It's been over a year since
Hollow Knight: Silksong
consumed my waking hours, and even now, certain memories still sting. I've traversed every corner of Pharloom, mastered its intricate needleplay, and stood triumphant over godlike beings that make the Pa... moreIt's been over a year since
Hollow Knight: Silksong
consumed my waking hours, and even now, certain memories still sting. I've traversed every corner of Pharloom, mastered its intricate needleplay, and stood triumphant over godlike beings that make the Pale King look like a tutorial. The team at Team Cherry crafted an absolute masterpiece, a sequel so grand it somehow exceeded expectations that had fermented for half a decade. But there's a shadow lurking behind the shining fang-and-nail ballet, a truth I've come to accept after achieving full completion: not every boss fight is a work of art. Some are downright miserable.
After replaying the game recently to celebrate its second anniversary, I found myself dreading specific encounters just as much as I remembered. These aren't the fights that defeat you through clever design or punishing but fair attack patterns. No, these are the ones that irritate through repetition, waste potential, or feel actively malicious in their structure. For every Trobbio or Phantom, there's a disgraced chef waiting to spit poison in your face. So, I've ranked the ten worst boss battles in
Silksong
, counting down from mildly disappointing to soul-crushingly terrible.
Spoilers ahead, naturally.
10. Crust King Khann – Brilliant Concept, Toothless Execution
My first encounter with Crust King Khann was a visual spectacle. Summoning gleaming coral stalactites that crashed down from the ceiling, he felt like a true monarch of the reef. Then the actual fight began, and the illusion shattered. By the time you reach Act 3, your crest abilities and mobility tools have made Hornet a whirlwind of silk and steel. Khann simply
cannot
keep up. His attacks are so telegraphed that dodging becomes muscle memory after ten seconds, and he possesses no second phase, no desperate escalation to match his regal bearing.
What frustrates me most is the wasted potential. The minion waves leading to his chamber are honestly more threatening. It feels as though Team Cherry originally designed a massive multi-phase ambush, then chopped it into pieces and forgot to inject any danger back into the king himself. Every replay, I sprint through the Coral Retreat thinking, "Maybe he'll surprise me this time." He never does. I genuinely hope future DLC grants him a true rematch, because the basic idea is phenomenal, and seeing a crustacean monarch reduced to an afterthought stings more than his spears ever could.
9. Palestag – Dreamlike in the Wrong Way
Those who played the original
Hollow Knight
remember the Dream Warriors: ethereal foes with simple, repeating patterns that never evolved into real complexity. Palestag, hidden deep within Verdania, is the spiritual successor to that formula, and it feels woefully out of place amidst the zone's otherwise frenzied flora and fauna. The entire fight consists of chasing the boss across an arena while dodging slow horizontal projectiles. There's no interplay, no need to use my tools creatively, just a tedious circle-strafe.
Verdania is a masterpiece of level design, packed with agile predators that leap and slash with terrifying precision. Discovering a hidden key and unlocking Sinner's Road only to find
this
waiting at the end felt like opening a treasure chest and finding lint. As an optional encounter, I appreciate its existence, but in 2026, after repeated playthroughs, I barely register it. It's a relic of a simpler era that
Silksong
otherwise left behind, and every time I return, I wish the room simply contained a challenging platforming gauntlet instead.
8. Disgraced Chef Lugoli – Maggot Mayhem
I stumbled into Lugoli's swampy kitchen far later than intended, overleveled and brimming with confidence. It didn't matter. The fight was still insufferable. She smashes her massive body around the arena like a knockoff Smough, but the real crime is her maggot mechanic. Poison spheres drift across the screen, and if they touch you, your ability to heal is disabled for a painful duration. It's a status effect that feels designed not to challenge, but to annoy.
The worst part? The entire encounter exists solely to drop a key piece for Pale Oil, an upgrade so crucial you'll endure this slop anyway. Her moveset is basic, her minions are a nuisance, and her arena's environmental hazards double down on the misery. In subsequent runs, I've learned to burst her down in thirty seconds with a fully upgraded needle, but the memory of that first, prolonged bout of maggot cleansing remains one of my most unpleasant video game experiences. Ludonarrative coherence be damned, she's consistent with her disgusting area, and I despise her for it.
