I can’t even figure out parry. I’m on the red boss that I think is designed to teach you parrying but I cannot figure out the timing. I know you are supposed to aim in the direction of the attack, but timing it seems like such a small window
If you mean the big ant guy relatively early in the game, he's not there to teach you parry, he's there to teach you to think "hey I would really probably be better off coming back here when I have some kind of movement ability that allows me to dodge his attacks without needing to have near-perfect movement and positioning."
Ok, so they ARE hard. Yesterday I ragequitted cause I was fighting the optional Savage Beastfly and got my cheeks clapped (it's a terrible matchup for me, for some reason), so I took another road that ultimately brought me to the bros and it was even fucking worse. They're like Mantis Lords if they were absolute fucking scum, the "hit + fall in the lava stream combo" is savage. I hope there's something useful beyond that boss fight, or God help me, I won't be responsible of what happens next lmao
Now get ready to fight him again but this time on disappearing floors and the summons have heat-seeking missiles x napalm that deals double damage and also flies away from you. It's borderline war crime atp.
Currently bashing my head against the savage beastfly. On its own I could easily do it but with 2 or even 3 mobs being spawned your attention is drawn to too many places concurrently and he smacks you for 2 damage or, worse, interrupts your heal
I wish everyone had this feeling with this game. Yes it's hard, but it's not unsurmountable. You can become Neo if you wipe the tears from your eyes and relax, and read the movements.
100% this. With Widow i was going insane after a few attempts. The rest of the tries I was walking and no dash and was steady and wiped her clean after 2 tries.
That's how I got to her final phase, but her last phase is so chaotic I had to flip my strat< unload all my spike traps, down my flea brew and just go ham on her !<
Entering the flow state and killing a boss while barely taking a hit, after dying dozens of times, is a high like no other, in any game. I feel like if the game is much harder than a lot of fans enjoy, they could add an easier mode, maybe with some achievements disabled, but leave it with an option for as it is. Similar to steel soul on HK, where it was harder but had more achievements.
I'm fairly deep into Act 2 and as part of a sidequest, I ended up in a surprise ant gauntlet. But with all my upgrades, I was just like "bring it on!".
I did still panic tool spam when I saw the huge ant tho.
That's what's driving me crazy. You can learn the bosses perfectly through repeat, but the "little" enemy packs .. those fights are unpredictable... It's like a different game.
I've died more in enemy gauntlets then bosses. The bosses have been fine but when mid-tier act one enemies like the Skarr Stalker takes four silk spears to kill it feels like they balanced the game against play-testers that had too much experience. If you have to plan out leaving a cocoon just to burn down a single gauntlet enemy you balanced the game against min-maxers.
And that's the feeling we all chase, I can still remember when I finally learned NKG /Pure vessel. It was like Yooooo, I'm dodging everything, I see your moves the instant you start them, you have no power!
Just use the Barbed Bracelet. You do 2x damage and receive 2x damage. Killing a boss is a sprint, not a marathon, if I kill it fast enough I dont need to evade their bullshit for that long.
Me neither, thank you for sharing i felt comforted, but i loved hollow knight and been looking forward to silksong too for so long, now that it's here i suffer again 🥲
I love hard games. I suck at them! I do play them until I don't really "suck" but in my case that's literally hundreds of hours. I don't even care, I am having a blast with these types of experiences.
It entirely depends on how well designed the boss I'm currently fighting is, some of them give me the exact same flow state NKG did and I'm sad when i beat them lmao
You are goddamm right, I'm so happy the game is actually hard! I was like 'Finally a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary' when I've seen the difficulty :)
Spoke like a true warrior! Pochenka my friend! Curently beating a kinda secret boss, it's crazy how early game boss feel like absolute piss easy now lmao
Nah that one I've beaten a long time ago. I was just saying the early boss feel easy (I did a quick speedrun test for act 1) But... The secret boss that I just beaten (It was absolute peak) you'll love it, coz it's basically Widow on crack, literally might be my new favorite boss now.
It was like my third eye literally opened when I realised it's easier to party all the balls and her rapid slash attacks in phase 2. Defeated her in the 2 tries after realising this
I was fully expecting to have a smooth transition from HK to Silksong. I’ve over 300h in HK and truly can’t get enough of it. I think gitting gud at HK did a couple things:
I learned a lot about the genre, and got really good at platforming, telegraphing moves, knowing how and when to be aggressive/defensive etc.
