way in the aftermath of Statesman's death. They are aided by hired mercenaries and members of the families who have dabbled in occultism in a bid to seize power

1. I think this would be a mid range group 25-39.
2. I think they would be primarily natural in origin with the minions and some lieutenants being the mercenaries hired by the Regents. Magic would come in through the lieutenants and bosses as the Regents themselves take on occult artifacts to bolster the hired muscle.

3. Their MO would be clandestine strikes at various figures they feel would threaten their plans. Since they view Paragon as rightfully theirs they would be an anti-Hero group based in the city. Though missions in the Rouge Isles could certainly feature their attempts to gain power to take back with them. 

4. Independence Port and Founder's Falls are good spots for them. 

[Sakura Tenshi]

Hmmm... I've more got ideas for adding and revamping old groups, but I will say I've had some ideas for purely original ones, I'll give an overview but only really delve into one.

 

1. The Thule Society: Basically meant to serve as a villainous counterpart to the Midnighters. Their magic isn't as flashy and grand as Circle or even Legacy chain, but it is meant to involve plenty of debuffs and unusual effects light locational pseudopets. All in all, the core of it was just to have it so Villains wouldn't need to work with the Midnight squad and visa versa. Historically, the Thule Society would even have interest in fighting against the Fifth Column in Cimerora anyway as they were among the groups hunted during the Night of Long Knives.
2. The Black Cats Gang: Meant to be a low level, classy crime syndicate of ladies in black leather coats, martial arts, blades, and guns, in a lot of ways they have a lot in common with the Praetorian Syndicate but the idea pre-dated Issue 18 on live. Admittedly it was also to add a bit of gender equality among enemies, something we see has started to adjust itself so... They kind of lost their place, especially with the third group.
3. The Etoile Resistance: This is a newer idea I had, basically a low to midlevel group of citizens in the Rogue Isles who are rising up against villains and especially Arachnos, partly the idea being just letting villains have more 'heroic' groups to fight. And these are the ones I'll go into detail on.

The Etoile Resistance

Living under an oppressive tiger-eat-dog system of social darwinism that runs the Rogue Isles without any semblance of safety or consistency, even from supposed police forces, has left the populous coming together under mutual protection and even revolution. Aided by groups like Longbow, the UPA, Dockworkers, and even some types of supervillains and vigilantes who with ideals or see Arachnos as standing in the way, they also drive off just as much aid for their willingness to cooperate with groups like Crey, Freakshow/Freakalok, Sky Raiders, and more to gain the edge needed to bring down Lord Recluse and his generals, creating a mercurial and tense relationship.

 

For his part, Recluse has a surprising respect for the group, though it is not one which he gives quarter to these rebels with the only courtesy being he never asks for any in return. Arachnos orders are clear: Etoile Resistance is to be exterminated on sight by all who wish to be on his good side.

 

Subverting Arachnos' power requires more than just weapons and willpower, though, the group has managed to contract and train under UPA and refugee Syndicate pskyers and other sensitive groups to not only mask their presence from Seers but even assault the network directly, with this, they strike fast and from shadows and retreat as quickly, leaving a wake of devastation behind. They also are heavily dependent on working together, resulting in strong teamwork, meaning it can be important to separate squads to divide and conquer.

 

Mob ideas - Minion:

• The basic minion members of the Etoile Resistance would be armed with shotguns, pistols, and SMGs, augmenting the damage they deal with incindiary rounds and shot to burn through the polymer armors used by groups around the Isles that might try to stop them. Along with this, it has the benefit of missed shots helping in their goal of torching structures. At higher levels they'll make use of molotovs to create burn patches of area denial. Stat wise, they would be weaker than normal minions of their level and even have a rare weakness to smashing and lethal damage due to being dressed mostly in civilian clothing, but they do have a decent resistance to psionic and toxic damage, the latter being an antivenom counter to their main enemies. Their teamwork also is represented as a self-defense buff that's basically phalanx fighting from shield defense. Lastly, at higher levels, they start keeping emergency medical stims that they'll use to help keep eachother alive (probably on an extremely long recharge so you'd only see them do it once and require they 'cast in melee' with their target)
• A slight outlier of the minion ranks is an unconventional foe: the spotter. Spotters possess good perception and help alert their allies of stealthed enemies, but more than that, they favor a unique weapon: the flare gun. The specialized flares they fire not only burn bright, but are designed to stick to surfaces as they burn, in this case: a living target. It deals only a moderate amount of damage overtime, but it debuffs a target's stealth abilities making it impossible to hide, and to make things worse, it also ggives them a powerful taunt aura that can override the taunts of tanks and brutes and these spotters have a knack for finding the weak links in parties. Dispatch quickly to avoid calling the attention of a hideout.

