Malefic Star

Battle Overview

Radiant Malefic Star (Korean: 찬란한 흉성, sometimes shortened to "Malefic Star") is a Level 280 boss added to the Dark Sea region in the CROWN update, released in KMS on January 15, 2026. She is a clone of the Ancient God Ymir, created after Ymir attempted to steal Edea and Brighton's life force; defeating her is the endgame objective of the Dark Sea storyline. The fight is a single phase with three HP bar segments (20% / 40% / 40%), similar in structure to Jin Hilla: her HP dropping through each segment unlocks additional attacks rather than resetting to a new form.

The boss can be challenged in Normal and Hard difficulty, and requires completing the "[Dark Sea] Return" quest at Level 280 to unlock. Entry is through the Dark Sea: Enrapturing/Bewitching Temple gate. Party size is 1 to 3 players only.

Sacred Power / Authentic Force (SAC/AUT) requirements:

• Normal mode: minimum 400 SAC/AUT
• Hard mode: minimum 550 SAC/AUT (unlocked after Normal, per KMS patch notes)

Dealing with SAC/AUT below the requirement reduces final damage by 10% for every 10 points short, capping at a 95% penalty (5% total damage) once 100+ points below. Being above the requirement grants +5% final damage per 10 points over, up to +25% at 50+ over.

Other reported entry limits: a 30 minute time limit, a 5-death limit per player, a 10 second potion cooldown, and a weekly clear limit resetting on Thursday.

Core Gimmick: Illusion Room / Reality Room

Players cycle between two linked spaces during the fight:

• Illusion Room (bright map): The default, safer space. The boss has fewer attacks and attacks less often. Standing here without destroying the Essence of Illusion causes the Illusory Magic gauge to rise.
• Reality Room (dark map): The boss attacks more often and pattern damage is increased, but the party's final damage is boosted based on the current Illusory Magic gauge, up to +30%.

One party member is designated "Awakened." Only the Awakened can trigger the room swap and interact with the Illusion Cores/Essence spawned by certain patterns; while in the Illusion Room the Awakened has access to the skill "Hard Realities," and while in the Reality Room, "Fictitious Visions."

Illusory Magic Gauge

A shared gauge (0-1000) that rises while the party stays in the Illusion Room without breaking the Essence of Illusion. The higher the gauge, the larger the final damage bonus in the Reality Room, but the more dangerous Reality Room patterns become (higher damage, faster Predation gain). Breaking an Essence of Illusion while in the Illusion Room grants Illusion Insight and reduces the gauge. Many attacks scale in two damage tiers: a base amount, and a higher amount once the gauge reaches 750+ while in the Reality Room. Some attacks only add Hunger/Predation once the gauge is 250 or higher in the Reality Room.

Illusory Magic Overload: If the gauge reaches 1000 while in the Reality Room, the room timer drops to 40 seconds, Fictitious Visions becomes unusable, and the Predation meter increases by 1 every second. When that timer expires, the party is forced back to the Illusion Room and Predation increases by a flat 160 (Normal) or 200 (Hard).

Predation (Hunger) Meter

A separate fail condition from the death count: if Predation reaches 1000, the run ends in immediate failure regardless of remaining deaths. Predation rises from getting hit by Reality Room patterns and from Illusory Magic Overload triggers. Breaking an Essence of Illusion reduces Predation by roughly 40 each time.

Phase 1 (100% - 80% HP)

Baseline patterns available from the start of the fight, present in both rooms unless noted.

Illusion Room / Shared Patterns

• Starlight Echo (Illusion Core): Malefic Star summons an orb in front of her along with an inactive Illusion Core. When the orb explodes, the core activates and warning marks appear on both sides, exploding after 1.29 seconds; the core vanishes if not harvested before that first explosion pair. Getting hit by the orb deals 30% HP damage (50% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic); getting hit by the paired explosions deals 40% HP damage (70% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic). Getting hit in the Illusion Room raises Illusory Magic by 120; getting hit in the Reality Room raises Predation by 60. From Phase 2 onward, the attack's center shifts from the boss's front to the Awakened player's location.
• Rewind (laser): Six decorative objects are scattered around the map; two activate, showing warning marks in 6 directions before firing lasers. Lasers that run low and parallel to the ground can be dodged by crouching under them. Getting hit deals 30% HP damage (40% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic), and raises Predation by 30 once Illusory Magic is 250+ in the Reality Room.
• Spirit Attack: A Radiant Spirit or Malefic Spirit appears beside a player, marking a visible hitbox before attacking. Getting hit deals 30% HP damage and causes a knockback that ignores Knockback Resistance.
• Fantasy Prism: A star telegraph appears, followed by a cluster of large triangles that explode about a second later. Getting hit deals 30% HP damage.
• Flash of Illusion: A large hitbox spawns in front of the boss and explodes after 1.38 seconds.
• Back Chains: The boss charges behind herself and fires a set of chains. Cannot be dodged by crouching. Deals 40% HP damage (50%/60% at higher Illusory Magic tiers), and raises Illusory Magic by 90 and Predation by 45.
• Dash: The boss dashes forward. Cannot be dodged by crouching. Deals 20% HP damage.

