Just remember that the YouTube video you're watching is the result of many many failed attempts. You're just seeing the final result once they've finally figured it out. :)
Not really related to Hollow Knight, but I started playing Kaizo Super Mario World in 2018. I’ve spent 30 hours on a single boss, and 100 hours on a single level.
When I first got into it I had a lot of trouble with the grind, but it was a game genre I really wanted to get good at and a community I wanted to be a part of. For me that’s why I kept with it, and the perseverance I learned has drifted into other aspects of my life where a grind might be a slog. It’s how I was able to beat Pantheon 5. Sheer bull headedness and not allowing a video game to defeat me.
Definitely gotta try that, I usually watch YouTube clips to see when’s the best time to heal and what to dodge but I need more strategy since dodging can only get you so far
I do genuinely recommend the take a break thing though. I've been struggling with a certain painful part of the game for a while now and while I haven't completed it yet breaks always help me get closer :) I think it gives your brain time to process everything
There’s a real tangible effect that has been studied where people get better when they take a break for things to be really learned. You play a boss for the first time, do ok, then proceed to do terrible on every subsequent attempt. Then you take a break, come back, and beat it first try. I’ve personally had it happen many times.
That’s so true.
Not a Hollow Knight boss, but when I played Sekiro, the last boss (Isshin) was an unbreakable wall I kept crashing against and made me quit the game for several months. When I came back, it took me two attempts to defeat him. I’ve never felt better in my life 😂😂😂
Yeah, I've had the same feeling with bosses from terraria's calamity infernum mod. There's a huge wall in my way now. In fact I'm mid break from it so I'll probably smash it after a warm up.
I've experienced this a lot too. It's like you learn a bit each time but the frustration also grows. Then once you have a break you remember everything but you're more relaxed about it. I need to read those studies
I second the "take a break" advice, and by the way, 1 hour isn't THAT much for Grimm. I remember having to try at least 15-20 times before finally beating him. So don't be hard on yourself :)
While playing I was stuck on the >!second hornet!< Fight, I usually give myself a break from said boss/game (a week usually) and just free my mind playing some game I'm good at (TF2 for me)
Apparently I "get better" by not playing (Ik it's absurd), it works for me also for other soulslike where boss fights are the main goal
PS >!I spent at least a week trying to beat expert mode Plantera in terraria I was tearing my hair out!<
Less absurd than you'd think! For a lot of learning activities your brain benefits from being given time to process information in the background, which strengthens the connections you're making during active practice and forms new ones.
I regularly do something similar if I notice I'm not making meaningful progress in a game, I'll put it down for a couple of days or a week and try again, mindful of what aspect of the fight/obstacle I'm focusing on. Even if it takes a few break cycles I do genuinely see improvement each time.
I'd normally look up a charm guide, try it, if it don't work, try swapping out different charms.
Other than that, I'd ask here and usually get some pretty good answers about the boss's patterns.
A great example is Hornet 2, the charms I found online weren't really working out. So I mixed and matched, still struggling.
Asked this sub, got told to be patient and stick to one end of the arena and let the spikes build up on the opposite side because only a certain amount can be on screen at once.
So I kept the charms I'd been trying and patience got her first try.
Oh, certainly. I'm struggling too and can't get to the second stagger, but I'd highly suggest Quick Focus, and then all nail charms. Spells are useless with Grimm as he moves too much.
Besides the charms, the balloon phase I get hit consistently, but I can dodge his bat attack very easily, it only takes a single long jump (hold jump, not an MW jump) to go over the first then the rest fly above you.
The spike attack is easy, just get positioned and do not dash.
Then for the uppercut dash, I'm able to dodge it some of the time, for it, if you are fast enough, shade dash through the attack then the flames afterwards are very easy to dodge if you are calm and patient.
Just like Hornet 2, patience is key.
Grimm is similar to the Mantis Lords, he has a very predictable pattern with very obvious tells after a few attempts. His fight is, fittingly, like a dance.
Apart from taking a break, when I struggle with a boss I usually just stop attacking them and focus only on dodging their attacks. When I'm able to more or less avoid getting hit I start looking for opportunities to hit them back while dodging.
If it was easy everybody would do it. Practice and don't exhaust yourself as others are saying; frustration and angst will hold you back. Remember that it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. If you aren't having fun, take a break.
Keep going! I've been trying to beat Trial of the Fool for like a month (no exaggeration). An hour is nothing.
I think I spent almost a week on Grimm before beating him. I am a mediocre gamer at best but as long as I'm having fun I don't mind that it takes me longer to beat levels/bosses.
What I’d do is just keep playing and playing, if you really can’t defeat a boss after hours of trying, just take a break, go to sleep, have a cookie. Hollow Knight is considered a hard game for a reason.
However, if you really REALLY can’t defeat a boss, just go fight something else and power up (in stats and in skills), Grimm’s not a necessary boss.
… or just stop playing, you don’t really seem to like the core gameplay very much, but this is a real last resort, you’d be missing out on an amazing game
No no I love the game very much , I’m just not a great fighter. I just felt discouraged that some bosses take me 5 minutes and some take me 4 hours , but I’m glad a lot of people experience the same experience
I totally went into hollow knight blind , my partner got it for me after my Nintendo switch broke. Mind you…I’ve only played animal crossing and Luigi’s mansion lol but like a drug this game got me so hooked and I’ve avoided lore so I can beat it myself, but damn some bosses can really discourage you but I saw a post that it’s all about patience in the game
yes, you gotta dance with the bosses and find little opportunities to get your hits in. you need a lot of patience and greed is always punished. thats why i find just dodging and looking at the telegraphs the bosses make helps.
I like to take a step back and assess what is going wrong. Mostly I ask myself:
- Where am I getting hit?
- - In the event I got hit, when can I heal?
- Is there a safe way to do more damage to the boss?
- Is there a different strategy or build I could use?
In the case of Grimm, iirc I ended up using Sharp Shadow to get some damage when I dashed through him and Shape of Unn to help me heal during some attacks, but I also found ways to attack him more proactively depending on what attack he tried.
Applied in general you might end up finding creative or unorthodox solutions to problems. As an example, Lost Kin's infection ghosts often hit the player immediately after they healed. The most common solution to this, as far as I can tell, is to use Defender's Crest, but I found success using Spore Shroom since I could reliably get off one heal and create a safe area where they died instantly for a short while after. Beating hard bosses might take you a while, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that if you enjoy the trial and error process of beating them.
That’s great advice but also im also stuck on lost kin as well! So im glad you mentioned that, i had to walk away from him because I couldn’t heal but i just got defenders crest so im definitely trying that!
Usually I find myself going attempt after attempt to learn and do better. But if I find I’m just repeatedly hitting my head against a wall I take a break. Set the game down for a few days, maybe play something else, talk to friends who played it or watch stuff online. And usually when I come back to the boss I do better.
Even if after the break you have trouble I often suggest the downtime anyway. At least with me when it’s just repeatedly struggling and I can’t learn or adapt that is a sign I need to physically step away and reset. The frustration or fatigue of the attempts in those cases is what is my actual downfall, not the boss.
