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Antumbra Sword is a powerful boss enemy located deep within the Sanctum of Absolution, a dungeon tucked into the southwestern corner of the Hernand region. The Sanctum sits between the Witchwoods and Sunset Valley, far from the main roads, and reaching it requires a deliberate trip to one of the more isolated corners of the map. At the heart of the Sanctum, Antumbra Sword waits as the area's guardian boss, a void spirit tied to Antumbra's Order and the broader forces of the Abyss.
This is not a fight for the unprepared. Antumbra Sword is one of the most punishing bosses players can encounter during the early-to-mid portions of the game. It is fast, aggressive, and capable of ending a fight in just a couple of hits if your gear and skills are not up to the task. The boss summons mirror images of itself, fires waves of dark energy across the arena in multiple directions, and chains its sword attacks with almost no downtime between combos. Players who attempt the fight too early in their progression risk being one-shot outright.
Defeating Antumbra Sword is well worth the effort. The boss drops the Vessel of Dark Pursuit, one of the strongest early-game two-handed swords available in Crimson Desert. The fight also rewards an Abyss Artifact, which can be used to unlock or upgrade abilities on the Abyss Tree. The Sanctum of Absolution becomes accessible as part of the Witch of Wisdom questline beginning in Chapter 5, though the boss fight itself can be attempted before that point.
Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
Full Name | Antumbra's Sword |
Location | Sanctum of Absolution, southwest Hernand |
Region | Between the Witchwoods and Sunset Valley |
Quest | |
Type | Elite Boss (Giant Sword) |
4,116 | |
Attack | 265 |
100 | |
100 | |
Knockout | 750 |
Difficulty | Intermediate (can one-shot underprepared players) |
Weakness | Vulnerable during reappearance animation after teleporting; attacks can be cancelled with Blinding Flash |
Passive Skill | Boss Large Human |
Vessel of Dark Pursuit (two-handed sword) |
Antumbra's Sword wears a full set of Antumbra equipment. These items define the visual appearance of the boss and represent the gear associated with Antumbra's Order.
Item | Slot |
|---|---|
Antumbra's Giant Sword | Giant Sword |
Upperbody |
Antumbra Sword hits hard enough to knock you out of the fight in just a couple of hits, and can one-shot players who attempt it too early in their progression. Proper preparation makes the difference between a manageable challenge and a brick wall. Three things are essential before walking into the Sanctum of Absolution.
Bring a generous supply of healing food. Clear soup, Grilled Meat, or any cooked food with solid HP recovery will keep you alive through the inevitable damage you will take. This is a fight where sustain matters; even skilled players will get clipped by energy waves and mirror image attacks. Stock more food than you think you need.
Focus Level 3 is the single most important preparation step for this fight. Focus mode slows down time when activated (press both sticks on a controller or the X key on keyboard), allowing you to anticipate enemy attacks and react with precision. At Level 3, the time-slow effect is strong enough to let you read Antumbra Sword's combos and set up guaranteed parries. Without Focus Level 3, the boss's speed makes many of its attacks extremely difficult to dodge or parry on reaction alone. Focus levels are unlocked by investing Abyss Artifacts into the Abyss Tree.
Blinding Flash Finisher is a blue combat skill that is your primary offensive tool in this fight. It deals a large chunk of damage in a single burst and, more importantly, can cancel several of the boss's most dangerous attacks mid-animation. Timing a Blinding Flash as soon as Antumbra Sword lifts its blade with both hands will interrupt the Ground Thrust before the energy waves fire. The Finisher variant adds a gap-closing follow-up that lets you chain seamlessly into a full damage combo.
Carry at least three Palmar Pills. These items allow you to continue the fight after being knocked down, functioning as a second chance. Given how easily the boss can end your run with a single well-placed combo, Palmar Pills provide critical insurance. You can farm them before the fight or purchase them from certain vendors in Hernand.
Refine your weapon and armor to at least tier three, ideally tier four, before attempting the fight. Visit a Grind Stone and Anvil to apply temporary buffs as well. The extra attack power from a weapon buff helps shorten the fight, while the armor buff reduces the chances of being one-shot. Keen Senses Level 2 is also highly recommended, as it grants a time-slow effect on perfect dodges that pairs well with Focus mode.
Antumbra Sword is an agile, teleportation-heavy boss that fights with speed, dark magic, and spectral duplicates. It vanishes into clouds of black smoke, reappears at unpredictable positions, and chains attacks with minimal recovery time. The fight has a chaotic rhythm, and learning to read each attack's tell is essential.
