The Crucible Knight is quickly earning a reputation as one of the most frustrating field bosses in Elden Ring. This is a boss that looks like it would be simple, but you would be incredibly wrong. The Crucible Knight will absolutely punish any type of player who is unprepared to take him on.
You can find this boss fight right above the Groveside Cave which you fought the Beastman of Farum in. The boss arena is called the Stormhall Evergaol and unlike other Evergaols you will not need a Stonesword Key in order to enter it. The center of the stone ruin will already be glowing purple and you will be free to do battle with the Crucible Knight.
The Crucible Knight is a holy knight with a shield. He has a multitude of combo attacks at his disposal and when not attacking, likes to keep his shield up to prevent distance attacks. His attacks consist of slashes, stabs, lunges, shield bashes, and an obnoxious foot stomp that splash attacks directly ahead of him. This boss has quite a lot of health for the early game. It’s best to leave him and come back when you are higher level and have 7-8 flasks to heal or regen mana, depending on your playstyle.
At the halfway point of the fight, the Crucible Knight will add two more attacks to his arsenal. The knight will begin to conjure golden wings that will allow him to fly up and lunge forward for a tracking stab attack. He will also gain a golden tail swipe attack; a large tail resembling that of a dragon will emit behind him and swipe at you. The flying attacks can be easily dodged sideways, but the tail can become a nuisance and catch you in the middle of a roll.
This fight will heavily depend on your ability to memorize Crucible Knight’s combos and that may require a lot of dying on your part. Luckily, like other Evergaol locations, if you die you respawn directly in front of the Evergaol (pick Stake of Marika for respawning).
Defeating The Crucible Knight with Melee
In order to defeat this boss with melee-style combat, you have to lure him into attacking by running around in front of him. When he starts attacking, run backward so he can’t hit you, then as he finishes his combo you must land a hit. It will take a lot of practice to find the sweet spot where you are close enough to land the hit but far enough from not taking one. Rinse and repeat. Another strategy that works wonders is parrying. Almost all of the knight’s sword strikes can be parried. The easiest and most telegraphed one to do this with is his sword drag attack. The knight will lug back his sword and begin to drag it towards you for an upward strike. Stand your ground and parry him with a 100% physical defense shield and you can land a few free hits.
Defeating The Crucible Knight with Magic
If sorcery is your game or some other ranged build the same strategy applies. The knights shield will block all magic and other projectiles almost negating all their damage. Approach the knight and then run away from his attacks, roll if you are worried, but this will waste more stamina. To seize victory, you need to keep exploiting his own attacks and brief delays between combos. Even if you are a higher level it will take the average player awhile to whittle down the Crucible Knight’s health because of how little the windows of time are to attack him, but do not get cocky. Simply rinse and repeat the above strategy and you will defeat the knight.
Once felled, the once holy knight will leave behind the Aspects of the Crucible: Tail. This is a spell that mimics the tail swipe that the Crucible Knight was just using against you. The caster will grow a golden tail that sweeps away enemies before the caster. This is one of the ancient Erdtree incantations.
Elden Ring is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
