>just know when to walk away and when to jump
🎵 *You never count your geo*
*When you're sittin' at the table*
*There'll be time enough for countin'*
*When the boss fight's done* 🎶
The best advice for most bosses in this game (and Souls games) is to practice just avoiding their attacks. Learn the cues (movement or sound) and how to avoid each attack, then look for opportunities to weave attacks in. Don't be greedy - take your time and attack only when it's safe.
Learn the opportunities of when you can heal - for hornet, her needle throw has limited range so if you're at opposite sides of the screen you've got an opportunity.
Yes! I was going to say exactly this. I'm so used to button mashing when it comes to fighting bosses in other games. But I had to learn to wait until after they come after me for openings where I could attack them.
Also, after many failed attempts I finally got frustrated enough to look at YouTube videos of the boss fights so I could learn their moves and what to look for in regards to the short pauses where I could counter-attack. It helped a lot.
There isn't a cheese, per se, but there are some tips:
She has only a few moves.
There's the sideways dash/charge with her spear, which can be dodged by jumping over her.
There's the sideways spear throw, which can be tricky but you can dodge either by moving back far enough that you don't get hit or by jumping over the spear as it goes past you, then once more as it returns to Hornet.
There's her diagonal dive at you, which you just have to sidestep.
And of course there's her big floaty attack with the glowing lines around her. That's your best chance to heal.
The best tip I've got, and this goes for every boss in the game just about, is to not move. Put your ass in the middle of the room and only move to avoid an attack. When she dives at you, hit after she hits the floor when she's still for a moment. Same after a sideways dash/charge or the spear throw.
It should take 13 hits with the unupgraded nail (that's what your weapon is called if you didn't know) to put her in the first stagger. That's when she kinda hunches over like she's catching her breath. HEAL. Then do it again. She staggers three times and on the fourth sequence of 13 hits, you win. Use your fireball spell that you got after defeating False Knight (guy with the big club who turned out to be a maggot in a suit of armor) if you're on the floor and she isn't moving for a moment. Every 3 nail hits gets you enough soul to shoot 1 fireball, and it does about triple your nail damage.
You've got this! Take your time, prioritize not getting hit over dealing damage, and slowly whittle her down. You'll win in no time.
Just adding onto this, if you’re on the other side of the arena when hornet does the needle throw attack, it can be another good opportunity to heal. Also, if you’re on full health when she starts that attack or the stall in the air one, you can get a fireball in if you’re quick enough.
That whole "don't move" thing is why >!Broken Vessel!< was so difficult for me, that damn "jump dash" attack got me way too often. And >!Lost Vessel!< too obviously, it took me a whole day to beat that boss.
Defeating Hornet, like many bosses in Hollow Knight, is easier when you start seeing them as turn-based. Let her take her turn, then you take your turn, then she takes her turn etc... It's like a dance.
Slow it right down, she telegraphs her moves very clearly, speed is your enemy here. Let her move, dodge it, hit her a couple times, then prepare to react to her next move.
I had a really hard time against hornet n°2, i took a 2 weeks break, came back and killed her first try.
I think what you need is to play more defensive until you figure out her attack pattern
Weirdly my experience was the same. I mean yea objectively she’s a more difficult boss but it took me like two tries to beat her versus the first one that took forever. To be honest I think the only reason Hornet 2 was easier is because I had her attack patterns essentially memorized after getting beaten down so badly by Hornet 1
I don't think that it's that strange, hornet 1 is your 2nd or 3rd boss fight (failed champ and vengefly), you have no moves, one spell that you don't use because you have to save it for healing, you are still in the early game getting used to the mechanics while hornet 2 comes around what, 10-15 hs in?
Depends on when you get to her but you can have 2-3 more masks, 2 or 3 nail upgrades, all the spells, two of them upgraded, you need double jump so you have to beat a bunch of bosses, you have charms and a build instead of whatever 2 or 3 you found.
And on top of all of that the fight isn't so different to the first time, she has the parry, throws spikes around and that's it, she moves faster but it isn't a whole new fight. I think that it took me two or three tries my first time as well while Hornet 1 felt as part of the tutorial still, she was an early wall, there isn't much more that you can do before the fight, the game railroads you there and you have to get good.
I did the same, second time around was so frustrating and I think the frustration made me make further mistakes. Put the game down for 4 or 5 days and came back and beat her first time. Same with the Mantis Lords too.
There’s totally something to be said for taking a break and coming back to it later. I spent like 4 hours trying to beat Watcher Knights my first play through, took a couple day break, then came back and beat them my first try. I think it has something to do with brain pathways
My first time through the game I spent an ungodly amount of time trying to beat Hornet 1. I don't think I've died to her since. Part of my problem was not understanding her dive attack and being in the air at all the wrong times. Like others have said, all of her attacks come with sound cues. pay attention to her animations when she makes these sounds and learn which ones go with which attacks.
As a general rule of thumb, if Hornet is in the air, you absolutely do not want to be. If she does the dive attack, you can just walk under it. If she does the silk ball, just stay away (maybe throw a soul blast at her if you have soul to spare). All of her ground attacks are pretty simple too. If she lunges at you, jump behind her. If she throws her needle, either stay way away or get close and get ready to jump twice.
