The Collector

Location Tower of Love
Health 750
Reward/s Grubs
The Collector's Map

The Collector is a Boss in Hollow Knight. Bosses are special Enemies that feature their own arena, a large amount of health, and a variety of unique moves and abilities. You will need to perform multiple attacks such as using The Nail and Nail Arts along with the Spells and Abilities in order to defeat them. Some bosses are capable of entering into a state of stagger after landing a number of attacks on them.

As soon as you encounter a boss, its name will appear on the screen, the music will change into a boss battle theme, and usually,  paths connecting the arena will close or will be blocked leaving you no choice but to face these devastating and unique foes.


Dark figure locked inside the Tower of Love. Preserves Hallownest's creatures in glass jars with particular attention given to Grubs.

A shadow that sometimes flits through the caverns, making strange noises to itself. I've never seen it clearly so I have no idea what type of creature it is.


The Collector Location


The Collector Rewards



The Collector Strategies

Strategy Writeup

The Collector is an unpredictable and agile boss who loves to fake its attacks by continuously leaping around the arena and loves to keep you busy by summoning enemies as well. The first thing you want to remember once you encounter The Collector is DO NOT JUMP. The Collector's attacks always start off with it leaping erratically which make you susceptible to getting hit if you try to evade by jumping. Stay on the ground, keep a decent distance, be patient, and strike when the opportunity is available.

Charms: Now, let's list down a couple of charms that can help you in battle. First, Thorns of Agony. This charm can be very useful as a counter attack since it can quickly land a hit on The Collector regardless of its agility, the way the thorns emerge from The Knight is as fast as The Collector's speed and its radius will ensure that it will inflict damage on it. Grubsong, since you will receive damage most of the time, it is wise to have Grubsong equipped. This allows you to have another option of recovering SOUL while taking damage since striking The Collector with The Nail will not allow you to gain SOUL but only from the enemies summoned. Quick Focus, it is an assurance that you will be healing a lot and Quick Focus is what you need in order to use your spells as fast as possible in order to keep up with the pace of The Collector. And finally, Quick Slash, it is highly recommended to have this equipped to be able to perform your attacks faster allowing you to clean up the arena of the enemies as quickly as possible and securing at least one or two hits on The Collector - if you want to maximize your defensive capabilities, equipping Defender's Crest along with Spore Shroom is helpful since you can frequently inflict chip damage on the enemies and boss and you can release toxic gas and fill the room with it while using Focus to continuously inflict damage on the boss.

Spells and Abilities: For the spells, it's more of a hit or miss situation since there's a small chance that you can inflict damage by using your spell due to The Collector's quick reflexes. It is recommended that you focus on upgrading the ability Mothwing Cloak to the Shade Cloak in order for you to dash but also phase through its attacks.

And finally, make sure you upgrade The Nail in order to maximize the damage of The Knight's primary weapon. You can check the Nailsmith page to know more about upgrading The Nail.


Attacks & Counters

Attack Counter
Phase 1
Rain of Jars The Collector's main attack is throwing down jars in random positions that spawn enemies upon breaking. The Collector jumps into the ceiling and throws down 3 jars and pops back down into the arena after doing so. The jars do not break upon hitting The Knight but instead, once it lands on the ground and breaks, enemies such as a Vengefly, Baldur or an Aspid Hunter will appear. You can identify the number of jars The Collector will throw down and where it will come from by the following: First, you can hear a glass-like chime that sounds like The Collector rummaging through his possessions which indicate the number of jars he will throw down, the maximum number of jars it can throw is three. And second, rubble will come out from the ceiling which indicates the direction it will fall out from - the same goes to when The Collector will emerge from the ceiling. Your dash ability will come in handy in this situation. If there are no enemies spawned, it will drop 2 jars, if there is one enemy, it will only drop 1 jar.
The Collector's Grab One of its attacks is a grab attack which doesn't really grab The Knight upon reach, but rather, inflicts damage upon contact. The Collector first leaps in a short distance and once lands on The Knight's position, it will perform a grabbing motion attack. The Collector can perform a mix up where it can leap once and reach in for the grab, or leap twice until it's close enough before grabbing. It is recommended to avoid its leaps and bait it to perform its grab before striking it from a distance.
Countless Hops This is considered to more of The Collector's mechanic of moving around the arena and evading your attacks. This move is unpredictable since it hops fast like it's on a pogo stick for about three times in different positions before it performs an attack of either jumping into the ceiling for raining down jars or leaping in for a grab attack. It also makes this move dangerous since The Collector can hop once, twice, or thrice before it decides which attack it will perform. 
Maximum Summon For Phase 1, The Collector can only reveal three enemies.
Phase 2
Rain of Jars If there are no enemies in the arena, it will drop 3 jars. If there is one remaining, The Collector will throw 2 jars and if there are 2, it will only drop 1 jar.
The Collector's Grab The Collector will most likely mix up its attack depending on the situation. If there are no enemies in the arena, chances are high that it will jump into the ceiling to perform its jar attack to summon the enemies. If there are a few, chances are it will try to leap in and grab you as well as mixing it up by jumping into the ceiling. If it has its maximum amount of spawning enemies, it will only perform its hops and grab attack.
Maximum Summon As for phase 2, the maximum amount it can spawn enemies is two.



The Collector Lore

The Collector is found at the Tower of Love, neither a bug or even a plant, this unique creature made out of Void is obsessed with collecting different species where it places these beings inside a jar. It is unknown if his obsession with collecting allows him to experiment, learn, or preserve them, or if it is just for fun and collecting is what he loves to do.


The Collector Notes & Trivia

  • Defeating the collector unlocks the "Obsession" Trophy/Achievement.
  • The Collector can be encountered in Godhome.
  • If The Knight dies in the middle of the battle, its Shade can be found trapped inside a jar.



Broken Vessel  ♦  Brooding Mawlek  ♦  Brothers Oro and Mato  ♦  Crystal Guardian  ♦  Dung Defender (Boss)  ♦  Elder Hu  ♦  Failed Champion  ♦  False Knight  ♦  Flukemarm  ♦  Galien  ♦  God Tamer  ♦  Gorb  ♦  Great Nailsage Sly  ♦  Grey Prince Zote  ♦  Gruz Mother  ♦  Hive Knight  ♦  Hollow Knight  ♦  Hornet (Boss)  ♦  Mantis Lords  ♦  Markoth  ♦  Marmu  ♦  Massive Moss Charger  ♦  No Eyes  ♦  Nosk  ♦  Oblobble  ♦  Paintmaster Sheo  ♦  Soul Master  ♦  Soul Warrior  ♦  The Radiance  ♦  Traitor Lord  ♦  Troupe Master Grimm (Boss)  ♦  Uumuu  ♦  Vengefly King  ♦  Watcher Knight  ♦  Xero  ♦  Zote the Mighty (Boss)


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