Hollow Knight: Silksong walkthrough – Best route and area order

Much like the first game, Hollow Knight: Silksong has a large map that is somewhat open-ended, so it’s understandable if you find yourself getting lost in its vast expanse, especially as the path forward isn’t always clear. To help you out, we’ve put this walkthrough together to give you an overview of all the different areas in the game and in what order it’s best to tackle them in.

Act 1 best route – HK: Silksong

Moss Grotto

This is the starting area for the game. There’s not much to say about this bit; it’s a straightforward run-through, and the only reason you’d need to come back here is to complete the Mossberry sidequest, which is easily done.

Bone Bottom

This is the first of a few main town areas you’ll find in Silksong. Here you’ll find a merchant with a few intriguing items on display, including the Simple Key in Silksong. There is also a station here, but you can’t use it just yet.

The Marrow

This is the first proper area you’ll explore, though you won’t be able to get through all of it just yet. For now, head upwards and you’ll find the Bell Beast trapped in some webs that you can’t yet break. Instead, head west into the next area.

Mosshold

Things get a little more challenging here, as you’ll be fighting enemies with slightly more complicated attack patterns than mindlessly charging at you. Still, be patient and follow our Hollow Knight: Silksong beginner tips, and you’ll be fine. Your goal here is to head upwards to get the Silkspear ability, which is how you break webs in Silksong.

The Marrow (east half)

Armed with your new ability, you can go and free the Bell Beast. You’ll have to defeat them in one of the game's first major boss fights, but once you do, this will unlock fast travel in Silksong. It also opens up the path to allow you to explore the eastern half of The Marrow, which you should now do. From here, there are two areas you can head into. One is Hunter’s March, but it’s guarded by a tough enemy that you should leave for now; instead, go to the southeasternmost point and head into the Deep Docks instead.

Deep Docks

Your main goal in the Deep Docks is to get the Swift Step ability, which allows you to sprint and dash forwards in the air to cross bigger gaps than you’re currently able to. To do this, head straight through the area, then upwards. You’ll briefly poke your head into Hunter’s March, but only for one room before coming west and dropping back down into Deep Docks, which is how to reach the Swift Step altar.

Once you’ve done that, head downwards as there’s plenty to be found here, like the Forge Daughter and the upgrades she offers, plus you’ll find the way forward. You’ll battle Lace for the first time, ring another bell, and head out to the next area.

Far Fields

This area shouldn’t be too much trouble for you at this point in the game. Simply keep heading south and east to progress in this one. You’ll eventually drop past a point of no return, but don’t worry, we’ll soon be getting an upgrade that lets us out. Keep going until you find the Seamstress’ balloon. She’ll task you with getting Spine Cores from Hokers, and you can follow our guide on that.

Your reward is the Drifter’s Cloak, which lets you unlock gliding in Silksong. You can use this to get out of the area by riding up the streams of air. Though you will first have to defeat the Fourth Chorus boss.

Hunter’s March

Hunter’s March is an optional area, and we think it’s best tackled after getting your hands on the Drifter’s Cloak, as it makes a lot of the platforming challenges there a lot easier. In fact, you can even skip some of them altogether. Enemies here can be annoying, with quick and complex attack patterns, so take your time when fighting them and learn their weaknesses.

Greymoor

Whether you decide to go to Hunter’s March or not, your next step should be to ride up the winds in the central shaft of the Far Fields to reach Greymoor. This is a much gloomier area. If you head east when you arrive you’ll find the map and an optional challenge battle and platforming section that unlocks a new Crest.

To progress, head west – make sure to stop off at the Halfway House to unlock the Hunter’s Journal. There, if you haven’t completed the first Lost Flea quest, you’ll need to fight the Moorwing boss, which can be a bit tricky. However, if you defeat it, you can move on to the next area.

Bellhart

Your first visit to Bellhart is just a flying walk through, as the citizens are currently cursed. You’ll have to leave it for now and come back later.

Shellwood

Shellwood is a complex area, but when you first arrive, there will only be one main path you can take, and with some work, that path will take you up to where you can get the Cling Grip ability that lets you climb walls. Once you’ve got that, your goal – aside from exploring – should be to head to the northeast of the area, which will take you back into Bellhaven through a different entrance.

Bellhart (revisit)

In the top half of Bellhart, you’ll have a small area to run through before dropping into the central chamber, where you’ll find that the bell there has been webbed up by Widow, who you’ll now have to fight as a boss, and is arguably the hardest boss you’ll face in all of Act 1. Her attack patterns are quick, and she has a second phase to her fight where she gets even trickier to deal with.

However, persevere, and eventually you’ll come out victorious, freeing Bellhart as well as unlocking the Needolin ability, which will let you unlock certain doors. Head down into the main town of Bellhaven as all the citizens will now be free, and new merchants will be available.

