Overview
In-depth guide on the best builds for the Pantheon of Hallownest, as well as strategy for each boss to help you reach the top
Introduction
Hello everyone. If you are here you are probably having trouble with the Pantheon of Hallownest, and this guide aims to give you a hand. The PoH is a brutal challenge and knowing the best strategies is almost vital to complete it.
Before we begin, a few quick tips:
- The PoH can be very long. My usual run is around 35+ minutes, and it can get really boring after a while. I suggest you listen to music or to your favorite podcast for the first 6 or 7 splits, as most of the boss fights are really easy.
- Go fast. You want to clear each boss as quickly as possible. Less time invested in doing the easy bosses means more time to practice the harder ones and get to try again. I will be going over quick strats for each boss, even the easier ones.
- Everyone has a different skillset. You might be a god with Nightmare King Grimm and fumble like an idiot with God Tamer. Don’t let having trouble with an “easy” boss drag you down.
- Train. While it’s time consuming, training can immensely improve your chances of success, especially if you are using a build you are not used to. Training can be fun too as many of the hardest bosses are also great fights. Remember that bosses in the hall of gods have much more HP (up to 1.3x) compared to their PoH versions.
- Take breaks. If you play for two hours and keep losing to the third to last boss, your mindset will get worse and worse. When you feel like giving up, take a break and try again later or tomorrow and don’t push yourself.
- I won’t be going over the Hall of Gods. However, all the strategies I’ve outlined work well with both Attuned and Ascended Bosses. Radiant is a whole other beast though, and other guides might be more suitable for that.
Without furter ado, let’s get into the builds.
Best Builds
I will be assuming you are using the pure nail and you have unbreakable/fragile strenght always equipped, your basic melee attack will deal 31 damage.
- Great/Dash slash each do 2.5 x nail (52 with pure nail and unaffected by US). Worth noting they retain their damage even when under Nail binding. As of Patch 1.4.3.2 (Voidheart update) the Nail Binding does lower the damage of nail arts by the normal ammount.
- Cyclone slash hits 7 times at max, each hit dealing 1.2 base damage for a total of around 170 damage (it’s not boosted by US). Devastating on stationary or cornered targets.
- Shade soul does 30 damage [40 boosted Shaman stone]. Useful for sniping bosses but not very efficient.
- Descending Dark does 60 damage, split unevenly among the three hits, doing 15-30-15 respecitvely [23-50-15 boosted]. The first hit is the dive itself, the second the large horizzontal shockwave and the third the upward burst. You also have i-frames for the duration of the move up untill the last hit.
- Abyss Shriek does 20×4 damage [30×4 boosted]. The most powerful move in the game under most circumstances, cornerstone of a spellcaster build.
This build is, IMO, the most effective for the Pantheon overall. You have access to the highest damaging attack in the game in Abyss Shriek, and the extremely useful Descending Dark that gives you a ton of i-frames. The best part is you can absolutely spam both of these abilities thanks to Spell Twister and Dream Wielder. Your melee damage will be really high as well, thanks to quick nails arts. Dream Wielder comes in handy in many fights, granting you 66% of your soul with a quick startup, plus it can help you recover after though bosses. If I’m mentioning Dream Nailing, I’m assuming you have DW equipped. Grubsong is helpful for long fights, but consider replacing it with other 1 notch charms if you do decide to play it very safe.
This is a very common late game build you have likely tried out. It does great DPS on immobile targets, coming really close to Abyss Shriek spam, and the increased range comes in handy quite often. US+QN make nail arts obsolete, as simply spamming your nail will deal more damage under most circumstances. The two extra slots can be used for many utility charms (you can swap charms at a bench, even during the PoH), such as Stalwart Shell or Sharp Shadow. You can also downgrade Mark of Pride to Longnail for some more flexibility. The main problem with this build is that it comes short in a few boss fights, especially in the last few ones. That said, it’s quite easy to use, and you can definitely succed with it.
This build aims to provide maximum damage output both with and without soul, and it’s a bit more situational than the other two. This particular setup is extremely effective on a few select bosses, but I think it’s outshined overall by the pure spellcaster build. Use it only if you know how to manage soul well, and remember the last slot is quite flexible.
Shape of Unn lets you move while healing. It’s another powerful defensive option, especially when paired with Quick Focus, which increases movement speed.
You can submit other build or charm ideas in the comments!
Split 1 – The easy one
Swooping: One of the kings will swoop down horizzontaly.
Roar: One of the kings will stop in mid air and roar, summoning 1 or 2 Vengeflies. Up to 4 can exist on screen.
For being the very first fight, the kings are a tricky boss (the only one you will meet for a while). You can pogo during their swooping attack, and you can follow them up in the air with some clever dashing, getting a lot of hits in in the process. The most effective way to kill them quickly is to just spam Abyss Shriek (prepare to see this a lot in the guide), possibly hitting both of them. The small vengeflies are great for replenishing your soul. The king on the right has much less HP, so finish him off quickly if you want to make the fight that much easier.
Ram: The Gruz Mother will try to ram you, with a small windup.
Zig Zag Ram: After a short wind up, the boss will start flinging itself at the floor and ceiling, traveling forward in a zigzag pattern. It will bounce back after hitting a wall, and repeat the attack once more.
The arena layout is much more dangerous than the mother. Simply move out of the way to avoid her ram, you can pogo and hit her a few times as well. The zig zag ram is the perfect opportunity to heal, get damage in and even dream nail her. When she’s flying idly, simply get below her and use Abyss Shriek, wich will kill her exceedingly quickly. Don’t worry about running out of resources.
