Failed Champion

The Failed Champion is a hidden boss in Hollow Knight. It is the Dream variant of the False Knight, faster and tougher than its physical counterpart.

Behaviour and Tactics
There are no major differences in attacks, other than barrels falling for every slam attack and all the attacks doing two masks of damage. However, the following few have been slightly tweaked:
 * Leaping Bludgeon: The height of the jump is lower.
 * Leap: Only used after the first stagger/phase. This makes Leaping Bludgeon much more common.
 * Slam: The slam is much faster and the shockwave created from the slam is much larger and taller.

Since Failed Champion doesn't give SOUL it is advised to keep the Maggots near his body alive as to Dream Nail them for SOUL to start the fight with. Using the Dream Nail while Failed Champion is knocked down as well is a good way to fill up the SOUL meter.

Failed Champion's jumps are low and quick, though it is better to dash beneath his jumps so as not to get caught by the mace swing. This is made more effective with Shade Cloak.

Using Dreamshield can sometimes block the falling barrels caused by most attacks.

It is possible to stay inside a stagger for as long as needed by hitting the armour during a stagger. This resets the stagger timer without damaging the maggot, which gives enough time for a Dream Nail hit or a Focus, especially if Dream Wielder and Quick Focus are equipped. Repeating this for long enough allows fully restoring health every stagger. Note that Failed Champion's stagger should end by hurting the maggot and not by him getting up on his own, as otherwise, that stagger does not count for progressing the fight.

A strategy, while considered cowardly but safe, is to sit on the left or right wall far up enough that the False Knight/Failed Champion cannot reach the player, but not far up enough that the Knight doesn't appear on screen (this may cause problems for the following Charm setup). While charging up crystal dash, but not using it. this allows The Knight to avoid all contact with the boss, and instead only have to worry about the falling barrels. To deal damage while sitting in the corner requires some form of a companion- the selection being Grimmchild,  Weaversong, or Glowing Womb. Granted, this tactic takes a long period of time to pull off, as the companions don't deal a lot of damage. Additional Charms for this strategy can include Dreamshield to block the barrels and Grubsong for its synergy with Weaversong.



Location
Returning to False Knight's arena will show that his body has been moved. To find Failed Champion, there is a breakable wall just above where his arena was, where two Maggots can be found mourning over False Knight's dead body. Using the Dream Nail on the body will grant entrance to the Failed Champion fight.