Looking for a full list of all of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s bosses in order? Hornet’s quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong will see her face a whole mess of insectoid beasties in a kingdom ruled by silk and song, and many of these bosses are just as challenging as their forebears in the original Hollow Knight. With more than 40 bosses in total to discover, vanquishing them is only part of the challenge in this tricky Metroidvania sequel – you’ll have to find several of them first in the huge world of Pharloom.
This guide provides a full list of all Hollow Knight: Silksong mandatory and optional bosses, giving you a quick rundown of the order to fight them, their locations, and how to pierce them with the fury of Hornet’s Nail.
All Hollow Knight Silksong bosses
The work-in-progress table below lists all of Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses in our recommended order. Click the name of the boss to read a strategy on how to beat them, as well as how to reach their location. We’ve also organised each boss by whether they’re mandatory or optional.
Moss Mother
The first boss! She’s not too hard, and thankfully there’s a Bench right under her. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: The Ruined Chapel area of Moss Grotto. Go above the only Bench in the chapel and cut the moss covering the doorway to find Moss Mother’s arena.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/MapGenie/Team Cherry
How to beat: Moss Mother is a boss who serves as a tutorial of sorts and isn’t too hard. Start by monitoring her floating movements from one side of the room to the other, and be careful when she does a dive bomb. She’ll also slam into the ceiling to dislodge rock chunks or summon Moss Grubs, so watch out for falling debris from the ceiling as well as any small green bugs that get in your way. If you’re low on health, be sure to Bind!
Bell Beast
Better get used to jumping over Bell Beast. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: The Marrow, near the entrance. The Bell Beast is actually stuck in a silk trap; once you acquire the Silkspear upgrade in Mosshome you can break the strands holding it captive and fight it.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/MapGenie/Team Cherry
How to beat: Bell Beast is the fast travel steed of Silksong. You’ll need to bash some sense into it with your Nail before you can ride it though, and this fight is a nice chance to practice both your Silkspear throw, dodging, and the art of the Pogo.
The Bell Beast alternates between a few attacks, starting with a forwards dash, which is easy to jump over or Pogo off of its back. When it comes to a stop, slash it in the rump a few times. Sometimes, the Bell Beast will also jump over you – run towards where it first popped out of the ground to avoid being hit. Finally, when the Bell Beast erupts from the earth with two large bells, move to the side or jump to avoid them. That’s all you need to worry about until halfway through the fight, when the Bell Beast summons falling bells from the ceiling to shake things up.
Lace
If Lace kills you, she does an obnoxious “O-HO-HO~” anime laugh. Charming! | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: Deep Docks, across a locked gate to your right. You’ll hear her singing through the gate, but you need to get the Swift Step ability first to dash across and face her.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/MapGenie/Team Cherry
How to beat: Lace is a fun recurring boss throughout Hollow Knight: Silksong and reminiscent of what Hornet was in the original game. You can avoid the majority of her flurries, dashes, and slash strikes by jump-dashing over her to attack from the other side, or Pogo-ing off of her head. The best time to hit her is after she unleashes one of her moves, since there will always be a slight delay before she attacks again.
Halfway through the fight, Lace will telegraph a large circle on the arena – stand clear of this, as she’ll teleport there and unleash a flurry of zig-zag strikes. Once she’s done, retailiate! You can even knock her off the platform into the lava if you’re fast enough and good at positioning her on the edge…alas, she hops back into action in an instant.
Fourth Chorus
Get ready to use your new Drifter’s Cloak! | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: Far Fields. You’ll pass by this robotic corpse in the screen in front of the Seamstress’ building, but it’ll only come alive after you complete her quest and unlock the Drifter’s Cloak.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/MapGenie/Team Cherry
How to beat: The key to this fight is paying attention to Fourth Chorus’ limbs. If it attacks with its top limbs, the platform that you’re standing on will fall apart, and if it attacks with its lower limbs, you’ll need to jump and float over the attack with the Drifter’s Cloak. As you do so, slash at its head as much as possible. This can be tricky if you’ve equipped the Crest of Wanderer, which decreases your weapon range.
Eventually, the Fourth Chrous starts making lava boulders fall, and the platform that you’re standing on will become very small indeed. When wind currents open up on either side of the Fourth Chorus, ride them up to break the orange rocks in the ceiling – this will bring down a boulder that finally wrecks this irksome boss.
Savage Beastfly
The Savage Beastfly hits very hard on its own, but just wait until it summons reinforcements. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: Hunter’s March, in the Chapel of the Beast. You’ll need to ride the air currents upwards, Pogo off of a series of red flowers, and float between spike walls in an infuriating parkour stretch until you unlock a shortcut lever and a gate that leads to this optional bosses’ arena.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/MapGenie/Team Cherry
How to beat: Savage Beastfly starts the fight with both horizontal and vertical charges across the screen. Jump and slash, and whenever it finishes a horizontal charge and hits a wall, get in close to commit to three swift strikes. If you’ve got the Crest of Wanderer, the faster attack rate will come in handy.
While this is straightforward enough, once Savage Beastfly calls in allies, the fight gets super annoying. Luckily, you can get the Savage Beastfly to attack its companions by lining them up with its vertical charge, which will take some trial and error but is far better than wearing yourself out fighting all of these bugs one-on-one. The reward for all this pain is the Beast Crest, which gives Hornet a nice slash attack and turns her Bind into a lifesteal.
Sister Splinter
Dodge those claws when they turn white, and beware Sister Splinter’s minions. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
Location: Shellwood, to the right of the central elevator. Follow the path up the ledges in the following room, Pogo over some spikes, and you’ll be at Sister Splinter’s room.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry
How to beat: Sister Splinter is not terribly hard on her own, but the minions that she summons can be tricky. Defeat her by slashing upwards at her head, and be careful when her claws turn white, as that’s the indication of an upcoming attack. She’ll also summon vines that descend from the ceiling and make the arena quite crowded. Stand out of range of these as they come down and clear them away with swift Nail strikes.
When Sister Splinter tags in her minions, kill them as soon as possible or bait them into the direction of her claw attacks. As long as you keep yourself from getting overwhelmed by these additional foes, the fight isn’t too bad.
We’re stopping for now, but we’ll have more Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses listed here as we progress further into the game. Stay tuned!
That finishes our list of Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses. If you’re having trouble with exploration and finding yourself lost in the expansive realm of Pharloom, then sure to check our our walkthrough for an in-depth guide on how to navigate Hornet through her journey!