This is really all I have at the moment, was also thinking at higher levels you'd have bosses who use pieces from PPD shells mixed with a bit of Freakshow and IDF, showing they have committed themselves to their cause by being just a torso in an armor. They're largely natural and tech, but not afraid to delve into mutations, science, and magic. If I fleshed this out I might include a few of such members in the group. The bottom line is just a sort of personal enemy for villains, at least from their standpoints. All the others are ideological, for these guys, they see every Destined One and Arachnos soldier as a blight on the islands.

[Techwright]

In other fiction, I've always found the best villain groups to be the ones who figure out that bigger isn't always better.  It's the swarms that make it challenging.   While we kind of have this with the Clockwork king's minions, I'm thinking a high-tech, nanite or micro-machine swarm enemy might be a fresh approach.  Settle them into the destroyed zones like Boomtown where there's abundant raw resources for them to use to propagate.  A hive mind would make sense, though not necessarily as the ultimate big bad of the group.  While nanites might be challenging to swat, these would swarm and form into forms that could attack.  This would not necessarily look like any creature we're familiar with, but could use not only the human wireframe, but beastial wireframes as well, like spider, serpent, and quadruped.  We'd fight them to disrupt their collective form, but like Freaks, if we smash the forms, some of the little blighters will swirl around until they can regroup to create a few remaining forms.    As their story progresses, things get uglier when they figure out how to control organics, leading to some opponents being compromised human-hybrids, or cyborg-hybrids, such as the Arachnos spiders.  As they potentially disassemble and reform, it keeps us guessing, as we're not sure what form(s) they'll be taking.

[Glacier Peak]

Clown gang

[Sakura Tenshi]

20 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Clown gang

 

Carnival of Shadows be like: Are we NOT a joke to you?

[Go0gleplex]

The Puppet Masters: A group of corporate elite backing various Masterminds and Control types, using them to plunder those treasures desired and obtainable only by less than legal means plus blackmailing others in beneficial positions of power to serve their whims as puppets.  Would be across all levels - Thugs at lowest (1-10), beasts (11-18), ninjas (19-25), undead (26-36), demons (37-48), mecha (49+) for example.  Of course, the mastermind minions could also be experimental types or outliers from the norm as well due to participation of Praetorian survivors with their advance tech and psychic minions.

They want wealth beyond measure & control of others; to be the actual power behind the thrones in the shadows...of everything. Of course they'd be seeking to bring down other villain groups as threats as well as all the capes.  They are few...but they have expendable armies at their disposal.

Edited Thursday at 04:31 AM by Go0gleplex

[Octogoat]

Street level neo fascist punks

[Andreah]

An extension of the Hellions group; a splinter off-shoot, that scales up into 40-50 and incarnate threats. I drafted an outline of the group and had chatGPT format it and flesh it out. This is a fire heavy group, and as such they need to have secondary damage types and special attacks to not be trivial for maxed fire defense/resist builds.

 

🔥 Enemy Group Name: The Infernal Hellions

Enemy Type: Magical Cult / Devilkin Hybrid
Level Range: 40–50
Zone Presence: Peregrine Island, Grandville (offshoot), new Hellion Strongholds in Hazard Zones
Special Tags: Magic, Fire, Demonic, Controller-Heavy, Stealth Elements, Group Buffs

---

🔥 Core Theme:

"We are not possessed. We are perfected. We chose the flame."

The Infernal Hellions are not your old street punks. They are fire-worshipping zealots who embraced a ritual of self-immolation and were reborn as devilish hybrids under the guidance of their dark matriarch, Inferna Regina. Every one of them chose this path—making them terrifyingly devoted.