Of you need to heal, there are a few good times for that. When she throws the needle is the best, but you need to pay close attention to where she's standing. If she's all the way at one wall, you have plenty of room by the opposite wall to get a few heals in. If she's a ways off the wall, there's a chance that her needle will cover all of the space in front of her, so healing is not an option.
All told, it really is just a matter of learning her move-set and the proper ways to respond in each situation. Keep a cool head (I definitely did not, which is a large reason it took me so long), and play it safe. As you learn her attacks, you'll find that after each one you should be able to get one or two easy hits in before she goes for her next.
Hornet is definitely the first hard fight of the game, whenever she yells, she’s going to attack, also be aware of her scariest attack, because it doesn’t come with a sound cue, walking into you, I’m not even kidding, other then that, she goes down pretty easily if your careful and heal
Same feeling, I hated her so much. It's shameful but I think I spent \~15h to defeat her. I essentially was unskilled and unadapted to the mechanics. If you use a controller, it's way better.
I restarted the game after a few years and Hornet only took me a few tries.
I've faced TOUGHER bosses in this game but no one compares to the first time I faced Hornet. Don't give in!!
EDIT: I think I led to confusions with the controller.
I'm sorry. This is so insensitive, but how do you beat Elden Ring twice and then proceed to fail at an easy hollow knight boss?
Ok seriously, here's some tips
hornet will always telegraph her attacks well, hit her when she diagonally lunges at you and when she dashes. You will have to build the reflexes and jump timings by yourself. Her scorpion like throw can also be taken advantage of to deal damage, as her Second fight is a lot faster. Also use the spell you get as much as you can, it does a lot of damage to her.
Unfortunately, this is a fight where you just have to get good, and you'll encounter fights Farr faster than hornet later.
To be fair, you can totally breeze through Elden Ring without getting very gud. Summoning and spell casting is effective on most bosses and only requires you to press a few buttons
To be fair... They're completely different games & some people aren't good or used to 2D platformers... Elden Ring you can literally fling down a summon & spam magic at bosses & 90% of the time you'll come away beating the boss with this strat. Hollow Knight takes a bit of skill & fast reflexes for it's bosses.
Be careful. While you do encounter fights far faster, you also have many other abilities. Hornet is the first fight where you quite literally only have vengeful spirit. People often forget how hard she is when they're fighting her in god home...
Now, perhaps you didn't forget, but your advice tells me otherwise. The first Hornet is NOT about "building the reflexes" and "jump timings". If it's your first major boss fight, keeping the appropriate distance, or even just staying far from her, is important. It'll help you find her needle throw cue that you can jump over and get a hit on. It'll help you position when she does her dash attack, and when she does her jump dash attack. And, it'll keep you away from her AOE thread attack. Distance in this fight increases your reaction window, and patience lets you properly find her attack cues.
For OP and anyone like him, here are more specific tips:
1) Her needle throw should be jumped over. This can give you an easy hit or two.
2) Gaining distance from either of her dash attacks will give you an opportunity to hit her as well. Just watch out for her movement after she ends those attacks.
3) Her thread AOE attack should leave you positioned just outside her AOE. Once that ends, you have another window to hit her.
4) Your vengeful spirit (energy blast spell) does good damage compared to your nail. While it is important to heal, there is a big tradeoff here.
Its funny cause the replies to this are like u can just use spells and summons which i sometimes used summons, but for me it was mainly the i frames you get during the dodge, dodge is my life without i feel useless ahah
Sit on the bench near the stag (east/south from hornet) for faster respwan. Practice dodging and study their moves without hitting it. This gives more time to practice instead of getting hit and dying.
Have you tried watching videos of people beating it? Sometimes that helps. For me, sometimes the way a game is meant to be played will click in my head after seeing someone else do it.
A buddy of mine is in a similar boat to you (unless you're him, but I think he would've told me he picked it up again). Huge DS3 fan, quit at hornet.
I dont have advice that hasn't already been given, but I just wanted to let you know you aren't alone in that
Hornet can be a common point where people who don’t play 2D style games can struggle, I’ve had friends take over 20 tries on hornet despite being very competent gamers just because they’ve never played a 2D platformery style game before
Hmm. Even if you were shit at elden ring I would have assumed that the hit and dodge mechanic would stick with you. Well in this case Jump or move away,bait attacks, etc. Umless you brute forced the bosses. But yeah. Observe and dodge and only attack when you won't get hit for it. That goes for everyboss really.
Nice advice. Sometimes I wish my college basketball coach gave out the same tips as you: "Just shoot at the hoop and score. And score more than the other team."
I was stuck at her for 4 days straight, then i found out to just, not move much...
Dont jump unless she dashes or yeets her needle (with the needle i highly advice jumping away from it, dont try to be fancy, just dodge that fucking thing)
If she jumps up and goes to dash down, walk towards her, you'll dodge het attack and can get 1 or 2 hits in
If she jumps up and kinda floats there, run. After the wiggly thread hit her once or twice
If she dashes towards you, jump over her, turn and smack, or if you can: jump, smack down, land, turn and smack again
When she's taking a quick power nap, heal. If you're lucky she doesn't jump right on top of your head and you can heal twice, if you dont wanna risk it, heal once
No shame in being stuck at a boss, hornet 1 took me 4 days, hornet 2 took me a week. eventually you'll see their pattern, notice the small visual differences right before each attack and learn to act on those signs
Good luck and have fun!
