Broken Vessel

Hunter's Journal


Shattered corpse, reanimated by infected parasites.

'' The shape of this creature... I have seen something like it before. More than once, perhaps. It looks like the bugs of Hallownest, but not quite the same. Where did these empty little wanderers come from?''

Attacks
In addition to having a similar appearance to the player, the Broken Vessel also shares similar moves:
 * Slash: Dashes forward and swings its nail.
 * Air Slash: Jumps slightly off the ground before performing a Slash attack
 * Leap: Jumps in a wide arc to move quickly throughout the arena, dealing contact damage
 * Nail Flail: Rapidly swing its nail left and right.
 * Infected Slam: leaps into the air before stopping and dropping down to the ground, dealing contact damage and spawning 4 orange blobs to fly upwards out of the ground
 * Infected Flurry: Flails in place, causing a pattern of orange blobs to fly out from the ground over the whole field.
 * Spawn: An Infected Balloon will appear from time to time and float toward the player, dealing contact damage.

Tactics
The Broken Vessel's attacks can be hard to dodge. Quick Focus is HIGHLY recommended for this battle, Mark of Pride or Longnail can help and Spore Shroom is perfect to get rid of the orange blobs while healing as well as dealing extra damage to the boss.

Using the Descending Dark spell during its most powerful attack (when it shakes its head and the blob comes out) will deal a lot of damage to it and prevent the player from taking damage at the same moment. When it's stunned, if the player doesn't need to heal, charge Great Slash (if available) and start the following phase either with that or the Descending Dark spell.

Joni's Blessing is NOT recommended, unless going for a face-tank strategy.

Upgrading the Nail and gathering more Mask Shards can be helpful if stuck on this boss.



Lost Kin
After acquiring the Dream Nail, the player can re-enter the arena and strike the Broken Vessel's corpse with the Dream Nail to be taken to an arena to fight the Lost Kin.

Attacks
Like the Failed Champion and Soul Tyrant, the Lost Kin has the same moveset as the Broken Vessel, but will spam its attacks near constantly. The Infected Balloons will also spawn more frequently.

Defeating the Lost Kin grants 400 Essence.

Tactics
Mostly the same as the Broken Vessel, only face-tank strategies won't work.

It's recommended to get rid of the Infected Balloons quickly as they can hit the player when distracted or attempting to Focus. The Balloons are also a good source of SOUL. The Defender's Crest can also be useful since it will kill any approaching balloon instantly. Spore Shroom can achieve a similar effect.

Stay close to it, always, but never too close. When it performs the attack that resembles the Desolate Dive, with the six ascending blobs, jump and move to the left/right slightly just enough to dodge its fall, so the player won't take damage while ending in a convenient position to attack.

Trivia

 * The Broken Vessel bears resemblance to the player character, and has the same death screech as the Hollow Knight. This implies the Broken Vessel is indeed a Vessel like the Siblings, the Hollow Knight, and the player.
 * Its attacks resemble moves performed by the player, such as Dash Slash and Desolate Dive.
 * Upon defeat, The Broken Vessel will reach out to the player before dying, and after defeating its Dream version, the Lost Kin, its ghost will bow down its head to the player before being absorbed.
 * Because it is mainly controlled by the infection, the Broken Vessel foreshadows what happens to the Hollow Knight in the normal/Sealed Siblings endings.