How to beat the Mock Moon boss in Mina the Hollower

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Where to find the Mock Moon boss in Mina the Hollower

The Mock Moon boss calls a little corner of Nox's Bayou home, though it's easy to miss the path to it if you're not scouring the screen for every detail. When you first enter the Big Lagoon, you'll see a little tunnel to your left. You'll need to time your jumps with the moving lily pads to reach it. If you're having trouble, we recommend grabbing the Steady Soles trinket, which can be found in the chest overlooking the plaza fountain in Ossex, because it removes movement penalties from different terrains like water.

Anyway, that route leads you to the Moonlit Path. Go to the bottom of the area first, and unfurl the rope to make a shortcut back to the Boat Bog Underlab. It's a much more convenient run back route to the boss. Then, make your way up the river. You'll notice the moon's reflection getting a bit sinister as you move forward, but it's just for atmosphere. The boss won't ambush you on this screen.

The fight begins once you move up to the next screen.

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How to prep for the Mock Moon boss in Mina the Hollower

Before you take on the Mock Moon boss, we recommend leveling up your attack and defense to at least level five or higher. As for trinkets, some good options are:

• Evasion Powder: Makes you invulnerable for a moment after exiting a burrow and for longer after taking damage. Found in a chest in Backwater, but you need Pinky's ladder to reach it.
• Polyp Lamp: Reduces damage taken in the dark. Purchased from Brac in the hide tent on Bone Rush Trail in Bone Beach.
• Twill Weave: Raises defense by one level. Found in a chest at the start of Nox's Bayou.
• Lace Glove: Raises attack by one level. Acquired after defeating the rabbit monster that two kids from Ossex are hunting.

Most sidearms are helpful during this fight, except the Void Hatchet and Gyro Dagger, since they have very precise aiming requirements. For weapons, the Blaststrike Maul is a safe bet for dealing a lot of damage fast, though the Battery Buster or Nightstar give you extra space to attack from a distance.

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How to beat the Mock Moon boss in Mina the Hollower

Mock Moon has two phases, with a change in the environment during the second phase. Don't break the candelabra in the corners if you can help it. You'll need them later.

In the first phase, you can expect these attacks:

• Just floating around: The Mock Moon spends a lot of time just hovering around the screen, which is still dangerous, since touching it will make Mina take damage.
• Quick dash: The Mock Moon vanishes into the bayou for a couple of seconds, before popping back up and dashing across the screen. It won't change direction, so you can burrow away from, or behind it to evade the attack.
• Explosions: The Mock Moon causes little explosions across the screen. Small circles indicate where the explosion will happen, and it takes about a second between their appearance and the detonation. Later in the fight, it frequently creates lines of explosions that cover the entire screen with about half a second between each line exploding. That's not much time, but it's just enough for you to move from a line that's about to explode to the safe space where one just exploded.
• Moon slam: It rises into the air for a moment and slams down where you are. Burrow or move away to avoid it.
• Moon slam plus explosion: Same as the standard slamming attack, but it also creates a small ring of explosions that detonate simultaneously. Burrow away from the impact spot for this one.

As the Mock Moon's health drops to the critical stage (when the bar becomes red), it'll start to glow, and the arena becomes dark — hence why leaving the candles lit is a good idea. It uses the same attacks in this phase, but executes them more quickly.

While you don't get anything just for defeating the Mock Moon boss, the next screen does contain two things. One is the Iron Lung trinket, which lets you stay underground while burrowing for a little longer. The other is a mirror location. You'll need to go through at least three mirrors and activate the switches on the other side to reach the Astral Orrery later in the game, so if you haven't done that already, make sure to go through this one and whack the switch.