Elden Ring's vast, open world contains plenty of hidden bosses for players to find. One of the earliest hidden bosses you can find is the Crucible Knight, one of Godfrey's sixteen ancient knights. Enter the knight's Evergaol and slay this boss to obtain a powerful incantation for Faith-focused builds.
For Souls veterans, the Crucible Knight is quite similar to Black Knights, dealing massive damage with slow, telegraphed swings. For those looking to slay one of Elden Ring's tougher early-game bosses, bring a good weapon and shield. Here is a complete guide on how to defeat Elden Ring's Crucible Knight boss.
Updated on May 28, 2022 by Charlene Maria Teressa: Known as one of the most challenging bosses to ever be created, Elden Ring's Crucible Knight has since made FromSoft history for its sheer aggressiveness and not leaving you space to breathe. But as you progress to higher-level areas, the Crucible Knight reappears and in different variations that are about, oh, ten times harder. Found as either a solo or a duo in Deeproot Depths and Caelid, we've decided to add three more Crucible Knight bosses to make this guide truly complete.
Crucible Knight Overview
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Crucible Knight Overview |
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Location |
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Optional |
Yes |
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Summons |
Spirit Ashes and Players (except for inside the Evergaol) |
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Drops |
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Weak To |
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The Crucible Knight is potentially the first Evergaol boss you'll find in Elden Ring. Evergaols act as prisons that trap optional bosses you can find across the Lands Between. We want to emphasize optional here, as the Crucible Knight is arguably the hardest boss you'll find at the start of the game. He hits hard, has a ton of poise, and has some wide AoE attacks during his second phase.
We recommend fighting this boss later in your playthrough. For those who want to fight the Crucible Knight at the very start of their playthrough, bring a shield that can parry and the hardest-hitting weapon you own.
After being introduced to the Crucible Knight at the Stormhill Evergaol, there are three more Crucible Knight bosses of varying difficulties to encounter. A Crucible Knight duo boss is found in Auriza Hero's Grave in Leyndell as well as the Crucible Knight Siluria boss fight in Deeproot Depths - in The Nameless Eternal City underground. Additionally, there's a fight against a Crucible Knight who backs up a Misbegotten Warrior that you'll have to fight if you want to take on Starscourge Radahn. Of course, these bosses are levels harder than the Evergaol boss, with the addition of a new, deadly weapon type and large AoE attacks.
Crucible Knight Attacks
The Crucible Knight has two phases, the second occurring once it loses about half of its HP. This fight is very similar to the Black Knight fights in the Dark Souls series, utilizing slow yet hard-hitting strikes to destroy your health bar. While powerful, the Crucible Knight is fairly slow, leading to some of the clearest attack telegraphs out of any boss in Elden Ring. Here's what you're up against:
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Crucible Knight Attacks |
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Overhead Swing (Two Variants)
The Crucible Knight will raise his blade over his head before hitting you for a three-hit combo. If he raises it over the left side of his head (your right), the attack comes out slightly slower.
Counter: Parry the first hit, or dodge around the boss during his attack combo.
Dragging Slash
The Crucible Knight will drag his sword along the ground before releasing a powerful slash. This attack deals much more damage than his other sword swings, so be careful.
Counter: Parry or roll a second after the attack starts, or when the knight begins to raise his shoulder.
Cross Slash
After running forward, the Crucible Knight will attack you with a horizontal slash from his sword. This attack typically occurs if there's a sizable distance between you and the boss.
Counter: Roll away or towards the boss right as he stops moving.
Thrust
The Crucible Knight will thrust his sword at you. This attack typically occurs when there's a sizable gap between you and the boss or if you're healing.
Counter: Parry or dodge right as the knight moves his shoulder.
Shield Bash
Only while the boss is blocking, the Crucible Knight will drag his shield into the ground before thrusting it towards you. If it hits, you'll be knocked down.
Counter: Roll right as the shield digs into the ground about a second after the attack starts.
Earthquake (Two Variants)
The Crucible Knight will stomp its foot, creating a small earthquake that can stagger your character. He'll follow this up with either an overhead swing or a two-handed slash. The two-handed slash variant can start a multi-hit combo from the boss.
Counter: Dodge the second the boss lifts his knee, preferably to the knight's side. If possible, parry the sword hit that immediately follows.
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Phase Two Attacks |
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Angelic Slash
When phase two begins, the Crucible Knight will raise his sword and shortly thereafter grow a pair of wings. It'll fly in the air before flying towards your location, sword dragging under his body.
Counter: Roll right as the knight's sword makes contact with the ground.
Tail Slash (Two Variants)
The Crucible Knight will grow an ethereal tail and slash you with it. If the tail doesn't immediately go away after the first hit, the boss will swing his tail a second time in a much wider area.
