Bosses (Hollow Knight)

Hollow Knight

For the

Godmaster versions of Bosses and a list of their differing information see here.

Bosses are unique enemies in Hollow Knight with typically higher health or deal more damage than the standard creatures in the same area. The Knight may have to defeat a Boss to access a new area, acquire an item, complete a quest, or simply further the main story of the game.

When the Knight encounters a Boss, their name will appear on-screen, and the music will change into a battle theme. There is a total of 47 bosses in the game.

Bosses


Broken Vessel	Brooding Mawlek	Brothers Oro & Mato	The Collector


Crystal Guardian	Dung Defender	False Knight	Flukemarm


God Tamer	Great Nailsage Sly	Grimm	Gruz Mother


Hive Knight	The Hollow Knight	Hornet Protector	Mantis Lords


Massive Moss Charger	Nosk	Oblobble	Paintmaster Sheo


Radiance	Soul Master	Soul Warrior	Traitor Lord


Uumuu	Vengefly King	Watcher Knight	Zote the Mighty

Warrior Dreams

The following is a list of ghosts that the Knight can fight. For a list of "NPC" ghosts, that can be only interacted with and seen, see Ghosts.

Lingering Ghosts of particularly strong bugs, Warrior Dreams are a unique form of Boss in that the Knight can only challenge them once they have acquired the Dream Nail. Defeating a Warrior Dream rewards a large amount of Essence.

After acquiring the Dream Nail, the Knight may purchase the Warrior's Grave Pin from Iselda for 180, which reveals the location of the Warrior Dream in the area after that area's Map has been purchased.

Dream Nailing a Warrior Dream will automatically enter the fight, and Dream Nailing them after winning the fight will automatically collect the essence without dialogue.


Elder Hu	Galien	Gorb	Markoth


Marmu	No Eyes	Xero

Boss Variants

Alternate versions of bosses. More challenging than the original fight. Some can be accessed by Dream-Nailing their corpse; defeating these dream bosses awards a large sum of Essence. Others can be found elsewhere in Hallownest after the original fight or inside Godhome.


Absolute Radiance	Enraged Guardian	Failed Champion	Grey Prince Zote


Hornet Sentinel	Lost Kin	Nightmare King	Pure Vessel


Sisters of Battle	Soul Tyrant	White Defender	Winged Nosk

Fake-Out Bosses

Bosses that include an intro sequence with a name card and a battle theme, however, will not be fought and have no purpose beyond being a surprise/joke.


The Hunter	Tiso

Dream Bosses

A Dream Boss is the ghost version of a Boss that is unlocked by defeating a specific living Boss and then striking their corpse with the Dream Nail. The Knight will be transported to the Dream Realm and must perform a short platforming sequence to reach the boss room, which will be set up similarly to the room in which the original Boss is fought.

Dream Bosses are significantly more challenging than their living counterparts, with much faster and more complex attack patterns, along with much greater health.

When defeated, a Dream Boss, except for Nightmare King Grimm, will grant a certain amount of Essence, just like Warrior Dreams. There are six Dream Bosses in Hallownest.

Icon	Name and Location	Essence
	Failed Champion False Knight in the Forgotten Crossroads, in a room above the boss room behind a breakable wall, surrounded by two Maggots.	300
	Grey Prince Zote Statue of Zote the Mighty found underneath Bretta's house in Dirtmouth. Requires rescuing Bretta and defeating Zote in the Colosseum of Fools and Monarch Wings	300 (First Fight)
	Lost Kin Broken Vessel in the Ancient Basin	400
	Soul Tyrant Soul Master in the Soul Sanctum	300
	White Defender Dung Defender in the Royal Waterways, in a secret room below the large pump next to the Dung Defender's arena. Requires defeating all 3 Dreamers.	300 (First Fight)
	Nightmare King Grimm Grimm can be found sleeping at the very right of his tent. Requires a level 3 Grimmchild with three Flames.	No essence but rather an upgrade to the Grimmchild

Losing a Dream Boss battle

It's important to note that The Knight does not actually die during a Dream Boss battle. If the Knight dies, they will simply wake up next to the point of entry. This means several things:

The Knight does not leave behind a Shade.
The Knight does not lose part of their SOUL Meter. (However, the SOUL meter still completely empties.)
The Knight does not lose any Geo.
The Fragile Charms sold by Leg Eater do not break, making Fragile Strength and Fragile Heart particularly good choices.
Steel Soul runs will not end.

Trivia

Designing a Warrior Dream was a reward for a tier of backers during the game's Kickstarter campaign.

"Ancient Hero: Appear in-game as an epic warrior-spirit! Help us create the appearance and dialogue for your spirit counterpart: Tell the Hollow Knight of your great deeds, then challenge him to battle!"

In this same Kickstarter project, a location called Queen's Glade is mentioned in the Warrior Dreams tier

"Become a Warrior Spirit in the Queen’s Glade"

In the Kickstarter project, it is mentioned that 3 people pledged to the 2nd to last tier, which allows backers to create their own bosses, two of them were the God Tamer, Sharpe, and a third upcoming boss in Silksong. The 2 companions announced alongside Sharpe do not seem to count in these 3.
- There are also 3 upcoming bosses from the "create your own dungeon" reward tier in Silksong.
Dying at the same time as a boss dies will no longer lead to the boss being considered defeated, rather the Knight has to fight the boss again as it will be respawned.
Dream bosses do not need to be defeated to unlock the Pantheon of the Knight as defeating the base counterpart will count towards the lock. However, the dream boss will still not be available in the Hall of Gods.