Slam: The False Knight will slam his weapon on the ground, creating a small shockwave.
Jumping Slam: After a tall jump, the boss will try to hit you. This does not create a shockwave
Frenzy: After being knocked down, FK will jump to the middle of the room, and proceed to hit his left and right side multiple times. Damaging debris will fall from the ceiling for the duration of this attack.
A very simple boss, with a surprisingly easy quick kill strategy if you are running Shaman Stone. Simply stand right next to him and use Abyss Shriek. After he falls down you can use your dream nail up to two times, damage the maggot, hit the armor once or twice with your nail and then fire off two quick abyss shrieks. This will stun him once again and you can repeat the process. His attacks are trivial to avoid, and if you execute the strategy correctly you won’t have to worry about him frenzying. Even after the fight, you can dream nail the armor (not the maggot) to get a ton of soul quickly and heal up.
(sorry for the youtube links, some files were too big to upload directly)
Charge: The boss will simply charge forward, appearing at one end of the room
Jump: MMC will appear on one end of the room and jump, landing on the other end and bouncing slightly.
Another trivial boss, there is an extremely quick and easy way to kill it by just timing your slashes correctly. If it jumps, hit its “tail” once, and then fire off a shade soul.
Lunge: Hornet will charge at you with her needle. This attack covers a large portion of the screen.
Aerial Lunge: Hornet will jump high up, then lunge at you diagonally. If she hits a wall, she will cling to it for a while before jumping down. Hornet can “feint” this attack as well, simply jumping and landing without attacking, or by executing thread storm when the knight comes close
Thread Storm: Hornet will create a large AoE around her body, becoming immune to melee attacks as well. She can do this both on the ground and in the air
Needle Throw: Hornet throws her needle and then pulls it back. This attack has great range, and the needle can hit you on the way back
Hornet is not too hard, since we have a lot of tools to end the fight very quickly. If you charge up a cyclone slash and unleash it as soon as she spawns, you can stagger her before the fight even begins. If she is staggered and in the corner, hit her with a great slash and the quickly fire off an Abyss shriek, this combo will often stagger her once more in mid air. You can manage to kill her without giving her a chance to act by looping staggers like this. Unlike many other bosses, you can only heal up to two times after the fight (there is a safe zone after this fight, so it doesn’t matter that much).
Split 2 – Somehow even easier
Spears of light: Gorb will summon 7 spears of light around his body, launching them after a brief pause. The spear can harm the knight even when they are stationary. Gorb will summon 2 sets and then 3 after taking enough damage, each set rotated slightly from the previous.
Gorb is annoying, but not dangerous. Great/Dash slash are great in this fight, as you don’t want to get too close. If you are far from him, make sure to wait for the last set of spears to fire, and then shadow dash through. When he starts summoning 3 sets, you might want to keep your distance and use shade soul, but make sure you have a spell’s worth of soul for the next fight.
Dung Toss: The DD will throw one or two balls of dung that will bounce around randomly for a while. He might roll backwards before executing this attack.
Volleyball attack: DD will curl up into a ball and bounce around the room. This attack is only executed after a double dung toss. If you hit him with your nail you can juggle him around and prevent him from ending the attack.
Dive and Burst: DD will dive into the ground, emerging after around 5 seconds and spawning 4 dung ball that will fall down all over the arena.
Frenzy: After roaring, DD will burrow, and then repeat Dive and Burst multiple times, with a very small delay between each one.
You can stun DD out of the ground while he’s diving by using Descending Dark (unless he’s frenzying). With this in mind, you can quickly dispose of this boss by using DD as soon as the fights starts, and then using the move again right on top of him (his roar won’t stun you as you will take contact damage). After that you can keep doing damage with Abyss Shriek or simple nail strikes. If he does the Volleyball attack, you can juggle him indefinitely until you manage to stagger him.
FUN FACT: If you stagger DD right as he emerges from the ground, you might glitch him out of existence for a few seconds. His AI is still active, and he will reappear as soon as he does a dive attack.
Lunge: SW will lunge at you after a short wind up (he will hold his nail above behind him).
Dive Slash: After teleporting, SW will appear in the air above you and try to hit you on his way down.
Homing Orb: SW will fire a homing orb from his hand, that will aggresively follow you until it hits a wall.
Summon: Follies will continuously spawn during the fight.
Another mildly annoying boss, you don’t really have many windows to hit him. Cyclone works really well when you expect him to use Dive Slash, and you can pogo off him for easy damage. Try to save some soul for the next boss.
Spit: BM will spit a infected glob in your general direction.
Slash: The boss will slowly slash with its claw.
Multi Spit: BM will charge up and the fire multiple globs in the air. These will carpet bomb your side of the arena after a few seconds.
Jumo: The boss will jump trying to crush you. It will jump once again, repositioning around the middle of the arena.
You have a massive window to heal up before the fight begins. Cyclone Slash is excellent, you can keep hitting and move to avoid the claws. When you notice the Multi Spit startup (it’s signaled by a bubbling sound), stand near the boss and let loose, you can fit two abyss shrieks and still mange to dodge the attack with a shadow dash. If you need to, you can easily jump over the boss to reposition.
2 Hit Combo: One of the brothers will swing twice, moving a short distance with each attack.
Jumping Slash: One of the brothers will jump in the air and attack on one side while falling down after a short wind up.
Jump/Roll: The brothers can jump or roll back to reposition after an attack.
Dash Slash: Oro will move to one edge of the screen and charge up, unleashing a Dash Slash shorty after. This attack reaches all across the arena.
