Hollow Knight - Complete Strategy Guide (Pantheon of Hollownest)

This guide is focused on helping players that are struggling with the Pantheon of Hollownest. By dividing the pantheon into smaller blocks and giving some insight about builds for each of them.

Guide to Strategy in Pantheon of Hollownest

All credit goes to Fred!

Introduction

This guide is meant for does who already have a good grasp when in comes to fighting each boss individually but struggle to complete the Pantheon of Hollownest.

My objective is to share the strategy that I used for each section of the pantheon by utilising charms to their fullest potential.

1st – 4th Stage

1st Stage

On the 1st stage I simply use a “Pure Melee [OVERCHARMED] Build”.

Note: You take double damage with overcharmed builds only use it if you feel confident during the stage.

I know it’s not the best but I use it because it fits my greedy playstyle where I let myself get hit to be able to deal damage during the invincibility frames this is why overcharm it with “Quick Focus” just in case I need to heal some heavy damage fast. The combination of “Mark of Pride” + “Strength” + “Quick Slash” is perfect for melee damage output, the “Nailmaster’s Glory” is just there because I had a free notch and nail arts can be helpful in certain situations.

Other Overcharmed variations that might be interesting:

Same build but with more movement speed instead of a faster nail art quick charge.

Hybrid build which allows you to adapt your playstyle to different situations.

Pure Spells Build.

Since the first stage doesn’t present any big threats I just prefer to overcharm it but if you don’t feel confortable with it you can use this builds instead:

Pure Melee with + 2hp or very long nail range.

Save Builds:

Save spell build with more movement speed and +2hp.

Save spell build with more attack speed.

Very Save Melee build with + 2hp and quick healing.

I recommend you to use one of these through most of the pantheon if you are having extreme difficulties with it.

Note: There are plenty of variations of which i do not mention here.

These are just the ones that i find to be more suitable for the job.

2nd Stage

I swap to the Save Melee Build.

3rd Stage

4th Stage

This 2 stages are pretty straight forward there are plenty of opportunities to heal with “Quick focus” equipped.

Things to have in mind:

Since this build has a short nail, in the Collectors fight I use shade souls to kill the bugs out of reach that he drops making the fight pretty easy. The Collector doesn’t give you soul when you hit him but if you use the dream nail on him he does.

The Collector.

During the God Tamer fight you can easily take damage on purpose to use the invincibility frames to deal damage making the fast a big faster. You don’t have to kill the Tamer just the Beast.

The God Tamer.

If you start this fight with low health just play defensive until the spikes attack to heal 2hp with “Quick Focus” equipped.

The Troupe Master Grimm.

5th Stage

At this point i swap “Quick Slash” for “Mark of Pride”. I feel like the extra range helps a bit agaisnt Uumuu, Winged Nosk and Sly.

Things to have in mind:

If you took damage during the Watcher Knight fight you can fully heal at the end by leaving the last watcher alive and dashing to the opposite side of him and use the quick focus to heal 2hp.

Watcher Night

Uumuu can be a bit trick. My advice is to go down after Oomas are spwaned and adjust your positions towards the one that is more suitable to hit Uumuu. You can heal 1hp savely everytime Uumuu is spawning Oomas.

Uumuu.

During the Winged Nosk fight you have plenty of opportunities with to heal (1hp) Quick Focus equipped, after a slash if nosk spawns Infected Balloon and during the ceiling attack.

Winged Nosk

6th Stage

Here i swap back to “Quick Slash” it works very well against most of the bosses on this stage because i can get into close range really easil.

Things to have in mind:

“No Eyes” can be annoying without it so if you have a bit of hard time against him you should consider maintaining the previous build.

No Eyes

7th Stage

Here I swap back to “Mark of Pride” because of Markoth, he comes way easier with long range + “Quick Focus” to fight agaisnt Markoth

Things to have in mind:

With the long range you can pogo Markoth really easily while dodging his swords at the same time. If you get hit, you can heal (2hp) while he’s spinning his shield around.

Markoth

The Quick Focus allows you to heal (1hp) while he is doing the spike attack. The same thing as the “Troupe Master Grimm” if you have low health during the fight just play more defensively and use opportunity to heal.

The Nightmare King Grimm

8th Stage

At this stage I maintain the same build because i prefer to fight against Pure Vessel with long range instead of more at Atk spd.

Note: Spell casting builds are really good against Absolute Radiance.

“Quick Focus” should always be on your build at this stage.

Things to have in mind:

During the Pure Vessel fight you can heal 1hp during the “explosions attack” or heal 2hp sometimes, if none of the explosions spawns at your current position. If you stagger Pure Vessel with a pogo you can only heal 1hp instead of 2hp.

Pure Vessel

The 1st phase of the Absolute Radiance is all about dodging the attacks until you have a save opening to deal damage, sometimes its a bit annoying because of the ridiculous RNG but you need to play it safe, remember “Slow is fast”.
During the 2nd phase is where things get a bit tricky. The strategy is almost the same you dodge around the platforms until you have a chance to deal damage or if you need to heal you can try to go to the opposite side of radiance and wait for a “beam attack”/”sword attack” and heal (1hp).
The best place for Radiance to be at is in the 2 middle platforms, if that happens you can intentionally take damage to use the invincibility frames to deal a lot of damage.