L. Knuckle (エル・ナックル Eru ・ Nakkuru) and R. Knuckle (アール・ナックル Āru ・ Nakkuru) are two giant knuckle bosses from Mega Man V fought in the Wily Star after the rematches, as the first of the final gauntlet of bosses.
Mega Man V[]
Attack pattern[]
Mega Man first fights against the left knuckle, which appears from the right. The L. Knuckle spends most of the fight trying to move into position above Mega Man. After 4 seconds go by, the L. Knuckle slams down to crush Mega Man for massive damage. Doing so not only shakes the floor a bit, but it also reveals a pair of eyes just above the fist. These eyes stay open for about 2 seconds, being the boss's weak point. After that time frame, the L. Knuckle will return to the ceiling and repeat the pattern.
After the L. Knuckle's defeat, the right knuckle comes in from the left to continue the fight. By comparison, the R. Knuckle is much faster in tracking Mega Man from above, and punches down after 3 seconds instead of 4. The pair of eyes also stays open for 1 second before the fist recoils. However, rather than returning to the ceiling right away, the R. Knuckle moves up just above the ground to do some new attacks. When it gets into position, the pair of eyes fires a slow homing missile to distract Mega Man for a bit. The R. Knuckle then opens its hand and slowly moves in Mega Man's direction in hopes of catching him (its eyes are open during this time). All Mega Man has to do is slide under the hand, which avoids getting grabbed. If Mega Man does get grabbed, however, he will be picked up to the middle of the screen, and then dropped to the floor so he can be punched more easily. Despite this, Mega Man can actually move out of the way after he gets dropped, just in time before he can get punched. Regardless of whether Mega Man was grabbed or not, the R. Knuckle will return to the ceiling and repeat the pattern.
Weaknesses[]
Both knuckles share the same damage table, and they are weak to Salt Water. Salt Water does 3 damage with each attack and will defeat one knuckle in 7 hits. This will not be enough to defeat both knuckles because Salt Water uses 2 ammo at a time, unless Mega Man got the Power Generator item which universally halves ammo consumption of all weapons (it is acquired by getting all four Energy Crystals and bringing them back to Dr. Light). The knuckles have secondary weaknesses to Grab Buster and Photon Missile, which do 2 damage each allow the former to recover some health for Mega Man. As with most bosses, the L. Knuckle and R. Knuckle take 3 damage from the Mega Arm.
Damage Data Chart[]
Mega Man V[] | |||||||||||
Mega Buster/Arm | Grab Buster | Bubble Bomb | Photon Missile | Electric Shock | Black Hole | Deep Digger | Break Dash | Salt Water | Spark Chaser | Tango | |
1:3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | 3 | 0 | 2 |