Knucklotec

"Where...ring...go? YOU take ring?!"

- Knucklotec

Knucklotec is the second boss of the Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. He is based off of the real-world heads, and has several similarities to Eyerok from Super Mario 64, due to both being ancient stone guardians found underground in deserts, having giant floating hands, and speaking in broken grammar. He is the guardian deity of the Sand Kingdom.

Knucklotec can be first found in the desert, with the top part of his head sticking out from the ground and his Multi Moon plainly visible. Mario can walk on top of him in this state and Ground Pound him, where he will twitch and sometimes make a growling sound.

He is encountered when Mario enters the sand flow directly beneath the Inverted Pyramid. When he appears, he is distraught over the loss of the kingdom's Binding Band, and presumes Mario to have stolen it. Along with Bowser's icy water attack, he is the cause of the ice in the Sand Kingdom, and when he is defeated all the ice melts away. Defeating him also creates a smaller sand flow where his head stuck out on the desert surface, leading straight down into the arena where he was fought which then becomes inhabited with Chinchos and a lone Coin Coffer.

In battle, Knucklotec slams his fists into the ground; if one of his fists hits a sheet of ice on the ground, he briefly writhes in pain. Mario must then capture one of the fists and use it to knock out Knucklotec while avoiding the ice shards he fires from his other fist. After being hit once, he will slide his fists across the battlefield one time; the fists travel parallel to each other. He will then slam his hands on the ground, causing icicles to fall down and bury halfway onto the ground. Mario must then repeat the process once more. During the third phase, his fist-slide attack is slightly faster, and he has an additional attack where his hands lock onto Mario before clapping together multiple times. After being defeated, Knucklotec will explode, releasing the Sand Kingdom's second Multi Moon.

In the rematch against him in Peach's Castle, many of Knucklotec's attacks create hordes of Chinchos, which also appear when the ice crystals fall after a hit is scored on the boss.

Trivia

 * When fighting Knucklotec subsequent times in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Multi Moon will appear to be uncollected when it's first revealed before showing to be a collected Multi Moon. This does not happen with any other boss in the game.