liveblog: Silksong bosses, Act 1
Dec. 30th, 2025 06:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
requiemsLiveblog adjacent, in that I'll be writing about my experiences with bosses and gauntlets for the gratification of having done them, and also because it's interesting to me and will be interesting to me several months down the line.
Moss Mother
• Very easy. Here's how to jump over bosses whilst they fly around the screen, and how to do quick swipes upwards with the nail whilst they do that. We hope you learned how to pogo with the nail in Hollow Knight-- Hornet why is your pogo diagonal.
• Very much an early Hollow Knight boss, because you don't have any kit. But unlike me struggling with the first boss in Hollow Knight I was well versed enough in how to play that I did this first try and mostly hitless. This will never happen again.
Bell Beast
• Boss 2 stands for Boss does 2 damage per hit
• Going underground then throwing two objects out of the ground in predictive arcs on boss 2 is very early
• This one also teaches you about telegraphs and whether an incoming attack is going to be low (on the ground, so jump) or high (above you, don't move). This took me a couple of tries because obviously you don't know what telegraph is which the first time so you just kind of have to guess and then get hit for double damage
• I honestly didn't think I could clear her body by jumping (she's long), but there's your diagonal pogo coming into play,
Lace #1
• Very fast and nimble (retrospectively has a lot of moves for this early in the game, and a lot of the Act 2 citadel enemies share her moveset, because of course they do)
• She threw me initially because of her parry. Enemies can parry in HK but i would often just brute force it and you weren't punished for doing so. Lace actively parries and then does a two-three health attack if you don't move away from her immediately after the parry. This is the game saying no. You're going to fucking learn to backstep and every enemy for the next three zones is going to backstep just out of your reach. Enough with the backstep
Fourth Chorus
• The best way to describe them is "a very simplified Radiance", including side to side aoe swipes, platforms that are safe to stand on changing periodically, and being able to stand in their hitbox as you do not collide with them. Which is just still so odd to me.
Craw Lake Gauntlet
• THESE FUCKING BIRDS
• This gauntlet probably holds the combined record for most deaths on a boss because it just sucks
• You don't have a down pogo. Every basic crow takes six plus hits to kill. The projectile crow takes more. The pin wielding crow takes even more. You probably don't have the tool (spikes) that will efficiently clear out groups. The crows are always just out of your range and extremely floaty, and always successfully dodge if you jump upwards. If you catch them as they spawn, great. If you don't you're done.
• I had to leave the area to get first of all spikes (very helpful) and reaper crest which has a longer nail reach and a very very slow down arc pogo. I ended up switching back to hunter for the faster slashes as the other wasn't working for me and managed to eventually clear them out
Moorwing
• I first encountered Moorwing when I was stewing over crow gauntlet. I saw another fucking crow and save quit the game I was done with the birds man
• One time the boss fell on me when it staggered and doing well, so I took two damage, and then I took two more damage as I couldn't get out of its hitbox before invuln wore off and it killed me. Thanks double damage! Little did I know this would be a trend.
• Moorwing has a projectile (a ball of wind) that arcs upward and was okay to dodge if you timed your midair roll to jump outward. However on its later phases it does two of these, but the second one is delayed until it probably starts doing another mechanic, and I messed this up numerous times
• It also does a thing where it goes upside down and throws continuous projectiles at you??? and I had a lot of trouble with this also
• I then realised Moorwing isn't an arena that locks you in, it's very long and open. I would run as far as I could go to heal. This is when I learned the most important thing about having an open arena: this forces the boss to use only one of their mechanics, the ground level swoop that you can pogo off of, every single time. Consecutively, so long as you run the opposing way far enough. Bless the sound cues all being unique per attack per boss honestly. I did this through the entirety of phase 2 and it carried me to victory :)
Sister Splinter
• Had so much trouble on this boss I ended up using a cheeky skip to get the wall cling and do some more exploring before heading back to try it again
• Like Moorwing, also fell on me when staggered a couple of times and killed me
• Not complicated, just annoying. She hangs from the ceiling and does three ground pounds with her hands in a row. But the hitbox covers not just the side her hand is on, but in an arc, so below her head is not safe, you have to be on her opposing side. Lack of depth perception: lol. I would get caught when I was sure I was safe
• The ads were the real dealbreaker though. I genuinely could not kill them fast enough before vines and ground pounds would box me in. They also helicopter spin and you can't attack them at all whilst they are, but they'll double damage you. I finally stopped being averse to using silk skills as the silk skill would one shot the ads, this carried me to victory
Widow
• probably my favourite fight, very fun, I love her animations. She scuttle :)
• Sometimes you just want to string up an entire town with silk and suspend them like that, god forbid a woman has hobbies
• Okay you've heard of popping out of the ground and throwing bells. What if I stood here and threw bells from the ceiling at you from many angles. hehe
• Took many attempts but that was purely learning tells and telegraphs. The phase 3 shift being double time threw me a lot at first, it was too fast with four mechanics happening at once and I didn't know when to hit her. I resolved to cheat sheet this as I do with XIV in a "what can I afford to ignore?" sense and the answer was hit the boss when she screams at the start of a mechanic set, then ignore her and just dodge.
