How to beat the Collector Hollow Knight

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The Collector Location
The Collector Rewards
The Collector Strategies
The Collector Notes & Trivia

Hollow Knight > General Discussions > Topic Details

Sooo... The Collector

I have never been that pissed when playing this game. Even when I died to Pure Vessel 7 times in a row in Pantheon 4. The Collector is so far the only boss that is ridiculous in Pantheon 5 and ends my runs more frequently than anything else. How the ♥♥♥♥ do you defeat him? He's just so stupid because he keeps on spawning 300 spartan Aspids that absolutely destroy my health bar in no time, and not only do they take 2 hits from Pure Nail with Strength charm, but also fly behind other enemies and Collector, hiding and shooting. And while I understand "it's supposed to be hard" - Pure Vessel is very tough, because it requires skill, timing and quick reactions. The Collector is pure rng for me. Any tips?

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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

Tower of Love
Godhome (Mini-boss)

The Collector Rewards

3x Grubs
The Collector's Map

The Collector Strategies

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.

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 is found at the Tower of Love, where he cares for his various creatures contained in jars. Neither a bug or even a plant, this unique and very enigmatic creature made out of Void is obsessed with collecting the various species of Hallownest; he places these beings inside jars so they cannot escape, and claims to love them. He often cackles and whoops with an eerie delight, seemingly a creature gone mad; though he seems to sob in great sorrow when staggered for the final time and about to die as he clutches his face and drips out Void profusely. It is unknown where he came from or why he has an obsession with collecting (and possibly intentionally preserving) Hallownest’s various fauna. The Grubs are especially beloved of him for an unknown reason. The Collector is the one responsible for capturing them and placing them in jars all over Hallownest, though his intentions for doing this are a mystery.

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 a battle with the Collector, the Shade can appropriately be found trapped inside a jar upon re-entering the Tower of Love.
The Collector bears a strange resemblance to a Kingsmould stripped of its armour, though this resemblance is unexplained.