#so now i only have to do the second pantheon with the charm binding

[foxstens]

pantheon 1 charm binding done :’)

[yenenda]

Yenenda’s (mostly) complete guide & tips for attempting the Fifth Pantheon

SPOILER WARNINGS FOR HOLLOW KNIGHT & THE GODMASTER DLC

This also includes in-depth advice for all of the godhome specific bosses, including the final bosses of every pantheon, and all of the boss variants in the Fifth Pantheon/Pantheon of Hallownest.

(Disclaimer: This definitely isn’t the only way of beating the Fifth Pantheon, maybe not even the best way, especially since everyone plays differently. But, these are the tips & strategy I’ve learned over the 10+ times I’ve beaten the fifth pantheon.)

Also, this is absolutely massive. I tried to section it into readable segments, but it still ended up huge. You have been warned.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, let’s begin.

First off, there is one unfortunate truth. To beat the Fifth Pantheon, practice is essential.

There’s no magical strategy I can give you that will let you win without it. But, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to things like the literal marathon that is the Fifth Pantheon, and there are definitely tips and strategies I’ve found that can help, and even to help with the practicing.

General advice:

1. Try not to do the Fifth Pantheon more than once in a row.

It is very easy to burn out when trying this, because it is intense, and a time commitment of about an hour, if you manage to get to the end. Plus, it is very easy to get frustrated and stressed, and...

a) this is a game, and meant to be fun, and if you’re stressed and miserable then you won’t enjoy it, and

b) a lot of Hollow Knight is a mental game. If you go in frustrated and upset, you will have a much harder time of it.

2. Charms & upgrades.

You definitely want to have full upgrades when going into this. It will make your life a lot easier to have full health and soul meter upgrades, and DEFINITELY important to have a fully upgraded nail. You want damage output!

As for charms, to some extent, it depends on your play style. However, personally, the charms I found most useful were:

Fragile/unbreaking strength, fragile/unbreaking heart, quick slash, and mark of pride OR shaman stone.

(Note: fragile charms will not break in the pantheons, so it does not matter if they have been upgraded or not! Very helpful.)

-Strength was and is the most essential charm to me, hands down. You do 50% more damage with every attack, and that’s just generally helpful for everything, and makes bosses go down quicker. No downsides.

-Heart gives you more health, which just generally increases your survivability. It’s not essential, of course, but especially when practicing it increases how long you live.

-Quick slash, like strength, is essential to me. You attack significantly faster, which, while not helpful on every boss, helps you do much more damage on most.

-Mark of pride extends your reach by quite a bit, which is very helpful for reach, and to keep out of the way of damage. This is my preferred charm.

HOWEVER, if you favor spells in your playstyle, then you may want to go with shaman stone instead, which increases the damage of your spells. Also useful.

3. Hall of Gods.

You are going to want to practice here. You want to be good enough to be able to beat all of the bosses, while ending the fight with around full health. Generally, there’s enough time to heal around three masks at the end of the fight, and sometimes more.

If you want to be really prepared, I recommend being sure you can beat all the bosses on ascended difficulty.

4. The lifeblood room.

If you beat the other four pantheons with the bindings, you get extra lifeblood hearts (3, 4, or 5) every time you get to a rest room. This can be exceedingly helpful, and if you manage to keep any until the next rest room, they even stack! Good against later, more difficult bosses.

Whether or not you bother with this is up to you, but it is good practice against some of the bosses, and the bindings can be done one at a time. I, personally, recommend it.

With all that out of the way, I move on to the main part of this guide:

THE BOSSES.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED ON THE BOSSES IN THE FIFTH PANTHEON, STOP HERE!!!

I will list every boss, but I’m not going to go into detail on every single one. A lot are fairly straightforward, after all. HOWEVER, keep in mind that, in the Pantheon of Hallownest, a lot of the bosses have been upgraded to be more difficult, usually with the arena changing in some way to limit movement or be more hazardous. They will always take the form that the ascended difficulty in the Hall of Gods takes, though without the extra damage.

NOTE: Feel free to message me if you want more in-depth advice on any specific boss(es), I will be happy to break it down for you!

I will put an asterisk (*) next to bosses that are Godhome or Pantheon of Hallownest specific, if you want to skip to those places.

Onto the bosses.

