>>719756348
Yes, the equipment from the secret bosses is very powerful and there's going to be some kind of payoff in the future for collecting both the Shadow Crystals and the ThornRing (currently only available in Snowgrave)
The Black Shard is an extremely powerful weapon for Kris, you'll tear through everything in Chapter 4 with it, especially the final boss
If you've beat The Knight once you can do it again. It's actually gotten easier with the last patch, the hitboxes on the sword attack are better.

>>713870706
>* Now you've got three. Only two more, and we should have enough...
>* ... to make something I think you'll quite enjoy. Now good luck... and I'll be taking that Shadow Crystal.
"Aborted Snowgrave" is a waste of time
You'll be able to get another ThornRing from the Flower Shop Dark World in Chapter 5
Toby Fox is not going to lock your reward for beating five superbosses in his 30 hour RPG behind doing a half-assed Genocide route