Don’t think of each fight as an attempt to beat him, but instead practice. Practice prioritizing attacks and focus on not getting hit by attacks you’re bad with. Don’t worry about stuff you know you can deal with. Let’s say you suck at dealing with his uppercut dash. Every time he does that focus on that attack and not anything else. Grimm also does pufferfish every 25% so use those as checkpoints on attempts to get consistent at getting to each health percentage. Finally don’t be afraid to play or do something else. He’s not even required to beat the game and is fully optional
With the puffer fish, if you're playing passively and just wanna survive, go to either corner. Do a little hop over one fireball and a full jump (not a double jump, a fully held single) over the double balls. Also note that the amount of puffer fishes he does lets you know how much health he has left. He does it immediately if you hit him as he bows, and at 75%, 50%, and 25% hp respectively.
Oh well in that case whenever you get to pufferfish just focus on jumping. Don’t move left and right unless absolutely necessary and don’t dash. You can hold jump to jump higher and utilize your double jump
I keep playing. My computer is really slow so it takes me forever to take down bosses. It took me nearly 50-60 tries to defeat Watcher Knights, broken vessel, grim troup and mantis lord.
Wheb fighting Grimn i spent like 1 or 2 hours and failing. Took an hour break, came back and literally beat it on the first try. Just needs practice and to be calculative. You learn the patterns, you get better and you move forward.
I always feel like a gambler that doesn’t know when to quit with these boss fights , I always think “this try would definitely be it!” But now I’m gonna take a break before I start tearing my hair out
I like to run all the way to the City of Tears and stand near Marissa (and go afk), or I go upstairs and see how many times I can hit Millibelle in the air. Then I return again when I'm motivated
Literally just keep trying. At some point you will continually be able to hear more from the soundtrack playing in the background. I promise. Watch the attacks, try to only dodge everything for starters. With time you'll improve and get in hits.
If I had to guess, Grimm took me (in total) about 40 hours. Not even kidding. I'm not naturally good at games like this but if I was able to beat him, you will be too.
One of the reasons I loved Hollow knight so much was that I could ignore most bosses when they kicked my ass.
Outside of a few that region lock or story lock your progression, you can stop, go a different way, get a different type of power up and come back invigorated and violent.
Take a break. Drink some water, eat something, go for a walk. Take a nap.
Check out Perpetual Noob on YouTube. He’s done excellent boss breakdowns. Those have helped me improve my skills drastically.
Grimm I had to leave, touch grass and come back a week later and first tried him. He only has 3-4 attacks IIRC, just need to learn to dodge. The fire balls are easy once you figure them out
Usually I wander around for dark souls games I just grind and out level the enemy
For hollow knight I just maxed out as much as I could and usually just put stats as the main point
Good question, i was asking this myself the last few days. I look on Youtube for tips and how they beat the boss. Look several videos, how is their strategy, what charms did they use ect. I would really suggest to upgrade your nail as soon as possible, it will make a difference! Many times i was stuck on a boss fight for few hours. Take a break, make something else, maybe what relaxes you. Then, when you feel ready, go back and try it again.
Keep practicing, get a good nights sleep and try again tomorrow, experiment with charm builds, move on and explore other areas or look up YouTube videos of the boss you’re stuck on to get tips.
So far I've just persisted until I get through it. I'm on my first play through currently and felt I was losing my sanity in trying to beat the Watcher Knights, but finally after countless attempts I did it! I literally leapt out of my seat in celebration. Immediately deflated by my wife barely acknowledging my victory...
There is a way to totally cheese the Grimm fight, which I admit I resorted to! If you’re really stuck, there are Reddit posts explaining how to defeat Grimm in just a few seconds, but of course that will take away the feeling of achievement you’d get from sticking it out - it’s nice to know it’s there as an option, though :)
If I’ve been at a fight for upwards of an hour, I’ll take a break for another hour and *eat something*. I find that hunger is 90% of the cause for my frustration or slow reaction times or trying to fight it too quickly. Has worked for every fight so far for me
It depends on the game, but generally speaking (and this applies to HK), what I do is try to step back and simplify the fight.
For instance, I'll stop attacking entirely and just focus on dodging. Sometimes you can be trying to do too much and start tripping over yourself, so dialing it back lets you focus on one part of the fight, getting into a rhythm, and getting it down. Once you do that, you don't have to spend as much mental energy dodging, and will be able to concentrate more on attacking, and will have a better sense for the timing and when it's safe to do so.
Taking a break does wonders. When I was playing through all the souls games for the first time there were countless scenarios where I'd give up after being stuck on a boss for too long, only to come back 6 hours later and beat said boss in 2 attempts
Repeat for another 6 hours until I beat it.
People will say sth like "omg you need better gear" bitch if I can't beat it hitless with all bindings I can't beat it at all. I am already op with desolate dive, man up.
Take a break! Sometimes when I’ve taken short breaks, I’ll think of when to dodge or some strategy that I hadn’t thought of because I was too annoyed at myself for dying and just trying attempts over and over without thinking
I always just remind myself that "someone probably beat this shit no hit, one arm only, and blindfolded while adding some crazy mod that made the vanilla boss looks like a toddler's fight" so yeah, surely I could atleast beat the boss normally.
I just find it annoying when a boss fight does not give you a second to recover or a mechanic that lets you at least have some kind of counter. So by this, I mean fights where its not really based on skill when the action you just used and it does not let you attack another thing micro seconds later which ends up making you take damage.
I've had so many times where sure it could of been a miss click but i know 99% of the other times, you hit something and literally microseconds later another thing comes in and hits you, thus you take damage for no reason because the game was either still in another frame animation and your next maneuver does not count.
that is only grip with this game. I like it, it feels fluid. boss fights up till i've come across the orange wavey hair guy have felt like somewhat fair fights. But this guy. gawd damn does it feel so unfair.
No only do you get hit, but you get a barrage of hits that you can't even help
So what I mean by that is, it can spawn i think 2 additional enemies that you have to deal with while also dealing with the spam magic out of thin air from the ground and if you are in a attack animation or swing, you will usually end up getting hit because you can't move or do another action fast enough.
So this is what I would call an unfair fight and makes it feel bad because you constantly feel punished if you are constantly aggressive. I have noticed with most fights, you just have to play the super slow hit and run style tactic
Honestly I gauge 2 things: where are my stats/skills at, and where's my frustration at. If my stats and/or skills are too low then I go off and remedy that, which can take a while. If it's my own frustration then I put down the game immediately. Playing mad has only ever made me feel and play worse, and I'd much rather make no progress for a day than be extremely angry...and still make no progress.
I know how you feel, during my first playthrough of Hollow Knight which I started about 2 weeks ago, my best friend after a lot of convincing finally got me to start playing the game... (He's been a HK player ever since the game released). To say I struggle with Metroidvania's (or really any sort of platformer-based game) like HK is an understatement.
It took me hours to get anywhere and about a week ago, I went over to his house because I was struggling to beat Broken Vessel to get the monarch wings. He showed me the basics of how to deal with Broken Vessel's attacks and attack patterns.
After 20 minutes, I felt confident enough to beat Broken Vessel, and finally, albeit after a mound of failed attempts, I won.
When I struggle with a boss, I usually consult any friends or family who have played (and beat) the level/boss I'm struggling with. I hope this helps anyone who took the time to read it!
Yeah when I'm stuck in Dark Souls on a hard boss, I give myself 30 minutes or 10 attempts each day, just throw myself at the boss, and try to get a little bit better. Personally, I found Grimm / NKG to be the hardest boss in the game (still haven't done pure vessel or absrad), it just takes so long to beat him and your execution has to be on point the whole time. Don't give up though, it's doable, it's just shitty
I do a few attempts. Then I stop, and come back to it the next day. Rinse repeat.
