Brooding Mawlek

Hunter's Journal


''Ferocious but extremely social creature. Becomes aggressive if not able to mingle with its own kind.''



''I hear this beast crying out sometimes as I prowl the caverns, although I've never actually laid eyes on it. Who or what is it calling for? As far as I can tell, its voice is never answered.''

Behaviour and Tactics
The Brooding Mawlek uses the following attacks:
 * Reaper Claw: Will slash the player with its claws if they get to close to its left or right.
 * Acid Spit: Shoots small acid balls in an arc, aiming at the side of the room where the Hollow Knight is.
 * Cauldron Crash: Jumps to try crushing the Hollow Knight, immediately followed by a jump back to the center of the arena.
 * Acid Geyser: Vomits a massive wave of fiery acid, which covers the whole side of the room the player is standing on.

Without reach enhancement Charms, it may retaliate when hit, so it is safest to hit it a few times, and dash away when it raises its claws. Alternatively it is also an option to jump over it, downstriking it to get to the other side.

To dodge its jump, they player needs to run quickly in whichever direction they have space to move. This is also a window to slash the Mawlek, which cannot attack during this attack.

Its acid wave may have small safe spots, but they're quite tiny and hard to spot, so a safer option is to jump over the Mawlek altogether when it uses this attack.

Another Brooding Mawlek is fought as part of the Trial of Fools in the Colosseum of Fools, in a very tight area where dodging its attacks is much more difficult,.

Location
The Mawlek is easily found in the Forgotten Crossroads beyond a wall jump section in a room to the left of the vertical shaft filled with Gruzzers and Crawlids. Defeating it rewards a Mask Shard.

Despite being "inaccessible" at the beginning, it is possible to down-strike the spikes by striking down, it is even possible to fight it in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Trivia

 * The Hunter's flavor text and the myriads of dead Mawlek bodies littering the area implies that it's the last Mawlek in the area
 * Brooding Mawlek was the second mini-boss revealed in a Kickstarter update as an optional boss.