Defensive Stance: One of the brothers will asume a defensive stance while the other charges up an attack. If hit, he will dodge and counter with a Jumping Slash.
Cyclone Slash: Mato will charge up, unleashing a Cyclone Slash shorty after. The attack will move him in the air, and he will usually end the move with a jumping slash.
The fight begins with just Oro on the field. You can abuse the jumping slash by positioning behind him, cyclone slash works wonders. You can easily shadow dash trough him during the 2 Hit Combo as well. After you knock him down, Mato will come to help. You have a lot of time to heal and even dream nail during the scene (you can dream nail both of them at once with good positioning). The brothers will behave differently depending on your positioning: if you stand between them they will try to attack you at the same time, and if you keep your distance they will alternate their attacks, with each one jumping back after slashing at you. Oro has much lower hp in this phase, so try to focus on him (if you can keep track). Abyss shriek and Descending Dark work wonders when you are between them, and shade soul can hit both of them at once even at range.
Split 3 – Sisters.split
Stalwart Shell is a great choice for this split
Sword Fling: Xero will throw one of his floating swords at you. The swords can inflict damage on the way back. This attack will become much more frequent in the 2nd phase of the fight
Xero is a very annoying boss, and he can do a lot of damage if you are not careful. As soon as the fight begins, dash to the right and hit him with an Abyss Shriek. Great/Dash slash work wonders, but make sure he doesn’t get knocked back too far. When he enters phase two, just snipe him from range with Shade Soul if you can, as dodging his sword attacks becomes quite difficult at close range
Beam: CG will aim at your current position for a moment, and then fire a long lasting beam.
Summon Beams: CG will roar, and 4 beams will shoot from the sky with a short delay. He can act while the beams are firing.
You will likely get hit by his constant jumping more than his beams. Getting behind him with a shadow dash is very easy, and you can freely attack him, use Abyss Shriek or even Dream Nail him. An easy fight, but make sure you have two spells’ worth of soul before moving on to the next boss.
Homing Orb: SM will fire a homing orb that will chase the knight somewhat slowly. He will usually repeat this attack 2/3 times, teleporting between each one with a small delay.
Dash: SM will teleport low to the ground, and then slowly dash across the arena.
Orb Barrier: SM will appear on one end of the screen and summon 4 orbs around him, that will rotate while he slowly moves forward. After he disappears, the orbs will keep moving in the opposite direction.
Desolate Dive: SM will teleport above the knight, and quickly slam into the ground, creating two short shockwaves on each side. SM might fake out this attack, teleporting once more during the startup animation.
As soon as the fight begins, immediately perform two Abyss Shrieks. If you have the shaman stone, this will likely stagger the master, as long as he doesn’t telport too far away. Dodging his attacks is not hard, as they are all very slow. If you need to heal, the middle of the arena is safe from his orb barrier attack, and you can easily get 2/3 HP back. After “killing” the SM, he will perform 5/6 Dives, with the last few ones being the fake out versions. SM will slowly home in on you during the startup, these dives also don’t send out shockwaves but only a small explosion. You can hit him while he’s performing this attack: simply double jump, slash upwards once, dash, and double jump again as soon as you touch the ground. He will then over in place in a random spot of the arena, summoning a lot of homing orbs. Abyss Shriek works great, but try to save some soul for the next fight.
Acid Shots: The oblobbles will fire out a number of shots in random patterns all around their bodies. The two will try to coordinate their fire. After one of them is killed, the surviving Oblobble will perform this attack more frequently and with greatly increased speed
Another annoying boss, seeing their attacks coming can be difficult, so most people opt to just out DPS them. A great strategy is to line them up with your nail and fire off Shade Souls, trying to hit both of them at the same time. When one of them dies, the other one will recieve a small heal as well as a significant speed boost. Bring them both to low HP, as fighting a full life frenzied Oblobble is a much more dangerous experience than you may think.
Forward Lunge: A sister will appear on one side of the screen, and then lunge across the arena.
Downward Lunge: A sister will appear above the kngiht, quickly diving downwards with her lance.
Boomerang: A sister will appear on the wall, firing off her weapon like a boomerang. The boomerang can travel low to the ground or a bit higher up. If two are present they will try to synchronize this attack. The boomerangs will either travel slowly or fast, and will cover the entire arena. If all three are present, the third one might appear above the knight and perform Downward Lunge, or throw a boomerang as well in a random pattern.
The first genuinely hard boss of the PoH, the sisters can definitely make you pay if you underestimate them. The first phase is easy, and you get a huge heal window right after it. There are many patterns in which the sisters attack: they can either use downward lunge in quick succession (in which case descending dark works great, use it after you see the second one appear), Forward Lunge with a slight delay or a combination of the two. Make sure to jump and pogo as soon as you see the Forward Lunge, and keep track of your Shadow Dash cooldown. Also be really careful when coming at them from behind after a Lunge, their THICC booty has a huge hitbox. Their most dangerous attack is the Boomerang Combination, but you can dodge it with ease by pogoing off the spikes one the sides of the arena (the third sister will never teleport above spikes). You can also quickly dash below them while they are clinging and use Abyss Shriek. You might get hit, but it will speed up the fight by a lot. Don’t panic, and never try to heal unless you killed two sisters. When there’s just one left, you can use Great Slash to punish her attacks to speed up the fight a little.
Split 4 – Spin to Win
Bounce: Marmu will curl up into a ball and bounce wildly around the arena. He will bounce back after recieving any damage or hitting a wall.
