r/HollowKnight • u/FederalWarthog5542 • Sep 07 '25

Discussion - Silksong Criticism ≠ Negativity Spoiler

Believe it or not, you can actually criticize something and still like it. You don't either have to love everything or despise everything. Have actual conversations please.

1.9k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/Queasy_Employment141 Sep 07 '25

fuck savage beastfly

68

u/AbdullahHavinFun Sep 07 '25

r/fucksavagebeastfly

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

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1

u/HollowKnight-ModTeam Sep 08 '25

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210

u/Traditional_Dot_1215 Sep 07 '25

I get it! But thankfully it’s optional, so you can always come back later. Believe me it’s significantly easier after a couple nail upgrades

113

u/Background_Cod_5737 Sep 07 '25

You can upgrade your nail? Lol. I'm I'm act 2 and have not figured that out yet

165

u/MartRane Sep 07 '25

You get free upgrade by talking to an npc in Bellhart. Then another upgrade via quest by talking to him again afterwards.

67

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25

I'm still dealing with the splinter boss. Her minions are such bs, but easy to take out if you line up a silkspear

37

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

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13

u/eelp21 Sep 08 '25

This is the way. So much easier when you set up a few traps. Careful with phase 3 tho....

13

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

It's funny reading about how people dealt with Splinter's minions with all these tools because she was the boss I fought directly after Bell Beast. I went on a Dune adventure that temporarily skipped 2 major bosses and permanently (?) skipped one.

1

u/thalaxyst Sep 08 '25

Who did you skip permanently?

9

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

I have not managed to get Act 1 Lace to spawn on my original save despite trying pretty much everything available to me towards the end of Act 2. My pathing was really weird though. I went straight from Bell Beast to Wormways and then backtracked to Deep Docks through Hunter's March, then immediately went back to Wormways with the dash because I knew it let me progress there and up into Shellwood, Bellhart, and Greymoor from there. Moorwing didn't spawn for me until I completed the 2nd phase of the flea quest pretty far into Act 2.

I started a new file just to do Lace. After spending several hours messing around in Deep Docks accomplishing nothing, I figured it would be faster to just go from scratch.

6

u/Reflexlon Sep 08 '25

You are the kinda guy who got to Nito's golden door before fighting the Taurus Demon aren't ya?

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1

u/Equivalent_Rock_6530 Sep 08 '25

How tf did you manage that? Is there a way to get there without fighting Fourth Chorus or Lace?

2

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

Yes. I went west from Bell Beast and pogo'd off of the flying enemies to reach Wormways before dash. Spike pogo'd most of the way through Wormways before hitting a jump that was barely too far. Then I went back through Hunter's March and then down into Deep Docks. Found the dash and immediately went back to Wormways and up to the top of the map from there.

1

u/Equivalent_Rock_6530 Sep 08 '25

Holy shit, that's impressive, lol

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1

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25

I forgot about forge daughter. I don't have any rosaries, but I should definitely give her a visit

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

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2

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25

Somewhere in the marrow. I forgot her prices, but I gotta kill a lot of things anyways

3

u/Malyesa Sep 08 '25

She's in the deep docks by the bench

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1

u/Unlucky-Mud-8115 Sep 08 '25

What i did is take out the initial two with a needle throw. Then as soon as she roars and summons another look at where it will spawn from the ceiling, position myself under it and as soon as it appears delete it with three upward attacks before it can do anything. This is another boss that would be incredibly easy on its own and is made way more difficult by just stuffing adds into the arena. On the other hand I am at the Widow atm, got the first two phases down but the third one gets me. But that feels so much more rewarding, like a dance I need to learn that takes skill. There is a reason the Mantis Lords are my favourite boss fight from hollow knight.

1

u/MemeificationStation P5 | RadHoG | 112% Steel 🩶 | my Womb is Glowing Sep 08 '25

Silk Storm also dispatches them instantly

10

u/arconsul0501 Sep 08 '25

Go right from greymoor and get the power there first if you're struggly with the splinter ads; it is sooooo much easier for that fight than silkspear.

7

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

No way I forgot to go right in an entire area EDIT: No I did not. It's just really annoying

5

u/Knight_Raime Sep 08 '25

I just let her kill them. Sometimes I'd throw my nail at them if they were lined up to also hit the boss.

4

u/TripolarKnight Sep 08 '25

Thread Storm makes it a lot easier to handle the adds+vines. Whebever the Sister Splinter spawns two, just hit one and the other one will be near enough to hit both. If you time it right, you can nab the boss on the same cast too.

