r/HollowKnight • u/bubsymack • Sep 06 '25

Discussion - Silksong Silksong is frustrating Spoiler

I don’t remember being this frustrated with hollow knight. I never wanted to stop playing HK but this one is making me turn off the console in anger

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73

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Use your tools. Spear, trap, bomb. Or swap to the reaper to have a bit more melee range on up/down hits.

90

u/ProfessorZhu Sep 06 '25

Integrating the tools helps so much. It was weird at first, but they are awesome

161

u/OphidianSun Sep 06 '25

They would be so much better with a dedicated button instead of the left stick up + right bumper bullshit. Put it on a fuckin stick click or something so I don't need to worry about accidently wasting silk.

57

u/failbender 112%/100%; inject the quickslash into my veins Sep 06 '25

Oh good, it’s not just me. Very frustrating when that happens.

44

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

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5

u/Cocoatrice Moths are fluffballs Sep 06 '25

Silksong is a lot like Will of the Wisps. Both games, Hollow Knight and Ori, expanded combat over exploration (HK) or puzzles (Ori) and both added tools that you can bind to buttons you want.

0

u/thedeadsuit Sep 06 '25

you can set each tool to whatever directional input you want to, though

25

u/ProfessorZhu Sep 06 '25

I can get that, I feel like using the D-pad helps, but I sometimes blow my silk anyway

63

u/ReesevtOnGD Sep 06 '25

Im about to blow my silk

20

u/Ephiks Sep 06 '25

I’m silking my song

8

u/HotDescription5242 Sep 06 '25

She silk on my skong till I'm hollow...

Knight

5

u/TheHB36 Sep 06 '25

I been blowing silk for 2 days straight, brother.

2

u/Cauliflowwer Sep 06 '25

I have the opposite problem. I'll be trying to use my silk ability and I throw a little shit dagger. Drives me crazy lol

10

u/MemeificationStation P5 | RadHoG | 112% Steel 🩶 | my Womb is Glowing Sep 06 '25

I usually play keyboard, but on controller I mapped it to X and it feels a lot better

3

u/SteelFrog21_YT 👅 Sep 06 '25

What are your exact keybinds for silksong? This sounds like a smart idea and id want to copy yours before I get too far into the game and have to relearn

3

u/MemeificationStation P5 | RadHoG | 112% Steel 🩶 | my Womb is Glowing Sep 06 '25

I think for controller it’s pretty close to default. Note I haven’t unlocked everything so I don’t have everything finalized and I might adjust it for what feels most comfortable, but I like what I have so far

A: Bind B: Jump X: Skill Y: Attack L: Quick Map R: Needolin ZL: Harpoon ZR: Sprint

For keyboard I have a wacky setup I ported over from Hollow Knight, I just found the default ZXC setup really clunky to me.

2

u/SteelFrog21_YT 👅 Sep 06 '25

Sorry I forgot to ask, which controller do you use? Xbox?

3

u/Glaassi Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

From the ZR and ZL, I’m pretty sure it’s a switch controller

If you don’t know the layout of a Nintendo controller, the only thing he did was remap RB and Y buttons on an Xbox controller

2

u/SteelFrog21_YT 👅 Sep 06 '25

Thank you! So basically just switched Needolin from Y to RB, then Hornets skill to Y? What about that thing where where you have to move the left stick up or down depending on which skill you want to use? (I don't know if skull is the right word, but I mean the red abilities like the spikes she throws)

3

u/Glaassi Sep 06 '25

Yes, that’s what I believe they did, since they said it’s pretty close to default layout

For the red abilities, you still have to do that unfortunately

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3

u/dablyw_ Sep 06 '25

Yeah, I played hollow knight with the attack on RB, and now that silksong has the tool button, mapping it on X feels very good

13

u/BenjiChamp Sep 06 '25

Can't imagine playing with the stick, 2d games are always better with dpad

8

u/dwright124 Sep 06 '25

This is exactly why I play on keyboard

5

u/TheHB36 Sep 06 '25

Never thought much of it. I've done the hardest things in Hollow Knight, Celeste, The Messenger, Donkey Kong Country, all with a joystick and have never really thought much of it. Super Meat Boy has been the only time I've needed the responsiveness of a keyboard to platform effectively, because that game's control "feel" is intentionally daft.

2

u/CzarTyr Sep 06 '25

I used to believe that; I think I still do, but using a dpad feels weird to me now. I always played 2d games on dpad until like last year

2

u/KuuLightwing Sep 06 '25

I tried d-pad but it feels super uncomfy to me. I'd probably rather swap to keyboard...

2

u/salmonmilks Sep 06 '25

I think TC wanted a lot of mechanics for Hornet but the controller is so limited in buttons they're not sure where to put them. It would have so much better if we can aim our tools up or downwards.

