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The Crystal Sage is a boss and later a miniboss in Dark Souls III.

In-Game Description

The twin Crystal Sages once served as spiritual guides to the scholars of the Grand Archives, and one went on to ally with the Undead Legion.[1]

Description[]

Both Sages are towering figures that have billowing, long robes that obscure most of their bodies. True to their pedigree, they wear enormous hats that obscure their faces, though they also wear bone masks that look like beaks, with glass-eyed lenses. Instead of sorcery staves, they utilize crystal spheres as catalysts (likely used similarly to crystal balls). The Legion's Sage uses a floral lavender sphere, while the Archives' Sage uses a bluish white sphere. They also wield rapiers for defense.

Locations[]

Road of Sacrifices

  • Found in an exterior court located at the end of the ruined keep that connects the marshlands with the cathedral.

Grand Archives (miniboss)

  • Materializes and starts attacking as soon as the player climbs up the first set of stairs after opening the archives' gates. After sustaining enough damage, the sage will vanish and reappear elsewhere in the building, where she will continue her attack. The locations where she can teleport to are:
  1. At the first end wall as one enters the archives.
  2. On the third floor, at the middle of the corridor that is above the entrance.
  3. On the third floor, at the middle of the wooden bridge that connects to the shortcut lift and the stairs to the fourth floor.

Lore[]

The two scholars are spiritual successors of the legendary grand sage Logan, wearing hats similar to that of the legendary sorcerer as a symbol of their pedigree[2], and possessed a scroll containing the sorceries and research of Seath which lead to Logan's records of Crystal Sorcery, , a branch of sorcery that the two sages had carried on[3] allowing them to replicate Logan's sorceries[4] that utilize the power of crystals to their fullest as a medium for souls[5].

At some point the Crystal Sages reached Lothric and became the spiritual guides of the scholars of the Grand Archives[6]. The Crystal Sages introduced to Lothric not only crystal gems[7] but also the heretical belief in the pale dragon Seath and his mad knowledge[8]. The sages would thus continue to work on their research within the Grand Archives, even taking Daughter of Crystal Kriemhild as their pupil[9] and crafting weapons and casting tools that used the power of crystals to enhance their magical power, representing how the fruits of the lifetime of research had advanced to an impressive level[10].

Eventually, in a pact of uncertain terms, one of the Sages joined the Undead Legion of Farron[1] to teach them sorceries. As the Legion believed in speed over power, the Crystal Sage created spells that were practical and could be used relatively faster than other sorceries,[11] but required and encouraged the development of specific talent.[12] The daughter of the Legion's lead acolyte, a xanthous scholar named Heysel, appeared to have had some of her own sorceries tailored in such a way.[13][14]

Strategy[]

The Crystal Sage spends the first half of the fight teleporting and casting spells. Its spells include Homing Soul Arrow, Heavy Soul Arrow, a homing crystal ball, a rapid fire soul dart, and a mortar-style bombardment. Once down to half health, the Sage will spawn clones each time it teleports. These clones seem to cast the same spells. The clones disappear upon taking any damage and damaging them does not affect the boss' health bar. To tell the clones apart from the boss look at the color of their spells, spells cast by the clones are blue in color whereas those cast by the boss are purple. It is not advisable to block any of the spells, as the stamina drain is large.

For melee players, running up to the sage and hitting rapidly is a good strategy. This should interrupt any spells and cause the Sage to teleport. Once the Sage gets to half health and clones, you must either take out the clones very quickly or identify the real Sage to deal damage. The clones only take a single hit to dispatch.

It is advisable for melee players to pack throwing knives, as the clones can be quickly dispatched with single knives. The Crystal Sage is also highly susceptible to bleed damage.

It is possible to stagger the sage by using a large weapon (e.g.: ultra greatswords) to stun-lock and take them out before they enters the second phase.

It is also possible to use poison or toxic against him. Usually the Storyteller's Staff can do the job easily. Simply Use the weapon art, toxic the boss and go sit at the top of the little hill at the right of the arena. Slow way to kill the boss but surely a safe approach on higher NG or when melee is a tricky approach.

As the Crystal Sage is vulnerable to parries, Sacred Flame can be used to immediately interrupt its movements. This can be particularly useful for interrupting the Sage's teleporting attempts.

Summons[]

Eygon of Carim: If the player speaks to Eygon in the Undead Settlement after rescuing Irina of Carim, he can be summoned for this fight. In the pillar chamber leading to the arena, his summon sign can be found behind the third pillar on the left.

Drops[]

Item Soul of a Crystal Sage
Soul of a Crystal Sage
Crystal Scroll
Crystal Scroll
Drop Rate Guaranteed
(Road of Sacrifices)
Guaranteed
(Grand Archives)

Notes[]

  • A second Crystal Sage appears in the Grand Archives as a normal enemy, teleporting to various spots of a great library while shooting powerful magic projectiles from a distance. The player has to find their way to its location while fending off the many enemies and obstacles scattered throughout the area.

Trivia[]

  • From the description of the Sage's Crystal Staff, "Crystal spheres devour the will of the user.". Perhaps their lifetime of using them has driven them mad, giving them a sad but not very unexpected fate similar to Logan and Seath, their predecessors.
    • Kriemhild does not appear to be insane, however, despite using one in her staff.
  • From close observation of the second Crystal Sage, it appears to have feminine hair, while the boss version is bald. This could imply that the Crystal Sage on the Road of Sacrifices is male, and the other is female, making the twins brother and sister.
  • The second Crystal Sage uses an Estoc instead of the Crystal Sage's Rapier.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Music[]

Motoi_Sakuraba_-_Crystal_Sages_(Full)_(Dark_Souls_III_Complete_Original_Soundtrack)

Motoi Sakuraba - Crystal Sages (Full) (Dark Souls III Complete Original Soundtrack)

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Soul of a Crystal Sage description.
  2. Sage's Big Hat description.
  3. Crystal Scroll description.
  4. Crystal Scroll#Usage
  5. Crystal Magic Weapon (Dark Souls III) description.
  6. Soul of a Crystal Sage description.
  7. Crystal Gem description.
  8. Soul of Consumed Oceiros description.
  9. Sage's Crystal Staff description.
  10. Sage's Crystal Staff and Crystal Sage's Rapier description.
  11. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SR
  12. Sage's Scroll description.
  13. Great Farron Dart description.
  14. Farron Hail description.
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