How to Defeat the Crystal Guardian

Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, which is now a kingdom in ruins because of a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he will encounter different enemies, bosses, mini-bosses, and even optional bosses. One of these optional bosses is Crystal Guardian.

Crystal Guardian is an optional boss in the game that obstructs the Knight from resting on a Bench in the Crystal Peak area. The Crystal Guardian has a second form, the Enraged Guardian. Fortunately, the Knight has to battle its second form separately and not in the same battle as the Crystal Guardian.

According to in-game lore, Crystal Guardian is one of the Miners in the Crystal Peak area who was a victim of the Infection. The Crystal Guardian, however, looks bigger than the other Husk Miners in the area and has more mastery over the crystal’s light than the other Crystallised Husks.

In this guide, you will learn how to defeat Crystal Guardian!

Location

The Crystal Guardian can be found on a Bench in the middle of Crystal Peak. 

The Crystal Guardian looks inactive but prevents the Knight from resting on a Bench but attacking the Crystal Guardian will wake it up and start the battle.

Moves

In battle, the Crystal Guardian will perform the following moves:

The Crystal Guardian will move by randomly hopping inside the area in either a short or long distance.

The Crystal Guardian will target the Knight with its arm and shoot out a beam of crystal energy from its hand. The Crystal Guardian will only fire a beam where its hand was initially targeting, and the beam of crystal energy will only last for almost half a second.

The Crystal Guardian will scream, and up to four beams of crystal energy will shoot down from the ceiling and aimed at different parts of the arena. The beams of crystal energy will trigger at slightly different times. Each beam of crystal energy will last for almost half a second, and the Crystal Guardian may use this attack with the Laser Beam attack. The Crystal Guardian will always start the fight with the Sky Beams attack.

Strategy

The player will know whenever a beam of crystal energy will be shot, through the Laser Beam attack or the Sky Beams attack, as there will be a skinny beam of light from its source. It is important to be mindful of where the beams of crystal energy will be shot as it would be hard to move around the arena during the Sky Beams attack, especially if the Crystal Guardian performed it with the Laser Beam attack.

The main strategy for defeating the Crystal Guardian is striking it a few times in between its Laser Beam attacks. The Knight can also quickly get to the other side (the side that is not attacking) of the Crystal Guardian to safely attack it a few times.

As the Crystal Guardian has an armor of crystal on its head that prevents it from taking damage from Nail-bouncing. The Knight should also avoid being on top of the Crystal Guardian as the Knight could get hit and take contact damage when the Crystal Guardian hops to move around the arena.

As for Spells, the Vengeful Spirit Spell or the Shade Soul Spell (the upgrade to the Vengeful Spirit Spell) and the Desolate Dive spell or the Descending Dark spell (the upgrade to the Desolate Dive spell) would be useful as these are quick spells but deal huge damage. The Howling Wraiths spell or the Abyss Shriek spell (the upgrade to the Howling Wraiths spell) can be used against the Crystal Guardian, but it should be cast right next to it, which means the Knight may be vulnerable to attacks. 

Charms are also very beneficial in fighting the Crystal Guardian: the Quick Focus Charm can be great to have as it can help the Knight heal faster, the Mark of Pride and Longnail Charm can help by increasing the length of the Knight’s Nail, the Shaman Stone Charm can help by increasing the size and damage of Spells, the Soul Catcher and Soul Eater Charm can help by increasing the amount of Soul that the Knight will gain when hitting enemies, The Kingsoul Charm can help by regenerating Soul every two seconds, the Grubsong Charm can benefit by gaining Soul every time the Knight takes damage, the Spell Twister Charm can help by reducing the amount of Soul needed to cast Spells, the Stalwart Shell Charm can help by increasing the invincibility time and decreasing the recoil every time the Knight takes damage, the Thorns of Agony Charm can help by sprouting out thorny vines that can deal damage to enemies once the Knight takes damage, and the Fragile Strength Charm or the Unbreakable Strength Charm which can help by increasing the damage output of the Knight’s Nail by 50%.

You mustn’t get greedy in attacking the Crystal Guardian, as this will result in the Knight being trapped between the beams of crystal energy. Learn when to attack, when not to attack, and when to dodge, and you’ll defeat the Crystal Guardian in no time.