You’re standing in the Watcher’s Spire, looking at a pile of dusty, discarded shells, and then the music kicks in. It’s stressful. Honestly, for many players, Watcher Knights Hollow Knight represents the exact moment they consider putting the controller down for good. It isn’t just a boss fight; it’s a gatekeeper. It’s the game’s way of asking if you’ve actually learned how to manage space or if you’ve just been lucky up until now.
Most bosses in Team Cherry's masterpiece follow a rhythm. You learn the dance, you dodge the swing, you get your hit in. The Watcher Knights don’t care about your rhythm. They overlap. They roll. They bounce off the walls while you’re trying to heal in a corner that suddenly feels way too small. If you're stuck here, you aren't alone. It’s one of the most notorious skill checks in the City of Tears, and arguably, the entire game.
The Absolute Chaos of the Spire
There are six of them. Well, six if you don't know the secret, but we’ll get to that. The fight starts with one knight reanimating through a swarm of Infected flies. Simple enough. But then, as you start dealing damage, the second one wakes up. Now you’re tracking two targets.
This is where the Watcher Knights Hollow Knight encounter shifts from a duel into a bullet-hell-adjacent nightmare. The Knights have a very limited moveset, but it’s the combination that kills you. One might do a standard double-slash while the other is mid-air, hurtling toward your head in a spinning ball of shell and void. You can't just look at what’s in front of you. You have to use your ears. The sound of a knight revving up its roll is often the only warning you get before getting smacked from off-screen.
It feels unfair at first. You’ll find yourself trapped between two rolling attacks with literally zero frames of safety if you haven't mastered the Shade Cloak. That’s the nuance of this fight. It’s a test of "DPS" (damage per second) versus "Safety." If you play too passively, you’ll end up facing two healthy knights indefinitely. If you’re too aggressive, you’ll take contact damage, which is the number one killer in this arena.
The Secret Chandelier Trick Everyone Should Use
Before you even dream of challenging the Watcher Knights Hollow Knight again, go back outside the boss door. There’s a breakable ceiling. Seriously. Just above the entrance to the arena, you can find a hidden area where a heavy chandelier is held up by a rope.
Smash the rope.
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The chandelier crashes down and permanently destroys one of the knights before the fight even begins. This reduces the total count from six to five. It’s not cheating; it’s a deliberate mechanic placed there by Team Cherry for players who explore. Taking out 16% of the total boss health before the music starts is the smartest move you can make. It changes the math of the fight.
Why Your Build Is Probably Failing You
A lot of people walk into the Spire with a "exploration" build. They have Wayward Compass equipped (get rid of it) or Gathering Swarm. You need a combat-specific setup here.
Most experts, including speedrunners like fireb0rn, emphasize the power of spells in this fight. Why? Because the Knights are massive targets and they have moments of invulnerability while rolling. However, if you have the Shaman Stone equipped, your Vengeful Spirit (or Shade Soul) can hit multiple knights at once. It’s about efficiency. If you can blast two knights with one spell, you're effectively doubling your damage output.
Then there’s the Quick Slash charm. It’s a game-changer. The window to attack a Knight after it finishes a roll is small. If you can fit three hits in that window instead of two, the fight ends significantly faster. And speed is your friend. The longer the fight drags on, the more likely you are to make a mechanical error and get cornered.
- Desolate Dive / Descending Dark: This is your best friend. It gives you frames of invulnerability (i-frames). If you see two knights rolling at you from both sides, don't jump. Dive. The blast will damage them, and you’ll be safe during the impact.
- Sharp Shadow: If you have this, use it. It increases your dash length and lets you damage them while dashing through their rolls.
- Dream Nail: You can actually Dream Nail the knights while they are screaming/reanimating to fill your soul meter. It’s a free resource. Use it.
The Lore Behind the Shells
We talk a lot about the mechanics, but why are these things even here? They are the "Watchers" of Lurien the Watcher, one of the three Dreamers. Lurien lives at the top of the spire, watching over the City of Tears through a telescope. The Knights were his personal guard.
What’s creepy is that they are empty. They aren't "alive" in the traditional sense. When you enter the room, the Infection (those glowing orange flies) physically enters the discarded armor and reanimates them. This explains their mindless, repetitive movements. They aren't thinking; they are being piloted by the hive mind of the Radiance. It adds a layer of tragedy to the fight. You aren't fighting warriors; you're fighting the possessed corpses of a fallen city's elite guard.
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Common Mistakes That Get You Killed
Stop jumping so much.
It sounds counterintuitive. In a platformer, you want to jump. But the Watcher Knights Hollow Knight boss fight punishes "panic jumping." If you’re in the air, you have less control. If a Knight decides to do their bouncing-ball attack while you’re mid-air, you’re going to get hit. Stay grounded as much as possible. Dash through them, don't jump over them unless you absolutely have to.
Another mistake is healing. You cannot heal like you do against the False Knight. There is almost never a "safe" time to heal when two knights are active unless one is busy dying and the other is across the arena. If you must heal, use the Quick Focus charm, or better yet, don't heal at all. Focus your soul on Descending Dark to stay alive through i-frames.
Technical Breakdown: Health and Scaling
The health of the Watcher Knights actually scales depending on how much you've upgraded your Nail. This is a bit of a "hidden" mechanic that prevents the fight from being too easy if you come back late-game.
Each Knight has roughly 220 to 260 HP depending on your gear. That doesn't sound like much, but when you multiply it by five or six, it becomes a marathon. If you find yourself hitting them twenty times and they aren't dying, you need to go find some Pale Ore. You shouldn't be fighting these guys with a level 1 or 2 Nail unless you’re looking for a miserable afternoon.
Strategies for Different Playstyles
Some people love the "Tank" build. They put on Joni’s Blessing and Stalwart Shell and just try to out-muscle the knights. This can work, but it’s risky. The Knights hit hard, and you can get "combo'd" where you take damage, lose your i-frames, and immediately take damage from the second knight.
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The "Mage" build is generally more reliable. By using Spell Twister and Shaman Stone, you can keep your distance. Stay on one side of the arena, wait for them to roll toward you, dash through, and fire a Shade Soul back at them. It’s safer. It’s cleaner. It’s how most people finally beat the trial of the spire.
How to Handle the "Double Roll"
The most dangerous moment is when one Knight rolls (grounded) and the other bounces (aerial). This creates a "wall" of hitboxes.
To survive this, you need to recognize the wind-up. The grounded roll has a slightly higher-pitched revving sound. The bounce roll involves the Knight jumping into the air before curling. If you see both happening, move to the center of the arena. It’s easier to dodge there than being pinned against the wall where the camera might betray you.
Remember: the walls are your enemy. If you get cornered, you're dead. Always try to keep the fight in the middle 60% of the room.
Actionable Next Steps for Success:
- Check your equipment: Ensure you have at least the Channelled Nail (Level 3). If you don't, go explore the Ancient Basin or Crystal Peak for Pale Ore.
- Unlock Shade Cloak: While technically possible without it, having the shadow dash makes this fight significantly easier as you can dash through the rolling knights without taking damage.
- The Chandelier: If you haven't dropped the chandelier in the room right before the boss, do it now. It’s a permanent reduction in the boss's total health pool.
- Practice the "Dive": Go to a lower-level area and practice the timing of Desolate Dive/Descending Dark. Learn exactly how long you stay invulnerable after hitting the ground. That half-second of safety is the difference between winning and losing in the Watcher’s Spire.
- Focus on one: Even though two are active, try to focus your Nail damage on the one that has been out the longest. Getting the numbers back down to a 1-v-1 scenario should be your absolute priority.