1. 2 Vengefly Kings. Harder than one, and it takes surprisingly long for the first boss. If the little flies overwhelm you, use the downward spell to clear them out.

2. Gruz Mother. Some of the floor has been replaced with spikes. Be careful.

3. False Knight.

4. Massive Moss Charger. This one is the easiest boss in my opinion. When it charges, with quick slash you can literally just stand in front of it and hit it, and the knockback will keep it from hurting you.

5. First Hornet fight.

6. Gorb. Try not to fall.

7. Dung Defender. If you need to heal during this fight, hide in the corner of the room, right up against the wall. It is rare you will get hit here, though still possible, so be careful.

8. Soul Warrior. This guy also spawns the orange ghosts, this time around, so try not to get overwhelmed. The only real time to heal during this fight is at the end, so be careful.

9. Brooding Mawlek. RIP Tiso. There’s no platform in the middle this time, so be careful not to get pinned against the wall.

*10. Oro and Mato. Since there is a hot spring directly after this fight, do not worry about keeping your health near full, just focus on not dying. Try to attack Oro (who shows up first, alone, for the first stage. He does the attack across the whole map) even on the second stage, because he has less health in the second stage, and is easier to take down first.

Hot spring rest spot.

11. Xero.

12. Crystal Guardian.

13. Soul Master.

14. Oblobbles. Try to do damage to each of the oblobbles equally, because once one goes down, the fight gets harder. But, they keep damage from the first stage, so it’s better to make sure they are both damaged equally before one is killed.

*15. Sisters of Battle. The Mantis Lords, but all three attack you instead of just two in the second stage. Make sure you are fully healed before that second stage. Stay on your toes, because they are fast and ruthless, but fortunately there is a hot spring after this, so no need to worry about keeping your health completely full.

Hot spring rest spot.

16. Marmu. This fight is a pain. Just try to defeat Marmu quickly, and not take too much damage.

17. Flukemarm.

18. Broken Vessel.

19. Galien.

*20. Paintmaster Sheo. His attacks are telegraphed by the color of the paint, and there’s time to heal every time he is knocked down, so it should not be too hard of a fight with a little practice. Blue attacks are the most difficult for me to dodge, personally, because there’s very little time to react, but even then can be dodged.

Hot spring rest spot.

21. Hive Knight.

22. Elder Hu.

23. The Collector. I have lost more runs to this guy then I care to admit. His normal allies are replaced with harder versions. Yes, that means he summons PRIMAL ASPIDS. If you don’t have both the fully upgraded nail AND the strength charm, they take more than one hit to kill, so those are essential. If you have both, it’s not too hard, because you can kill the little allies in one hit, before they do any attacks.

24. God Tamer. Don’t bother with the Tamer herself, only focus on the beast, because once it dies, she’s defeated. The easiest way to kill it is to just pogo jump on its head, while avoiding the Tamer’s jumps. Also, be careful healing after the beast is defeated, because sometimes the Tamer jumps on you one last time before collapsing.

25. Troupe Master Grimm. Don’t attack him while he’s bowing, because it actually takes longer in the long run. If you do, he does an extra balloon phase, in which you can’t attack him.

Hot spring rest spot.

26. Watcher Knights. Try to focus on one at a time. You can usually sneak a heal or two in when there’s only one currently alive.

27. Uumuu. If you didn’t miss Quirrel before, you’re definitely going to miss him now. You’ll have to attack the exploding Oomas (big jellyfish) into it in order to break the protective outer casing. Just be very careful not to let them explode on you, so only attack them when they are basically on top of Uumuu.

*28. Winged Nosk. Actually easier than normal Nosk, at least for me. Just pogo attack downwards when they fly across, and try to avoid the orange infection they spew. The only real time to heal is when they are up on the ceiling, after dodging the infection they drop.

*29. Nailsage Sly. AKA one of the only times I ever use nail arts. His main two attacks come in beats of three, and after the third strike, there is a very limited window in which you can attack him once, so do so with a charged nail attack. When he builds up to his spinning attack, go jump on the wall until he’s done, don’t try to attack him. On his second stage, just dash away, and then dash back with a charged slash. Sly’s entire fight is about timing, and once you get the timing, he becomes a lot easier. ALSO, THERE IS NOT A HOT SPRING DIRECTLY AFTER THIS. It goes directly to the next Hornet fight, so be careful and try not to lose to much health.

