Elden Ring has many optional bosses that you can face anytime you want to for good gear and lots of runes. This guide will help you defeat one such boss, the Crucible Knight in Elden Ring.
Elden Ring Crucible Knight Location
Crucible Knight is an optional boss and you will meet him when you reach Limgrave. There you will find a circular structure called Stormhill Evergaol southwest of Stormhill Shack site of Lost Grace.
You can also encounter this boss in Stormveil Castle and Redmane Castle.
Crucible Knight is a holy knight with a great sword and a great shield. He is slow for the most part but deals massive damage.
Crucible Knight Recommended Level and Weaknesses
It is recommended to fight him when you are at level 40 or above, and make sure you have a shield so you can block his attacks.
The Crucible Knight boss is weak against Lightning damage. Hence, make sure to use any lightning spell you have to do extra damage
Crucible Knight Attack Pattern and Counters
For the first phase, Crucible Knight will mostly walk up slowly and swing his sword when he is close to the tarnished. His shield will be up at all times when he is at a distance, meaning attacks will only deal chip damage.
Crucible Knight has three basic sword swings, two slashes and a thrust. Additionally, Crucible Knight will sometimes bash with his shield, which will launch you in the air if it connects. He also has a stomp that deals AoE damage in front of him for a minor range.
After you beat Crucible Knight down to 50% of his total health, he will gain two new attacks and become more aggressive and faster. He will sometimes run towards you instead of slowly walking over.
For the new attacks, Crucible Knight will now have the ability to spawn golden wings and fly directly at you. This attack can be easily dodged, but if you dodge too early, the attack has enough tracking to get you.
For the second attack, Crucible Knight will do a tail sweep that has high range. Though he does not have a tail, every time he does this attack, a large golden dragon-like tail emits from behind him and he can swipe this at you which may knock you down.
This attack can also be done twice in succession, so make sure you know if the second attack is coming or not before attacking.
How to Defeat Crucible Knight in Elden Ring
Strategies to beat Crucible Knight differ greatly depending on the fact if you are a melee character or a ranged character.
For melee characters, you cannot attack Crucible Knight when his shield is up. The shield bash is fast enough to surprise you, so its best to stay on the counter.
What you want to do is to dodge into his strikes in the first phase. This results in your dodge i-frames to keep you safe from getting hit, and when the attack ends, you can use the small window when his shield is down to attack.
Its better to avoid using heavy attacks, as they are slow and may result in Crucible Knight getting his defense back up.
If you have good parry skills, make sure you get a feel for Crucible Knight’s attacks and then parry him into oblivion. His upward rising strike is very well telegraphed and can be easily abused.
In the second phase, the tips remain the same, except for the flying stab. For this attack, we recommend you time your dodge and dodge to the side instead of dodging towards Crucible Knight. This allows you to be close enough to land a few hits before he gets his shield up again.
For range builds, if you are using bows, you will have a hard time. Bows are generally slower and deal only physical damage.
You also cannot reduce distance effectively to get him to drop his guard and give you a chance to attack.
For magic users, the fight can be easier. Glintstone Sorceries and Fire Attacks do deal higher chip damage even with the shield raised. You can easily land 4-5 spells in his recovery time, depending on the spell you are using.
Dodge away from Crucible Knight. He will continue on with his combo, and you can easily cast you magic from a safe distance after getting an attack out of him.
In the second phase, dodge into the flying stab. You can safely roll away from the knight and at the end of the attack, you will have good distance between you and the knight allowing you to counter attack as he recovers.
Crucible Knight Drops
Defeating crucible knight will reward you 2100 runes. You will also be rewarded with Aspects of the Crucible: Tale Incantation that will give you a very own magic tail that can be used in fights for doing swinging attacks.
How to Cheese Crucible Knight
You can cheese this boss with the help of greater mobility and long-ranged weapons like a crossbow. You can take off all your armor to increase your mobility.
When you enter the arena, land a free hit on the boss before running back towards a rock in the corner. This will be your defensive line. Keep the rock between you and the boss, all the while attacking the boss with your long-ranged weapon or spell.
However, he will eventually jump onto the rock. When that happens, let him chase you through the arena before coming back to the rock again. Rinse and repeat from there on.
When his health drops by half, he will use his wings to fly at you so dodge that by rolling backward. Once that is done, you can go back to the same strategy and keep the rock between you and the boss.