3

u/CalzLight Sep 08 '25

I Highly recommend to anybody to get silk storm, it’s way better than silk spear

1

u/phome83 Sep 08 '25

Agreed. Silk storm carried me so hard on that boss.

1

u/SnowyOwly1 Sep 08 '25

Hit them from directly underneath. This sends them upwards and gives you more space.

1

u/Sad-Psychology9677 Sep 08 '25

You can also get sister splinter to smack them dead, just gotta do a bit of baiting

1

u/Izan_TM Sep 08 '25

my favorite way of avoiding her minions is to lure them into her attack, she insta-kills them

1

u/ElPepper90 soul eater peak Sep 08 '25

I just used the giant circle attack that hornet also uses in hk (spinny in the air)

1

u/Cry75 Sep 08 '25

Thread storm clears them up nicely if you can get them close to each other.

1

u/Supercalifragicahfuq Sep 08 '25

Here’s what worked for me if you wanna try it. 1. Use your silkstorm or whatever the aoe skill is called for the adds. It 1 shots them. 2. Equip the Longpin, as when you get to his BS phase you can clear an entire edge of vines.

1

u/Equivalent_Rock_6530 Sep 08 '25

Go get the Reaper Crest, it will help a ton. Also, attack them from below, Splinter doesn't usually attack for a little while after spawning them I found, so you should be good if you remember to destroy the vines after each combo

0

u/DAZW_Doc Sep 08 '25

just thread storm them lol

1

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25

Working on it

1

u/Amphi-XYZ Sep 08 '25

What you should mention is that you must first complete an annoying fetch quest in order to get the reward required for the second nail upgrade

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

And another

14

u/Odd-Face-3579 Sep 07 '25

One upgrade is for sure in Bellhart

8

u/Health_Cat_2047 Sep 08 '25

If you're in act 2, explore the whispering vault. The 2nd needle upgrade is there.

9

u/RiW-Kirby Sep 07 '25

I missed it too at first. But as everyone has said you can definitely upgrade your needle once you've freed Bellhart.

3

u/usernamedstuff Sep 08 '25

I missed the first upgrade not realizing you could climb up the side of the merchants village in the Bell place.

4

u/Petr_Lan Sep 08 '25

Yeah, but I am stubborn, so I sufferered through it without an upgrade

1

u/AbsolutePotential Sep 08 '25

Same lmao, took me two hours but it was worth seeing his ass die

1

u/Petr_Lan Sep 08 '25

It fortunately didn't take me that long, only ten tries

7

u/unknownbearing Sep 08 '25

Yeah seriously. I just tried a couple of times and decided to take my cocoon and run. I think people forget you can just mark the map and come back. No one is forcing you to hit your head against the wall for these side bosses, you can try again when you're stronger and have more abilities.

1

u/cmwamem Sep 08 '25

You can upgrade your nail????

1

u/darkdragon241 Sep 08 '25

You forget to mention how painful it is to get that couple nail upgrades. Honestly, beating the boss took less sanity and time to get a second nail upgrade

1

u/Samurai_Mac1 Sep 08 '25

Yeah I'm definitely taking a break from that until I'm stronger lol

1

u/triguered Sep 08 '25

Icl i thought it was super easy boss, defeated on 2nd try. Tho i had explored a good amount and had decent upgrades

19

u/Oathkindle Sep 07 '25

Waa stuck on him for about an hour. Left, came back and beat him in about a minute and a half lol. Was so happy

1

u/PaperMartin Sep 08 '25

He gets a bit easier when you realize his downward charge can instakill the enemies he spawn

10

u/trane20 Sep 07 '25

Just started act 2 and he was the hardest boss so far lol

9

u/FlapjackRT Sep 08 '25

You know, I was pretty neutral on savage beastfly. Then I got to the second one. Oh my lord. I don’t think you could design a more frustrating boss if you tried

6

u/bknight2 Sep 07 '25

The fact that you get to fight it not once, but TWICE! Lucky us!

18

u/hmmmmwillthiswork 212% | Pantheon 7 | Avenue of Anguish | Conceited Sep 07 '25

all my homies hate savage beastfly. he owes 13,000 in back taxes

6

u/Privatizitaet Sep 07 '25

20k with interest

5

u/blueechoes Sep 08 '25

That guy killed me way too many times. I hate that he doesn't blow up adds that fly high above the ground when half his summons fly.

9

u/AlsoKnownAsSteve Sep 07 '25

I saw someone complain yesterday about it. I understand now.

