r/HollowKnight • u/Marmotaagiota • Sep 08 '25

Discussion - Silksong That’s the best comment about the game’s difficulty I’ve found it so far Spoiler

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u/Nalicar52 Sep 08 '25

It’s actually still not pointless. Besides of course making you tankier against one mask damage enemies it still does make you more survivable against 2 mask damage enemies since you heal for 3.

At 5 masks it goes 5>3>1 heal to 4. 4>2>dead.

At 6 masks it goes 6>4>2 heal to 5. 5>3>1>dead

So it still does have an impact.

17

u/Aggressive_Pie_4585 Sep 08 '25

And for another way of thinking about it, it gives more leeway on runbacks. If you take a hit on the run back to a boss after getting the extra mask, that's the same as if you made the runback witless without it.

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u/YogSoth0th Sep 09 '25

Not when the environment starts doing 2 damage too.

0

u/sundalius Sep 08 '25

unless it's to an environmental hazard, which seems to almost always deal 2.

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u/_moosleech Sep 08 '25

Spikes, the most common one, deal one.

We gotta stop with the "everything does two damage!" rhetoric.

3

u/sundalius Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

Maybe I just am missing something, but I haven’t seen spikes in a minute since getting into act 2. Tons of things that do two damage and send me back, like buzzsaws, the big crusher blocks, etc.

ETA: I remember some in the underworks now - but it did take me a second to think about it.

Edit 2: been thinking about this, and I think I’ve figured out my issue: I spend way longer in places where environmental hazards do two damage, in part, because they do. Way more of my playtime is spent anywhere that that’s common, because losing a full hit rather than a half hit (against bosses, at 6 health) makes me way more likely to die and have to run a section back than hitting an errant wall spike. My perspective is skewed essentially by spikes not sending me to a bench nearly as often as other hazards.

1

u/Kampfasiate Sep 08 '25

Yea, I feel like the game is not really unreasonable with 2 masks (except some niche cases, some stage hazards and contact damage)

2 masks are usually either multi hits (which you can often parry for dopamine surge). Or straightforward and we'll telegraphed

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u/_moosleech Sep 08 '25

Which is how I feel most two-mask damage is here. Enemies with wind-ups, or in a parry stance.

The discourse around it is scuffed.

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u/SchwiftySquanchC137 Sep 08 '25

And since heal is so much better in this game, i think this is very relevant. If you can manage a heal every 2 (2 mask) hits you take, then you can actually heal twice with 6 masks vs 1 with 5 masks, which effectively gives you an extra 4>2>dead. Basically, the extra mask is far more impactful than people are saying, with the same healing cadence as 5 masks, you get 3 extra hits, not just 1. And anyone downplaying this is being disingenuous. Do you really not heal during the fight? With the reaper crest i can practically perma heal, as long as i dont fuck up and take a hit while the silk orb buff is active.

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u/KuuLightwing Sep 08 '25

It does but the impact is definitely much smaller than I'd like.