I’ve already discussed the act 1 bosses of the super difficult Metroidvania, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and today, I’ll be ranking those found in act 2.  While technically tougher, I often found these bosses to be less of a problem simply because the game is more open in act 2, allowing for more freedom to obtain upgrades, like the super useful cogflies, to make battles just a bit more manageable.  Like last time, I’ll also be including tips whenever possible because I’m kind like that.

15: Huge Flea – This giant flea can be found in the Memorium, but unlike its far smaller brethren, this one is aggressive and will charge at you.  Fortunately, this boss is very easy, as you can simply hide in the lower section of the room where it can’t reach, then slash it from below.  You may need to lure it down, but this was one of the easiest bosses in the game, which is always welcome!  Frankly, I’m not even sure it should be considered a boss…

14: Voltvyrm – This boss can be found in the Voltnest at the top of Sands of Karak.  It’s a pretty short battle against a foe that pops out of different spots in the ceiling.  As you fight, you’ll need to avoid electrical orbs that appear and pillars of electricity, as well.  The orbs are generally easy to avoid, except when they appear all along the floor, as I usually jumped too high when trying to avoid them and hit the electrified ceiling.  (So, well, just don’t jump as high!)  For the pillars, you’ll need to dash out of the way before they strike.  This battle looks more intimidating than it really is.

13: Cogwork Dancers – Easily the best battle in the game, these two dancing clockwork bugs move in unison, but fortunately, there are lines showing where they’re going to move next, making the fight much more manageable.  Just stay out of the center when they meet in the middle and make sure you’re quick to move to a safe spot when a bunch of lines appear all over the screen.  This fight has four phases, an initial slower phase, followed by a faster one.  And then phase 3 has them moving out of sync, which I think might actually be easier.  This is when I started tossing out a lot of my projectiles and tacks.  Lastly, one Dancer remains for one final phase, where it dances slowly all by itself.  I kind of felt bad at this point…

12: Second Sentinel – This boss can be found in the High Halls as part of a side quest.  The fight is pretty short, and he doesn’t really unleash any new attacks in later phases.  Mainly, it’s just a fast-paced sword fight where he can lunge at you, jump, or use this attack that makes a big X across the screen.  You need to be quick, but in general, this shouldn’t pose too much trouble.

11: Broodmother – This boss can be found in the Slab and is fought as part of a side quest.  After summoning a few enemies, you’ll fight the Broodmother herself, who has babies throughout the fight (talk about multitasking!), but they’re very easy to beat.  She can fly around, throw her whole body at you (pogo her!), and she can bounce around the stage in later phases in a manner similar to Gruz Mother from the first game.  The fight itself isn’t that hard.  It’s more the cramped nature of the room that caused me trouble.

10: Forebrothers Signis and Gron – I’m not even sure if this pair of foes in Deep Docks is really that difficult.  They’re more just…boring.  Signis appears first and mainly throws his weapon at you.  Sometimes he’ll also swing at you, and you’ll need to double jump over him.  He also summons enemies on occasion, but I defeated them pretty easily with Rune Rage (of course, you may not have this…but they’re still not that bad, otherwise).  Later on, Gron will show up, and he mainly just jumps and throws his spear at you.  This gives you one more thing to focus on, sure, but his presence isn’t as annoying as you’d think.  Once Signis dies, lava will start falling at the center of the arena in intervals, so watch for that.  I mainly dropped a bunch of poison tacks and let those take care of Gron for me.  Probably the worst thing for me was getting knocked into the lava falling on either side of the stage, but things seemed to go better once I equipped the Weighted Belt.

9: Lace (Part 2) – Towards the end of Act 2, you’ll have your second battle with Lace.  She is much faster, but I started doing better when I stopped being aggressive and just reacted to her attacks.  If she holds her weapon forward, she’ll dash at you, so jump and pogo her.  If she holds her weapon at an angle, she’s going to jump and then dash down towards you.  Again, I would dodge, then pogo.  Sometimes, she would keep jumping and dashing at me back and forth across the arena, and I would just keep pogoing her and switching sides for easy damage.  Later, she leaves behind these circular areas that will damage you when she jumps, but just stay in front of her, and they won’t come near you.  And towards the end, she’ll use the same attack from her first fight where she slashes wildly within a circular area.  So just avoid standing too close, and you’ll be fine.  This battle is more intimidating than it looks.

8: Raging Conchfly – Remember the pair of Great Conchflies from act 1?  Well, towards the end of Sands of Karak, you’ll encounter the survivor of that encounter, who is none too pleased after you defeated its pal.  This one will be even more aggressive and even summon some of its babies later on.  The worst part for me was dodging the projectiles that bounce around the stage, but once I got better at that, the battle started to go smoother.  Another tricky part is when the babies speed at you horizontally one by one, followed by the parent.  Just focus on jumping over the lower ones, then jump and pogo the big one after.