30. Second Hornet Fight. If you lost a lot of health in the previous fight, try to heal during the time she’s stunned. Be careful of the spike traps she starts to lay halfway through, try to clear them out if you can, or they can get overwhelming.

Hot spring rest spot. (Finally)

31. Enraged Guardian.

32. Lost Kin. The ghosts it summons can get overwhelming easily, so try to clear them out as quickly as you can.

33. No Eyes. The arena is significantly spikier now, so don’t try and chase No Eyes across the arena, since they teleport away anyway. Avoid the ghosts, take your time, and try not to hit the spikes or fall off the platforms.

34. Traitor Lord. Prioritize not getting hit by his lunge attacks, since they do two damage.

35. White Defender. Again, if you need to heal, the left and right corners are the safest, though the White Defender is a lot more dangerous. Since there is a rest spot directly after, though, do not worry about keeping your health completely full.

Hot spring rest spot. The following section of the Fifth Pantheon, especially from Markoth to Nightmare King Grimm, is extremely difficult. All of the bosses are hard, from this point on, with limited healing points.

36. Soul Tyrant.

37. Markoth. An already difficult fight made even more difficult by taking away the ground. Do not try to rush this fight. Take your time, try to minimize getting hit, and hit him when you have a clear shot. If he does the spinning shield attack on a far side of the arena, you can retreat to the furthest point away from him to heal a bit, but be careful if he is near the middle, as his shield goes quite far.

38. Grey Prince Zote. You can actually make the Fifth Pantheon easier on yourself, because if Zote is left to die, or, I believe, not defeated in the Colosseum, this fight is skipped.

39. Failed Champion. IMPORTANT. COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES HE HAS BEEN STAGGERED. On the third time, he will stay down. Before you kill him, if you get right up close to him, you can dream nail him. In this way, you can actually heal completely before the next fight, which is critical, because the next fight is...

40. Nightmare King Grimm. Try not to die. He gets easier when you learn his patterns, but even so you have to have quick reflexes. Fortunately, there is a rest spot after him.

Hot spring rest spot.

*41. Pure Vessel. Personally, my favorite fight in the game. My biggest suggestion is honestly just practice and practiceX10000. Once you have the muscle memory to avoid their attacks, the fight becomes much easier. I have practiced to the point where I managed to beat them while completely drunk off my ass once.

Surprisingly, to avoid most of their attacks, you have to go towards them. Pogo attacking over them is the most effective way to avoid both their lunge and their triple slash. To get to the Fifth Pantheon, you already have to defeat them once, so I won’t go into too much detail, unless someone wants me to.

42. Absolute Radiance. And then... there’s this asshole. Like her counterpart from the original game, only kicked up to eleven.

The hardest fight in the game, by far. She’s definitely the one I’ve died to the most. But, again, with practice, she’s defeatable, if still difficult. Even after beating the Pantheon 10 times, and defeating her on radiant difficulty, she still kills me sometimes. Expect to die several times. It’s frustrating, I know, especially since it takes around an hour to get to that point, but each time you attempt the Pantheon you gain valuable practice.

Fortunately, you gain all your health back before this fight, at least.

In her first stage, the Radiance has similar attacks to the original Radiance, only she attacks more, faster, and is absolutely unforgiving. Her attacks deal two damage, just like the original, but she can kill you incredibly quickly.

Once she falls over, and the black tendrils grab her, you can heal up to six health. Then, a similar stage plays out, except on platforms this time.

Then, like the original fight, there is a climb, while she shoots lasers at you.

Unlike the normal Radiance, though, this is not the final stage. There is one last stage, where there are two platforms, and the only attack is the orbs. This stage, while difficult, is not very long. Focus on avoiding the orbs, and double jump over them. If they go off the top of the screen, they disappear.

If you defeat her, you are awarded one of the two the new endings, a cutscene, and an achievement. Plus, the satisfaction of completing this very difficult challenge.

And that is the Pantheon of Hallownest. I hope this guide helps someone with the quest to beat this Pantheon.

If you have any further questions, concerns, want any more advice from me or more tips on the bosses, etc, feel free to ask. Or, if anyone wants me to do a guide on how to defeat all the bosses on Radiant difficulty in the Hall of Gods. I’d add more here, but I’ve already written like 2500 words, so. I’ll be done for now.

GOOD LUCK!!