How to Beat the Hollow Crow
Details
Location: Fief of the Chill Curse
Resists: Frostbite
Weakness: Fire
Summons: Kukajin, Iron Wayfarer, Pieta
Rewards
Remembrance of the Hollow Crow
10 Umbral Scourings
1 Vestige Seed
How to Beat
The Hollow Crow is an interesting boss that is designed for you to make use of your lamp, constantly searching for and soulflaying the ghost that haunts the arena. However, that is time-consuming, slows you down, and will likely get you butchered by the constantly spawning enemies and waste your heals.
So, instead, go into umbral before you start the fight. Make life easier for yourself. You don't get an extra life when you die like you do if you die in Axiom, but you will always be able to see and damage the ghost whenever she is around, meaning you can get through this faster, meaning less room for error.
It is recommended to use fire here since the boss and all of the enemies in the arena are weak to it, and use your hardest hitting attacks on the ghost. She doesn't have much health, which means most of the fight is staying mobile and avoiding damage.
It is recommended to always stay moving. The ice spikes that follow you around, the frozen patches that burst ice pillars upwards, and the constant harassment of enemies means it is difficult to keep your health up without constantly staying mobile. Keep moving at all times.
The Hollow Crow itself isn't that much of a challenge. Keep your eye on the arena and make sure you are ready to close into the centre or get out to the edge if you see the hurricane coming, and keep pacing away from the enemies that the Hollow Crow summons.
The first phase has three wolves that will constantly attempt to perform lunge attacks, but generally are easy to outpace. In the second phase, you can expect ice witches instead who will constantly bombard you with projectiles. Keep them in your sights and focus the ghost down ASAP. In the third and final phase, large berserkers will spawn, and you must keep your distance at all costs. They hit hard and will slow you down or kill you very quickly.
If you hit the ghost enough to reduce her health bar each phase to zero, she will explode and all of the enemies in that phase will die, leading onto the Hollow Crow's cycle. All you have to do then is keep mobile, avoid the ice patches and moving ice trails, and dodge the missiles. Rinse, repeat.
Movepool
Ice Spikes: Throughout the fight, the Hollow Crow will create patches of ice on the ground that will detonate after a delay, thrusting a shard of ice upwards to deal high damage. Avoid these at all costs.
Tracking Ice Shards: The Hollow Crow will create shards of ice that travel in a line across the ground throughout the fight. These track you, and will grow in number with each phase. Listen for the sound of them getting close and do your best to keep them in sight. When they get to the edge of the arena, they will make their way back to you. Sprint or dodge around them to avoid them.
Ice Missiles: The Hollow Crow will fire volleys of ice missiles in a line across the arena up to three times. These each have a small area of impact, and are easily avoided by backing up or dodging forwards through them.
Hurricane: The Hollow Crow will engulf the edge of the arena with a hurricane of high damaging ice, which will shrink, reducing the size of the arena. Eventually, it will dissipate, but be careful of contending with enemies in such a small space.
Summon Enemies: Periodically, a ghost will appear which is your actual target. During this phase, enemies will spawn. Along with minor enemies, there will be different elite enemies each time the ghost is present. The first time will be wolves, the second will be ice witches, and the third will be large berserkers. Stay mobile to avoid their attacks and focus on the ghost. Each time you reduce the ghost's health to zero, the enemies will be destroyed.