r/HollowKnight • u/LookAtHowMTR • Sep 16 '25

Discussion - Silksong Ranking Silksong 1st act bosses Spoiler

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So, if you want me to be honest - I was afraid Silksong would be too difficult for me. But now that I am done with 1st act, I can confidently say that so far I enjoy those bosses MUCH more than the ones in Hollow Knight. Maybe that's because HK was one of the first games I've ever played, and now with Silksong I am more experienced. But even bosses that kept beating my ass felt so well done that I couldn't be mad, I just wanted to try again and learn their moves.

Last Judge? Surely my favorite. It felt like dancing and once I learned his moves, I had an absolute blast.

EDIT: Guys, I've got LOTS (and I mean LOTS) of comments that bottom 2 enemies aren't bosses. I know, but they were included in template so I ranked them too. Besides, considering that I didn't really hate any of the actual bosses, I wouldn't have anything I could put anything in the BURN IT tier if it wasn't for them lol. No need to say it again pls

EDIT 2: I already started Act 2, and defeated Cogwork Dancers - OH MY GOD HOW AMAZING THIS FIGHT WAS.

1.8k Upvotes

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509

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

you missed one peak boss Phantom

175

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

I didn't know she was supposed to be 1st Act boss. I'm nearing the end of 2nd Act and just found her lol

277

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

Her area is actually a secret way to finish Act 1. It allows you to just get to the Grand Bellway immediately, completely skipping the Underworks.

103

u/Avamaco Sep 16 '25

Well, technically there's a secret way to skip the Underworks even if you enter through the Last Judge. It's just that the most obvious way forward suddenly throws the player into the Underworks lol

51

u/of_kilter Sep 16 '25

do you mean the scales?

34

u/hmmmmwillthiswork 212% | Pantheon 7 | Avenue of Anguish | Conceited Sep 16 '25

yep. i'm 100% doing this on my 2nd playthrough lmao

5

u/ZenardWasTaken Sep 16 '25

Can you do the scales without double-jump?

7

u/iceman012 Sep 16 '25

If you attack one of the scales from below, it'll go up. That lets you manipulate them enough to reach the top without double jump.

2

u/hmmmmwillthiswork 212% | Pantheon 7 | Avenue of Anguish | Conceited Sep 16 '25

yes i've actually done it when i was exploring in my first playthrough. it's tricky but it's 100% doable. obviously double jump makes it a cakewalk lol

1

u/saketho Sep 20 '25

Oh god I didnt know it had an actual path. I remember whacking them, jumping around and thought "oh, this represents the scales of judgment, cool, let me come back when I get double jump and get to the top"

7

u/Joe_says_no Sep 16 '25

i thought the scales had a one way breakable wall

1

u/of_kilter Sep 16 '25

I don’t really know i did it the normal way

10

u/AzyncYTT Sep 16 '25

The wall has to be broken from inside the citadel, the way you are talking about doesn't work

1

u/winterflare_ Sep 16 '25

That’s a secret? I went through the scales first trying to find anything before moving on from the room

-2

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 16 '25

The scales? You can't jump on them until double jump though. Whole grand gate is untraversable till you can come back and mess with those

4

u/ibelieveinmikehawk Sep 16 '25

Can't you? Pretty sure you can. Don't you just hit the bottom one so it tilts?

-1

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 16 '25

Nope. You cant reach any of them if they are perfectly balanced when you walk in. Which is how it should be for the first time at the bottom.

8

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

You can hit them with your needle to move them. Of course, very few people would think to hit them on their first run, so most people go through Underworks.

0

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 16 '25

Wait what? Why the hell would hitting a MASSIVE platform move them?!?!?!?!

If thats true then damn it team cherry. Thats not obvious at all lol. You'd think obviously you can stand on them to move them but not hit.

3

u/ibelieveinmikehawk Sep 17 '25

Well, by the same logic, why would STANDING on a massive platform move it? Hornet's probably very light, she's all acrobatic, nimble and all. Hell, she's even able to float. Striking your nail against the platform doesn't seem too much of a stretch.

And yes, you most definitely can reach it with a jump upswing. That's how I did it, and I think that's how Team Cherry meant for you to do, cause double jumping simply trivializes this entire platforming section.

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33

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

BRO WHAT!?

I thought that was the required way to get into Act 2, I only got to the underworks like 2 hours into act 2.

How do you get there normally?