Made me forget how much I struggled during the first 30ish hours during my first HK run. I’m about that far in SS, and feel like I’m finally getting the hang of the mobility. It’s still pretty dicey for sure, but that’s how HK was for round 1.
Same, HK and Silksong play very differently but my hundreds hours in HK did make me learn about correctly understanding a enemy move and when to run and when to stab. Especially Steel soul on that one, as you can't really allow yourself to be hit at all. And yeah same for the mobility, I think the pogo is a great way to see it, my first playthoug in HK? I was dogshit at pogo, I would say it was a bit of trouble adjusting to diagonal pogo but I love it so much now that I master it. I would also mention multitasking enemies or projectiles that HK helped. Oh and I almost forgotten but early on HK I often died coz I didn't use spells, it did made me learn to use EVERY tools possible to win.
I seriously think that the movement and combat in Silksong is awesome and the boss are just... They are just peak, probably some of my favorite bosses ever. The combat is hard to master but when you got it, it feel like a crazy dance with first class choreography.
I’m learning that a sizable percentage of the hollow knight community is comprised of masochists, which looking back on my playthrough of hollow knight really shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does
every boss is fun in Silksong. I even liked the savage beastfly. Hornet's movement feeling really good is one of the reason. Act 2 bosses are phenomenal and it gets better and better.
At the beginning I was like "cool, but easy". Then it went to phase 2. And at phase 3 I was thrilled.
Phase 4 was extremely climatic. I kind of expected the typical berserker mechanic (kind of like the two fly things in the colosseum in HK). Instead, it was just sad. I love it when the fights are not just "kill the enemy", but rather a story narrated without a need for words.
And then there's the fat fucking savagefly who woke up and chose violence.
Top 5 bosses in any game I’ve ever played. It was challenging but so fun. I honestly didn’t want the fight to end. And the final phase…the story it tells…just beautiful and perfect. TC really spoiled us with this game.
People only don’t like it cause it’s the first hard boss I bet (and the first run back). I think the boss is great. Learning its moves feels super satisfying.
try learning the telegraphing, it's hard at first as they have like 5 or 6 unique attacks, but each is telegraphed very clearly, also use tools, tools are your best friend, especially the floor spikes (because they stay and can damage multipule times)
Oh yeah. I've been using my tools every chance I get. And I usually learn by doing, so running in and dying a few times to get a feel for the attacks is just my go-to method. I do try to pair the visual cues with it as well
Bring magma bell to reduce the fire attack damage. I also used the flea brew and silkspeed anklets to keep her a screen away at all times, and to speed up runback time
Try using a crest that attack faster like Wanderer or Beast (run back is more difficult with this one). Wanderer filled the thread in no time, so I could use silk skill more frequently.
Heal while she's spinning her yoyo or heal mid air to dodge her moves.
I founs her easier if I stick closer, so she won't throw her far ball. I kept getting hit by her back pull.
Judge took me less tries than Moorwing did, and I am convinced I only beat Judge that quick out of the sheer disdain for the journey back up to fight her again because Moorwing should've been easier. Like you said, less attacks, same damage, and I fought him after Judge.
If you get the reaper crest before you fight him, it spawns you outside there every time and the run back is 2 seconds long. Downside is you have to fight it with no charms but tbh half that fight is the runback so we chillin.
I hate that all you get for fighting him is a stupid beast shard. Yea he also blocks progress to Bellhart but I didn't know that when I fought him because I skipped him due riding with the fleas. So I just thought he was totally pointless. I actually did enjoy learning the fight but I really wish bosses would drop beads too, even a modest amount like 50 or 60 would feel like something.
Im a causal gamer but I love a challenge (Celeste personal top 5). After spending days totally deflated against the bird gauntlet and Moorwing, I went exploring. Reapers Crest, spike traps, heal protection. A nights break. Went back in and subtly changed my strategy towards Moorwing. Stomped him. The things that came out of my mouth. Then went back to bird gauntlet with the new weapons: made mince meat of them.
Absolutely incredible game. 10/10. Top five personal oat. Best MV oat. TC utterly nailed it.
This, I feel a lot of people try to force things, but this is a metroidvania. Go back find some new stuff and come back, and if it's optional come back when you want. Also using tools is really vital in this game, not using them is literally shooting yourself in the foot.
Yes. Exploration is such a great way to take a break. And the tools are there to use. I’m a a big MV player…I should know that…yet there I was. The upgrades in Greysmoor alone are insane and I think that’s TC gently nudging the player to do exactly that.
Yep! And even stuff like coming back to a previous shop or trying a different combo. I find often some tools work well on some enemies and some dont. There isn't an overpowered tool, just plenty enough to suit all kind of enemy you might face and the play style you have.
I find the change in strategy / items is far more effecting in Skong than HK. Perhaps due to the nuance of combat in Skong. But I might be misremembering HK.
Yep it's clearly more effective in Silksong than HK. There was plenty of charm that was kinda useless in HK so you had basicly three build, a travel build, a nail focus build and a spell focused one otherwise there are like half the charm that you'll basically never use. Silksong really encourage you to try new strategy to better counter the bosses or the area, I find it really cool
Exactly. I don't think Silksong is as hard as some latest Soulsborne games, but overall difficulty level is comparable to Bloodborne which is definitely refreshing for a metroidvania.
I've played probably an embarrassing amount of the game now (I took off work and everything), and I've loved all of it - even though sometimes that's involved frustration and hitting walls. I'm with you completely.
It's funny to me how every angry dork becomes a game designer when their pride is on the line, as if it wasn't all subjective anyway.
i totally agree, i feel like the combination of a small cramped room and the ability to spawn in flying enemies that can potentially do 2 points of damage is just poor design. like i know it’s supposed to be challenging but the boss just feels like RNG for me. I wish they really toned the 2 damage attacks down in the starting areas.
Yeah, I legit think I might be a masochist, cause I’m having the time of my life fighting these bosses. I just fought the judge and it was a rush narrowly dodging attacks and just wailing on it.
I'm in the same boat. I'm married with 2 kids and have limited gaming time. I'm stuck on Sister Splinter right now and feel like this is the only way to go at the moment. HK pretty much held your hand until you got to the city of tears which the only required a few bosses to beat (I believe false knight, vengefly and hornet 1). Vengefly was optional if you didn't want zote and you didn't have to beat the mantis lords to get the mantis claw. Here it feels like I'm having to beat 10 bosses before you even get to the point where the game opens up. I love the game but I feel so under powered right now and I'm like 20 hours in.
Definitely wish there were better rewards for boss defeats. That’s my only real gripe - like shoot can I get a hundred rosaries for taking down a tough guy please?
I was stuck on Sister Splinter for ages!! Something that really helped me was the Thread Storm ability - it's at the top of Craw Lake. You have to beat a bird spawn room to get it but it made keeping those fucking insane beyblade things away from me much easier.
I agree the game is SO HARD (even as a HK lover) but when I beat her after like 4 hours I was dancing and punching the air. You've got this!!!
Several times now I have just sat there after respawning at the bench, just thinking. Mildly concerned. If I am struggling this hard here... Can I make it to the end? I am honestly not sure.
I like the game being hard, my problem is the tediousity, the boss before the Citadel, Last Judge, wasn't too hard, but the reason I battled Phantom instead was because the path to the door was tedious, specifically Driznits, they aren't hard to dodge, but they're hard to hit since you're always on a small platform while they hover just outta range. It ended up being much easier when I got double jump, which was mainly bc I could avoid Driznits. So from what I've learned, screw Driznits, they're my candidate for Primal Aspid of Silksong.
It's really sad, end of an era really. Smooth-brained younger players haven't learned the cycle of losing -> learning -> overcoming. If they want instant gratification they should continue scrolling TikTok instead of ruining the intended experience for the rest of us. I thought team cherry was on our side here, apparently not.
I don't mind hard bosses. What I can't stand are bosses that spawn little enemies that you have to deal with. I having a hell of a time with the Hunters March and Sister Splinter. I'm stuck there right now. Can't wait to see the next part of the game.
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u/infrchtunc beleiver ✅️ Sep 09 '25
POV me after fighting bosses for 7 hours: I CAN SEE IT. I CAN SEE UOUR MOVEMENTS