Markoth

"Lingering dream of a fallen warrior. Only member of his forgotten tribe to take up a weapon. May your efforts lead you somewhere worthy."

- Markoth

Markoth is a Warrior Dream boss in Hollow Knight.

Lore Markoth was the only moth to carry a weapon besides Thistlewind. He went to Kingdom's Edge to seclude himself and meditate, hoping to uncover a truth long forgotten. Markoth fought any who would threaten him, regardless of their reasons. He eventually died, his remains never to be found, in a lone cave of Kingdom's Edge.

In-game events Markoth's ghost appears above his corpse after acquiring the Dream Nail. He sees the Knight as yet another meddling warrior and dares them to draw their Nail. Only after his first (and supposedly only) defeat, does Markoth notice the presence of his own corpse beside him, long forgotten. He claims that nothing ever had hold over him until the Knight. Through this, the ghost then sees the Knight as the darkness that has come to consume him, before shattering into 250 Essence to be collected by the Dream Nail.

Behaviour and Tactics
Markoth has three attacks in addition to being able to teleport: Healing during his Nail Barrage attack is quite difficult, as the Nails pass through the environment. Keep moving and get attacks in whenever the opportunity arises. The Nails stop homing in as soon as they begin to move and, combined with their somewhat slow travel speed, are relatively easy to dodge.
 * Dreamshield Summon: Markoth spawns a glowing shield that constantly orbits around him, blocking attacks and dealing contact damage. At 50% HP, he summons another shield that orbits directly opposite the previous one.
 * Nail Barrage: Markoth creates a Nail that aims in the Knight's direction for a moment before flying forward. He sends a Nail every 1-2 seconds. At 50% HP, his attack rate increases to sending a nail every 0.75-1.25 seconds.
 * Shield Cyclone: Markoth Spins his shield in an increasingly wider radius before retracting it. The second shield summoned at 50% HP is not affected by this attack and continues orbiting around him normally.

Shape of Unn is incredibly helpful, as it allows the Knight to dodge the Nail Barrage attack while healing.

Wall-sliding with the Mantis Claw and attacking with Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul is a good tactic as Markoth moves relatively slowly and has a large hitbox.

His Shield Cyclone attack is the best time to heal, as the shield has limited range. Alternatively, dashing into the circle when it widens leaves Markoth completely open to attacks until the shield retracts.

Location
In order to reach the location, the Shade Cloak is needed to bypass the Shade Gate before Markoth's room.

Trivia

 * The shield that Markoth uses is strikingly similar to the shield the Knight gains from the Dreamshield charm.

Маркот Markoth Markoth