Lost Kin - how the ♥♥♥♥?!

[Warelieus]

Okay, so I can't beat this freaking ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Any OP-charms I need?

[Mechanical Lizard]

is not that hard, when he starts to shooting orange bullets you can pogo in his head to land a good amount of hits, but sharp shadow is a good tactic

[Warelieus]

Originally posted by Mechanical Lizard:

is not that hard, when he starts to shooting orange bullets you can pogo in his head to land a good amount of hits, but sharp shadow is a good tactic

"Not that hard", he's broken... Spawning all that crap...

[Mechanical Lizard]

Originally posted by FRiENEMY™:

Originally posted by Mechanical Lizard:

is not that hard, when he starts to shooting orange bullets you can pogo in his head to land a good amount of hits, but sharp shadow is a good tactic

"Not that hard", he's broken... Spawning all that crap...

I told you how to cheap the orange spam attack, the rest is just a matter of noticing when he is going to make the long attack and jump or not jump, if you're having trouble then make a heavy based spell build with charms and spam the down spell, he doesn't have that much of hp

[kanna]

LK was extremely difficult for me at first, but is now one of my fave mid-level bosses. This is one of the first accessible bosses you can do that requires you to learn to move quickly to avoid damage (when doing it without cheese anyway).

Consider it training, as well as a bit of (story-related) foreshadowing that's evident even on a first run if you're paying attention, including the soundtrack.

Aside from a certain cheese technique (see below), Charms don't matter as much as technique, but you could use damage boosters if you want (Strength and Shaman Stone), and maybe a nail-lengthening charm while you're just getting used to the fight, like Longnail or Mark of Pride. Grubsong was a frequent lifesaver for me, my first time through the game as well.

If you want the cheese approach for this fight, you can use Defender's Crest for protection. (You can always do non-cheese later.)

If you don't want to do the cheese approach, then it's just about taking out the ghosties quickly and returning your focus to the main boss without missing a beat.

[Perseus]

Originally posted by Mechanical Lizard:

is not that hard, when he starts to shooting orange bullets you can pogo in his head to land a good amount of hits,

That's Broken Vessel, Lost Kin doesn't have that attack.

[babuk.fracal]

The best way to fight lost kin is to wait, you move when he does a move.
If you try to move before him it will most likely end up with him hitting you.
Spells are extremely helpfull in this fight, vengefull spirit (or shade soul) is really good against him because of the knockback and multiple hit.

For charms, since its a dream boss you can use breakable charm like you want.
Shaman stone is good, if you want to abuse spell even more soul catcher or spell twister can help.
The defender crest is good if you don't like the little blob enemy that spawn.

[Boksha]

Originally posted by babuk.fracal:

The best way to fight lost kin is to wait, you move when he does a move.

I find this applies to most bosses, except for a few late-game bosses where it's good to be in a specific position before they attack to make dodging easier. For Lost Kin, it's often not even necessary to move at all; for example there's the attack where they jump up, hover for a moment, then do a Dash-Slash; if you just stand still while they do that attack, the attack will just harmlessly sail over your head.

One of the biggest mistakes people make in this fight is jumping when Lost Kin jumps. That will likely just cause you to collide in mid-air. It's better to look where Lost Kin will land, and if that's right on you, step or dash to the side. Often, you don't even have to move at all (and moving will actually cause you to get hit instead)

If you're not using the Defenders Crest or find it doesn't kill the ghosts early enough (as I did), always try to kill ghosts right after Lost Kin did an attack. Lost Kin needs a few moments before the next attack starts, giving you about a second to do what you want, like jumping and slashing at a ghost.

[Mechanical Lizard]

Originally posted by Perseus:

Originally posted by Mechanical Lizard:

is not that hard, when he starts to shooting orange bullets you can pogo in his head to land a good amount of hits,

That's Broken Vessel, Lost Kin doesn't have that attack.

my bad

[sandy claws]

lost kin is actually a difficult boss. fortunately it's a dream boss, so death is meaningless fighting him, even in steel soul.

either sit there and practice over and over until you get it, or aim for more upgrades first if you don't have them all.

there's a bit of random involved with him, so it's more just something you have to experience really.

quick focus charm can help to get 2-3 masks of heals when he's stunned. it's pretty difficult to get more than 1, if even 1 without quick focus.

there's also carefree melody charm, but that's pretty late game. you could wait till then to do it though.

shaman stone is helpful if you just want to try blasting him with magic, but i think this is the least helpful for learning. his movement is pending on your own movement. he will play the aggressor if you are trying to stay back from him.

[sekai]

Lost Kin is a problem only when he starts spawning stuff. In fact, I consider him the beginning of the end for Hollow Knight's difficulty curve, where they seriously ramp up the amount of BS you have to deal with in a fight with an oversaturated screen filled with stuff that hurt you.

Though you could still kind of cheese the blobs if you have Defender's Crest on and the 'Thorn' thing that lashes our when you take a hit. They won't make the blobs a breeze but they'll solve half the problem for you since now they probably die in 1 nail hit instead of multiple. That'll help you getting rid of the blobs and give you space and some breathing room to move about.

........

Also to counter his jumping, it's best to dash to dodge him falling onto you and don't really even bother with attempting that by jumping yourself.

[Clead HeavenHell]

I know I am late, but my bigger issue with the boss is the orange background with randomly spawning orange ghosts. It's so easy to dash into the newly spawn enemies simply because you didn't see them there directly.

If this is something that affects you, lower brightness to 80~85% to make the background be a bit less shiny to spot enemies easier.

[cardvark61]

Originally posted by Clead HeavenHell:

I know I am late, but my bigger issue with the boss is the orange background with randomly spawning orange ghosts. It's so easy to dash into the newly spawn enemies simply because you didn't see them there directly.

The Defender' Crest charm helps with the ghosts

[Boksha]

Originally posted by Clead HeavenHell:

If this is something that affects you, lower brightness to 80~85% to make the background be a bit less shiny to spot enemies easier.

Seconded. There are other bosses where the bright background is a problem as well, and lowering your brightness helps with those, too.