Trial of the Warrior | Hollow Knight Wiki

Full Trial of the Warrior Walkthrough

Enlist in the Trials

To enlist in the trials, you would first need to rescue Zote the Mighty. Upon rescuing him, head towards the Colosseum of Fools, which is located at the northeast side of Kingdom's Edge. Once you reach the Colosseum, you'll get to meet Little Fool, the colosseum's warden. He'll be the one to explain to you the rules and regulations of the upcoming trials once you enlist in them. You would then need to pay 100 Geo for the entry fee. After that, head right and enter the arena.

Fight your way through waves of enemies

For the Trial of the Warrior, it will consist of a total of 11 waves before fighting the final boss, Zote the Mighty. These trials will get harder as they progress and it can be difficult, so knowing what comes next may be extremely helpful when it comes to fighting your way through these trials.

The first wave is of course, the easiest. You'll first encounter a Shielded Fool, followed by two more afterwards. These are not the toughest of enemies so you should be able to handle them just fine, slash and nail-jump on them to get around their shields. After defeating the rest of the Shielded Fools, two Sharp Baldurs will then spawn. They're also pretty easy to deal with since all they do is roll towards their target.

After defeating the two Sharp Baldurs, the second wave will begin, you'll notice five platforms will rise up and appear within the arena, along with the five Sharp Baldurs that will spawn. The baldurs will spawn at the same time with the platforms that will rise up from the ground, meaning they can just roll towards you from above and land on your head. Try to evade and watch your head and take them out one by one. You can try to bait one or two baldurs at a time, since the ones at the higher platforms won't move until you get close enough to them.

Once you've cleared out the room, the platforms will disappear and the arena will revert back to its original state. Now the third wave will begin, and this time you'll be fighting some Sturdy Fools. One Sturdy Fool will spawn first, followed by two more afterwards. Nail-jump attacks aren't the best idea for this type of enemy, since they can throw projectiles in an upward arc. But they're not as tough as the previous enemies you've encountered, so you can treat them like normal enemies, just watch out for their projectiles and slash away.

After defeating the Sturdy Fools, the fourth wave will begin. You'll notice three platforms will appear and rise up. Two Primal Aspids will spawn, this type of enemy is annoying to deal with, since it will keep its distance by flying around, making it hard for you to reach it with your attacks, it will also keep you in check by firing three blobs of acid at the same time in a spread-like pattern. These make them very dangerous when they are grouped together or with other types of enemies. The tactic here is to try and move between the spaces where you see a gap when that start shooting their projectiles and try to separate them, this way, you won't need to dodge both of their attacks at the same time. Then try taking them out one at a time. Try using the platforms to create space and distance between you and the Primal Aspids.

Once you've finished the fourth wave, two more Primal Aspids will spawn, and two more platforms will appear, along with spikes rising out from the floor. These spikes will last for a few more waves. Now the fifth wave will begin. This is just like the previous wave, but you'd have to maneuver your way and keep jumping, dodging, and dashing while trying to take out the Primal Aspids. Try using the extra platforms provided to get around the room to avoid the projectiles being spat by the Primal Aspids, as well as keeping yourself off the ground to avoid getting hit by the spikes.

For the sixth wave, the platforms from the previous waves will disappear, but a wide platform will appear in the middle, along with two small platforms appearing on both sides. The spikes will still stay on the ground for this wave. Sturdy Fools will spawn on each platform. Try and take them out one at a time, the first two will spawn on the platforms up on both sides, defeat either one of them first. The next one will spawn in the middle, try taking that down second. Then take out the last remaining Sturdy Fool.

After defeating them, the seventh wave will now begin. The previous platforms will be rearranged and you'll have three wide platforms stacked up vertically. Two Primal Aspids will spawn, followed by two Sharp Baldurs afterwards. Try taking out the Primal Aspids first, then proceed in dealing with the Sharp Baldurs. Don't hang around in the middle of the platforms, as you might get caught in between multiple attacks at the same time. Try to keep yourself at the edge of whatever platform you're standing on so you can quickly jump and maneuver your way in dodging attacks if you need to.

For the eighth wave, the platforms will retract, leaving you with a medium-sized platform in the middle. Four Vengeflies will spawn, you can easily take them out with just a single slash. After defeating all four of them, a Vengefly King will spawn. It will charge towards you and spawn more Vengeflies. Whenever it charges towards you, jump over it and try nail-jumping on its head, then perform a slash afterwards. Doing this a couple times should get you over with this pretty quickly.

After defeating the Vengefly King, the spikes on the ground will finally go away, the arena will revert back to its original state, and the ninth wave will begin. For this wave, you'll be facing enemies you've faced previously, including Shielded Fools, Sturdy Fools, Primal Aspids, and a Sharp Baldur. Defeating an enemy will immediately spawn the next one, remember to take out the Primal Aspids first, as their projectiles can be annoying to deal with. Proceed to take out the rest of the enemies to move on to the next wave.

For the tenth wave, the ceiling will start to drop down, meaning you won't be able to jump over your enemies anymore. Three Sharp Baldurs will spawn one by one, try taking them out as soon as they come out of their capsules to prevent them from attacking you at the same time from both sides. This wave should still be pretty easy.

For the eleventh wave, the ceiling will rise up a bit, it will still restrict your movements but it will give you space to jump around and maneuver the arena. This time, Volatile Gruzzers will spawn. These can be annoying to deal with since they drop bits of goo that can harm you as they move around. After killing them, they'll drop down on the ground, then their bodies will begin to shake and explode, dealing damage upon contact. Try to get some distance after killing one of them to avoid damage from the explosion. After defeating the Volatile Gruzzers, two Gruz Mothers will appear. This type of enemy will hover around the arena and start charging towards you, they will occasionally slam towards the ground as well. Since your space is limited due to the lowered ceiling, their attacks can be hard to dodge. Try fighting them one at a time and avoid the ground slam attacks if possible.

Now the final challenge for this trial is fighting Zote the Mighty. Assuming you've already saved him from Deepnest, you'll be facing off against him for the final challenge. This boss fight is surprisingly easy, as he will just run towards you as he flails his weapon, you can easily dodge this and proceed to attack him head on, no real strategy or tactic needed. Once you beat him the first time, he won't be appearing anymore if you decide to repeat the Trial of the Warrior again sometime soon. Completing this trial grants you access to enlist in the next trial and rewards you with 900 Geo, 1x Charm Notch, and the Warrior Trophy/Achievement. Replaying this trial will reward you with 1000 Geo.

Video

[video goes here]

Map

[map goes here]

Trivia & Notes: