Where to Find Every Silk Ability in Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong offers a whole world of a post-apocalyptic kingdom of bugs, where players will face many challenges. To stand against enemies, you'll need to master Hornet's full combat potential and learn to properly manage her abilities. In this guide, we'll tell you how to obtain all silk abilities.

You will learn what silk is and how it is used. We’ll also cover all of Hornet’s silk abilities and where to find them. Additionally, for your convenience, we’ve mapped out the optimal route to unlock each skill.

Silk is an accumulable energy resource used for combat and parkour abilities. To refill your silk spool, you need to hit enemies. There are tools that increase its capacity and gathering speed, as well as reduce the material’s consumption.

Silk is spent when the heroine uses offensive super abilities. There are ways to expand the spool, allowing you to use these abilities more often. Next, we’ll tell you how to get all acrobatic and combat abilities for Hornet.

At the start of the game, Hornet’s platforming capabilities are quite limited, so it’s worth increasing her potential from the very first minutes of the playthrough. Below, we’ll describe in detail how to get the following acrobatic skills:

Swift Step allows you to move quickly on the ground. In the air, you can dodge or extend your jump duration. In addition, Hornet deals powerful blows while sprinting.

To obtain this ability, head to the northern part of the Deep Docks location and interact with the idol. The easiest way to get there is to go east from the first bench near the passage to The Marrow.

Drifter's Cloak grants Hornet the ability to glide through the air, allowing for prolonged jumps and hovering. Gliding can also be a useful combat maneuver for repositioning or dodging ground and aerial attacks.

Find the Seamstress’s house in the Far Fields and take the quest Flexile Spines. To complete it, collect 25 Hoker needles, which can be found in the same biome. Return to the seamstress and modify the cloak.

Cling Grip — Hornet gains the ability to cling to walls and other vertical surfaces, allowing her to climb into hard-to-reach places. The heroine can jump off a surface, latch onto the other side, and continue moving upward. She can also jump onto walls to perform precise attacks from above.

Head to the northwestern wing of Shellwood and activate the totem. The path starts at the bench in the lower western part of Shellwood. Go east past the sign with three bells, then gradually climb upward, where you'll encounter the Sister Splinter. After defeating the boss, this path will become direct, but you'll still need to bypass obstacles to reach the idol.

Clawline — Hornet shoots a thread with a needle forward and quickly pulls herself toward it. With this harpoon, you can pull yourself to enemies or attach to rings hanging on chains. The ability also allows you to extend jumps and reach ledges, and while in this position, you can perform a sharp aerial attack.

Enter the Underworks using the elevator. Move to the right and open the bridge. Go up, turn left, and you'll exit into the lava section. Drop to the bottom, go left, climb higher, and hit the lever, behind which you'll find the altar.

Faydown Cloak — to use this ability, press the jump button again while Hornet is in the air. In combat, the double jump provides aerial mobility, allowing you to dodge attacks and strike from above. To obtain the skill, climb to the very top of Mount Fay.

Silk Soar — in the third act, head to The Abyss, move east, and jump down. To use the ability, hold the Down button, wait for the charge to build up, then press the Harpoon key. As a result, Hornet will launch her needle into the ceiling and follow after it. Note that this move consumes silk from the spool.

In addition to acrobatic and combat abilities, Hornet has passive silk skills that indirectly affect gameplay. Below, we’ll describe how to obtain these skills:

Sylphsong is a passive ability for Hornet that allows her to refill her silk spool while resting on a bench. To obtain the ability, find all crests and unlock all tool slots using 18 Memory Lockets. Next, you need to find Eva in the southeastern end of the Weavenest Atla location and talk to her.

Needolin is an upgrade that allows Hornet to play her needle. With the silk melody, she can open doors, bind enemies, and summon the bell beast. To obtain the skill, you need to free Bellhart from the webs of the Widow.

Beastling Call is an upgrade for the cello that allows Hornet to summon the bell beast. The ability is used to teleport to the last bell station you used. The skill can be unlocked in the third act after the death of the boss Bell Eater from the Choral Chambers.

To start the boss fight, reach the bell station Grand Bellway and summon the bell beast—then a monster will appear instead.

Elegy of the Deep is an additional ability for the cello, allowing you to look into the past. The upgrade is used in the third act at the finale of the side quest series about the Green Prince, in the quest where you need to unlock Verdania, a former part of Pharloom.

To obtain the ability, leave the Abyss during the story quest Return to Pharloom and find the Snail Shamans in the Ruined Chapel.

The main property of silk is the ability to use combat super abilities against enemies. There are six offensive skills in the game, which we will describe in detail below:

Silkspear — Hornet throws her needle forward, its power amplified by twisted silk, and at the end of the attack she is knocked back. Move east from Bone Bottom into The Marrow and climb up to Mosshome. Then keep heading north to reach the altar.

Thread Storm — surrounds herself with a whirlwind of silk threads that lash at enemies. Head to the eastern part of Greymoor and use wall jumps to leap across orbs all the way up to the altar. To make the jumps easier, use the Reaper Crest, which can be found in a tomb in the west of this same location.

Cross Stitch is a defensive technique using thread. By wrapping silk around her needle, the heroine can deflect enemy blows and immediately counterattack. First, you need to unlock Bilewater, and then in the Exhaust Organ kill the Phantom.

Follow the route from Greymoor north to Sinners' Road and through the mist into Bilewater. Then from the bell station go east into the Exhaust Organ, climb up, and defeat the boss.

Sharpdart — Hornet merges with her needle and dashes powerfully forward, ramming enemies. To obtain the ability, enter the Wormways, move northwest, and open the door with the Needolin, behind which, at the end of the corridor, is the altar.

Rune Rage — the heroine jumps up and hovers in the air for several seconds, after which about a dozen damaging orbs appear in the air. You can get the ability after the death of the First Sinner from the The Slab location.

But it's not that simple here. To unlock the door to the boss, you’ll need to collect Slab Keys in the namesake biome, which are grouped as follows:

Pale Nails — three huge spikes appear above Hornet's head and plunge into enemies. In the third act, obtain the Silk Soar ability and return to The Cradle, to the site of the battle with the Grand Mother Silk, then interact with her hand.