Broken Vessel

The corpse of a Vessel found deep within Ancient Basin positioned before the Monarch Wings. When they are approached, their broken shell fills with Lightseeds, reanimating their body and causing them to attack The Knight. They do not appear to have a voice; the scream of Broken Vessel that can be heard once they are reanimated is the same sound that emanates from the Watcher Knights and The Hollow Knight, suggesting that this sound originates from The Radiance.

Broken Vessel is a Vessel just like the Knight and as such is one of their siblings, as is further evidenced by the name of their dream boss variant, Lost Kin. They appear to be taller than the Knight is, although it is not known if or how they grew. Upon Lost Kin's defeat, their ghost can be seen with an intact shell, bowing to the Knight.

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 either leap towards the Knight or 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 and positions at the peak of the jump to slam directly 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.
 * Cascade: Broken Vessel will stop and create a multitude of blobs of infection by shaking their head back and forth. This attack covers most of the arena. The blobs emanate downwards from Broken Vessel but rise up from beneath the ground in waves of 3 blobs. Every wave has a chance to 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. Infected Balloons will stop spawning and those already in the room will disappear.
 * Balloon: Broken Vessel will spawn an Infected Balloon enemy with its health reduced to 1 hp (reg. 15). This attack is will happen at set intervals (4-5 seconds). Furthermore, this attack will happen independently of Broken Vessel's other actions. The Infected Balloon enemy typically spawns somewhere in the air and it will float straight towards the Knight to deal contact damage. If Broken Vessel jumps into a Balloon as it is spawning, it will cancel it. There is a maximum of 4 balloons that can be alive at once and this attack will only occur after Broken Vessel has reached 420 hp.

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.

Broken Vessel is one of the few bosses that takes knock-back, because of this, Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul can be useful, as they have a decent chance of hitting twice. Increasing the fireball's size with Shaman Stone makes increases the chance of a double hit.

Using the Desolate Dive/Descending Dark Spell during the Cascade 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 westmost point of Ancient Basin, guarding the Monarch Wings upgrade.

=Lost Kin= Lost Kin is the Dream Boss variant of Broken Vessel that can be accessed when returning to Broken Vessel's arena and using the Dream Nail on their corpse.

Behaviour and Tactics
Lost Kin shares the same basic attacks as Broken Vessel but at a much faster pace. Notable changes are:
 * Balloon: This attack now happens at much quicker intervals (2-3 seconds). There is a maximum of 6 balloons that can be alive at once and this attack will only occur after Lost Kin has reached 1150 hp.
 * Cascade: Lost Kin no longer uses this attack.
 * Slam: When Lost Kin hits the ground six blobs of infection now fly out as opposed to four.

Dealing with the Infected Balloons can be the trickiest part of the fight as they can prevent healing at the rate that they spawn. Unnecessary damage can also be taken when trying to dodge Lost Kin's attacks and colliding with them.

Defender's Crest offers the best barrier around the player which can be used to heal. Other area of effect charms like Thorns of Agony and Spore Shroom can also be very useful to take out groups of Infected Balloons. Baldur Shell, when combined with Thorns of Agony, is also very helpful in this role. Shape of Unn combined with Quick Focus allows the player to dodge the Infected Balloons. This approach can be more useful in the setting of the Pantheons, where Lost Kin isn't fought in isolation, as it is generally more useful against other bosses than Defender's Crest.

As with Broken Vessel, it is recommended to stay low to the ground as Lost Kin jumps around a lot. The only reason that would warrant jumping would be to avoid the slash attack.

Like Broken Vessel, Lost Kin takes knock-back from attacks. As such, Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul is useful against them as well, especially when combined with Shaman Stone.

Lost Kin also staggers very easily meaning that using Quick Slash can easily knock them down and allow for a moment to heal.

Trivia

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


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


 * Due to a possible bug Broken Vessel and Lost Kin might move towards The Knight when they're stunned.

Разбитый Сосуд