Hollow Knight: Silksong's bosses are no joke, but hey, you'd be disappointed if they were a walk in the park after waiting so long to meet them, right? Plus, if you're a fan of the first game, and you must be to be playing Silksong, you know that challenging boss fights are half the fun; heck, Hornet herself is one of the bosses in Hollow Knight. However, we're here to make things easier for you, as we tell you where to find the bosses and how to defeat them.
If you're here more out of curiosity than necessity, as you're still playing the first game, our Hollow Knight bosses guide can help you overcome those adversaries. We also have Hollow Knight charms and Hollow Knight pale ore guides to help you even further. It's okay, you can trust us, we're HK experts, giving it a 9/10 in our Hollow Knight review.
All Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses
As the game is so new, we can only tell you about the bosses as we learn about them, so you'd best bookmark this page and check back frequently, as we're fighting our way through the Metroidvania game at record speeds to bring you the best guide on how to beat each of the Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses. There are more than 40 bosses in this game, so we have a lot to get through as we reach more and more of them. Luckily, as is the case with most games like Hollow Knight, plenty of them are optional, so you don't need to defeat all of them to finish the game.
Here are the Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses we know about so far:
Moss Mother
Location: The Old Church in a sub-area of Moss Grotto
Moss Mother is the first Hollow Knight: Silksong boss that you encounter, making her more of a tutorial to ease you in, ensuring you get the hang of dodging, especially through the use of jumps. She typically hovers around the arena, remaining just within your range, allowing you to hit her. If you land enough consecutive hits, you can even stun her for optimal damage.
However, there are some attacks that you need to be aware of; the first is her swoop attack. Moss Mother aims her stinger at Hollow Knight's Hornet, then swoops down to attack her. Upon hitting the floor, she slides in the direction she's facing. The best way to avoid this attack is to jump; you can easily get out of the way of her stinger, then you need to hop over her slide. You also need to be wary of rocks falling from the ceiling, which occurs when Moss Mother slams into it.
However, those rocks turn into moss worms, Moss Mother's children, in the second half of the fight, so not only do you need to avoid the initial hit, you need to take them out. Luckily, it takes nothing more than two swift hits with Hornet's needle to put them away. Now, I'm not one to judge, but you might say that Moss Mother is an unfit parent; surely you should protect your kids from danger, not throw them into the firing line.
Hunter Queen Carmelita
Location: TBC
Ah, Hunter Queen Carmelita, you should recognize this ruler of ants, as she actually appears in one of the Hollow Knight: Silksong's trailers, and, once again, you get to fight in front of an audience, because apparently, HK games like to see if you can perform live.
From her appearance in the trailer, we can deduce what you should expect when you face her, and it sure looks like she's ready to put on a show, using her twin-bladed daggers to great effect, as she swirls them at speed. Plus, Cermelita appears to be a boss of great agility, making the most of the arena as she leaps from side to side. Now, you might feel some temptation to dash in and hit her when she jumps from one end of the arena to the other, but this is the last thing you should do, as spikes protrude from the floor, causing some damage to you. Instead, you should wait and jump out of the way of the spikes.
Bell Beast
Location: The Marrow
Hollow Knight: Silksong's Bell Beast also appears in a trailer, and it's one of the Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses that you should look forward to defeating the most, as she ends up being your source of fast travel, carrying you from place to place. Mind you, before that can happen, you need to actually beat her in a fight. While she's huge, she also appears to be fast, so you need to be light on your toes and ready to jump over her as she rushes at you. It also seems that this boss enjoys going underground, only to burst out and try to surprise you - again, we suspect that a well-timed jump can get you out of the way.
When we finally encounter her for ourselves, we'll be sure to offer some more in-depth tips, along with a more precise location. As she's the source of fast travel, we can't imagine her being in the opening areas; it's more likely that you'll encounter Bell Beast towards the midway mark of your adventure.
Lace
Location: Deep Docks
You need to prepare yourself for a fight when it comes to Lace, but you probably already know that after her appearances in a couple of the game's trailers. Lace has a lot of attacks in her arsenal when you encounter her in the Deep Docks, so you need to keep your wits about you if you want to be victorious.
For starters, she has a lung attack that sees her bolt halfway across the arena - luckily, this isn't too difficult to dodge, as you can move back or jump over her. The same is true of her double cut attack, which sees her slash at you twice; it's important not to misread her and think you can attack after the first strike.
However, one of the moves you desperately want to avoid is Lace's parry and counterattack. For a brief second, she holds a defensive stance, blocking all of your attacks, and, should you attack her in this stance, she will then go on the counterattack. If she catches you in her flurry, she easily takes a mask of health, and she actually has the potential to take two, which is quite a heavy hit.
On occasion, you'll see Lace retreat from you. When she does this, you should close down the gap and get in a strike, but don't get greedy, as this boss is repositioning herself to go back on the offensive. Essentially, when it comes to Lace, you're engaging a fencer in a fight, so you need to be swift, agile, and smart to win - I believe in you.
