Ranking the Hollow Knight Bosses from Worst to Best

Pantheon of Hallownest Guide ➤ Coming Soon

Hollow Knight is my favorite Soulslike, one of my favorite Metroidvania, and the Hollow Knight bosses are collectively some of the greatest ever made. I'll detail it all in my Hollow Knight Boss Ranking from Worst to Best.

I'll be ranking the Hollow Knight Bosses on their quality, including the Nightmare King Grimm boss fight, Pure Vessel, Absolute Radiance, Sisters of Battle, Soul Tyrant, Lost Kin, Failed Champion, The Radiance, Hollow Knight, Hornet, Hornet Sentinel, Nailmaster Sly, Nailmaster Oro and Mato, Paintmaster Sheo, and the Grey Prince Zote boss battle. I hope you enjoy today's video, and if you do, be sure to subscribe for more boss rankings. Also check out the video essay up top where I discuss the escapism in games, a timely topic with many of us shuttered indoors.

Credits:

Music from the Hollow Night OST and Artlist

[willhb]

Give us a reaction to the Demon Souls remake

[pilotjones]

The hardest boss is fog canyon's layout without a map

[slumpy__]

The traitor lord ranking lower than massive moss charger made me laugh harder than it should have

[alexsturrock]

God Tamer: Ornstien and Smough
Oro and Mato: Smough and Smough
Watcher Knights: Smough, Smough, Smough, Smough, Smough, and Smough.

[TheActualMrLink]

12:40 “Spam is of course viable here with the right charms and wrong level of restraint.”

*Brilliant.*

[nicholast.]

HE DIDN’T BOW TO THE NAILMASTERS, THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

[jellodaddy]

I like how zotes move set is “if I don’t know what I’m doing you sure as hell don’t either”

[Rusty._]

flukemarm below pure vessel wtf do u even play dark souls

[DennGreenIII]

I'm so glad NKG was number 1. Never before have i failed so many times to a boss in any game, only to be able to see my own small progress after each attempt. From the pitiful first try where you don't hit him a single time and say "this is impossible, no one can be expected to beat this guy", to the 20th attempt where you finally get to his first "pufferfish" animation and you realize "it's possible, i just have to focus", to the 50th attempt, where you can now consistently get him to 75% HP or less every time, and then all of a sudden, after countless attempts, you experience it. Out of nowhere your body starts reacting perfectly to his attacks. You understand the mechanics now. In all the excitement you die several more times to your nerves, but you're not mad. You are now certain that winning is within your grasp, and soon. You're confident now. All of a sudden you're dodging and dashing perfectly. He can't even touch you. He's 50% health and you haven't lost a single mask. This could be 'the one'. Your nerves are starting to overwhelm you, this is the best run you've had by far, you can't blunder it. You get hit, sending you into a panic, but you stagger him with your next couple strikes. It's enough for you to compose yourself and steel your nerves. You heal up your two masks while you wait for him to exit his stagger. You're doing well. He's at 25% HP. You go into a trance, with all your moves being fluid and precise, you're playing purely on muscle memory and instinct. You're hit again, but it doesn't matter. Your next strike takes him down. The several hours in a row you took to beat him is immediately worth it. Your satisfaction is unrivaled. You breathe a sigh of relief because it's finally over. You don't hate this fight anymore, you loved it. You just beat one of the hardest, most well designed boss fights you've ever had the pleasure of playing, and you feel amazing.
That's how my story with NKG went. Incredible and memorable, it doesn't get any better.

[rongpirson]

You really did traitor lord a disservice. His attacks are perfectly timed to the recharge of your shadow dash, which is genius in my opinion, and was one of the few bosses that genuinely challenged me in the mid-game.

[MikinMikinovec]

I like how he's taking in consideration the healing windows of bosses while radiant mode be like
"Healing? *We* *won't* *need* *that* *where* *we're* *going* "

[PatrickMaifrini]

I think you forgot zote in the Coliseum of fools. That ok thought, we can just move everyone down a rank and put him at the top.

[crosspat]

We all know the worst Boss: Primal Aspid. And he is the hardest...

[cameroncooper]

Quirrel: "Alright listen. I've got one more attack that should do it. Upside is that I can make him vulnerable with just one hit."
Knight: "And what's the downside?"
Quirrel: "You'll have to distract him while I charge it..."
Knight: "That's not too bad-"
Quirrel: "...for five minutes. And considering he'll be filling the room with projectiles... Ah nevermind, I'm sure you can handle it."

[gowary]

As Hornet wisely says:
"Git Gud!!!"

[ShikuQuaza]

“Next entry: Uumuu” *plays Metroid music*
I see what you did there

[bintavi]

One cool thing is that the sly fight was actually designed specifically so that you could use nail arts effectively. With the charm, you can charge a great slash in between all of his attacks and release them during the very limited damage windows for better burst dps

[savageteddybear]

Most people when hearing the collector’s creepy laugh, warbled sound track and his odd mannerisms: Weird.. that’s creepy

The demodcracy: Ha ha funny void man go laugh

[swapbell]

honestly every boss in this game is so good that it’s really hard to rank the worst ones

[marcodragon]

Loved the countdown but hearing you call God Tamer "he" wounded my nitpicky lore aficionado within