fireb0rn's Hollow Knight Boss Tier List

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In this tier list, I'll be rating 46 of Hollow Knight's bosses based on enjoyability and fun factor. It's a totally subjective ranking based on my experience casually, as a speedrunner, and as a challenge runner... but mostly as a speedrunner. If a boss randomly loses time, I hate it. Just a heads up.
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MUSIC
Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight OST
Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight DLC OST
[ocean jams] - Cosmonautica courtesy of Epidemic Sound
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CONTENT
0:00 Intro
0:47 Absolute Radiance
1:37 Lost Kin
2:34 Brooding Mawlek
3:44 Oro & Mato
4:32 Crystal Guardian
5:42 Dung Defender
6:33 Elder Hu
7:36 Enraged Guardian
8:34 Failed Champion
10:21 False Knight
11:41 Flukemarm
12:47 Galien
13:52 God Tamer
15:06 Gorb
16:15 Nailsage Sly
17:32 Grey Prince Zote
18:48 Gruz Mother
19:45 Hive Knight
20:33 Hornet Protector
21:19 Hornet Sentinel
22:19 Broken Vessel
23:05 Mantis Lords
24:00 Markoth
25:10 Marmu
26:04 Massive Moss Charger
26:19 Nightmare King Grimm
27:38 No Eyes
28:45 Nosk
30:07 Oblobbles
31:12 Paintmaster Sheo
32:28 Pure Vessel
33:56 Sisters of Battle
34:50 Soul Master
36:08 Soul Tyrant
36:57 Soul Warrior
37:51 The Collector
39:13 The Hollow Knight
40:57 Traitor Lord
42:00 Troupe Master Grimm
43:05 Uumuu
44:45 Vengefly King
45:50 Watcher Knights
47:07 White Defender
48:10 Winged Nosk
49:31 Xero
50:21 Zote
51:12 Outro
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MY SOCIAL MEDIA
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[@oliverlorenz9726]

i love that the collector is just a pair of eyes

[@sealessseadog2735]

0 0

[@mohamedyooshau8396]

o0

[@beenisweenisiii3825]

Collector is now one of my most hated bosses because I'm trying to do all bindings :(

[@trapadvisor]

Nah he just blends in REALLY well

[@oliverlorenz9726]

@@beenisweenisiii3825 true collector must be hell with base nail

[@juniperrodley9843]

"If a boss wastes any time at all, I'm gonna hate that boss" Ah yes, someone has fought the Pantheon of Hallownest

[@luca3776]

I only managed to complete P5 a few days ago and holy crap did Elder Hu annoy me. One time they literally used that stupid long attack like 10 times.

[@roywaesatuarus498]

@@luca3776 one time abs rad did 5 light walls in a row which was really lucky for me

[@juniperrodley9843]

@@luca3776 I gave up on P5 just cause nothing was worth that much wasted time

[@luca3776]

@@juniperrodley9843 You saying that gem isn't worth 30 hours of agony? lol

[@juniperrodley9843]

@@luca3776 I don't see what makes it a "gem" tbh. it's more a "bloated mess" since Team Cherry didn't know what shouldn't be counted as a boss.

[@knightmare2884]

"AbsRad is slightly more challenging than the base boss" Yeah, *slightly challenging* .

[@Soncikuro]

He says about the literally hardest boss in the game.

[@ghost_of_jah5210]

No marmu is the hardest

[@bowtie_penguin]

@@ghost_of_jah5210 marmu supremacy

[@barutaji]

@@Soncikuro literally the only thing stopping me from doing the 5th pantheon

[@a7mdbest15]

i cant believe he said " A BIT MORE CHALLENGING " this boss fked me hard

[@StrabbyStrabby]

“The boss fight is at the end of Colosseum 3, feels like Team Cherry made the boss simple and easy, because they didn't want players to get to the end of colo 3 then get killed over and over, because that wouldnt be a very fun experience.” *Absrad would like to know your location.*

[@lauren_e_s]

But u can practice absrad in hall of gods

[@AshenDust_]

@@lauren_e_s you can practice God Tamer in the hall of god too

[@StrabbyStrabby]

@@lauren_e_s I mean, you can, but you can also practice god tamer. 'Sides, The circumstances in HoG are perfect for absrad, but not when you're actually fighting her in p5

[@Soncikuro]

@@StrabbyStrabby Yep. Battling for over 40 minutes to face her at the end is terrible.

[@StrabbyStrabby]

@@Soncikuro literally, it takes like fifteen minutes to get through the entire thing if you kill every boss in one/two hits

[@teeth_haver]

only the godliest gamers remember when xero was just a "duplicate markoth" to fire

[@sealessseadog2735]

I am not a godliest gamer and i never will be so i have no idea what are you talking about ; ~ ;

[@teeth_haver]

@@sealessseadog2735 you are still a very godly gamer i assure you my friend

[@sealessseadog2735]

@@teeth_haver thank you

[@justitroyal7032]

How Is this comment one day ago

[@teeth_haver]

@@justitroyal7032 i have magical powers ✨

[@clorbdorb1245]

Nosk is my favorite boss fight, not because of the fight itself (which is pretty meh) but because it made me lose my gd mind during my blind playthrough. I still remember seeing the fake knight and freaking out. That feeling of "WHAT THE HECK, THAT'S ME! THERE'S ANOTHER ME! CAN I TALK TO THEM? HOW DO I GET TO THEM!?" I was so curious and excited and then OHMYGODWHATISTHATTHING The experience was unparalleled.