Weavenest Alta

Now you have the Needolin, you need to head all the way back to Moss Grotto, right back at the start of the game. On the eastern edge of the area, you’ll find a strange door. Play your Needolin in front of it and you’ll open the way to a small area called Weavenest Alta. Right down in the depths of it, you’ll find a strange character who will upgrade Hornet’s starting Crest.

Wormway

The Wormway is an optional area, but it’s one that requires the Cling Grip to navigate. There are two entrances, one is via the southwest corner of Shellwood, the other requires using the Simple Key in the western edge of Mosshold. Either way, progress through the area to unlock the Chapel of the Wanderer, which is where you unlock a Crest that makes Hornet control like the knight from the original Hollow Knight, which is a fun bonus.

ROUTE CHOICE: Blasted Steps or Sinner’s Road

Once you have the Needolin and Cling Grip, you have all the tools you need to get to Act 2, but you have a choice of how to get there. You can go up Blasted Steps or through Sinner’s Road. Both are pretty challenging, though the Sinner’s Road route is both longer and more challenging. So if you want the easiest path, we’d say you should go through Blasted Steps, but we’ll walk you through both.

Route 1: Blasted Steps

Once you’re done there, all that’s left is the unforgiving climb up Blasted Steps. It’s full of some tough enemies and tricky platforming sections, with a tough boss called the Last Judge at the top that weilds a flaming ball and chain.

Reach the top, defeat the boss, and you’ll be met with a door. If you’ve followed this guide you’ll have rung all five bells required to progress by this point, but if not, they’ll now become marked on your map. Once you’ve done it, play the Needolin to unlock the door, and you’ll step through into Act 2.

Route 2: Sinner’s Road

Use your various platforming abilities to get to the top of Greymoor, starting off by climbing the tower on the west side of the map and then traveling east to the entrance of Sinner’s Road, which is at the top of the room containing the Halfway House.

Sinner’s Road is a small area, but a tough one, featuring nasty enemies, water that prevents you from healing, and a bunch of tricky platforming sections. It even has a broken bench you’ll need to fix if you want to stop for a rest. Your goal is to get to the top of the main shaft and then head to the far left of the long room at the top. Jump up and break the wall in the top left corner of this room and you’ll head into the next section.

The Mist

The Mist is one of the strangest areas in the game. It has no map and acts like the Lost Woods from Zelda, where taking the wrong path will send you back to the beginning. Check out our guide on how to navigate The Mist in Silksong for a full explanation of how to get through it, but once you know the trick, it’s not too tough.

Exhausted Organ

Once you get through The Mist, your final challenge of Act 1 is a sub-area called Exhausted Organ. You’ll need to jump up various walls while avoiding deadly steam jets to get to the top, where you’ll then have to challenge a boss called Phantom, who moves quickly and can parry your attacks. As a reward, you’ll get the ability to parry attacks yourself, before unlocking the path that will take you up into Act 2.

Act 2 best route – HK: Silksong

Grand Gateway

This is where you’ll start Act 2, and for now all you need to do here is walk in a straight line. You’ll walk into a grand elevator, but it won’t go up. Instead, it will crash downwards.

Underworks (west half)

The Underworks is a dark and dingy area. There are no permanent benches, instead you’ll have to pay to sit at one every time. Your goal here is to get to the top of the first main shaft you find. To do that, you’ll have to get about halfway up, then head east before wrapping back around on yourself to get to the top. This is a somewhat expansive area, but you won’t be able to access the eastern half of it yet. We’ll come back later for that. Instead, just head upwards for now.

The Citadel (Choral Chambers)

The Citadel is a very big area with lots of branching paths and other areas branching off of it. On your first visit, your goal is to head northeast, through the Choral Chambers and up to an area called The First Temple. There, you’ll be able to ring the bell – and pick up the White Key in Silksong while you’re there. Once you leave and come back, this area will become Songclave, another town you can trade and get side-quests at.

Follow the quest marker west and you’ll find the central chamber where you’ll fight a boss. Interact with the panel that appears in the middle of the room afterwards and you’ll get the markers for your next objectives, though you’ll need to get a new ability before you can reach any of them.

Cogwork Core (south half)

Cogwork Core is a small area that runs through the middle of the Citadel. You won’t be able to get up just yet, but the bottom half is a small area worth exploring, even if it is optional for now.

Whiteward

You’ll now need to take the White Key down to near where you entered the Citadel and head into Whiteward. This is a pretty small area, though it has a couple of items worth picking up and a unique enemy for your journal. You’re mostly here to travel through it into the next section.

Underworks (The Cauldron)

You now have access to the other side of the Underworks, and this is where you’ll be getting your next ability, the Clawline. From where you drop down, head east until you reach a shaft with cogwork bugs and lava at the bottom. Drop all the way down and head east. Follow the path as it curves up and back round on itself and you’ll reach a large chamber containing the altar for the Clawline, also known as the grappling hook in Silksong.