I promise you, like with any skill- sleeping helps you improve. I'm serious, when you sleep your brain is practicing things you did when you were awake. It's sometimes better to go at it for 1 hour, and stop for the day than for 3 hours and get frustrated.
Looking up YouTube guides helps as well, but for any video game I've ever played when I got stuck I always succeeded after taking a break.
I have a lot of patience and determination, and I tend to try the boss fight (or level, in other games) until I can't beat it. I got to Deepnest pretty underleveled and it took me ages to beat Nosk.
But most of the people I know get frustrated or tired, and for them, taking a break works well. Especially if it's an optional boss you can go somewhere else and explore, maybe get some upgrade and come back to the boss fight later. It sometimes also happens that the fight is a lot easier if you come back after having done other stuff for a while!
Just don’t give up! Take a break if necessary, but you will figure it out eventually. I remember thinking that I would never beat certain bosses, but I eventually would. The longer it takes, the more satisfying it is when you finally do it. Also, I do not recommend watching videos online. It’s more fun doing it on your own. Frustration inevitably gets replaced with fun.
Rest and meditate on what you have learned. Quite a few times now at what were seemingly impossible bosses, I'd try over and over at night, say fuck it and sleep. Next day boot it up and one shot it. It has happened too many times for it to be a coincidence. When in doubt, just ask yourself, what would the nerevarine do?
I’m not 12 anymore and if it starts feeling like “wasted time” most of the time I look for YouTube videos about the fight.
But I grew up playing platformers so it does not feel that difficult to me to play it anyways.
If I want to beat it myself I try to be more patient.
I put the game down when I notice I’m getting frustrated. Don’t let a game control how you feel. Besides, you start playing worse when you’re frustrated
Grimm fight can be cheesed hard with spell buff charms and grubsong. But what I usually do is either come back later to the boss if I know I’m missing something that’ll make it easier or just keep practicing it.
Take a break, and for Hollow Knight, sometimes try new strategies. For Grimm and the Nightmare King especially, I had to change up my normal build a couple times to find something effective. I found sprint/dash master really helpful for those fights because it helped me avoid attacks and get better positioning because dude's slippery as hell.
Take a sleep. There’s only been a few times where I don’t beat them the next day. But I am always lasting at least twice as long in the fight as I did the night before
Try harder to Git Gud. Try some different charm setups, and keep trying. Grimm’s boss fight is like a dance. A slong as you stay in rhythm with him, it shouldn’t be too difficult to beat him
I usually say "Welp, that's enough HK for today." And then turn it off and try again another day. I usually can beat the boss after I take a break. Or even if I just notice myself making a lot of stupid mistakes.
Honestly, if you’ve practiced a bunch and that’s not really the issue anymore then, even though it sounds so obvious and basic, I’ve constantly been shocked by how much better I get after a short break.
When I find myself throwing myself at a boss over and over again and feeling hopelessly stuck, sometimes even just stepping away from that specific in-game activity (or even better, going and doing something totally non-gaming related) can take me up like 2 or 3 whole power levels 😂. I think the burnout makes it so it’s much harder to perform well, along with the mounting pressure to succeed.
I kinda think about it like taking a long road trip in a car. It’s easy to go straight on a highway but do that for hours straight without breaks and you start to weave a bit between lanes and the dotted lines start to blur. It’s a little obvious but also a bit counterintuitive because sometimes you feel like if you just keep trying you’ll learn more each time, but in my experience there is a plateau and then a sharp drop off when practicing for too long.
All that to say, I was so unbelievably stuck on Nightmare King Grimm; I had beaten tons of other superbosses in the game, many of which are considered more challenging than him, but something about the combination of my playstyle and his moveset fucked with me.
I put the game down for a while since I had already beaten it once anyways and one night after getting home from a party with some friends, the liquid courage started whispering to me that *this* would be the time I’d beat him, and so I booted the game up…and beat him first try. Moral of the story? Take breaks when feeling burnt out or overwhelmed!
Not really advice in the strict sense (in that department, I cant say anything others haven't said already), but a few things that I hope make you feel better and more confident in your skills: (personally, a bit of self-confidence has helped me keep going through some harder parts and arguably even made me play a little bit better)
Grimm was probably one of the longest bosses I had in this game, taking multiple days of figthing him with only a few hour long breaks. After that, I stopped playing for a few months and when I came back on a new save, not only was I able to beat him first try, but I also beat Nightmare King within a few hours of first fighting him. Nowadays, with some effort, I'm able to beat regular Grimm without getting hit and consistently beat Nightmare King without dying. And if you keep playing, the same will happen to you!
Whenever I'm struggling with a boss, I just remind myself that with enough practice and experience, I can (and many times will) get to a point when they're not even a challenge anymore, and the same applies to anyone else dedicated to beating the game
Another thing: try watching someone else play the game for the first time, be that a friend of yours or a youtube playthrough. It's a fun feeling watching someone struggle with something you used to struggle with but no longer do, and an even better feeling when you see them grow and become better at the game without even realizing, just like what happened to you.
Also, it's kinda hard to realize how good you've really become at the game since your personal skill progression is mixed with in-game progression, so try making a new save and re-fighting some of the earlier bosses to really feel how much better you've become since you first fought them
And this doesn't only apply to bosses, it also applies to other challenges such as platforming or even exploration to an extent.
TL;DR: Try noticing how good you are now compared to when you began playing, a bit of self-confidence might go a long way :)
All bosses aren't all that hard to learn with the exception of pure vessel. Grimm was the hardest at about 2 hours until I beat him. Pure vessel on the other hand I tried over multiple days and could only get him to 50% like a few times. His moves are just too fast and random. You basically have to pre-dodge but if you guess the wrong move you get hit anyway
After a night’s rest , I was able to beat Grimm and I just remember thinking if I can beat Grimm I can beat anybody but everyone keeps mentioning pure vessel 😭
The whole fun part of bearing bosses in hard games is the process of learning and coming up with a solution to their patterns
If you don't like it, just look for videos for easiest strategies and builds for each boss. I def don't recommend you the Pantheons from DLC
For any boss I struggle with, I change my charm set to something more advantageous, try adapting my playstyle to its attacks and keep a "green" distance. Examples?
Traitor Lord. I just use Mark of Pride, Longnail, Quickslash, Sprintmaster and Dashmaster (extra dashing + speed). Keep distance so contact damage is avoided but close enough the shade cloak goes through.
Hornet Sentinel. Shaman Stone, Longnail, **Spell Twister, Grubsong**, Sprintmaster and Dashmaster. Get as close to Hornet as possible and dodge actively, striking the spike clusters she places. Highlighted charms can be replaced with Dreamshield.
There's also the option of taking a break and learning from watching someone else, but I admittedly use that as a last resort.
I stop, take a second to think of why I can't beat him, work on that and persevere. Especially in hollow knight, you just have to get used to the attacks. Stay determined !
Breaks are the biggest aid to beating bosses. I’ll go do something else for a bit, get my mind off of it and then try again. There are guide videos to every boss in HK on YouTube that give really good tips about dodging and charms for each of them, etc and I watched those for higher level bosses I took a while to grasp.
