Revision 5

Sergeant Gaspard "Cannonhand" Dubois is a named boss of Valor Mortis, introduced in the November 2025 "Crimson Plague" gameplay trailer. He is one of the elite human figures the supernatural plague has produced inside Napoleon's corrupted Grande Armée, the in-game Eternal Guard.

Role

Dubois is shown in the Crimson Plague footage as a soldier whose body has been drastically remade by the plague, with his arm functioning as a heavy ordnance weapon, the source of the "Cannonhand" nickname. He stands as the centerpiece of the trailer's darker, nighttime village setting, alongside mutated villagers and an elite enemy unit called The Relentless. Where General Lothaire represents the daylight Gamescom demo, Dubois represents the horror-leaning side of the game's enemy gallery.

Appearance

Production concept art published by the studio in July 2026 shows how far the plague has taken him. Dubois is hunched and hugely swollen, far past the build of the soldier he once was, and walks barefoot in the shredded remains of a blue uniform coat and filthy white breeches. His back and shoulder have split wide open into a mass of violet plague growth and exposed tissue, held apart by lengths of timber driven through the wound like a frame. His right arm ends in a rusted iron cannon barrel fused into a toothed, skull-like housing, which is where the Cannonhand name comes from; the studio has described him as having an entire cannon where his right hand should be. The other arm tapers to a blackened, clawed hand. The art is labelled with that nickname rather than his rank, and presents him as an outright abomination rather than a corrupted but recognisable officer.

Combat Patterns

The trailer only shows brief clips of the fight, so specific patterns, weak points, and phase transitions have not been confirmed publicly. The Cannonhand framing strongly implies a heavy ranged threat in addition to whatever melee he carries, which would line up with how the broader fights handle elevated or armored enemies via the off-hand pistol. Practical tips will be added once Dubois appears in a playable demo or in the shipped game.

Place in the Story

As one of the named bosses revealed across the pre-launch cycle, Dubois rounds out a roster that includes General Lothaire, the Eagle-Bearer from Gamescom 2025, and The Orphan, the sewer abomination revealed at Triple-i Initiative in April 2026. Together they show the kinds of figures William will face in the main path: corrupted soldiers, elite officers, and outright abominations created by the plague. The factional context is covered on the Setting and Story page.

Source

Dubois was first shown in the Crimson Plague gameplay trailer published in November 2025. He has not appeared in any playable build to date, including the October 2025 global playtest, so the specifics on this page are drawn from trailer footage and accompanying descriptions only. The page will be expanded as more is shown.