They blend the reckless chaos of the original Hellions with the structured cruelty of infernal military discipline. Combining Circle of Thorns-style summoning with Hellion-style flame aggression, they aim to transform Earth into a plane of fire and devotion. They literally seek to create Hell on Earth.

---

🔥 Hierarchy & Structure

👑 Archvillain: Inferna Regina

• Archetype: Fire Control / Dark Blast / Leadership Aura

• Abilities:

  • Emberheart Sigil (AoE Confuse/Control)

  • Charm of the Flamebound (mass Dominate-style Hold)

  • Covenant of Ashes (mass Heal + Rez allies)

  • Hellfire Queen Aura (team-wide +ToHit, +DMG aura)

• Tactics: Summons elite flame spirits; buffs all nearby Flamebound; devastating in groups

• Visuals: Volcanic red succubus-derived armor, long horns, glowing infernal runes across her skin, floating, 

---

🔥 Elite Bosses (Inferna Regina's Named Lieutenants – appear rarely)

1. Ash-Blood Rhozan

• Type: Demon Brute

• Power Sets: Fiery Melee / Willpower

• Abilities: Flaming Axe cleaves, AoE Fire Smash, Unyielding Demonic Aura

• Lore: Demon of conquest, bound by infernal pact

2. Cindersong Yvette

• Type: Infernal Pyromancer

• Power Sets: Fire Control / Empathy

• Abilities: Fire traps, Confuse songs, AoE healing flames

• Lore: Former Hellion arsonist turned flamewitch musician

3. Molgrim the Maw

• Type: Demon Tank

• Power Sets: Fire Armor / Super Strength

• Abilities: Cone Devour (drains HP), Fear Roar, Knockback Slam

• Lore: Infernal devourer, bound within a cursed suit of iron

4. Scoria Hex

• Type: Infernal Glyph Blaster

• Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Miasma

• Abilities: AoE glyph mines, Fear Blasts, Fire/ToHit debuff zones

• Lore: Graffiti mystic who uses art to channel hell

---

🔥 Standard Enemy Ranks

🔥 Bosses (5–10% of spawns)

🔸 Flamebound Ascendant

• Power Sets: Fire Melee / Fiery Aura

• Description: Former high-ranking Hellions who survived the Rite of Ash. Heavy fire hitters.

• Powers: Fiery melee combo attacks, Burn patch, Fire Resistance Aura

🔸 Hellion Pyrewalker

• Power Sets: Fire Control / Thermal Radiation

• Description: Channelers of flame spirits and keepers of the Emberheart Sigils

• Powers: Flame cages, summon burning spirits, buff allies' damage/resistance

---

🔥 Lieutenants (20–30% of spawns)

🔹 Ashveiled Stalker

• Power Sets: Claws / Super Reflexes Stalker

• Description: Stealth assassins who burn the shadows they walk through

• Powers: Stealth, Toxic Fire Strike, Quick Strike with -DEF proc

🔹 Infernal Enforcer

• Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Armor Sentinels

• Description: Standard ranged specialists; powerful but reckless

• Powers: Fireball, Fear Burst, Shadow Lash (ranged cone with -ToHit)

🔹 Covenant Binder

• Power Sets: Leadership / Thermal Radiation composite of archetypes

• Description: Chanting lieutenants who project infernal blessings

• Powers: Buffs team with +ToHit and +Damage, can Rez 1 fallen ally

---

🔥 Minions (60–70% of spawns)

🔸 Hellion Emberblade

• Power Sets: Fire Sword / Brawl Scrapper

• Description: Low-level melee units with flaming machetes

• Abilities: Fiery Slash, Ignite Weapon (DoT)

🔸 Flame-Kissed Acolyte

• Power Sets: Fire Blast Blaster

• Description: Basic ranged attackers, often chanting or laughing madly

• Abilities: Fire Bolt, Fire Ball

🔸 Pyre-Blood Zealot

• Power Sets: Dark Melee / Resistance Aura Brute

• Description: Suicide-charging berserkers who glow with unstable fire

• Abilities: Infernal Lash, Deathburst (fire explosion on KO)

---

🔥 Special Units (Rare Spawns / Boss Events)

