Hollow Knight: Silksong and the lands of Pharloom can be extremely difficult to navigate through as you’ll need to platform through new areas without a map and remember all of the locations that require a key item or ability. On top of that, there are formidable bosses and surprisingly jacked mobs impeding your journey.
Silksong is fairly open-ended as you won’t follow the same exact path as another player. Some players will explore the entire map and defeat every boss, while others will bee-line straight to the end of the game. No matter which route you decide, everyone will need to complete certain objectives in order to reach the credits.
Below, we’ve given you a brief overview of everything you need to accomplish in order to reach the credits in Hollow Knight: Silksong. Although this guide will note the required steps to finish the game, we encourage you to branch off and explore other areas as you’ll find more tools, abilities, crests, and more collectibles that’ll elevate your strength and experience.
[Ed. note: Spoilers follow for Hollow Knight: Silksong.]
Hollow Knight: Silksong Act 1 walkthrough overview
Silksong is split into acts, so naturally, you’ll start in Act 1, locked inside a cage. The main objective you’re given is to reach the Citadel and find out why you were abducted in the first place, and once you’re able to do that, you’ll end up in Act 2. However, there are two ways to get there — through Blasted Steps or through Sinner’s Road. In this walkthrough, we will be taking the route through Blasted Steps as it’s the route that is marked on your map and most traveled.
For the first act, you’ll start in Moss Grotto and make your way through Bone Bottom, The Marrow, Deep Docks, Far Fields, Greymoor, Bellhart, Shellwood, and finally Blasted Steps. Along the way, you’ll pick up essential movement techniques that will allow you to reach the next areas and return to previously unreachable areas. You’ll sprint, dash, glide, and climb your way to the Citadel where you’ll enter Act 2.
Reach Bone Bottom village
After you crash land in the Moss Grotto and escape from your cage, it’s finally time to start Silksong and explore the lands of Pharloom. First things first, you’ll need to climb your way out of the Moss Grotto and find the Bone Bottom village.
As you’re just starting out, we recommend testing out your movement and attacks, especially the downward aerial attack, as your skills will soon be put to the test against the first boss, Moss Mother.
Once you’ve successfully defeated her, continue platforming your way upwards until you ascend out of Moss Grotto, where you’ll encounter the Chapel Maid. You’ll learn that you were captured by bugs of the Citadel, so you make it your mission to reach the Citadel and find out why you were trapped in the first place.
Before you can do that though, continue ahead to reach the Bone Bottom village, where you can rest on a bench and speak with other pilgrims. Naturally, a town should have a fast travel location, similarly to Stagways from Hollow Knight, so let’s unlock it right away.
Unlocking Bellways
After you’ve familiarized yourself with the village, it’s time to unlock the fast travel system in Silksong. Head east to The Marrow and traverse to its northwestern exit where you’ll hear some beautiful singing from Shakra, a fierce warrior who dabbles in cartography. Purchase her Mosslands map first, but make sure to return and purchase her other map, quill, and compass to make navigating a bit easier and ease the stress on your brain.
Above Shakra, you’ll find an exit to your left and a beast ensnared in silk on your right. For the time being, head through the exit on your left to get to Mosshome. Your goal is to platform your way to the northern point of Mosshome, where you’ll find Silkspear, a technique that allows you to break through thick silk webs.
Before you return to the beast, we recommend fully exploring Mosshome by releasing the elevator near its southwestern point and finding the exit that leads to the bench in The Marrow.
With that done, release the Bell Beast using Silkspear and defeat them in battle to unlock a Silkheart, Bellways and befriend the bestest boy in all of Silksong. Now, you’re free to traverse from Bone Bottom to The Marrow and any other future Bellways that you discover.
The next destination is Deep Docks, but be sure to explore The Marrow as you’ll run into a caravan of fleas who need your help finding their lost companions.
Dash in the Deep Docks
From the Bellway in The Marrow, continue to the right to find a lever beneath a huge bell. Hit it to ring the bell and reveal a handy bench that is also vital to your progression later on. Venture to the southeastern corner of The Marrow to enter Deep Docks, a region full of lava and bugs wearing bells as masks.
In Deep Docks, our main goals are to unlock Swift Step and ring another one of those huge bells. Swift Step is a technique that allows you to sprint and dash (even in the air). It’s also required to reach the next area, so here’s how to unlock it:
- Go to the right into the room with Shakra.