Savage Tyrant
• I got wanderer's crest which gives you a normal Hollow Knight pogo before doing this one. It did a lot of weird mechanics and jumping I didn't feel comfortable ducking around the boss for so went the Moorwing open arena approach of just pogoing as it ran past, which I could trigger every single time by running to the opposing end. Except this time I could pogo PROPERLY
Moss Mother (round 2)
• two of them!
• Ads. The ads. The ads
• Actually not too bad if you just throw out your poison tools and hard focus one of them, they don't have any new moves other than being, yknow, two of them
Savage Beastfly
• the fucking ads man
• probably the first time I really had to pay attention to how your positioning would effect how a certain mechanic sequence would pan out. Savage Beastfly is very simple: it does a ground pound three times based on where Hornet is standing (unless you move far away) and after it lines up the third, safe to heal. It does a side to side swoop three times, also based on where hornet is standing; if you start on the ground first is ground, second is above (safe to heal), third is ground, always, UNLESS you are in the air at the start of the first one. Then second and third are ground. This threw me a lot until I realised the pattern shift being responsive
• However the issue truly is the fucking ads. The idea is the ground pound catches them but it doesn't always, you have to dodge them whilst trying to line it up, or try to take them out, and it's 3-4 hits per, hnggghgh
Savage Conchflies
• Their small variant sucks. They sent out a projectile that ricochets and it will always find its way back to you. I saw them initially and went "hell naw"
• And yet... they don't do that at all, LMAO. This boss took me two attempts because they just. Tunnel into the ground, ceiling, or the walls, all well telegraphed with visual rumbling of where they'll emerge, you only have to actually kill one, they always do their actions in synch. Simple
Last Judge
• me, two hearts: yeah let's just see her mechanics | boss spawns and instantly throws her weapon at you and the two pilgrims singing by the door, which of course, does two damage | me: man.
• me, trying to brute force some mechanics and failing: don't do that.
• I actually really enjoyed her fight, you have to make use of floating in mid air and mid air dash jumps
• The run back isn't actually that bad it's just the conchfly. Simply don't give him time to spawn and zoom past him
• The fire rings kind of suck tho. These were my sticking point for a while because if you stand too close to the boss, the new rings spawn on top of the old ones and you are being hit by seemingly nothing. Dodge roll away from that shit
• I also knew from watching that one LP to RUN THE FUCK AWAY when she's dead or you will explode and have to fight her again. and no. no we are not doing that.
Moss Mother
• Very easy. Here's how to jump over bosses whilst they fly around the screen, and how to do quick swipes upwards with the nail whilst they do that. We hope you learned how to pogo with the nail in Hollow Knight-- Hornet why is your pogo diagonal.
• Very much an early Hollow Knight boss, because you don't have any kit. But unlike me struggling with the first boss in Hollow Knight I was well versed enough in how to play that I did this first try and mostly hitless. This will never happen again.
Bell Beast
• Boss 2 stands for Boss does 2 damage per hit
• Going underground then throwing two objects out of the ground in predictive arcs on boss 2 is very early
• This one also teaches you about telegraphs and whether an incoming attack is going to be low (on the ground, so jump) or high (above you, don't move). This took me a couple of tries because obviously you don't know what telegraph is which the first time so you just kind of have to guess and then get hit for double damage
• I honestly didn't think I could clear her body by jumping (she's long), but there's your diagonal pogo coming into play,
Lace #1
• Very fast and nimble (retrospectively has a lot of moves for this early in the game, and a lot of the Act 2 citadel enemies share her moveset, because of course they do)
• She threw me initially because of her parry. Enemies can parry in HK but i would often just brute force it and you weren't punished for doing so. Lace actively parries and then does a two-three health attack if you don't move away from her immediately after the parry. This is the game saying no. You're going to fucking learn to backstep and every enemy for the next three zones is going to backstep just out of your reach. Enough with the backstep
Fourth Chorus
• The best way to describe them is "a very simplified Radiance", including side to side aoe swipes, platforms that are safe to stand on changing periodically, and being able to stand in their hitbox as you do not collide with them. Which is just still so odd to me.