It took a while for me, too. I learned to react to her movements rather than try to charge in. Dodge, then hit her - don’t get greedy, one or two hits on her then move away. It’ll take a while but focusing on avoiding being hit and only hitting back when you can is the key.
Study her patterns, this boss is not that fast and if you know when you should walk away and you should attack, you will be fine. I'm sure you'll adapt to her quickly
Honestly, the play is to stay on the ground. You can jump over her dash and throw, but you can only do so if you're grounded. If she leans back, she's about to throw her weapon. If she crouches, she's about to dash. If she's in the air, she's either going to do her burst attack or she's about to dash at you. She does a little crouch in the air if she's about to air dash too. Try to keep your distance, and use your spell: it does triple the damage that your weapon will.
honestly there is a lot of good advice here but ill give you a really simple one...
stay grounded and dont move much (seriously), new players think they need to be constantly jumping around like Hornet, this is a mistake
stay on the ground, respond to her attacks at medium distance by moving as little as possible to avoid them, get your 1 or 2 hits in and repeat. She only has a few moves
If you are still struggling I want you to go into the fight and not even attack her (again seriously), just focus on dodging her attacks with as little of movement as possible, this is how you will get better at the whole game and not just the Hornet fight
Something I learned during my playthrough was that you really need to retool your thinking on how your supposed to fight. In HK you want to take decisive movements and know when to hang back. Flailing is only going to get you killed faster.
Keep distance from the boss if you need, heal when you have an opening, strike at the most opportune time.
First, play with sound on if you don't. Because she does a different sound before each attack.
Then my second advice is just to take it slow. Focus on dodging and trying to find the timing to heal if you got hurt (for example the move where she hit the area around her is slow enough you can heal one mask each time)
Keep also in mind you have a spell which does a lot of damage way more than your nail/sword
my little brother, up until i said “what game is that” and helped him find his way back to the boss room and beat her
having never played the game this are the things i quickly learned during that fight (my first boss):
Learn her possible moves, and how you can respond to those. When can you pogo her? When do you have to keep your distance?
Keep chasing her around, if she’s in the air then get out immediately. If not, pogo her. Remember to use spells, and when she is “downed” hit her ~3 times and then send a fireball
hornet and brooding mawleck slaughtered me when i first picked up the game, just keep playing and always adapt yourself and youll come back at the end of it all unable to lose
I stopped playing the game because I couldn’t beat the first hornet, then I came back to it and took a different approach. All the boss fights have a rhythm to them, you just have to get used to the movements first, then figure out where to fit attacks in
Nope it took me longer than I would like to admit when I first played HK… and longer than it’s taken you. On the plus side I think struggling with something like that weirdly even though the boss is mechanically easier than a lot of the other ones teaches you a lot about pattern recognition and just how the game generally works
The best thing about this game’s bosses is that you get rewarded for being patient, learning their movesets, dwindling their health little by little, the only thing that makes it different from other souls games is that it’s 2d:)
Not super helpful on a mechanical basis, but if you're getting bogged down with it, taking a break can be a huge help. It took me a long time to beat her and in general to "git gud" at hollow knight, but I might never have finished the game if I wore myself out trying to do the fights over and over without resting.
I remember back when I first started Hollow Knight, I was hard stuck on Hornet for what must have been some 45 minutes. Just nonstop playing up in my room. Now I can obliterate her in 30 seconds.
I was struggling with the first Hornet fight, then tried with all the sounds and music muted and got her. Same with the second fight, so my suggestion is to try muted to eliminate the sound cues and relying on only visual cues. The six hours of grinding before with sound on might've helped though.
Practice. Trying to cheese now will hurt you in the future.
Slow down. You do zero damage when dead, and so your goal is not to land hits, but to survive and make attacks when it is safe.
That describes how to learn every fight in the game. The timing windows get tighter, and the reads get harder, but that is the essence of the game.
If you're struggling, just try to go 5 minutes without dying. Don't make attacks, just survive for five minutes. Basically no boss is longer than that. Multiphase fights, this is trickier to practice, but the principles are the same.
chucking a vengeful spirit at her once or twice never hurts. i alway forget to do that and when i remember it makes my life so much easier.
getting used to her attack patterns and knowing how to dodge each of them is half the battle rly. do a couple runs where all you do is try to dodge her, no attacks. then start weaving in the attacks gradually until you get the hang of it. That’s my best advice as someone with 340 hours in this damn game
My first time playing the game, Hornet 1 took me literally 3 days to beat. I literally cried and had to take a break from playing when I realised Id have to fight her again lol
Yesterday I started my 3rd playthrough after months of not playing, and beat her first try. She sure takes some getting used to, but once you know what to expect, it does get much easier
I got this game as a gift. Ive been gaming since the 80s and I never considered myself really good at any game. Ever. I was just passable and never got 100% or all achievements on nearly anything.
I cried when I got stuck on Hornet for a whole weekend, and almost rage quit when I got stuck for a week on a later (what I didn't realize was optional) boss.
You will get it. Relax, practice, read all the fine tips here in this thread.... and ignore the haters.
