Soul Warrior

A powerful bug battlemage using soul magic and sword skills in tandem. Two of them are found as minibosses in the Soul Sanctum. Defeating one is required to proceed further into the Sanctum, the other is optional and guards the Shade Soul upgrade. Two more are fought during the Trial of Fools at the Colosseum of Fools.

Attacks
Soul Warriors have three attacks: They can also teleport around the battlefield and dodge some attacks.
 * Raises its pinblade and rushes forward with a slash.
 * Teleports above the enemy and drops down. They will usually initiate the battle with this attack.
 * Fires a homing Soul orb, identical to the one used by Soul Twisters and the Soul Master.

Tactics
Soul Warriors are very dangerous foes. The best occasion to hit them is right after their teleport drop attack, by sidestepping and riddling them with as many blows as possible before they can recover. You can also pick them off right after their dash slash, either by jumping over it and nail-jumping on their head, or moving just out of the attack's limited range. Thankfully, because they stay on the ground, their homing orb is more predictable than the ones fired by Soul Twisters and the Soul Master.

Soul Warriors are at their deadliest when accompanied by other enemies. The one guarding the Shade Soul and one of the two fought at the Colosseum continuously spawn Follies, which harass the Hollow Knight and give virtually no time to heal. Stay on the defensive or overwhelm them with sheer damage before they can finish you. Another one in the Colosseum comes together with a Soul Twister. Try to kill the Twister first, as it has far less health and dies from a single Nail Art with a Pure Nail.