Abyss Shriek, even without Shaman Stone, makes mincemeat out of Marmu. That said, you want to save some soul for the next boss, so get some volleyball practice in and smack him around after 2 or 3 shrieks. Cyclone slash is great as well if Marmu ends up on your sides.
Spawn Flukeling: Two holes in Flukemarm’s body will let out infected pus, and Flukelings will emerge shortly after.
As soon as the fight starts, you can charge up a cyclone slash and gently fall to the ground while dealing the boss major damage. From there, Abyss Shriek will deal major damage, usually 3 Shrieks + 1/2 nail hits will do her in if you are using shaman stone. If you are not, climb back up and keep doing cyclone slashes, it should keep you safe from the Flukelings.
Spawn Infected Balloons: Infected Balloons will spawn during the fight.
Dash Slash: BV will wind up and then slash across the arena with its nail, covering most of it. It might perform a very small jump before executing the move.
Leap: BV will jump, either backwards or at the knight. It might use Downward Slash before landing.
Downward Slash: At the peak of a jump, BV will slam downwards nail first, spawning 4 infected projectiles after impact, that move in an arching trajectory.
Frenzy: BV will slash 4 times around its body
Headbang: BV will move to the center of the arena, and proceed to unleash a number of infected projectiles from below. The attack lasts around 4 seconds, firing 8 waves of projectiles.
BV has very low HP, and spamming Cyclone Slash can end the fight rather quickly, especially if you corner it. When you expect a leap attack, fire off an abyss shriek and then quickly dash away from the boss. During the Headbang attack you can spam Descending Dark to be fully invincible for the duration of the attack. Make sure you save some soul for the next boss.
Large Scythe: Galien will throw his large claw scythe, which will home in on the knight. Galien might call the scythe back and then quickly launch it again. After the boss takes some damage, the weapon will start bouncing erratically around the arena.
Soul Scythe: After taking some damage, Galien will summon a small scythe that homes in accurately, albeit slowly. He will summon a second one after taking even more damage.
Another boss that gets demolised by Abyss Shriek, but you will probably lack the soul to do it from the start. Instead, hit him normally until he launches his first soul scythe, and then keep using Abyss Shriek until he dies (3 or 4 casts should do the trick). His small scythes can be overwhelming, so finishing the fight quickly can be very advantegous.
Roll/Jump: After most attacks, Sheo will roll or jump backwards.
Paint Splash: Sheo will quickly bring his paintbrush down, releasing three blobs of paint. This attack is signaled by his brush turning blue.
Paint Slam: Sheo will jump, freeze in midair and slash, creating six blobs of paint around him. He will then slam down to the ground, creating a small shockwave around the point of impact. This attack is signaled by his brush turning red. He usually performs this attack after repositioning with a jump
Paint Lunge: Sheo will charge up briefly, and the unleash a long reaching spear of paint, that covers up to 80% of the arena. This attack is signaled by his brush turning yellow.
Great Slash: Sheo will charge up, surrounded by a light aura. He will then swipe his brush with great range, as various blobs of paint fall in random spots. This attack is signaled by his brush turning pink.
Sheo behaves really defensively, jumping back after almost every attack. This means you are free to move in with your shadow dash and deal some damage, and then retreat when you see the next attack coming. You can use abyss shriek during his jumps, and even while he’s performing his paint slam if you don’t mind taking some damage. Cyclone slash works great as well. He will be staggered twice, but after the second stagger any attack will finish him off.
Split 5 – Literal whos
Lunge: Hive knight will wind up with his sword behind him, and then quickly lunge forward.
Slash: HK will hold his sword above his head, and then quickly slash, taking a small step forward. HK may teleport before using this attack.
Honey Balls: HK will summon three spiky balls around the arena. After a short time, the balls explode, releasing 8 spikes each.
Bee summon: HK will spit out multiple hivelings, which will come falling down after a while. These hivelings can only be harmed with spells. HK is free to move as soon as the minions start falling.
Not a particularly hard boss, but can still inflict quite a bit of damage. Jump and pogo to avoid his Slash, and shadow dash trough his lunge. When he spawn the honey balls, quickly jump on top of him and use Descending Dark, dealing damage and protecting yourself from the projectiles. Use cyclone slash when he’s busy summoning the hivelings.
Summon Rings: Hu will summon a random number of rings up in the air, and then smash them to the ground.
Ring Curtain: Hu will disappear, and two sets of ring will converge from each side of the arena.
Lowkey the most boring boss in this game, Hu is thankfully really easy as well. You can shadow dash through each attack, and they come really slowly too. Heal up and prepare for the next fight.
Leap: The collector will leap about randomly a few times.
Claw swipe: Rarely, the collector wil jump close to the knight and slash him with its claw
Summon: The collector will leap off screen, and toss 1 to 3 damaging jars down. After these jars hit the ground a Primal Aspid, Sharp Baldur or Armored Squit will spawn.
As soon as the fight begins, dash forward to get a few hits in. His minions are annoying, but remember that everything you do will kill them in one hit (descending dark is great to clear a full wave). When TC jumps above your head you can use Abyss Shriek to deal a lot of damage or simply move below it to dodge the attack, and when he staggers you can dream nail him twice. After the second stagger the next hit will finish it off.
Leap: The warrior will leap towards the knight, bringing her spear down in a wide arc.
Infected Spit: The beast will spit three groups of acid globs, each travelling a different distance. The acid will linger on the ground for a few moments.
Rolling attack: The beast will roll up into a ball and charge towards the knight. When it hits a wall it will bounce towards the knight.