Savage Beastfly
Location: Chapel of the Beast, Hunter's March
The Savage Beastfly is one of the optional Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses, so you don't have to fight this bug if you don't want to. Besides, you need to have the Drifter's Cloak to ride a wind current that takes you to Hunter's March, where the boss is waiting for you.
Savage Beastfly is another boss who likes to charge around at high speeds, but you can use this to your advantage. When the boss dashes towards you, if you wait near a wall and dodge as late as possible, there's a good chance that the Savage Beastfly will hit the wall and stun itself, giving you a precious second to attack. You can also get in a sneaky hit when the boss slams itself into the floor.
Oh, and when the boss screams, that means a bunch of critters are about to descend upon you, so good luck with that.
Moorwing
Location: Greymoor
Moorwing might prove to be a bit of a challenge, boasting a wide moveset that expands as you enter the second phase of the fight. You need to keep an eye out for Moorwing throwing a blade saw along the ground at you, along with some quick slashes and diving attacks - being light on your feet is the aim of the game here.
However, there is something you can do, and that's bring some friends along for the ride if Moorwing proves to be too much of a challenge. After you first lose to the boss, you can hop on a wind path to the right of the boss room, which takes you directly to your potential allies. Speak to them, and when the game prompts you, say yes.
Sharpe
Sharpe, as his full name, Steel Assassin Sharpe, suggests, is an assassin, and it just so happens that he has Hornet in his sights. You should get familiar with him, as Sharpe is a persistent bug hunter who you need to fight off on numerous occasions, because repeated encounters with Lace isn't enough. Your window of opportunity against Sharpe comes when he winds up to launch a whip-like weapon at you. Now, the range of this attack is vast, which makes it difficult to dodge, but the wind-up takes just long enough that you can jump over Sharpe and attack him from behind, getting in some good counter damage.
Seth
If there's one word to describe Seth, it's fast. This boss of arguably one of the quickest, which can cause you problems if you're not careful. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that he has a shield, which is more than capable of absorbing your attacks, leaving Seth unharmed. After withstanding your onslaught, he uses his pin to go on the attack, which makes him a dangerous foe, particularly if you choose to get up close and personal. Instead of trying and failing to break through his shield, it's best to let him go ham with his pin while staying out of range, and then dash in for a couple of hits. He may also jump into the air to launch his shield at you, so make you run to the side to avoid it.
Last Judge
If you think getting through Hollow Knight: Silksong's The Mist is bad enough, just wait until you see what's at the end of the dungeon it leads you to.
Last Judge is here to break the mold and provide a devastating challenge as you close out the first act of the game. Most Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses are either fast or huge, while Last Judge is both. Not only that, but she has three phases to her fight, truly testing everything you know so far. She tries to use her bell to great effect, spinning it round, launching it at you, and jumping into the air only to try and slam onto you. The best time to get in some counter damage is after the slam attack, though you can dash in for a hit after she finishes spinning the bell, too.
Come phase two, Last Judge ignites her bell, leading to a range of fire-based attacks that can cause some serious damage. Essentially, the moveset is the same as phase one, but now it has explosions when she throws the bell and fire coming out of the ground after the slam. She also gets the fire dash ability, which leads her to charge at you and create pillars of fire.
In phase three, her flail attack now lasts for up to eight seconds, and he other moves are a lot faster, so you need to be light on your toes and pick your moments for attack if you want any hope of surviving your encounter with Last Judge.
Fourth Chorus
Location: Deep Docks
Fourth Chorus only takes damage to its head, forcing you to face this boss head-on, whether you like it or not. Fourth Chorus likes to slam its hand into the ground, temporarily removing that part of the floor, preventing you from standing there. Luckily, the move does leave an opening for you to counter, as does the swipe attack that the boss does in phase one. After you stagger the boss, lava balls begin to rain down from the ceiling, so you need to keep an eye out.
After your stagger Fourth Chorus three times, the boss enters phase three, which sees the upward wind tunnels appear. Instead of attacking the boss at this point, you need to ride those tunnels to hit both of the magma boxes, causing a boulder to fall on Fourth Chorus' head, finishing the fight.
Trobbio
Location: The Stage
Trobbio is a bit of a theatre kid, loving the stage and drama, and you just so happen to be his partner for this next act. Trobbio has four phases to his fight, so you need to buckle up and power through. You can tell how much he likes to put on a good show from his use of fireworks, though don't let that fool you; the further you get into this fight, the faster his attacks get.
Those are the Hollow Knight bosses we can tell you about for now, but you can be sure that we'll be updating this guide frequently to bring you all of the relevant information you need about every boss fight. Helping out with difficult situations like this is our specialty; check out our Dark Souls bosses guide if you need a helping hand in Lordran.