#but only during this current playthrough of sly 3 did i finally get it

[inspector-montoya-fox]

'Dynamic Duo' is a decent mission in an otherwise lacklustre episode, but what i really love about it is how much it develops Penelope's character. from giving her a cutie health metre (and by extent establishing lavender purple as her signature colour. iconic) to having the targets look like pieces of cheese because y'know she's a mouse

[tvccreator]

Ellie’s Newest Hyperfixation - Hollow Knight Boss Opinions

Yay, hyperfixation is fun. :)

So for the past, like, two weeks, I’ve been binge-playing Hollow Knight for the first time in a long time whenever I had downtime from college homework. I had never gotten past Hornet when I first played the game, but now I’ve finally gotten pretty far into the game and am working on trying to get the Delicate Flower ending, (despite not having ever beaten the game) So, since Egg and I had to take a break from posting for “A Voice of Clarity” due to @thereaderinsertlady getting COVID (hope you’re feeling better, Egg) and me getting blindsighted with college midterms, I thought I’d give my opinions on all of the bosses I’ve fought up until where I am currently in the game to clear my head before I have to do more homework. Since this is going to be long, the list will continue under the “Keep Reading” mark.

Note: I haven’t necessarily beaten all of the bosses, but I have fought most of them. The only bosses I have yet to even touch are the Hollow Knight himself and the Radiance along with some other bosses in the Pantheons (Oro & Mato, Sheo, Sly, and God Master). I don’t know many of the names for any of the bosses’ attacks, either, so... just bear with me. 

This will focus on major-ish boss fights, so Dream Warriors/Dream Variants won’t be included unless they pertain to what I want to say about the original fight... although I will say this: Gorb and Marmu are adorable. (Just know for the bosses I won’t have on here, I struggled a lot to fight them - yes, even the easier ones. I’m very dumb. Only fight not mentioned on here that I did decently on was No-Eyes, which I somehow beat on my first try. I think I beat Uumuu on my first try, too, but I don’t remember.)

1. The False Knight - This guy was able to blindsight me when I first started the game, mostly because I was still trying to get a feeling for the game controls and was struggling with moving out of the way fast enough, but after having fought him multiple times now, I’m really appreciative that this guy is the first boss. His attacks are simple, he gives you ample time to escape the shockwaves he sends out, and as long as you remember the guy has a mace that he flails around after you beat up his un-armoured maggot face, he’s a relatively easy boss on repeat playthroughs and in the Pantheon. (*cough cough* Failed Champion is so much faster, guys, don’t be a dumb like me.)

2. Hornet - I’m gonna group the fight in Greenpath and the Kingdom’s Edge fight together for Hornet. I absolutely despised fighting her the first few times I played the game because I had no idea what her pattern was or what to expect from her. After finally going back and fighting her again, I really enjoy this fight. Her lunge attack and the quasi-homing attack are easy to figure out, the string attack is easy to avoid and gives you time to dive in for a quick Nail attack or two, and the spike traps in the Kingdom’s Edge fight are decently manageable as long as she doesn’t trap you in a corner - that screwed me over a few times. Not to mention with her laughing occasionally during the fight, it doesn’t feel too much like a proper fight. Instead, it feels more like a sparring match between two equals. I even enjoyed it when she blocked my attacks because it was just so much fun to fight her.

3. Soul Master - This guy fucking sucked to fight I couldn’t avoid his homing attacks for the longest time, his shockwave attacks are a lot more devastating than the False Knight’s, and he’s relatively quick. I actually rage-quit his fight a few times because I was so tired of fighting him and ended up going to fight (and beat) the Mantis Lords to get some better upgrades. Desolate Dive is absolutely worth the fight, though.

4. The Mantis Lords - I actually really enjoyed this fight, just like I enjoyed the Hornet fight. To quote my friend who I constantly asked for tips on how to fight certain bosses, “one mantis is the low-stakes warm-up, and then 2 is the endurance test.” He is very right, too. It starts out with one Mantis to give you a feeling for how the fight will go, then the second stage is two of them attacking at once. I ended up relying on whenever they did the downward dive attack to deal damage, but I found a way to jump carefully over their full-arena lunge attack so I was close enough to attack after they stopped. It was a fun fight - not to mention it makes all of the Mantises in Mantis Village docile and gives you the Mark of Pride charm, so definitely worth it.

