Crimson Desert Forgotten General Boss Guide — Hardest Boss in the Game

The Hardest Boss in Crimson Desert

The Forgotten General is in The General’s Tomb at Odeck Ruins. It’s one of three Overwhelming Beings, and by community consensus, it is the hardest boss in the entire game. Not “one of the hardest.” The hardest. Full stop.

If you followed the recommended fight order (Beloth first, Forgotten General second, Ator last), you already understand how Overwhelming Beings work. Long fights, huge damage, punish-window combat. The Forgotten General takes all of that and adds a unique mechanic that turns the fight into chaos if you don’t manage it: illusion doubles.

Complete every other piece of content in the game before walking into this tomb. This is truly endgame. If your gear isn’t fully refined and your stats aren’t maxed, come back when they are. The Forgotten General doesn’t respect close-enough preparation.

What Makes This Fight Different

Illusion Doubles

During attacks, the Forgotten General spawns phantom copies of itself. These illusions mirror the boss’s attacks and deal real damage. If you let three or more illusions stack up at the same time, you’re dead. Three phantoms plus the real boss means attacks coming from four directions simultaneously. No amount of dodging saves you from that.

Kill the illusions immediately when they appear. This is the number one rule of this fight. Drop whatever you’re doing, stop hitting the boss, and kill the add. Illusions have very low HP. One or two hits destroys them. But if you ignore them for even a few seconds, a second one spawns, then a third, and then you’re surrounded.

The fight is a constant priority check: boss or add? The answer is always the add first.

The Arena Works Against You (And For You)

The General’s Tomb is a tight, enclosed arena. Limited space. Narrow corridors branching off the main chamber. This sounds like a disadvantage, and in some ways it is. But you can use the narrow corridors to funnel illusions. When an illusion spawns, kite it into a corridor where you only need to face one direction. Kill it, then re-engage the boss.

In the open center of the chamber, illusions can flank you. In the corridors, they can’t. Use the geometry.

The Secret: He Can Be Infinite Stun-Locked

Here’s what changes everything about this fight.

Unlike Beloth (who has high stagger resistance) and the other Overwhelming Beings, the Forgotten General has NO stagger resistance. Zero. He CAN be infinite stun-locked. This is the key to winning.

This isn’t cheese. This is the intended answer. Keep the General locked down, and illusion spawns slow to a trickle. Let him attack freely, and the adds overwhelm you in seconds. The game designed him with zero stagger resistance because the stagger loop IS the strategy.

How to Build the Stagger Loop

Nature’s Echo is your best friend here. This skill summons phantom clones of your own that attack alongside you. Their hits contribute to stagger buildup. Combined with your heavy attacks, Nature’s Echo fills the stagger bar fast.

The loop:

1. Open with Nature’s Echo + heavy attacks.
2. Stagger bar fills. Boss drops to a knee.
3. Dump your highest damage combo during the stagger window.
4. As stagger ends, immediately hit Nature’s Echo again + heavy attacks.
5. Fill the bar again before the boss fully recovers.
6. Repeat.

If you execute this cleanly, the Forgotten General spends most of the fight staggered. Illusion spawns drop to almost nothing. The fight that’s supposed to be the hardest in the game becomes a demanding rhythm exercise instead of an impossible gauntlet.

If the loop breaks (you mistimed something, got hit, had to dodge away), illusions start spawning again. Kill them fast. Use the corridors to funnel them if you have to. Then reset your position and restart the loop. Don’t panic. Just get back into the cycle.

His Attacks (For When the Loop Breaks)

You won’t maintain perfect stagger control the entire fight. Here’s what to watch for when the General is free to swing.

Sword Combos With Deceptive Range

The Forgotten General uses a long sword, and the blade extends further than the model suggests. If you think you’re out of range, you’re probably not. Give yourself more space than feels necessary when dodging.

His combos are fast and varied. Three to five hits, mixing horizontal slashes with overhead strikes. Parrying works but the timing is tight. Dodging sideways is safer for most players. Forward-dodge to punish after the final hit of a combo.

Illusion Burst

The General raises his sword overhead and multiple illusions spawn simultaneously. This is the “deal with it now or die in ten seconds” attack. The moment you see the overhead raise with the phantom shimmer effect, stop everything and start killing adds. Two or three spawning at once means you need to chain quick attacks immediately before a fourth shows up.

Shadow Step

Similar to Beloth’s Wraith Dash but faster. The General blinks behind you and attacks instantly. Less recovery time than Beloth’s version. The audio cue is a metallic scraping sound. When you hear it, dodge sideways. If you dodge cleanly, you get a small punish window, but it’s shorter than what Beloth gives you.

Wide Crescent Slash

A massive horizontal arc that covers nearly 270 degrees around the General. The only safe spot is directly behind him. If you’re anywhere in front or to the sides, you’re getting hit. Dodge through the swing (forward, toward him, past him) to end up at his back.

Gear and Consumables

• 200+ Grilled Meat. Even with the stagger loop, this is a long fight. Budget for mistakes and loop breaks.
• Max Palmar Pills. Bring every one you own. Mistakes here are expensive.
• Best gear, fully refined. The General’s combos deal massive damage. Two clean hits can kill you from full health.
• Nature’s Echo skill. Non-negotiable. This skill enables the stagger loop strategy. Without it, you’re fighting the hardest boss in the game with both hands tied.
• Force Palm. Secondary stagger builder. Use it during windows when Nature’s Echo is on cooldown.

Fight Strategy Summary

The entire strategy reduces to two priorities: maintain the stagger loop and kill illusions immediately.

When the loop is running, the fight is hard but fair. The General stays staggered, illusion spawns slow down, and you’re in control. When the loop breaks, chaos returns. Illusions stack, attacks come from everywhere, and you’re fighting for survival.

If you can’t maintain the loop at all, the fight is still winnable, but it takes dramatically longer and burns through way more consumables. The brute force approach is: dodge everything, kill every illusion the instant it spawns, chip damage between combos, and accept that this will take 20+ minutes. It works. It’s just painful.

Priority Checklist During the Fight

1. Illusion spawned? Kill it. Right now. Before anything else.
2. No illusions active? Build stagger with Nature’s Echo + heavy attacks.
3. Boss staggered? Dump damage. Everything you have.
4. Need to heal? Do it during stagger windows or after killing an illusion in a corridor. Don’t heal in the open when the boss is free.

Mental Game

This fight will take multiple attempts. Accept that going in. The Forgotten General is designed to be the hardest challenge in the game, and dying to him is normal.

What matters is diagnosing each death. Overwhelmed by illusions? The loop dropped too long. One-shot by a combo? You were out of position when the loop broke. Ran out of healing? Too many hits across the full fight. Each death narrows the gap between you and a clean kill.

The players who beat this boss aren’t the ones with the fastest reflexes. They’re the ones who stay disciplined about the stagger cycle and never get greedy during punish windows.

Quick Reference

• Hardest boss in the game? Yes.
• Can he be staggered? Yes, and he has zero stagger resistance. Exploit this endlessly.
• Key skill? Nature’s Echo for stagger loop. Force Palm as backup.
• Illusion doubles? Kill them immediately. 3+ stacking is a death sentence.
• Arena tip? Use narrow corridors to funnel illusions one at a time.
• Sword range? Further than it looks. Give extra space when dodging.
• When to attempt? After completing all other content. Fully maxed gear required.
• Consumables? 200+ Grilled Meat, max Palmar Pills.

The Forgotten General’s reputation is earned. But the stagger loop turns an impossible fight into a demanding one. Learn the loop, respect the illusions, and bring your best everything. This is the mountain.