The Hand of the King

The Hand of the King is currently the second last of the seven bosses present in the game. He is found in the Throne Room.

Damage on a single hit is soft-capped at 15% of Hand of the King's maximum health.

First phase
In 1+ BSC, the Hand of the King goes straight to the second phase.

Second phase
Retains all the attacks from phase 1.

Third phase
Retains all the attacks from phase 1 and 2, but he will do his charge attack twice.

Defense

 * Has a shield that reduces the effect of projectiles from the front.
 * This shield is disabled while attacking.
 * Resists controlling effects such as freeze, frost slow, and stun (less freeze time, and less time slowed down). Does not affect other forms of DOT.
 * The does not slow it down at all.

Vulnerabilities

 * The arena is fairly tight and compact; Using this to your advantage you can:
 * Use weapons that constantly create DoT effects such as bleed stacks or poison clouds.
 * Use items like the and  to constantly chip away at him.
 * Use oil and fire grenades underneath him (as fire damage will stack quite considerably)
 * If he is ignited, the Oiled Sword can do high damage to him.

Viable Weapons/Skills

 * Grenades and AoE damage seem to allow for large damage numbers.
 * A shield can be used to parry the majority of his attacks.
 * Skills and weapons that repel grenades like the, , , or  can nullify his bomb flurry, and 6 reflected grenades can do decent damage.
 * The Parry shield and the Spite Mutation can improve this even further.
 * As he delivers blows rather quickly, the Vengeance mutation can work well with brutality builds, increasing your damage significantly against the boss while potentially cutting off a major part of his damage in his combos, especially if you can't parry them.

Strategy

 * can be very useful in dodging the boss' attacks. Also, in the case of some weapons, mashing the attack button in midair allows you to stay in midair for a couple of seconds. This helps you dodge the ground slam attacks (even without using the small platforms) as well as his two- and three-hit combos. This is demonstrated in this video
 * The can be useful to lock the boss in place for a short time, giving the chance to do considerable damage with other weapons.
 * The shield with its unique effect can help greatly in dealing with the boss' two- and three-hit combos. If you successfully parry the first hit of the combo, the barrier will protect you against the remaining hits and possibly other incoming damage in a few seconds.
 * Constantly be on the move in the air with jumps as a bunch of his attacks can be dodged by jumping over them. Incorporate rolls mid air along with continuous jumping and it can help to dodge faster attacks such as the ground slam.

Lore
A series of quotes while entering the Throne Room and the Guardian's Haven give some background about the Hand of the King:

Before entering the Guardian's Haven, it is explained that he and the Giant had a strong dislike towards each other, to the point they often disagreed on everything. Despite this, the one point they could agree on was that nobody liked the Alchemist.

"'The Giant didn't like the Hand of the King, and the Hand of the King didn't like the Giant. But they did agree on one point: nobody liked the Alchemist.'"

Furthermore, entering the Throne Room explains that very little is actually known about him, even questioning what he eats, if anything at all.

"'The Hand of the King has lived here as a recluse for a very long time... No one really knows what he eats.'"

Occasionally, a statue depicting the King alongside the Hand of the King can be found in Stilt Village.

"'Another statue of the King, accompanied by a guard... ...and a very big one, at that. A little too big, maybe?'"

Inside High Peak Castle, the Hand of the King’s quarters can be found, inside which a there are multiple beds.

"'The Hand is above the King's suspicion, which is more than I can say for the Giant... Though I secretly hope he's ok, we've not seen him in a while now.'"

HOTK doesn't have a special taste in food and it seems that anything edible is suitable for him. "'There's a strange taste to the food since the old cook was offed. The Hand doesn't seem to mind though, so I just hold my nose and dream of custard.'"

At the end of the room lies the Hand of the King's desk alongside a note.

"'The King is convinced of the existence of a plot against his life. While such a plot may have cause to exist, I've seen no evidence of it. Worse, the food hasn't been up to standard since he had the cook executed...'"

Additionally, a letter can be found next to the Hand of the King's bed.

"'The King came to my quarters to personally remove the portrait of the Giant and I together. I understand his frustration, but my men were rattled...'"