🔹 Hellspawn Warbringer (Boss-tier demon summoned mid-battle)

• Large fire demon that appears from Emberheart Gate portals during Inferna Regina or Rhozan fights

• AoE fire damage, stuns, and resists crowd control

🔹 Sigil of Binding (Environmental Object)

• Glowing rune that buffs nearby Infernal Hellions

• Destroying it weakens their regeneration and damage output

---

🔥 Gameplay Design and Strategy

• Control + Fire Synergy: Expect Fire Cages, Burn patches, AoE fear/confuse from mid-tier units upward

• High Team Buffing: Leadership/Thermal Radiation synergy from lieutenants and named bosses

• Dangerous On Death: Many units explode or debuff on defeat, encouraging tactical engagement

• Summoning Mechanics: Pyrewalkers and Delilah summon flame spirits or lesser demons as support

• Thematic Map Ideas: Infernal temples, subway sanctums turned lava-cathedrals, Emberheart Sepulcher dimension

[Billbailey96]

3 hours ago, Octogoat said:

Street level neo fascist punks

Would they be an off-shoot of the council or perhaps a reaction to them? 

[Octogoat]

13 minutes ago, Billbailey96 said:

Would they be an off-shoot of the council or perhaps a reaction to them? 

Sort of both

[Andreah]

2 hours ago, Octogoat said:

Sort of both

1980's style skin-heads could be cool. Good low-level adversaries. Give them a opposite-ideology rival gang of communo-anarchists, and they could do street-fights council v. fifth column style.

 

I imagine my "Infernal Hellions" could do the same against the Circle of Thorns.

[biostem]

On 7/2/2025 at 3:59 PM, Billbailey96 said:

If you could develop an enemy group, what would it look like?
1. What is the Level range?
2. What kind of origin/ concept are they based around? Are they a gang, paramilitary group, cult, monster horde?
3. What's their MO? Are they an enemy group for Villains, Heroes or both?

4. What zones would they go in?
Also if the inspiration takes you feel free to describe what their minion, lieutenant, and bosses would be. 

 

I'd love to see something akin to an extension of the Outcasts, only higher level and better organized.  Basically, something like The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

 

1. I'd say from about level 25-50.

2. A better organized mutant group.

3. They'd be of the typical "society looks down on us, so now we're gonna show them what we can really do" underlying philosophy.  I think they could exist on both sides.

4. Mostly from 25 on, (though probably not in more heavily magical zones).

 

Oher notes:

They'd wear jumpsuits sharing a common color scheme, but with some custom elements to reflect the types of powers they wield.  I'd really like them to take full advantage of the newer powersets, such as water, storm, seismic blasts, and incendiary, elec control, and maybe even some support powers, like marine or time.  They could have more direct ties to the Outcasts, but that isn't necessary...

Edited Thursday at 09:25 PM by biostem

[keyguardactive]

Like Biostem, I would want some more Mutants, as I don't feel like they have enough representation. Mid to high level, story wise they're partly former Outcasts who are reorganizing under an Immortal metal skinned mutant that we would be able to meet and work with in Cimerora before he becomes an Archvillain in the present. 

 

I'm thinking they're sort of a terrorist group, using chemical bombs to try and activate people's latent mutant genes. Mechanically the bombs would release green smoke and NPCs caught in it would turn into minion level enemy mobs. Maybe they even mutate Twinshot of the Shining Stars, looping her back in from low level content. 

 

They would keep using the elemental powers like the outcasts, but they would also get things like savage mele and spines and things like that. The mutations should get a little weird and varied. 

[baster]

6 hours ago, Andreah said:

An extension of the Hellions group; a splinter off-shoot, that scales up into 40-50 and incarnate threats. I drafted an outline of the group and had chatGPT format it and flesh it out. This is a fire heavy group, and as such they need to have secondary damage types and special attacks to not be trivial for maxed fire defense/resist builds.

 

🔥 Enemy Group Name: The Infernal Hellions

Enemy Type: Magical Cult / Devilkin Hybrid
Level Range: 40–50
Zone Presence: Peregrine Island, Grandville (offshoot), new Hellion Strongholds in Hazard Zones
Special Tags: Magic, Fire, Demonic, Controller-Heavy, Stealth Elements, Group Buffs

---

🔥 Core Theme:

"We are not possessed. We are perfected. We chose the flame."

