Despite its cute exterior, Kena: Bridge of Spirits contains some surprisingly tough boss fights. Here’s how to defeat a particularly nasty enemy named the Wood Knight.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits may look like a Pixar movie, but there’s a couple of boss fights across the game that will stop you in your tracks. A relatively early boss named the Wood Knight is one you’ll likely be bashing your head up against – especially since it comes at a time when Kena is still yet to upgrade many of her abilities.
So in order to get you past this boss and onwards through one of 2021’s best looking games, here’s how to beat the Wood Knight.
Getting to the Wood Knight
The progression of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is very linear, so there’s no real trick to getting to the Wood Knight boss fight. It takes place right after you’ve climbed the mountain to find Rusu. Being the nice fellow he is, Rusu will teach Kena how to use her spirit staff like a bow and arrow – which you’ll need in the fight ahead.
After descending back to Rusu’s house past a few arrow puzzles, you’ll encounter him at the top of a sloping surface that leads down to the Wood Knight’s boss arena. Make sure you’ve purchased any upgrades you have enough resources for (Rot Hammer is recommended), then jump on down.
Battling the minions
Before taking on the Wood Knight itself, you’ll have to knock out a couple of easier enemies that clamber through the trees around the arena. These baddies sit far up off the ground, so you’ll need to hit them with your newly acquired arrows to take them down.
My best tip for this portion of the fight would be to jump when shooting these minions. When Kena is in mid-air and aiming with her spirit staff, time will slow down, and you’ll be able to loose a few arrows before hitting the ground. Since a few of these enemies take two shots to drop and they love escaping up those trees, you’ll be able to clear them quickly and safely using this tactic.
Once you’ve defeated five of those enemies, the Wood Knight will be revealed to you in a cutscene. After that, it’s time to fight.
How to beat the Wood Knight
A lot of outlets are comparing Kena: Bridge of Spirits to old-school platformers like Crash Bandicoot or Ray-Man, and it’s a valid starting point for the feel of the Wood Knight boss fight. It only has a few moves, but it hits hard, so you should focus on dodging his attacks or blocking them with your shield, only attacking when completely safe to do so.
The two attacks you’ll have to look out for most are the Wood Knight’s attacks from range – meaning if you’re not standing within clobbering distance, the Wood Knight will do one of two things. The first is launching his wooden club at you like a boomerang, which can hit Kena on the throw and on the return – so make sure you hold your shield button down while the Wood Knight recalls his club.
The second attack is a lumbering charge, followed by a lunge straight forward with that big club. I found dodging this to be pretty unreliable, but dodging to Kena’s right had a better success rate. If your shield has enough juice, that’s definitely the safe option.
Since you start the fight opposite the arena from the boss, it’ll almost always start with one of these two attacks.
The other melee attacks are more telegraphed and predictable. Be quick with your dodges, use your shield in a pinch, and parry if you’re feeling frisky.
For some bonus damage, each glowing orange orbs on the Wood Knight can be shot with your arrows – a direct hit will knock a chunk off the boss’s health and stagger it for a moment. But again, I found these hitboxes somewhat unreliable, and my first successful run through the boss was actually one where none of my arrows connected.
As mentioned, the Wood Knight’s attacks are all parryable, and parrying his close-range attacks will result in a short stagger for the boss. You can punish this with a few hits with your staff, and if you have the Rot Hammer ability, you can use that for a solid spike of damage.
That said, I found it best to hold my Rot charges for healing. There are just two spots to heal in the Wood Knight arena, and with how hard this boss hits, you’ll probably need them.
Take all this advice, keep your cool, and you’ll beat the Wood Knight in no time.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is out now for PS4, PS5, and PC.