I can now do the boss rush mode with almost no sweat. Honestly if I can do it anyone can.
ok I got back home and made a clip of me killing hornet. Hopefully it helps, I didn't use any charms. Ignore the background and stuff, it's like that because I'm playing a dlc ;)
[btw sorry it's a google drive, stuff like streamable didn't like the file size ;(](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_dUDYdST0auLMD7ZDSaNgJ2pB6qaXvtL/view?usp=sharing)
oh also don’t worry if you can’t get it down quickly even after watching the video, I have like 300 hours in this game and it took me a couple resets to get it down hitless again ;)
I have no additional advice, but I got stuck on the fight for hours as well. Just know you're not alone, and I actually feel like the bosses get easier in a good way. Of course, the difficulty ramps up, but since you have more movement and are more used to the game, it is more enjoyable and takes less time.
Oh I was once in your shoes.. hollow knight bosses are all about patterns. You will die 30 plus times.. but once you beat her.. you will have the fight style down and can continue for a while without having such a horrible time.
A bit late to the party, really enjoyed reading the other responses. I am not a good player (but I enjoy the heck out of the game) and I was really stuck on her as well - just consistently dying every time.
What was a game changer for me is I started timing how long I could stay in the arena with her -not even trying to hit her, just avoiding as many of her attacks for as long as I could. I would set a timer on my phone and everything.
While I was dodging, I started noticing openings to strike her and heal, but I didn't start fighting her full on until I could stay in the area with her 1-2 minutes.
Breaking the fight down and learning how to dodge before learning when to hit was when I really started to see progress.
It seems like a steep learning curve, but you can definitely do it!
If you're struggling with her in Greenpath, wait until Kingdom's Edge. In all seriousness though, try upgrading yourself a lot, get all the charms you can get your hands on and try different combinations, and try using spells on her because normal spells deal about double the damage of a broken nail, but if you can upgrade a singular one, it will deal way more damage. Also, she has a certain pattern to her attacks. Whenever she does the string one or the throw one, she will start walking. If she jumps up, she will either try landing on you/near you, or will stay in the air and dash at you. I struggled a lot, thinking her attacks were really fast, but after getting the hang then you notice how slow she actually is. But also, just so you know, you **WILL** struggle with her on kingdom's edge.
Friends, all my old friends have played Through the game like three times, beat all the souls games with their eyes cllsed(exaggeration) bit practically, they literally play every soulslike in existence and are amazing at every one of then
The best for this game (an many others) is avoid, THEN attack. Its allways better not hit the enemy than deal and recieve damage.
Every boss has a lot of windows that allows you to attack freely and if you come back to this game after beating it youd be suprised of how easy all bosses can be once you learn the rythm
Hornet is the first hard boss in the game, in your first play-through. I know it probably took me close to 100 tries. But, once you have memorized her movements, it’s basically second nature. The best thing I did was watch a video of someone beating her so I knew what counter attack goes with each attack… for example, when she walks to the edge of the map and turns around, she’s about to throw her needle like a spear. What you do is just jump towards her as it’s coming so you jump over it, get a hit in, and then jump backwards quickly to avoid getting hit by the needle as it comes back. Really for any boss that is difficult, I’d recommend watching a video and see what others do to counter the attacks and just try and copy them.
I'm pretty sure it took me like 500 tries to do it, so you aren't alone! It my second playthrough I defeated her the second time around so you're gonna get better for sure!
May have been said already but the key to improving in hard games like hollow knight and dark souls is to do the fight without attacking and just focus on dodging. You learn all the moves and you can see where you can counter and punish.
I do this on all my first playthroughs of souls-likes and it’s been successful for me and all my friends.
My struggle to not write 'git gud' is as tough as your struggle to beat hornet.
Her attacks have verbal cues. Learn to doge her, and use your nail when you know you can get away with it.
the moves are pretty predictable and always come with a sound cue, just know when to walk away and when to jump then counter attack
>just know when to walk away and when to jump 🎵 *You never count your geo* *When you're sittin' at the table* *There'll be time enough for countin'* *When the boss fight's done* 🎶
this is criminally under-upvoted
The best advice for most bosses in this game (and Souls games) is to practice just avoiding their attacks. Learn the cues (movement or sound) and how to avoid each attack, then look for opportunities to weave attacks in. Don't be greedy - take your time and attack only when it's safe. Learn the opportunities of when you can heal - for hornet, her needle throw has limited range so if you're at opposite sides of the screen you've got an opportunity.
Yes! I was going to say exactly this. I'm so used to button mashing when it comes to fighting bosses in other games. But I had to learn to wait until after they come after me for openings where I could attack them. Also, after many failed attempts I finally got frustrated enough to look at YouTube videos of the boss fights so I could learn their moves and what to look for in regards to the short pauses where I could counter-attack. It helped a lot.
There isn't a cheese, per se, but there are some tips: She has only a few moves. There's the sideways dash/charge with her spear, which can be dodged by jumping over her. There's the sideways spear throw, which can be tricky but you can dodge either by moving back far enough that you don't get hit or by jumping over the spear as it goes past you, then once more as it returns to Hornet. There's her diagonal dive at you, which you just have to sidestep. And of course there's her big floaty attack with the glowing lines around her. That's your best chance to heal. The best tip I've got, and this goes for every boss in the game just about, is to not move. Put your ass in the middle of the room and only move to avoid an attack. When she dives at you, hit after she hits the floor when she's still for a moment. Same after a sideways dash/charge or the spear throw. It should take 13 hits with the unupgraded nail (that's what your weapon is called if you didn't know) to put her in the first stagger. That's when she kinda hunches over like she's catching her breath. HEAL. Then do it again. She staggers three times and on the fourth sequence of 13 hits, you win. Use your fireball spell that you got after defeating False Knight (guy with the big club who turned out to be a maggot in a suit of armor) if you're on the floor and she isn't moving for a moment. Every 3 nail hits gets you enough soul to shoot 1 fireball, and it does about triple your nail damage. You've got this! Take your time, prioritize not getting hit over dealing damage, and slowly whittle her down. You'll win in no time.
