WuWa. Crownless Wuthering Waves Boss Guide. Mechanics.
The open world version of Crownless can be found in the Central Plains. The hologram version can be found in the northeast of Mt. Firmament.
Reward – 
Strife Tacet Core
Echo – 
Havoc – Transform and perform four consecutive attacks. Afterwards, increase the current character’s Resonance and Havoc Damage by 12% for 15 seconds.
This guide will show mechanics based on the Hologram Challenge VI, which may be different to other versions of this boss.
Before you take on this boss, there are some preparations you can make:
- Crownless is resistant to Havoc Damage, avoid using a Havoc DPS character.
- More important than Parries are Dodges and Dodge Counters. The quick attack sequences will force you to dodge many times back to back. Having a character who has evade frames on their Dodge Counter will make this fight much easier.
Special Mechanism
When fighting the Hologram boss, there are some extra effects at higher difficulties. At difficulty 4 and higher you will want to keep these in mind.
- Dodge Counters grant a 15% Crit Damage buff for 15 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.
- Dodge Counters deal 100% more damage and increase the stagger damage during phase 2.
Use Crit Rate food if possible to get more value out of the Crit Damage buff, and use Dodge Counters as your highest priority, even if missing a parry.
Mechanics
Havoc Bane Effect – Many of Crownless’s attacks will apply a debuff to you if they hit. This can stack twice at which point it will deal Havoc damage to you while spreading the effect. Dodge attacks to avoid the effect stacking.
Phase 1
During the first 30% of the fight, Crownless will do quick punch and kick attacks. These can be dodged, but since their animations are so small it can be hard to see them. Get a bit of distance if possible to better see when these attacks are coming, or avoid using flashy skill effects. During this phase there is no stagger bar, which means the boss can be easily staggered by attacks at any time.
But don’t go too far from the boss near the start because their attacks have small hit-boxes and it can be easier to trigger your dodge near them. If you can’t trigger the dodge you may get stuck without the dodge reset for the next few attacks which occur in quick succession.
Beam – While there are is no stagger or Parry mechanics in this phase, there are very short moments where the boss is easily staggered. This can be seen by the orange circles that appear. You can try to stagger, but it is often best to dodge these attacks. One of the more telegraphed attacks is a long charged beam attack. Dodge after a few seconds. This can also be side-stepped since the angle of the beam stops redirecting the aim a second before the cast.
Uppercut – Crownless will kneel down and a short ring will appear over their hand. Dodge the uppercut that immediately follows. Next the boss will perform a downward smash, but while the boss is in the air they are very easily staggered. Dodge the uppercut and then Dodge Counter to knock them down.
When the boss reaches 70% health, they will equip a spear and begin phase 2 with all new attacks.
Phase 2
At the start of the phase, the boss will fly into the air and a flourish of purple light will appear around them. They will then leap at you, performing a series of attacks with their spear. These have much larger range than attacks in Phase 1, so all you need to do is focus on getting the rhythm of your evade frames and Dodge Counters right by maximizing their duration, not spamming dodge as fast as possible.
Fissure – Sometimes Crownless will smack the ground with their spear, leaving behind a mark on the ground. After a moment the mark will light with purple flame. Dodge into the delayed explosion to trigger more Dodge Counters, or side step out of it.
Special Attack – While in Phase 2, Crownless will occasionally perform a long combo by flying into the air and then rushing at you for several attacks in a row. It can be very dangerous, but we can break it down into multiple parts to understand how to play around it more easily.
Red Light Assault – The first part of the assault combo, Crownless will float into the air and you will see a red streak of light behind him. He will then charge at you and swing his spear several times. The sequence and timing of these swings is 1 – 3 – 2 meaning there is one swing with a small delay before the next three quick swings and then a small delay before two final quick swings. As long as you expect the order of these attacks, you can react to them more quickly.
NOTE: This can be interrupted by an Echo skill, stopping every subsequent attack in the entire combo. Echo skills that prevent Special Skills such as the Rocksteady Guardian, Cyan-Feathered Heron, or Lumiscale Construct can be used to Parry this attack and fully counter it.
Assault Twister – After completing the Red Light Assault combo, Crownless will float back into the air before doing another attack. This time you will see Crownless lift its wings above it but there will be no lights or special effects. Afterwards, the boss will summon a twister at you. This twister moves very quickly and the animation can be misleading because most of the other attacks the boss does are telegraphed by movement. This one is different and you need to dodge towards Crownless as soon as his arms drop to avoid the twister as it comes out.
Purple Wings Assault – After the twister, the boss will float above one final time and their wings will flourish with a purple light. Afterwards the boss will dive at you and perform several wide slashing attacks. You must dodge the initial dive, but if you are right next to Crownless afterwards the wide slashes will go around you. You don’t want to dodge into these, stay near the boss and deal damage while remaining safe in the middle.
Charge – Another attack which starts with the boss flying into the sky is a charge attack. Differentiate this one from the others by the boss holding their spear in the air. Dodge quickly for this one as the charge happens soon after the spear is raised into the air.
Parry – In Phase 2 there is a stagger bar so you can start making progress towards that with Parry and Intro skills, but this is often not worth it because simply dodging the attacks you would Parry would yield better results due to the Special Mechanism. Also the boss will immediately go back to attacking after you Parry them, so there isn’t much benefit to Parrying. Time your Dodges and Dodge Counters instead.
Projectile Toss – After a quick side-step, Crownless will throw some projectiles at you. These happen very quickly so you must expect them. Usually the boss will do this when you are far away,
The most dangerous attacks are often the ones you don’t expect, so understanding the different tells to each animation is very important. For example, when the boss flies into the air, there are three different attacks they could do, the red light preludes the Special Skill Combo, the spear in the air preludes the Charge, and just flying into the air with a purple light and no spear in the air will be a series of attacks you need to have a steady rhythm of dodging for.