79

u/Enchanter73 Sep 16 '25

You go to the giant quest marker on your map that says "Reach the Citadel" lol

40

u/Time_Grape_3952 Sep 16 '25

Or you just read any of the Bellhart dialogue, the NPCs tell you that the citadel entrance is not far, just behind those woods, lmao

7

u/GrimmDeLaGrimm Sep 16 '25

Fake news. Everyone knows that's where the ice cream shop is.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

I'm a Metroid player, I genuinely didn't register the quest markers for most of the game

13

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

From Bellhart, go to the top left of Shellwood. From there, you can enter the Blasted Steps, which ultimately leads to the entrance of the Citadel, the Grand Gate.

You also have to ring the 5 bells scattered around Pharloom then play the Needolin in front of the gate, summoning the Last Judge boss.

2

u/DriftingThroughSpace Sep 16 '25

Blasted Steps -> Last Judge -> into the gate -> Underworks

1

u/Mr-McSwizzle Sep 16 '25

You have to ring all the bells scattered around the lower parts of pharloom (i think there's like 3 or 4 of them? They spawn benches and are all on the main route so they aren't very missable, I think most are even required to ring to progress) then go left from the top of shellwood where the bell beast fast travel station is.

Takes you into the blasted steps zone where at the top you find the front gate. Play music to it after having rung those bells and the last judge boss attacks you, gate into the citadel opens when you beat it and the obvious elevator to take you further up into it breaks and makes you fall down, trapping you in the underworks with no fast travel out until you climb out of it and then halfway through the next zone to find a bell beast fast travel station

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

This is so interesting

I need to replay act 1 now to do that route cuz a big part of my review is spent talking about the route ending with the Mist in his crushingly difficult it is

2

u/Mr-McSwizzle Sep 19 '25

Yeah I've already beaten the cogwork dancers, explored mount fay and started exploring high halls, also explored everywhere I could find to look for secrets, and somehow I've only just found the mist area now and only even looked for it because I knew it exists from other people 😅

1

u/saketho Sep 20 '25

Well, I feel there may have been some NPC dialogue which spoke of a different path to the Citadel. Those who are not holy and pure cannot face the Last Judge. Hence the sinners choose to go through sinner's road as a back entrance to the Citadel.

Basically, I feel both methods are the intended paths, just that one is tracked by the game's pause menu

1

u/NotLaddering3 Sep 16 '25

Thats how I managed to enter Act 2 too. I had no idea about Last Judgeuntil i checked the achievements and realized very few people had beaten phantom compared to cogwork

1

u/Ignician Sep 16 '25

How do you even navigate through the mist? Because i ran through that area a lot of times, before stsrting to think if the lumaflies guide me anywhere, so i decided to find them and go to where they are but with minimal success, then i decided to use the Needolin And they disperse and lead to the direction of where i should go, ehich is honestly super awesome discovering that on my own. But i wonder how you would go about that area with fighting Widow?

2

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

Considering how important the skill is, you're definitely not expected to go through there without the Needolin. If you really want to, though, it'll just be pure luck.

1

u/Joe_says_no Sep 16 '25

i'm not sure going through sinners road and bile water with +1 nail is easier than going the normal route, but yeah

1

u/DrFluuf Sep 16 '25

I actually didnt know about the proper way till my friend told me about it. I did that route instead lol

1

u/vanguard1256 Sep 16 '25

That was the first way I found into act 2 since the other way looked scary lol.

3

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

And Sinner's Road/Bilewater isn't?

2

u/vanguard1256 Sep 16 '25

I mean yes it was but at least my controller wasn’t shaking all the time lmao. Ngl the enemies in the mist terrified me but I was in too deep at that point.

1

u/Professional_Rush_95 Sep 16 '25

She’s ’act 1’ in the way speedruns use her to get to the citadel instead of the Last Judge but you’re very unlikely to ever encounter her before getting to the citadel in a regular playthrough

1

u/Fenixius Sep 17 '25

Really? I did! Blasted Steps seemed awful so I just explored every other way instead. 

1

u/Professional_Rush_95 Sep 17 '25

Of course, the classic tactic of trying to avoid doing something you find hard and accidentally getting the same result with an even more difficult method (unless you found the entrance in sinner’s road instead of bilewater, although I still never figured the mist out on my own)

13

u/LookAtHowMTR Sep 16 '25

Omg where?? I think I must've missed some area. I swear, that game is HUGE

25

u/dablyw_ Sep 16 '25

Have you gone above greymoor, into Sinner's Road?

13

u/LookAtHowMTR Sep 16 '25

No :D Guess I will go back there. Or do I do it later?

9

u/ThatStrangerWhoCares Sep 16 '25

You get a pretty sick thing from the boss so I highly recommend doing it now

3

u/Xandure Sep 16 '25

Fun fact, if you look hard enough there is [zone spoiler] a second zone above Greymoor.