[@user-sn8xe8ll9c]

Nosk is terrifying, but like a good terrifying. There’s nothing to not like about him and I’d definitely put him in great tier if he had a larger range of attacks since he really just does run, jump, and vomit.

[@druid_the_lizard_wizard]

I feel the same! The maze coming up to Nosk's room with the fakeouts and everything really made it memorable

[@that1cat999]

Nosk is my third favorite. Obviously SoB is 2nd and NKG is first.

[@thefluffyaj4119]

same! i adore creepy things and I actually had a great time in deepnest. seeing this creepy ass little thing put a huge smile to my face sane thing with the collector. they sound absolutely insane and feral, laughing and giggling the entire fight (even as they are weak and then as they die) as they erratically hop around. but it's also very endearing to see their love of other creatures, especially the grubs, and after I read the dreamnail dialogue I really hesitated to kill them. they're insane but also loving and protective. i just adore these two bosses, I really wish we got more of them

[@bulb9970]

Nosk was like the only thing in the game that was spoiled to me and I hate that

[@thesillyone3837]

He mixed up the icon of lost kin and broken vessel since it's alphabetical

[@TallulahBangkok]

Yuuuup

[@ryanmorfei6325]

Does he ever notice? I’m half way into the video and I still expect him to realize and fix it

[@TallulahBangkok]

@@ryanmorfei6325 nah, he even keeps referring to them as the wrong version

[@Amoongus]

Only reason I came to comments tbh xD

[@siyahresimlikisi1416]

@@Amoongus same

[@Tilexine]

I find it so funny that in my first playthrough of the game, I had Defender's Crest equipped at ALL times, so when I got to Crystal Guardian, I saw that the charm was dealing damage so I was like "wait, is it possible that I can actually kill it with just standing here?" and I did. It was so funny actually lol I didn't even get to wake him up, and the only time I fought it was in the enraged version. Kinda tough, not gonna lie!

[@IschmarVI]

fun fact, you can also cheese the enraged version - in that case with kingsoul. You can just stand outside the arena and shoot fireballs until he dies :D

[@astor_25]

@@IschmarVI is that still possible with the current patch?

[@josephjoestar953]

I used the defenders crest for 70% of my original play through but since when I first entered crystal peak with the lantern and I found a bunch of spots that needed other abilities I thought that it was just a bonus area so I already had max level nail and all of the powerful nail charms when I found 'em

[@ahzayoc1207]

The same thing happened to me! I still like fighting them though so whenever I get to that point in new playthroughs I’ll just kill them normally, even if I’m wearing defenders crest.

[@ng42.]

@@IschmarVI that's interesting, but really do white palace and queen's garden BEFORE fighting enraged guardian? That's quite though. But it's still possible to avoid that fight, so thanks!

[@RelyeaGaming]

25:12 you are right, I would put marmu at the bottom of the list. Get that bouncing beach hall out of here.

[@DimensionalWanderer]

Marmu is so annoying to fight

[@henryboianimations4869]

Yeah, it uses up all my darn life blood masks…

[@marioboglione2342]

It feels like im playing tennis against the wall every time i fight him

[@josephjoestar953]

Wait is marmu difficult or something? I have a weird playstyle so marmu wasn't really anything that difficult for me

[@zephyraticus5066]

I was expecting you to have something to say about Zote being deemed 'decent'! 😂😂😂

[@T4coTV]

I'd have put Zote in Great Tier Laughed my ass off the first time I fought him haha

[@templatename2143]

How can you even compare the great and powerful zote to a god he is above them

[@Vamp1ricm0use]

@Aras G How dare you! Gods do not compare to zote and his ‘life-ender’

[@redstonewatcher6651]

Boat tier

[@usopatorbobby4865]

Yeah maybe the first time. Around the 7th time he becomes hard.

[@kenziebalhatchet3918]

@@redstonewatcher6651 yes

[@primsine]

"I think they made Godtamer easier because they don't want you to die at the end of collo 3." Did you forget Abs Rads exists just to ruin 45 minutes of work?

[@oliverjacobs8594]

He included abs rad wdym?

[@primsine]

@@oliverjacobs8594 ... I'm saying that "End of collo 3 and wanting nobody to die" is no grounds for team cherry, since they made abs rads just so people suffered at the end of pantheon 5

[@MrAlexlarson99]

@@primsine I think the big difference is p5 is optional end game DLC intended to keep the hardcore audience busy. Colosseum 3 is base game and is something slightly more casual players might want to complete as it is required to 100% the base game. Also thematically P5 needed to build up to a more challenging version of the radiance and it needed to be more challenging than Pure Vessel which is already a very challenging boss. Anything less would have been extremely anticlimactic.