High Halls

Once you’ve got the Clawline, you can head back up through The Citadel to the northwest corner, where you’ll find a series of grapple points that will take you up even higher. Here you’ll be using the Clawline to get up the waterways, before falling back down the other side to find your first of the Melodies required for the main quest. Be careful, as this gauntlet of enemies is one of the toughest in the game, as you’ll have to fight two minibosses at once after a brutal onslaught of foes.

Sands of Karak

Now that you have the Clawline, you should take a quick detour back to Blasted Steps to check out an optional area that you weren’t able to reach before, the Sands of Karak. Which you can get to by heading out of the western edge of Blasted Steps, in the area with all of the hooks for he Clawline. It’s a small and simple area, but the rewards are worth it.

The Slab

The Slab is a neat little area you can explore, though you won’t be able to get through most of it just yet. So for now, we’re just passing through.

Mount Fay

Before you can go to any of the other objectives, you’ll need to get a new ability, and that ability is waiting for you at the top of Mount Fay. This area is a tough test of your platforming skills, as you’ll not only need to complete challenging sequences, but do them quickly, as Mount Fay’s cold air will slowly drain your health unless you’re standing in the radius of the heat lamps. Unfortunately, the only way to negate this effect is also at the top of the mountain, so you’ll have to get up there the tough way.

Once you reach the top, you’ll get the Faydown Cloak, which both negates the cold damage and allows you to double jump, which is going to be necessary for the coming sections.

Memorium

Now you’ve got the double jump, it’s a good time to go and clear up any optional areas you haven’t already explored. We’ve covered several along the way that will be useful to you, but there are more that you might’ve stumbled across along the way.

The first is Memorium, which is just one room over from the central room of Cogwork Core. Use the double jump and Clawline to get up there and explore this self-contained area featuring various enemies from throughout the game’s different areas, as well as some lore.

Bilewater

Bilewater can be one of the most annoying areas in the game, but by tackling it this late with all your abilities, you should hopefully have an easier time of navigating it. It’s found by going east instead of west at the top of Sinner’s Road and features more of that frustrating bog water that prevents you from healing. It’s one of the larger areas in the game too, so make sure you’re ready for a long trek.

Putrified Ducts

In the far east of Memorium, you’ll be able to get out and onto the roof of the Citadel. At the far end of this long area is a breakable wall that will get you into your next optional area, Putrified Ducts, which also connects to Bilewater in the south. It’s a wide area with a few points of interest, but just worry about getting the map for it for now.

Wisp Thicket

The final area now accessible to you is the Wisp Thicket, which you can get to by double jumping up through the ceiling near the northwest corner of Greymoor. This is another small area, but one worth checking out as there are a few Lost Fleas here as well as a unique boss fight.

Cogwork Core (top half)

Now you can return to Cogwork Core. You’ll remember that when you first came down here, there was the east half of the bottom section you couldn’t get to. But with a combination of the Clawline and Feydown Cloak you’ll now be able to get up there and into the room on that side, which lowers the grappling hook that will take you up to the top half of Cogwork Core.

Here you’ll be faced with some more platforming challenges that require you to grapple and jump between moving hooks to get to the top, before having to solve a puzzle to get your second Melody.

Whispering Vaults

You’re not quite done with Cogwork Core though, as you’ll need to drop back down into the bottom half and take the route out along the eastern wall. This will take you back through that big room with the wheel, which will give you passage to the east into the next main area, the Whispering Vaults.

And that’s as far as we’ve gotten for now. Make sure to check back regularly, as we’ll be updating this as we get further into the game, eventually covering every area you can reach.

The Cradle

With all three melodies in hand, return to the central chamber of Cogwork Core. Play the melodies and you’ll unlock the lift that will take you to the final area of Act 2, the Cradle. Immediately upon arriving, you will have to fight Lace, who has some new moves that make this fight a lot more difficult than your first encounter with her.

Then, progress upwards through this small area to reach Grand Mother Silk, the “final boss” of Silksong. Defeat Grand Mother Silk and you’ll reach your first ending and be greeted with the credits. Except, if you’ve played the first game, you’ll know that this is far from the true ending to the game. There’s still a lot more for you to do.

Act 3 best route – HK: Silksong

This is where things get a lot more complicated, because from here, the game isn’t about uncovering new areas; it’s about more thoroughly exploring the ones you’ve already been to. Unlocking Act 3 involves completing a bunch of side-quests, finding loads of Lost Fleas, as well as several other seemingly optional tasks.

So from here, it’s better if you follow our guide on how to unlock Act 3 in Silksong, as there’s quite a lot you’ll need to do before you get there.