False Knight

Hunter's Journal
 

''A maggot driven mad by a strange force. Inhabits a stolen armoured shell.   ''

''Weak creatures love to steal the strength of others. Their lives are brief and fearful, and they yearn to have the power to dominate those who have dominated them.''

False Knight
The False Knight will slam the ground with its mace, either being a normal slam attack always preceded by a jump, or a slam attack followed by a shockwave. The shockwave version takes a bit to charge.

A peculiarity of this boss is that attacking its armour doesn't give any soul to the player.

The False Knight can jump around, attempting to make the player into a pancake.

Infected rocks can occasionally fall down, they can be hit at the False Knight, even if they do not harm it.

The False Knight can jump then hit the ground with it's mace, but it uses the mace only after jumping forward, never backwards.

After enough damage is dealt to the armour, the False Knight reveals its true form: a maggot.

When the maggot takes enough damage, the False Knight will slam the ground with its mace, alternating left and right rapidly in anger. Then it will resume its normal attacks. The rocks previously mentioned will fall more often here.

Tactics
Your best bet at fighting the False Knight is to keep moving, attacking the armour when you can. When the maggot pops out, heal if necessary then get in as much damage as possible. When the shockwaves appear, simply jump over them.

Keep the exit on the left under control, after a certain point it will become breakable, granting the player the chance to flee, get the vengeful spirit, proceed as much as wanted and come back later to get the City Crest.

Thankfully, after taking three phases worth of damage, the Failed Champion will fall to the level below, and the maggot will always be revealed.

Failed Champion
It is like the false knight, however it will spam its attacks near constantly, and rocks will fall quite often; it also does 2 masks of damage per hit.

Gives 300 Essence when it is defeated

More health(obviously)

Extremely oppressive, it wont give the player much time to heal

Tactics
Since hitting the armour doesn't give any soul, it is suggested to use Joni's Blessing and an oppressive strategy. Fragile charms are good, Quick Slash and Steady Body are fine, and Spore Shroom is effective as well.

Even if you may need to go back every time, it is recommended to start with the soul vessel filled.

Using spells is fine, but they shall not be wasted, since the limited soul: never use Vengeful Spirits/Shade Souls, always go for the Descending Dark spell.

After going K.O. he always goes in the middle and does a certain attack, that is the best moment to quickly go over it and use Descending Dark, this makes the player invulnerable for some instants after the spell is used and during it, so one can use the nail once and flee without taking damage after using the spell

Never try to heal during normal attacks, unless with Quick Focus or Shape of Unn, try to defeat it as fast as you can.

Trivia

 * The armour the maggot stole actually belongs to Hegemol, one of the legendary Great Knights (mentioned by Nailmaster Sheo).
 * The reason the maggot took the armour was to protect its fellow maggots, not because of the infection plaguing Hallownest.

Dream Nail Dialogue

 * "I'm braver than all of you!"
 * "This great shell...It belongs to me!"
 * Failed Champion: "I'm finally strong!"
 * On its weapon: "Free at last!"