- Jump to the top of the room and head to the right.
- Hit the explosive orange rock in the top right hand corner of the room and leap upward.
- Jump to the top and head to the left where you’ll need to defeat waves of ants.
- Go down and to the left until you reach Swift Step.
After you unlock it, head to the left side of the room and hit the switch to unlock the door near the bench at the beginning of Deep Docks. Return to the room where Shakra was located, and instead of going up, go to the right, where you’ll face off against Lace. Once defeated, continue to the right to find the next bell and a path leading to Far Fields.
Gliding through Far Fields
From the bell bench in Deep Docks, continue to the right to enter Far Fields, a land with numerous air currents and some traveling pilgrims. Your goal is to use the air streams to fly through the top of Far Fields into Greymoor. To do so, you’ll need to unlock the Drifter’s Cloak, which can be done by visiting the Seamstress in her floating home near the bottom right corner and completing her quest, “Flexile Spines.”
After you unlock Drifter’s Cloak, head back to the left, only to find that the giant robot in the background is actually Fourth Chorus, a boss that you’ll need to defeat. Once you’ve dealt with them, return to the vertical chamber with the plumes of air, and glide up until you reach Pilgrim’s Rest, a locked house with a bench inside. Platform your way to the right and then back to the top left corner of this area to find a switch that’ll unlock the barrier in the vertical chamber, so you can continue your journey upward.
Ride the plumes, hitting every explosive rock along the way to release more air streams, until you break through the ceiling and reach Greymoor.
Reaching the haunted town of Bellhart
Now that you’ve landed in Greymoor, you’ll need to ring its bell and head to Bellhart. However, that’s simpler said than done. Before you start exploring though, we recommend heading left until you reach a building called Halfway Home, where you’ll find a bench and Nuu, a kissy bug who gives you the Hunter’s Journal.
With the bench unlocked, it’s time to ring that bell:
- Head to the right side of Greymoor to find Shakra and Craw Lake.
- Enter the house on Craw Lake and survive the gauntlet of birds.
- Hit the switch inside to release balloons outside.
- Return to the area to the left of Craw Lake and pogo up the balloons into the building.
Inside, you’ll find the bell and a bench. Make sure to hit the switch outside to lower the block of bells, and now it’s finally time to head to Bellhart. There are two ways to get there:
- Find five lost fleas and travel with the flea caravan
- Defeat Moorwing in the bottom left corner of Greymoor
Finding the lost fleas encourages you to explore, while Moorwing will test your combat prowess. Choose whichever suits your fancy as they’ll both take you to the same location — just outside of Bellhart.
Freeing the town of Bellhart
Just east of the caravan’s camp and the Moorwing boss fight is the town of Bellhart. As you enter, you’ll find that everyone is entangled in a silken curse. Your goal is to free the town as it’ll reveal a bell, but breaking the curse will also release the townspeople and open up the Bellhart shops.
To free the town, you’ll need to do the following:
- Head into Shellwood and defeat Sister Splinter.
- Unlock Cling Grip.
- Defeat Widow and complete the “The Threadspun Town” quest.
After you defeat Widow, you can ring the bell above Bellhart and prepare to head out to the Blasted Steps. Before you go, make sure to visit Pinmaster Plinney’s store to upgrade your needle to increase your damage. You can also complete the “Rite of the Pollip” quest to receive the Pollip Pouch, which will add poison damage to all of your tools.
Going through Blasted Steps to reach the Citadel
As you’re exiting Bellhart, make sure to leave through the top left exit as it’ll take you into Blasted Steps, but, before you leave, find the bell bench to the right of the exit and activate it. This is the last bell bench that you’ll need to get, and you’ll learn very shortly why you needed to activate all five.
Back in Blasted Steps, you’re gonna put your movement skills to the test as you’ll need to use your dash, glide, and wall jump to reach the top of this sandworm-infested region. At the top, you’re given the choice to go left or right. The Citadel is to the right, but make sure to go left and activate the Bellway and bench, especially the bench.
At the end of the right path, you’ll reach the gate to the Citadel, which requires five bells to unlock. Luckily, if you’ve been following the walkthrough, you’ve already activated all five bells! As you play your Needolin, you’ll encounter Last Judge, a challenging boss with multiple phases. Unfortunately if you perish, you’ll need to redo the long and difficult platforming section, so pay close attention to her wind up animations to avoid her attacks.