[@13thKingMu]

@@primsine isn't P5 is optional? Since if abs rads just a tiny bit better than normal rads then it just disappointment after fighting 2 the best bosses

[@weirdoyt5695]

2 hours correction

[@danielshults5243]

Radiance is so subtle and powerful, she infected the "Great" tier without anyone even noticing.

[@davidgault974]

About the God Tamer: I feel like the boss is actually easy BUT if you don't fight him methodically and start to panic, he can deal a shit ton of damage to you. I think it's well designed for its purpose.

[@TylerHerwek]

Yo

[@fluffyotter3122]

I find God Tamer harder than NKG lol

[@flipflopitstimetostop]

god tamer is a girl! just to let you know :)

[@gav7497]

I found god tamer difficult just because of my nerves after mostly finishing coliseum 3.

[@Pedro_eqw]

Exactly!

[@mistypeaks1375]

Team Cherry making god tamer: We'll make it easy so they won't die again and again. Me: my 15 deaths says otherwise

[@Mythologiga]

Adrenaline from getting to the boss after the dreadful grind of colo 3 right ? :D

[@blakeworthvv]

i havent reached the end of trial of the fool, so when i met god tamer in p3 i suffered. i knew to target the beast but its hitbox is so big that i get hit while pogo-ing(?). im just glad grimm comes after, cuz ive done grimm on radiant and i know when i can heal. plus theres a bench after grimm as well, if i remember it correctly.

[@Skylair95]

When Zote, a boss who literally doesn't attack, is rated higher than Uumuu, No Eyes, Flukemarm and Elder Hu, you know that those are really awful bosses.

[@doctorwhouse3881]

Uumuu is a cool setpiece to show off our boy Quirrell and No Eyes brings in atmosphere even if playing the fight safe is boring and doing it legit is needlessly punishing due to RNG and spikes meaning effectively double damage. The other two have no redeeming features.

[@Designed1]

@@doctorwhouse3881 the thing is fighting uumuu without quirrel is utter garbage

[@supernaturel7687]

@@Designed1 I thought the same until I started ascending the pantheons. Garbage for speedruns but dynamic challenge. Also makes me feel like I play volleyball with the jellyfishes xD

[@purevessel1071]

They are. Elder Hu totally destroyed me

[@henrytheanglerfish6290]

@@doctorwhouse3881 I think Uumuu and No Eyes deserve credit to some extent for the creative way you fight them. Elder Hu is kinda fun with Shade Cloak and Flukemarm is a total hottie.

[@snakenuts6539]

You can see how the better and better they get, the more the fights are like duels

[@nexade5598]

Wow I never thought of it like that before, but yeah, you're right

[@isaiaholaru5013]

Duels are more satisfying than "Boss sits there and attacks you, look for blind spots that appear for 3 seconds. Missed it? Oh well, wait for another minute now." Duels make the boss constantly attack, and constantly leave vulnerabilities that you can exploit. NKG leaves himself open in every attack except his spike floor and pufferfish. PV leaves himself open everywhere, but is slightly harder to exploit. All of this is from watching people. I haven't even done P1😢

[@Key-43]

Except for them primal aspit bastards. I’ll take radiance any day 😂

[@nodrance]

nah, it's closer to a dance

[@z3_gaming526]

Fire, on Enraged Guardian: You can actually die to it. Me, who has lost to Crystal Guardian: Okay. Edit: Mixing up Lost Kin and Broken Vessel was kinda funny.

[@avoiding-murder9561]

"Hive knight has good music" Ah yes, good taste of music

[@Osome55]

Ye

[@beedrillking4023]

i thought that the first thing when i saw hive knight on this tier list. Poor hive knight. Deserved better.

[@avoiding-murder9561]

It's been out for one day. And it's my 2nd liked comment! Wow

[@bloono3800]

What do you mean, its a banger

[@avoiding-murder9561]

@@bloono3800it's a banger for sure like bangers and mash okay sorry

[@joaopedrorossi3018]

Okay, If Any radiance Is not an umbeatable Boss anymore, i have a Idea for a New Impossible Boss: the Boss collector. A collector that drops bosses instead of normal enemies. Starts with bosses like vengefly king e gruzzmother,then turns into dream Warriors and Finally pure vessels and NKGs

[@Frost-rx4ch]

It could actually be very easy by using weversong, grubsong, spell twister, shaman stone and spell spamming the collector.

[@system_ai9248]

@@Frost-rx4ch *with the same amount of health as absrad, creates a shield that protects them when there are 3 bosses at the same time*

[@Creetur]

no it should drop any radiance

[@Skylair95]

@@Creetur What if he drops Boss Collectors who themselves start to drop more bosses?

