Great Nailsage Sly

The Great Nailsage Sly is a quest boss in Hollow Knight introduced in Godmaster. He sits at the top of the Pantheon of the Sage in Godhome.

Phase 1

 * Triple Slash: Sly will slash forward with his nail twice, before spinning his nail circularly around his body like a saw blade and jumping high into the air. He is briefly vulnerable after landing back on the ground. Sly will not do the spinning portion of the attack if the Knight is too far away. He can change direction to do the second slash if the Knight's position is behind him for the second slash.


 * Nail Slam: Sly will jump into the air and slam his nail into the ground. Upon landing, he will swing his nail in an arc above his head. He is briefly vulnerable after the swing. Sly will not do the swinging portion of the attack if the Knight is too far away.


 * Great Slash: Sly will stand in place and charge the Great Slash nail art, telegraphed by white particles floating towards him. When released, Sly will perform a large slash that can potentially hit the Knight even if they are behind Sly. He is briefly vulnerable after the slash. This attack does two masks of damage. Jumping over him or passing through him using Shade Cloak while he charges the Great Slash attack causes him to backstep and cancels the attack.


 * Dash Slash: Sly will jump to the far end of the arena and charge the Dash Slash nail art, telegraphed by white particles floating towards him. When released, Sly's dash covers nearly the entire arena, but the slash itself will only occur towards the end of his dash. The slash has roughly the same horizontal range as his Great Slash attack but less vertical range. He is briefly vulnerable after the slash.


 * Cyclone Slash: Sly will jump into the air and hover in the very centre of the arena, charging the Cyclone Slash nail art, telegraphed by white particles floating towards him. When released, Sly will fall slowly to the ground towards the Knight while spinning his nail horizontally around him, before rising back up again. Sly is briefly vulnerable after landing on the ground after the attack.


 * Sprint: Sly will run towards the Knight when they are too far away to perform an attack.

Phase 2

 * Frenzy: Sly begins dashing quickly between the walls, floor, and ceiling. When close to the Knight, he will stop in midair and spin his nail circularly around him like a saw blade, moving a very short distance towards the Knight.

Great Nailsage Sly is the final boss of the Pantheon of the Sage, the third of five pantheons. He is significantly more agile than most of the other bosses in the game and can be a great challenge in terms of melee. Healing will also be a challenge as Sly moves and attacks incredibly quickly, leaving little to no time to recover even with Quick Focus on, so it is advised to heal only when Sly is stunned or transitioning to phase 2.

Nail jumping on him during the Cyclone Slash attack is a difficult, but effective way to dodge this attack, however it is recommended for the player to simply keep their distance.

For the Frenzy attack, he is very briefly vulnerable after the spin. It is recommended to dash away once he does the spin and strike at him once after the spin. While waiting for Sly to strike it is also viable to charge up a Nail Art, and using Great Slash or Dash Slash at the moment Sly finishes spinning. Repeat this enough times, and the fight will be over. His large nail and small hitbox, combined with his high speed in this phase, make him a very hard boss to hit, so Mark of Pride and Longnail are extremely useful.

Trivia

 * In the Nintendo Switch reveal trailer, Sly's arena had a more light yellow background like Paintmaster Sheo and Brothers Oro &amp; Mato, opposed to the darker background the arena has in the final version.


 * Sly seems to be using the Nailmaster's Glory during the battle, as his Nail Arts only take half of a second to charge, unlike the Nailmasters who take about 2 seconds to charge. Sly himself is also the one who grants the charm in the main game.

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