The Infernal Hellions are not your old street punks. They are fire-worshipping zealots who embraced a ritual of self-immolation and were reborn as devilish hybrids under the guidance of their dark matriarch, Inferna Regina. Every one of them chose this path—making them terrifyingly devoted.

They blend the reckless chaos of the original Hellions with the structured cruelty of infernal military discipline. Combining Circle of Thorns-style summoning with Hellion-style flame aggression, they aim to transform Earth into a plane of fire and devotion. They literally seek to create Hell on Earth.

---

🔥 Hierarchy & Structure

👑 Archvillain: Inferna Regina

• Archetype: Fire Control / Dark Blast / Leadership Aura

• Abilities:

  • Emberheart Sigil (AoE Confuse/Control)

  • Charm of the Flamebound (mass Dominate-style Hold)

  • Covenant of Ashes (mass Heal + Rez allies)

  • Hellfire Queen Aura (team-wide +ToHit, +DMG aura)

• Tactics: Summons elite flame spirits; buffs all nearby Flamebound; devastating in groups

• Visuals: Volcanic red succubus-derived armor, long horns, glowing infernal runes across her skin, floating, 

---

🔥 Elite Bosses (Inferna Regina's Named Lieutenants – appear rarely)

1. Ash-Blood Rhozan

• Type: Demon Brute

• Power Sets: Fiery Melee / Willpower

• Abilities: Flaming Axe cleaves, AoE Fire Smash, Unyielding Demonic Aura

• Lore: Demon of conquest, bound by infernal pact

2. Cindersong Yvette

• Type: Infernal Pyromancer

• Power Sets: Fire Control / Empathy

• Abilities: Fire traps, Confuse songs, AoE healing flames

• Lore: Former Hellion arsonist turned flamewitch musician

3. Molgrim the Maw

• Type: Demon Tank

• Power Sets: Fire Armor / Super Strength

• Abilities: Cone Devour (drains HP), Fear Roar, Knockback Slam

• Lore: Infernal devourer, bound within a cursed suit of iron

4. Scoria Hex

• Type: Infernal Glyph Blaster

• Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Miasma

• Abilities: AoE glyph mines, Fear Blasts, Fire/ToHit debuff zones

• Lore: Graffiti mystic who uses art to channel hell

---

🔥 Standard Enemy Ranks

🔥 Bosses (5–10% of spawns)

🔸 Flamebound Ascendant

• Power Sets: Fire Melee / Fiery Aura

• Description: Former high-ranking Hellions who survived the Rite of Ash. Heavy fire hitters.

• Powers: Fiery melee combo attacks, Burn patch, Fire Resistance Aura

🔸 Hellion Pyrewalker

• Power Sets: Fire Control / Thermal Radiation

• Description: Channelers of flame spirits and keepers of the Emberheart Sigils

• Powers: Flame cages, summon burning spirits, buff allies' damage/resistance

---

🔥 Lieutenants (20–30% of spawns)

🔹 Ashveiled Stalker

• Power Sets: Claws / Super Reflexes Stalker

• Description: Stealth assassins who burn the shadows they walk through

• Powers: Stealth, Toxic Fire Strike, Quick Strike with -DEF proc

🔹 Infernal Enforcer

• Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Armor Sentinels

• Description: Standard ranged specialists; powerful but reckless

• Powers: Fireball, Fear Burst, Shadow Lash (ranged cone with -ToHit)

🔹 Covenant Binder

• Power Sets: Leadership / Thermal Radiation composite of archetypes

• Description: Chanting lieutenants who project infernal blessings

• Powers: Buffs team with +ToHit and +Damage, can Rez 1 fallen ally

---

🔥 Minions (60–70% of spawns)

🔸 Hellion Emberblade

• Power Sets: Fire Sword / Brawl Scrapper

• Description: Low-level melee units with flaming machetes

• Abilities: Fiery Slash, Ignite Weapon (DoT)

