The Keepers · Earth

The Thorn Guardian, Keeper of Earth

Earth did not fight at all. It grew. By the time the chain was round it, it wore bark and moss and a crown of flowers: six blocks tall on long legs that bend backwards and end in roots, a pale stag's skull, antlers hung with glowing spore pods, a bark ribcage round a spore-heart, and thorn talons. 280 health.

The Thorn Guardian: a pale stag’s skull with great antlers hung with glowing spore pods, on long legs that end in roots.

Element: Earth
Where: Its temple in the Overgrown Jungle, a land of moss, giant trees and swampy pools
Health: 280
Wakes: When a player comes within 40 blocks; again five minutes after it falls
Shrugs off: Rooted: Quaking arrows and Stonewake still hurt it, but never hold it

Its moves

Move	What happens	What to do
Blight thorns	A green beam: 2 hearts and 4 seconds of Blight; one in four misses	Break line of sight between shots
Roots	Within 16 blocks, roots hold you in place for 1.5 s (Rooted)	You can still swing: hit back while held
Stomp	It rears up behind a warning ring, then everything within 8 blocks takes 3 hearts and is thrown about 8 blocks	When the ring appears, run out of it
Phase two: Blight spores	4 seconds of Blight for everyone within 10 blocks	Hit it in the gap, then retreat

BlightLose half a heart a second; never your last half heartIts thorns and spores
RootedHeld in place by roots; you can still swingIts roots

Damage here is for Medium: Easy halves it, Hard adds half again.

Its second form

Below half health thorns burst along its back and arms. It waits 40% less between moves and breathes out clouds of spores: Blight for everyone within 10 blocks, on top of the thorns. A walking boss that loses sight of you for four seconds leaps at you, so hiding behind a tree only brings it down on you.

How to beat it

Break the four tower crystals first: each heals it 4 health a second while it stands.
Blight never kills a player on its own: it stops at the last half heart. What kills is the next hit, so heal between stomps.
Watch for the ring. When it rears up behind it, get out: the stomp throws you about 8 blocks.
Rooted, you can still swing. If it is close when the roots take you, keep hitting.

Mushroom Broth gives six seconds of Mending, the answer to Blight: bring several. The Earth Leggings it drops double your hearts while worn, the strongest piece to have before the Tempest.

What it leaves

2 to 4 Earth Ore: the Earth Leggings (20 hearts instead of 10 while worn, and harder knockback), Quaking arrows, a Quaking tool and, with the others, the Poison Sword.
2 to 5 Moss Blocks and 2 to 6 Jungle Logs.
Everyone at the fight learns Stonewake, the Earth spell, and earns the Bloom motes aura and its Keeper's Mark, looks that are never sold.
Beating it opens the Earth Titan's cradle: Quakewrought wakes only for a player who has.

Its temple's chests hold Dawnspar, Sunapples, farglasses and often a Torn Page: Page XIV tells how the Guardian was bound, and what it seemed to understand.

Play now

The others: The Rime Sovereign, The Magma Colossus, The Tempest, The Robot Titan, The Crowned Wyrm. Back to the Keepers. All sections: the guides.