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.

You may try slashing at the sides but unless you have reach enhancements, it may strike at you when you hit it, so it is suggested to hit it once then go away a bit and repeat.

Another valuable option is to jump over the Mawlek and slash down at it while jumping over it, especially during its most powerful move.

The Mawlek has two moves you really need to worry about: its jumps and its acid wave. To dodge its jump, you need to run quickly in whichever direction you have space to move. This is also a window to slash the Mawlek, which cannot attack you at that time.

Its acid wave may have "windows" in which you can stand safely, 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. The Mothwing Cloak is recommended to safely jump over the massive boss and to help clear the distance if you were too far away when the attack starts.

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 difficult. However, at that point one should have a Pure Nail, which makes it easy to just damage-burst the beast down.

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

Despite being "inaccessible" at the beginning, it is possible to down-strike the spikes by staying against them and striking down, without being over them, so it is even possible to fight it in the first 15 minutes of the game. However, the Mothwing Cloak is highly recommended first in order to dodge its massive venom attack.

Trivia

 * Brooding Mawlek was the second mini-boss revealed in a Kickstarter update as an optional boss.
 * The Hunter's flavor text and the myriads of dead Mawlek bodies littering the area implies that it's the last Mawlek, but later on in the game more Mawleks can be found. However, they are in the Ancient Basin, too far away to hear the Brooding Mawlek's cries.