How to Defeat the Watcher Knights in Hollow Knight

Learn how to defeat the Watcher Knights in Hollow Knight!

Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, which is now a kingdom in ruins because of a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he will encounter different enemies, bosses, and mini-bosses. One of these bosses is the Watcher Knights.

The Watcher Knights are a single boss in the game that guards the entrance to Lurien, the Watcher’s location in the Watcher’s Spire. Lurien the Watcher is one of the Dreamers that the Knight will encounter.

According to in-game lore, the Watcher Knights were guarding the entrance to the Watcher’s Spire and Lurien the Watcher’s body until the Watcher Knights died while still on guard and left their shells behind.

In this guide, you will learn how to defeat the Watcher Knights!

Location

The Watcher Knights can be found in the middle of the Watcher’s Spire in the City of Tears. The Knight must first defeat the Watcher Knights before the Knight can continue heading up the Watcher’s Spire.

Moves

In battle, the Watcher Knights will perform the following moves:

• Run

A Watcher Knight will run towards the Knight before performing another attack.

• Double Slash

A Watcher Knight will swing its huge nail horizontally and vertically from the top. The Watcher Knight will move forward slightly every time it swings its nail.

• Roll

A Watcher Knight will curl up into a ball and roll on the floor until it reaches the opposite side of the room. While it is rolling, the Knight’s Nail attacks will not be able to penetrate and deal damage. However, the Knight’s Spells can penetrate and deal some damage.

• Bouncing Roll

A Watcher Knight will curl into a ball and bounce twice on the floor. The first bounce of this attack takes the Watcher Knight to the room’s roof, while the second only takes the Watcher Knight to the middle. When the Watcher Knight performs this attack, it will target the Knight, which means the attack’s movement is based on the Knight’s location.

It may bounce twice while moving around the arena or in place. Like the Roll attack, the Knight’s Nail attacks will not be able to penetrate and deal damage while performing the Bouncing Roll attack. However, the Knight’s Spells can penetrate and deal some damage.

• Back Roll

A Watcher Knight will curl up into a ball and roll away from the Knight to evade the Knight. A Watcher Knight will only perform this attack when two Watcher Knights are active in battle.

Strategy

When the Knight enters the Watcher Knights’ arena and tries to reach the other end, the gates on the pathways will close down, and a swarm of infected flies will start entering the husks of the Watcher Knights one after the other, which will reanimate the Watcher Knights and fight the Knight.

The Knight will fight with one Watcher Knight first; then, after 20 seconds, one more Watcher Knight will be reanimated (if the first one is defeated before the other Watcher Knight is reanimated, two more Watcher Knight will be reanimated instead of just one).

After defeating one of them, another one will be reanimated, and this will continue happening until the Knight has defeated all six Watcher Knights. The Knight will battle a maximum of two Watcher Knights at a time.

It is important to note that there is a way to defeat one Watcher Knight before starting the battle with them. To do this, jump up and keep striking the ceiling just before the arena of the Watcher Knights, and it will break and reveal a path. Follow this path, and at the end, you will find a rope attached to the chandelier in the Watcher Knight’s arena (pictured above).

Related: How To Get the Quick Slash Charm in Hollow Knight

Break this rope by striking it a couple of times to drop the chandelier on one of the Watcher Knights below and kill it before the battle has even begun! After this, the Knight will only have to defeat five Watcher Knights.

In battle, you will know if a Watcher Knight will perform the Double Slash attack because it will wind up its nail before performing it. 

As for the Roll attack, you will know if a Watcher Knight will perform it because it will lean back slightly before curling up into a ball and performing the attack.

Additionally, you will know if a Watcher Knight will perform the Bouncing Roll attack because it will bounce slightly before curling up into a ball and performing the attack.

As mentioned above, the Knight will fight two Watcher Knights at a time, so it would be a bad spot if the Knight gets cornered. To escape that situation, jump above the Watcher Knights and attack them. This would be a good counterattack as they can only counter the knights’ attacks from above through the Bouncing Roll attack.

Some abilities can help in dodging the Watcher Knights’ attacks, like the Mothwing Cloak ability, which allows the Knight to dash forward, and the Shade Cloak ability (the upgrade of the Mothwing Cloak ability), which allows the Knight to dash forward through enemies and their attacks, Monarch Wings ability which enables the Knight to perform a double jump, and the Mantis Claw ability which allows the Knight to cling to walls and jump off of them.

As for Spells, the Vengeful Spirit Spell or the Shade Soul Spell (the upgrade to the Vengeful Spirit Spell) would be useful as these are quick spells that will shoot out a spirit (or shadow in Shade Soul Spell’s case) that flies forward and hit enemies in its path.

This would be useful to hit both Watcher Knights at the same time. The Desolate Dive Spell or the Descending Dark Spell (the upgrade to the Desolate Dive Spell) would also be proper as the Knight will strike the ground with concentrated Soul and hit the ground-bound Watcher Knights. Just make sure not to use this spell when both the Watcher Knights use the Bouncing Roll attack and are off the ground.

Charms are also very beneficial in fighting the Watcher Knights: the Quick Focus Charm can be great to have as it can help the Knight heal faster, the Mark of Pride and Longnail Charm can help by increasing the length of the Knight’s Nail, the Shaman Stone Charm can help by increasing the size and damage of Spells, the Grubsong Charm can help by gaining Soul every time the Knight takes damage, the Spell Twister Charm can help by reducing the amount of Soul needed to cast Spells, the Stalwart Shell Charm shell can help by increasing the invincibility time and decreasing the recoil every time the Knight takes damage, the Spore Shroom Charm can help by releasing a cloud of damaging spores around the Knight, and the Sharp Shadow Charm can help by, if the Knight already has the Shade Cloak ability, inflicting damage on enemies every time the Knight dashes through them (equipping the Dashmaster Charm also increase the damage dealt from running through enemies).

You must not get greedy in attacking the Watcher Knights, as there will be opportunities to attack. Learn when to attack, when not, and when to dodge, and you’ll defeat the Watcher Knights in no time.