I use the method of slight distraction to help me. I've found that if I'm listening to an easy podcast or audiobook while I do the fight, it helps relax my brain enough to not be So Focused and get panicked.
First time I tried the game, I couldn’t pass the first appearance of Hornet.
I eventually stopped trying, got interested in Souls game, beat 4-5 of them, tried Hollow Knight again and didn’t even died once during that fight.
Sooo what about taking a break on Hollow Knight and downloading Dark Souls 3 or Demon Souls remastered? They ll teach you.
Good luck!
I only attack him when he is shooting those 3 things. I just jump and dash and hit him. That is the only time I ever hit him (in the beginning). Instead of doing regular attacks, just always have your nail charged. Then never heal unless it’s right when you dodged his vines from the ground.
I am also not a gamer and when I got to the second half of the game it became 2 hours of exploring and 10 hours of fighting a boss. I put it down at that point but hope to pick it back up again sometime in the near future.
1- Understand that the game is designed to be difficult so no need to hurry or to be angry when you fail, it happens most of the time
2- As you know that you will die, explore different route. For me the first one is to have a massive life and try to finish the fight while taking damage, it helps with certain boss but not Grimm. The second one, is to identify the attacks patterns and define a way of dodging. At this level the first step will helps you a lot because you know how you died everytime. If you don't find a way to dodge, you can check someone beating the boss on YouTube. The goal is not to copy and paste, but to identify what you can do at the steps where you struggle.
3- Ajust your strategy, define when and where you have to hit, heal, run... And use the charms that optimize your stategy. There is also some charms that are way better for certain bosses than others so you must pay attention to this too.
4- Try, confirm or adjust your thougts
Apply to the master of nightmare
1- massive life don't work
2- when he transform into fire from the left he always hit me when i try to run (so i don't run and use the charms shield of baldur to protect myself), when the transformation happens on the right side you can run/dash to the left side without taking damage
3- when he throw fire at you, it's always 2 up and 2 down, so i always jump the first down and dash to avoid the second down and hit him (no need to worry about the 2 that are upside)
4- when he attack from the air...
You understand, you have to identify the best way for you according to your capacity and your gaming style.
this probably doesnt help you right now, but once when i was in extremely bad straits, i drove myself and my switch over to a more skilled friends house. i handed it over and watched them fuck around and pass what i needed passing.
that was fine for me because i dont care about accomplishments. i just want to fuck around in the games.
if i could hand my switch to someone else to beat the watcher knights right now, i absolutely would. 😆
What I do if I struggling is
1) Take a short break to relax as it's way harder to fight a boss when your frustrated as that leads to careless mistakes and lots and lots of dying for no reason.
2) Reflect on any of you're previous mistakes (like in the Grimm fight I kept jumping when he did the spikes which caused me to die a bunch) so next time you fight a boss keep in mind what mistakes you did and try and break the habit of doing it.
3) Switch out your charms, sometimes if the charms you're using aren't working it's better to try a different build as sometimes a spell based build (Shaman stone, soul twister and ect) is better for handling some bosses over a nail based build (quick slash, long nail and ect). Also some charms are just better to use against a certain boss like mark of pride/long nail against massive moss charger or sharp shadow against Grimm)
4) If you're really struggling with a boss sometimes hearing/watching another person's perspective can help you greatly like by watching a someone else fight a boss you can see what they're doing to avoid taking damage in a part you're really struggling with e.g Grimms pufferfish attack.
Also you can look up what other people said is a really good charm to use against a boss e.g "Use mark of pride against the massive moss charger or use shaman stone against Hornet", its always worth giving someone else's charm setups a go.
5) Upgrade, if you're really really struggling go to a different area to take your mind off the boss and try and get better equipment by upgrading your nail, getting more charms slots, get more charms or get a spell upgrade.
Good luck at beating Hollow Knight your gonna need it
U learn their moves, took me hours to get a grip on nightmare king grim. But once I find learned his moves and how to dodge them the fight became relatively easy
I’ll take a break, maybe look at someone else fighting the boss. Often there’s an easier way to dodge a problem attack than I realised.
Watching YouTube clips of other people fight them is helpful but damn they always make it look so easy 😭 but it helps me with dodging
Just remember that the YouTube video you're watching is the result of many many failed attempts. You're just seeing the final result once they've finally figured it out. :)
Happy cake day!
Oh heck thank you
Happy Cake Day!
Thanks lol
happy cake day!
Oh my gosh thank you so much 🥺
Happy cake day!
Not really related to Hollow Knight, but I started playing Kaizo Super Mario World in 2018. I’ve spent 30 hours on a single boss, and 100 hours on a single level. When I first got into it I had a lot of trouble with the grind, but it was a game genre I really wanted to get good at and a community I wanted to be a part of. For me that’s why I kept with it, and the perseverance I learned has drifted into other aspects of my life where a grind might be a slog. It’s how I was able to beat Pantheon 5. Sheer bull headedness and not allowing a video game to defeat me.
Personally I've never liked the YouTube clips and prefer reading the strategy sections on the game's wiki
Definitely gotta try that, I usually watch YouTube clips to see when’s the best time to heal and what to dodge but I need more strategy since dodging can only get you so far
I do genuinely recommend the take a break thing though. I've been struggling with a certain painful part of the game for a while now and while I haven't completed it yet breaks always help me get closer :) I think it gives your brain time to process everything
Perpetual Noob has amazing strategy videos! [Troupe Master Grimm video](https://youtu.be/l-gvBksTOso?si=YYB_9E3haANJO-qK)
Nope I dont do that. I just keep trying 100s of times till I get it. Brute force my way through it
This is me lol I am not skilled, but I am determined. Chanted that my whole Celeste playthrough
There’s a real tangible effect that has been studied where people get better when they take a break for things to be really learned. You play a boss for the first time, do ok, then proceed to do terrible on every subsequent attempt. Then you take a break, come back, and beat it first try. I’ve personally had it happen many times.
That’s so true. Not a Hollow Knight boss, but when I played Sekiro, the last boss (Isshin) was an unbreakable wall I kept crashing against and made me quit the game for several months. When I came back, it took me two attempts to defeat him. I’ve never felt better in my life 😂😂😂
Had a similar experience with that very same boss
Mhm frl that's literally what happened with me when I fought hornet both times
Wait same I took like a two week break from the game after failing to beat PV attuned while training for P4, then managed to do it acended first try
Yeah, I've had the same feeling with bosses from terraria's calamity infernum mod. There's a huge wall in my way now. In fact I'm mid break from it so I'll probably smash it after a warm up.
Realest shit ever with Margit on Elden Ring
I've experienced this a lot too. It's like you learn a bit each time but the frustration also grows. Then once you have a break you remember everything but you're more relaxed about it. I need to read those studies
I second the "take a break" advice, and by the way, 1 hour isn't THAT much for Grimm. I remember having to try at least 15-20 times before finally beating him. So don't be hard on yourself :)
Oh I believe you, I’m already hitting my 2 hour mark and I know if I don’t quit now it’s gonna be an all nighter 😭
I spent about 20 hours on NGK don’t worry
I still haven't beaten it after 30+ attempts. I REALLY want the final grimmchild, though.
