For the Godmaster versions of Bosses and a list of their differing information, see: Hall of Gods

Bosses are unique enemies in Hollow Knight that typically have 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, the name usually appears on-screen, and the music changes into a battle theme.

Counting the variations, there are 47 bosses in the game. That number includes one “joke” boss that cannot damage the Knight (Zote), but excludes the two that are never actually fought. Some bosses also make a second appearance in the Colosseum of Fools. Almost all the boss fights in the game have multiple variations in the Hall of Gods, including alternate arenas that change the nature of a fight, or special challenges such as beating a boss without taking a hit.

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	Hollow Knight	Hornet Protector	Mantis Lords
Massive Moss Charger	Nosk	Oblobbles	Paintmaster Sheo
Radiance	Soul Master	Soul Warrior	Traitor Lord
Uumuu	Vengefly King	Watcher Knight	Zote

Warrior Dreams

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

Lingering memories 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.^[1] 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 automatically starts the fight, and Dream Nailing them after winning the fight automatically collects the Essence without dialogue. The Dream Nail has no effect when used during the fight.

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. A few more boss variation can also be found 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

Failed Champion, Grey Prince Zote, Lost Kin, Nightmare King Grimm, Soul Tyrant and White Defender are considered "Dream Bosses" and occur within the Dream Realm. This means that the Knight does not actually die during a dream boss battle. If the Knight dies, they 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.
• Steel Soul runs do not end.

An exception is the Radiance, whose fight follows the pattern of being a "Dream Boss"; however, losing to the Radiance is treated like an actual death.

Fake-Out Bosses

Bosses that include an intro sequence with a name card or a battle theme, but are not fought and have no purpose beyond being a joke or a surprise.

Hunter	Tiso

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, Steel Assassin Sharpe, and a third upcoming boss in Hollow Knight: 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 no longer leads to the boss being considered defeated, rather the Knight has to fight the boss again because it respawns.
• Dream bosses do not need to be defeated to unlock the Pantheon of the Knight as defeating the base counterpart counts towards the lock. However, the dream boss remains unavailable in the Hall of Gods.

References