Revision 2

Overview

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab is an Elite Boss encountered in the Valley of Grief, a desert region in the world of Pywel. She is a massive crustacean whose carapace is encrusted with bismuth crystal formations, giving her both her name and an exceptionally high natural defense. Like the Queen Stoneback Crab, she cannot be defeated through conventional ground-level melee combat. Instead, the encounter demands that players climb onto her back, break through the bismuth armor plating, and exploit the glowing weak points beneath.

This boss is tied to the faction quest "The Oreback Crab in the Desert," found under the "Sage of the Desert" quest tab. The quest only becomes available after completing a substantial number of faction quests in the area, including helping the goblin town through the "War Song of the Dusk" mission. Until those prerequisites are met, the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab remains inaccessible.

Her most distinguishing feature is an extraordinary Defense stat of 700, the highest of any confirmed crab-type boss in the game. Standard weapon attacks that rely on raw damage output deal negligible damage against her. The fight is entirely mechanics-driven: players who skip the climbing process and attempt to whittle her down on the ground will find that approach effectively impossible. The bismuth crystal armor must be broken by climbing onto her back, and only the exposed weak points beneath deal meaningful damage to her health pool.

Boss Information

Passive Abilities

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab has three passive skills that define her resilience and longevity in the fight.

Encounter Access

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab is found in the Valley of Grief and is initially locked behind faction quest progress. Players must work through the Sage of the Desert quest tab until they have completed enough missions to assist the goblin settlement. The specific prerequisite is finishing the "War Song of the Dusk" goblin mission. After that quest is resolved, the boss encounter quest "The Oreback Crab in the Desert" becomes available, directing players to the boss location in the valley.

The Valley of Grief is an arid, sun-scorched region, a stark contrast to the lush forest setting of the Queen Stoneback Crab encounter. The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab camouflages herself as a metallic or mineral outcrop on the desert floor before the fight begins. Like others of her species, she lies dormant until disturbed by approaching players, at which point she rises to reveal her true size and begins the encounter.

Combat Mechanics

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab encounter follows a climbing-and-weak-point structure similar to the Queen Stoneback Crab, but the bismuth crystal armor layer adds an extra step: players must first break through the bismuth before the underlying glowing cracks become accessible. The fight is divided into three broad phases.

Phase 1: Mounting and Reaching the Back

Players cannot damage the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab effectively from the ground. The first objective is to get onto her back. Her legs and lower body serve as the initial climbing surface. Avoiding her frontal attacks and ground-level hazards is essential during this phase. Once mounted, players must hold position on her carapace despite the constant movement and bucking that attempts to throw them off.

The Turning Slash ability is the primary tool for stunning the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab once you are on her back. Executing Turning Slash on her carapace triggers a brief stun window, slowing her bucking and creating a safe period to reposition and begin targeting the bismuth crystals.

Phase 2: Breaking the Bismuth Armor

The bismuth crystal formations covering her back must be destroyed before the glowing weak points beneath them are accessible. Unlike the gem formations on the Queen Stoneback Crab, which require Spirit-based Focus attacks to shatter, the bismuth on the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab is broken by direct weapon attacks. Standard melee attacks while mounted will chip away at the crystal armor.

Once a bismuth formation is destroyed, a glowing crack appears on the carapace beneath it. These glowing cracks are the actual weak points. Players use the Cling action (R3) to grab onto the crack, then the Pierce action (R2) to drive a weapon strike directly into the vulnerability. This two-part input is the primary damage-dealing sequence against the boss.

Each destroyed bismuth formation and pierced weak point triggers increasingly aggressive counter-behavior from the boss. She jumps more frequently, shakes harder, and can launch players into the air with carapace spouts or burst attacks. Managing the fall from these launches with a gliding ability is important for maintaining momentum without losing significant health.

Phase 3: The Finishing Sequence

After all weak points have been pierced, a final object on the boss's back, described in community reports as a pile of pots, becomes the target. Smashing these pots concludes the encounter. This finishing sequence mirrors the pot-smashing finale of the Queen Stoneback Crab fight, suggesting both bosses share a lore-based curse mechanism tied to pottery or containers placed on their backs.

Attack Patterns

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab uses a mix of ground-level attacks to dissuade players from approaching and carapace attacks to throw off mounted players. Her pattern becomes more chaotic as weak points are destroyed.

Strategy

Preparation

Before attempting the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab, ensure your weapon's base attack is high enough to break bismuth formations within a few hits after mounting. Her Defense stat of 700 applies primarily to ground-level attacks and does not nullify the mounted Cling and Pierce sequence, but the bismuth formations themselves have their own durability. A well-upgraded weapon reduces the time spent on each formation, which in turn reduces exposure to her carapace hazards.