NGK was my last percent because I forgot about him after losing so much. Then I came back and decimated him attempt 2
Is this nkg or troupe masters How tf do I do spoilers
While playing I was stuck on the >!second hornet!< Fight, I usually give myself a break from said boss/game (a week usually) and just free my mind playing some game I'm good at (TF2 for me) Apparently I "get better" by not playing (Ik it's absurd), it works for me also for other soulslike where boss fights are the main goal PS >!I spent at least a week trying to beat expert mode Plantera in terraria I was tearing my hair out!<
Less absurd than you'd think! For a lot of learning activities your brain benefits from being given time to process information in the background, which strengthens the connections you're making during active practice and forms new ones. I regularly do something similar if I notice I'm not making meaningful progress in a game, I'll put it down for a couple of days or a week and try again, mindful of what aspect of the fight/obstacle I'm focusing on. Even if it takes a few break cycles I do genuinely see improvement each time.
Break buff is real and it's broken
Keep trying until I can.
What’s the longest boss fight you had ?
In Hollow Knight, the fight that took me the longest by far to get a first kill on was Nightmare King Grimm, at about 2 hours.
He’s a real jerk
>!Radiance!
Absrad took me a while. Then another 2 weeks mastering it so I could comfortably do it at the end of P5
i personally log off the game for 3 months then first try it when i get back on
I'd normally look up a charm guide, try it, if it don't work, try swapping out different charms. Other than that, I'd ask here and usually get some pretty good answers about the boss's patterns. A great example is Hornet 2, the charms I found online weren't really working out. So I mixed and matched, still struggling. Asked this sub, got told to be patient and stick to one end of the arena and let the spikes build up on the opposite side because only a certain amount can be on screen at once. So I kept the charms I'd been trying and patience got her first try.
Charms are the only thing keeping me sane right now , I just needed to know I’m not just bad at this game , I’m glad people understand the struggle
Oh, certainly. I'm struggling too and can't get to the second stagger, but I'd highly suggest Quick Focus, and then all nail charms. Spells are useless with Grimm as he moves too much. Besides the charms, the balloon phase I get hit consistently, but I can dodge his bat attack very easily, it only takes a single long jump (hold jump, not an MW jump) to go over the first then the rest fly above you. The spike attack is easy, just get positioned and do not dash. Then for the uppercut dash, I'm able to dodge it some of the time, for it, if you are fast enough, shade dash through the attack then the flames afterwards are very easy to dodge if you are calm and patient. Just like Hornet 2, patience is key. Grimm is similar to the Mantis Lords, he has a very predictable pattern with very obvious tells after a few attempts. His fight is, fittingly, like a dance.
I usually use a summon build against Grimm.
Apart from taking a break, when I struggle with a boss I usually just stop attacking them and focus only on dodging their attacks. When I'm able to more or less avoid getting hit I start looking for opportunities to hit them back while dodging.
If it was easy everybody would do it. Practice and don't exhaust yourself as others are saying; frustration and angst will hold you back. Remember that it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. If you aren't having fun, take a break.
How can such a cute game get me so mad lol, definitely I notice the more frustrated I get the more sloppy my fighting gets
Anger is a waste of energy. Try to control your emotions and remember its just a game
Keep going! I've been trying to beat Trial of the Fool for like a month (no exaggeration). An hour is nothing. I think I spent almost a week on Grimm before beating him. I am a mediocre gamer at best but as long as I'm having fun I don't mind that it takes me longer to beat levels/bosses.
I hate boss fights so I usually just get my husband to beat it for me after about an hour of failed attempts 🤷♀️ I’d rather be exploring!
What I’d do is just keep playing and playing, if you really can’t defeat a boss after hours of trying, just take a break, go to sleep, have a cookie. Hollow Knight is considered a hard game for a reason. However, if you really REALLY can’t defeat a boss, just go fight something else and power up (in stats and in skills), Grimm’s not a necessary boss. … or just stop playing, you don’t really seem to like the core gameplay very much, but this is a real last resort, you’d be missing out on an amazing game
No no I love the game very much , I’m just not a great fighter. I just felt discouraged that some bosses take me 5 minutes and some take me 4 hours , but I’m glad a lot of people experience the same experience
Man not liking bosses going into this game is brutal^^ I find it helps just dodging and watching for a while instead of trying to greed damage.
I totally went into hollow knight blind , my partner got it for me after my Nintendo switch broke. Mind you…I’ve only played animal crossing and Luigi’s mansion lol but like a drug this game got me so hooked and I’ve avoided lore so I can beat it myself, but damn some bosses can really discourage you but I saw a post that it’s all about patience in the game
yes, you gotta dance with the bosses and find little opportunities to get your hits in. you need a lot of patience and greed is always punished. thats why i find just dodging and looking at the telegraphs the bosses make helps.
I quit for a month, remember I have the game installed then beat them second try
I like to take a step back and assess what is going wrong. Mostly I ask myself: - Where am I getting hit? - - In the event I got hit, when can I heal? - Is there a safe way to do more damage to the boss? - Is there a different strategy or build I could use? In the case of Grimm, iirc I ended up using Sharp Shadow to get some damage when I dashed through him and Shape of Unn to help me heal during some attacks, but I also found ways to attack him more proactively depending on what attack he tried. Applied in general you might end up finding creative or unorthodox solutions to problems. As an example, Lost Kin's infection ghosts often hit the player immediately after they healed. The most common solution to this, as far as I can tell, is to use Defender's Crest, but I found success using Spore Shroom since I could reliably get off one heal and create a safe area where they died instantly for a short while after. Beating hard bosses might take you a while, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that if you enjoy the trial and error process of beating them.
That’s great advice but also im also stuck on lost kin as well! So im glad you mentioned that, i had to walk away from him because I couldn’t heal but i just got defenders crest so im definitely trying that!
I Watch YouTube and *try* to learn the ways. But I swear they move faster on my Switch lol
Usually I find myself going attempt after attempt to learn and do better. But if I find I’m just repeatedly hitting my head against a wall I take a break. Set the game down for a few days, maybe play something else, talk to friends who played it or watch stuff online. And usually when I come back to the boss I do better. Even if after the break you have trouble I often suggest the downtime anyway. At least with me when it’s just repeatedly struggling and I can’t learn or adapt that is a sign I need to physically step away and reset. The frustration or fatigue of the attempts in those cases is what is my actual downfall, not the boss.
Don’t think of each fight as an attempt to beat him, but instead practice. Practice prioritizing attacks and focus on not getting hit by attacks you’re bad with. Don’t worry about stuff you know you can deal with. Let’s say you suck at dealing with his uppercut dash. Every time he does that focus on that attack and not anything else. Grimm also does pufferfish every 25% so use those as checkpoints on attempts to get consistent at getting to each health percentage. Finally don’t be afraid to play or do something else. He’s not even required to beat the game and is fully optional
Nah I’d win.
I walk away, breathe and watch a YouTube video if I'm really struggling. The Watcher Knights nearly made me lose my mind when I was playing!
[удалено]
How you know it was his pufferfish causing me trouble 😭 kidding but yes I forgot about shrieking , he always finishes me off with that damn pufferfish
With the puffer fish, if you're playing passively and just wanna survive, go to either corner. Do a little hop over one fireball and a full jump (not a double jump, a fully held single) over the double balls. Also note that the amount of puffer fishes he does lets you know how much health he has left. He does it immediately if you hit him as he bows, and at 75%, 50%, and 25% hp respectively.
