Brooding Mawlek

Behavior and Tactics
The Brooding Mawlek uses the following attacks:


 * Slash: Brooding Mawlek will use its claws to perform a downward slash towards the Knight. They only use this attack if the Knight gets too close and will use it in conjunction with other attacks.
 * Spit: Brooding Mawlek will spit a blobs of infection in a parabolic arcs at regular intervals. These blobs fly towards whichever side of the arena the Knight happens to be standing on. This attack can happen in conjunction with the Slash Attack.
 * Leap: Brooding Mawlek leaps to the Knight's location, landing where the Knight was at the beginning of their leap. Then, they immediately follow that leap with a jump back to the center of the arena.
 * Vomit: Brooding Mawlek will shoot a multitude of blobs of infection in a parabolic arc simultaneously. These blobs fly towards whichever side of the arena the Knight happens to be standing on at the time.

Without reach enhancement Charms, it may retaliate when hit, so it is safest to hit it a few times, and dash away when it raises its claws. It's also possible to jump over the boss, downstriking it to get to the other side.

To dodge its jump, they player needs to run quickly in whichever direction they have space to move. This is also an opportunity to hit the Mawlek, which cannot spit or slash while in the air.

The projectiles from its Vomit attack has small safe spots, but they're quite tiny and hard to spot, so a much safer option is to jump over the Mawlek altogether when it uses this attack.

If the player has managed to obtain the Baldur Shell and Cyclone Slash, it's possible to chip away at the Mawlek's health with the edge of Cyclone Slash, and use the SOUL gained from the attack to heal safely inside the shell. While using the Baldur Shell, the Knight can also enter into the body of the Brooding Mawlek without taking the usual damage, allowing the Knight to heal while the Mawlek attacks.

When the Mawlek uses the Vomit attack, it is possible to safely dash over it with the Mothwing Cloak before the acid comes down.

Another Brooding Mawlek is fought as part of the Trial of Fools in the Colosseum of Fools, in a very tight area where dodging its attacks is much more difficult.

Location
Brooding Mawlek is found in the Forgotten Crossroads beyond a wall jump section in a blocked room to the left of the vertical shaft filled with Gruzzers and Crawlids. Defeating it rewards a Mask Shard.

Despite being "inaccessible" at the beginning, it is possible to reach by nail-jumping on the spikes with downward strikes. It is even possible to fight it in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Trivia

 * Due to the Hunter's notes on the Brooding Mawlek and the many Mawlek corpses that can be found in the room before and in the room Brooding Mawlek is confronted, it is suggested that Brooding Mawlek is the last Mawlek alive within its natural habitat, as one is kept in captivity in the Colosseum of Fools.
 * The Brooding Mawlek was the second mini-boss revealed in a Kickstarter update as an optional boss.

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