Broken Vessel

For the Dream Boss variant, see Lost Kin.

Behaviour and Tactics
In addition to having a similar appearance to The Knight, the Broken Vessel also shares similar moves:


 * Slash: Broken Vessel will dash forward, slashing with their nail. They travel about 75% of the entire arena during the dash. Broken Vessel slashes with their nail in the middle of the dash.
 * Aerial Slash: Broken Vessel will levitate a short distance above the ground and then dash forward, slashing with their nail. They travel about 75% of the entire arena during the dash. Broken Vessel slashes with their nail in the middle of the dash.
 * Leap: Broken Vessel will leap towards the Knight. They will also leap to move around the arena.
 * Flail: Broken Vessel swings their nail rapidly in an overhead arc left and right four times.
 * Slam: Broken Vessel leaps into the air only to slam down on the Knight. The impact of the slam creates four blobs of infection that rise up and away in parabolic arcs at set distances from Broken Vessel. They target the Knight when they leap but only slam straight down.
 * Headbanger: Broken Vessel will create a multitude of blobs of infection, covering most of the entire arena. The blobs emanate from Broken Vessel in waves of 3 blobs, though the wave could be all 3 blobs at once, 2 blobs with 1 quickly following behind, or 1 blob with 2 quickly following. The whole attack lasts for about four seconds with waves of blobs appearing about every half second.
 * Balloon: Broken Vessel will spawn an Infected Balloon enemy. This happens randomly throughout the battle and can occur in conjunction with other attacks. The Infected Balloon enemy typically spawns somewhere in the air and it will float straight towards the Knight to deal contact damage.

The Broken Vessel has a large variety of attacks to deal with. Quick Focus is highly recommended for this battle. Charms like Mark of Pride or Longnail can help extend the Knight's Nail to better match Broken Vessel's. Spore Shroom is perfect to get rid of the Infected Balloons while healing as well as dealing extra damage to Broken Vessel. Defender's Crest gets rid of the Infected Balloons without the need to heal.

Using the Desolate Dive/Descending Dark Spell during the Headbanger Attack will deal a lot of damage to Broken Vessel and prevent the player from taking damage at the same time. When Broken Vessel is stunned, if the player doesn't need to heal, use the Nail Art Great Slash or Desolate Dive/Descending Dark to maximize damage against Broken Vessel while they cannot retaliate.

Face-tanking is also a viable strategy. Use charms like Unbreakable Heart (safer than using Fragile Heart), Lifeblood Heart, and Joni's Blessing.

Upgrading the Nail and gathering more Mask Shards, Vessel Fragments, and Charms is always helpful.

Location
Broken Vessel can be found near the leftmost point of Ancient Basin, guarding the Monarch Wings upgrade.

Trivia

 * Broken Vessel was the seventh and the last boss to be revealed through the kickstarter under the name "Infected Knight"


 * The Broken Vessel bears strong resemblance to The Knight, and has the same roar as the Hollow Knight. This implies the Broken Vessel is indeed a Vessel created from Void like them.
 * Its attacks resemble moves performed by the Knight, such as Dash Slash and Desolate Dive.


 * Upon defeat, The Broken Vessel will reach out to the player before dying, and after defeating Lost Kin, their ghost will wordlessly bow to the player before being absorbed.


 * When observed closely, it appears that the Broken Vessel is wielding an Old nail.
 * At the beginning of the battle, numerous Lightseeds rush to the head of the vessel, creating the large blob of Infection on its head.

Разбитый Сосуд