The Temple of the Black Egg in Hollow Knight is where the titular character resides. It is here that you face the game’s final boss and reach the game’s ending. Or, at least, unlock the game’s first ending.
Table Of Contents
Preparing for the Black Egg
Now that you’ve defeated the three Dreamers, all that’s left to do to reach the first ending of the game is to head to the Temple of the Black Egg. You can find the Temple of the Black Egg on your map.
Remember, you’ll be fighting a considerably tough boss there, so make sure you’re prepared. You should have picked up a couple of Pale Ores, Mask Shards, Vessel Fragments, Grubs, Essence, and Charms already. Be sure to visit the Grubfather and the Seer as well for any rewards you might have missed.
When you’re ready, ride the Stag Station to Dirtmouth, head to the Forgotten Crossroads, and proceed to the Temple of the Black Egg.
When you head inside, the massive stone gate marked with the masks of the three Dreamers will shatter, allowing you to head in. Keep pressing forward until you spot a bench. Rest up before proceeding. To the right of the bench is a lore tablet. Interact with it to acquire World Sense. This will let you see your completion percentage when you go to your inventory.
Press on to your right and you’ll enter the boss arena of the Hollow Knight.
The Hollow Knight
When you enter the arena of the Hollow Knight, you’ll first need to break his shackles. There are four of them in the room. Once those are broken, the Hollow Knight will be freed and the battle will begin.
Hollow Knight is a tough and aggressive boss. He has a total of 4 phases, each accompanied by a new attack or two. Each phase is marked by a loud cry. Here are Hollow Knight’s 4 phases, his behavior during each of them, and the attacks he performs.
Phase 1
Take note that the Hollow Knight will continue using all Phase 1 attacks all the way through Phase 2. The Hollow Knight isn’t too aggressive here, making his attacks easy to read.
- Dash Attack – The Hollow Knight dashes forward with its nail pointing forward. You can simply jump over him to avoid this attack. You can also dash right through him if you can time it right. Attack the Hollow Knight once you’re behind him.
- Triple Slash – The Hollow Knight will slash his Nail forward three consecutive times. Dash away or jump over him. Once again, attack only once you’re behind him.
- Parry – Once Hollow Knight places his Nail over his head, don’t attack him. This is his parry stance. Jump over him and attack him from behind, or fire a spell at him from afar.
Phase 2
Similar to the Phase 1 attacks, the new attacks he starts performing here will continue onto the next phase. Hollow Knight is much more aggressive during this phase.
- Fire Pillars – The Hollow Knight will either jump or teleport above you and slam downwards. After a few moments, fire pillars will then shoot up from the ground. Note where the pillars will shoot up from and stand on the safe ground in between them. You can jump up and perform a Descending Dark to give yourself time to walk to a safe ground since the said spell will make you invulnerable for a few seconds. It’s also better if you perform the Descending Dark on the Hollow Knight to inflict massive damage.
- Infection Blobs Attack – The Hollow Knight will fire a barrage of infection blobs with an arc trajectory from the ground up. You can pretty much predict where each infection blob will land since they travel at a reasonable speed. You can also dash through one to get closer to the Hollow Knight and attack him.
Phase 3
Hollow Knight’s new attacks here are more aggressive, but he himself will move around less frequently. During this phase, Hollow Knight will stab himself multiple times. Whenever he does this, you have an open window to abuse him with your attacks. You can also use this opportunity to heal up.
- Infection Burst – The Hollow Knight will hover in the air at the center of the arena and shoot blobs of infection all around him. This attack lasts for about 5 seconds. Never stand directly below the Hollow Knight during this attack, as that’s where most of the infection blobs land. Instead, remain at a distance and dodge the blobs from there. Begin attacking once he lands.
- Slam Attack – The Hollow Knight will hover and start slamming downwards about 3 to 5 times. His slams are always targeted at you, so dodge away immediately once you see him hovering above you.
Phase 4
The Hollow Knight is at his weakest during this phase. He’ll only have one new attack here, which is the…
- Single Slash Attack – This is the Hollow Knight’s attempt at performing his Triple Slash attack. Although he’ll only be able to do one before falling down due to his weakened state.
Aside from this, the Hollow Knight will also continue doing his Slam Attack.
The Hollow Knight will stagger after a couple of hits. This is the perfect time to heal up. After dealing enough damage to him, he’ll eventually fall. You must then use Focus to absorb the Hollow Knight’s infection. After doing so, the boss fight will end, a cutscene will play, and you’ll officially unlock the game’s first ending.
Reaching The End
Congratulations! You’ve finally defeated Hollow Knight. The road behind you was arduous, but it’s not entirely over yet. You’ve only unlocked the game’s first ending. In the next section, we’ll talk about the other endings of the game and how to achieve them. Then, we’ll begin working on obtaining the Void Heart charm, the item integral in unlocking the rest of the endings.