7. Broodmother – A Party of Filth, Quickly Forgotten
Some bosses are so forgettable that their presence on a list feels almost generous. Broodmother is the archetypal trash mob that accidentally got a health bar. She hurls slow, predictable globs of less
Nearly a month has gone by since
Hollow Knight: Silksong
finally landed in players' hands, and if there's one thing the community can agree on, it's that Hornet's journey is no walk in the park. Runbacks that make you want to throw your controller, double... moreNearly a month has gone by since
Hollow Knight: Silksong
finally landed in players' hands, and if there's one thing the community can agree on, it's that Hornet's journey is no walk in the park. Runbacks that make you want to throw your controller, double-damage hits that end a perfect run in a heartbeat, and platforming sections that could make even a monk lose their cool—this game has it all. But the real meat of any souls-like metroidvania is the boss fights, and boy, does Silksong deliver. With so many nail-biting encounters, fans quickly realized they needed to settle the score: which boss truly deserves the crown for being the absolute worst pain in the rear? Over 2,000 passionate players on the Hollow Knight subreddit voted on a community-driven tier list, and the results are finally in. You might want to sit down for this one, because some of these rankings will have you raising an eyebrow.
The Bottom of the Barrel: When F Stands for "Forget About It"
Not every boss in Silksong is out for blood. A couple of them are about as threatening as a sleepy tiktik. At the very bottom of the tier list, sitting comfortably in F Tier, we have
Moss Mother
and
Voltvyrm
. Beating these two is pretty much a given the first time you stumble into their arenas. Moss Mother basically waves a few vines at you while you smack her around, and Voltvyrm's attack patterns are so telegraphed you could dodge them with your eyes closed after a few too many cups of mead. There's barely a peep of argument from the community here—these are the softballs Hornet gets to warm up on.
A little higher up, perched in D Tier, is
The Fourth Chorus
. Now this one might raise some eyebrows, especially if you were around during launch week. Back then, a lot of players were pulling their hair out over its screeching attacks and the claustrophobic arena. But once you learn to bait out the right moves, it turns into a one-trick pony. The community clearly thinks the initial panic was overblown, as it only sits a single rank above the absolute easiest bosses. Go figure.
The Middle of the Pack: Where the Real Drama Lives
As we climb the tiers, things start getting spicy. C Tier is packed with bosses that can catch you napping—like
Cordyceps Collector
and
Glimmering Husk
—but nothing that a deep breath and a few well-timed dashes can't handle. The real fun starts in B Tier, because this is where you'll find the two bosses that have been living rent-free in every Silksong player's head since the trailers dropped:
Savage Beastfly
and
Moorwing
.
Wait, what? B Tier? For all the vitriol the community has been flinging at Savage Beastfly—the relentless lunges, the near-instant kill grabs, and that one combo that seems to have infinite range—it didn't even break into the top ranks. It makes you wonder if all that salt was just a collective tantrum. Moorwing shares the same slot, which feels about right. Both fights demand fast reflexes and punish greed heavily, but they're also pretty short. Once you figure out the rhythm, they become brutal but fair—definitely not the showstoppers many feared they would be.
A Tier is reserved for bosses that push the envelope, and leading the charge is
The Last Judge
. Oh, this smug piece of work. Not only does the fight itself feature some absolutely devious attack patterns that mix up close-range swipes with sweeping arena-wide beams, but the runback is the stuff of nightmares. Making the trek back after a death feels like a boss fight in itself, with enemies peppered along the path designed to chip off a mask or two before you even get a rematch. The Last Judge rightfully earned its A Tier spot through sheer persistence—no shortcuts, no easy wins, just grit.
The Kings of Pain: S Tier and Why You're Probably Still Stuck Here
And now we reach the peak, the cream of the aggravating crop, the two bosses that the Silksong hivemind has unanimously declared as the true ultimate challenges. Sitting alone in S Tier are
Lost Lace
and
Skarrsinger Karmelita
. If you haven't met them yet, brace yourself for a world of hurt.
Lost Lace
is the game's true final boss—the one you unlock after bending every secret and side quest to your will—and it pulls absolutely no punches. This fight is a majestic, heartbreaking ballet of needle and thread, with phase transitions that completely rewrite the rulebook mid-battle. One moment you're dodging sweeping horizontal slashes, the next the floor is covered in razor-sharp silk threads that deal contact damage while a giant lace golem tries to stomp you flat. It's chaotic, it's beautiful, and it will absolutely break your spirit. The community agrees: Lost Lace is the definitive toughest boss, a fight that demands near-perfect execution for minutes on end. No cheese, no crutches—just pure skill.
