How does boss health/damage work?

[Cardomajig]

I wanna know for a charm setup i'm doing specifically to exploit the second form of Mantis Lords

For example:Would firing a Shade Soul be equivalent to hitting them once with your nail? Or do each of them do unique amounts of damage to bosses as they would any regular enemy

[paladin181]

Shade Soul is more powerful than an un-upgraded nail.

[Serpit]

Shade Soul does 30 base damage, while your nail does 5-21, depending on upgrade level.

Here's a list with all the damage values (contains spoilers for ability and charm names, of course):
http://hollowknight.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_Values

[4thQueen]

Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul can also sometimes hit twice, if they knock the enemy back. This works on several bosses, but not Mantis Lords, I think.

[Cardomajig]

Originally posted by melfice181:

Shade Soul is more powerful than an un-upgraded nail.

Originally posted by 4thQueen:

Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul can also sometimes hit twice, if they knock the enemy back. This works on several bosses, but not Mantis Lords, I think.

These are the primary reasons why I asked, Mantis Lords in second form has a tendency to 'line up' so you can gun them down with Shade Soul, thank you all though for your answers! It's a big help.

[Cardomajig]

Originally posted by Serpit:

Shade Soul does 30 base damage, while your nail does 5-21, depending on upgrade level.

Here's a list with all the damage values (contains spoilers for ability and charm names, of course):
http://hollowknight.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_Values

I'll take a look at it and see if empowering Shade Soul with a charm would be worth it in this scenario

[Szaal]

Enjoy your in-depth research, OP

[nessabarrettcorecore]

What's the second form of the Mantis Lord ?

[vampirebunbun]

Hmmm, after seeing those numbers for the nail upgrades... I knew the upgrades weren't doing much, but wow, I expected a little more than that. It's a little sad to me that upgrading your nail isn't all that effective.

[Szaal]

Originally posted by Zenero:

What's the second form of the Mantis Lord ?

I think OP refers to the Mantis Traitor, since it'll be a waste of time getting the shade soul before defeating them.

Originally posted by vampirebunbun:

Hmmm, after seeing those numbers for the nail upgrades... I knew the upgrades weren't doing much, but wow, I expected a little more than that. It's a little sad to me that upgrading your nail isn't all that effective.

Because what you see is the number.

Besides, what can possibly more satisfying than one-shotting most bugs? (although you'll also get less soul from it)

[vampirebunbun]

Eh, I was one-shotting a lot of dudes with just the coiled. The upgrade to pure (so far) hasn't decreased the number of hits I need for too many enemies. I'm not saying it's pointless (the story behind it is neat regardless of mechanical value), just that I didn't necessarily feel all that rewarded.

[4thQueen]

Pure Nail allows you to 2-hit many enemies that previously were 3 or more hits, and a Charged Slash with a Pure Nail will outright kill most enemies (other than the Deepnest Devouts). It's very, very helpful for the Trial of Fools.