🔸 Flame-Kissed Acolyte

• Power Sets: Fire Blast Blaster

• Description: Basic ranged attackers, often chanting or laughing madly

• Abilities: Fire Bolt, Fire Ball

🔸 Pyre-Blood Zealot

• Power Sets: Dark Melee / Resistance Aura Brute

• Description: Suicide-charging berserkers who glow with unstable fire

• Abilities: Infernal Lash, Deathburst (fire explosion on KO)

---

🔥 Special Units (Rare Spawns / Boss Events)

🔹 Hellspawn Warbringer (Boss-tier demon summoned mid-battle)

• Large fire demon that appears from Emberheart Gate portals during Inferna Regina or Rhozan fights

• AoE fire damage, stuns, and resists crowd control

🔹 Sigil of Binding (Environmental Object)

• Glowing rune that buffs nearby Infernal Hellions

• Destroying it weakens their regeneration and damage output

---

🔥 Gameplay Design and Strategy

• Control + Fire Synergy: Expect Fire Cages, Burn patches, AoE fear/confuse from mid-tier units upward

• High Team Buffing: Leadership/Thermal Radiation synergy from lieutenants and named bosses

• Dangerous On Death: Many units explode or debuff on defeat, encouraging tactical engagement

• Summoning Mechanics: Pyrewalkers and Delilah summon flame spirits or lesser demons as support

• Thematic Map Ideas: Infernal temples, subway sanctums turned lava-cathedrals, Emberheart Sepulcher dimension

Wow, I'm thoroughly impressed with the presentation, the time and though process you dedicated to this. 2 big thumbs 👍 👍 up, let's hope the devs notice. And are willing and able, some day  somehow to work on this kind of stuff.

[Andreah]

27 minutes ago, baster said:

Wow, I'm thoroughly impressed with the presentation, the time and though process you dedicated to this. 2 big thumbs 👍 👍 up, let's hope the devs notice. And are willing and able, some day  somehow to work on this kind of stuff.

Using an AI to help structure and format the results, and even using it as an iterative sounding board for ideas helps quite a lot. I caution against using the AI's too much, because they're not very imaginative or clever on their own. So far.

[baster]

57 minutes ago, Andreah said:

Using an AI to help structure and format the results, and even using it as an iterative sounding board for ideas helps quite a lot. I caution against using the AI's too much, because they're not very imaginative or clever on their own. So far.

Nothing wrong with using an AI, it's a great tool for many things, and it would be unwise to not use best tools one has at its disposal to complete any task in the most efficient, best, most cost/brainpower effective way possible.

 

However as you said, it still takes human imagination, creative thought process and the ability to direct the AI in a thoughtful effective manner for it to produce your desired results.

 

Once agein, we'll done 👍 👍 

[Forager]

On 7/3/2025 at 9:32 AM, Andreah said:

An extension of the Hellions group; a splinter off-shoot, that scales up into 40-50 and incarnate threats. I drafted an outline of the group and had chatGPT format it and flesh it out. This is a fire heavy group, and as such they need to have secondary damage types and special attacks to not be trivial for maxed fire defense/resist builds.

 

Seeing this post is what motivated me to finish and post my recent attempt at a high level Skull redesign. Thanks!

 

(I can't let Hellions surpass The Skulls!)

[Go0gleplex]

On 7/3/2025 at 12:20 PM, biostem said:

 

I'd love to see something akin to an extension of the Outcasts, only higher level and better organized.  Basically, something like The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

 

1. I'd say from about level 25-50.

2. A better organized mutant group.

3. They'd be of the typical "society looks down on us, so now we're gonna show them what we can really do" underlying philosophy.  I think they could exist on both sides.

4. Mostly from 25 on, (though probably not in more heavily magical zones).

 

Oher notes:

They'd wear jumpsuits sharing a common color scheme, but with some custom elements to reflect the types of powers they wield.  I'd really like them to take full advantage of the newer powersets, such as water, storm, seismic blasts, and incendiary, elec control, and maybe even some support powers, like marine or time.  They could have more direct ties to the Outcasts, but that isn't necessary...

 

The Higher level bosses could also have pets they can summon; Elementals similar to the Living Spells used by the Midnighters and found in the Night Ward for further 'fun'.