Then there's
Skarrsinger Karmelita
, another endgame horror that many players actually encounter before less
In the labyrinthine kingdom of Pharloom, Hornet\u2019s survival depends less on solitary strength and more on the intricate interplay of crafted tools. Hollow Knight: Silksong has discarded the charm system of old Hallownest in favor of a versatile toolki... moreIn the labyrinthine kingdom of Pharloom, Hornet\u2019s survival depends less on solitary strength and more on the intricate interplay of crafted tools. Hollow Knight: Silksong has discarded the charm system of old Hallownest in favor of a versatile toolkit\u201465 implements forged from Shell Shards that redefine combat like a conductor expanding an orchestra with each new instrument. As players have discovered since the game\u2019s launch, certain pairings don\u2019t just complement each other; they transform battles into a choreographed carnage that can trivialize even the most punishing encounters.
Understanding how tools weave into one another is akin to learning the alchemical secrets of a master craftsman. Some combinations activate hidden synergies or scale damage in ways the descriptions never reveal. Below are the tool pairings that have emerged as the most explosive, creative, and outright game-breaking in the meta, now refined by months of community experimentation.
The Binding Bombardment: Injector Band and Claw Mirrors
Binding in Silksong has always been a risk\u2014a slow, vulnerable heal that leaves Hornet exposed. Yet with the Injector Band slotted, the process accelerates to a snap, and when fused with a Claw Mirror (especially its upgraded form from the Tormented Trobbio encounter), the heal becomes an offensive burst. The moment she mends a mask, a radial blast of mirror shards erupts. This synergy turns the act of recovery into a weapon, like a phoenix that incinerates everything around it the instant it rises from ash. Players who master this can deliberately absorb minor hits, then counter-heal to punish swarming foes in arena lockdowns.
Silk-Fueled Inferno: Wispfire Lantern and Weavelight
At first glance, the Wispfire Lantern seems a fiendish double-edged tool\u2014constantly draining silk to spew homing wisps. But pair it with the Weavelight, and the drain becomes a self-sustaining wildfire. The Weavelight rapidly replenishes silk through successful attacks, effectively erasing the lantern\u2019s cost. Suddenly, Hornet walks through enemy ranks like a walking star, emitting an unending stream of fire that incinerates anything in her path while she focuses solely on footwork. To call this a \u201ccombo\u201d is an understatement; it\u2019s a perpetual motion machine of ruin, allowing one to cheese entire biomes without ever pressing the attack button.
Needle Precision Unleashed: Pin Badge and Longclaw
For crests that reward melee aggression\u2014such as the Architect\u2014the Pin Badge and Longclaw together form a surgical instrument of unparalleled reach. The Pin Badge tightens the needle\u2019s charge time to a fraction of a second, while Longclaw elongates the strike into a sweeping arc that catches enemies at screen\u2019s edge. What was once a sluggish, situational charge attack becomes a whip-fast flurry, snapping out with the suddenness of a mantis strike. Swapping either tool out feels like dismantling an engine mid-race; fights that were effortless become attritional slogs, proving how deeply this pairing retunes Hornet\u2019s tempo.
The Poison Circus: Pollip Pouch and Cogfly
No list of dominant tool combos is complete without the Pollip Pouch and Cogfly synergy, a pairing so brutally effective it has become an entry in the community\u2019s lexicon of \u201cbroken builds.\u201d Cogflies already harass enemies automatically, but the Pollip Pouch layers poison damage on every single hit without replacing any base output. With up to four Cogflies swarming at once, the poison stacks multiply into a toxic maelstrom. The result is a passive annihilation: Hornet can stand idle while bosses melt. The only resource cost is the shell shards required to craft replacements, which makes this setup a more finite but terrifying counterpart to the infinite Wispfire approach.
The Boomerang Storm: Quick Sling and Curvesickle
Speed and geometry combine in this pairing that turns projectile throws into a ricocheting frenzy. The Quick Sling doubles the number of needles thrown, yet capacity remains unchanged, demanding careful aim. The Curvesickle solves this by making each projectile curve back for a second strike, effectively doubling the output again. The resulting pattern resembles a razor-edged hurricane\u2014groups of patrolling enemies vanish before they can react, and bosses with large hitboxes lose health bars in a blink. Mastering the arc of returns lets a skilled player turn any corridor into a death trap only Hornet can walk through.