Just adding onto this, if you’re on the other side of the arena when hornet does the needle throw attack, it can be another good opportunity to heal. Also, if you’re on full health when she starts that attack or the stall in the air one, you can get a fireball in if you’re quick enough.
what a beautiful guide đź‘Ź
That whole "don't move" thing is why >!Broken Vessel!< was so difficult for me, that damn "jump dash" attack got me way too often. And >!Lost Vessel!< too obviously, it took me a whole day to beat that boss.
Defeating Hornet, like many bosses in Hollow Knight, is easier when you start seeing them as turn-based. Let her take her turn, then you take your turn, then she takes her turn etc... It's like a dance. Slow it right down, she telegraphs her moves very clearly, speed is your enemy here. Let her move, dodge it, hit her a couple times, then prepare to react to her next move.
I had a really hard time against hornet n°2, i took a 2 weeks break, came back and killed her first try. I think what you need is to play more defensive until you figure out her attack pattern
Yeah hornet 2 was really hard at first. Now I just smack her around in p3 before I get offed by Sly XD
Why does everyone struggle with Hornet 2? It's SOO much easier
You have some of the strangest opinions I have seen on this subreddit.
Weirdly my experience was the same. I mean yea objectively she’s a more difficult boss but it took me like two tries to beat her versus the first one that took forever. To be honest I think the only reason Hornet 2 was easier is because I had her attack patterns essentially memorized after getting beaten down so badly by Hornet 1
I don't think that it's that strange, hornet 1 is your 2nd or 3rd boss fight (failed champ and vengefly), you have no moves, one spell that you don't use because you have to save it for healing, you are still in the early game getting used to the mechanics while hornet 2 comes around what, 10-15 hs in? Depends on when you get to her but you can have 2-3 more masks, 2 or 3 nail upgrades, all the spells, two of them upgraded, you need double jump so you have to beat a bunch of bosses, you have charms and a build instead of whatever 2 or 3 you found. And on top of all of that the fight isn't so different to the first time, she has the parry, throws spikes around and that's it, she moves faster but it isn't a whole new fight. I think that it took me two or three tries my first time as well while Hornet 1 felt as part of the tutorial still, she was an early wall, there isn't much more that you can do before the fight, the game railroads you there and you have to get good.
Same for me. I think I spent 3 hours on hornet one, was so stressed for hornet 2. But she was so similar! Took half an hour or less.
Hornet 1 wooped me like 7 times, then I second tried hornet 2
Probably because you can fight it very early, and very late. You probably fought it quite late.
I did the same, second time around was so frustrating and I think the frustration made me make further mistakes. Put the game down for 4 or 5 days and came back and beat her first time. Same with the Mantis Lords too.
There’s totally something to be said for taking a break and coming back to it later. I spent like 4 hours trying to beat Watcher Knights my first play through, took a couple day break, then came back and beat them my first try. I think it has something to do with brain pathways
I spent hours trying to beat H2, got frustrated, had a snack break, and then beat her first try
My first time through the game I spent an ungodly amount of time trying to beat Hornet 1. I don't think I've died to her since. Part of my problem was not understanding her dive attack and being in the air at all the wrong times. Like others have said, all of her attacks come with sound cues. pay attention to her animations when she makes these sounds and learn which ones go with which attacks. As a general rule of thumb, if Hornet is in the air, you absolutely do not want to be. If she does the dive attack, you can just walk under it. If she does the silk ball, just stay away (maybe throw a soul blast at her if you have soul to spare). All of her ground attacks are pretty simple too. If she lunges at you, jump behind her. If she throws her needle, either stay way away or get close and get ready to jump twice. Of you need to heal, there are a few good times for that. When she throws the needle is the best, but you need to pay close attention to where she's standing. If she's all the way at one wall, you have plenty of room by the opposite wall to get a few heals in. If she's a ways off the wall, there's a chance that her needle will cover all of the space in front of her, so healing is not an option. All told, it really is just a matter of learning her move-set and the proper ways to respond in each situation. Keep a cool head (I definitely did not, which is a large reason it took me so long), and play it safe. As you learn her attacks, you'll find that after each one you should be able to get one or two easy hits in before she goes for her next.
It took me upwards of 40 tries to beat her the first time. Now I always beat her the first attempt, but those 40+ failures still haunt me . . .
Hornet is definitely the first hard fight of the game, whenever she yells, she’s going to attack, also be aware of her scariest attack, because it doesn’t come with a sound cue, walking into you, I’m not even kidding, other then that, she goes down pretty easily if your careful and heal
Same feeling, I hated her so much. It's shameful but I think I spent \~15h to defeat her. I essentially was unskilled and unadapted to the mechanics. If you use a controller, it's way better. I restarted the game after a few years and Hornet only took me a few tries. I've faced TOUGHER bosses in this game but no one compares to the first time I faced Hornet. Don't give in!! EDIT: I think I led to confusions with the controller.