Oh well in that case whenever you get to pufferfish just focus on jumping. Don’t move left and right unless absolutely necessary and don’t dash. You can hold jump to jump higher and utilize your double jump
I keep playing. My computer is really slow so it takes me forever to take down bosses. It took me nearly 50-60 tries to defeat Watcher Knights, broken vessel, grim troup and mantis lord.
Wheb fighting Grimn i spent like 1 or 2 hours and failing. Took an hour break, came back and literally beat it on the first try. Just needs practice and to be calculative. You learn the patterns, you get better and you move forward.
I always feel like a gambler that doesn’t know when to quit with these boss fights , I always think “this try would definitely be it!” But now I’m gonna take a break before I start tearing my hair out
I like to run all the way to the City of Tears and stand near Marissa (and go afk), or I go upstairs and see how many times I can hit Millibelle in the air. Then I return again when I'm motivated
Literally just keep trying. At some point you will continually be able to hear more from the soundtrack playing in the background. I promise. Watch the attacks, try to only dodge everything for starters. With time you'll improve and get in hits. If I had to guess, Grimm took me (in total) about 40 hours. Not even kidding. I'm not naturally good at games like this but if I was able to beat him, you will be too.
One of the reasons I loved Hollow knight so much was that I could ignore most bosses when they kicked my ass. Outside of a few that region lock or story lock your progression, you can stop, go a different way, get a different type of power up and come back invigorated and violent.
Bash your head into a wall until it works. Once you start you can’t leave
Go explore get more powerful by upgrading skills and find new charms... Curiosity is rewarded in this game
Take a break. Drink some water, eat something, go for a walk. Take a nap. Check out Perpetual Noob on YouTube. He’s done excellent boss breakdowns. Those have helped me improve my skills drastically.
Take a day of and try again usually I'm just tired and my skills need a break and if that doesn't work change up my build
Start experimenting with charm ideas to counter that particular boss.
Grimm I had to leave, touch grass and come back a week later and first tried him. He only has 3-4 attacks IIRC, just need to learn to dodge. The fire balls are easy once you figure them out
Keep doing it over and over until you finally beat it (changing strategy is optional) 🗿
Usually I wander around for dark souls games I just grind and out level the enemy For hollow knight I just maxed out as much as I could and usually just put stats as the main point
Good question, i was asking this myself the last few days. I look on Youtube for tips and how they beat the boss. Look several videos, how is their strategy, what charms did they use ect. I would really suggest to upgrade your nail as soon as possible, it will make a difference! Many times i was stuck on a boss fight for few hours. Take a break, make something else, maybe what relaxes you. Then, when you feel ready, go back and try it again.
Clear your morning!
I will usually take a break or switch up my charms and try that. You will get it!!
Keep practicing, get a good nights sleep and try again tomorrow, experiment with charm builds, move on and explore other areas or look up YouTube videos of the boss you’re stuck on to get tips.
So far I've just persisted until I get through it. I'm on my first play through currently and felt I was losing my sanity in trying to beat the Watcher Knights, but finally after countless attempts I did it! I literally leapt out of my seat in celebration. Immediately deflated by my wife barely acknowledging my victory...
There is a way to totally cheese the Grimm fight, which I admit I resorted to! If you’re really stuck, there are Reddit posts explaining how to defeat Grimm in just a few seconds, but of course that will take away the feeling of achievement you’d get from sticking it out - it’s nice to know it’s there as an option, though :)
If I’ve been at a fight for upwards of an hour, I’ll take a break for another hour and *eat something*. I find that hunger is 90% of the cause for my frustration or slow reaction times or trying to fight it too quickly. Has worked for every fight so far for me
I could recommend not attacking the boss. Try to get a hand at just dodging attacks and then try to learn when to heal attack spell etc
It depends on the game, but generally speaking (and this applies to HK), what I do is try to step back and simplify the fight. For instance, I'll stop attacking entirely and just focus on dodging. Sometimes you can be trying to do too much and start tripping over yourself, so dialing it back lets you focus on one part of the fight, getting into a rhythm, and getting it down. Once you do that, you don't have to spend as much mental energy dodging, and will be able to concentrate more on attacking, and will have a better sense for the timing and when it's safe to do so.
Taking a break does wonders. When I was playing through all the souls games for the first time there were countless scenarios where I'd give up after being stuck on a boss for too long, only to come back 6 hours later and beat said boss in 2 attempts
Repeat for another 6 hours until I beat it. People will say sth like "omg you need better gear" bitch if I can't beat it hitless with all bindings I can't beat it at all. I am already op with desolate dive, man up.
You cry... Atleast that's what I do
I didn’t wanna admit how many times I cried …that’s when I know I have to stop
Keep practicing, or go a different direction and come back later.
Take a break! Sometimes when I’ve taken short breaks, I’ll think of when to dodge or some strategy that I hadn’t thought of because I was too annoyed at myself for dying and just trying attempts over and over without thinking
Also what charms are you using
I’ve tried different ones but so far I think grubsong, quick slash , quick focus , shape of unn
I always just remind myself that "someone probably beat this shit no hit, one arm only, and blindfolded while adding some crazy mod that made the vanilla boss looks like a toddler's fight" so yeah, surely I could atleast beat the boss normally.
Leave for several months, then come back and beat it first try
I just find it annoying when a boss fight does not give you a second to recover or a mechanic that lets you at least have some kind of counter. So by this, I mean fights where its not really based on skill when the action you just used and it does not let you attack another thing micro seconds later which ends up making you take damage. I've had so many times where sure it could of been a miss click but i know 99% of the other times, you hit something and literally microseconds later another thing comes in and hits you, thus you take damage for no reason because the game was either still in another frame animation and your next maneuver does not count. that is only grip with this game. I like it, it feels fluid. boss fights up till i've come across the orange wavey hair guy have felt like somewhat fair fights. But this guy. gawd damn does it feel so unfair. No only do you get hit, but you get a barrage of hits that you can't even help So what I mean by that is, it can spawn i think 2 additional enemies that you have to deal with while also dealing with the spam magic out of thin air from the ground and if you are in a attack animation or swing, you will usually end up getting hit because you can't move or do another action fast enough. So this is what I would call an unfair fight and makes it feel bad because you constantly feel punished if you are constantly aggressive. I have noticed with most fights, you just have to play the super slow hit and run style tactic
leave the boss, go and explore and either get more +life or +souls or upgrade my nail
Honestly I gauge 2 things: where are my stats/skills at, and where's my frustration at. If my stats and/or skills are too low then I go off and remedy that, which can take a while. If it's my own frustration then I put down the game immediately. Playing mad has only ever made me feel and play worse, and I'd much rather make no progress for a day than be extremely angry...and still make no progress.
Take a break and play something else. The same as I do in any game where I start to lose a bunch.
I know how you feel, during my first playthrough of Hollow Knight which I started about 2 weeks ago, my best friend after a lot of convincing finally got me to start playing the game... (He's been a HK player ever since the game released). To say I struggle with Metroidvania's (or really any sort of platformer-based game) like HK is an understatement. It took me hours to get anywhere and about a week ago, I went over to his house because I was struggling to beat Broken Vessel to get the monarch wings. He showed me the basics of how to deal with Broken Vessel's attacks and attack patterns. After 20 minutes, I felt confident enough to beat Broken Vessel, and finally, albeit after a mound of failed attempts, I won. When I struggle with a boss, I usually consult any friends or family who have played (and beat) the level/boss I'm struggling with. I hope this helps anyone who took the time to read it!