[@Creetur]

@@Skylair95 then it would only drop boss colectors forever instead of bosses

[@Bobby-tj1hq]

Honestly I greatly prefer bosses like pure vessel, NKG, and SoB to AbsRad because there is almost no luck involved. Learn how to dodge each attack, and when to attack, and you will pretty much win every time. With AbsRad (especially radiant) you’re constantly vulnerable to random attacks. Like sometimes you’ll just get shit on by orbs/lasers that spawn on top of you, bad spikewall placement, bad teleports, etc, but sometimes you’ll get a platform phase where it just sits on one platform and you demolish its healthbar in seconds. IDK if it’s just me but that boss seems way less fun to fight then others like PV or NKG

[@josephjoestar953]

My top three are 1. Radiant NKG 2. Radiant Broken Vessel 3. White Defender Just because I like the mid-air attacks, it really utilizes the full arena and is just more fun to fight personally

[@mreevee7785]

descending dark removes almost all of those problems

[@Bobby-tj1hq]

@@mreevee7785 Somewhat true, but if a boss requires you to abuse i-frames to consistently dodge its attacks, it’s just less fun to fight for me. Besides, descending dark doesn’t remove the heavy luck element of teleportation in the platform phase

[@gmonkman]

I hate the ascending beam phase

[@Bobby-tj1hq]

@@gmonkman yeah on radiant it hurts my soul

[@zaynanater5980]

the only bosses I genuinely don’t enjoy are the dream warriors (except the great mind) and the kinda pointless mini bosses like fluke or moss charger

[@bowtie_penguin]

Don’t be mean to mossy :(

[@R.Sinnia]

The Charm from Flukemarm is decent tho Can use Shade Soul like a Shotgun, but then again, it loses the most important aspect of Shade Soul which is range

[@alexthegs2624]

Am I the only one that actually enjoyed elder hu quite a bit after getting used to his attacks?

[@Hoboblet]

mossy is best

[@kinggamereon653]

@@alexthegs2624 I just abuse shade cloak myself

[@LegoEngineer003]

I think another reason false knight feels slow is because it’s in the small category of bosses you fight before dash. Once dash is an option, bosses can speed up and still have fair gameplay

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

So is hornet

[@Esordin]

Poor Xero originally unrecognized by The God Gamer Can't hide that from us smh

[@myolua]

basically emoji flex but i agree

[@nemu4754]

Pure Vessel is my absolute favorite! Fighting the cheerful Ogrim is also enjoyable! (eat my ground pound >:D) And for me Nosk and Crystal Guardian are good as well. I mean, first seeing Nosk in the dark environment of Deepnest - the spookiest moment ; And Crystal Guardian the biggest bench scam - Let me sit on it! GAME YOU PLAYED ME (dies)

[@toolatefortowerfall]

for nosk, my heart was racing before the fight even started

[@ball9427]

WHAT ABOUT ME

[@nemu4754]

@@ball9427 Nice dance, Sir... AWWW

[@Serennekin]

HOW DID YOU GET A CHARM NEXT TO YOUR NAME

[@nemu4754]

@@Serennekin channel member badge

[@arksum6818]

I find myself really liking bosses with great music. So hornet, hive knight, radiance, the hollow knight, and the mantis lords are my favorite boss fights. They also happen to be good bosses, but it definitely elevates them for me.

[@itsplovertime]

like, I had a ton of trouble with the Mantis Lords initially, but that music.... I couldn't be mad, they just let me hear it more!

[@Vitrunis]

Grimm is also great from a musical perspective in my opinion.

[@juancarlosruedamacias2668]

NKG too and Nosk

[@taperecorder7187]

pure vessel

[@azzix4586]

Nosk slaps hard

[@scalycoronet5198]

The Mantis Lords are my favorite (so far, haven’t finished it quite yet). I got to them as soon as I grabbed the Mantis Claw. I felt like I was dancing or sparring with them instead of fighting them, and they’re telegraphed really well. The best part is that you actually feel like you’ve accomplished something big by the end. The Mantis Tribe respects you, you get access to a small part of the map that was locked before, and you get to Deepnest. It lets you grab Deepnest’s map easily, too. Because Cornifer doesn’t sing there, I wouldn’t have found him easily if I had to go the long way

[@walkermartin5366]

You’ll love grimm

[@scalycoronet5198]

@@walkermartin5366 Oh I definitely did

[@DonJarvius]

For some reason, I didn’t get to deepnest that way but I managed to find cornifer pretty easily by just exploring blindly

[@kiiturii]

the mantis lords was my fav too, until I got to godhome and fought the 3 of them at once, now that's my favorite, the music, the theme, the setup, the mechanics and everything about the fight itself is just perfect, the normal version becomes easy and kind of slow once you learn the game more, but the first time you stumble upon them it's such a good challenge

[@chachachachachachacg]

Sisters of battle is my favorite boss

[@TheJohn424]

There seems to be a hard cut at roughly 33:55 when he stops talking about Pure Vessel. Apparently the part that was cut out is where he talks about regular radiance... Why was that cut?

[@SilentZed]

I noticed that, too. I was actually hoping to hear his opinion about the base Radiance boss fight. Clearly he thought it was a worthwhile fight because he put it in the Great tier, but I would have loved to hear his reasoning.

[@fallen_1277]

Fire talking about white defender: "you can't cheese the boss" People who juggle white defender: 🙄

[@Jekko23]

I'm glad lost kin is rated top tier, the faster attacks is fun to dodge which makes it a really good improvement to broken vessel

[@josephjoestar953]

I really wish they kept the spasm attack that broken vessel has with lost kin, I honestly prefer radiant broken vessel over lost kin just because that attack is so awesome

[@darknessdevours5827]

@@josephjoestar953 That attack would've been so broken on LK though. Think about it- the speed of its attacks combined with an already pretty fast attack? I can almost guarantee that you'd change your mind were you to actually have it.

