Black Knife Assassin

Black Knife Assassin

Location & Drops
Deathtouched Catacombs: 1,600 Assassin's Crimson Dagger Black Knife Catacombs: 1,600 Assassin's Cerulean Dagger Black Knifeprint Sage's Cave: 9,000 Concealing Veil Sainted Hero's Grave: 11,339 Black Knife
Strong VS Holy Pierce Immune to Poison Scarlet Rot Hemorrhage	Weaker to Standard Slash Strike Frostbite

Black Knife Assassins are Bosses in Elden Ring. This Elden Ring Black Knife Assassin Guide features boss locations, tips, strategies and videos on how to defeat the Black Knife Assassins easily, as well as boss stats and lore for the Black Knife Assassins.

The Black Knife Assassins are relentless and agile dark figures that become more fearsome and deadly the deeper you venture into The Lands Between. They were responsible for the event known as the Night of the Black Knives, where they assassinated Godwyn the Golden with daggers imbued with a fragment of the Rune of Death stolen from Maliketh, the Black Blade. These assassins are a group of women who are said to be Numen with close connections to Queen Marika.

These are optional bosses as players don't have to defeat them to advance in Elden Ring. Despite being quick and hard hitters, the Black Knife Assassins are easily staggered and having Spirit Ashes to distract them can help significantly. The variant in the Sage's Cave is invisible, though there are multiple methods available to pinpoint her location during the fight, the easiest of which is using the Sentry's Torch. Black Knife Assassins drop the Assassin's Crimson Dagger, Assassin's Cerulean Dagger, Black Knifeprint, Concealing Veil, or Black Knife depending on which assassin was defeated.

Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that can be encountered all over the Lands Between. They can drop unique Spirit Ashes, Weapons, Spells, and other various Items.

Lesser Black Knife Assassin is the normal enemy form of this boss. Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader is another variant of this boss.

The assassins that carried out the deeds of the Night of the Black Knives were all women, and rumored to be Numen who had close ties with Marika herself.

Elden Ring Black Knife Assassin Location

Black Knife Assassin can be found in:

Deathtouched Catacombs [More Info] [Map Link]
Black Knife Catacombs [More Info] [Map Link]
Sage's Cave [More Info] [Map Link]
Sainted Hero's Grave [More Info] [Map Link]

Black Knife Assassin Combat information

Stance: 80
Parriable: Yes
Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken
Damage: Standard, Slash, Pierce, Holy

Negations (or Absorptions)

Standard: 10
Slash: 10
Strike: 10
Pierce: 35

Magic: 20
Fire: 20
Lightning: 20
Holy: 40

The negation numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% will be negated. Bigger number = less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.

Elden Ring Black Knife Assassin Boss Guide

Black Knife Assassin Fight Strategy

The Best Tips for Black Knife Assassin:

Use the Lone Wolves or Godrick Soldiers.
Magic Glintblade can make this boss laughably easy, as it tends to dodge while the spell is casted, meaning that it does not dodge the projectile itself.

MELEE USERS

The Assassin can be easily staggered, and the Lone Wolves Ashes can distract her, deal a lot of damage, and leave openings to land some free hits. Otherwise, use a fast weapon to keep her staggered so she can't attack you back. They also have rather low health, so it's often worthwhile to trade damage and just plan to outlast her.

The safest way to attack her is to wait for her Helmsplitter and use her recovery time to set up a backstab. You can also try parrying her, but it's not recommended as her attacks are fast and hard to predict and she tends to move around a lot.

MAGIC AND RANGED USERS

Intelligence: Keep your distance and use ranged attacks. You can use Spirit Ashes to distracted her, or just roll and run away to keep distance between you. Carian Slicer is a fast melee spell that deals high damage for its cost, and can be cast repeatedly to possibly stunlock the boss. Magic Glintblade (Prisoner) can be used over Pebble to counter her ability to dodge projectiles.

Faith: Same strategy as stated above. Catch Flame can be used the same as way as Carian Slicer, as it deals rather high damage for its speed. Flame Sling could be useful, but her tendency to dodge could make the spell less useful.

