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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 preacher twins, known better as the Crystal Sages,[2] arrived in Lothric at an unknown time, along with numerous magics.[3] They were said to be the successors, or at least the spiritual successors of the legendary "Big Hat" Logan,[4] the Vinheim sorcerer who studied the paledrake, Seath the Scaleless, and his learnings, which lead to Logan's records of Crystal Sorcery, which the Sages would continue to study throughout their whole lives,[5] and it appears that they eventually set up shop at Lothric's Grand Archives.[6]

The Scholars of the Grand Archives, under the spiritual direction of the twins, maintained a dangerous store of knowledge, some of which being similar to what drove both Seath and Logan mad, forcing them to take measures such as coating their heads and clothing with wax[7] to avoid similar madness. Their favorite student during this time was a woman named Kriemhild, and they gifted her with one of their spherical catalysts, fixed to the end of a stick to create a staff.[8]

Eventually, in a pact of uncertain terms, one of the Sages joined the Undead Legion of Farron[1] to teach them sorceries, though how this affected the relationship between the twins is not made certain. 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,[2] but required and encouraged the development of specific talent.[9] 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.[10][11]

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 him out before he 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.

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.
    • While the Legion's Sage uses a blue sphere, the sorcery they cast is lavender. In reverse of this, the Archive's Sage uses a lavender sphere, while their sorcery is blue.
  • 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.

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. 2.0 2.1 Sage Ring description.
  3. Crystal Gem description.
  4. Sage's Big Hat description.
  5. Crystal Sage's Rapier description.
  6. Crystal Scroll description.
  7. Scholar's Robe description.
  8. Sage's Crystal Staff description.
  9. Sage's Scroll description.
  10. Great Farron Dart description.
  11. Farron Hail description.
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