There are many formidable enemies in Elden Ring. Some bosses hit so hard that you might feel like you can’t beat them yet, even when you are way over-leveled for a region.
That’s what happened to me when I first faced the Crucible Knight. It was such a powerful enemy that even though I was near level 50. He quickly took me down and sent me back to the Stake of Marika every time I challenged him.
The Crucible Knight is powerful, intimidating, and he can one-shot you if you are not careful. However, this boss is a bit easier to defeat than it seems.
The most common mistake that players commit when fighting the crucible knight is surrendering to greed and trying to hit him a few extra times than they are supposed to.
If you are patient, learn its patterns, bait him, and strike when it is safe, you should not have much trouble fighting this boss.
So, if you are having trouble beating this mighty foe, don’t worry. We’re here to let you know how to defeat the Crucible Knight in Elden Ring.
The Best Way to Beat the Crucible Knight
Generally speaking, it’s not that easy to cheese the Crucible Knight. Ranged spells might work, but he can randomly sprint and stab you with his very high damaging sword.
Trading blows with him might be a bad idea since he can stun you with a quaking stomp and follow up with two devastating swings.
Hitting him with high damaging, charged attacks is a way to deal severe damage, but don’t even think it might affect his poise.
In the end, the best way to fight the Crucible Knight that I have found is the most honest one. Wait for the attack that has the longest recovery animation, attack, and then run away and wait for that same attack to happen again.
The attack you will be waiting for is his double swing after he stomps the ground. That attack only happens if you are relatively close to the Crucible Knight after his stomp. You will notice the double swing coming if he holds his sword with both hands.
However, you must stay alive until the Crucible Knight opens his defense, so let’s go over each of his attacks.
Crucible Knight’s Phase 1
This phase is relatively easy to handle. The crucible knight will perform the same attacks over and over again without recurring to anything too hard to handle, so you just have to stay away, roll, and wait for him to perform a big stomp.
Once he does, hit him once or twice and back off. You might be able to strike him a few extra times when avoiding his other attacks, and you can check how to do it below. Still, it is safer to wait for the longest recovery animation before attacking him.
Downward Attack
If you are knocked down for any reason, there is a greater chance of this attack being the next move performed by the Crucible Knight.
He will lift his sword and perform a downward swing that has a follow-up if you are within the range of his sword.
This attack is relatively easy to dodge, and you might want to roll to the left to avoid being at his shield side if you’re going to counter-attack.
Stomp
The Crucible Knight will hit the ground with his foot and cause an area of effect around him that will briefly stun you if you get hit.
This attack is not that hard to avoid, and you can roll through it, but watch out for the unusual timing of this attack since the area of effect hit is a bit delayed. If the crucible knight is holding his weapon with a single hand, you can expect a quick attack after it, and you might want to stay away.
If he does that holding his sword with both hands, this is the best time to attack the boss. Dodge the area of effect attack, but do not stay very far from it. It will cause the Crucible Knight to attack up to three times. It is usually a single attack followed by a double, spinning slash. They are pretty easy to dodge once you learn how to identify them.
After this sequence of attacks, you will have plenty of time to hit the Crucible Knight with a fully charged attack of a heavy weapon or several quicker strikes if you are wielding a light weapon.
Shield Bash
The Crucible Knight will run towards you and try to hit you with his spiked shield — which possibly represents one of the Crucible’s horns. Either way, make sure to get out of this attack’s path since it will launch you in the air and leave you prone.
This is a relatively slow attack, and you can probably go around it by moving to the side, but it’s safer to roll through it towards his right side.
If you get behind him after he performs a shield bash, you might be able to hit him once or twice, depending on how fast your weapon animations are.
Straight Stab
When performing this attack, the Crucible Knight charges for a bit and then attacks in a straight line with his sword.
You better try dodging sideways. Running away might not be safe since this attack’s range is deceptively long.
If you dodge left and you are using a light weapon, you might be able to hit the Crucible Knight and dodge away before it gets dangerous to stay close to him.
Try to avoid dodging right when the Crucible Knight uses this attack so you won’t hit his shield when counter-attacking.
Upward Attack
If you see this boss putting his sword down to the left, he will dash towards you and slash upwards. This is a relatively easy attack to recognize and dodge.
He might be open for a single strike after executing this, but it is just safer to stay away and roll through it if he is close to you.
Wide Swing
The Crucible Knight will bring his sword to his left shoulder before dashing towards you and performing a wide, lateral attack.
Dodging away is possibly the safest way to avoid this attack. Note that he might follow up with a second swing.
If you dodge and land close enough to the Crucible Knight, you might be able to hit him once or twice, depending on your weapon, before getting back to safety.
Crucible Knight’s Phase 2
This is where things become a bit tricky. The Crucible Knight will enter this phase when you take away about 40% of his Hit Points.
You will notice the start of this phase when he flies for the first time right after using an area of effect attack that looks like a pale aura.
Aspect of the Crucible: Tail
When phase 2 starts, this boss will start using an incantation, the Aspect of the Crucible: Tail.
This incantation allows the user to perform a tail attack. This attack has a decent range and damage. On top of that, the Crucible Knight can use it as a follow-up to a regular sword swing, which makes some of his attacks quite hard to dodge.
You have to expect him to use this incantation right after he tries to hit you with his sword. If he does and you manage to dodge, you can try to hit him.
