Echo Knight is by far the most difficult boss encounter in No Rest For The Wicked for numerous reasons. No matter which is preventing you from bringing him down, this guide will help conquer this seemingly insurmountable foe.
How to beat the Echo Knight boss fight in No Rest For the Wicked
One of the biggest reasons Echo Knight is so difficult is because he is at the tail end of the Cerim Crucible, meaning you have to learn the fight on the fly, or risk being sent back to the beginning on death. There are a few things you can do to make your next encounter with Echo Knight much easier.
Make use of Health gained on Damage Dealt
Regardless of your build, Echo Knight does massive damage with most of his attacks. His attacks are relentless, designed to pressure you to make a mistake. Taking even one hit from him is enough to disillusion you from victory, often causing fatal cascade mistakes when you attempt to heal. Enter Health gain on damage dealt, an incredibly potent stat that allows you to heal yourself for significant amounts, cutting out the need to use consumables unless the situation grows dire.
This stat provides you a competent, safe way to sustain yourself without having to hunt for breakpoints in Echo Knights assault. It is best used with a fast weapon, but make no mistake, if you’re using a slow two-handed, you should still aim to use it anyway.
Make use of the Blink Rune ability
If you’ve used Blink before, there’s a high chance you weren’t impressed with its performance. It does not teleport you far, and its cost, while not expensive, takes away from your Focus bar. At first glance, it is unremarkable. However, it has a very powerful mechanic attached that is not obvious.
The Blink Rune ability allows you to break enemy tracking. What does this mean? When an enemy begins their attack animation, a significant portion of it will follow you no matter where you move. This is why you must make use of the iframes (Invulernablity Frames) in your dodge roll. Uniquely, using Blink during an enemy attack animation will prevent it from following you, allowing you to walk away from it easily.
This is especially strong against Echo Knight (especially during Phase 2) because his attacks all have incredibly long animations. Using a Blink during any of his attacks will break his tracking, giving you several seconds to deal large amounts of damage to him without risk of retaliation. This works against all of Echo Knight’s attacks, including his homing sword combos in Phase 2. Best of all? Blink can be slotted into any weapon with an open slot, and does not require a specific build. Just make certain you use Blink after an attack has started, otherwise it won’t be disjointed.
Strategically place Echo Knight’s Fire Patches
One of Echo Knight’s most deadly attacks causes him to spawn blue fire patches under your feet in rapid succession. These patches persist for a long period once they are out on the field and exist to limit the amount of movement you can do while fighting. What’s more, if you touch one of these patches for even a moment, you’ll suffer a large amount of Plague damage and will be immediately afflicted with the Plague DoT (Damage over time), which also does a lot of damage. Needlessly to say, don’t stand in the fire. These patches are bad news and can end your run if they end up all over the battlefield.
However, because Echo Knight spawns the fire patches at your feet, you have some agency to control where they end up. Instead of running around in a panic, aim to keep the fire patches gathered on the outskirts of Echo Knight’s arena. Ideally, you want to keep them all bunched in a corner, but just placing them around the outside gives you enough room to maneuver. Even better, once placed, move to the opposite side of where they are so your back is never to them. Echo Knight wants to kill you. He will come to you. Don’t let him box you in.
Don’t stand directly in front of Echo Knight
Echo Knight’s most dangerous attacks come from his lightning-fast spear thrusts. He does them in rapid succession and they deal large amounts of damage but can be avoided if you position yourself well. Echo Knight will only use his spear thrusts if you’re directly in front of him. So, don’t be. Attack from his sides, or back, but never stay in front of Echo Knight for long. If he uses his spear thrust combo, focus on evasion (Blink, dodge away) until you can reposition away from him. Getting out of his range will cause him to end the combo early.
Be Aggressive against Echo Knight
Aggressive is often thought to be the last thing you want to be in a difficult boss encounter, especially in a Souls-like. Ironically, in such games, aggression tends to be the secret key to victory, because if you’re dictating the terms of the fight, then the boss becomes fodder. I can confirm that this is the case for Echo Knight as well.
Echo Knight has a Break bar under his health that fills up every time you hit him. Filling this bar will cause him to fall, giving you a chance to deliver some painful blows. After a few seconds, it fills back up, and he’s back on his feet.
Now, imagine he is about to use his fire patch mechanic. You recognize it and shatter his Break bar just before he gets even one of his casts off. You just canceled one of his most dangerous mechanics, and now you won’t have to worry about it. Even if he does manage to cast once, having one fire patch in the field is way better than having six. Aggression is the key to victory against Echo Knight, and with the above-mentioned tools (Blink, Health on damage dealt), you should have no problem keeping him pressured.
