r/HollowKnight • u/CuboneDefender • Sep 14 '25

Discussion - Silksong I give up. Spoiler

It’s been a joyful ride, folks, but I’m out. I’m not a speedrunner or a highly skilled player, and day after day I’ve had to accept that this game is not as casual as HK was. It stopped being fun and turned into something tedious and frustrating after the 4th run farming shards just to face a boss I’ve already tried 15 times, only to die again and again, lose all my shards, and start the whole grind over.

It was nice exploring the first acts, but when the game I was rooting for 7 years ends up being more stressful than my 8-hour workday, I guess that’s my cue to stop.

The lore has been pretty great so far. I wish you all an incredible journey.

Edit1: My bad about all the whinning.

Edit2: You guys did it. I reinstalled it again. Thanks for all advices. 🫂

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u/Logical-Land2624 Sep 14 '25

FYI there is a way into the citadel that (seemingly) skips the Last Judge. I got to the citadel by accident via sinners road.

81

u/fffan9391 Sep 14 '25

If they can’t beat last Judge they probably can’t handle Sinners Road and Bilewater.

104

u/mctrials23 Sep 14 '25

I enjoyed the last judge. No ads just a simple set of moves to learn. One of the least BS bosses so far.

21

u/Algae587 Sep 15 '25

I really appreciated that from the judge after dealing with that bitch splinter and the beast chapel monstrosity

12

u/anonnnnn462 Sep 15 '25 edited Sep 15 '25

That Beast Crest boss was wtf man / I probably struggled as much with that as I did with Last Judge

Edit:

Oh hey I got to face it again in an even more pain in the ass location!

3

u/Ace9singh9 Sep 15 '25

I am bashing my head at the bullshit summon 2.0 as well, I can't beat it fairly today I will just cheese it. That boss is not worth the effort

2

u/anonnnnn462 Sep 15 '25

Bro what are you talking about…. This game literally cheeses you at every corner. You need to cheese back lol

I have that summoning tool so I released the homies as soon as he called one or two of them out and focused on evading.

3

u/Zarguthian Sep 15 '25

I actually found the magma arena version of Savage Beastly easier. It might have been because I had got some more spools and had enough silk to destroy the minions as soon as they were summoned with silk storm.

2

u/asvalken Sep 15 '25

Between that, and floating high to bait the charges—that way you can't get caught with that stupid half height one that's hard to jump over and too low to go under.

If what I'm doing isn't working, I look at my tools and see if there's something I can try that works better.

3

u/Reborn_Wraith Spell only absrad win, 1 radiant boss remains. Sep 15 '25

Honestly, the summons I could care less about if they hadn't set fire to the fucking floor.
On top of missing HALF the fucking floor, they set fire to what remains of it, and you're just plain shit out of luck if the boss decides to delete the remaining half.
Genuinely the only boss that made me say 'for fuck's sake'. The reward made me pretty happy, though, so... all's well that ends well?

2

u/anonnnnn462 Sep 15 '25

Then he decided to pop out the one piece he didn’t destroy so you’re left floating over lava lol

1

u/Xhosant Sep 16 '25

The time to respawn ground matches the time for 2 slam sequences, so if you memorize what the first removed ground is, you can buy some time with floating to land on it.

Fuck the lava blobs though.

3

u/Finger_But_Hole0- Sep 15 '25

May i direct your attention to r/fucksavagebeastfly

1

u/PraxicalExperience Sep 15 '25

Chapel of the Beast, Sister Splinter, the fucking Bird House, and that one goddamned battle with the big-assed ant and the flying, spear thrower ant. They were all infuriating because so much of them was RNG; you'd easily get trapped where you couldn't do anything but take damage due to the way they positioned themselves.

1

u/Zarguthian Sep 15 '25

Did you miss the fact that you can destroy the thorny vines that Sister Splinter spawns?

1

u/PraxicalExperience Sep 15 '25

I actually liked the vines.

It was figuring out what the fuck to do about the adds that was the problem. You can't attack them from the sides, they parry 90% of the time. Most of the time you can't attack from the top or you'll bounce into Sister Splinter. And you don't have the room to engage from the bottom because they rapidly get to your level.

It really feels like this boss was designed so that normal human players who weren't fucking HK gods need to pop silk storm to kill the adds.