[@aldmjr]

Honestly I don’t understand how Lost Kin is so popular considering the annoying balloons spawning everywhere, unless there’s some charm that trivializes them. Otherwise the boss is great and a big step up from Broken Vessel, I’d agree

[@kitkitkatkit]

@@aldmjrI’m sure I don’t need to tell you by now, but defender’s crest is a godsend for LK

[@HelenSB]

#I was here when Xero was a Markoth lookalike. You left out the two best boss fights in the whole game: Washer Knights and SFGrenade 😤😤😤

[@sovereign1774]

My top 5 bosses: 1. NKG (always gets my adrenaline pumping with its difficulty and amazing OST) 2. Pure Vessel (so cool seeing The Hollow Knight in its prime and also my favorite boss to beat on Radiant) 3. Sisters of Battle (the best warmup boss to make sure you are on point and focused) 4. Absolute Radiance (beating this boss on PoH to get my Platinum Trophy is still my most memorable moment in HK) 5. Nailsage Sly (I think this fight is the closest to a mirror match against yourself)

[@Bobby-tj1hq]

Your list is probably almost identical to mine (although I don’t like AbsRad) and I would probably switch soul tyrant and Sly

[@jis11]

18:13 GPZ is a random number generator. Sometimes he'll do his jump attack, sometimes he'll do his shadow slam attack and fall on your face. Other times he'll stumble and the shockwave hits you. That's when you remember, you're basically playing radiant. You then proceed to use the warranty on your computer.

[@happythedino9436]

Yep

[@plaguedoc9797]

Absolute crap RNG boss

[@jigo9380]

Lost kin is best character. Once they nod when you defeat him I want to hug them.

[@Amara87387]

I think Rustys description of Elder Hu Sums him up pretty well, “aggressively making krabby patties”

[@elliotgriffith2237]

“they should make pv harder” man i have not been able to beat pv EVER. chill out and let the bad gamers have a chance

[@alexanderlee5045]

“For a lot of people, this is one of the toughest fight, so naturally I really like this fight” -fireborn 2021

[@yiangaruga4928]

Zote should be his own tier

[@TK3TK3]

Hey fireb0rn, I couldn’t help but notice that you put Hive Knight in the “good” tier, when he is actually the best boss in the game. Otherwise, great video! But you really dropped the ball there.

[@ghostknight9191]

I fear your opinion might be a bit biased

[@Murakami2077]

@@ghostknight9191 more like ultra red pilled chad based opinion

[@kirin1230]

I hated hive knight. Even with the shortcut, walking back took forever. It felt like hornet but more bullshit, and I actually like both honest fights. That's just my 2c though.

[@rashmikalia1304]

He is a good boss but definitely not the best boss

[@bloono3800]

He is on my 2 spot, my favorite boss is paintmaster sheo

[@ratlegttv]

marmu my beloved… you may be objectively not a good boss but you’ll always be S tier in my heart

[@grimm3995]

b-b-but ascend with gorb...

[@birbknight]

i hate his fight, but agreed. marmu is a lil bean.

[@WindexChugger]

Looks like you cut out your section on Radiance (appears between Pure Vessel and Sisters of Battle without discussion)

[@dumdum6456]

Nkg is my personal favourite boss. It's so fun to play against

[@Kuino]

same

[@Bobby-tj1hq]

Yep

[@AshenDust_]

Yes

[@astor_25]

Not fun when you made the pantheon for the 800th time and it kills you again, but i agree

[@rohinkaushal2434]

@@astor_25 he is not that hard after you learn his patterns

[@Tpanda85]

My first play through, I fought Lost Kin with only one nail upgrade. Took me about an hour

[@herberthumpeldumpfler7965]

I feel you. For some reason in my first playthrough i didn't find the Nailsmith AT ALL. Also i pretty much never used spells because "why use spell if you can heal" *big brain Still no idea how i killed it. Probably Spore Shroom was heavily involved.

[@TheTrueBrawler]

I didn't find the Nail Smith at all on my first run. Having to take three hits to kill those balloons really sucked. My initial charm setup was Nailmaster's Glory, Quick Focus, Quick Slash, and Steady Body. After about three hours, I tried other charms just to see if any of them would be helpful, and Defender's Crest ended up being what trivialized the whole fight so much so that I beat Lost Kin on my first try with it equipped despite the fact that I had pretty much wasted five of my remaining seven charm notches on charms that didn't help at all. In my opinion, Lost Kin should be in bad tier. The balloons are just too much to deal with in this fight. It's comparable to bullet hell but if the bullets were sentient. I also think it's bull crap that the Balloons can spawn right on top of you while you're healing during the boss's stagger, which ended many of my early attempts. It doesn't give you enough time to react to it spawning and cancel your heal halfway, which turns healing into a gamble even if there's nothing but a recently staggered Lost Kin on screen. Fighting the Lost Kin without the Defender's Crest is a comparable experience to fighting Flukemarm without any nail upgrades, Desolate Dive, or Howling Wraiths, and fighting the Lost Kin with the Defender's Crest is a comparable experience to fighting Gruz Mother with Abyss Shriek, Shade Cloak, and Shaman Stone.