5. Dung Defender - I only really did this fight to finally get the Isma’s Tear Ability because screw the acid hazards. (Isma’s Tear also comes in handy during the Uumuu fight later on.)  I beat him on my first try, but it was primarily thanks to Desolate Dive. Desolate Dive can force DD out of the ground and stagger him for a short period of time, which is immensely helpful when you can’t get a good attack in otherwise. He’s also just one of the more humourous fights in the game.

6. Flukemarm - It embarrasses me to say that I actually died to this boss. I had lost track of where her projectiles/children were coming from and I kept falling into the water below her, so it took me two tries to beat her. It wasn’t all that hard of a fight, considering. Howling Wraiths/Abyss Shriek does extremely quick work of her.

7. Crystal Guardian - It’s a little crazy that I didn’t take more than twenty tries to beat this guy ‘cause usually I’m really bad at fighting enemies with laser attacks. The Crystal Heart was absolutely worth fighting this guy, though, and the extra bench comes in handy later on when going Grub-collecting.

8. Broken Vessel - I accidentally ran into this fight when I was exploring the Ancient Basin, but his fight isn’t... terrible? It was hard, don’t get me wrong, but its attacks were relatively easy to block/avoid, but they cover a lot of ground and can blindsight you when you least expect it.

9. The Collector - So... I had to look this guy up because I was trying to find more grubs to save, and needless to say, its fight was insanity-filled fun. It only really jumps around, tries to grab you, and throws Vengeflys, Aspid Hunters, and Baldurs at you, but it can get overwhelming at times. I primarily died whenever the Collector backed me into a corner and a Baldur attacked me while I was distracted. Also, when he staggers for the last time, I legit took a moment to realize “Oh, wait, shit, I need to keep attacking. Hold on-” and take it down.

10. Zote the Mighty - This fight was sooo hard, guys - nah, I’m just kidding. It took a while to actually get past Wave 6 of the Trial of the Warrior, but after that, it didn’t take long to get to Zote and kick his ass. I actually tried the Grey Prince Zote fight once after getting back to Dirtmouth, and he wrecked me pretty badly. Overall, though... just volley Zote in the Trial against the wall. It’s so much easier. 

11. Nosk - This fight scared the shit outta me. Nosk moves extremely fast, but after I realized what I could do to cheese the fight, it wasn’t as bad. I had read that standing near the corner of the middle platform protects you from most of Nosk’s attacks, and... yeah, it really does. Make sure to be ready to move when Nosk leaps to the ceiling, though - he will absolutely hit you. Also, be warned: if you die during the Nosk fight and have to go back to collect your Shade, Nosk will charge you and start the fight back up, so you have to be quick about getting your soul back. I almost learned that the hard way.

12. Traitor Lord - Now we’re into the fights that I have not yet beaten but I’ve fought multiple times. Traitor Lord is brutal to fight, and I don’t know what I’d do without the extra damage from Cloth. The best strategy for the Traitor Lord is to stay relatively close to him so he doesn’t pull out his long-range attack. Shade Dash is a must for the fight, but you also need to be careful if you try to use the Sharp Shadow Charm. I nearly died on my way to the fight because I didn’t realize Sharp Shadow gave you a bit more length when dashing and it threw off my platforming skills. I still need to beat the guy, though, so I may find some stuff that I can use in later fights.

13. Hive Knight - I... *sigh* I don’t like this fight. It’s another fight I haven’t beaten, and it hurts me, mostly because I only have two Charms left to collect before I get Salubra’s Blessing - Kingsoul/Void Heart and Hiveblood, the latter of which requires beating the Hive Knight. Beating the Hive Knight will apparently make all of the bees in the Hive docile (similar to fighting the Mantis Lords,) but his fight takes me off-guard so many times just because I still can’t get a feeling for how to best fight the guy. 

14. Troupe Master Grimm - ...Okay, I see why people love this guy. His fight doesn’t even feel like a fight - it feels like a deadly dance with Death itself. His attacks are beautiful but deadly, he moves extremely quickly, and he blindsighted me many times when I tried to figure out which attack he was going for. His entire character is amazing, too - his tall physique and the air of mystery he always holds during the fight is just- *squeee* I love him! I love him so much! 🥰 The fact that people constantly compare him to a vampire fits, too - his entire design screams “inspired by vampire lore.” His stagger (which I have only gotten once and then proceeded to get wrecked by his quote-unquote “Pufferfish” attack) causes him to explode into a swarm of bats with the Grimmchild at the center, and it startled me when it happened because I didn’t even realize I had gotten him down to 4/5 of his health. Even with a Pure Nail and all of the Void versions of my spells, he still is hard to fight, but by God, I have the time of my life while fighting him.