Soul Warrior

"Learned bug, wielding a refined pinblade. Enhances its combat prowess with harvested soul. Where these strange warriors go, whispers follow them. Not only are they skilled with a nail, they can also use some strange power to shift suddenly from place to place. Stay on guard."

The Soul Warrior is a recurring mini-boss with varying difficulty in Hollow Knight. It appears twice in the Colosseum of Fools as a mini-boss. Unlocking its Journal entry requires defeating it twice.

Lore Soul Warriors are scholars who enhanced their combat abilities with stolen Soul. Although, unlike the other scholars in the sanctum, they seem to have a very hazy grasp of their own memories and the origins of their powers.

In-game events Two Soul Warriors can be fought in the Soul Sanctum. One guards the main access to the Sanctum's upper levels. The other guards the side wing locked with the Elegant Key and summons Follies to help it. Two more can be fought during the Trial of the Fool in the Colosseum. The first one summons Follies and the second is assisted by a Soul Twister.

Soul Warriors always ambush the Knight by teleporting above them and slashing down right as the battle begins.

Behaviour and Tactics
Soul Warriors teleport around the arena and use the following attacks:
 * Dive-Slash: Soul Warrior teleports above the Knight and slashes downwards while falling. It always begins a fight with this attack.
 * Dash-Slash: Soul Warrior raises its pinblade and rushes forward with a slash attack.
 * Conjure Orb: Soul Warrior fires a homing Soul orb, identical to the one used by Soul Twisters and the Soul Master. The orb can be dissipated by shadow dashing through it.
 * Teleport: Soul Warrior teleports within the arena to prepare for an attack or avoid the Knight.
 * Skitter: Soul Warrior walks slowly forwards or backwards within the arena before it uses another attack. If the Knight gets close, it may dash quickly backwards to evade. It can also chain this dash into a Teleport.
 * Summon: During certain fights with a Soul Warrior, it constantly spawns Follies. There is no limit to the amount of Follies that can be alive at once on the screen. This attack is only used by the Soul Warrior within the Elegant Key room and the first Soul Warrior in the Trial of the Fool.

The best occasion to hit it is right after its Dive-Slash attack, by sidestepping and getting in as many attacks as possible before it recovers, or, right after its Dash-Slash attack, either by jumping over it and down-striking or moving just out of the attack's limited range. Since Soul Warrior stays on the ground, its homing orb is more predictable than the ones fired by Soul Twisters and the Soul Master.

Location
Two Soul Warriors are fought in the Soul Sanctum, one of them guards the Shade Soul upgrade. Two more are fought during the Trial of the Fool in the Colosseum of Fools.

Trivia

 * In Godmaster, the Soul Warrior, Vengefly King, and Massive Moss Charger appear as regular bosses.

References

Воин душ Guerrero_del_alma Guerriero delle Anime Wojownik Dusz Guerrier de l'Âme