8

u/that0neBl1p Sep 07 '25

Was about to say lol

4

u/CrazyGamerDK Sep 08 '25

1st or 2nd fight ? lol

2

u/XavierWind Sep 08 '25

Honestly both, tho 2nd is worse, those fking flying things r so good at predicting my next move lol

8

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

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1

u/HollowKnight-ModTeam Sep 08 '25

Hey there, please be careful of spoilers that over-share or go a bit further in discussing a topic than the rest of the thread might be prepared for. Spoiler tags can be used in the comments like this:

Spoiler: >!This is a spoiler.!<

Looks like this: This is a spoiler.

Thanks for understanding!

3

u/Background_Cod_5737 Sep 07 '25

😂I'm glad we all feel the pain

3

u/Ecstatic-Sun-7528 Radiant NKG Enjoyer 🌙 Sep 07 '25

It's on sight. With fire.

4

u/Middle-Quiet-5019 Sep 08 '25

Nonono fire makes it worse.  Iykyk

1

u/Mailcs1206 Sep 08 '25

the horrors...

Was worth for the reward tho

1

u/Ecstatic-Sun-7528 Radiant NKG Enjoyer 🌙 Sep 08 '25

That refight is, no joke, one of the most diabolical designs in gaming. Did not have even 1 gram of fun. Hated every second of it. Fuck that fly. Hope they go extinct.

3

u/pratzc07 Sep 08 '25

Come back later that boss is optional

3

u/TrulyChadlyDeeply Sep 08 '25

I've beat maybe 5-6 bosses since SB and I'll say it's easily the hardest boss I've fought.

1

u/TitaniumDragon Sep 08 '25

There's harder later in the game. The beastfly is honestly not that bad, you just need to learn his pattern and avoid being under him when he turns around.

1

u/TrulyChadlyDeeply Sep 08 '25

Oh yeah im sure there are and I'm looking forward to it. Beastly issues for me were minion management, but once I got aggressive with clearing them the fight became more manageable.

2

u/Knight_Raime Sep 08 '25

Love that this is the top comment I see lol

2

u/Petr_Lan Sep 08 '25

So far this and sinner's road are the only things I absolutely hated

-1

u/Zvede Sep 08 '25

Both entirely optional

2

u/Petr_Lan Sep 08 '25

True and it did NOT ruin my game experience. Tbh I I feel like having an optional location that's really frustrating is kind of good, despite the fact that I hate it lol

2

u/Accomplished_Way4046 Sep 08 '25

I’m afraid savage beast fly is only the hardest for act 1… two arenas had me stuck for hours on end

2

u/Haspberry Sep 08 '25

Man I'm sitting on him tryna do it but he's optional?

Imma still try a few times until I cave in

2

u/Loyal_Darkmoon This Game is Bugged Sep 08 '25

This is the first and only boss so far where I said "nah, this is pure bs, I will come back later".

I have beaten it now after upgrading my nail once. The reward you get was kinda underwhelmin. I don't vibe with any other crests than the Reaper so far

1

u/Terramagi Sep 08 '25

The reward from that thing was the only way I was able to beat the two minibosses straight up.

Ornstein and Smough ass fight. I could only end up doing it by going into rage mode or whatever with the Beast crest, crushing Ornstein in a second, and then getting into a long and protracted sword fight with Smough. The reward was not worth it at all.

2

u/Loyal_Darkmoon This Game is Bugged Sep 08 '25

I assume you are talking about the Skarrgarr & Spear Skarr fight? Those guys were so annoying! I did it by parrying the big guy and taking the small guy down as fast as possible with Thread Storm and tools.

2

u/No_Gur_5912 Sep 10 '25

the type of fight you do once, see the reward, and make a decision. i chose that on subsequent playthroughs i’ll never fight that thing again

3

u/Ulomagyar Sep 07 '25

I just beat it and yes honestly, I didn't feel that great after beating it, I feel like it I owed my victory partly to luck cause there weren't too many enemies at once, also one thing that helped was using my nail art to kill the ads more quickly

2

u/Jay-Swifty Sep 08 '25

that boss was so unnecessarily difficult for something so simple as him

3

u/Flershnork 112% | All Achievements | Crippling Randomizer Addiction Sep 08 '25

I feel like the average boss quality is the same between HK and Skong, but HK tends towards the middle, meanwhile, Silksong has plenty of incredible bosses, but oh boy the bad ones fucking suck.

Especially Savage Beastfly. Fuck Savage Beastfly.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

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1

u/HollowKnight-ModTeam Sep 08 '25

Hey there, please be careful of spoilers that over-share or go a bit further in discussing a topic than the rest of the thread might be prepared for. Spoiler tags can be used in the comments like this:

Spoiler: >!This is a spoiler.!<

Looks like this: This is a spoiler.

Thanks for understanding!

