Hornet 2

[Zarrg]

I have died to so many times to Hornet 2 that it would make a polygon journalist chuckle, I have 7 masks 7 charm slots, 1 soul orb and a channelled nail. I don't know if any advice would help at this point since other research has not improved my ability at the battle but I desperately want to beat her, it has, no kidding, taken hours.

[Boksha]

It's hard to give advice without knowing what you're trying right now, but have you already tried the good-ol' not attacking at all but just focus entirely on dodging all her attacks while staying sort of close-ish to her? Once you get a feel for when it's safe to attack, and what distance you should be to recognize her next move in time to dodge it, it should get easier to mount a counter-offensive.

And, of course, if you're not already, bring the Quick Slash charm, which can be found in the same general area. It basically lets you get two hits in whenever it's safe instead of just one, which means she'll stagger twice as quickly, which means you only have to survive half as long until the next healing opportunity. Quick Focus will let you heal more per stagger, which is also always good.

[Zarrg]

Originally posted by Boksha:

It's hard to give advice without knowing what you're trying right now, but have you already tried the good-ol' not attacking at all but just focus entirely on dodging all her attacks while staying sort of close-ish to her? Once you get a feel for when it's safe to attack, and what distance you should be to recognize her next move in time to dodge it, it should get easier to mount a counter-offensive.

And, of course, if you're not already, bring the Quick Slash charm, which can be found in the same general area. It basically lets you get two hits in whenever it's safe instead of just one, which means she'll stagger twice as quickly, which means you only have to survive half as long until the next healing opportunity. Quick Focus will let you heal more per stagger, which is also always good.

mainly Mantas longnail (useless?) + quickslash or quick focus + sprintmaster (a filler maybe I should get another slot) I can clear the first stage without damage if I don't throw (which I do too easily) the spikes are a pain as it feels like it's kill the spikes and get hit by hornet or dodge hornet and get hit by spikes.

[Boksha]

For the spikes, I find it helps if you kill the ones furthest away from her; then when she comes to you, switch sides on the arena and kill the ones there. Try to kill them with horizontal slashes as well; jumping and slashing upwards will stop your jump, which leaves you vulnerable as you fall down again.

Mantis Pride is a pretty good charm in this fight since it gives more leeway in your attacks (bigger distance means more time to react to her attacks), but since you only have 7 slots, I'd definitely hang on to Quick Slash and Quick Focus. I guess Sprint Master wouldn't be a bad filler; faster ground movement means it's easier to close in for an attack and easier to walk away again.

[Zarrg]

To be honest this boss' main weapon is moral, I failed to beat her a few times ~1am yesterday and decided that she would be easy the next day. Indeed the first time I easily got her to stage four then died due to a throw; the hour that followed was very fun.

[brewedjuice]

^ this. not even just with hornet. this is a HUGE thing for this game. frustration and anger hurts your performance(usually). sometimes it really really helps to just.. walk away for a bit. i had that happen with the final boss my first time.. i tried for like 2 hours and got hardly anywhere. came back an hour later and got it like 2 tries in.

[Pogo]

Originally posted by Zarrg:

I have died to so many times to Hornet 2 that it would make a polygon journalist chuckle, I have 7 masks 7 charm slots, 1 soul orb and a channelled nail. I don't know if any advice would help at this point since other research has not improved my ability at the battle but I desperately want to beat her, it has, no kidding, taken hours.

in the 2nd phase focus on hitting the spikes first, then do damage

[水推沙]

one word:
dead more ，you will get through this.

[🉑 rezno[R].technology]

Somebody said regarding 2nd fight with Hornet: do literally the same what you did on the 1st fight, but faster.

If you don't know when to heal, I show the right moment on this clumsy video of the 1st fight when you can heal 3 masks at once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPGsTHnoNI0

And you can hit her spikes so they won't go in your way.

[Blook]

Somehow I beat Hornet 2 first try, while hornet 1 took me like 2 hours to beat

[Mancra]

agent clyde you could beat him cause you practiced at hornet protector hornet sentinel is just hornet protectors fast version(and 2 more attacks i think)

[ChangeLynn]

This helped me a lot. Was always getting killed due to a wayward spike just before she was defeated:

youtube.com/watch?v=hGtNAtXlvHI

[Zarrg]

Got her with quick focus/mantas pride/grubsong, not the most elegant loadout but it did what was needed.

[Madderlake]

Originally posted by Zarrg:

Got her with quick focus/mantas pride/grubsong, not the most elegant loadout but it did what was needed.

This is not Devil May Cry man as long as it covers your six, mix on; that's a pretty sensible recovery set up. Congrats on the boss

[sekai]

I just went something along the lines of Quick Slash, Quick Focus, Baldur Shell, Thorns of Agony and maybe 1 other fillers I could put in at the time. The idea was to just get a feel of her attack telegraphs to try and dodge some attacks, spam attack at every chance you get, and hide in a corner heal off the damages (with the shell) to try and outlast her.

Also, when she start throwing the spike balls to cover the screen. You can hit them to make them go away. She will continue to put them back in new ways but you need to clear the ones around you as soon as they come up so you have more space to move in to dodge her attacks. The game did not tell you that you can actually remove them, but it's pretty crucial in defeating Hornet 2. You also don't need to clear the entire screen, just the ones around you; it should generally be enough until she uses her AoE to force you to relocate, which the 2 or so seconds of her doing that should be you just enough time to move and clear our a new location to hop around in.

Once you know the trick, you just throw yourself into it until you "get it". There was like no threats between the closest bench and her anyway, so I just threw myself at her using different charm and strategy combinations until one works out. The only problem is the fact despite being very safe, each walk does take a few screens. I beat Hornet 2 like 3 times from my 3 runs that I restart because of some petty reasons (to date, I have not even finish a single complete run), my first ever time beating Hornet 2 took me about 2 sittings.