Hexe Marie arrives in act nine of Crimson Desert following a convoluted questline leads you to her witch's lair. First, you must destroy the surrounding totems, which are guarded by earthly beasts brought to life by Marie's magic. Even during the build-up to this fight, the enemies hit hard, especially the Elites, so it's worth coming prepared for the first part.
Once you've cleared the totems, you'll be able to deal with Hexe Marie. This is a bit of a tricky boss, but not the hardest in the Crimson Desert by any means, but the many enemies that surround her can be overwhelming.
Hexe Marie Preparation
I ran through T'rukan, Master Du and Hexe Marie with the same gear ratio, mostly just returning to camp to restock food supplies.
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Tier six Canta the helm
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Level Eight Canta Armor
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Tier four Hernandian Noble Cloak
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Tier three rosette
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Level Six Gray Wolf Sword
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Level Four Sunset Reed Cloth Gloves
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Tier five Odeck's Plate boots
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Tier three rings
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Tier four earrings
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Tier two necklace
I invested a lot in my Canta chest piecebring it up level eight for extra protection boosts. The enemies – especially the bosses – hit very hard in the Crimson Desert, and I think focusing on defense has allowed me to persevere through some of these bigger fights.
My sword could do with some upgrades, though with Crow's Pursuit, Spirit Restore on Hit, and Spirit's Judgment placed in the cores I've found this to be a pretty good combo for boss fights.
The Crow's Pursuit tracks down Hexe Marie as she teleports around the arena, and Spirit Restore on Hit helps me maintain a steady amount of Spirit to unleash Kliff's more powerful attacks. Spirit's Judgment is just cool.
Ideally, I would also have liked a little sturdier Tin gloves rather than Sunset Reed Cloth Gloves, but I have yet to find any decent ones.
Cooking
My routine in Crimson Desert, when clearing the main story, was basically: complete the quests, stock up on as much food as possible back at Greymane Camp – Ronnie's Chewy Rice Cakes and Porridge are still handy at this point in the game – and then use all the ingredients I have found for it create hearty versions of the meals, such as soups and porridge.
Hexe Marie Boss Mechanics
The Hexe Marie fight is relatively straightforward, though made more awkward by the swarm of Hexe warriors cluttering the arena. Large area of effect attacks, especially Kliff's physical and gripping movementscan make clearing these a little easier.
If you've got some Explosive Arrows at this point in the game, these also work really well against the mobs that Marie creates.
As for Hexe Marie herself, she teleports around the map, shoots swarms of crows at you and uses magic to blast you around the arena. She can be hard to beat consistently, so I would recommend trying to chain Force Palm and Heavy Attacks together to lock her in place for a short while.
This battle takes place in two phases, but I didn't notice much difference between the two phases other than the intensity of Marie's attacks and the number of enemies she spawns.
You should watch out for her large area of effect attack in the second phase, where she creates multiple versions of herself to send a large swarm of crows after you. All you can do here is run.
Hexe Marie strategy
My strategy for this fight was to play patiently, clear the mob with area of effect attacks (I used Spirit's Judgment)and then lock Hexe Marie in place by using Kliff's Heavy Attack and Force Palm. It didn't take too long to beat her, and compared to some other boss fights, this one felt pretty easy.
Boss fights that really made me question if I could beat the game
There is always a boss.