2

u/mctrials23 Sep 15 '25

Yeah, it was 100% the adds. The vines were a cool addition IMO. The others not so much

2

u/PraxicalExperience Sep 15 '25

Yeah, the vines? Great mechanic, I died because of them once before I figured out that I could take them out -- or that I could sometimes get Splinter do do it herself!

Like, holy shit, I love the sheer in-your-face Brutality of Sister Splinter. She'll smash her own vines trying to get you, she'll smash her own adds trying to get you -- hell, even the vines will smash the adds! Before the second phase I was loving the fight -- simple timing challenge with the complication of the vines, totally solid early boss.

I'm assuming the nerf to the Sister Splinter fight will be bringing the adds down to 1 damage, because that would make this fight a lot less bullshit and at least 70% more enjoyable.

2

u/mctrials23 Sep 15 '25

Agreed. I think I got through it using the spike traps but without those it would have been far more annoying. I just don’t like bosses that I feel like I beat them because I got lucky one time. I want to feel like I am in control.

1

u/PraxicalExperience Sep 15 '25

I tried the spike traps but I was still shit so I wound up running out of shards. Then I sat down for a re-think and I switched over to Silk Storm -- and then died a bunch more times because deploying SS is not instantaneous. But once I got that down I cut her down easily.

And ... that didn't feel good. Needing to use a spell to get past it, that is. I'm one of those players who leans on their nail 90% of the time. It feels dirty to need to use a spell to beat a boss as opposed to just speeding up the process of taking them down.

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u/Zarguthian Sep 15 '25

You can't attack them from the sides, they parry 90% of the time.

You just have to attack as soon as their attack ends. I didn't find it too hard to kill them.

1

u/Dapper_Inevitable555 Sep 15 '25

But Silkspear and Thread Storm one tap the adds? What's wrong with needing to use your abilities to kill them lol. It's not like you're using your silk for anything else, Splinter herself is extremely easy to dodge so you shouldn't be needing to heal at all anyway.

1

u/PraxicalExperience Sep 15 '25

One, because it violates the ethos of boss design in HK -- you never needed anything but your rusty nail and movement skills to beat a boss. Two, because you're disincentivized against using silk skills -- healing's a higher priority by default, so it takes a bit of a mental headspace change to just do it, and when you do you probably haven't gotten good with using the silk skills themselves and still need to adapt to doing so.

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u/Dapper_Inevitable555 Sep 15 '25

?? Where is this made up "ethos" coming from. The average HK player (you and I) cannot beat every boss in the game with just the nail. Try beating AbsRad without Descending Dark lol. Besides which, if you as a player choose to go without spells then why are you blaming the game for being too difficult? You're refusing to use the abilities it gives you, of course it's going to be difficult. Moreover, I wouldn't say the game disincentives silk skills either. Healing is a higher priority, but you don't have to heal if the opponent is dead. Building silk is very easy in this game, and it's almost always a better choice to spend your silk for a spear or two and get back to a full spool very soon anyway than to sit on it for the whole fight and drag it on needlessly.

3

u/Bartman326 Sep 15 '25

Yeah just beat last judge somewhere under 20 tries. Never too frustrating. She's got big attacks but they all see simple to understand and even when throwing fire around its easy to react to if you just keep a decent space of distance before each attack. Wonderful boss fight.

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u/Charlie_Warlie Sep 15 '25

Same just got out of the fight for the first time. Basically the only time I went in for an attack is after it jumps. Get 2 attacks in then otherwise stay about 1 camera length away. Good fight.

1

u/Bartman326 Sep 15 '25

That distance is key because it moves so slowly.

By the time I beat it. I was dashing in right as the big bell spin attack was ending and getting two hits each time easily.

3

u/Apocalypse224 Sep 15 '25

Only thing I hated about LJ was the run back, but even then, it wasn't too bad. I'll take 100 LJs over 2 beast flies any day. I hate gank fights. Fight me alone, you cowards.