You only need to kill the beast to win this fight. With that in mind, try to focus your efforts on it, and only hit the warrior for soul. You can freely pogo on the beast during the Infected Spit. After the rolling attack, when you see the screen shaking, move just a bit to the side and use an Abyss Shriek, which will hit the beast as it comes down. Descending Dark works wonders if you are stuck between the two.
Lunge + Uppercut: Grimm will appear in front of the knight, and then quickly dash at him traveling a short distance. He will then stop and uppercut upwards, creating5 orbs of fire at the apex of his jump, which will then fall somewhat slowly. The fireballs’ hitbox disappears very quickly after they touch the ground.
Dive + Lunge: Grimm will appear in the air and dive towards the knight. After hitting the knight, he will lunge forward. If he hits a wall during the dive, he will keep travelling straight down.
Cloak Spikes: Grimms will appear far from the knight and burrow his cape into the ground, creating spikes all over the arena.
Fire Bats: Grimm appears on the ground and fires a flaming bat in a straight line. He then pauses and fires two more in quick succession. If the knight gets close during the pause, Grimm will teleport behind them and fire one more bat.
Evasion: When Grimm is about to start his lunge or firebat attacks, he can move backwards to dodge and then perform the attack. He only uses this move when the Knight gets too close.
Fire Carnival: Grimm appears in the middle of the arena and inflates into a ball. He will fire off multiple flaming orbs in various directions. He performs this attack after losing a set amount of HP, or if you hit him while he’s bowing at the start of the fight. While he’s puffed up, he can only take damage from spells.
If you have been doing your homework and practicing Grimm’s harder version, this fight will be trivial to you. Read that section for more tips on the boss, I will only be talking about TMG exclusive tips in this section. You can dream nail up to 3 times when he’s bowing at the start of the fight, and still trigger Fire Carnival afterwards. While this may seem counterproductive, if you have enough Soul you can just stand below him and spam Abyss Shriek. If you are using shaman stone + Spell twister you will kill him before he has the chance to do anything else without needing to dodge at all.
Split 6 – Getting Serious
This is where the fights start getting a little bit more interesting
Double Slash: The WK will swing its nail twice, taking a small step.
Roll: The WK will curl up into a ball and travel across the arena until it hits a wall
Bouncing Roll: The WK will curl up and then do a small bounce. He will then jump high and fall down, bouncing once more and then coming to a stop
You can dream nail the watcher knights while they are roaring, so use it to your advantage.
You can hit them with spells while they are rolling, and the bouncing roll can be used to set up an Abyss Shriek much like in the God Tamer fight. You can also use cyclone slash right after they roar to hit for a lot of damage. If you want to shadow dash trought them while they are slashing, wait until the last possible moment. They are very easy to dream nail, so heal up before killing the last one.
Homing Electricity: Uumuu will spawn several electric blasts, each one tracking the knight. It will keep performing this attack for around 6 seconds
Electric Bursts: Uumuu will spawn elecric blasts all across the arena, whit small safe areas between them. The blasts last for about 3 seconds.
Summon: Uumuu will screech and summon two oomas from the bottom of the screen, which will slowly float up
You can dream nail Uuwuu twice at the start of the fight by getting high up in the arena. The best way to stun him is to wait for an Ooma to line up with it, and fire off a shade soul at both of them. This should push the ooma’s core right into Uumuu. The fight should take 2 or 3 cycles, depending on how many hits you get in. If there are any surviving Oomas, you can dream nail them after the fight.
Swoop: Nosk will swoop down from one side of the arena to the other. She often does this attack twice in a row.
Acid Spit: Nosk spits a random number of acid globs towards the knight, each one leaving an hazardous pool on the ground for a few seconds.
Summon: Nosk shrieks, and two Infected Balloons spawn in random places.
Acid Rain: Nosk disappears offscreen, and globs of acid rain downwards from the ceiling. These globs will also leave a pool of acid
Right after HorNosk (Noskette?) transforms, dash below her and fire off a quick Abyss Shriek. Abyss shrieks works really well in this fight, and you can throw it out safely as long as you are far enough from the ledge to avoid her swoop. Remember she is likely to swoop down twice in a row, you can jump above her and great slash/pogo safely. The acid rain is a perfect window to heal up. The fight can last a long time if you don’t spam Abyss Shriek, since Noskette is quite hard to hit. Try to enter the next fight with full HP.
Triple Combo: Sly will slash forward, slash backwards while taking a long step and then rise up while spinning. He will stop for a while after landing
Slam: Sly will jump up and then slam down to the ground with his nail in front of him. He may follow up the attack with a backwards hit.
Great Slash: Sly will charge up in place and unleash a great slash shortly after. This attack deals 2 damage.
Dash Slash: Sly will jump up to one end of the screen and charge up briefly, and then perform a quick dash slash.
Cyclone Slash: Sly will jump up in the air and begin chargin. He will then start spinning, trying to home in on the knight.
Flurry: Sly will jump up randomly from wall to wall, unleashing a spinning slash when he comes close to the knight.
The hardest fight so far, you will need to make good use of nail arts to come out on top (ironic right). The best window to great slash is after his triple combo and his two hit slam, going near him while he’s charging is very dangerous. You can also hit with an Abyss Shriek if you are positioned well during his 3 hit combo. To dodge the cyclone slash, wall jump up, then double jump to the opposite side and finally dash (or simply use dark descent). When sly staggers you can heal up to three times, and two more (3 with quick focus) when he’s starting his last phase. For the last phase, remember that great slash has a slightly larger range than his spin, so you can hit him safely. Right after the fight, you can heal for 3 HP and dream nail him twice for a big refill.
