Nosk

"Mimics the shape of other creatures to lure prey to its lair. In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong."

Nosk is a hidden boss in Hollow Knight. Its defeat is rewarded by one of the rare Pale Ores. Winged Nosk is its flying form.

Nosk is a mysterious shape-shifting infected beast hunting throughout Deepnest. It can mimic the shape of faces it finds in the memories of bugs, usually loved or departed ones, and contort its body to assume the smaller frame of its lures. It hangs its preys from the ceiling within its lair at the bottom of Deepnest including Dirtcarvers, a Stalking Devout and various Vessels.

Nosk is one of only 3 known infected creatures with no thoughts from the Dream Nail, the others being the Broken Vessel and the Shadow Creeper.

When first encountered in Deepnest, Nosk looks exactly like the Knight. It can first be seen in an unreachable place before the long drop to the area's Hot Spring. After this, it can only be encountered in the hidden maze of tunnels leading to its lair. There it appears in several places and disappears before the Knight reaches them.

The way to Nosk's lair is littered with various dead bugs, their thoughts hinting at the creature's treachery. In the last tunnel, barriers of organic matter close one after another behind the Knight. Once reaching its lair, Nosk reveals its true form through a grotesque transformation, before roaring and beginning the fight.

When defeated, the Infection bursts out of Nosk making it explode. It leaves only behind its counterfeit shell amidst puddles of Infection. The Knight can then collect a Pale Ore from a fossil in a cave further along.

Nosk, like all other strong creatures of Hallownest, is summoned to Godhome by the ritual of  the Godseeker. It appears in the Pantheon of the Artist, but take a  winged form during the  Pantheon of Hallownest. It first assumes the shape of Hornet and retains her shell as a face throughout the fight.

Behaviour and Tactics
Nosk moves quite fast, and its slightly unpredictable nature makes it hard to find a good time to heal.

The Knight should use the room layout to their advantage. When Nosk charges, the best place to be is right up against the side of the platform in the middle of the area. The Knight can then get a hit in, but must immediately relocate to the other corner to avoid being struck on his return charge. Nosk may also rarely hit the Knight with the Leap Attack and the Eruption Attack while they are in that spot, though cases of this are few and far between.

Even though Nosk is out of sight during the Rain attack, its hitbox is still present in the ceiling and charms such as Grimmchild or Glowing Womb can track and hit it. Furthermore, hitting it with a Nail in this state is also possible, and using charms like Longnail or Mark of Pride can make it easier when trying to do so.

Nosk primes its dash always with a quick small screech, using this sound to cue to predict when it is about to dash from off-screen can be very significant.

Using a spell, especially the high-damage Abyss Shriek when hiding in one of the corners, can deal a lot of damage to Nosk and kill it quickly.



Location
A breakable wall in the room directly left of the Deepnest Hot Spring reveals a secret section containing a Grub. Breaking another wall behind the Grub leads to the tunnels and into its lair. The Monarch Wings or Crystal Heart are either required to access the hidden room.

Trivia

 * When it dies, Nosk drops the same shell that the Knight drops upon death.
 * Winged Nosk references Nosk's original concept design where it had wings and a longer tail.
 * Nosk is shown in the Wanderer's Journal Book disguising itself with the body of a normal Husk bug as its head.

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