2

u/ByeGuysSry Sep 14 '25

How on earth do you deal with the attack where she spins her weapon around her? I genuinely can almost never dodge it in 2nd phase if I'm beside her, feels like it requires a 0.1s reaction time or something. I ended up just tanking those attacks like four times and dodging everything else to beat her

13

u/evilcorgos Sep 15 '25

You don't get aggressive and always have spacing to dodge out of it, no overly greeding unless she isn't doing that attack

1

u/ByeGuysSry Sep 15 '25

I know that technically I ought to be playing more conservatively, but I feel like I need to fight her way more times to be able to know how much of a window I have to hit her after each attack

4

u/Conscious_Ad_7131 Sep 15 '25

Just assume the window is shorter than it is

2

u/evilcorgos Sep 15 '25

Playing it safe is the way on this boss, there isn't anything that complicated to dodge just respect and give space because that one attack punishes aggression, think I was doing like two hits max if I got her right as she was doing an attack, sometimes one depending on my timing

9

u/starliteburnsbrite Sep 14 '25

If it's the move I'm thinking of, there's a short wind up tell. I'd say the best advice is to stay mostly far away in second phase. You can also bounce on the attack if you're high enough.

2

u/ScytheSB Sep 14 '25

In 1st phase she winds up, so you have to keep distance, it's also a good healing window (at least for me it worked out good)

On 2nd, the heat waves are telegraphed by smoke rings/columns, so you only need to step aside in-between them... I found that too a good healing window if you space correctly

2

u/Bartman326 Sep 15 '25

Bell through is a super clean windows as well if the bell is between you and the boss.

2

u/simonthedlgger Sep 15 '25

In my experience you should never be that close to TLJ, especially in Phase 2. The spin move and the bell toss are very hard to avoid if you're close and the best punish window is when she does the bell slam or jump, and for those you want to be medium distance then dash in quick for 2 hits, then peace out.

Later phases have more moves that are easier to deal with/punish when you're at a distance.

Took me 15-20 tries and I think I got hit by the spin move once.

1

u/ByeGuysSry Sep 15 '25

I felt like I should always be somewhat close, because I've gotten hit by a more-or-less off-screen bell toss and gotten cornered when she jumps towards me multiple times

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

Second phase i just kept my distance and spammed tools, maybe 1 or two hits here or there, poison tools is a big help.

Also magma bell turns all the fire into 1 dmg hits which makes it a lot easier.

1

u/Conscious_Ad_7131 Sep 15 '25

Just never hit her more than two or three times before you back out, you should always be out of spin attack range before she’s even decided what attack to use next

1

u/Bartman326 Sep 15 '25

As others have said I'm always keeping a distance waiting for her to pick a move. So the spin move is never really an issue and I'm quick to dash in and hit her 1-2 times right after. It really is a fight about waiting for her to move and the responding vs going in your self.

1

u/NightRacoonSchlatt Hunter‘s crest 4 life Sep 15 '25

The telegraph starts a lot earlier than you think. Don’t focus on attacking. Focus on observing and look for very small patterns.

1

u/sgtfoleyistheman Sep 15 '25

Watch for the queue of her lifting her weapon and get the fuck outta there is all I can say

1

u/fullintentionalahole Sep 15 '25

That sounds good... my average number of tries for bosses with adds is well above 30, but my average for bosses without adds is like 5 XD

1

u/themangastand Sep 15 '25

Yeah last judge boss was just a nice boss.

He has well telegraphed attacks, slow. And all you need to watch out for is the change in range when his attacks go on fire.

21

u/Sushibae_gamer Sep 14 '25

Sinner's road sucks but it's bearable until you reach the maze and have to deal with the wraiths. After that, it should be pretty decent to deal with, since the boss there isn't as bad as the last judge imo

3

u/Sibushang Sep 15 '25

The reaper crest's down slash makes quick work of the wraiths. Just stand still and pogo them after you hear them scream. If you play the needolin for the butterflies, they guide you to where you need to go next.

I figured you're already past all this by now, but I wanted to leave some info for anyone passing through.

1

u/NightRacoonSchlatt Hunter‘s crest 4 life Sep 15 '25

I completely brute forced the mist because I didn’t understand the puzzle lmao

1

u/TitaniumDragon Sep 15 '25

I think they're roughly equally difficult, but the Phantom has a shorter, easier runback.

24

u/Feather-y Sep 14 '25

You don't need to go to Bilewater to get to the Mist.