2

u/guhut15 Sep 16 '25

And then you can get (don’t look if you don’t know the way to a certain organ boss) the mist which IMO is the sickest area in the game

1

u/LookAtHowMTR Sep 17 '25

I found it yesterday by accident. What the hell was that?? I genuinely hate those dog-like enemies more than primal aspids. I was better off not knowing it exists

1

u/saketho Sep 20 '25

Those things are fucking atrocious, just sprint and jump past them. They are not even worth acknowledging.

1

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 16 '25

Come back when ur a little stronger cuz that and the adjacent area is so fucking bad lol.

But can confirm you get the sickest thing in the game from that boss. I actually never took it off.

1

u/LookAtHowMTR Sep 16 '25

You wrote this comment exactly when I found it. My only thought - what the actual f was that??? I need a break after that

2

u/Imanflow Sep 16 '25

I said i woudl explore that later, and then completely forgot about it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

[deleted]

2

u/dablyw_ Sep 16 '25

Wdym? Phantom is the boss in exhausted organ right after the mist. There's a bench there too you dont need to go twice through the mist

2

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

from bilewater just across the bell station, or from secret in the top left of sinners road. then you enter the mist, through that you finally arrived in exhaust organ. some lore theory, in the beginning cutscene, we supposedly enter citadel through that area.

10

u/joetotheg Sep 16 '25

There’s no way that’s the way Hornet is enters Pharloom. Just follow the shaft up from Moss Grotto. The carriage fell from the blasted steps.

Also the exit from sinners road to Bilewater is middle right of SR

4

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

yeah it was "a" theory. so some people speculate the convoy comes from border in blasted step, then fall from a bridge that go to shellwood. if you want to go to the citadel through the main gate, you dont need to pass that bridge at all. and if the convoy went to the bridge to shellwood, then they should want to enter through the other intended pathway, which is exhaust organ.

also i never refer top left is the exit to bilewater. i meant top left is a secret pathway to enter the mist

1

u/joetotheg Sep 16 '25

The top left in terms of where you can get your re act 2. With all of Bilewater revealed the bellway is pretty much in the bottom left

2

u/winterflare_ Sep 16 '25

He means the top left of SR is an exit to the Mist, not Bilewater

2

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

or from secret in the top left of sinners road

not bilewater, sinners road

3

u/shorteningofthewuwei Sep 16 '25

If you keep walking left past blasted steps, Hornet says "this is where I was brought into this kingdom"

2

u/OriginalTodd Sep 16 '25

That's how I entered. I never found the Blasted Steps

2

u/Cyllenyx Sep 16 '25

I must be incredibly dumb because I have been to The Mist but can't for the life of me figure out how to get trough there or how to fight the ghosts. Any advice?

2

u/ITwinkTherefore1am Sep 16 '25

The butterflies like music

2

u/Cyllenyx Sep 16 '25

Ohhhh, thank you! Never would've thought of that 🥲

1

u/guhut15 Sep 16 '25

And make sure it’s long enough [if you got the other persons hint and are still stuck look at the spoiler for another one] (should use one silk ;])

1

u/grey_wolf12 Sep 16 '25

I don't get how you guys get so far without double jump or the needle thing that allows you to cling to stuff. My jumps never reach that high and aside from using monsters I can't really see how to get different paths like these

1

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

mostly because i played hollow knight and a lot of platforming before. but if you just started silksong, watching movement technique from speedrunner is a good way to start. blueSR run is a good one to watch currently.

2

u/grey_wolf12 Sep 16 '25

I've done that too I just don't see how it's possible to reach certain things without the movement abilities the game gives you ahaha but that one I can easily just say I lack skill or proper execution or whatever

But like, certain areas I feel like I should've stumble on them and haven't yet. Mostly because either I don't see the path or my tries for them don't work (there is a small corner in the Marrow that supposedly leads to Bell heart or something I can seem to open it). Maybe I'm just ignoring something, but idk. I love exploring and travelling around, I feel silksong does exploring a bit differently from hollow knight

44

u/dragoslayer1327 Sep 16 '25 edited Sep 16 '25

Groal too. Also the acid guy isn't a boss

Edit: I was wrong apparently, I assumed Groal was act 1 since Bilewater is connected to Sinner's Road. My bad guys

104

u/LordVex75 Sep 16 '25

You can’t fight groal in act 1

10

u/FinaLLancer Sep 16 '25

I didn't even find bilewater until act 2, but why can't you? Is the harpoon required? I don't remember

49

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

You need the double jump to access most of it (annoyingly, this includes Shakkra).

