Top 10 Hardest Looking Bosses in Hollow Knight

My wife is obsessed with Hollow Knight and, since this month it's the anniversary, she has been writing tons about it. This, of course, has caused a resurgence of her wanting me to play and finish it too. Now that I have finished Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, I am slightly more comfortable with the idea of it. That being said, before I even consider trying to finish it, I will write silly pre-playing Hollow Knight articles.

In this list, I have looked at pictures of the bosses and chosen the top 10 that look like scary they’ll be the most scary to fight. Let's see how well I do! 

Disclaimer: I judged this off of the initial picture that I saw on the Hollow Knight forum depicting all of the bosses, the preview image without opening the site. In hindsight, a mistake! That is why I misjudge some of the bosses a bit below due to misunderstanding their size.

Number 10: Traitor Lord

I am going to come clean: I have rearranged this list like three times now and every time I would say "this one may technically be the least scary of the bosses but I am still scared"... except this time. 

Traitor Lord looks pathetic and has a pathetic name because traitors are just that: cowards. I hope I don't look like a fool when I say that he is just the type of boss that is kind of a hit-or-miss. He probably will have some annoying attacks but, overall, he will always be the most laughable and only on the list because the top nine bosses just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Jokes aside, Traitor Lord seems like he will be all bark and no bite, with flashy abilities that look scarier than what they really are, especially once you calm down.

Number 9: The Collector

This guy didn't particularly scream scary to me at first (especially after seeing the mysterious number one), but after a while of thinking and imagining what type of attacks these bosses would have, I came to the conclusion that this guy is probably one of those mage types that are super dodgy. Think the Revenant from God of War (2018).

Although this type of boss is annoying because their spells tend to be on the spammy and irritating side, they usually have a pattern so if you just sit back and let them teach you all of their moves first, you can usually end up beating them relatively quickly. That isn't to say he would be super easy though.

Number 8: God Tamer

Okay, honestly, that name just makes me think they are compensating for something. Now, let me just say, I was between place seven and eight for this one; mostly because bosses with companions (especially pets) can be super annoying but are also kind of easy to bait once you get a sense of their moves. That being said... this is Hollow Knight.

God Tamer is some tiny thing on top of a monstrously tanky-looking beast, which makes me think it's one of those bosses that you have to dodge or manoeuvre around until they give an opening; usually it's either them ramming onto a wall or sliding awkwardly after a particularly agility-heavy move causing them to fall stunned. Hollow Knight, being 2D, I can only assume will go for the ramming-into-walls type of stun.

Considering the easy bait playstyle but the punishing and tanky look, I'd say God Tamer is still "up there" but not quite the bossest of the bosses. 

Number 7: Brothers Oro & Mato

 

As I said above, double bosses are some of the more annoying ones, except this one isn't a pet one. God Tamer looks heavy and clunky, but these two look on the quicker side. The problem? They don't exactly look weak either, which means they probably can take a few hits.

I am assuming they are going to have synchronised attacks, and of the type that goes in-and-out in a blur. If I am right, their downfall will most likely be either that they clash and stun each other or that the player is encouraged to ignore one of them and just go full force on the other. That being said, two against one will always make it tough, so I am pretty terrified of this boss.

Number 6: The Broken Vessel

This is when the list starts getting scary. The Broken Vessel looks unstable to say the least, which isn't what you want to fight. Ever. 

Aside from looking gross and infected, this boss gives me a vibe of one of the types of bosses I struggle with the most: The erratic attack pattern with a very small windows to land some hits. 

I mean it, this guy almost single-handedly scares me off from trying to beat the game solely by just imagining how much I will struggle until my wife says: "I don't think you've understood the pattern. Do you want a hint?"

Number 5: Hornet

I have watched parts of my wife's gameplay here and there when she got through the game a few years back so I know a thing or two about Hornet, but mostly about her story. I know she attacks quickly but, thankfully, that is something I would have known regardless by the way her character looks and the pose she takes in the picture.

That being said, Hornet takes spot number five because she looks like one of those agile bosses that sometimes even have the audacity to teleport. Quick, successive attacks are what she is going to be throwing at me as she overwhelms my character into their inevitable death. Thankfully, Sekiro has taken most of my anxiety from that type of fighting (looking at you, Centipede), and I know that there is usually a pretty easy fix to those types of attacks: blocking.

Number 4: Grimm

There is something about the picture for this guy that sends chills down my spine. He looks tiny and laughably weak, but he is looking at us with such cool confidence that it freezes my blood.

Grimm looks like the "almost still" type of boss: His attacks will be spread apart but will hit like a truck. Although they are spread, that doesn't mean they will be slow; this always makes me think that it is a wide-reaching pattern because it takes the bosses a moment to recover the energy they are about to deplete on your mortal butt.

Death screen upon death screen is what I expect from him because these types of abilities usually play on gamers' anxiety and cause us to react a second too quickly, ending up in our demise. I am a very anxious button-presser.

Number 3: The Hollow Knight

 

Okay so, I hadn't seen that the name was literally the game's title until just now while writing down the list. Despite how terrifying that is, the character itself doesn't inspire so much panic. Not as bad as number one.

The Hollow Knight is a mix of the Broken Vessel and Hornet Protector to me — he is out of touch and extremely quick. Unlike the former, his attacks won't consist of large-scale abilities but rather small, consecutive ones like Hornet. The only difference? He is unstable too, which means I will be dealing with difficult-to-dodge, hard-hitting, quick abilities that are definitely not easy to read or predict; especially not to someone like me. 

I was very intimidated before, let alone now that I know his name, and if that is not badass then I don't know what is.

Number 2: Mantis Lords

First of all, the picture only depicts one so I am confused about where the others are, which only makes it scarier. Second of all, am I the only one that is thinking about the Abyss Watchers?

The way that the Mantis Lord(s?) is posed in the picture is somehow goosebump-inducing to me; it screams "I was dormant and now you have disturbed me, so I shall make you regret your birth". Just by this I know their attacks are going to be the type that can set off someone's Spartan Rage. 

Because of the long weapon, I think their attacks won't be too quick but definitely from an obnoxious distance, which will in turn still make it difficult to dodge. It also tells me that they might be more likely to spam their "heavy attack" and cover basically the whole battlefield range.

Yeah, Mantis Lords are gonna be tough. 

Number 1: The Radiance

Anyone that looks at The Radiance and doesn't want to run away from the game needs to get their fight-or-flight response checked. Seriously, go.

In all seriousness, The Radiance looks like a dread to deal with. No one that is ever easy has the glowy-eyes-and-crown combo. This behemoth screams giga boss that uses basically a cycling style — quick, successive attacks paired with heavy-hitting abilities and then, sometimes, even the slow-building ones. I would say this boss isn't above teleporting or even throwing the bullet hell-like spells that span across the screen.

Honestly, after writing this listicle, not even my triumph over Sekiro is calming the nerves.

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Well, that is it for my assumptions. What did I get right? Only time will tell. 

Did you like the article? Lemme know! And feel free to share in the comments below what you thought the bosses would be like!