[@black_nyello7663]

@@TheTrueBrawler Lost Kin is definitely a hard boss, but I wouldn't say anything about him is unfair. The balloons are a problem, but they don't move very fast and have a very telegraphed spawn. Personally, I wouldn't consider myself to be that good at the game, and I didn't have to use defender's crest at all. In fact, the boss is pretty easy to decimate with quick slash (with MoP and Strength if you have them) because he's so easy to stagger.

[@aldmjr]

@@black_nyello7663 I definitely disagree. The balloons are bullshit without the crest and really suck. They have a telegraphed spawn, sure, but some move faster than others, and they are just in the way while you’re healing, dodging or attacking. The boss itself must be very fun without them in the mix because I appreciate how harder the vessel is to fight. They should’ve eliminated the balloons and kept the massive projectile attack IMO. That’s definitely a more fair “dodge check” than those orange fuckers lmao Even if they are inconsequential when you got late game stuff they are just annoying. At least I don’t feel like they’re challenging in a good way

[@ArceTheTroll]

same, 140+ hits

[@RebornYoshi]

so i started my first play through of the game recently with a friend who has 100% the achievement list. while he was afk, i found broken vessel and started ramming my head into that brick wall without a single nail upgrade and no spell other than the basic fireball. when my friend returned, he saw me fighting the second version (lost kin) of it and he immediately told me that i should leave him for later since it was obvious i wasn't particularly good at the game. an hour later, I finally killed it and my friend only had 1 thing to say to me. "Monkeys and typewriters."

[@WoodlandMorning]

Had something like that happen to me, where I had dreamnail and maybe only one nail upgrade when I went up against Soul Tyrant. It was awful.

[@spritepepsiplushes8353]

Any Radiance in a nutshell

[@gamewisdomgaming]

The tiny knight on the microphone always makes my day

[@YellowLink10]

Basically for me, if it's a fast paced boss fight, and cool lore behind it, I'm probably going to like it. NKG, Abs Rad, Lost Kin, Mantis lords, a few examples.

[@6Alexis8]

When you fight the 3 mantis at the same time 🤩🤩

[@synaria100]

At 33:56 it just kind of jumps from Pure Vessel to Sisters of Battle, but completely skips regular Radiance D: After the cut Radiance is just up in the great tier already.

[@Alexey-qs6nr]

I think that there should be a separate tier list for the radiant bosses. Some of them feel completely different if you are not allowed to take damage

[@jimmyjab8744]

how

[@grimm3995]

@@jimmyjab8744 fight radiant sisters of battle then normal sisters of battle

[@akialastorlawliet]

Soul Warrior is a pretty fun fight, if you do him radiant. Challenging but still fair.

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

@@grimm3995That doesn’t seem to bad in comparison to alota other bosses

[@grimm3995]

@@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime oh trust me it is

[@Banana_Man17]

Zote looking at the bad teir: Look what they need to mimic a fraction of my power

[@thatstardewguy3833]

My absolute favorite bosses are the mantis lords, they are just so well designed and the fact that the mantises in the village bow after defeating them is such a nice touch

[@tomohawk2177]

Mantis Lords is pretty much the most popular boss in the entire game

[@darkymcbeaster6434]

Sister of battle is better

[@vex9896]

Great tier list! Wonderful job.

[@deKahedron]

My new favourite compliment: "You're unique. Not like in a good way, but at least you're unique."

[@mrj2831]

The collector sucks he ended my steel soul run by doing a jump from 8 light years away

[@rohinkaushal2434]

That’s lost kin lmao

[@solar901]

A weird comment. The Collector doesn't make long jumps and in general shouldn't be steel soul run ending unless you really weren't careful. The long and fast jumping boss is the Lost Kin. But it's a dream boss and dying to it doesn't end steel soul run.

[@rohinkaushal2434]

The collector makes very little jumps bro

[@condor2279]

@@rohinkaushal2434 His grab attacks are deceptively long though.

[@tsawy6]

Whilst I see what you mean about Brooding Mawlek being kinda weirdly placed, I actually did get to experience him properly on my first playthrough, because I go pretty deep on the whole "do everything you can" strategy with these sorts of games, and even tho I died like, 8 times, it felt really cool learning how to fight him. Just generally, it was actually my favourite scene in the first like, half of the game, partially because of the semi-secret entrance, and partially because it just felt really cool. It /does/ lose a lot by being such an early secret boss tho. It can't be too weak, nor can it be too strong.

[@akialastorlawliet]

You only died 8 times? I used no spells and nail 0, because of that I died 40 or more times in a row till I made it.

[@logansymmes2193]

Hornet is an S Tier boss and an S tier character.

[@Obsrange5176]

F tier for not releasing her game

[@logansymmes2193]

That’s not Waifu’s fault.

[@nerd4181]

Also S tier (soon) PLAYABLE character!