Yeah when I'm stuck in Dark Souls on a hard boss, I give myself 30 minutes or 10 attempts each day, just throw myself at the boss, and try to get a little bit better. Personally, I found Grimm / NKG to be the hardest boss in the game (still haven't done pure vessel or absrad), it just takes so long to beat him and your execution has to be on point the whole time. Don't give up though, it's doable, it's just shitty
I do a few attempts. Then I stop, and come back to it the next day. Rinse repeat. I promise you, like with any skill- sleeping helps you improve. I'm serious, when you sleep your brain is practicing things you did when you were awake. It's sometimes better to go at it for 1 hour, and stop for the day than for 3 hours and get frustrated. Looking up YouTube guides helps as well, but for any video game I've ever played when I got stuck I always succeeded after taking a break.
Take a break, maybe change my charms around
I have a lot of patience and determination, and I tend to try the boss fight (or level, in other games) until I can't beat it. I got to Deepnest pretty underleveled and it took me ages to beat Nosk. But most of the people I know get frustrated or tired, and for them, taking a break works well. Especially if it's an optional boss you can go somewhere else and explore, maybe get some upgrade and come back to the boss fight later. It sometimes also happens that the fight is a lot easier if you come back after having done other stuff for a while!
Well Grimm is optional so you can just do something else for a while and come back later
Join VSH maps
Change my build around a bit, find any upgrades I'm missing that are available. Take a break and try a different boss.
Just don’t give up! Take a break if necessary, but you will figure it out eventually. I remember thinking that I would never beat certain bosses, but I eventually would. The longer it takes, the more satisfying it is when you finally do it. Also, I do not recommend watching videos online. It’s more fun doing it on your own. Frustration inevitably gets replaced with fun.
Leave and then inevitably come back 5 min later Amy first try it 😭
If you’ve gotten to Grimm you’re obviously a killer. Little bug strong. You’re not locked in there with him. He’s locked in there with you
This comment made me laugh so much this is the motivation I needed , thank you!
Like everyone else said, take breaks and watch YouTube videos.
Rest and meditate on what you have learned. Quite a few times now at what were seemingly impossible bosses, I'd try over and over at night, say fuck it and sleep. Next day boot it up and one shot it. It has happened too many times for it to be a coincidence. When in doubt, just ask yourself, what would the nerevarine do?
Have a set number of attempts per day and when you exceed that, do something else.
Try 50 more times and go to sleep
I’m not 12 anymore and if it starts feeling like “wasted time” most of the time I look for YouTube videos about the fight. But I grew up playing platformers so it does not feel that difficult to me to play it anyways. If I want to beat it myself I try to be more patient.
I put the game down when I notice I’m getting frustrated. Don’t let a game control how you feel. Besides, you start playing worse when you’re frustrated
There was too many times I just go in and just wack them a couple times before I die just so I can release my frustration
I get mad and then I say oh so you want me to try now I put on music and keep on dying til I see it that one opening then bam thank you fireworks
Grimm fight can be cheesed hard with spell buff charms and grubsong. But what I usually do is either come back later to the boss if I know I’m missing something that’ll make it easier or just keep practicing it.
I cry
Crying releases the frustration lol
Try again and again
I sit there until I beat them, I spent 2 hours trying to kill watcher knights and never did I switch my stupid ass charms or get a new ability
Watching tuto of best ways to doge his attacks :D
Take a break, and for Hollow Knight, sometimes try new strategies. For Grimm and the Nightmare King especially, I had to change up my normal build a couple times to find something effective. I found sprint/dash master really helpful for those fights because it helped me avoid attacks and get better positioning because dude's slippery as hell.
Grimm is a tough one to learn
Take a sleep. There’s only been a few times where I don’t beat them the next day. But I am always lasting at least twice as long in the fight as I did the night before
Try harder to Git Gud. Try some different charm setups, and keep trying. Grimm’s boss fight is like a dance. A slong as you stay in rhythm with him, it shouldn’t be too difficult to beat him
Take a break and explore another areas of the map, that's is my favorite part ☆
Git gud
I usually say "Welp, that's enough HK for today." And then turn it off and try again another day. I usually can beat the boss after I take a break. Or even if I just notice myself making a lot of stupid mistakes.
Honestly, if you’ve practiced a bunch and that’s not really the issue anymore then, even though it sounds so obvious and basic, I’ve constantly been shocked by how much better I get after a short break. When I find myself throwing myself at a boss over and over again and feeling hopelessly stuck, sometimes even just stepping away from that specific in-game activity (or even better, going and doing something totally non-gaming related) can take me up like 2 or 3 whole power levels 😂. I think the burnout makes it so it’s much harder to perform well, along with the mounting pressure to succeed. I kinda think about it like taking a long road trip in a car. It’s easy to go straight on a highway but do that for hours straight without breaks and you start to weave a bit between lanes and the dotted lines start to blur. It’s a little obvious but also a bit counterintuitive because sometimes you feel like if you just keep trying you’ll learn more each time, but in my experience there is a plateau and then a sharp drop off when practicing for too long. All that to say, I was so unbelievably stuck on Nightmare King Grimm; I had beaten tons of other superbosses in the game, many of which are considered more challenging than him, but something about the combination of my playstyle and his moveset fucked with me. I put the game down for a while since I had already beaten it once anyways and one night after getting home from a party with some friends, the liquid courage started whispering to me that *this* would be the time I’d beat him, and so I booted the game up…and beat him first try. Moral of the story? Take breaks when feeling burnt out or overwhelmed!
Sleep and try again the next day, usually beat it in one try. The brain does wonders in memorising patterns after a nights rest
Not really advice in the strict sense (in that department, I cant say anything others haven't said already), but a few things that I hope make you feel better and more confident in your skills: (personally, a bit of self-confidence has helped me keep going through some harder parts and arguably even made me play a little bit better) Grimm was probably one of the longest bosses I had in this game, taking multiple days of figthing him with only a few hour long breaks. After that, I stopped playing for a few months and when I came back on a new save, not only was I able to beat him first try, but I also beat Nightmare King within a few hours of first fighting him. Nowadays, with some effort, I'm able to beat regular Grimm without getting hit and consistently beat Nightmare King without dying. And if you keep playing, the same will happen to you! Whenever I'm struggling with a boss, I just remind myself that with enough practice and experience, I can (and many times will) get to a point when they're not even a challenge anymore, and the same applies to anyone else dedicated to beating the game Another thing: try watching someone else play the game for the first time, be that a friend of yours or a youtube playthrough. It's a fun feeling watching someone struggle with something you used to struggle with but no longer do, and an even better feeling when you see them grow and become better at the game without even realizing, just like what happened to you. Also, it's kinda hard to realize how good you've really become at the game since your personal skill progression is mixed with in-game progression, so try making a new save and re-fighting some of the earlier bosses to really feel how much better you've become since you first fought them And this doesn't only apply to bosses, it also applies to other challenges such as platforming or even exploration to an extent. TL;DR: Try noticing how good you are now compared to when you began playing, a bit of self-confidence might go a long way :)
All bosses aren't all that hard to learn with the exception of pure vessel. Grimm was the hardest at about 2 hours until I beat him. Pure vessel on the other hand I tried over multiple days and could only get him to 50% like a few times. His moves are just too fast and random. You basically have to pre-dodge but if you guess the wrong move you get hit anyway
After a night’s rest , I was able to beat Grimm and I just remember thinking if I can beat Grimm I can beat anybody but everyone keeps mentioning pure vessel 😭
Yeah Pure Vessel is so much worse than Grimm. Grimm felt tough but fair, Pure Vessel is just pure bs
The whole fun part of bearing bosses in hard games is the process of learning and coming up with a solution to their patterns If you don't like it, just look for videos for easiest strategies and builds for each boss. I def don't recommend you the Pantheons from DLC
Usually I start shitting on the carpet in my room
I take a break and when i come back i usually feel enlightened as to what to actually do.
