Crimson Desert: Kailok, the Hornsplitter boss guide

The Hornsplitter is your first proper skill check in Crimson Desert. The leader of the goblin merchants has been meddling with Abyss power and has a few nasty tricks up his weirdly long sleeves.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, a general tip for Crimson Desert: prepare.

Like The Witcher and Monster Hunter, you can come into the big fights well prepared and it’ll make a ton of difference.

Make sure your weapon has been refined so you hit harder — just go around cliffs and mine ore for materials. You can also cook a bunch of meals to cram into your face hole mid-fight, working as heals.

Get into the habit of buying out the butcher and grocer, before using the cooking pot to make meals whenever their stock resets.

Hornsplitter tactics

Your best friend in this fight is your parry. Whenever Hornsplitter throws his light attacks, you have an opportunity to time your block precisely as his hit lands to parry and open him up for a counter attack.

Whenever you see him back up, he’s about to use ranged melee attacks, where he fires magical energy from his sword in a cone towards you. To avoid these, hold the dodge button instead of tapping it, so you do a full combat roll instead of a sidestep.

You’ll also learn an ability from Hornsplitter during this fight called Evasive Roll. It’s another dodge that basically allows you to get away from combos if you miss your parry. You’ll still take the first hit, but you won’t be stunlocked.

One of the most useful moves for Hornsplitter is the Pump Kick, which you should have learned in the previous boss fight. This works by holding down Y/Triangle, charging up a double kick that knocks enemies flying. However, you can use it without charging it up.

Crimson Desert works a bit like a character action game and allows you to animation cancel to chain moves together. Perform heavy combos with R2 and start holding Y/Triangle mid combo — you’ll flow straight into the kick. As well as not leaving you open for the charge, you can deal a bigger chunk of damage by using it as a combo ender. Keep kicking him and he’ll be done in no time.

Another useful martial art to use against humanoid bosses is a dodge followed by an unarmed melee attack (Y/Triangle). This performs a sweep that knocks them off their feet, and you can follow this up with a ground stab (RB/R1).

Do enough damage and you’ll hear a clang, signalling you’ve broken his stance (the yellow bar under his health). When you hear this, go all out.

Once you beat Hornsplitter, you get his sword, Sword of the Lord. This one-handed weapon comes with a fitted Abyss Core that allows you to use his ranged ability, Wind Slash, which automatically activates at the end of an RB/R1 combo, a jumping attack, or a light attack straight after a dodge.