Soul Master

The Soul Master is a main boss in Hollow Knight. Defeating him grants the Desolate Dive spell. The Soul Tyrant is his dream variant.

Lore
The Soul Master is the leader of the Soul Sanctum of Hallownest, which searched ways to expand the mind of bugs and attain pure focus. When the Infection started, he came to the conclusion that Soul, the energy animating bugs and beasts alike, was the solution to cure their mind of this plague. He refused to listen to the Pale King opposing his work, and failed to realize that his own infected mind was influencing him.

The Master hoarded Soul and consumed it, eventually gaining new Soul powers. He had Soul Totems gathered in the Sanctum as well as many unfortunate bugs drained of their vital energy. Unlike the rest of the Kingdom's inhabitants, he and his followers were able to survive the Infection. He however lost his sanity, driven to obsession in his quest for immortality, trying to get closer to the light guiding him in his mind.

Hollow Knight
The Knight encounters the Soul Master at the top of the Soul Sanctum where he ambushes them. After being seemingly beaten, the Master releases his Desolate Dive spell. If the Knight attempts to absorb it, the Master reappears to take it back and smashes through the glass rooftop for another round. When killed at last, he releases again the spell while also granting access to other rooms of the Sanctum, including a bounty of.

After his death, the Knight can use the Dream Nail on the Soul Master's corpse to enter his dreams. There they can battle the Soul Tyrant, a stronger and faster version of the Sanctum's Master. In this form, the Master has finally realized the errors of his ways and is full of resentment towards the light that misguided him.

Once defeated a second time, the lingering ghost of the scholar appears floating above its corpse. Despite his previous thoughts, the Soul Master blames the Pale King of having robbed him of immortality. He claims that with both the King and Hallownest dead, he will now live on forever. The ghost then shatters in 300 Essence to be absorbed by the Knight's Dream Nail.

Behaviour and Tactics


His Soul Orb can be dodged by jumping or dashing either left or right if the Soul Master is far, but it won't hit the Knight if they stand directly next to him.

When he summons the four orbs that orbit around him (Clock attack), approach him when he is about halfway across the arena, jump over the bottom orb when it's closest to the ground.

The easiest way to damage him is to keep attacking him from below when he is conjuring the homing orbs.

He leaves many open opportunities to heal, notably when he "deflates" after taking enough damage. Staying in the centre after he finishes his Clock attack also is a good opportunity to heal multiple times.

Due to the openness of the arena and his relatively large size, Grimmchild is very useful, since it has a clear shot at Soul Master, same for Soul Tyrant.

This phase is overall significantly easier than the first phase due to the predictable nature of the Soul Master's attacks, the lack of shockwaves on his Slams, and his openness to attacks during his projectile attack. Keep dashing and jumping in either direction when he does the Slams. Once he starts conjuring orbs, he is open for 2-3 or more hits each time, but make sure to keep moving to dodge the homing projectiles.

Learn to avoid the projectiles and attacks, as this phase will give the player much less time to stop and heal.



Trivia

 * The Soul Master is the only boss to give the Knight a Spell after being defeated, that spell being Desolate Dive.
 * In the game files, he is referred to as "Mage Lord".