Genshin Impact: How To Unlock & Beat The Knave Boss Fight (Best Team Comps)

Unlocking and beating the Knave boss fight in Genshin Impact can grant you important rewards for some characters, in addition to being one of the best encounters in the game. The Knave is the boss form of Arlecchino, the Fatui Harbinger that was first introduced as an NPC and was then added as a new playable character in Genshin Impact 4.6. While Arlecchino is a ruthless and powerful DPS unit, she gets even more powerful in her boss form – this is quite similar to Raiden Shogun as a character versus her boss form in the region of Inazuma.

Contrary to the Electro Archon, however, Arlecchino’s boss form is not located in Inazuma and, instead, can be found in Fontaine. There are a few prerequisites to unlock it and, once that is done, beating her will require an extra ounce of dedication. The Knave is a tough boss fight and, if you don’t play your cards correctly, she can one-shot your characters with some easy. There is a way of avoiding that, but you will be put to the test against this boss in Genshin Impact. Hopefully, a solid team comp can aid you in your quest.

Related Genshin Impact: Arlecchino Character Builds (Weapons, Artifacts, Team Comps, Stats) Build Arlecchino properly with the best weapons, ideal Artifacts, and strongest team comps in Genshin Impact to boost her potential as a DPS.

How To Unlock The Knave Boss In Genshin Impact

There Are Two Methods To Start The Battle In Fontaine

Ultimately, there are two ways of unlocking the Knave boss fight. The first of them is through natural progression within Arlecchino’s dedicated Character Quest called Ignis Purgatorius Chapter. To start, you will have to have completed the main Archon Quests in the region of Fontaine and be at Adventure Rank 40. Unlocking the quest also requires a Story Key. You will have to go through the main story in this new quest with Arlecchino and, near the end, you will face her in the campaign.

Once you beat her in the story, you can challenge the Knave as a weekly boss fight for rewards, such as some of Arlecchino’s materials in Genshin Impact.

The second method of unlocking the Knave boss fight is through the quick-start feature, a quality-of-life optimization added by HoYoverse some patches ago. With it, you can unlock the boss fight without having to go through the quest. This was made to allow you to farm for her materials before concluding the mission. To take advantage of the quick-start feature for boss fights, you have to be at least AR 40. If you are, you can open the Adventurer Handbook in Genshin Impact and on the Trounce Domains page, locate The Knave boss fight, and immediately start it.

How To Beat The Knave Boss In Genshin Impact (Phase 1)

Strategies To Clear Bond Of Life Debuff

The Knave has two phases in her boss fight, and the first one is a little less aggressive than the second, though it can still wipe your party if you do not pay attention. The most worrying mechanic in this portion of the fight if the Knave’s Bond of Life. The Knave applies this to your party members and you will need to clear it as quickly as possible. To do this, you need to heal through the Bond of Life debuff until its depletion.

If she casts a Bond of Life equal to 20% of your active character’s Max HP, which is 3,000 HP, for instance, you will need to heal that much HP to get rid of the debuff. Once the Bond of Life is cleared, the main tip is to use a Charged Attack against the Knave boss in Genshin Impact. This will deal a massive load of damage to her health bar and will temporarily stagger her, allowing you to attack her for a while longer.

The Charged Attack gained after clearing Bond of Life is called Scarlet Nighttide.

Even though her first phase is less aggressive than her second, the Knave still employs some pretty powerful attacks that can deal a significant amount of damage. Whenever the boss jumps into the air twirling her scythe, start running to avoid her slamming damage – she has two versions of this attack, though the strategy to evade it is the same. When the Knave puts her scythe behind her back or starts spinning it in her hand, dodge sideways, since she will dash or throw her weapon toward you, respectively.

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There is a large AoE move the Knave executes in Genshin Impact, though its several instances of attacks are extremely well-telegraphed on the floor, so you only need to dodge accordingly. Be wary that these attacks are put out quickly, however, so be ready to move as soon as you see them.

