Similar to Corrupt Taro, Corrupt Woodsmith is a test of the abilities and strategies you've developed up to this point in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. In Taro's case, that mostly has to do with the Spirit Bow, as most of the ways to weaken him and make the fight easier are related to sniping parts of his body. Similarly, Woodsmith is all about your recently acquired Spirit Bombs--this fight requires you to regularly use Kena's bomb abilities, so having a good grasp of how they work is vital for overcoming this fight.
In the following guide, we go over how to best handle the Woodsmith and her fiery attacks. More so than the Taro boss fight, this battle will test you on your ability to keep track of your surroundings. Always keep in mind where the Woodsmith is, as well as where the two healing flowers are in relation to you. Turning your back on the Woodsmith to run away and heal can result in some easily avoidable deaths--this boss behaves differently depending on how far away you are from her and turning your back to run away means you'll have a hard time responding to her long-range attacks. Keep your eyes on Woodsmith so you can keep track of her tells.
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Abilities You Should Unlock Beforehand: Sprint Attack Heavy, Perfect Charge, Focus, Bind Multishot, Quickdraw Bomb, Rot Hammer, Enter the Fray, Rot Infused Bomb
Phase 1
As soon as the fight begins, get ready to jump. Woodsmith begins the fight lunging at you with a single slash--it hits hard but it's easy to double jump over. You'll likely notice that Woodsmith is glowing with a blue energy, with the energy being siphoned from the Village Heart in the center of the arena. While she's siphoning this energy, Woodsmith cannot be hurt.
After leaping over her first strike, use Spirit Bomb on the Village Heart. This will cause the rock that's protecting the energy's core to burst open, sending out a wave of fire that you'll have to leap over. Double jump over it and pull out your Spirit Bow, slowing down time. Quickly fire three shots into the yellow energy at the Heart's center and it will explode, stunning Woodsmith.
Sprint at Woodsmith and use Sprint Attack Heavy and follow up with a Perfect Charge heavy attack before finishing off your onslaught with Rot Hammer (assuming you have Enter the Fray unlocked and begin every fight with one Rot Action prepared). As Woodsmith begins to stand back up, back away to dodge her small area-of-effect burst. She'll then jump towards the Village Heart to reforge it. As she begins to work, bursts of fire will appear around the arena, causing small circular waves of fire to cover the area--you'll have to jump over them. If you're feeling brazen, take the opportunity to shoot Woodsmith with a few arrows.
In the onslaught, Woodsmith will also create normal enemies to come aid her. Ignore them. They won't be around for much longer. Keep your distance from Woodsmith, baiting her into another lunge attack that you can double jump over. As soon as you land, Spirit Bomb the heart again, double jump over the wave of fire, and pull out your Spirit Bow to slow time and get your three shots on the energy within. The explosion will once again stun Woodsmith, but it will also instantly destroy the normal enemies she summoned. Some of the destroyed enemies may drop Courage energy--use Spirit Pulse to send your Rot out to collect it.
Like before, run in for a Sprint Attack Heavy. This time, follow up with light attacks, trying to get enough hits in to earn enough Courage to use Rot Hammer. Like before, be sure to retreat before Woodsmith stands up and releases her area-of-effect burst and get ready for her to reforge the Village Heart and cover the arena in fire.
Just repeat what you just did--this time, however, after shooting the Village Heart three times, the explosion will completely destroy the energy source. Without the ability to once again fix her shield, a quick cutscene will play and Woodsmith will enter her second phase.
Phase 2
It's very easy to go through the entirety of Woodsmith's first phase without getting hit. The same can't be said for Phase 2--Woodsmith will completely abandon defense in the latter half of her boss battle and go after you with a deadly frenzy. Try to get a good grasp of her tells so you'll know whether you need to dodge, parry, or jump to avoid her blows. Dodging will always work so if you want to be safe, rely on that. That said, a well-timed parry or double jump can come in clutch to get in some counter attacks.
The one attack you want to watch out for more than all the others is her throwing attack. The tell is thankfully easy to see--Woodsmith falls back and brings her hammer back as if to throw it like a boomerang, taking the time to light it on fire. Now the reason that Woodsmith is acting as if she's going to boomerang her hammer is because that's exactly what she's going to do. So dodge the initial throw in a way where you won't end up in the path of the returning projectile.
Don't dodge too early as Woodsmith can adjust her throw--you have to wait until the hammer has actually left her hand before dodging. She can adjust her throw to toss the hammer upwards too, so don't think you can cheekily double jump as soon as you see her prepare her throw and easily dodge the strike that way.
The rest of Woodsmith's attacks are close-range. She has a single slash attack that deals a tremendous amount of damage and a combo strike attack where each move deals moderate damage. Keeping a bit of distance is key to avoiding these attacks as their tells are very similar. Get too far away, however and she'll use the lunging attack from the first phase.
Baiting that lunge attack can be helpful as the fight goes on, as Woodsmith will occasionally take the opportunity to go into a frenzy and forge new minions to fight alongside her. These creative bouts of hers will release the rings of fire that you had to jump over in Phase 1. Dealing with the smaller enemies and Woodsmith at the same time can be tricky as focusing on them can take your eyes off her. So as Woodsmith is forging new enemies, try to attract them away from her. When she's finished, she'll likely be baited into lunging at you, which you can then double jump over.
From there, you can either use Rot Infused Bomb to slow everyone down and get some good hits in to thin out the herd, or use Bind Multishot to specifically slow down the Woodsmith and damage everyone else. If you happen to have enough Courage to use both, go for it. It's a pretty nasty combo.
But your main strategy throughout this phase is to just keep avoiding Woodsmith's attacks until you have an opening to toss a Spirit Bomb on her. She can bat the bombs away but she won't be able to counter all of them. When one sticks, use Spirit Pulse to set it off. This will temporarily break away the Woodsmith's rocky armor, revealing her glowing yellow weak spot. Pull out your Spirit Bow and use Focus to line up your shot and deal some major damage. Of note, you can stop the Woodsmith in the middle of forging new minions by bombing her while she's in the midst of creating--it's an easy way of ensuring the fight remains one-on-one between you and her.
Repeat the process of bombing Woodsmith to reveal and attack her weak spot and eventually she'll fall.