Counter: Roll right after the audio queue for the ability ends. For the double hit combo, roll slightly after the first tail swipe goes out.
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Crucible Knight Ordovis Special Attacks |
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Spinning Slam Attack
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The Crucible Knight's sword will start glowing, and he will start spinning it. Then he will slam his sword on the ground, causing a large, golden explosion.
Counter: As soon as his sword starts spinning, immediately back away.
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Crucible Knight Siluria Attacks |
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Foot Stomp Explosion Attack
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Unlike the stomp above where sharp rocks appear, Ordovis's stomp also comes with a large, golden explosion.
Counter: As soon as you see his foot lift, roll away immediately. For Siluria, you can fight on horseback and gallop off.
Rock Launch Attack
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For this attack, Siluria will dig the tip of his spear into the ground and yank it out, causing chunks of rock to launch at you.
Counter: Simply roll away the moment he plunges his spear into the ground.
Siluria's Woe Attack
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Rearing his weapon back, the tip of the spear will start whirring and glowing. He will then push the spear forward and a spiral of golden energy will launch at you.
Counter: The moment the spiral of energy is bearing down at you, roll to the side.
Hand-Knife Swipe Attack
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In his free hand, Siluria will occasionally summon a golden knife and do a quick upper swipe.
Counter: As soon as you see him summon his knife, roll backwards or manoeuvre behind him.
Siluria's Tree Swipe Attack
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In one of the basic attacks, Siluria will swipe his weapon at you.
Counter: Simply roll to the side, attempt to parry, or use a shield.
Siluria's Tree Jab Attack
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Siluria will perform a jab with his spear.
Counter: Use a shield or roll away.
Overhead Slam Attack
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Siluria will perform a devastating overhead slam with his spear.
Counter: Roll to the side or backward to avoid this attack.
Strategies
Most builds will have to rely on dodging and managing their distance to beat the Crucible Knight, although melee builds will have a slightly easier time for this fight. Ranged characters don't have a large arena to play with, so consider bringing a backup melee weapon or shield that can parry. You should definitely consider using tanky Spirit Ashes for the three other Crucible Knights you have to face, such as Lhutel the Headless or Mimic Tear if you're a tank yourself. The latter is extremely helpful for the duo boss fights since you need to keep the heat off of yourself and the Mimic Tear is good at sustaining aggro.
We recommend using the Bloodflame Blade spell on your weapon to increase damage output if possible, as well as mixing Opaline Bubbletear in your Wondrous Physick to increase defence. Weapons that you could consider using are Bloodhound's Fang or Black Knife due to their special skills, especially the latter. For Ashes of War, Bloodhound's Step is great for evading those hard-hitting combos.
Also, keep Torrent's whistle handy for evasion in the Crucible Knight Siluria boss fight.
Parry Punish
This boss is extremely easy to parry, even for players who aren't used to parrying. We highly recommend that you obtain a shield that can parry attacks, then get comfortable timing your parries with the boss' attacks. You get a guaranteed critical hit on this boss for each parry, and almost all of its attacks can be parried.
The general rhythm of this fight will look something like this:
- Wait for the boss to raise its sword.
- Parry the attack.
- Land a critical hit.
- Repeat.
You won't be able to parry the Crucible Knight's magic attacks, but those won't come up very often during this fight. Remember to dodge whenever he sprouts a wing or tail, parry any sword hits you can, and stay calm. Panic rolling is a surefire way to die. This especially applies to Crucible Knight Ordovis of Auriza Hero's Grave.
Keeping Your Distance
You can bait the Crucible Knight to use a thrust or slash attack by keeping your distance and using an item. Run away, use a throwing knife or any other crafted item, then use your ranged weapon or spell to damage the boss. Should the boss raise its shield, rush towards him to bait an attack out. It's a much more dangerous method than the parry strategy we mentioned above, but it's the best chance that ranged builds have of damaging the boss.
Tips
- When the Crucible Knight raises its shield, it will almost always shield charge you. Get your shield ready to parry the boss once the shield charge occurs.
- Consider using Ashes of War that grant poise or counter shields.
- Use Ashes of War that are meant for evasion (i.e. Bloodhound's Step).
- Use Opaline Bubbletear.
- Use a shield to avoid damage.
- Use a tanky Spirit Ash summon (i.e. Lhutel the Headless +10).
- Only heal when the boss is actively swinging its sword to prevent getting knocked out of your flask animation.
- The Crucible Knight cannot use its second phase attacks until it uses angelic slash at least once. Stunlocking the boss with parries can prevent the boss from using these attacks for most of the fight.
- Evergaol bosses are tough content meant for veteran players and overleveled characters. Consider fighting this boss later in your playthrough.