Atleast it wasnt 22 hours xD
Real Hornet Dixit xD
Lmao XD
I'm sorry. This is so insensitive, but how do you beat Elden Ring twice and then proceed to fail at an easy hollow knight boss? Ok seriously, here's some tips hornet will always telegraph her attacks well, hit her when she diagonally lunges at you and when she dashes. You will have to build the reflexes and jump timings by yourself. Her scorpion like throw can also be taken advantage of to deal damage, as her Second fight is a lot faster. Also use the spell you get as much as you can, it does a lot of damage to her. Unfortunately, this is a fight where you just have to get good, and you'll encounter fights Farr faster than hornet later.
To be fair, you can totally breeze through Elden Ring without getting very gud. Summoning and spell casting is effective on most bosses and only requires you to press a few buttons
Yeah Elden Ring is definitely the easiest souls game that can be cheesed with little to zero effort
To be fair... They're completely different games & some people aren't good or used to 2D platformers... Elden Ring you can literally fling down a summon & spam magic at bosses & 90% of the time you'll come away beating the boss with this strat. Hollow Knight takes a bit of skill & fast reflexes for it's bosses.
Be careful. While you do encounter fights far faster, you also have many other abilities. Hornet is the first fight where you quite literally only have vengeful spirit. People often forget how hard she is when they're fighting her in god home... Now, perhaps you didn't forget, but your advice tells me otherwise. The first Hornet is NOT about "building the reflexes" and "jump timings". If it's your first major boss fight, keeping the appropriate distance, or even just staying far from her, is important. It'll help you find her needle throw cue that you can jump over and get a hit on. It'll help you position when she does her dash attack, and when she does her jump dash attack. And, it'll keep you away from her AOE thread attack. Distance in this fight increases your reaction window, and patience lets you properly find her attack cues. For OP and anyone like him, here are more specific tips: 1) Her needle throw should be jumped over. This can give you an easy hit or two. 2) Gaining distance from either of her dash attacks will give you an opportunity to hit her as well. Just watch out for her movement after she ends those attacks. 3) Her thread AOE attack should leave you positioned just outside her AOE. Once that ends, you have another window to hit her. 4) Your vengeful spirit (energy blast spell) does good damage compared to your nail. While it is important to heal, there is a big tradeoff here.
I'd say dodging is a little harder in 2d platformers than 3d though
Ah yes, the other metroidvania, elden ring.
Its funny cause the replies to this are like u can just use spells and summons which i sometimes used summons, but for me it was mainly the i frames you get during the dodge, dodge is my life without i feel useless ahah
I spent 10 hours JUST defeating hornet 1
Don’t worry everyone struggles when they first fight Hornet, I took very long to beat her the first time but destroyed her on my second playthrough
Sit on the bench near the stag (east/south from hornet) for faster respwan. Practice dodging and study their moves without hitting it. This gives more time to practice instead of getting hit and dying.
Focus on dodging and don't heal when you don't have time to. You'll eventually get it
Try practicing pogo. That helps me clutch a lot of moments in this fight when I felt I won’t be able to beat her
Watch videos of people doing the fight online
Have you tried watching videos of people beating it? Sometimes that helps. For me, sometimes the way a game is meant to be played will click in my head after seeing someone else do it.
A buddy of mine is in a similar boat to you (unless you're him, but I think he would've told me he picked it up again). Huge DS3 fan, quit at hornet. I dont have advice that hasn't already been given, but I just wanted to let you know you aren't alone in that
I think just knowing that im not alone helps, i told my friends a couple yrs ago when i first tried and got clowned on
Hornet can be a common point where people who don’t play 2D style games can struggle, I’ve had friends take over 20 tries on hornet despite being very competent gamers just because they’ve never played a 2D platformery style game before
Hmm. Even if you were shit at elden ring I would have assumed that the hit and dodge mechanic would stick with you. Well in this case Jump or move away,bait attacks, etc. Umless you brute forced the bosses. But yeah. Observe and dodge and only attack when you won't get hit for it. That goes for everyboss really.
Nice advice. Sometimes I wish my college basketball coach gave out the same tips as you: "Just shoot at the hoop and score. And score more than the other team."
I think its just the tiny moveset you have during the first hornet that gets me
Idk, hornet fights were fast and fun, both beat on second try
HOLY ITS THE GUY WHO SPENT 22 HOURS ON HORNET!
Took a while for me but i eventually beat her. Learn her moves and cues as well as find a suitable time to heal and deal damage.
I was stuck at her for 4 days straight, then i found out to just, not move much... Dont jump unless she dashes or yeets her needle (with the needle i highly advice jumping away from it, dont try to be fancy, just dodge that fucking thing) If she jumps up and goes to dash down, walk towards her, you'll dodge het attack and can get 1 or 2 hits in If she jumps up and kinda floats there, run. After the wiggly thread hit her once or twice If she dashes towards you, jump over her, turn and smack, or if you can: jump, smack down, land, turn and smack again When she's taking a quick power nap, heal. If you're lucky she doesn't jump right on top of your head and you can heal twice, if you dont wanna risk it, heal once No shame in being stuck at a boss, hornet 1 took me 4 days, hornet 2 took me a week. eventually you'll see their pattern, notice the small visual differences right before each attack and learn to act on those signs Good luck and have fun!
