Pale Lurker

"Forgotten champion of the Colosseum, drawn away by strange obsessions. This odd creature is unaffected by and unaware of the disease drifting through the caverns. Its madness is all its own."

Pale Lurker is an enemy in Hollow Knight. She is an uninfected former champion of the Colosseum of Fools who was drawn away by strange obsessions, eventually becoming insane.

Behaviour and Tactics
Pale Lurker is a mini-boss style enemy that is first encountered sitting idly and muttering over her key. Once approached, she screams and proceeds into her arena. Her arena consists of a massive rectangular chamber with two big blocks creating tunnels in an infinity shape. Once entering this arena, the Knight is locked in until she is defeated.

She once again sits idly in a location within her arena until she is found. When drawing near, Pale Lurker leaps away from the Knight, hopping across the ground and even hopping up walls, occasionally dropping indestructible spikes in her path. These spikes disappear after a short while and can be manoeuvred around.

If the Knight gets too close, Pale Lurker lashes her arms around herself, dealing contact damage. If the Knight moves far enough away to dodge this attack, she keeps running. If the Knight is still close to Pale Lurker after she finishes this attack, she burrows into the ground and finds a different location in the area to wait until she is found again.


 * Due to her speed and her difficult to dodge attacks, it is recommended to attack Pale Lurker from afar with Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul Spell and the sword beams from the Grubberfly's Elegy Charm when in range.
 * Grimmchild can also be used to attack Pale Lurker, but her speed in some situations counters the accuracy of the Grimmchild's attack.
 * Combining the Sharp Shadow Charm and Dash Slash Nail Art is effective for attacking her swiftly in melee combat.
 * Dash Slash is a great way to stay a good distance away from Pale Lurker and also deal large amounts of damage, especially when combined with the Nailmaster's Glory Charm.

After defeating her, the initial gate blocking the chasm opens, allowing direct passage back to the Colosseum.

Location
Pale Lurker is found in a secret area east of the Colosseum of Fools, the Pale Lurker's Retreat. A breakable wall leads to the area.

Trivia

 * Upon defeating her and after leaving the area and returning, Pale Lurker's corpse can be found in the room where she was initially encountered.
 * Although technically not a boss, a small challenge room is closed off by gates and Pale Lurker has to be defeated in order for the gates to open.
 * When in combat with Pale Lurker the City of Tears (Action) theme plays.
 * Only one Pale Lurker exists; it is one of the few enemies that never respawns.