Strategy For Xero? (Pantheon of Hallownest)

[Playerjjjj]

I'm curious about how other people go about beating him. He's one of the few early bosses who consistently gives me trouble. His movement patterns can make his nails float back to him on really strange vectors and there's so little space to work with. The only things I've picked up on so far are to keep moving around the arena and use shade soul -- if it hits him side-on it can knock him back enough to hit 2 or even three times. But still, these aren't consistent. He's killed me more than Markoth at this point.

[Adre]

are you stabbing him? i've found that helps

[ShutUpAndGoogleIt]

Lots of dodging. If you get the mantis claw, you can jump off the platform, heal, and jump back on. Xero never goes any further than the platform so thats why you can jump off and just heal. Monarch wings also help but not needed.

[Boksha]

Originally posted by ShutUpAndGoogleIt:

Lots of dodging. If you get the mantis claw, you can jump off the platform, heal, and jump back on. Xero never goes any further than the platform so thats why you can jump off and just heal. Monarch wings also help but not needed.

Uhh, I think you're thinking of the wrong Xero. The Pantheon of Hallownest is post-game content. You can't jump off the platforms there because the fight takes place above a bottomless pit.

Anyway, I found the most effective strategy to be hitting him with Great Slash from below (Great Slash arcs over your head a little) . The direction you should hit him in depends on which nail he threw at you. If it's one of the nails on his right, face right when slashing; if it's one of the left nails, face left. That way you can hopefully put the nails' return path ore of your own way.

[Playerjjjj]

Originally posted by Boksha:

Originally posted by ShutUpAndGoogleIt:

Lots of dodging. If you get the mantis claw, you can jump off the platform, heal, and jump back on. Xero never goes any further than the platform so thats why you can jump off and just heal. Monarch wings also help but not needed.

Uhh, I think you're thinking of the wrong Xero. The Pantheon of Hallownest is post-game content. You can't jump off the platforms there because the fight takes place above a bottomless pit.

Anyway, I found the most effective strategy to be hitting him with Great Slash from below (Great Slash arcs over your head a little) . The direction you should hit him in depends on which nail he threw at you. If it's one of the nails on his right, face right when slashing; if it's one of the left nails, face left. That way you can hopefully put the nails' return path ore of your own way.

Hmm, that's a good idea. I hadn't thought of using nail arts. Since I rarely get good openings to hit him multiple times, the extra damage + upwards arc would really help. And this sounds like it would be a good strategy for Markoth as well, who I also struggle to hit. Thank you! Funnily enough, shortly after posting this I had a string of really good runs, but Markoth and Grimm ended all of them. Go figure.

[Artek [General]]

Is Xero the guy tht keeps shooting you with imaginary swords?
My strategy for him was to try and hit him with melee when hje would get close (not from below him, but from a side - so jump to his height and just slap him).
But a primary source of damage in his fight for me were spells. When under him i would try to Abyss Shriek him, and when he's too far - i would shoot him.
You see, the spell pushes him back when it hits him, and because he gets pushed further than the spell - the spell ends up hitting him twice. So if you can manage to melee him to hix four-swords stage - then just start range-shooting him and he'll just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ die.

[Boksha]

The hitting twice thing is great for Shade Soul, but I find that Xero's susceptibility to knockback makes Abyss Shriek ineffective; whenever you use it, he just gets launched out of the blast area on the first hit and the rest of the attack misses.

[Roast Goose]

I usually use Abyss Shriek for most bosses, but I found the Shade Spirit more effective for Xero. It often hits him twice.

[klimat13]

Pantheon of Hallownest Xero is a joke, just hit him with your nail while jumping as often as you can while dodging his blades to your best ability. He will die pretty soon leaving you with lots of soul to heal.

[Bono my tyres are gone]

dodge....that's it really, also dashmaster+sharp shade(+sprintmaster , dashmaster increases sprintmaster's effect) helps a lot

[Doctor Fetus]

Just be agressive and focus on hitting him with both nail and spells, dont try to play a dodge master there. Doesn't really matter how many damage you take, he is followed by very easy bosses so you could easily heal everything back later.

[Playerjjjj]

Hooray, I finally made it to Absolute Radiance for the first time yesterday after a super easy Markoth fight (he just sort of sat right above platforms and let me rip him apart) and a successful Grimm fight. All the advice here has made Xero and the early bosses much much easier. Thank you all! Now I have to get down to actually beating AR, which is proving to be a bit of a nightmare, even in the hall of gods. Wish me luck!