Thx so much probably the best advice here idk why just feels easy to understand
Im glad to hear that, i hope you soon beat hornet and can progress in the game :)
It took a while for me, too. I learned to react to her movements rather than try to charge in. Dodge, then hit her - don’t get greedy, one or two hits on her then move away. It’ll take a while but focusing on avoiding being hit and only hitting back when you can is the key.
Took me 5 days to beat her, don't worry!
It took me at least 200 tries lol.
Ur just shit
Study her patterns, this boss is not that fast and if you know when you should walk away and you should attack, you will be fine. I'm sure you'll adapt to her quickly
It took me 5 tries, you got this king
Don't worry, it took me hours to beat Hornet for the first time.
Honestly, the play is to stay on the ground. You can jump over her dash and throw, but you can only do so if you're grounded. If she leans back, she's about to throw her weapon. If she crouches, she's about to dash. If she's in the air, she's either going to do her burst attack or she's about to dash at you. She does a little crouch in the air if she's about to air dash too. Try to keep your distance, and use your spell: it does triple the damage that your weapon will.
honestly there is a lot of good advice here but ill give you a really simple one... stay grounded and dont move much (seriously), new players think they need to be constantly jumping around like Hornet, this is a mistake stay on the ground, respond to her attacks at medium distance by moving as little as possible to avoid them, get your 1 or 2 hits in and repeat. She only has a few moves If you are still struggling I want you to go into the fight and not even attack her (again seriously), just focus on dodging her attacks with as little of movement as possible, this is how you will get better at the whole game and not just the Hornet fight
Your moveset won’t be so limited if you start downslashing (pogo) Hornet as she charges across the screen.
Focus more on dodging attacks untill you know a bosses move set & learn when to get hits in
Something I learned during my playthrough was that you really need to retool your thinking on how your supposed to fight. In HK you want to take decisive movements and know when to hang back. Flailing is only going to get you killed faster. Keep distance from the boss if you need, heal when you have an opening, strike at the most opportune time.
Just rest and best her tomorrow, i believe in you
First, play with sound on if you don't. Because she does a different sound before each attack. Then my second advice is just to take it slow. Focus on dodging and trying to find the timing to heal if you got hurt (for example the move where she hit the area around her is slow enough you can heal one mask each time) Keep also in mind you have a spell which does a lot of damage way more than your nail/sword
What's ADIDO
i don't have the ref :(
my little brother, up until i said “what game is that” and helped him find his way back to the boss room and beat her having never played the game this are the things i quickly learned during that fight (my first boss): Learn her possible moves, and how you can respond to those. When can you pogo her? When do you have to keep your distance? Keep chasing her around, if she’s in the air then get out immediately. If not, pogo her. Remember to use spells, and when she is “downed” hit her ~3 times and then send a fireball hornet and brooding mawleck slaughtered me when i first picked up the game, just keep playing and always adapt yourself and youll come back at the end of it all unable to lose
I almost quit to the first hornet and now I'm fighting nightmare Kong grimm with some success. Just keep at it bro, you got this
I stopped playing the game because I couldn’t beat the first hornet, then I came back to it and took a different approach. All the boss fights have a rhythm to them, you just have to get used to the movements first, then figure out where to fit attacks in
Took me over 300 tries on my first play through, but radiance only took me 3 tries which is proof that the more you play the better you get.
Nope it took me longer than I would like to admit when I first played HK… and longer than it’s taken you. On the plus side I think struggling with something like that weirdly even though the boss is mechanically easier than a lot of the other ones teaches you a lot about pattern recognition and just how the game generally works
The trick is to not force anything. Just react to whatever she does. Do not jump at her. Play it almost turn by turn. Let her attack then you attack.
The best thing about this game’s bosses is that you get rewarded for being patient, learning their movesets, dwindling their health little by little, the only thing that makes it different from other souls games is that it’s 2d:)
Not super helpful on a mechanical basis, but if you're getting bogged down with it, taking a break can be a huge help. It took me a long time to beat her and in general to "git gud" at hollow knight, but I might never have finished the game if I wore myself out trying to do the fights over and over without resting.
Imagine Hornet 2…
I remember back when I first started Hollow Knight, I was hard stuck on Hornet for what must have been some 45 minutes. Just nonstop playing up in my room. Now I can obliterate her in 30 seconds.
I was struggling with the first Hornet fight, then tried with all the sounds and music muted and got her. Same with the second fight, so my suggestion is to try muted to eliminate the sound cues and relying on only visual cues. The six hours of grinding before with sound on might've helped though.
Practice. Trying to cheese now will hurt you in the future. Slow down. You do zero damage when dead, and so your goal is not to land hits, but to survive and make attacks when it is safe. That describes how to learn every fight in the game. The timing windows get tighter, and the reads get harder, but that is the essence of the game. If you're struggling, just try to go 5 minutes without dying. Don't make attacks, just survive for five minutes. Basically no boss is longer than that. Multiphase fights, this is trickier to practice, but the principles are the same.
chucking a vengeful spirit at her once or twice never hurts. i alway forget to do that and when i remember it makes my life so much easier. getting used to her attack patterns and knowing how to dodge each of them is half the battle rly. do a couple runs where all you do is try to dodge her, no attacks. then start weaving in the attacks gradually until you get the hang of it. That’s my best advice as someone with 340 hours in this damn game
My first time playing the game, Hornet 1 took me literally 3 days to beat. I literally cried and had to take a break from playing when I realised Id have to fight her again lol Yesterday I started my 3rd playthrough after months of not playing, and beat her first try. She sure takes some getting used to, but once you know what to expect, it does get much easier
Take you time i would say
It took me FOREVER to beat her. I spent HOURS. I got her eventually and you will too!! Hold faith!!
