Finally, a truly tough boss! And a really epic one too! Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony is one of the last bosses in Blasphemous, and this one is a real challenge. If you suffered with Esdras of the Anointed Legion (who gave me a hard time too, mind you), get ready, because this one is on a whole other level.
In fact, I’m on the fence about whether to add her to the Very Hard Bosses section, because she’s definitely pretty tough… but it’s not like she’s on the level of some of the ones on there, like Sans (Undertale) or the Nightmare King (Hollow Knight). However, she would make the cut compared to, say, Undyne on the Genocide route (who’s also on the list); she’d be closer to her in terms of difficulty… I think I’ll add her, but she’ll just barely make it.
Anyway, make no mistake: this is going to be the biggest challenge you’ll face in Blasphemous so far. I don’t know yet whether a harder boss comes later, but that would be really epic.
Table of Contents
Crisanta Location
To get to the fight against Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony, you’ll first have to beat Quirce, Returned by the Flames, since he gives you a key you’ll need to use the “unicorn lift, or were they horses?” that takes you to a new section of the “Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage”.
In that section you’ll eventually get a mask that you’ll need to hand over at the big elevator in the “Archcathedral Rooftops” so you can go up to a floor much higher up, where the epic fight takes place.
Attack Guide
After a few defeats at the start, I ended up figuring out the key to this boss: in a “normal” fight you’re bound to lose, since Crisanta never stops hitting like a madwoman and is quite a bit more powerful than you in every way.
But… then I decided to try parrying and saw the light. Mastering the parry is the key to this boss! Seriously, I can’t tell you how much easier the fight gets once you know when to parry… I’ll explain in more detail now.
- Close Slash: The attack we care about most. She usually does it when you’re close to her, and it’s a plain old sword slash (but watch out, it has quite a bit of reach). Sometimes she’ll do a two-hit combo (the second hit is a charge that reaches wherever you are), and other times she’ll finish with a parry of her own, which we’ll talk about below. This attack is the key, because it’s when you should take the chance to parry her and counterattack. Sometimes she’ll keep repeating the same attack, so you’ll be able to counterattack several times. My recommendation is to attack her while you keep parrying (you can parry even while attacking).
- Parry: After Close Slash she’ll sometimes hold a parry for quite a while. Don’t attack her here: wait for her to attack and parry it yourself to block it (you’ll need to be patient, it takes a bit). This is an ideal moment to heal: if you heal quickly right when her parry starts and then parry right as your heal ends, you’ll make it in time. Just barely, but you’ll make it.
- Plunging Dive: Crisanta jumps really high and dives down at you. Again, you need to parry here; that way you’ll stop her from hitting the ground and block her attack. If she reaches the ground, sometimes a magic wave will run along the floor, and you don’t want that.
When her health gets close to 50%, she enters phase 2.
Phase 2 Attack Guide
This is where things get a bit trickier. Her sword now has a magic aura that adds even more damage (magic damage, I assume):
- Teleport and Charge: Crisanta disappears and suddenly reappears at one side of the screen to dive at you. As soon as you see her appear, turn to face her and parry very quickly. She’ll keep attacking “x” times and sometimes attack from the air, where you also need to parry. The attack usually stops after the aerial one. This is another good moment to heal, right when the attack ends.
Other than that, everything is the same, except her sword is now more powerful.
Strategy and Tips
As you’ve seen, the parry is the key here. Always get close to her to bait her into “Close Slash”, since that’s when you’ll deal a good amount of damage with the counterattack after your parry. If she keeps doing Close Slash after the counterattack, keep parrying; that’s the best thing that can happen to you.
You’ll also have to block all her other attacks with the parry, including in phase 2, where you’ll have to pull off a ton of parries. It may seem like I’m overcomplicating things, but trust me, I’m not: this makes the fight much easier… once you get the hang of it and know how to block all her attacks, the fight becomes almost easy.
Recommended Items
For this boss I mainly recommend bringing Rosary Beads that improve your physical and magic defense. They’ll help a lot to keep you alive, since this boss hits really hard.
What should be practically mandatory is the following Mea Culpa Heart:
- Heart of Virtuous Pain: Slightly increases the parry window (vital), but the Penitent One also takes a bit longer to recover. It’s still totally worth it against a boss where knowing how to parry pays off so much.
As for Prayers, I recommend “Zarabanda of the Safe Haven”. Use it during the moments I mentioned earlier when you can heal, since those are the only times you’ll have enough time.
By the way, watch out: in phase 2, Crisanta sometimes bugs out and stays off-screen. Luckily, if you wait a bit, she’ll come back in when she does her “Teleport and Charge” attack.
And that’s it! Did you find the fight against Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony in Blasphemous hard? How did you beat this boss? Leave a comment!
