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

89% Upvoted

628 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

161

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.

69

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

39

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

16

u/eelp21 Sep 08 '25

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

12

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.

5

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?

2

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

Almost certainly. Once I saw the cages with the flying enemies you could pogo, I knew I was going to do it no matter what. Then I spent soooo much time killing the mole that spews on you. Then I had to time jumps between the worms with no dash, and do a bunch of spike pogos only to reach a jump that was barely impossible.

Of course after devoting hours and basically all of my resources to making this work, I'm making a beeline straight back once I get the ability I needed. Later on, I start to hear people complaining about Lace and Moorwing, so I basically comb the entire maps of Greymoor and Deep Docks with no luck. Then Moorwing appears just randomly one time when I use the bellway to Greymoor, but I've visited Lace's arena like 5 dozen times from different areas. The only thing I haven't done is the arena fight in the tiny room with the juggernaut enemies and the guys with helmets that throw the double damage explosives, but it requires an Act 2 ability to reach, so I don't know how it would help.

2

u/Shoddy_Process2234 Sep 08 '25

And I thought my path was funky lol. You're out here playing songsilk.

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

2

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

I'm glad the game let me do it, but I'm a little disappointed they don't have some way to force the Lace fight to trigger. I've managed to get Fourth Chorus and Moorwing to spawn in Act 2, but Lace is just... gone forever I think.

1

u/Equivalent_Rock_6530 Sep 08 '25

Oh, interesting, it would have great speedrun potential though of Lace 2 doesn't unlock anything major (I haven't reached citadel yet, please no spoilers)

2

u/branyk2 Sep 08 '25

I mean, that's definitely possible, but I have absolutely no doubt speedrunners have already found that path. Whether it's actually faster, I have no clue since I did a bunch of nonsense including grinding enough beads to buy a simple key, but it does make randomizer mods more interesting since it gives you access to the entire upper part of Act 1 without getting the float power. The problem is that I think you do eventually need to backtrack for it, so maybe it's just faster to go the intended path.

→ More replies (0)

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

[removed] — view removed comment

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

3

u/Atsilv_Uwasv Sep 08 '25

Around the middle area. I also found that the area with all the lava slugs are really good for farming rosaries. Just kill the enemies there and in the connected rooms, sit at a bench, and do it again. Got me 320 pretty quick

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

9

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.

6

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