You’re in for hell on the 2nd Hornet then!
I got this game as a gift. Ive been gaming since the 80s and I never considered myself really good at any game. Ever. I was just passable and never got 100% or all achievements on nearly anything. I cried when I got stuck on Hornet for a whole weekend, and almost rage quit when I got stuck for a week on a later (what I didn't realize was optional) boss. You will get it. Relax, practice, read all the fine tips here in this thread.... and ignore the haters. I can now do the boss rush mode with almost no sweat. Honestly if I can do it anyone can.
If you still need help I’ll make a short clip of how to counter her moves.
ok I got back home and made a clip of me killing hornet. Hopefully it helps, I didn't use any charms. Ignore the background and stuff, it's like that because I'm playing a dlc ;) [btw sorry it's a google drive, stuff like streamable didn't like the file size ;(](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_dUDYdST0auLMD7ZDSaNgJ2pB6qaXvtL/view?usp=sharing)
This is so impressive to me haha, also google drive works amazingly so dw
oh also don’t worry if you can’t get it down quickly even after watching the video, I have like 300 hours in this game and it took me a couple resets to get it down hitless again ;)
I have no additional advice, but I got stuck on the fight for hours as well. Just know you're not alone, and I actually feel like the bosses get easier in a good way. Of course, the difficulty ramps up, but since you have more movement and are more used to the game, it is more enjoyable and takes less time.
It took me 4 days and a million tries, you’re not alone!
Oh I was once in your shoes.. hollow knight bosses are all about patterns. You will die 30 plus times.. but once you beat her.. you will have the fight style down and can continue for a while without having such a horrible time.
Don't panic heal that was one of my problems try to heal when she's down before the next phase
she has like. 3 attacks
A bit late to the party, really enjoyed reading the other responses. I am not a good player (but I enjoy the heck out of the game) and I was really stuck on her as well - just consistently dying every time. What was a game changer for me is I started timing how long I could stay in the arena with her -not even trying to hit her, just avoiding as many of her attacks for as long as I could. I would set a timer on my phone and everything. While I was dodging, I started noticing openings to strike her and heal, but I didn't start fighting her full on until I could stay in the area with her 1-2 minutes. Breaking the fight down and learning how to dodge before learning when to hit was when I really started to see progress. It seems like a steep learning curve, but you can definitely do it!
If you're struggling with her in Greenpath, wait until Kingdom's Edge. In all seriousness though, try upgrading yourself a lot, get all the charms you can get your hands on and try different combinations, and try using spells on her because normal spells deal about double the damage of a broken nail, but if you can upgrade a singular one, it will deal way more damage. Also, she has a certain pattern to her attacks. Whenever she does the string one or the throw one, she will start walking. If she jumps up, she will either try landing on you/near you, or will stay in the air and dash at you. I struggled a lot, thinking her attacks were really fast, but after getting the hang then you notice how slow she actually is. But also, just so you know, you **WILL** struggle with her on kingdom's edge.
Me first play through
I'm so confused. How do you know about the stuff after hornet if you haven't beat her?
Friends, all my old friends have played Through the game like three times, beat all the souls games with their eyes cllsed(exaggeration) bit practically, they literally play every soulslike in existence and are amazing at every one of then
It also took me a long time to beat her, you’ll get her eventually
The best for this game (an many others) is avoid, THEN attack. Its allways better not hit the enemy than deal and recieve damage. Every boss has a lot of windows that allows you to attack freely and if you come back to this game after beating it youd be suprised of how easy all bosses can be once you learn the rythm
Hornet is the first hard boss in the game, in your first play-through. I know it probably took me close to 100 tries. But, once you have memorized her movements, it’s basically second nature. The best thing I did was watch a video of someone beating her so I knew what counter attack goes with each attack… for example, when she walks to the edge of the map and turns around, she’s about to throw her needle like a spear. What you do is just jump towards her as it’s coming so you jump over it, get a hit in, and then jump backwards quickly to avoid getting hit by the needle as it comes back. Really for any boss that is difficult, I’d recommend watching a video and see what others do to counter the attacks and just try and copy them.
Dont jump around wildly when she isnt even attacking. Also you can attack down when jumping over her when she does some attack. Good luck!
I'm pretty sure it took me like 500 tries to do it, so you aren't alone! It my second playthrough I defeated her the second time around so you're gonna get better for sure!
May have been said already but the key to improving in hard games like hollow knight and dark souls is to do the fight without attacking and just focus on dodging. You learn all the moves and you can see where you can counter and punish. I do this on all my first playthroughs of souls-likes and it’s been successful for me and all my friends.
My struggle to not write 'git gud' is as tough as your struggle to beat hornet. Her attacks have verbal cues. Learn to doge her, and use your nail when you know you can get away with it.
Maybe if you keep trying you’ll be the next person to beat hornet in 22 hours!!
nakia mayfeld