After you’ve defeated Last Judge, you’ve finally made it to Act 2, the Citadel.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Act 2 walkthrough overview
In Act 2, most of your time will be spent in the Citadel. You’ll start out in the Grand Gate and work your way to the Choral Chambers and Cogwork Core, where you’ll gain your next main objective: learn the Threefold song.
After obtaining your next movement ability, you’ll travel through the Whispering Vaults, Underworks, and High Halls until you finally reach The Cradle, where you’ll face off against the final boss.
Entering the Choral Chambers
Before you start your journey, there are a few things you should know about the Citadel. Shakra will no longer be your go-to map vendor and Bellways are very few and far between. Instead, you’ll find maps from dispensers and on boards. As for fast travel, you’ll find Ventricas, which are a little like pneumatic mail tubes that you see in movies, but instead of mail, it’s for little bugs.
As you enter the Citadel, you’ll start out in the Grand Gate. All you know so far is that you need to reach the top of the Citadel to find out why you were captured and, honestly, what is going on in Pharloom. The next area you need to go to is the Choral Chambers, but you can either take the quick and easy route or the long route:
- Quick route — Use the scale platforms to reach the highest balcony on the right side and break the wall
- Long route — Take the elevator on the right and navigate your way through the Underworks
Both routes will get you to the Choral Chambers and they both have a spool fragment that you can grab, but the long route will have more materials and a map of the Underworks along the way. Although it’s a bit longer, we recommend that you go the long route just so you can grab the map.
Ascend to the top middle area of Choral Chambers to reach the Cogwork Core.
Learning the Threefold song
After you make it to the Cogwork Core, you’ll encounter the Cogwork Dancers, two robotic bugs who engage in a partner dance battle. Once you defeat them, the background will rotate, revealing three statues. The statues tell you to come back after you’ve learned their individual songs, which means you’ll need to complete three more objectives before you can head to the top of the Citadel.
However, before you set off, we recommend heading to the right of the statues to reach the First Shrine, which will act as one of your hubs in the Citadel.
With that done, return to the three statues, and drop into any of the holes to enter Cogwork Core.
Finding the harpoon in the Underworks
Before you can learn the Threefold song, you’ll need to unlock the Clawline ability, which lets you throw your needle like a harpoon and grapple to walls and rings. Clawline can be found in The Cauldron in Underworks, but to get there, you’ll need to travel through multiple areas:
- Platform your way through the U-shaped Cogwork Core and out of an exit about half way up the right wall. (Make sure to activate the bench in Cogwork Core and any switch along the way.)
- Defeat the gauntlet of bugs and enter the Whispering Vaults.
- Find an exit with a sign featuring three heads, which will lead to The Stage, and hit the switch at the end of its hallway. (Make sure to exit on the left and drop down to find the Grand Bellway.)
- Defeat Trobbio at The Stage and enter the elevator on the right side of the room, which will take you to Underworks.
Now that you’ve made it to Underworks, you’ll need to head to the left and enter the vertical chamber with molten rocks and flying robotic bugs. Float to the bottom and head through the entrance on the right to enter a lava-filled obstacle course. Once you make it through, climb up and enter the door with a lever on it to finally enter The Cauldron and unlock the Clawline ability.
Use your harpoon to reach the top right corner of the room, where you’ll have to face off against another gauntlet of enemies. After you defeat them, head out through the exit on the ceiling to end up back in the Underworks area above.
Proceed to the right to return to the elevator, but, before you head out, we recommend using your harpoon on the ring beside the bench to meet the Twelfth Architect, a vendor who sells valuable tools.
Vaultkeeper’s Melody
Return to the elevator, but do not immediately ride the elevator up. Instead activate the switch and immediately get out before it takes off. The route to the Vaultkeeper’s Melody is actually hidden beneath the elevator. You’ll need to use all of your movement abilities to venture to the top right corner of the Underworks, where you’ll find the Sacred Cylinder beside a fallen Vaultkeeper’s corpse.
If you continue along the path, you’ll end up back in the Whispering Vaults. All you need to do is ascend up the chamber until you reach an exit that has a sign featuring a bug wearing a pointy hat. Head inside to meet Vaultkeeper Cardinus, a millipede wearing a pointy orange hat. Give them the Sacred Cylinder, play it, and learn the melody by playing your Needolin.
