# 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.

- **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 |

- **Blight** (bad): Lose half a heart a second; never your last half heart. From: Its thorns and spores
- **Rooted** (bad): Held in place by roots; you can still swing. From: Its 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

1. Break the four tower crystals first: each heals it 4 health a second while it stands.
2. 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.
3. Watch for the ring. When it rears up behind it, get out: the stomp throws you about 8 blocks.
4. 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.

The others: [The Rime Sovereign](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/rime-sovereign/), [The Magma Colossus](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/magma-colossus/), [The Tempest](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/tempest/), [The Robot Titan](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/robot-titan/), [The Crowned Wyrm](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/crowned-wyrm/). Back to [the Keepers](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/). All sections: [the guides](https://riventale.world/guides/).

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