Attack | Description | How to Counter |
|---|---|---|
Shadow Strike | After emitting black mist, the boss teleports to a new position and delivers a wide sweeping slash. It may chain this teleport up to three times in succession, striking from a different angle each time. | Lock on and watch for the sword lift behind the boss. Parry on reaction when it reappears, or dodge sideways. After the third teleport in a sequence, use Blinding Flash to cancel the combo and follow up with a Finisher. |
Triple Illusion Strike | Antumbra Sword performs a wide sweeping slash, then summons three spectral apparitions that leap toward the player with downward slashes, each creating sword waves on impact. This attack can one-shot players with low health. | Perfect dodge each apparition rather than trying to block. The timing is tight but consistent. Focus mode's time-slow makes reading each apparition's approach significantly easier. Never try to tank even one of these hits. |
Ground Thrust | The boss lifts its sword with both hands and drives it into the ground, creating multiple sword waves that radiate outward across the arena in several directions. These waves cover a wide area and deal massive damage. | Use Blinding Flash the instant you see the boss lift the sword with both hands. This cancels the attack entirely. If Blinding Flash is on cooldown, sprint sideways and use the pillar in the arena to block some of the waves. |
Apparition Sword Waves | The boss creates spectral clones of itself that fire energy waves outward in multiple directions simultaneously. The waves spread across the arena and are difficult to avoid through distance alone. | Dodge sideways through gaps between the waves rather than retreating backward. The pillar near the edge of the arena can absorb some of the projectiles, providing a safe zone if positioned correctly. |
Unblockable Slashes | Indicated by a red hue around the boss, these are vertical slash attacks that cannot be blocked or parried. They deal heavy damage on contact and often come after a brief pause in the boss's combo chain. | When you see the red glow, do not attempt to block. Dodge roll through the gaps between the vertical slashes. Getting behind the boss during this window gives you a brief punish opportunity. |
Circular Slash into Clone Summon | A spinning slash followed immediately by the summoning of spectral clones that attack in rapid succession. The initial spin creates space, and the clones close it. | Dodge away from the circular slash, then spam the dodge button to avoid the clone flurry. Do not try to counterattack until the clone sequence finishes entirely. |
Antumbra Sword punishes aggression. The boss teleports out of your combos, summons clones to interrupt your attacks, and retaliates with combo chains that leave almost no breathing room. Treat this fight as a war of attrition. Land one or two hits during each safe window, then back off and wait for the next opening. Greed is the number one cause of death in this encounter.
The fight has a rhythm once you learn to read it. Antumbra Sword teleports, attacks, pauses briefly, and then either teleports again or chains into another combo. Your damage windows come during those brief pauses and during the materialization animation after each teleport. Keep your combos short and always leave enough stamina to dodge the next attack.
The most reliable approach is to activate Focus mode (both sticks on controller, X key on keyboard) and use it to set up guaranteed parries. While in Focus, time slows down enough to react to the boss's normal melee swings. Hold block and tap the block input (LB/L1/CTRL) repeatedly to parry incoming strikes. Each successful parry staggers the boss and fills its poise bar. Once staggered, unload your strongest combo before re-entering Focus for the next exchange.
This cycle of Focus, parry, stagger, combo, repeat is the backbone of the fight. It transforms Antumbra Sword from an overwhelming blur of teleports and slashes into a predictable pattern you can exploit. Focus Level 3 makes this strategy consistent; lower Focus levels do not provide enough time-slow to parry reliably.
Blinding Flash is the fight's most important skill. It serves two purposes: cancelling dangerous attacks and dealing burst damage. The Ground Thrust and the third Shadow Strike in a sequence can both be interrupted by a well-timed Blinding Flash. Watch for the tell (the boss lifting its sword with both hands for Ground Thrust, or the third consecutive teleport for Shadow Strike) and fire Blinding Flash immediately. Follow up with the Blinding Flash Finisher to gap-close and chain into a full damage combo. This is the single largest damage window the fight offers.
There is a pillar near the edge of the arena that cannot be destroyed. Position yourself near it when the boss begins its energy wave attacks. The pillar absorbs some of the boss's projectile waves, including the sword waves from the Ground Thrust and the Apparition Sword Waves. This is especially useful when Blinding Flash is on cooldown and you have no other way to avoid the wave attacks. The pillar will not block melee strikes, so do not hide behind it during the boss's direct sword combos.
Between major damage windows, use the Stab skill to apply passive bleed damage. Bleed ticks away at the boss's health over time, adding up significantly over the course of a long fight. A quick stab after dodging a combo, followed by an immediate retreat, is low-risk damage that does not overcommit you. Pair it with a sword that has strong stab scaling for maximum effect.
Stamina management is critical. Depleting your stamina bar means you cannot dodge or block, which in a fight where the boss can kill you in two hits is a death sentence. Never burn all your stamina on offense. Always reserve enough for at least two dodge rolls after every attack sequence. If your stamina is running low, disengage entirely and wait for it to recover before re-engaging.
Defeating Antumbra Sword clears the Sanctum of Absolution and completes the Cloister of Ruination quest objective. The boss drops two key items.