7: Disgraced Chef Lugoli – The main gimmick of this optional boss in Sinner’s Road can become a bit trivialized if you come equipped with the Wreath of Purity.  That’s because this guy will send blobs of muckroaches at you, which can infect you and steal your silk unless you have the Wreath equipped, in which case you can take three hits, I believe, before you’re infected.  You’ll still want to dodge these nasty gooey blobs because they will still damage you even if you don’t get infected, and he can launch himself at you butt-first.  Just stay calm, avoid the blobs, and avoid his butt, and this one’s not as bad as I had initially thought.

6: Father of the Flame – This boss in Wisp Thicket initially seemed impossible to me.  You need to pogo up to four lanterns and destroy them while avoiding flames.  The flames can’t be defeated, and the lanterns don’t give you silk, so healing is extremely limited.  I learned that it’s best to destroy the top two lanterns first, as he’ll summon more flames after the first two are gone, meaning you’d be better off destroying the more difficult lanterns first.  I had some pretty good luck pogoing off of one of the top lanterns, then dashing to the side and pogoing the next  Alternating in this manner kept me in the air and made me just a bit harder for the flames to hit.  Once all lanterns are gone, he’ll send out tons of flames from his core.  Just dodge those while throwing out Voltvessels underneath his weak spot (where the flames come from), and he should go down soon after.

5: Groal the Great – The worst part of this boss is the runback, which involves some very precise platforming.  There is a secret bench that makes the whole trek easier, but it doesn’t prevent all of my issues.  Anyway, as for the boss, you will fight a few waves of enemies, which aren’t too bad, and if you stand on one of the ledges near the side, you won’t get hit by the spiked balls that swing by on occasion.  Once the boss shows up, I read that you can avoid most of the attacks by staying down near the water in the corner.  This means getting infected by muckmaggots and being unable to heal, but I just used cogflies and voltvessels (the latter of which also sent electricity horizontally, as well, likely because of the water), then left my hiding spot a few times for a slash or two when my long-range weapons ran out.  This way, I avoided most attacks, and I was even safe from the summoned minions, who usually got killed by swinging spike balls.

4: Trobbio – This butterfly’s boss fight is, as described on the internet, sensory overload.  This guy can create fireworks, throw smoke bombs, send out tornadoes, and in the later portion of the fight, he can also have spurts of smoke come up from the stage.  The battle is fast-paced and hectic, and there is just so much going on that it’s hard to make sense of it all.  Fortunately, he’s not as bad as some other hectic battles because, at the very least, the battle arena is fairly large and not nearly as cramped as some bosses that come later.

3: Unravelled – This bizarre monstrosity can be found in a pit in Whiteward, which is unlocked with a key.  Between rounds, you’ll need to fight a few enemies, but fortunately, the boss won’t appear when you’re dealing with them.  The boss has a few moves, which aren’t too bad to dodge.  A trick I learned was to stand in the middle, then jump to the wall where it’s about to appear.  This way, you will be completely safe when the boss shoots out projectiles.  And, if you’re low enough, you might even be able to slash it in the back a few times, though this usually didn’t work out.  Then, if the boss charges, run after it and attack it in the back.  Later, spears will be added to the battle, so you’ll need to utilize the same method, more or less, while staying on your toes and also watching out for when it pops up from the middle.  The first half of the battle is pretty easy, while the latter half is very hectic!

2: Grand Mother Silk – The “final” boss of the game is challenging, but not the worst thing I’ve encountered thus far (though I would say she’s tougher than the Hollow Knight final boss from the first game).  Silk will send needles your way (a single jump and a dash is usually sufficient for the horizontal ones), and you’ll need to be on the look out for when she slashes across the arena.  One of the worst attacks is when she covers the whole screen with silk.  You’ll need to stand in the empty spots, or else you’ll get caught in her silk and get attacked.  This isn’t hard at first, but later on, she’ll do this twice in quick succession, which overlap each other.  I did learn to avoid it, however, by dodging the first set of silk, then maneuvering carefully to avoid the second set just before the attack occurs (my point is, you don’t need to avoid both sets simultaneously).  Lastly, later phases have falling rocks and spikes popping up from the ground.  These aren’t too bad, but they do narrow down the playing field a bit when they occur.  There are at least three outcomes you can get in this battle, but I simply settled for initiating act 3…

1: First Sinner – This battle located in the Slab is quite similar to the Widow fight, complete with a fakeout death at the end!  The fight is very fast-paced, and you’ll be dodging needles and the boss’s own slashing attacks.  You’ll need to be very quick and aggressive for this fight, as getting near the boss can be tough because of how fast she is.  Plus, she will attempt to heal, so you’ll need to be quick about attacking her before she can complete the process.  Later on, she also gets an attack that fills much of the screen with these damaging circles, so…just be on your toes, is all I can say.  This fight was pretty fun, but also pretty dang hectic!  Just stay calm and you’ll get through it…eventually.