Priestess

The Priestess is an enemy encountered in The Nameless City. They make their first appearance in E3M1: The Iron Cathedral and appear in nearly every level onwards, with the exception of E3MS: The Ratacombs.

Appearance
Priestesses are typically seen wearing medieval armor consisting of a tall, spiked helmet with a grill, an iron breastplate, a coat of chain mail underneath, a red sash tied around the waist, and chain mail gauntlets. They appear to have no legs at all, hovering above the ground instead of walking. Each Priestess carries a flaming broadsword, which composes the majority of their attacks.

Tactical Analysis
When a Priestess spots a player, they will emit a loud metallic screech before charging towards the player at a considerably fast pace. If they get close enough, they will attempt to strike the player with a wide swing from their sword. On higher difficulties, a successful hit can bring a player's health down by a large amount, even more so than that of the Leatherneck's melee attack. This, coupled with their speed and above-average health pool of 700hp, makes them a formidable enemy to fight against.

However, Priestesses are weak to more powerful weapons, such as the Hunting Rifle, Mortar, and Riveter. Most of these weapons will usually kill a Priestess in two shots. Additionally, the Crossbow acquired in E3M1 can dispatch one in roughly four to five shots. Another major part to successfully defeating a Priestess is to stay out of their melee range. In underwater areas such as the latter parts of E3M3: City of Shadows, Priestesses are powerless against swimming players.

Trivia

 * The Priestess's helmets look similar to the appearance of Shub-Nigurath's appearance in Quake.
 * The Priestess's Helmet also bears a resemblance to Sauron, the primary antagonist of The Lord of the Rings series.