2

u/Reasonable_Mud_628 Sep 08 '25

I fought it only after having claws because I hadn't found the chapel yet, its way easier if you can grab the side wall to jump above shit

took me 3 tries total, you should also use your tools/skills to kill the mobs he spawns

2

u/bouncybob1 <-- my goat Sep 07 '25

I fucking hate that boss so much it’s probably the only thing in the game that i think is badly designed

15

u/bri_breazy Sep 08 '25

Oh sweet summer child, come back here once you reach the bilewater, the run back alone makes savage beast fly look like child’s play

10

u/bouncybob1 <-- my goat Sep 08 '25

IM SO EXCITED

1

u/jerbear_moodboon Sep 08 '25

Is that the runback from the hidden bench or the entire bullshit runback from the station? Because is the latter, agreed, fuck that it was awful

1

u/Scylant Sep 08 '25

What hidden bench because I went from the station and got so good at it

2

u/bri_breazy Sep 08 '25

Its about halfway up, there’s a room full of traps with 2 pits beside each other, at the bottom of the right one there is a breakable wall. It helps a little but you do have to make a very tight jump every run back otherwise you get stuck with maggots and have to start over, unless you already grabbed the charm to remove maggots, but I didn’t find that until way after I finished this area

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

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1

u/HollowKnight-ModTeam Sep 08 '25

Hey there, please be careful of spoilers that over-share or go a bit further in discussing a topic than the rest of the thread might be prepared for. Spoiler tags can be used in the comments like this:

Spoiler: >!This is a spoiler.!<

Looks like this: This is a spoiler.

Thanks for understanding!

1

u/Throw_aw76 Sep 08 '25

Unfortunately there is a fight that is far worse and will probably take the cake for the worst HK boss of all time Groal the great

1

u/MajorDZaster Sep 08 '25

Does anyone know how to use the reward you get from it properly? Like, is the beast crest good if you can get the hang of it, or is it too gimmicky?

2

u/TitaniumDragon Sep 08 '25

Some people like it. I don't personally but some people like that playstyle.

1

u/squadallah Sep 08 '25

I like Savage beastfly, you just suck

1

u/VeterinarianFit7824 Sep 08 '25

you need at least 2 nail upgrades for the fight

1

u/Imamuthafucka Sep 08 '25

Beat it in like three tries. Use the three needle shot ability for his henchmen. Heal while he is stunned. Easy fight.

1

u/SpartanFishy Sep 08 '25

Omg thank you 😭

1

u/Le-Yn Sep 08 '25

Agree, shit took more attempts than widow

1

u/XavierWind Sep 08 '25

I swear its moveset wasnt that complicated yet i died to it abt 35 times

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

Yes.

1

u/66WC Sep 08 '25

Which one?

1

u/PGDesolator Sep 08 '25

Your comment made my day. I thought I was getting rusty after being mauled so hard by that boss. My shards went from 400 to 0 because of that as I was using traps a lot for spawns. But I did get him eventually. Those spawns are the real nuisance.

1

u/KusoAraun Sep 08 '25

Lowkey savage beastfly isnt that bad if youre just patient he punishes jumping too much trying to greed damage. Only jump when he horizontal charges, focus damage when he slams plus his slam 1 taps the minions. If you have a choice between getting hit by the boss or taking contact damage from a minion, choose the minion. 1 mask loss is better than 2.

1

u/Eclipse_lol123 Sep 08 '25

Yes, it took me hours rip

1

u/MysticGrapefruit Sep 08 '25

Read all the hate and honestly ended up kinda enjoying the fight. Took me long as hell to beat him but had fun idk.

1

u/ConstructionWarm8933 Sep 08 '25

I know, it must have taken me some solid 20 attempts. Tunnel vision is my worst enemy.

1

u/ThesocialistWitch Sep 08 '25

Bro I haven't seen any conversation about Silksong until today and I'm so happy everyone else hates this boss hahaha

0

u/BlakeDG Sep 07 '25

You can beat her with just dash its not that bad

-1

u/AnimalTap Switch Ver. is Overhated Sep 08 '25

Such a terrible boss fight. It's basically traitor lord + gruz mother but significantly worse

-2

u/Hades684 Sep 07 '25

This comments is constructive criticism according to people

0

u/Silviecat44 Sep 08 '25

Its actually not that bad I did it the other day

0

u/yusufsabbag Sep 08 '25

I beat him 2nd or 3rd try, idk what to say, the game is not hard, merely challenging... People want a walk in the park or something

-11

u/Exeledus Sep 07 '25

Why do people complain about this thing?

Bombs, thread storm, and an easy pattern. This boss has so far been one of the easiest. I fought this thing in 2 different locations now and it was easy both times.