In Hollow Knight, managing and increasing your health is crucial for surviving the various challenges you will encounter throughout Hallownest. Your maximum health can be primarily enhanced by collecting Mask Shards, which allows you to expand your health capacity significantly. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how to increase your maximum health:

1. Collecting Mask Shards
– Mask Shards: Scattered throughout the game world, there are a total of 16 Mask Shards. Gathering 4 Mask Shards will create one additional health mask, thus raising your total from the starting 5 masks to a maximum of 9 masks when all shards are collected.

2. Equipping Charms
You can further increase your effective health by equipping specific charms, which grant additional mask bonuses:

– Unbreakable Heart (or Fragile Heart): This charm adds 2 extra health masks, increasing your total capacity from 9 to 11 masks.

– Lifeblood Heart: This charm grants you 2 lifeblood masks, which are temporary health shields that deplete before your standard health masks.

– Lifeblood Core: A stronger variant, the Lifeblood Core charm provides 4 lifeblood masks.

– Joni’s Blessing: This charm converts 40% of your total masks into lifeblood masks (rounded up). When equipped, it effectively increases your health pool beyond the base capacity, providing additional lifeblood masks.

Summary of Health Increase
1. Base Health: Start with 5 masks.
2. Collect Mask Shards: Gather shards to raise total masks to 9.
3. Charm Effects:
– Equip Unbreakable Heart for 11 masks total.
– Use Lifeblood Heart or Lifeblood Core for temporary lifeblood masks.
– Equip Joni’s Blessing to enhance your lifeblood capacity by 40%.

This strategic combination allows you to vastly expand your health beyond your initial capacity, enhancing your survivability in battles against formidable foes and tough areas.

Important Notes
– While nail upgrades increase your offensive capabilities, they do not impact your maximum health.
– Restoring health requires SOUL and must be done while standing still, making health management crucial in intense combat situations.

By utilizing these methods effectively, you can maximize your health potential in Hollow Knight, allowing for a more robust gameplay experience as you explore the depths of Hallownest.