Headless Horseman Encounter Refresh for Hallow's End - New Hard Mode?

[Scumstation]

It seems the old Headless Horseman has officially reached his end, with his encounter getting changed and letting him ascend!



The old achievement has been changed to indicate a refresh, and new hints at a Hard Mode.

NEW A Cleansing Fire Defeat the Headless Horseman.
Bring Me The Head of... Oh Wait KillKilled the Headless Horseman prior to the 2023 holiday refresh.
NEW Don't Lose Your Head, Man Defeat any version of the Headless Horseman.
NEW Kickin' With the Wick Defeat the Headless Horseman while cursed by all four wicker men.

Curse of the Wicker Men
4 debuffs are required to achieve Kickin' With the Wick. But how to get them, that will be the trick.

Wicker Man of Embers
Wicker Man of Shadows
Wicker Man of Thorns
Wicker Man of Delusions

Datamined Hard Mode Spells
We speculate that the Hard Mode revolves around the Wicker Man's Shadow, too many stacks will make your health pool very shallow.

Wicker Man's Shadow - The Wicker Men delight in the target's suffering, reducing the target's maximum health by 10% per stack.

Many other spells will apply Wicker Man's Shadow stacks, leading to quite the climax!

Ember Curse - Cursed enemies emit Shadowflame around their location periodically. Each blast inflicts a stack of Wicker Man's Shadow.
Cursed Hot Head - Cursed enemies suffer dark hallucinations manifesting in front of their location. Moving to the hallucination dispels it. Ignoring the hallucination inflicts two stacks of Wicker Man's Shadow to the enemy.
Shadow Curse - Insidious Cackle shackles the souls of cursed enemies in fear. The shackled soul slowly moves towards consuming flames. Souls that reach the flames before their shackles are destroyed inflict two stacks of Wicker Man's Shadow to the afflicted enemy.
Thorny Surprise - Piercing thorns erupt under cursed enemies periodically. Enemies hit by the thorns suffer a stack of Wicker Man's Shadow.

Completing Hard Mode requires players not to die, or else your loot drops might be a little dry.

Wicker Man's Protection - The Wicker Men have prevented your death, reducing damage taken and restoring your health. Additionally, their curses have been lifted, forfeiting their rewards.