Same attacks as Hornet 1 with a few additions:
Thread Storm covers a slightly bigger range
Spike Ball: Hornet will summon 2/3 spiky balls across the arena, that will persist until hit.
Similar to Hornet 1, with a few key differences: you can’t use cyclone slash to get cheap damage in, but Hornet 2 has even less HP! The corner loop strat still works and gets you huge damage. After the spike ball attack, you can use descending dark to immediately knock most of them down. Hornet will usually get staggered twice, but after the second stagger any hit will finish her off.
Split 7 – Calm before the storm
These bosses can mess you up if you underestimate them, don’t let your guard down.
Same attacks as Crystal Guardian, but this boss deals 2 damage.
The same fight as before, except getting clipped by his jump is very dangerous now. Play it a bit safer and make sure to use Abyss Shriek from behind to finish it off quickly.
Same as Broken Vessel with a few exceptions:
No longer uses Headbang
Slam: Will let out 6 infected globs after touching the ground
Summon: Infected Balloons appear much more frequently
A much tougher fight than before, LK has a lot of HP and all of his jumping attacks home in on you very aggresively. As soon as you see it jump, quickly shadow dash, and punish with a cyclone slash. Taking some damage is usually fine as long as you get a lot of hits in. The infected balloons are very annoying, dispose of them quickly (luckily the will run in your cyclone slash). Abyss shriek is more dangerous to use, but Descending Dark shines, letting you avoid his very dangerous slam.
Ghosts: Ghosts will spawn constantly, travelling in a sine-cosine pattern.
Once again the arena is much more dangerous than the boss itself. A good strategy is to just wait for him to teleport near you and hit really hard when he does. You have a lot of opportunities to heal and get ready for the next fight.
FUN FACT: a rare glitch sometimes occurs after a ghost hits you. You will lose control of the knight and start floating in a random direction, invariably colliding with a spiked wall. The glitch will fix itself afterwards
Dash: TL will wind up briefly, then dash forward dealing 2 damage.
Twirl and Dive: TL will leap in the air and then dive at a 45 degree angle, dealing 2 damage on the way down.
Ground Pound: TL will ferociously hit the ground, releasing two wall shockwaves that travel across the entire arena, dealing 2 damage.
Infected Blades: TL will swipe his claw, sending out two air blades that travel across the arena. The blades only deal 1 damage, but the swipe deals 2.
While his attacks deal two damage, touching TL only deals 1 (good design, right Pure Vessel). You need to manage your shadow dash well in this fight, as almost all of TL’s attacks require you to dash trough them. You can dash back and hit him afterwards. When you see him leaping, you can use Abyss Shriek as well to inflict massive damage. Try to stay close to him, you don’t want to deal with his air blades. After the fight you have a lot of time to heal.
Same as Dung Defender with a few variations:
Dung Toss: WW will either throw two balls and jump into the ground or throw three and use the volleyball attack.
Volleyball attack: Always followed by an enpowered Spike Slam that spans across the entire arena. Harder to juggle.
Burst: Always spawns 6 dung balls instead of 4.
Spike Slam: WW slams the ground with force, sending spikes on either side of himself that are too tall to be jumped over. He may follow this attack up by diving in the ground and then performing a burst attack.
The Descending Dark trick doesn’t work anymore, meaning we have to find other ways to damage him. Luckily Abyss Shriek is always a great strategy, and it will clear out all the dung balls spawned by Burst. During Dung Toss, hit him and then quickly back up for each throw, and get ready to hit him out of his volleyball attack, you can actually kill him in one go if you are good! If he’s about to use Spike Slam, you might want to Descending Dark to avoid the spikes.
Split 8 – Getting Really Serious
Stuff gets much harder from here. You might want to stop listening to the aforementioned favorite podcast and seriously focus, especially for the last few fights.
Has the same attacks as Soul Master, but they are much faster
Orb Barrier: Spawns 6 orbs now, there is no good safezone for the first part of the attack, but the area on the left between the shells is safe
Despite all of his upgrades, ST is still the easiest boss in this split. You still have a large healing window after his Orb Barrier, and the last phase is only slightly harder. The faster attacks can mess up your timing, but it’s not too bad overall. Make sure you have a lot of soul left for the next fight
FUN(???) FACT: If you finish off ST right as he hits you (easily done with Abyss Shriek), there is a chance the game will softlock on his death animation, looping it infinitely. While i enjoy seeing soul tyrant suffer as much as the next guy, this glitch is unfixable, and you will need to quit out and lose your progress. Oof.
Soul Sword: Markoth will spawn a soul sword, that will fly towards the knight at great speed. The swords are faster and more numerous in the second phase.
Dream Shield: Markoth always has a dream shield encircling himself. Rarely, he will stop and start spinning his shield faster, which will progressively travel further from Markoth, and then return close after a few seconds. In the second phase Markoth summons a second shield, which will always stay close to him.
Markoth, or as I like to call him RNG Moth, is a nightmare. He might not kill you, but he will make you lose HP, soul and sanity you badly need for the next fight. There is a quick way to kill him, but it relies heavily on his position. Simply stay below him and SPAM abyss shriek while he’s using his Shield attack. The second phase is dangerous, and you absolutely need HP for the next boss, so play it as safe as you need to and never stop moving.
Leap: GPZ will leap and land close to the Knight, sending out two small shockwaves. He can repeat this attack up to three times.
