Hive Knight

The protector of Hive Queen Vespa, bound to guard her even after her death. Hive Knight does not seem to be aware of Vespa's death, instead believing that she will wake up eventually. When The Knight defeats it, Vespa will mention that Hive Knight is freed at last.

Behaviour and Tactics
Hive Knight has a variety of attacks:


 * Bee Cannon: Hive Knight opens its mouth and multiple Hivelings fly out of it towards the ceiling. After all the Hivelings have disappeared, they start flying downwards at slow speeds, targeting The Knight. These Hivelings cannot be killed with the nail, however spells can kill them and SOUL can still be gained by hitting them. The battle is always started with this attack with The Hive Knight not actually on-screen (However this is not the case for their battle in  Godhome).
 * Lunge: Hive Knight lunges along the ground with their spear. This lunge covers most of the arena.
 * Teleport: Hive Knight flies to a point behind The Knight, then slashes with its spear, lunging forward. If The Knight is airborne as this attack is being used, Hive Knight will fall to the ground after slashing. If the Knight is against the wall, Hive Knight will fly in front of them instead.
 * Leap: Hive Knight curls into a ball and leaps in the air in a parabolic arc. When the leap reaches its apex, Hive Knight reaches the top of the arena.
 * Honey Traps: Hive Knight raises its spear, then sticks it into the ground and summons three yellow spiked spheres from the ground. The spheres then start shaking and explode, releasing 8 spikes in an octagonal pattern.

After taking 16 hits or 12 hits in under 1.5 seconds, Hive Knight will be staggered and kneels on the ground to recover. This time can be used to score free hits, Focus or use the Dream Nail to gather large amounts of SOUL.

It is highly recommended to obtain Shade Cloak before the fight, as this makes it possible to dash through Hive Knight's teleport and lunge attack.

Quick Focus makes it easier to heal, Mark of Pride makes it much easier to reach Hive Knight, and Quick Slash makes the fight much easier as Hive Knight can be continuously attacked while it is performing the Bee Cannon attack, dealing massive damage.

Trivia

 * Hive Knight is the only DLC boss that is required on a complete playthrough, therefore permanently raising the completion by 1% to 101% if the player decides to complete the entire game (excluding The Grimm Troupe and  Godmaster DLC content).
 * In the background of Hive Knight's arena the giant corpse of Hive Queen Vespa can be seen.

Рыцарь Улья