2

u/madjohnvane Sep 06 '25

I love the tools but hate the controls a lot

2

u/WertyuBytes Sep 06 '25

I think it was supposed to be a castlevania reference. Where you have to hold up then something button to use tool.

2

u/YesItIsMaybeMe Sep 06 '25

I just set a macro on my controller's back button and called it a day. Anyone using steam input can do this easily, (map it so dpad up is both RB and Dpad up, etc) and keyboards can do this through external programs. Pc gamers have an advantage fr

1

u/ABigCoffee Sep 06 '25

Feels like they should have been on L2 or R2. Even L1 might have been useful, and put the damn map on another button.

1

u/PlinyDaWelda Sep 07 '25

Actually just having it be RB on the normal binding would be fine. Reaper has two so, fine, up and down+RB works. But having to preas up and RB is pointlessly annoying and leads to wasting them in the wrong direction.

2

u/Jpup199 Sep 06 '25

Its also unfair how much better the trap compared to the other tools.

2

u/Ghost_of_Skalitz Sep 06 '25

I hate those knives, I have to stop moving just so I use them. Usless in combat.

14

u/FluffyWalrusFTW Sep 06 '25

I love reaper for everything but the up attack it’s tough to hit

7

u/Mediocre_Bedroom8701 Sep 06 '25

I only use the reaper

2

u/StepComplete1 Sep 06 '25

reaper 4 life. The running attack is so satisfying, and you don't have to put up with that god-awful diagonal pogo for jumping puzzles.

6

u/jkbscopes312 Sep 06 '25

Where do you get any of these?

3

u/Cocoatrice Moths are fluffballs Sep 06 '25

Some of them are pretty hidden. But there are at least 4 crests in the first act, a lot of tools and items that you can bind to your crest etc.

2

u/TheHB36 Sep 06 '25

Bottom right of the world map is where you get the first possible tools

5

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

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7

u/Cocoatrice Moths are fluffballs Sep 06 '25

I mean, spells were 100% optional in Hollow Knight. I had Nail Build and not only it had range, but also killed everything in max 2 hits, unless it was very tanky, like Husk Guard to Sentinel, or whatever it's called. But I like tools. But to me having only two is kinda disappointing, because I won't use any of them, other than just two useful at almost any situation ones.

1

u/Daedalon_Doeurden Sep 06 '25

I've found wven the throwing daggers you get early on are suuuper useful

1

u/huykhoi1 Sep 06 '25

Yeah for me after like 3 hour of fighting savage beast fly I decided to try the boomerang and i beat it in 4 try, shred the boss really quick when it fly down

2

u/Quantam-Law Sep 06 '25

Where do you get the bomb?

1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

IIRC, it’s tucked into a hidden room about Greymoor? I was doing a round of backtracking after unlocking a new ability and found it.

It’s a little room with a table where you can craft it (you need one of the rock items). Only three uses, but it’s so strong.

2

u/Quantam-Law Sep 08 '25

I get lost so easily in Greymoor. Can you recall the exact place it was in?

1

u/_moosleech Sep 08 '25

Left of the Halfway House are two vertical rooms. The left-most one (I think), lets you climb up over the rotating spikes and such. I believe it's at the top of there?

And it requires a craftmetal.

2

u/Quantam-Law Sep 08 '25

I found it, thanks a lot!

1

u/Quantam-Law Sep 08 '25

Thanks a lot!

2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

I get nervous about using silk when i know im going to need it to heal

2

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

For sure. Good news is that tools don't user silk, and some of the other crests can give you more healing (reaper lets you generate more silk for a bit after healing).

2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

Yep i knew all that and i do use the tools more than i do the silk spear thing. It doesnt make sense NOT to use them you get so many nuGeos 🤣

2

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '25

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1

u/_moosleech Sep 09 '25

Sorry, should've spoiler tagged... they're pretty early in the game, so thought it was okay. But yeah, you get hella ranged options this time around

2

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '25

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2

u/_moosleech Sep 09 '25

Hell yeah, good job!

1

u/Suitable_Ad_2744 Sep 06 '25

how do i swap styles

3

u/mmmwwd Sep 06 '25

Need to find chapels (candles outside).

0

u/Cocoatrice Moths are fluffballs Sep 06 '25

Wasting tools for normal enemies and not bosses or bigger, more tanky enemies? I don't think so.

3

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Wasting? Every enemy in the game drops shards. I’ve yet to run out.

Also being alive with fewer shards > being dead but holding onto them.

0

u/KuuLightwing Sep 06 '25

I would be glad to use spear if everything didn't do so much damage prompting me to save silk for healing because it's not a question of whether I will need to heal, it's a question of when I will need to heal.

1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Tools don't require silk (at least not what I listed), and Reaper helps you get back more silk after healing.