[Beaten] How the hell do you beat the Watcher Knights?

[Titan]

Two at a time, and can go so unsynced that they just deal unavoidable damage (one rolling one bouncing). There's no telegraph of whether they're gonna roll or bounce, same build up to both. How the hell are you meant to win this fight? (Without using cheese charm builds)

[Angry Owl]

you can always leave them be for now, and return stronger. Some later abilities (not charms) really help as well as dull yet effective nail damage upgrades.

[Titan]

Returning stronger shouldn't be a necessity. If I have all I need to reach the boss unscathed then the boss should be beatable as is. Which from searches, the only answer seems to be cheesing it with certain charms. The boss just deals constant unavoidable damage.

[Angry Owl]

A fair point!
There is secret to reduce the count fo the knights even before the fight before entering the room try jumping and slashing the ceiling right next to the entrance, see where it leads.
As to the fight itself, quick focus can help with healing, I would also suggest taking the extended nail range charm for easier hits.
Carefully manage your opponents' positions: keep close and attack, dont stray away, this way you can force them to do more nail attacks than rolley moves.
You can tell apart the ground roll from jump roll - on one the knight first rolls back a bit then charges.
Use shade attack when both knights are on one side and uncurled to maximize damage.

[Titan]

I have smashed the chandelier, and I'm using longnail. I don't have quick focus, so I should find that. Keeping close is difficult, seeing as both knights tend to end up on different sides of the room.

Thanks for the tip on distinguishing the rolls.

[Angry Owl]

It wouldn't say that QFocus is a must, it does help with Watcher style bosses (medium speed, non-teleporting).
If hugging them proves difficult, try occupying the room center and avoid corners (jump roll would get you otherwise).
Also think you can pogo off of the curled Watcher if you mistime your jump.
You can also try soul focused build: e.g Spell Twister for more frequent attacks, Shaman Stone for more damage, Soul Catcher for more mana on hit (Soul Eater is too costly), Grub Song for soul when hurt. Depends on your notches count (but twister and stone are essential here).
There are also Nail arts.. but I never got them to work effeciently vs Watchers (Great Slash here and there when waiting for an opening)

[klimat13]

Watcher Knights kicked my behind multiple times, so I gave up and went the other way to return later. Beat them from the first try on my second arrival. Shadow dash made all the difference in the world. Nail upgrades also helped I guess.

[HexaDecimatoR]

I'll offer a few points since there are enough walls of text in this thread already.

Stay away from the edges of the arena, it's an easier fight in the middle.
They can take spell damage while rolling now, use this to your advantage and like up shots.
Try to trigger their nail attack by staying close to them, they stay stationary enough for Descending Dark.
Their bouncing roll aims at where you were standing, move a bit to the side and they'll likely miss.

Good luck, I suggest a spell based build with the recent changes.

[Riems]

gotta whip it out, git gud, jk jk. Seriously this can be a pretty tough boss, you just have to manage and manipulate the distance of their jumps to give enough room and just try to get in as much damage as possible. Once one is down, heal up while the other is preparing. Best of luck

[Worm Knight]

They have no way of attaking you if you are above them. just jump over them and keep nail jumping over them

[Titan]

Originally posted by 5XG:

They have no way of attaking you if you are above them. just jump over them and keep nail jumping over them

No way of attacking? There's the bounce move when they're in a ball. Easily the move that has caused the most issues for me.

[Worm Knight]

Originally posted by TitanicTitan:

Originally posted by 5XG:

They have no way of attaking you if you are above them. just jump over them and keep nail jumping over them

No way of attacking? There's the bounce move when they're in a ball. Easily the move that has caused the most issues for me.

That is more a random move than a defense against the player. is not that hard to dodge with the monarch wings (cant remember if i had them when i faced them)
Just focus on one of them. is not really hard to know wich one you were attacking (at least on my case they'd came on two, never more or less)

[Kanra]

There's a lot of good advice in this thread already, but I'll go ahead and drop my two cents. Some of it is similar to what was already said though.

