The starting stats of the player character, AKA the Knight are pretty weak, and that includes their Health.

And, when a player first starts Hollow Knight and gets into combat, they may be surprised to see just how many hits every enemy seems to take. Updated July 3rd, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: As Hollow Knight fans wait evermore in what feels like purgatory for news related to the sequel, Silksong, new players are just starting this adorable-yet-dark Metroidvania and other games like it for the very first time. From the starting point of Health in Hollow Knightof 5 Masks, players can bump that all the way up to 9 after collecting every Mask Shard. Think of them like Heart Containers from the Zelda series, collect enough, and they'll combine to make a new 'heart'. To increase the number of Masks the player has, they'll need to collect items called Mask Shards.

The more Masks the Knight has, the more hits they'll be able to take before they are destroyed, sent back to the bench, and must defeat their Shade before regaining their Geo.