Hollow Knight – How to Beat Troupe Master and Nightmare King Grimm’s

A few tips to dodge Troupe Master and Nightmare King Grimm’s attacks while sneaking in a couple hits of your own.

Guide to Defeat TMG and NKG

Preparation

For both of the fights, my strategies involve double jump and shadow dash. These trivialize the fight if you know when to use them. You should also get as many mask shards as you can and upgrade your nail at least to channeled to ensure as easy a fight as possible. If you don’t know where the mask shards or all the pale ores are, look it up. Yeah, that’s it.

Troupe Master Grimm

The first fight is very hard at first, but very easy once you get the hang of it, like most bosses in Hollow Knight.

General advice: Stay in the middle of the room as much as you can, except for pufferfish attack. If you’re in the corner at any other part of the fight, you’re in big danger.

Fire bats: Time your movements with the sounds of him firing the bats. On the first bat, jump. The second, double jump. The third, dash. Then hit him once or twice before he teleports away.

Divey-zoomy-thingy: When Grimm appears in the air and dives towards you, jump. When he lunges at you, pogo on him. After this, dash away.

Punch and jump: When he lunges at you, shadow-dash through him. He can’t change direction during the attack, so you’re safe to hit him until he goes up and sends the fireballs. When that happens, just dodge them. They’re slow.

Floor spikes: This is an obvious healing attack. Calmly move to the side if a spike spawns on you and heal. If you don’t need to heal, shadow dash to Grimm and hit him.

Pufferfish: Go to the corner and jump to dodge the bullets as they come towards you. Also note that seeing this attack is a mark of progress. It will only happen three times, unless you disrespect him. 75% hp, 50%, and 25%. It’s a relatively easy attack and a good way to boost confidence if you’re unsure of how much damage you’ve dealt.

Stagger: If you need to heal, heal. If you don’t, hit the bat with the glowing eyes. Remember, unlike almost every other boss with a stagger mechanic, he doesn’t immediately unstagger upon being hit, so you can hit him as many times as you want. My personal record is five hits.

Nightmare King Grimm

Do not follow Brumm. He is a coward and not a gamer.

General advice: Once again, stay in the middle of the arena as much as you can. Being cornered is way worse in this, as NKG does double damage and leave fire trails.

Fire bats, again: Don’t follow the rhythm of the bats spawning. Instead, jump to full height on the first spawn, then shadow-dash through them. After this, immediately smack NKG.

Divey-zoomy-thing, again: Jump when he dives, and dash away immediately when he lunges. I’ve tried to pogo him during this attack, but it usually results in fallin in the fire trail.

Punch and jump, again: Dash through him, hit him, dodge the fireballs. It’s just the same but a little faster.

Floor spikes, again: NKG isn’t in the arena during this attack, so you either heal or do absolutely nothing.

Pufferfish, again: It’s the exact same, just do better because it’s double damage.

Stagger, again: Also the exact same.

Flame pillars: Move slowly. Every time a pillar starts to warn you, move just out of the area and towards Grimm. As soon as the last one fires, use Abyss Shriek to do a ton of damage to Grimm.

What Now?

Congratulations, you have a couple achievements and full custody of Grimm’s child. Now go, continue the game.