Shadow Leap: GPZ will leap, but instead of landing he will teleport high up in the air, falling down face first and sending out two tall shockwaves.
Sword Slam: GPZ will leap and bring down his sword while falling, sending out a large shockwave in front of him. He can reposition in midair.
Flail: GPZ will raise his nail behind him, and then run forward at great speed, trying to hit the knight. He falls after around 3 seconds, creating large shockwaves. He might also fall down immediately.
Spawn Zoteling: GPZ will spit out two zotelings, either a flying zoteling that slowly homes into the knight, or a leaping zoteling that jumps around randomly.
Spawn Bomb: GPZ will raise his sword and scream, spawning 4 volatile zotelings that explode shortly after, dealing two damage
and most importantly Walking: ♥♥♥♥ his walking
You can take a few steps and Dream Nail at the beginning of the fight, but make sure you don’t get too close, as it will trigger his roar immediately. Pogoing off of him is dangerous because of his constant jumping, but it can still be done, especially during flail and when he’s on the ground. Abyss Shrieks works wonders: you can either spam it while he’s spawning minions or after he falls down (descending dark right as he falls down after Flail or Shadow Leap to safely land near him, then spam Abyss Shriek for maximum damage). Immediately deal with the flying and leaping zotelings, they are extremely annoying. Be extra careful when he’s idle, as his walk cycle is work of the devil himself and will hit you as soon as you let your guard down.
Same as False Knight, but much faster. His mace and body deal two damage.
Remember, when you see him jumping backwards prepare to dodge a shockwave, and when he jumps over you dash and hit him with Abyss Shriek. The fight is really similar to False Knight, don’t let the increased damage get to you. The quick kill strategy is almost the same as well, but you’ll likely be injured after the fight with Zote, so play it safe. You are free to dream nail the armor after the fight as well, which you WILL need for the next boss (bless Dreamwielder).
Similar to TMG, but generally much faster and deal two damage, with a few key differences
Lunge + Uppercut: The attack travels much faster, and the flame orbs fall down much more quickly as well. The hitbox on the orbs disappears even more quickly after they touch the ground.
Dive + Lunge: NKG leaves a flaming trail while performing this attack.
Cloak Spikes: NKG is offscreen while performing this attack.
Flame Bats: NKG will now fire off two sets of two bats, alternating one one up above your head and one low to the ground, with slight homing capabilities. If the knight gets too close, he will teleport and fire two converging bats.
Flame Pillars: A new attack. NKG will hover in the air, spawning 4 pillars of fire in quick succession, each tracking the knight and leaving a small orb of fire behind for a few seconds.
Arguably the hardest boss in the game, NKG is a complex fight, and will probably end a lot of your runs. He has very little RNG tho, so you can get him with near perfect consistency with pratcice (unlike the next two bosses). I’ve prepared a few clips to show how to evade and punish his attacks.
The second hit on the uppercut is kinda hard to get so cut it as needed
Flame Pillars can be punished with Great Slash as well but AS will always deal more damage
Dive is really dangerous to punish, do it at your own risk
If you get the telporting bats, simply dash between them. You can also punish bats with Abyss Shriek if he appears close to you, or 1/2 Shade Soul if you are afraid of taking damage.
Fire Carnival and Spikes are self explanatory. Do note that you can punish FC with shade soul if you are careful about the fireball’s pattern (it’s rng based)
As I’ve said earlier, you will need to train a lot to beat the PoH, and this guy is one of the main reasons why. Remember he uses his Fire Carnival attack 3 times, each one after losing 25% HP. If you have a lot of HP (7+) you can try to finish the fight during the last FC by bursting him with Abyss Shriek. Grubsong should keep your soul high enough for this to work, 3 or 4 should do the trick. Staying alive is more important that dealing damage, so if you are not confident, focus only on dodging and only punish the easier attacks (mainly bats and flame pillars). Finally, remember you can heal twice when he’s staggered and once during the cloak spike (it can add up). You can always heal one more time with Quick Focus equipped, which can prove invaluable. Remember that he takes 50 damage max during his stagger, so healing is often the better option if you are missing HP.
Split 9 – God of Gods
Well done, you are past Nightmare King. You are not allowed to catch your breath yet though, as two of the hardest bosses in the game follow suit. If you are using the spellcaster build, you might want to replace DreamWielder with another 1 slot charm, or replace both it and Nailmaster Glory.
:
Every attack deals 2 damage
3 Hit Combo: PV will rise his nail, and then slash quickly three times with great range.
Lunge: PV will lunge with great speed, covering most of the arena.
Shining Daggers: PV will extend his hand and fire 7 light daggers in a semicircle. He often performs this attack twice in a row.
Diving Slam + Shining Swords: PV will leap or teleport in the air, and then slam down. Shortly after, swords of light will erupt from the ground across all of the arena, with small safe zones in between.
Parry: PV will assume a defensive stance. If hit he will quickly swing his nail in front of him.
Focus: PV focuses energy for a brief moment, and a large AoE appears around him. Shortly after, 6 smaller AoEs appear all across the arena, exploding after a small delay. PV can act as soon as the small AoEs are done spawning. Used after he has lost 1/3rd of his health
Void Tendrils: PV will open his cloak. After a brief moment, void tendrils will lash out, covering more than half the arena. Used after he has lost 2/3rds of his health.
Again, clips for each attack:
Lunge, 3H Combo and Daggers can be jumped over but you need great timing.
Swords can be avoided with good positioning but you will probably get less damage out of it.
With perfect timing, you can DD during Focus’ startup and dodge it completely.