Petrification immunity from Abyss Gear is recommended if available. Community players have noted that certain defensive Abyss gear can be equipped specifically for this fight to nullify one of her hazard effects. Stock up on food items with HP recovery before starting, as the continuous bismuth chip damage and launch attacks will drain health steadily over the course of the encounter.

Mounted Combat Loop

The core combat loop while mounted is: stun with Turning Slash, break the nearest bismuth formation with weapon attacks, Cling to the exposed crack, Pierce the weak point, reposition before the next bucking cycle. Repeat this loop for each of the bismuth formations on her back. Trying to attack multiple formations simultaneously wastes time and increases exposure to carapace hazards. Focus on one formation at a time.

Managing the Jump Attacks

The continuous jumping behavior is the most disruptive mechanic in the fight. When she begins a jump sequence, grip tightly (Cling) and release only after she lands. If you are thrown into the air, deploy your gliding ability immediately to control descent. Aim to land back on the upper carapace rather than falling all the way to the ground, as remounting from ground level costs time and exposes you to her ground-level attacks.

Force Palm Stun

Some players have reported success using Force Palm attacks on her back legs to trigger a collapse stun: roughly six to eight Force Palm hits on the back legs can cause her to collapse temporarily, creating a longer damage window. This technique can be especially useful if Turning Slash is on cooldown and the bucking is preventing safe access to bismuth formations.

High Defense on the Ground

Her Defense of 700 makes ground-level attacks nearly meaningless. Do not spend time attempting to chip her health from below. The only viable damage comes through the Cling and Pierce sequence on exposed weak points after the bismuth formations are broken. Accept early in the fight that the floor phase exists only to get you onto her back, not to deal damage.

Comparison with the Queen Stoneback Crab

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab and the Queen Stoneback Crab share the same fundamental encounter design: both are giant crustaceans that require players to climb onto their backs and destroy multiple weak points before a finishing sequence can be triggered. However, several key differences distinguish the two fights.

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab is considered the harder of the two encounters. Her higher defense, more aggressive jump patterns, continuous bismuth chip damage, and the Min HP Percent 5 passive that prevents a kill without completing the finishing sequence all contribute to a more demanding fight. She also requires prior completion of faction quest content, positioning her later in the intended progression than the Queen Stoneback Crab.

Lore

The Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab inhabits the Valley of Grief, a harsh desert region in Pywel. Like others of her species, she disguises herself as an inert mineral formation, in her case a bismuth-encrusted rock outcrop, to ambush prey that draws near. The bismuth crystal growths that cover her shell are not merely cosmetic; they are a natural defense mechanism that makes her effectively impenetrable to conventional weapons and reinforces her predatory camouflage.

The presence of a cursed container on her back, the pots that must be smashed to end the encounter, mirrors the lore of the Queen Stoneback Crab, whose rage is attributed to a cursed jar placed on her head. This recurring element across both crab queens suggests that the oreback crab species in Crimson Desert's world may be particularly susceptible to corruption through external objects, or that someone placed these vessels deliberately to weaponize the creatures.

Her tie to the goblin settlement through the "War Song of the Dusk" quest line positions the Queen Bismuth Oreback Crab as a regional threat in the Sage of the Desert area, a creature whose presence is significant enough to the local goblin population that helping them with their "War Song" mission is the prerequisite for accessing the encounter.

Tips

• Complete the "War Song of the Dusk" goblin quest under the Sage of the Desert tab before attempting this boss. The encounter will not be accessible without it.

• Do not try to damage her from the ground. Her Defense of 700 makes ground attacks nearly useless. The only effective damage comes from the Cling and Pierce sequence on exposed weak points.

• Use Turning Slash on her back after mounting to create a stun window. This is your best opening to safely attack bismuth formations without being immediately bucked off.

• Target one bismuth formation at a time. Trying to split focus across multiple formations wastes time and increases bismuth chip damage.

• If thrown into the air by her jump attacks or carapace spouts, deploy your gliding ability immediately and aim to land back on the upper carapace rather than falling all the way to the ground.

• Six to eight Force Palm hits on her back legs can trigger a collapse stun, giving you a longer damage window. Use this if Turning Slash is on cooldown.

• Her Min HP Percent 5 passive means she cannot be killed by ordinary damage at very low health. You must complete the pot-smashing finishing sequence to deal the final blow.

• Equip Abyss Gear with petrification immunity before the fight if you have access to it. Community reports suggest this negates one of her hazard effects.

• Bring food items with HP recovery. Bismuth chip damage, carapace launches, and the length of the encounter mean your health will be under consistent pressure throughout.