With one out of three melodies complete, it’s time to move onto the next: the Architect’s Melody at the top of Cogwork Core.
Before you go, you should grab the Pale Oil by heading into the top left room and moving the boxes around to create a path leading towards the Choral Chambers. In the next room, you’ll find a Pale Oil, which can be returned to Pinmaster Plinney in Bellhart to upgrade your needle.
Architect’s Melody
The Architect’s Melody can be found in Cogwork Core, so you’ll need to return to the area with the three statues. Similarly to how you platformed your way through Cogwork Core to get to the Whispering Vaults, you’ll need to do it again, but this time, you’ll need to reach the top right corner of the area.
In the top right corner, you’ll find a doorway with an arrow pointing upward that will take you to the upper region of Cogwork Core. This area is one of the hardest platforming sections in all of Silksong, so make sure to rest at the Cogwork Core bench in case you don’t complete it in one go. Some general tips for this platforming section:
- Defeat the robotic bugs along the way to reduce the number of obstacles you need to worry about
- Use Clawline to traverse long horizontal distances
- Take a breather on the vertical walls and horizontal platforms
After you make it to the top, you’ll find four pillars with music notes on them. Each pillar is made up of four sections and each section has its own lever that will rotate it. Your goal is to rotate each screen until all four panels create one coherent image.
To solve the puzzle:
- Hit two adjacent levers on one pillar until the notes line up.
- Hit the third lever to line it up with the rest, but save the fourth lever for the time being.
- Solve three sections on each of the other pillars.
- Complete each pillar.
Completing a pillar will remove its associated platforms, so rather than having to jump off of the side walls, leave the pillars up until you solve three sections on each pillar.
Once that’s done, finish all of the pillars to unlock the Architect’s Melody. Now, there’s only one melody left, which can be found in the High Halls.
Constructor’s Melody
To reach the High Halls, you’ll need to head to the top left section of Choral Chambers. You’ll find a bench and some rings that’ll take you to the top of the chamber. As you enter High Halls, continue to the right and upwards. After you pass through the second water portion, glide down and use your Clawline to open up a path below you. Slowly glide down, avoid the spikes, and use Clawline when necessary until you reach the bottom, where you’ll find the High Halls Ventrica station.
At the opposite side of the room, you’ll find The Forum, which is where you’ll encounter one of the hardest fights during the Silksong story. You’ll face wave after wave of enemies until you face off against a Choir Clapper, a giant beetle holding a mallet. But wait, that’s not all! You might’ve thought that was the end of the gauntlet, but you’ll face even more waves of enemies only to find out you need to defeat two Choir Clappers!
It’s a brutal fight, but there is a way to make it slightly easier. In the top right corner of the right most room in the Whispering Vaults, there is a hidden wall that you can break. Head inside and activate the fan at the bottom of the pit. This fan will take you to the Songclave, where you can find Garmond and Zaza on your second entry. After you interact with them, explore the Choral Chambers where you’ll run into them two more times, and then finally head back to The Forum. Garmond and Zaza will be waiting for you outside of The Forum, and they’ll offer to help you in battle.
With the gauntlet complete, interact with the Conductor inside to unlock the final melody.
Reaching the credits of Hollow Knight: Silksong
Return back to the three statues at the Cogwork Core and play the Threefold song to unlock the elevator. We recommend resting on the Cogwork Core bench as Lace is waiting for you at the top of the elevator. Lace has definitely been training as her moveset is different from your battle in Deep Docks, but if you pay close attention to how Lace holds her needle, you can predict which move she’ll throw out next.
After you defeat Lace, continue to the right to enter The Cradle, where you’ll find a large silk cocoon that is holding the final boss, Grandmother Silk. There will be a lot of needles, silk, rocks, and spikes on your screen for this fight, so we recommend that you focus on dodging while there are a lot of animations happening. As you get used to Grandmother Silk’s moveset, start weaving in a few hits here and there to defeat her.
After you defeat her, you’ve successfully beaten Hollow Knight: Silksong and reached the credits.
However, it wouldn’t be Hollow Knight if there weren’t alternate endings and more to discover. Is Act 2 really the end?
Now that you’ve seen the credits, you can venture on into Act 3, but to do so, you’ll need to complete nearly every sidequest and find a majority of the fleas — so you’ll need to get back to exploring Pharloom.