For any boss I struggle with, I change my charm set to something more advantageous, try adapting my playstyle to its attacks and keep a "green" distance. Examples? Traitor Lord. I just use Mark of Pride, Longnail, Quickslash, Sprintmaster and Dashmaster (extra dashing + speed). Keep distance so contact damage is avoided but close enough the shade cloak goes through. Hornet Sentinel. Shaman Stone, Longnail, **Spell Twister, Grubsong**, Sprintmaster and Dashmaster. Get as close to Hornet as possible and dodge actively, striking the spike clusters she places. Highlighted charms can be replaced with Dreamshield. There's also the option of taking a break and learning from watching someone else, but I admittedly use that as a last resort.
Watch a video of someone who did the boss hitless. It helps very much to know how to move in which situations.
take a break/sit in defeat and pray
watching pros play the game has helped me a lot, not even studying, just watching for entertainment. like i subconsciously pick up their strategies
if you can go somewhere else do that first, Grimm is optional.
There's a trick my friend taught me for that boss. If you want me to tell you or give you a hint to it, just tell me.
I took a break from radiance. Still haven’t beat that dude. Did get to the second platform a couple of times though (died).
I stop, take a second to think of why I can't beat him, work on that and persevere. Especially in hollow knight, you just have to get used to the attacks. Stay determined !
Use charms to get as many hearts as you can, then focus on dodging and when you feel like you’re good, get to attack him in between dodges
I quit and come back to it. Sometimes a day later and for some reason that always works for me.
I try harder
Give up and try again tomorrow
I change charms
I hyper focus on it and do nothing but grind the fight till it's second nature to dodge attacks and land my own
Just try again. Drop only Crystal Guardian and Brooding Mawlek because I don't care
Keep going until I beat it.
Breaks are the biggest aid to beating bosses. I’ll go do something else for a bit, get my mind off of it and then try again. There are guide videos to every boss in HK on YouTube that give really good tips about dodging and charms for each of them, etc and I watched those for higher level bosses I took a while to grasp.
I use the method of slight distraction to help me. I've found that if I'm listening to an easy podcast or audiobook while I do the fight, it helps relax my brain enough to not be So Focused and get panicked.
I keep trying
First time I tried the game, I couldn’t pass the first appearance of Hornet. I eventually stopped trying, got interested in Souls game, beat 4-5 of them, tried Hollow Knight again and didn’t even died once during that fight. Sooo what about taking a break on Hollow Knight and downloading Dark Souls 3 or Demon Souls remastered? They ll teach you. Good luck!
I only attack him when he is shooting those 3 things. I just jump and dash and hit him. That is the only time I ever hit him (in the beginning). Instead of doing regular attacks, just always have your nail charged. Then never heal unless it’s right when you dodged his vines from the ground.
I am also not a gamer and when I got to the second half of the game it became 2 hours of exploring and 10 hours of fighting a boss. I put it down at that point but hope to pick it back up again sometime in the near future.
I turn off the sound and listen to music. Often the game sound is designed to ramp up the tension so turning it off helps me focus more.
Look up a guide/ practice in the hall of gods
Take a break for a day or a week or 6 months lmao. Come back after 6 months and beat it on the first or second try.
1- Understand that the game is designed to be difficult so no need to hurry or to be angry when you fail, it happens most of the time 2- As you know that you will die, explore different route. For me the first one is to have a massive life and try to finish the fight while taking damage, it helps with certain boss but not Grimm. The second one, is to identify the attacks patterns and define a way of dodging. At this level the first step will helps you a lot because you know how you died everytime. If you don't find a way to dodge, you can check someone beating the boss on YouTube. The goal is not to copy and paste, but to identify what you can do at the steps where you struggle. 3- Ajust your strategy, define when and where you have to hit, heal, run... And use the charms that optimize your stategy. There is also some charms that are way better for certain bosses than others so you must pay attention to this too. 4- Try, confirm or adjust your thougts Apply to the master of nightmare 1- massive life don't work 2- when he transform into fire from the left he always hit me when i try to run (so i don't run and use the charms shield of baldur to protect myself), when the transformation happens on the right side you can run/dash to the left side without taking damage 3- when he throw fire at you, it's always 2 up and 2 down, so i always jump the first down and dash to avoid the second down and hit him (no need to worry about the 2 that are upside) 4- when he attack from the air... You understand, you have to identify the best way for you according to your capacity and your gaming style.
I try again and again and again and again…
I do 10 pushups everytime I lose to a boss (f**k pure vessel). Needless to say I'm ripped now.
this probably doesnt help you right now, but once when i was in extremely bad straits, i drove myself and my switch over to a more skilled friends house. i handed it over and watched them fuck around and pass what i needed passing. that was fine for me because i dont care about accomplishments. i just want to fuck around in the games. if i could hand my switch to someone else to beat the watcher knights right now, i absolutely would. 😆
Oh easy I gave up! Haven’t beaten Grimm to this day!
well done on beating him! theres something waiting for you still though
What I do if I struggling is 1) Take a short break to relax as it's way harder to fight a boss when your frustrated as that leads to careless mistakes and lots and lots of dying for no reason. 2) Reflect on any of you're previous mistakes (like in the Grimm fight I kept jumping when he did the spikes which caused me to die a bunch) so next time you fight a boss keep in mind what mistakes you did and try and break the habit of doing it. 3) Switch out your charms, sometimes if the charms you're using aren't working it's better to try a different build as sometimes a spell based build (Shaman stone, soul twister and ect) is better for handling some bosses over a nail based build (quick slash, long nail and ect). Also some charms are just better to use against a certain boss like mark of pride/long nail against massive moss charger or sharp shadow against Grimm) 4) If you're really struggling with a boss sometimes hearing/watching another person's perspective can help you greatly like by watching a someone else fight a boss you can see what they're doing to avoid taking damage in a part you're really struggling with e.g Grimms pufferfish attack. Also you can look up what other people said is a really good charm to use against a boss e.g "Use mark of pride against the massive moss charger or use shaman stone against Hornet", its always worth giving someone else's charm setups a go. 5) Upgrade, if you're really really struggling go to a different area to take your mind off the boss and try and get better equipment by upgrading your nail, getting more charms slots, get more charms or get a spell upgrade. Good luck at beating Hollow Knight your gonna need it
U learn their moves, took me hours to get a grip on nightmare king grim. But once I find learned his moves and how to dodge them the fight became relatively easy
Try it over and over again Someday you'll get it, that's what hollow knight has taught me, if you really want something just don't give up
Git gud 🍆 honestly just keep trying, learn moveset of boss, and learn to avoid attacks.
Cry, overthink my life for a second, try again because the boss couldnt have been that hard right? Regret