Nosk is a Boss in Hollow Knight. Bosses are special Enemies that feature their own arena, a large amount of health, and a variety of unique moves and abilities. You will need to perform multiple attacks such as using The Nail and Nail Arts along with the Spells and Abilities in order to defeat them. Some bosses are capable of entering into a state of stagger after landing a number of attacks on them.
As soon as you encounter a boss, its name will appear on the screen, the music will change into a boss battle theme, and usually, paths connecting the arena will close or will be blocked leaving you no choice but to face these devastating and unique foes.
Mimics the shape of other creatures to lure prey to its lair.
In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong.
Nosk Location
- First encounter: Deepnest
- The location of Nosk is hidden, so first, acquire Monarch Wings or Crystal Heart in order to reach the area. Directly left of the Hot Spring in Deepnest, there is a secret area where a Grub can be found, break the wall behind the Grub to discover a tunnel that leads into the lair of this shape-shifting creature.
- Second encounter in its Winged Form: Godhome
Nosk Rewards
Nosk Strategies
Strategy Writeup
Nosk is an unpredictable boss, as it is able to move fast within its lair and quickly mix up its attacks. First, let's identify which Charms you should have equipped. Quick Focus is a must in order for The Knight to use healing as quickly as possible in order to keep up with Nosk's pace. Thorns of Agony, this charm is helpful in terms of dealing chip damage, since most likely you will get hit by Nosk's fast attacks, executing a counter-attack for getting hit is a wise thing to do in order to be consistent with dealing damage. Quick Slash can also be used if you want to be aggressive and face this boss head-on, having this charm will allow you to land your basic attacks as fast and frequently as you can when the opportunity is available.
Now, there is a way for you to avoid some of its attacks. The arena has a middle platform where a wall from both directions can be found, however, at the left side of the middle platform, you will notice that the wall is higher compared to the right-hand side. If you hug the left side of the wall of the lower platform, you can avoid some of its attacks like the running and leap attack, but the eruption or rain of infection will not work here since it most likely covers the arena and tracks the movement of The Knight. Use this spot to avoid his running and leap attack as well as for healing. If you continue to hug the wall, you can also use the opportunity to strike upwards in order to land attacks while it runs in between the gap.
Be sure to upgrade your Mothwing Cloak ability to the Shade Cloak since 99.9% of the time you will need to phase through Nosk in order to evade its attacks. If the Shade Cloak is in cooldown, having Monarch Wings will also be helpful since you can jump high enough to evade it and also land a couple of downward strikes on top of Nosk. Take your time, watch its movement, upgrade your equipment, and utilize the spot in order to defeat this challenging boss.
Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Counter |
| Phase 1 | |
| Running Attack | Nosk begins this attack by standing tall and emitting a screech, followed by returning back to its hunching position to run in for a charged attack. Nosk will not stop if it hits The Knight or a wall since it will completely run around its arena, make sure to have Mothwing Cloak or better yet Shade Cloak in order to phase through it. |
| Eruption of Infection | Nosk will release blobs of infection near its feet and the rest across the arena. It will usually stop in the middle of the arena to perform this attack and while it executes the attack it is best to take cover using the gap or the wall that separates the middle platform and the rest of the arena. The blobs will remain in the arena for a short while and disperse afterward. |
| Leap Attack | Nosk will constantly leap around its lair up to 3 times as its way to move around and sometimes to jump in towards The Knight to deal damage. Keeping your distance and having the Mothwing Cloak or Shade Cloak ability will be helpful to dodge it in case it chases or decides to land on The Knight. |
| Barrage of Infection | This attack will have Nosk leap into the ceiling and will drop blobs of infection on The Knight. It takes about a second to drop one blob after the other and the Nosk will remain hidden for about 6 seconds. The only way to avoid damage from this attack is to watch the ceiling for its movement, dust will start to form on the ceiling to know where the blob will fall and where Nosk will eventually drop from. Run towards the opposite direction of where the blobs will drop and if you get cornered jump and dash away to get more space. |
Nosk Lore
Nosk is a shape-shifting creature who uses its ability to lure its victims into its lair. It can mimic the image or shape faces and contort its body into any shape of a bug from a memory of its victim. Nosk usually mimics the image of its victim's loved or departed ones in order to either kill or eat them - Nosk remains a mysterious foe and doesn't have any thoughts but only to kill.
Nosk... This thing is straight from the depths of Hell,,, Possibly the most horrifying boss, that’s for certain.... You know something very bad is about to happen when you suddenly see a twin of yourself mimicking you in a lower cavern, and then this demonic arachnoid stuffed full of Infection morphs out of the illusory copy he creates. I’ll give him points as a hardcore villain boss for the sheer nightmare-fuel that he is. So thankful when he was destroyed. But, yeah, Nosk is brutal and... really interesting as a HK boss. Hate to see all the poor lost Vessels he killed in his lair... Everything, literally everything and everyone that comes from Deepnest, is cursed and evil (in my opinion). They are dark-hearted, vicious rebels, after all.
- Anonymous
Moveset:
1. Occupy your character sprite.
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