Putting the chandelier aside as you've already gotten it, the first thing you want to do upon entering the room (note: not triggering the boss fight, just entering) is dream nail the corpses until you get yourself up to full health and soul. Starting this fight with full soul makes it a lot easier.

For the boss fight itself, there are a few things you can try doing:

Prioritise the weaker one of the two. This is pretty straightforward, but it can often be hard to keep track of that, so I would advise doing it whenever you're able to. The faster they go down, the less risk you face. The very first one that spawns is easy to weaken down before the next one appears.

It's possible to close in on them, hit them until they get ready to swing at you, then back off and jump ontop of them in order to pogo them for damage. At this point, you want to keep pogoing until either one of them starts to roll. If one is on the other side while you're doing this, use sound to tell when the time is right to move away. If the one you're pogoing starts to roll, immediately dash towards the opposite side of the one you were on. If you're on his left side, then his roll will likely head towards the left aswell. In that case you would dash straight to the right. This should be done as soon as you see the rolling animation.

Also note that it's possible to pogo off of them while they're rolling, typically on the ground. Use this if you need to.

When two of them are on the same side, there are a few things that you can do:

If you're next to them, try to pogo both for damage while following the usual "dash out of the way once they roll" thought process.

If you're further away from them (also possible while next to them) then shoot spells towards them. I would recommend getting the Vengeful Spirit upgrade for this if you haven't already. Spells are able to damage them both while they're standing and while they're rolling, and are best to use in situations where you would damage both of them with a single cast.

If they both start rolling towards the other side of the room, immediately heal if you need to. This is one of your best opportunities to do so.

Going back to the fight itself, the second you bring any of them down, prioritise making the other one roll past you and heal while he does, if needed. If healing isn't needed, then proceed to deal as much damage as possible to the lone one.

The worst situations you can find yourself in are having them constantly roll to opposite sides or getting attacked by a mix of a ground roll and an air roll. It's also possible to have them stop rolling for no reason, which can throw you off.

The ideal situations are having them both on the same side, performing the same actions on the same side or heading towards the opposite side at the same time. It's also ideal to have one swing as much as possible.

There isn't a specific charm build for this (besides the cheese fluke-nuke build), but some of them will make your life easier. Quick focus gives you a better healing window, Mark of Pride or Longnail make it easier to hit them in general, Shaman Stone / Spell Twister / Soul Catcher / Grubsong for your spells, not as recommended but the useful Heart / Strength charms, any lifeblood charm if you have space for it and can get there without taking damage. The general thought process is to make it easier, so your build could be anything or nothing.

That's probably the best I can tell you as someone that actually hates the Watcher Knights despite loving every single boss in this game. Despite that, I still eventually beat them without any boosts, charms and the old nail for low% purposes, and the wall of text above basically sums up what I learned from that.

[Titan]

Came back now with the Shade Cloak and a coiled nail and they seem no easier than before. Seems the answer is just git gud. Or in the case of them going to opposite sides of the arena, git lucky. [Edit] Furthest I'm getting is two watchers down by a slither of health. This boss may make the game unbeatable for me.

[Titan]

Okay, just beat them. FINALLY.

Leaving and getting stronger was definitely a help, as was all the information provided. Just whizzed through them with the shade cloak timed nicely. Felt like I was in the Matrix. Hopefully nothing else in the game causes me this much grief.

[Worm Knight]

Originally posted by TitanicTitan:

Okay, just beat them. FINALLY.

Leaving and getting stronger was definitely a help, as was all the information provided. Just whizzed through them with the shade cloak timed nicely. Felt like I was in the Matrix. Hopefully nothing else in the game causes me this much grief.

Congratulations m8. i only hear people having this much problems with the Watcher Knight. so most likely you will not have this problem again.... Unless you want to vanish Grey Prince Zote