Black Knife Assassin Attacks & Counters

Attack	Description	Counter
Quick Slash	Slashes her dagger in various directions, often twirling around as well	Blocking can cause her to ricochet and break her out of her combo. Otherwise, dodge away and wait out the rest of the combo. This attacks is also parriable at the point when her dagger is raised above her shoulder.
Lunging Stab	Stabs her dagger straight ahead, either overhand or underhand	Blocking can cause her to ricochet and break her out of her combo. Otherwise, dodge away and wait out the rest of the combo.
Feint Attack	Leaps forward with one fake counterclockwise slash followed by the real clockwise slash	The first slash isn't real and can't hurt you (but also can't be parried). Wait until after it's done to dodge away or you'll get caught be the real slash. Alternatively, parry after the initial slash and as her body twists and her blade comes near to ground to her left.
Spinning Retreat	Spins clockwise followed by a clockwise slash, then jumps to her left	Roll to your left to get distance from her and allow her to finish her combo
Blade-Dragging Sweep	Plunges her knife into the ground and pivots around it, followed by a clockwise slash	Run a short distance away when you see her dagger enter the ground, then land a hit/backstab once the attack is finished. Alternatively, parry her towards the end of the animation as the blade comes to the ground on her left and the final set of sparkes fly.
Helmsplitter	Jumps in the air before slamming her dagger into the ground	Roll as she starts her descent. Take advantage of the long recovery time to get in a few hits or line up a backstab.
Lunging Grab	Lifts her left hand above her shoulder then lunges forward. If it hits, she stabs the player in the back for massive damage	Either roll towards her raised arm or stagger her as soon as you notice her lifting her hand. If you dodge successfully, this is a great opportunity to get in an attack
Decoy Lunge	Lunges low to her right and raising her dagger high above her shoulder, sweeps the dagger across to her left before performing a back-handed slash from low on the ground, sending sparkes flying.	Run away, or parry her when her dagger is to her left, just before she drags it on the ground with sparks flying.
Slashing Blade of Death	Charges her dagger with red flame and fire a horizontal arc of flame at you. If it hits, continuously drains your health for a time. Usually used when the player is some distance away.	Roll into the projectile as it approaches, or roll to either side. Alternative, use a shield with the Carian Retalian Ash of War equipped to parry the projectile for some extra damage.
Jumping Blade of Death	Charges her dagger with red flame, leaps into the air then unleashes a series of Death-imbued slashes at you. If it hits, it is likely to one-shoot you. It will also continuously drains your health for a time. Usually used when the player is some distance away.	Run away from her as far as possible, then dodge at the last moment in case you are caught on the edge of the Blades of Death. The hit box of this attack extends some distance forward as well as behind her.

: Attack can be parried : Attack can be spell parried

Black Knife Assassin (Standard) Combo Chart

BLACK KNIFE ASSASSIN DEATHTOUCHED CATACOMBS

Drops	1,600 Assassin's Crimson Dagger
HP	1,668

DEATHTOUCHED CATACOMBS

Drops

1,600
Assassin's Crimson Dagger

1,668

Elden Ring Black Knife Assassin Boss (Deathtouched Catacombs)

Optional boss
Closest Site of Grace: Deathtouched Catacombs
Multiplayer allowed for this boss
You can summon Spirit Ashes for this boss

Black Knife Assassin Combat Information

Health: 1,668 HP
Defense: 101.3
Drops 1,600, Assassin's Crimson Dagger
This assassin has only half of her health and can be easily killed by attacking aggressively and trading damage
This assassin has much more limited combos, moves much more slowly, and can't do the Blade of Death or Helmsplitter attacks. It mainly serves as a taste of what's to come.

Resistances

Poison: Immune
Scarlet Rot: Immune
Hemorrhage: Immune
Frostbite: 310 / 408 / 698 / 1155

Sleep: Immune
Madness: Immune

The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. The values after the "/"s indicate the increased resistances after each successive proc.

NG+ and Beyond (click to reveal)

	NG	NG+	NG+2	NG+3	NG+4	NG+5	NG+6	NG+7
HP	1,668	5,207	5,727	5,988	6,248	6,769	7,029	7,289
Defense	101	117	120	123	129	134	140	152
Runes	1,600	8,000	8,800	9,000	9,600	9,800	10,000	10,200
Resistances
Poison	Immune
Scarlet Rot	Immune
Hemorrhage	Immune
Frostbite	310 / 408 / 698 / 1155	339 / 437 / 727 / 1184	344 / 442 / 732 / 1189	349 / 447 / 737 / 1194	354 / 452 / 742 / 1199	359 / 457 / 747 / 1204	364 / 462 / 752 / 1209	369 / 467 / 757 / 1214
Sleep	Immune
Madness	Immune

Black Knife Assassin (Deathtouched Catacombs) Combo Chart

BLACK KNIFE ASSASSIN BLACK KNIFE CATACOMBS
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Drops	1,600 Assassin's Cerulean Dagger Black Knifeprint
HP	3,312

BLACK KNIFE ASSASSIN

BLACK KNIFE CATACOMBS

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Drops

1,600
Assassin's Cerulean Dagger
Black Knifeprint

3,312