Phase 2 (80% - 40% HP)

New patterns unlock once HP drops to 80%. Existing patterns from Phase 1 continue.

• Illusion Bubbles: 3 to 5 bubbles form around the boss and explode after 1.44 seconds. Deals 30% HP damage (35%/40% at higher Illusory Magic tiers), raises Illusory Magic by 90 and Predation by 30, and inflicts Stun on hit. Present from the start of the fight (Phase 1), not new to Phase 2.
• Heavenly Waltz / Enhanced Heavenly Waltz: A dash-based pattern that appears from Phase 2 onward. The boss spawns an inactive Illusion Core in front of her and dashes forward to activate it, dealing 30% HP damage (50% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic) and raising Illusory Magic by 120. She then performs a second, non-damaging dash back to her starting position, followed by a chain attack telegraphed by her arm position or purple spikes, dealing 40% HP damage (70% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic) and raising Illusory Magic by another 120; the core vanishes if not harvested before the second dash. As of the January 2026 balance patch, hit direction cues were made clearer, and damage at the highest Illusory Magic tier (4) in the Reality Room is 70%, with no Normal/Hard split reported in current sources. During this attack, Rewind gains a third active laser point.
• Drifting Calamity: Appears once Illusory Magic reaches tier 3 or higher. A ray-like creature floats along the top of the map, stops on the left or right side, and fires a laser covering half the map twice at 3-second intervals; this repeats 4 times before it moves to the opposite side. Getting hit deals 35% HP damage (45%/50% at the highest Illusory Magic tier), and raises Illusory Magic by 90-120 and Predation by 60-90 depending on room/gauge state. The January 2026 patch reduced the number of laser attack points from 7 to 6.

Phase 3 (40% - 0% HP)

• Sonata of the Nebula (Hard mode only): Exclusive to Hard mode once HP drops to 40% or below. A galaxy forms above the boss's head and fires 6 stars at 0.90-second intervals: 4 blue shots and 2 purple shots. The purple shots summon an Illusion Core/Essence. This pattern deals 25% HP damage (45% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic). During this attack, Rewind gains a fourth active laser point, dealing 40% HP damage (50% in the Reality Room at 750+ Illusory Magic) and raising Predation by 45 once Illusory Magic is 250+ in the Reality Room.

Tips for Survival

• First-time or lower-spec parties can run an "Illusion-only" build: never trigger Illusory Projection/Reality Awakening to enter the Reality Room, which avoids Predation risk entirely at the cost of a much longer clear. This is the recommended way to learn the boss's baseline patterns safely.
• Higher-spec parties can lean into the Reality Room and keep Illusory Magic above 750 for the largest final damage bonus, but must actively manage Predation by clearing Essences of Illusion (each clear reduces Predation by about 40) and by timing rooms swaps before Illusory Magic Overload forces a swap at a Predation penalty.
• Crouch to dodge low, ground-level Rewind lasers; Back Chains and Dash cannot be avoided this way and must be sidestepped or out-ranged instead.
• Remember that Hunger/Predation gains from many attacks only apply once Illusory Magic is 250+ in the Reality Room, and the higher damage tiers on most attacks only apply once Illusory Magic is 750+ in the Reality Room, so tracking the gauge value is as important as dodging the attack itself.
• The Awakened player carries extra responsibility: they alone can swap rooms and see/interact with spawned Illusion Cores in several patterns, so communicate room-swap timing and core locations to the rest of the party in advance.
• Basic patterns are telegraphed clearly with no instant-kill or severe status effects, so a party that only wants a safe, minimum clear can largely ignore the deeper Illusory Magic/Predation optimization described above.