You’re in the City of Tears. It’s raining. Again. You’ve finally scaled the Spire, your thumb is cramping from clutching the controller, and you think you’re about to get a break. Then, the gates slam shut. One suit of armor stands up. Then another. Honestly, the Watcher Knight Hollow Knight encounter is probably the single biggest "skill check" in the entire game, and it’s ruined more steel soul runs than almost any other boss.
Most people hate this fight. It’s loud, chaotic, and feels borderline unfair when you're getting bounced between two rolling projectiles like a pinball. But there’s a logic to the madness. Once you peel back the layers of how these reanimated husks actually move, the fight shifts from a frantic scramble to a rhythmic, high-stakes dance.
The Secret Chandelier and the 5-Knight Shortcut
Before we even talk about charms or nail arts, let’s address the elephant in the room. Or rather, the chandelier in the ceiling. Just before you enter the boss arena, there’s a breakable wall in the ceiling of the preceding room. If you climb up there and whack the rope, a massive chandelier crashes down, permanently killing one of the knights before the fight even starts.
This is huge.
Instead of fighting six knights, you only fight five. If you aren't doing this, you're basically choosing to suffer for no reason. It doesn't lock you out of any achievements. It doesn't change the lore. It just makes your life about 15% easier, which, in a game as punishing as this, is a godsend.
The Watcher Knight Hollow Knight experience is all about numbers. You start against one knight. After a short delay, or once the first one dies, the others start waking up. You will almost always be fighting two at once. This is the core difficulty. Managing two hitboxes that can move independently across the screen is a nightmare for your spatial awareness.
Why Your Current Strategy Probably Sucks
A lot of players try to play defensively here. They back into a corner, try to heal when there's a tiny gap, and get absolutely flattened. That doesn't work. These guys are aggressive. They have three main moves: a double sword slash, a ground roll, and a bouncing roll.
The ground roll is easy enough to jump over. The bounce? That’s what kills you. They track your position. If you jump too early, they’ll just land on your head.
The Damage Race
If you're under-leveled, this fight is a slog. You really want at least a Coiled Nail here. If you’re still rocking the Sharpened Nail, you’re looking at a marathon where you have to play perfectly for five minutes. Most of us aren't that good.
- Desolate Dive / Descending Dark: This is your best friend. Seriously. The "i-frames" (invincibility frames) you get during the dive animation are the only way to consistently dodge when you're pinned between two rolling knights.
- Shaman Stone: Since the knights move in predictable lines, spells often hit them multiple times. A single Shade Soul can blast through both knights simultaneously, doubling your value.
- Quick Focus: Forget it. You won't have time to heal unless you've just cleared one knight and the next hasn't fully woken up yet.
Breaking Down the AI Behavior
The knights aren't actually random. They operate on a subtle timer. When one knight is performing a rolling attack, the second knight is significantly more likely to initiate a melee slash if you’re close, or start its own roll shortly after.
The trick is keeping them both on the same side of you.
If you get sandwiched? You're dead. Or at least, you're about to lose three masks. Always maneuver so that both knights are in front of you. This allows you to use your Vengeful Spirit to damage both at once. It also makes it way easier to see which one is about to bounce.
I’ve seen people complain that the "bouncing" move is RNG. It’s not. It follows a specific arc based on where you were standing the millisecond the knight left the ground. If you dash toward the knight as it starts the bounce, it will fly right over you. If you run away, it will chase you down and squash you.
Charms That Actually Matter
Don't bother with Wayward Compass or Gathering Swarm here. You need raw power or utility.
Quick Slash is a top-tier choice because it allows you to get three hits in during the small window after a knight finishes a roll. More hits mean more soul. More soul means more Descending Dark.
Steady Body is surprisingly good here too. It prevents the knockback when you hit the armor, allowing you to stay glued to them and maximize DPS. If you're a "face-tanker," maybe try Stalwart Shell, though honestly, learning to dodge is better for your long-term health in Hallownest.
The Lore You Might Have Missed
These aren't just random robots. They were the sworn protectors of Lurien the Watcher. If you look closely at the background of the spire, you see the opulence they were defending. The tragedy of the Watcher Knight Hollow Knight lore is that they are just empty shells being piloted by Leaping Husks—those orange, bloated flies that scurry into the armor when you walk in.
You aren't fighting the knights. You're fighting the infection that has hijacked their corpses.
This explains why they move so erratically. A trained knight wouldn't just curl into a ball and throw themselves at you. But a mindless, light-infected parasite? That’s exactly what it would do. It’s desperate. It’s frantic. It’s gross.
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Dealing with the "Godhome" Version
If you think the base game version is tough, the Ascended or Radiant versions in the Godhome are a whole different beast. In the base game, you can rely on high health to carry you through. In Godhome, the arena is smaller and they hit way harder.
The strategy remains the same: Abuse the Dive. The invincibility frames are the only constant in a world of orange goo and spinning metal. If you time your Descending Dark right, you can actually stay inside the knight's hitbox while it's rolling and take zero damage, all while dealing massive area-of-effect damage. It feels like cheating. It isn't. It's high-level play.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Attempt
Stop running away. Seriously.
- Go get the Chandelier. If you haven't dropped it, leave the room, go up, and do it now.
- Equip Shaman Stone and Spell Twister. Spells are objectively better than nail swings in this fight because they hit multiple targets and provide safety.
- Learn the Dive. If you don't have Descending Dark from the Crystallized Mound, go get it. The i-frames turn this fight from a 9/10 difficulty to a 5/10.
- Shadow Dash through them. Once you have the Shade Cloak, you can dash right through the ground roll. This lets you get behind them for easy hits.
- Focus one at a time. Don't spread your damage. A dead knight is a knight that can't hit you. Focus the one that's been up the longest until it explodes into black smoke.
This fight is a wall. It’s meant to be. But once you stop panicking and start treating the knights like big, dumb pendulums, you’ll realize you’re the one in control of the Spire.
Go back in there. Drop the chandelier. Use your spells. The Dreamers are waiting.