Crystal Revenge: Druid\u2019s Eyes and Memory Crystal
Sometimes damage is inevitable, but this duo weaponizes each blow taken. The Memory Crystal creates an explosive clone at Hornet\u2019s location every time she is hit, sending shrapnel in all directions. When empowered by the upgraded Druid\u2019s Eyes, which grants silk on taking damage, she can immedia less
Veteran explorers of Pharloom have long relied on the bellways to navigate the sprawling kingdom’s many biomes. These towering, resonant structures function as fast-travel nodes, shaving hours off journey times as Hornet answers wishes from every corner... moreVeteran explorers of Pharloom have long relied on the bellways to navigate the sprawling kingdom’s many biomes. These towering, resonant structures function as fast-travel nodes, shaving hours off journey times as Hornet answers wishes from every corner of the map. Yet what many players still overlook is that the bellway network can be upgraded into a genuinely portable summon system—if you dare to unlock the game’s hidden third act and conquer the Bell Eater. This monstrous, segmented boss does more than guard a new needle tool; it fundamentally reshapes how you traverse the world.
While the Bell Eater encounter is unmissable once certain conditions are met, reaching it requires genuine commitment. You must first defeat Grand Mother Silk—the towering matriarch whose silk threads are woven through Cogwork Core—and trap her consciousness inside a Soul Snare. This pivotal act triggers the transition into Act Three, respawning Hornet in The Cradle, the eerie heart of the machinery. From here, instead of heading upward, you must descend back into Cogwork Core along a specific route: watch for a collapsed tunnel marked by glowing crimson silk, then leap across the newly exposed gear shafts into the Songclave area. Songclave is a hauntingly quiet sub-biome where ancient bell carillons line the walls, and any functioning Bellway here will now answer your call with something far larger and angrier than the usual Bell Beast.
To summon the boss, approach any Bellway in Songclave and use the "Call Bell Beast" action. The screen will tremble, and the Bell Eater will erupt from the ground, dragging you into its subterranean arena. The fight begins with a narrow corridor flanked by the boss’s own body, and the claustrophobia is immediate: its head and tail strike from either side, forcing Hornet to react with split-second precision.
The Bell Eater’s attack pattern is deceptively simple at first, but its true cruelty lies in movement denial. Its body parts vanish after each attack cycle, robbing you of windows to deal damage unless you learn to weave offense into your dodges. Below is a breakdown of every attack, its tells, and optimal counters.
Attack
Wind-Up Tells & Description
Suggested Counters
Slash Attack
The head emerges and pulls back slightly, building tension before whipping its metal tentacles across the entire field.
Stay clear of the head’s immediate radius. For experienced players, jump above the head and repeatedly downward-strike, dealing damage while avoiding the slashes.
Projectile Volley
The head appears without a charge-up and immediately spews a fan of red projectiles that blanket the arena.
Retreat to the far side of the space. Use Hornet’s enhanced dash invincibility frames to phase through the densest clusters if cornered.
Bomb Toss
The tail erupts from either the floor or ceiling, then lobs two or three bouncing bombs that ricochet before exploding. The tail angles slightly toward its throw direction.
Track the tail’s angle to predict the bomb arc. This attack offers one of the best damage opportunities—position yourself near the tail’s base and land several hits while the bombs are airborne.
Bells Spawn
The ground shakes and the boss’s main body sweeps across the floor or ceiling, dropping enormous bells that bounce erratically.
If the body slides along the floor, jump and glide to avoid it first. Then watch the falling bells and weave between them. If trapped, you can strike a falling bell to slightly alter its trajectory, opening an escape path.
Phase one tests your patience: only one body part appears at a time, making the fight feel like a series of discrete duels. But once the arena widens and phase two begins, the Bell Eater will frequently field both head and tail simultaneously. Suddenly, the screen becomes a maelstrom of bouncing bombs, red projectiles, and cascading bells—all while you try to land a blow on whichever appendage happens to be vulnerable. Positioning is key, but so is your toolset. The Thread Storm Silk Skill proves invaluable here, as its spinning area of effect can hit both the head and the tail when they overlap. For consistent chip damage, combine the Cogfly companion with the Pollip Pouch charm; the cogflies will harass the boss freely, and Pollip Pouch ensures they deal extra damage to constructs.
Defeating the Bell Eater rewards you with the Beastling Call Needolin music—a haunting melody that allows Hornet to summon a miniature Bell Beast from almost anywhere on the map, instantly whisking her to the last Bellway she visited. This effectively turns the entire kingdom into one interconnected hub, cutting travel times to mere seconds for cleanup tasks, wish deliveries, and speedrunning routes. There are, however, limitations: the song won’t work deep inside dream realms, certain boss arenas, or the very depths of The Cradle. Mastering the Bell Eater is not merely a bad less
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