[@Obsrange5176]

@@nerd4181 "soon" haha

[@whatisthis7208]

@@nerd4181 *s o o n*

[@aggroash7717]

“They don’t let you collect soul from the collector.” That mf is made of void, he ain’t got no soul

[@MarsLee0]

That intro will forever make me happy. Thank you for all the content you make, fire!

[@a7mdbest15]

this is THE best tier list i have ever seen honestly, not because I agree with you, ( actually I don't agree with GPZ i would put him in the great tier, its just so much fun to play against it once u get used to it ) but because the why you put them, the explanation, its very reasonable tier list.

[@arandompersonwhoisrandom3985]

I will never get used to it

[@Marion_MyAnh]

I've rarely clicked on a KZbin notification so fast! Starting watching right now. 😄

[@hy9er213]

From speed running the game lost kin has become one of my favorite bosses in the game, the fight with just shade soul is so fun for me

[@luci_datum]

I love Sisters of Battle myself, I use them to get back into the groove of fighting because of how satisfying it is to dodge them I have to admit, of the dream warriors I forget Galien the most. No Eyes is funny to me because it's edgy as hell and my brother had nightmares about her, Marmu is cute and makes me smile inside, Gorb is Ascended, Xero is the first one you usually fight, Elder Hu is literally the worst fight in the game, and Markoth is an absolute bitch to fight in the pantheon. But Galien just... exists, it's forgettable and not that difficult

[@rattled4806]

Ah yes, Grey Prince Zote, the fun boss.. definitely didn't die to him more times in the pantheon of the sage than I died to ascended/radiant NKG by himself...

[@TheFloofyWinter]

I find nailsage sly a bit overrated. He seems hard when first getting to him but after a while it's too easy to read and you just need to use the same pattern over and over. Dodge, hit once or twice and dodge again >.>

[@aqwthetroop]

I think one of the more interesting part about all the bosses, is that because Hollow Knight is a 2D game and there are SO many bosses you get a situation where a lot of bosses have overlapping move sets (i.e. you can break down certain attacks into categories like the 'dash attack', 'homing projectile', 'jumping around', etc.).

[@beenisweenisiii3825]

"Team Cherry didn't want players to get to the end of colo 3 and then die over and over." Absolute Radiance:

[@rever6612]

I would say the main difference is that colo5 isn't needed for 112% but colo3 is.

[@thorinhannahs4614]

They learned a valueable lesson.

[@grimm3995]

@@rever6612 WHAT THE FUCK THERE IS A COLO 5!?

[@black_nyello7663]

@@grimm3995 he means Pantheon 5

[@grimm3995]

@@black_nyello7663 wooosh

[@anhondacivic6541]

Gpz is the epitome of if I don't know what I'm doing, then you won't aswell

[@themorebeer3072]

Two of my favourite fights in Hollow Knight are the Dung Defender and Hornet. Because they're both just loving the fight so much! Honourable mention to the Mantis Lords, for how you issue your challenge.

[@Annex_canada]

I finally beat Absolute Radiance!

[@seraphii72]

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING PURE VESSEL #1, it's the fight I took the longest to beat, easily, I think like 3 straight hours, but it was also the most fun I had throughout my entire time playing Hollow Knight. Incredibly fun, fast, and aggressive fight that rewards you for also playing fast and aggressive (which is the only way I ever play, zero IQ). I just kind of wish it was harder now after doing him on Radiant a while ago. Or that you fought him at the end of Path of Pain, with a bench right before. That would have been awesome.

[@Christian-wt6fm]

Just dropping by to say: I really appreciate the effort to properly timestamp in description and video player! Aside from that great content as always, good sir. ; )

[@ameirgrant6116]

Pure vessel is my favorite boss in the game and I’m really glad you think the same. Everything about it is perfect. Attacks, emotion, setting/aesthetic, music.

[@hectorrojo5649]

not THIS is the tier list i was waiting for

[@casht.4067]

This video was a reminder that we have spells. It also made me realize I end up never using them, just always swiping with the nail

[@Late0NightPC]

Another detail of the Hive Knight that I really like, is that it has a nod to a scrapped lore idea. In a much older version of the game, where the Hive was planned below Queen's Gardens instead of the Kingdom's Edge, Hornet was meant to be the "Daughter of 3 queens, born from Herrah, raised by the White lady, and trained by Vespa(thus the name, Hornet)". While it isn't cannon anymore, the Hive Knight gives a small nod to that old idea, as it and Hornet are the only two bosses who use bundles of needles set up as traps during their fights. Hornet's stay still, while the HK's detonate after a time, but they use the same weapons in extremely similar ways. Where it still cannon, you are able to clearly tell "yeah Hornet was probably trained under the Hive Knight" from how the two fight. I also genuinely consider regular C1 Zote a genuinely "great" boss. If you judge bosses based on "what is this fight supposed to do", then Zote perfectly fullfills his goal of being a joke fight not meant to be taken seriously. He isn't a "boss", he is a gag, and that comes across loud and clear in his fight. If you judge bosses based on how challenging they are, he definitely is low tier, but it is better to judge the fights based on what they are meant to offer the player, rather than a malleable lens, since "challenge" itself is entirely subjective and there is a valid arguement that Vengefly King is harder than AbsRad because at least AbsRad can be learned and practiced while VK has the flight problems you mention which can't be controlled.

