You fight the Devil of the Reed Fields in Chapter 3 of Crimson Desert, as part of the main quest “The Face Behind the Mask.” First, you’ll have to track him to his location; afterwards, you’ll have
This is your first real taste of just how difficult Crimson Desert can get, and it’s a doozy. So here’s everything you need to know about getting through the Devil of the Reed Fields fight in one piece.
How To Prep For Devil Of The Reed Fields
What To Bring
Before you even try to take on the Devil of the Reed Fields, you should take some time to return to town, craft healing items, and improve your gear if you haven’t done so recently. Gather some iron and copper ore from nearby veins, and bring it to the smith to upgrade your highest-damage weapon and best armor.
While you’re there, stop by the butcher to cook up any ingredients you have. Hold right on the D-Pad and select them to equip your cooked food; this will allow you to heal more quickly in battle.
If you have any spare Abyss Fragments, then you may also want to upgrade your basic parry ability, as it’ll play a big role in the upcoming fight.
Reed Devil Moveset & Strategies
Lead-Up
The Devil of the Reed Fields fight doesn’t begin as a traditional boss battle; instead, you have to track him by using your lantern to follow his trail first. Eventually, this will lead you to a secluded hillside area where the Devil of the Reed Fields himself will appear, along with a number of mask-wearing devotees.
This part can be surprisingly difficult; you go from cliffside to cliffside, battling large groups in every clearing. Too often, the smaller enemies will distract you, then the Devil will appear to whack you on the head with his giant staff in what can easily be a deadly combo.
You can complete this section for some additional loot, but personally, I found it to be too much of a drain on my resources for what follows. So, if you want, you can actually skip the lead-up to the Reed Devil fight by simply following his trail to the very end. Don’t stop when he or his allies appear; just follow the trail, using your lantern, straight up the hill. You may want to ride your horse, as it’ll allow you to outrun them more easily.
Eventually, you’ll arrive in a large field full of windblown reeds. Follow the trail to its end, and you’ll have the opportunity to interact with a doll. As soon as you do so, you’ll watch a cutscene, and the real fight will begin. Once you’ve interacted with the doll, this large reed field will become your new checkpoint. You can leave to upgrade your gear, craft more healing items, or do anything else, really, without having to repeat the lead-up to the fight.
Phase One
The Reed Devil doesn’t give you much time to think after the cutscene; he’ll begin by performing a long-range charged slash, which you can learn after watching him perform it repeatedly throughout the battle. More importantly, though, try to dodge out of the way whenever he charges up this move. It’s one of his better telegraphed attacks, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get out of the way.
From there, he’ll generally begin a series of combos where he teleports directly in front of you (or on top of you), hits you with a flurry of sword attacks, then disappears. The best way to get the upper hand here is to parry his first attack, then quickly retaliate with everything you’ve got.
If you fail your first parry, then dodge to avoid the rest of the combo. You can’t parry anything other than the first attack in his flurry, so trying will just waste your precious HP.
Sometimes, at the end of his combos, the Reed Devil will pause briefly to dramatically sheathe his sword. This makes him vulnerable; if you’re able, use an attack with lots of forward momentum (like your RB+RT combo) to close the gap and hit him. He’ll be briefly staggered, and you should have time to get off another quick combo before he disappears.
Keep this up until you’ve burned down the Devil of the Reed Fields’ first health bar. Otherwise, just try not to get hit, and heal as needed. Don’t stress if you miss an opening because you need to heal, or if you mess up your parry timing; there’ll always be another chance.
Phase Two
With his first health bar gone, the Reed Devil will enter an intermediate phase. He’ll create several copies of himself that run around the battlefield and try to swarm you, while six totems will rise out of the ground. You’ll have to destroy all six totems to make it to the next phase, but the clones will make that difficult.
The best advice I have for this section of the fight is to run for your life. Sprint as much as you can from one totem to the next, then use a highly damaging combo (like RB+RT) to destroy each one quickly. Watch out for the red energy waves that the clones send towards you, and dodge as they come in. Consider zooming out the camera (press the View button) to get a better vantage point on what’s coming your way.
Phase Three
For the third and final phase of the fight, the Devil of the Reed Fields behaves much as he does in his first phase, with a couple of key differences. First, he’ll start summoning body doubles again, although only one at a time for this phase. Just try and parry them when they attack you, and when in doubt, dodge.
The Reed Devil also starts using the red wave power that his clones used in the previous phase. If he suddenly pops up a great distance away from you, you know what’s coming. Just dodge these as they come in, but do note that, if you’re moving prior to the attack, you should dodge in the same direction you were running. These attacks have a wide hitbox, and if you do try to dodge in reverse, you risk getting caught up in it.
For the most part, your strategy during Phase Three should be the same as in Phase One: parry and riposte whenever possible, dodge if you can’t, and heal as needed. Having two enemies only makes this part marginally more difficult. If you’re able to get to this phase with a decent supply of healing items, you should have no problem beating the Devil of the Reed Fields and moving on with your Crimson Desert journey, even if it takes you a few tries.
- Released
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March 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
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Pearl Abyss
- Publisher(s)
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Pearl Abyss
- Number of Players
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Single-player