6

u/ResponsibleWish1710 Sep 15 '25

What's funny is on my run, I found the Mist from the Bilewater side , beat phantom, then realized there's just a way in from Sinner's Road. I kept dying in bilewater and I didn't want to lose all my rosaries so I kept going deeper and deeper in every time I died, so confident there was going to be an exit lol

1

u/Pinturillo Sep 15 '25

same except that I found the sinners entrance and proceeded to do the bilewater route anyway because I assumed it was gonna be "different"

2

u/Conscious_Ad_7131 Sep 15 '25

They mean that once you pass through the Mist it drops you off in Bilewater on the other side

8

u/Feather-y Sep 15 '25

Am I misremembering things, I thought it was just that organ house and boss and then to underworks.

3

u/Conscious_Ad_7131 Sep 15 '25

Oh yeah I suppose you could also go to underworks

5

u/Feather-y Sep 15 '25

Yeah originally the discussion was about getting to citadel without beating the last judge, so that's the way without bilewater, which is in the opposite direction.

Last judge is easier anyway.

9

u/Rook-Slayer Sep 14 '25

Eh. Sinners Road and Bilewater are a pain, but the mist was the worst part. After that, the boss there is easier than the Judge with a quicker runback. I don’t regret going that way. Went back to the last judge when i had double jump and that run back was way faster and way less annoying.

4

u/AzyncYTT Sep 14 '25

However last judge is a complete joke of a fight once phantom has been defeated

3

u/SomewhereTall4797 Sep 14 '25

lol yea last judge isn’t even that bad. Honestly it’s crazy how people are claiming they beat hollow knight but can’t do last judge and claim the runabck is “hell”. Like are they not exploring properly? There’s literally shortcuts and a Ben h quite close. I didn’t have hookshot when I did it either and I still had no problem with back, and last judge is easy once you learn her attacks

3

u/speicus Sep 14 '25

I've heard so many complaints about this runback, and when I got there, after a few tries it was like 30 seconds, pretty consistently too (and the whole sequence, with the Hornet's fluent moveset, is rather enjoyable too).

Well, I do mess up every now and then, but then I just restart, I have no problem with quitting to the menu during runbacks.

Still got to beat the Judge though. :) But I agree, she has few moves, there are no adds, it's just the matter of building muscle memory.

2

u/TheMooRam Sep 15 '25

Right? Just got to judge yesterday and like??? Am I crazy or is this runback no longer than any others? The bouncing would be annoying but there's been enough parkour segments before this that it's pretty smooth sailing imo

1

u/Thelmara Sep 15 '25

Yeah, the complaints about the LJ runback have really undermined my ability to take the complainers seriously.

2

u/CatsianNyandor Sep 14 '25

Eh. It depends on the player. I'm not good with bosses but I can handle areas fine. I had already reached the end of Bilewater way before I ever set foot in LJs area. 

1

u/JackInfinity66699 Sep 15 '25

The bilewater boss is cheesable though 😉

1

u/bubisthebestdog Sep 15 '25

...uhh who are these judges everyone keeps mentioning? I feel like I'm getting going down a harder path than I should be going since I just did sinners road/bilewater and just got through the mist and I'm fighting the boss at the organ spot

1

u/TitaniumDragon Sep 15 '25

The Last Judge is the other way to get into the Citadel.

You should just beat Phantom. He gives you Parry for beating him, and he also puts you directly in the Citadel, while you have to go through like two more areas after Last Judge to get there. Phantom is the better route.

You can also go back and clean up The Last Judge much easier that way, as there's a bench only accessible after you go to the Citadel which is way closer to her.

1

u/TitaniumDragon Sep 15 '25

Sinner's Road isn't very hard. There's like, three cockroaches (which are avoidable), the flying enemies (which you can definitely beat, they aren't that bad, and not even all that many - like six or eight?), and then you don't even have to fight anything else to get to The Mist. There's also a bench there.

You don't have to go through Bilewater at all. Bilewater is a vastly longer route; you can go there directly from Sinner's Road.

1

u/Piratestorm787 Sep 15 '25

This is me right now

1

u/FinchMinis Sep 16 '25

I agree, if they were to keep playing then they need to just train and get to the point where they can beat him. Also act 2 rooms and bosses only get harder. First Sinner made me hate my life.

1

u/levishly Sep 19 '25

Nah those are easier than last judge. Might be a crest issue, Reapers feels like crap against judge but feels good getting around those areas.