If you dash just before tendrils expecting a dagger throw, a well timed DD can save you. Listening to the startup (wind sounds/whispering for S. daggers/ deep swirling for tendrils) can help a lot.
PV loves teleporting before each attack, only executing 3 Hit Combo, Parry and Focus without teleporting prior. Shadow Dashing is vital in this fight, and you always need to pay attention to the cooldown. For example, after a lunge, you will need to wait until the very last moment for the dash to recharge if you want to evade a 3 hit combo. You can heal twice after a stagger, but it’s quite risky, and healing just once is usually a much safer bet. Another fight you will definitely need to practice. PV can’t be Dream nailed 🙁
All of AR’s attacks deal 2 damage
Wall of Swords: AR will stand still for a few moments, and 3(1st phase)/2(3rd phase) sets of swords will travel horizzontaly trough the screen. In each set there are 2 or 3 safe spots where the knight can jump through. They can be safely shadow dashed.
Rain of Swords: AR will stand still for a few moments, and 4(1st phase)/2(3rd phase) sets of swords will travel vertically from the top of the screen. The knight can stand safely between the swords, but there are a few larger safe zones as well. This attack will repeat indefinitely in the 2nd phase
Light Beam: AR’s eyes will shine, and 6 targeting lasers will appear from her face. After about 0.25 seconds, large light beams will fire. The attack is then repeated 2 more times, with the beams angled differently.
Homing Orb: AR’s will stand still, and 4/5 homing orbs will appear in random intervals in her general vicinity. Their appearence is signaled by a small cloud of light particles. The orbs can travel through solid objects for a few istants after spawning, and will home in on the knight aggresively. This attack will repeat indefinitely in the 5th phsae
Sword Barrier: AR’s eyes will flash, and 6 swords will appear around her face, in a pattern similar to the targeting beams. After forming the swords will fly outward, slightly curving towards the knight. This attack will then repeat, with the second set of swords forming immediately in the gaps between the prior set
Light Barrier: AR will stand still for a moment and a wall of light will appear offscreen, making a peculiar sound. This wall will then travel horizzontally. The wall must be shadow dashed through. Occasionally, the wall will disappear after covering about 2/3rds of the screen, and a second one will appear from the opposite side.
Targeted Laser: AR will only use this attack in the 4th phase. A targeting beam will appear, and a large laser beam will fire shortly after. The beam’s hitbox is slightly bigger than it seems, and it will disappear after around 0.3 seconds. The further the Knight progresses upwards, the faster the beam is fired, and accuracy is greatly increased
Light Spikes: Light will appear on the ground, covering 50% of the stage. After a few seconds spikes will sprout from the light (only inflicting 1 damage). AR will only use this attack midway through phase 1 and in phase 2, where she will cover the first and last quarter of the platform
The fight has 5 phases: In the first one you are simply standing on a large platform, which makes dodging AR’s attacks pretty easy. After you deal some damage, AR will start spawning spikes across the arena, reducing the effective space you have to dodge.
After taking further damage, AR will transition into the 2nd phase, firing off an endless barrage of Sword Rain while standing still. When you deal enough damage, AR will fall to the ground, giving you plenty of time to heal.
She will then travel upwards to an area with several floating platforms, where the 3rd phase takes place. Dodging attacks is significantly harder here, but they will happen less frequently. Healing is possible in this phase, as long as AR teleports far away.
After dealing enough damage, AR will disappear offscreen, and start to fire her targeted beam. Her aim is initally bad enough to allow you free heals.
When you finally reach her the 5th and last phase will start, with AR teleporting constantly and firing off endless homing orbs.
While dodging AR’s attacks is not a big deal, she usually combos them in really nasty ways, giving you very little room to dodge. She attacks really fast in the first phase, and she can definitely overwhelm you even after practicing a bit (you will unlock her in the hall of gods after fighting her for the first time). Abyss shriek is your friend, use it when she’s done with her beams or sword barrier. Be really careful when you see a light wall coming, as she might have spawned a wall of swords right after it. In the 2nd phase make sure to gather as much soul as you can, you will likely need to heal before the 3rd phase. In the 3rd phase you have very little room to dodge, and abusing Dark Descent will be your best bet, especially if she uses sword barrier up close.You can heal again after the phase. The 4th stage is not too hard, just be mindful of the beams’ slightly bigger hitbox. Finally, in the 5th phase, don’t try to chase her down, and instead wait for her to come to you. You need to make very little lateral movement, as simply luring the orbs into the celing will make them disappear. If you have a lot of HP, you might want to use Abyss Shriek as soon as AR comes close. You will take damage in the process but it’s a huge dps boost. Finally, remember that the last hit needs to be dealt with the nail. You’ll know when AR is very low on life, as she will suddenly teleport in the middle of the arena, even if she was in the middle of another animation.
If you are here, great job! You are just a quick attack spam away from the ultimate victory! Make sure to enjoy the sequence and give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it.
Special Thanks and Outro
Alright, that was a really long write up. I wish I took homeworks this seriously.
This is my first guide, so I have likely made a ton of mistakes. Please feel free to point them out in the comments, and give your build ideas and tips as well!
Special thanks to all the discord people (you know who you are) for proof reading this and giving advice, and some extra special thanks to all the speedrunners I’ve stolen strats from, especially MonStahLer ( http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYlwgOKzXH72H4547xpOAjw ) who came up with a lot of PoH stuff. Definitely give him a watch if you are looking for some amazing play.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helped, make sure to let me know if it did! Good luck fellow knights, you will need it.