[@rociohotaru3725]

Thanks for giving Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel the place they deserve!

[@leftovers6073]

I listened to this while beating radiant absrad, thank you god gamer

[@Eryna_]

I beat watcher knights like 2nd try the first time I found them. Fun boss fight, didn't use a ton of descending dark bc I didn't realize you got that many immunity frames.

[@QualityGamingStudios]

Your gorb placement has made it clear that you still don't understand what it truly means to ascend with gorb

[@1KitKatGal]

i really like the appreciation youre giving to the early game bosses. oftentimes i find that rankings like these made by high-level players dismiss the early bosses as "easy", so seeing them be appreciated for their fight structure rather than their difficulty is really really nice (and makes me feel a lot better about struggling with them lol)

[@maxwortel8986]

Good commentary Really spot on

[@Sawcybui]

I love how the bosses are listed in alphabetical order and then Fire switches up broken vessel and lost kin

[@nicknovack4902]

I think in general, the more you play a good boss, the better it gets.

[@MortalShowdown]

27:38 why did I laugh so hard about your No Eyes joke lol

[@The__Thunder__]

One of my favorites is watcher knights, once i got the shade cloak timings down, i felt so cool dodging around them and getting a hit in every once in a while. Its the same reason i love mantis lords

[@toomuchdoi5355]

Dung defender is definitely my favourite boss, it was a really fun fight for me and i found it great in general

[@rojogaming2526]

I feel like massive moss charger should be in the great section but that’s your choice

[@memeless6933]

our boy with another video !

[@pegono]

i love how he set zote's theme in the background and throughout the whole video im havin flashbacks of that cancer bossfight

[@WitherlordaNubis]

The one upside to Vengefly King is the amount of geo it gives you when you kill it

[@andrew_cunningham]

I really like Mantis Lords in the role of early game "git gud" fight, assuming they're the first thing you fight after Hornet and you haven't upgraded the nail yet. They're really not hard, but are one of the first bosses that requires learning the attack patterns well, and bridge the gap between the sluggish tutorial bosses and the more frantic mid game stuff like Soul Master and Dung Defender. Tbh I'd prefer if beating them was required (or at least encouraged) before accessing City of Tears.

[@milespruchnik7184]

I love almost all the bosses from HK dearly. But my favorites will always be sisters of battle and NKG. I also really love the sheo fight, the paint splashing around gives so much vibrance to the fight

[@yballaw2714]

i would love to see a tier list of just design idea of the bosses. for example, i love the collector, sheo, and nosk as designs. the collector collects different enemies and uses them in battle; sheo is a paint master and uses his paint as nail arts, i think that just.. concept is a very nice way to give the characters “traits” into their moveset. nosk literally disguises itself as a vessel to lure more vessels to his lair- where he kills them- and then transforms into himself. i’ll never forget seeing the vessels standing there and being like “what??” and when i saw them standing on the platform going up to them and watching nosk transform and thinking that was the coolest thing ever. i would love to see the rankings for those types of things as well! thanks for reading anyone who did :)

[@viperzenthic1573]

Gotta say, I think Nightmare King and Pure Vessel deserve their own tier. Great fights. Fun and fast paced, but not to the point where you can button mash. It takes pure concentration and gives you a nice challenge

[@lewisthehappypufferfish.857]

i prefer NKG over pure vessel because healing in pute vessel is basically impossible outside of when he is staggered and even then only for one mask. NKG on the other hand has an attack (spikes from ground) where you can consistently heal one mask with quick focus (IK pv more or less has this attack too but it doesn't give as much time and his follow up attack is often too fast so its unreliable)

[@viperzenthic1573]

@@lewisthehappypufferfish.857 fair. I like them both because they’re tough, and mote challenge is fun in these types games

[@Zywl]

Zote attacks but deals no damage, it's hilarious

[@grieferninja3864]

It's funny that this comes out now because I just beat the pantheon of hollownest yesterday

[@Table.Fables]

I’ve finally just beaten GPZ in entirety and I can say I now kinda love this boss… you can learn the telegraphs EVENTUALLY and while you never get into the beautiful flow and dance of a boss like NKG it’s still so satisfying to see yourself improve!

[@scorchik11]

I like how fire mixed up the lost king and broken vessel images

[@overqwilgaming6614]

Just once I want to see a boss tier list with both oblobbles but with each oblobble in a different tier

[@Atellas]

Babe, wake up, Fireb0rn’s making a tier list video again

[@gaminggeckos4388]

10:48 And Husk Guard teaches you the basics of False Knight's attacks! It's pretty neat how certain enemies are tutorials for the boss you face later on in the area. Though, the only other enemy that parallels it's boss as closely as Husk Guard parallels False Knight is how the Matis Traitors parallel the Traitor Lord. And also how the Crystallised Husks parallel the Crystal Guardian, if you fight the Crystallised Husks first for some weird reason.

[@qbc_03x65]

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as beating Radiant NKG for the first time, he’s such a fun boss