Hexe Marie is the Black Witch you’ll run into during Chapter 9 of Crimson Desert, and there’s no way around this fight, it’s mandatory. The good news is that the easiest way to beat Hexe Marie comes down to one tactic you can lean on for both phases of the battle. Like most enemies in the game, Hexe Marie has a stagger bar sitting just below her health bar, and your main job is to fill that bar as fast as you can. The fastest tool for the job is Force Palm.

Once you’ve leveled it up to all three marks, you unlock a triple Force Palm with a heavy finishing blow, and that single combo is going to carry you through this entire Hexe Marie boss fight. In this guide, I’ll walk you through her crow attacks, her summoned minions, and exactly how to handle phase two without getting overwhelmed.

Bookmark this guide before you head into the Sanctuary to face her, because phase two throws a few extra wrinkles at you that are worth knowing in advance. And once you’re done here, take a look at our other Crimson Desert boss guides, since a lot of them lean on this same Force Palm approach.

The Easiest Way to Beat Hexe Marie in Phase One

The easiest way to beat Hexe Marie in the first phase is to keep your Force Palm strikes coming whenever you have the spirit for it. Each hit chips away at her stagger bar and her health bar at the same time, and it interrupts whatever attack she’s winding up, so she can’t punish you while you’re mid combo. The catch is that your spirit drains quickly, and you won’t be able to keep this up forever. When it runs low, you’ve got two options.

If Hexe Marie starts swinging at you, dodge a few of her attacks and try to put as much distance between you and her as you can. She tends to go quiet when you’re far away, which gives your spirit time to recover. If she’s already inactive when your spirit runs out, activate Focus mode right away. Everything slows down, you get a clear read on what she’s about to do, and your spirit fills back up while you wait.

Once her stagger bar fills completely, she drops to one knee and rests for a few seconds. That’s your window to land a string of heavy attacks with no pushback. When her health gets low in phase one, mix in the Blinding Flash Finisher alongside your Force Palm strikes, but don’t get greedy. Pull back after a few hits, because staying in her face too long means eating a counterattack. This is very important. Repeat that loop, Force Palm, retreat, recover, and her first health bar drops faster than you’d expect.

Hexe Marie Crow Attacks Guide: Dodging the Crow Storm

Crows are Hexe Marie’s signature tool, and once you know how to read them, they stop being a problem. She’ll fire crows that travel straight at you in a line, and the trick is to dodge sideways rather than backward, since a lateral dodge takes you completely out of their path while a backward roll can still catch you on the edge.

Keep an eye out for a brief moment where she pauses and a bright purple glow builds up around her. That’s the windup for her Crow Storm, a much bigger swarm attack, and when you see it, disengage immediately and move away from whatever direction she’s facing.

The crows from this bigger attack will still clip you for a little chip damage even if you’re moving, but it’s nothing close to critical, and you can top your health back up with food between exchanges. Don’t panic if a few crows land on you here and there.

The real danger isn’t the crows themselves, it’s getting caught flat footed by a Crow Storm while you’re mid attack on Hexe Marie. If you’re curious where these crows come from in the story, Hexe Marie is the one who sent Draven the Crowcaller to spread chaos earlier in the game, and you can read more about that encounter in our Toward the Nest walkthrough and Crowcaller guide. Treat the purple glow as your cue to back off, reset your spacing, and wait for the swarm to pass before you go back in with Force Palm.

Hexe Marie Summon Minions Strategy for Phase Two

The moment phase two kicks off, Hexe Marie summons a horde of clay warriors to swarm you, and this is where the Blinding Flash Finisher really earns its place in your kit. One use of it hits a wide group of enemies at once, and the final hit of the combo cleans up whatever’s left standing. These clay warriors go down in a single hit each, so they’re more of an annoyance than a real threat, but if you ignore them they’ll pile up and box you in while Hexe Marie is still active in the background.

Clear the crowd first, every time, before you turn your attention back to her. Phase two also brings minion waves more often than phase one did, so you’ll be repeating this clear and refocus loop a few times throughout the fight. Once the clay warriors are down, go straight back into the same Force Palm rhythm from phase one. Fill her stagger bar, drop her to one knee, unload heavy attacks, then retreat and recover your spirit. The pattern doesn’t change, you’re just managing one more layer of chaos on top of it.

Best Gear and Food for the Hexe Marie Boss Fight

Before you walk into the Sanctuary for this fight, it’s worth taking a minute to check your loadout. Spirit Judgement is particularly useful here, since it can blast away a cluster of minions in one go if the clay warriors start crowding you faster than you can clean them up. For food, Chewy Rice Cakes are a great pick because they restore both health and spirit at the same time, which means less downtime juggling separate items between Force Palm strings. Grilled Meat works as a solid backup if you’re low on Rice Cakes, mainly for topping off health after a few stray crow hits.

And obviously, get Force Palm up to all three marks before you attempt this fight if you haven’t already, since the triple Force Palm finisher is the backbone of this entire strategy. If you’ve already worked through our guide on how to beat Myurdin in Crimson Desert, you’ll recognize this stagger and heavy attack rhythm, since it’s the same core loop. The more spirit and stamina you’re carrying into the fight overall, the more Force Palm cycles you can string together before you need to back off and recover, and that directly shortens how long this fight drags on.

Hexe Marie Phase 2 Guide: What Changes in the Second Phase

Hexe Marie’s health is split into two bars, a blue one for phase one and a red one underneath it for phase two, so you’ll know exactly where you stand the moment that first bar empties. Once phase two starts, she gets noticeably more aggressive and strings her attacks together more often, which means you’ll be dodging and repositioning more than you did in phase one.

Watch for the moment she creates multiple copies of herself and sends out a much larger crow swarm than before. This is her big phase two set piece, and it’s another good cue to disengage, dodge laterally, and let the swarm pass before reengaging.

Don’t rush this part of the fight. It can feel like it’s dragging on, especially with the extra minion waves and the more aggressive crow patterns, but the goal here is to win cleanly, not quickly. Stick to the same loop: Force Palm when you have spirit and she’s close, dodge and create distance when she’s attacking, and Focus mode or retreat when you need to recover.

If you keep cycling through that without forcing extra risky attacks, victory in this Hexe Marie boss fight is basically guaranteed. For more on squeezing extra value out of Force Palm in tougher fights, our guide on how to beat Fortain the Cursed Knight covers some Force Palm expertise tips that carry over well here too.

Hexe Marie Boss Fight: Frequently Asked Questions

How many phases does Hexe Marie have?

Hexe Marie has two phases. Her health bar is split into a blue section for phase one and a red section underneath for phase two, so you’ll always know how far along you are in the fight.

Where do you fight Hexe Marie in Crimson Desert?

You face her at her Sanctuary during Chapter 9. The story locks you into this encounter, so make sure your gear and food are sorted before you walk in.

What’s the best skill to use against Hexe Marie?

Force Palm, hands down. Leveled to all three marks, it lets you fire off a triple Force Palm with a finishing blow that fills her stagger bar quickly and chips her health at the same time.

Can you skip the Hexe Marie boss fight?

No. She’s a mandatory boss in Chapter 9, so there’s no way to progress the story without beating her.

What do you get for defeating Hexe Marie?

Beating her unlocks the Crow Whisperer, a unique weapon tied to her crow themed moveset, making the fight worth the effort beyond just clearing the story.

That covers the full Hexe Marie strategy and tips you need for this fight. Stick with Force Palm, manage your spirit carefully, and don’t let the crows or the minions rush your decisions. Check out our other guides on ingametor.com for more Crimson Desert boss strategies if you want to keep building on this Force Palm playstyle.