Please be careful if he uses this incantation out of nowhere. If this attack is not a follow-up to one of his sword attacks, its range will be much longer. This attack can be followed by an even longer, bigger, and more powerful tail attack that might be able to one-shot you.
Flying Charge
The Crucible Knight will spread his wings, fly up, and then charge you. He will dive in a straight line, trying to stab him with his sword.
This attack is not too troubling to dodge, but it can be followed by his tail attack.
Run away when he leaves the ground and wait for him to come. Roll sideways once he is somewhat close to you and you will be fine. Don’t dodge too early, or he will adjust the course of his attack, and getting stabbed by his flying charge hurts a lot.
Crucible Knight’s Resistances
Frostbite, Poison, and Scarlet Rot all work well against this boss. In fact, Scarlet Rot might be the one that works best. If you can get him affected by it and stay away, the damage over time will do all the work for you.
Unfortunately, Crucible Knight is immune to Blood Loss. So if you are hitting it and expecting a chunk of his Hit Points to go missing, that is not going to happen.
Prepare for the Battle
You know how to fight the Crucible Knight now, and you know how to recognize the most critical attacks that he has. You will learn how to dodge them with a few attempts, but this is an intimidating foe with relatively quick sword attacks for his size.
If you want to increase your chances of winning, you might want to try a few things to add to all that you just learned.
For instance, use any ability that adds damage or effects to your attacks before the fight even starts. Check if your weapon has a special ability, like Golden Vow, or if you have any Ashes of War that can buff your attacks. That way, you can ensure that your first hit will deal extra damage and possibly help you apply some negative status effect on the boss.
On top of that, make sure to use your Flask of Wondrous Physick before the boss battle begins. Combine them to be the most helpful version to your build, and make sure that you have its buffs working before fighting the Crucible Knight. I personally use the ingredients that allow me to effectively ignore the next hit I take.
Finally, make sure to take advantage of the moment when the Crucible Knight first spawns. He won’t do anything besides standing there for a second or two. If you are quick enough, you can strike him with a fast weapon a few times or once with a heavy weapon.
I managed to start this battle with a charged attack every time I attempted to beat the Crucible Knight, which means I could basically deal a lot of damage for free before he would even try to do anything.
Where to Find the Crucible Knight
This boss can be found in an Evergaol in Stormhill. Evergaols are the circles that you can find all over the Lands Between. They usually have stakes of Marika nearby that allow you to respawn near them when you lose a fight.
Note that this is not the only Crucible Knight in the game, though. Besides the one in the Evergaol, you can find one in Stormhill Castle, one at Redmane Castle, and another at the North of Crumbling Farum Azula.
What Does the Crucible Knight Drop?
Once defeated, you don’t get many runes. As I stated before, the Crucible Knight has a lot of damage, and his pull plate armor prevents him from having his poise broken.
People try to brute force their way through this boss. Still, if you develop a bit of patience and wait for the right moment to attack, he is actually easier than it seems.
I’m mentioning that because, although many people have a lot of trouble defeating this boss, he only grants you 2100 runes.
However, you get a unique incantation once you beat the Crucible Knight. In fact, it’s the same one that he uses against you during the fight, the Aspect of the Crucible: Tail. This incantation works for you pretty much the same way it works for the boss. If you activate it once, you will perform a tail strike.
Activating it a second time during the tail strike animation will make your character perform a more powerful tail strike with a much longer reach.
The Other Crucible Knights
Besides the one in Evergaol, there are a few other Crucible Knights in the game. They all fight pretty much the same way, so you can apply the same tactics. However, they might have slightly different stats, and some fight alongside other enemies.
Stormveil Castle
There is a crucible knight hidden in a secret area that you can access by jumping off the walls in Stormveil Castle.
From the Rampart Tower Site of Grace, head out to where you find the Bladed Talon Eagles. Defeat them and move to the area on the left.
It seems like a dead end, but if you jump on the wall and look down, you will see a small ledge where you can drop and a destroyed tower with an item on it.
That’s your hint. Just follow that path until you find a more prominent ledge below the tower and keep moving until you see the Crucible Knight.
This version is not a boss, although it seems nearly as strong. Once you defeat it, it will drop another Incantation. This time, you will get the Aspect of the Crucible: Horns.
Auriza Hero’s Grave
You will be fighting Crucible Knight Ordovis and a regular Crucible Knight in this boss fight. This is an optional fight that happens to the South of the Starscourge Radhan boss area.
Crucible Knight Ordovis drops his Crucible Knight set once defeated. Use that with a massive shield, a sword, and Crucible Incantations, and it will be like you’re playing as one of them.
Final Thoughts
This is undoubtedly a formidable enemy that can get newer players by surprise and even frustrate some experienced players with his raw power.
Still, this battle is here to teach you a lesson that is very valuable when you are learning how to defeat Godrick in Elden Ring.
The lesson is simple, you must have the right mindset when fighting powerful bosses in Elden Ring. Some bosses might have a lot of power and be quite intimidating at first, but paying attention and being patient will reveal what you have to do.
Once you learn that, things will get much easier as you progress through the game.
Of course, learning how to level up fast and where to buy spells early will give you a nice boost, but, in the end, it’s all about that methodical play. Try, fail, and try again but apply what you’ve learned.
