Knight Mare is the penultimate story boss in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, as well as the second most complicated boss in the campaign right after Dragon Lord. She has two phases, and most of her attacks are tricky to avoid and hit like seven separate trucks.
There are also additional mechanics that assist in the fight, but that also require specific timing to make best use of. We’ll go over all of Knight Mare’s attacks in this guide, but it’s up to you to dish out the damage.
How to Beat Knight Mare in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Knight Mare separates her three phases with periods of immunity, and while it is possible to deal enough damage to skip her final phase, odds are she’ll go immune at least twice during the fight.
The biggest boon you have in the encounter are the three Hex runes which both stun Knight Mare and force her out of immunity, but only during specific attacks. If she’s doing one of her spin moves while immune, for instance, neither effect goes off.
Phase One Attacks
Knight Mare’s first phase is pretty straightforward and lasts as long as her first health bar does. It’s primarily melee-focused, doesn’t move around as much as later phases, and is generally good for getting a feel for how much damage you deal and how she moves around the lower arena.
Attack 1: Ax Throw
Whenever you enter Knight Mare’s arena, her first attack is always to throw her large ax at you. The ax has no tracking, but if you move around before Knight Mare throws it, she’ll adjust the ax’s initial trajectory.
Move to either side ax’s arc to avoid it. When it lands, there is a small AoE, so you should move more than a simple sidestep to keep from taking damage before the fight even starts.
Attack 2: Ax Spin
Knight Mare winds up her ax and begins to spin toward you, doing her best to follow your movements as she spins. The ax reaches farther than it first appears, but Knight Mare can’t turn on a dime, so she’ll never hit you if you run at a right angle to how she’s spinning.
Attack 3: Fireball Rain
Knight Mare stands still and raises her head to the sky, then begins spewing a rain of fireballs in all directions. While they don’t target you directly, they do favor your direction, and enough go to either side of you that you’ll need to watch as you dodge them.
This attack is a prime opportunity to deal damage, as the fireballs don’t travel particularly far, and Knight Mare isn’t moving.
Phase 2 Attacks
She might only have two phases, but Knight Mare has more to offer once you deplete her first health bars. She retains all of her attacks from phase one and adds quite a few more.
There are additional immune phases here as well, so you’ll need to use the hex runes at the front, right, and left of the arena. They only have one use each, so plan your timing accordingly.
Attack 1: Portal Hop and Summon
One of Knight Mare’s favorite starters, she’ll turn into a blue spirit skeleton and open a portal over her head. She then teleports to the top of the hex rune columns. In this portal hop attack, she summons a line of blue Butt Stallion spirits.
These spirits are indestructible and will chunk your health something fierce if you aren’t crouched in the lower section of the arena. Even then, they might clip you.
Attack 2: Portal Hop and Energy Rain
Whether on the column or the ground, Knight Mare teleports to another column and begins spewing energy balls much like the fireball rain in her first phase.
The energy does have some light tracking, so you’ll need to be more proactive as you dodge them. Knight Mare sends out more energy than she does fire, so watch out for that as well.
Attack 3: Portal Hop and Big Sword
After teleporting, Knight Mare will summon a comically oversized sword and swing it down vertically, aimed directly at your head. The sword deals an unreasonable amount of damage at higher difficulties.
The attack will track you until shortly before the swing connects, making the dodge timing incredibly tight, so you’re liable to tank at least one hit from it.
Attack 4: Grounded Big Sword
Eventually, Knight Mare will return to the arena proper and teleport to either end of it. This attack sees her summon her big sword again and swing it horizontally.
Again, the easiest way to dodge this is to be in the lower section of the arena and duck beneath it. You can also out-space it by running to the other end of the room, but that might pose a problem if you’re too close to Knight Mare.
Attack 5: Energy Mist
Any energy attack that Knight Mare uses in the second phase leaves behind a lingering blue energy mist that deals with heavy DoT damage. The fog covers the entire arena and stays around for several seconds.
The best way to avoid this is to crouch in the lower area, but that’s not foolproof, especially if you’re not near the center.
Attack 6: Spinning with Energy Rain
Knight Mare uses the same spin move from her first phase but couples it with the blue energy rain from Attack 2. She’s neither faster nor can she turn any more effectively, but the rain puts up a no-go zone beyond where her ax is, so put a little more space between the two of you than you would for a standard spinning attack.
Those are all the attacks Knight Mare can use in her boss fight, standard melee swings notwithstanding. She’s a tanky one and rather deadly to the unprepared, but that befits a boss near the end of the game. If it’s your first time fighting her, you probably won’t have many Legendary weapons, so check out our guide to the best non-Legendary weapons in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
Our Wonderlands guides hub has more content, so head there next.
