Elden Ring: Black Knife Assassin (Sainted Hero's Grave Entrance) Boss Fight

As you probably know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

Black Knife Assassin is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is found guarding the entrance to the Sainted Hero’s Grave in central Altus Plateau. Like most lesser bosses in the game, this one is optional in the sense that you do not need to defeat it in order to advance the main story.

I was not prepared for an actual boss just sitting around outside the dungeon, which is why the fight is already in progress when the video starts, as the assassin was already chasing me and I was dangerously close to entering my usual headless chicken mode before I got the recording started.

This boss is similar to the other Black Knife Assassins you have most likely already fought in the game, except that you fight this one outdoors, so running away is an option if you’re that kind of Tarnished. I’m not – at least not officially – but I still managed to accidentally drag it so far away from its spawn point that it reset and teleported back. That was unintentional and I didn’t realize it would happen, I guess I just like to move around a lot during combat. The boss will not regain its health when it teleports back, so you can just continue the fight at that point if it happens.

I’m not sure if it’s possible to skip this boss by just sprinting past it and into the dungeon, but it may be. I personally like to fight as many bosses as possible as I find that the most interesting part of the game, so I don’t skip any of them unless I have to.

And now for the usual boring details about my character: I play as a mostly Dexterity build. My melee weapon is the Guardian’s Swordspear with Keen affinity and Chilling Mist Ash of War. My shield is the Great Turtle Shell, which I mostly wear for the stamina recovery. I was level 110 when this video was recorded. I believe that’s a bit too high, but I still had a fun fight, so it’s not too far off in my case. I’m always looking for the sweet spot where it’s not mind-numbing easy mode, but also not so difficult that I will be stuck on the same boss for hours ;-)