Mantis Lords

The Mantis Lords stand as the boss encounter you face in the Mantis Village in Hollow Knight. This walkthrough covers how to beat the Mantis Lords in Hollow Knight, including how to reach them and strategies you can use to win and earn the respect of all Mantis kind.

• How to Find the Mantis Lords
• How to Defeat the Mantis Lords Boss
  • Phase One
  • Phase Two
• Gain Respect from the Warrior Tribe
• How to Get the Mantis Lords' Treasure

To learn how to obtain the variousCollectiblesHollow Knight has to offer, visit our pages onCharms,Spells,Mask Shards, and more.

How to Find the Mantis Lords in Hollow Knight - Location

The Mantis Lords are a multi-phase, multi-enemy boss encounter located in the southernmost part of the Fungal Wastes region in a chamber below the Mantis Village. You must first acquire the Mantis Claw ability and use it to unlock a massive hatch on the floor of the village to access the encounter.

Go To Map

Hallownest Map

The Mantis Lords represent a significant difficulty hurdle when engaged early in the game, especially when first traveling through the Fungal Wastes. But with the right combination of Charms, proper spacing, and a familiarity with their attacks, they can be defeated.

IGN Staff Tip: Meg Koepp, Guides Editor

Before beginning the Mantis Lords fight, head to the left side of the arena where the door is. Jump up onto the wall above the door and wall jump up to the ceiling using the Mantis Claw.

Once you reach the ceiling, attack the wall a few times where it meets the ceiling, and you'll break into a small room.

Here, you'll find a Lifeblood Cocoon, which you can smash to get two additional temporary health points.

Meg is a Guides Editor on the IGN Game Help team. She's a recent Hollow Knight fan, but can't put it down and loves the challenge. Meg is an expert on JRPGs, though she enjoys a good Metroidvania from time to time. You can see more of Meg's work on her IGN author page.

How to Beat the Mantis Lords in Hollow Knight

The Mantis Lords employ only three attacks, and each can be countered. For the first section of the fight, you'll only engage with one of the three Mantis Lords. Use this phase to learn and become familiar with the attacks and how they can be countered.

Take care of the spike traps in the arena. Both sides of the battleground are comprised of small floor traps with deadly spikes. Keep these in mind when maneuvering around the arena.

Phase One

The first move the Mantis Lords can use is an aerial attack that begins when the boss appears in the air and quickly stabs downwards with their lance, ending when the Mantis Lord reaches the ground. They will then linger for a moment before vanishing and launching another attack.

To counter this attack, sidestep or dash out of the way, then slash the Mantis Lord. You may only get one attack in, but this is a battle of attrition, so each strike or spell counts.

If you can avoid this attack early enough, this provides an excellent opportunity to heal, especially if you have theQuick Focus Charmequipped.

The second attack is a grounded lunging attack. The Mantis Lord will appear on one side of the arena, ready an attack, then dash to the other side of the arena, lingering a moment before vanishing.

To counter this attack, jump while the boss is dashing and slash down when you are above them. If timing the strike is proving challenging, jump slightly as they dash and land beside them. Attack the foe before they vanish again.

The final attack is an area-denial attack. Here, the Mantis Lord hurls an energy attack that slowly zig-zags over the screen. It can start low before crossing the arena and returning at an upward angle, or begin high before crossing the arena and returning at a downward angle.

To counter this attack, you can duck under the high projectile or jump and dash over the low projectile. Next, you can either close the gap and slash with the Nail or cast Vengeful Spirit while in the air. You can also just avoid the attack by jumping over it. If you're concerned about falling onto the attack, use Nail Jump to bounce off of it.

If you find yourself with an excess of Soul during this phase and don't need healing, cast Vengeful Spirit. The spell is best used during the boss' boomerang attack, when it is most difficult to land hits with the Nail. Otherwise, save your Soul for the far more challenging second phase.

After you defeat the first of the Mantis Lords, they will withdraw, and the encounter will enter Phase Two, where things become much more challenging.

Phase Two

In the second phase of the fight, the remaining two Mantis Lords enter the arena. While they use all of the same attacks from the first phase, you'll now need to move more quickly to avoid twice the attacks.

Attacks come in rapid succession and you'll need to dash more often than sidestep attacks to avoid taking damage (due to potential follow-up attacks by the other Lord). You may have to strike only one Mantis Lord at a time to avoid damage from the other, and that's okay.

Remember, this is a battle won by patience. They do not share a health pool; focusing on one Mantis Lord to remove it from play quickly is a viable strategy to regain control over the fight. Once one of the Lords is dealt with, the battle will be reminiscent of Phase One.

For the most part, you can use the same aforementioned strategies for the Lords' weapon attacks. The only attack that needs to be dealt with differently is the double boomerang attack.

During this attack, both bosses launch identical, mirrored attacks, which will deny the player access to a large swath of the screen real estate. If the attack begins high, quickly run to the right, pause as the attacks reach the center of the screen, then jump and dash towards the center of the screen to avoid damage.

If the attacks begin low, go to the middle of the screen, then jump and dash left or right to avoid damage.

Note: If you have mastered avoiding attacks and are looking for ways to increase your damage output, wait until both Mantis Lords are on the ground (such as after lunging/aerial attacks), then cast Vengeful Spirit. Since the spell travels through enemies, you'll deal double damage for the price of one cast.

Gain Respect from the Warrior Tribe

Once you've defeated the Mantis Lords, you'll gain the respect of the tribe, and Mantis enemies in the area will no longer attack you. You will also gain access to the Mantis Village treasure stores, accessible from the upper right exit.

Mantis Lords DefeatedWarning: Left of the Mantis Lords' lair isDeepnest, a challenging, dangerous location in Hollow Knight. You should save the location for later when you're stronger and better prepared. It's not for the feint of heart.

How to Get the Mantis Lords' Treasure - All Rewards

You will have access to the Mantis Lords' treasure room after they admit defeat. The newly unlocked area includes a significant hoard of Geo, a Bench, and the powerful Mark of Pride Charm as a reward for defeating the Mantis Lords.

To find it, leave the boss arena by using the Mantis Claw to scale the wall of the room on the right side. Ascend to the area above. Search for a small, floating platform near the bottom of the room, across from an entrance to the right. The platform should have a Mantis Youth attached to its bottom. Look for the entrance next to a spear decorated with two masks.

Drop into the room below, pass the Mantis Warrior, and ascend the shaft behind it on the right side. Enter the doorway on the right at the top.

Inside is the Mantis Lords' treasure room. Use the Mantis Claw to clamber up walls and dodge spikes to discover three chests. The chest at the center of the room contains the Mark of Pride Charm.

Above it, near the rafters, is a chest with a Hallownest Seal. Hop off the ledge to the right of the chest with the seal and enter the doorway on the right side of the shaft for a chest with Geo.

Mark of Pride

Your next destination in Hollow Knight after defeating the Mantis Lords here is the City of Tears, waiting at the center of the fallen kingdom.

Up Next: Into The City Of Tears

PreviousMantis VillageNextInto The City Of Tears

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Initial Release: Feb 24, 2017

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