Reward | Details |
|---|---|
A unique two-handed sword and one of the strongest early-game weapons in Crimson Desert. It has a special attack called Wound of Darkness (mapped to the Turning Slash input), which replicates the boss's own vertical slash move. The sword is classified as Abyss Gear with 5 equipment slots and the Destruction I passive. It can carry players comfortably through mid-game and into late-game with continued refinement. | |
A sealed Abyss Artifact used to unlock and upgrade abilities on the Abyss Tree. Abyss Artifacts are the primary currency for expanding your character's supernatural powers. |
After defeating Antumbra Sword, players can complete the Sanctum of Absolution puzzle. The puzzle involves collecting two Fusion Reactor Cores from rooms beyond the boss arena and placing them in their respective slots using Axiom Force and Aerial Force Palm. Completing the puzzle awards the following additional rewards.
Reward | Details |
|---|---|
Blueprint I: Enhanced Kuku Pot | A crafting blueprint for an upgraded version of the Kuku Pot, which provides improved alchemical capabilities. |
Blueprint I: Kuku Spear | A crafting blueprint for the Kuku Spear, a weapon that can be forged at a crafting station. |
The Sanctum of Absolution is located in the far southwest of Hernand, positioned between the Witchwoods and Sunset Valley. It is south of the Scholastone Institute. The area has an Abyss Nexus fast travel point nearby, which makes return trips easier after discovering the location for the first time.
The Sanctum becomes fully accessible during Chapter 5 of the main story, after players unlock Elowen (the Witch of Wisdom) and begin the sanctum cleansing questline. However, the boss fight itself has no strict level gate, meaning you can walk in and attempt the fight earlier if you find the location. Doing so is not recommended unless your gear and skills are already at the recommended thresholds, since the boss can easily end the fight in seconds against an underprepared player.
The Sanctum is one of several sanctums scattered across the Hernand region that must be cleansed as part of the Witch of Wisdom storyline. Each sanctum contains a boss fight followed by a puzzle. Antumbra Sword is widely considered one of the harder sanctum bosses due to its speed, mirror images, and energy wave coverage.
Antumbra Sword (formally Antumbra's Sword) is a void spirit and the leader of Antumbra's Order, a dark faction connected to the Abyss. The entity is both judge and executioner for those who defy the forces of darkness. Upon engaging the player, it announces: "Only ruin awaits who defy the darkness! Your heart is forfeit."
The name "Antumbra" refers to the region of shadow that extends beyond the edges of an eclipse, where light is partially obscured but not completely blocked. This astronomical term fits the entity's nature: it exists in a space between the material world and the Abyss, belonging fully to neither realm. The Sanctum of Absolution appears to be a place where Antumbra's Order congregates and enforces whatever dark mandate they follow.
Antumbra wizards and spirits appear in other Abyss-related content throughout Crimson Desert, including the Spire of Frost, suggesting that Antumbra's Order holds a significant position within Pywel's supernatural hierarchy. Whether the Abyss and its guardians are truly malevolent or simply operating under a different set of rules remains ambiguous within the game's narrative.
Do not attempt this fight without Focus Level 3. The time-slow effect is essential for reading the boss's attacks and setting up reliable parries.
Carry at least three Palmar Pills. The boss can end a run in two hits, and Pills give you a second chance when things go wrong.
Use Blinding Flash to cancel the Ground Thrust as soon as you see the boss lift its sword with both hands. This removes the most dangerous attack from the fight entirely.
Position near the arena pillar during energy wave attacks. The pillar absorbs projectile waves and gives you a safe zone when Blinding Flash is on cooldown.
Keep combos short. One or two hits per opening, then disengage. Overcommitting is the most common way to die in this fight.
The Triple Illusion Strike must be dodged, not blocked. Perfect dodge each of the three apparitions individually using Focus mode's time-slow to read the timing.
Watch for the red glow that signals unblockable attacks. When you see it, do not attempt to parry. Dodge roll through the gaps instead.
Apply Stab between major attack windows for passive bleed damage. The ticks add up significantly over the course of the fight.
Refine your equipment to tier 3 or 4 before the fight. The difference in survivability is dramatic and can determine whether you survive the boss's combos.
If you are still struggling, explore other content first and return later. Even one additional Abyss Artifact invested in Focus or health upgrades can change the outcome.
Antumbra's Sword is one of three bosses in the Antumbra series, all sharing the same base stats (Health 4,116, Attack 265, Defense 100, Stamina 100, Knockout 750) and the Boss Large Human passive. The other two are Antumbra's Spear, which wields a polearm and uses lunge-heavy attack patterns, and Antumbra's Staff, which fights with ranged magical attacks. Each member of the trio is found in a separate sanctum within the Hernand region. The strategies for each differ significantly because of the weapon type, but the underlying stat block is identical, so preparation that works against one will carry over to the others.
Antumbra's Sword was defeated.