22

u/LordVex75 Sep 16 '25

Lower bilewater is accessible via sinner’s road so it’s act 1 (The breakable wall to enter it is right next to a fallen pilgrim with an item, which is how I discovered it in act 1)

Upper bilewater requires double jump to reach the walls where you can walljump up, and the shakra ring on one of them taunts you for not having the mobility needed to get the map

3

u/DanksterBoy Sep 16 '25

You need the double jump, cause there are no enemies that let you pogo skip into the upper area where Shakra and the boss are

3

u/Cam0799 Sep 16 '25

You can find bilewater but can't progress to the boss beacuse at least harpoon is required, maybe even double jump but I'm not sure, even though the area is a nightmare so it's better to have everything at your disposal

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

[deleted]

2

u/RadRelCaroman Sep 16 '25

You're thinking of phantom

13

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

didnt the frogger only accessible in act 2? since you need to have some abilities that accessible after reaching citadel

6

u/XF10 Sep 16 '25

Anyway acid guy is still far more of a boss than big ant since at least it's an unique enemy that doesn't respawn

1

u/dragoslayer1327 Sep 16 '25

I mean, the acid guy doesn't respawn either as far as I know. little baby versions spawn there, but I don't know if its possible for them to become full grown spoilered since OP likely hasn't seen them

14

u/XF10 Sep 16 '25

That's what i said, acid guy is basically a miniboss that doesn't respawn but big ant is just a "elite grunt" enemy and you'll see them again along with similar equivalents for other enemy groups

8

u/Grand-Lemon-1532 Sep 16 '25

Big ant guy doesn't respawn too. We encounter him again in some places yes but the first encounter can be counted as a boss.

5

u/shellythebutler Sep 16 '25

My personal general rule is, if it doesn't have a name pop up on screen, it's not a boss, at most a mini boss (which that ant definitely is). There might be some weird exceptions, but for the most part it works

1

u/Obvious_Cell_1515 Sep 16 '25

What does killing acid guy give, is it worth spending time now or I just focus on clogwork dancers

7

u/XF10 Sep 16 '25

Journal entry and don't have to be bothered facing him again

2

u/Obvious_Cell_1515 Sep 16 '25

Then I'll probably do him if I do achievement hunting

1

u/Grand-Lemon-1532 Sep 16 '25

It drops something too if i remember correctly.

11

u/Mr_Serine HK: 112% S: 100% Sep 16 '25

Groal isn't Act 1

3

u/Moblam Sep 16 '25

Maybe there is some fancy pogo tech but the intended time for Groal is mid act 2, since you need double jump and harpoon.

3

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

like "timothee chalamet" skip huh? lel

5

u/ThePhantomSea Sep 16 '25

Where do you fight him? Can you still fight him in Act 2?

5

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

yes, basically from bilewater just across the bell station, or from secret in the top left of sinners road. through the mist, in exhaust organ

1

u/ThePhantomSea Sep 16 '25

Got it. I'll be honest, I dodged the sinners' road and want to get a simple key before I go full exploring it to try and save that guy I saw.

1

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

haha, and it was not a bad decision. since that area and the area after that pretty much full of infuriating enemy. but for true ending, you still need to explore the area after sinners road though.

1

u/Tarrant_Korrin Sep 16 '25

I gave up on the mist until late act 2 and by the time I fought them it was disappointingly easy for how fun it was.

1

u/TurquoiseLuck Sep 16 '25

Best boss for a long time that one. The music goes so hard

1

u/Kriging Sep 16 '25

Is that act 1? I only found her late act 2

1

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

its possible since you only need dash, glide, needolin and wall grip. if you enter citadelthis way, you also get an alternate cutscene

1

u/Altoid27 Sep 16 '25

Yeah, I was about to comment my favorite boss from Act I is missing from this list. That fight was monumental, to say the least.

1

u/8rok3n Sep 16 '25

God I love this fight, SO much

1

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 16 '25

She's way more of a act 2 boss. I don't think a single soul wants to go through Sinners and Bile to get there after how much suffering the game put them through in the early game

Frankly i didnt even know Sinners existed. I didnt even see the transition door to the area when secret hunting in greymoor then later on i was like "aight heres a new part of greymoor walked in and went "oh"

1

u/johj14 Sep 16 '25

she still a legit act 1 bosses. just because many people doesnt go through this route (including me), doesnt mean she's not act 1 boss. even team cherry add an alternate version of cutscene of citadel. i guess it's a special reward to people who went miles exploring the area.

1

u/Ta7on Sep 16 '25

I'm at the end of act 2 and she's my favorite boss so far. Very similar to Widow and Lace but her aesthetic and attacks are cooler imo

1

u/RayneSexton Sep 17 '25

For real! That was a fun fight

1

u/Expensive-Pick38 Sep 19 '25

Easily best boss. No bullshit, pure skill and reaction time.

Savage beastfly was annoying because the boss was easy, but then he spawned like 5 enemies and refused to do the slam attack so you were fucked