The main reason you want to clear Bond of Life is because the Knave has a special move in Phase 1 that connects to it. If she executes the Bloodtide Banquet attack, she will deal a massive amount of damage to your active character – depending on how much HP they have, they will instantly die. To avoid this, clear Bond of Life to use Scarlet Nighttide and interrupt her. If you are unable to do that in time, try to switch over to a character with a big sum of HP and, if possible, shield yourself.

Using Zhongli in Genshin Impact’s boss fight against the Knave is a great strategy considering how quickly he deploys shields and how strong they can be with his HP scaling.

How To Beat The Knave Boss In Genshin Impact (Phase 2)

Skies Turn Red & The Boss Starts Flying

You will know you entered Phase 2 when the Knave’s HP bar is back to complete and the skies turn red. She initiates this stage of the battle by plunging down on your position for a wide and telegraphed AoE attack. At this point, the Knave becomes a lot more aggressive, attacking with more haste and using stronger moves. One of the most noteworthy attacks is her rail cannon blast, which is preceded by a laser targeting you. To avoid it, run sideways; do not attempt to dodge into the Knave in Genshin Impact.

In Phase 2, the Knave will continue to lunge in your direction and try to land regular Pyro-infused attacks on you, but there is a big change to her Bloodtide Banquet. While you can still make it out alive even with Bond of Life in Phase 1, things get a lot tougher in the second stage. Because of this, it is extremely recommended that you stop her with your Scarlet Nighttide. In this phase, the Knave’s Bloodtide Banquet comes in three massive AoE instances that are nearly impossible to avoid, due to how large they are.

This is the most dangerous of the Knave’s attacks in Genshin Impact, so make sure you clear Bond of Life and stun her with Scarlet Nighttide when possible.

Another noteworthy attack in Phase 2 will see the Knave take to the skies and open her wings. She will then send some homing missiles in your direction, followed by six AoE spheres that circle the arena. As soon as all six land and right before they explode, she will lunge at you, too, for another AoE attack. The secret here is to keep moving and not stack her lunging AoE attack with a sphere explosion.

Best Team Comps For The Knave Boss In Genshin Impact

Invest In A Reliable Healer

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The best team comps to fight the Knave boss are those that have both a healer and a shielder. At first, it may seem like an excessively protective strategy, but the idea is to clear Bond of Life to get Scarlet Nighttide and, if that fails, have a strong shielder to mitigate the upcoming damage from Bloodtide Banquet in Genshin Impact. The best shielder for the job is Zhongli, while the healer is a bit more flexible and can be Furina, Kokomi, and even Barbara – at C6, Barbara can instantly revive your characters if one of them falls.

The best kind of healer for this fight is one that is not reliant on their Elemental Burst and one whose Skill's cooldown is not too long either.

The table below lists a few team comp suggestions to beat the Knave boss:

Best Team Comps For The Knave Mono-Hydro Team Zhongli (Shielder)

Neuvillette (DPS)

Yelan (Sub-DPS)

Furina or Kokomi (Healer) Freeze Team Zhongli (Shielder)

Wriothesley (DPS)

Yelan (Sub-DPS)

Furina or Kokomi (Healer) F2P Team Diona (Shielder)

Chongyun, Lisa, or Kaeya (DPS)

Xingqiu (Sub-DPS)

Barbara (Healer)

Offensively, you can pick almost any DPS character you prefer – it is best if they are not long-distance, though. The Knave can avoid all minor attacks from a distance, which will force you to get up close to her, so use a strong melee or at least a catalyst character that attacks from a closer range. If you can pick DPS characters that excel in dealing Charged Attacks to take full advantage of the Scarlet Nighttide buff after clearing Bond of Life, that is even better.

Wriothesley and Neuvillette in Genshin Impact are some of the best DPS characters for this job.

Beating the Knave can be a challenging task, but once you start clearing your Bond of Life and using Scarlet Nighttide to disrupt some of her stronger moves, you should have an easier time. Surely, you will still need to be quick on your feet to dodge and use a combo of shielding and healing to stay alive, but with the right strategies and a solid team comp, you can start farming materials from the Knave boss fight in Genshin Impact.