Craw Lake Gauntlet
• THESE FUCKING BIRDS
• This gauntlet probably holds the combined record for most deaths on a boss because it just sucks
• You don't have a down pogo. Every basic crow takes six plus hits to kill. The projectile crow takes more. The pin wielding crow takes even more. You probably don't have the tool (spikes) that will efficiently clear out groups. The crows are always just out of your range and extremely floaty, and always successfully dodge if you jump upwards. If you catch them as they spawn, great. If you don't you're done.
• I had to leave the area to get first of all spikes (very helpful) and reaper crest which has a longer nail reach and a very very slow down arc pogo. I ended up switching back to hunter for the faster slashes as the other wasn't working for me and managed to eventually clear them out
Moorwing
• I first encountered Moorwing when I was stewing over crow gauntlet. I saw another fucking crow and save quit the game I was done with the birds man
• One time the boss fell on me when it staggered and doing well, so I took two damage, and then I took two more damage as I couldn't get out of its hitbox before invuln wore off and it killed me. Thanks double damage! Little did I know this would be a trend.
• Moorwing has a projectile (a ball of wind) that arcs upward and was okay to dodge if you timed your midair roll to jump outward. However on its later phases it does two of these, but the second one is delayed until it probably starts doing another mechanic, and I messed this up numerous times
• It also does a thing where it goes upside down and throws continuous projectiles at you??? and I had a lot of trouble with this also
• I then realised Moorwing isn't an arena that locks you in, it's very long and open. I would run as far as I could go to heal. This is when I learned the most important thing about having an open arena: this forces the boss to use only one of their mechanics, the ground level swoop that you can pogo off of, every single time. Consecutively, so long as you run the opposing way far enough. Bless the sound cues all being unique per attack per boss honestly. I did this through the entirety of phase 2 and it carried me to victory :)
Sister Splinter
• Had so much trouble on this boss I ended up using a cheeky skip to get the wall cling and do some more exploring before heading back to try it again
• Like Moorwing, also fell on me when staggered a couple of times and killed me
• Not complicated, just annoying. She hangs from the ceiling and does three ground pounds with her hands in a row. But the hitbox covers not just the side her hand is on, but in an arc, so below her head is not safe, you have to be on her opposing side. Lack of depth perception: lol. I would get caught when I was sure I was safe
• The ads were the real dealbreaker though. I genuinely could not kill them fast enough before vines and ground pounds would box me in. They also helicopter spin and you can't attack them at all whilst they are, but they'll double damage you. I finally stopped being averse to using silk skills as the silk skill would one shot the ads, this carried me to victory
Widow
• probably my favourite fight, very fun, I love her animations. She scuttle :)
• Sometimes you just want to string up an entire town with silk and suspend them like that, god forbid a woman has hobbies
• Okay you've heard of popping out of the ground and throwing bells. What if I stood here and threw bells from the ceiling at you from many angles. hehe
• Took many attempts but that was purely learning tells and telegraphs. The phase 3 shift being double time threw me a lot at first, it was too fast with four mechanics happening at once and I didn't know when to hit her. I resolved to cheat sheet this as I do with XIV in a "what can I afford to ignore?" sense and the answer was hit the boss when she screams at the start of a mechanic set, then ignore her and just dodge.
Savage Tyrant
• I got wanderer's crest which gives you a normal Hollow Knight pogo before doing this one. It did a lot of weird mechanics and jumping I didn't feel comfortable ducking around the boss for so went the Moorwing open arena approach of just pogoing as it ran past, which I could trigger every single time by running to the opposing end. Except this time I could pogo PROPERLY
Moss Mother (round 2)
• two of them!
• Ads. The ads. The ads
• Actually not too bad if you just throw out your poison tools and hard focus one of them, they don't have any new moves other than being, yknow, two of them
Savage Beastfly
• the fucking ads man
• probably the first time I really had to pay attention to how your positioning would effect how a certain mechanic sequence would pan out. Savage Beastfly is very simple: it does a ground pound three times based on where Hornet is standing (unless you move far away) and after it lines up the third, safe to heal. It does a side to side swoop three times, also based on where hornet is standing; if you start on the ground first is ground, second is above (safe to heal), third is ground, always, UNLESS you are in the air at the start of the first one. Then second and third are ground. This threw me a lot until I realised the pattern shift being responsive
• However the issue truly is the fucking ads. The idea is the ground pound catches them but it doesn't always, you have to dodge them whilst trying to line it up, or try to take them out, and it's 3-4 hits per, hnggghgh
Savage Conchflies
• Their small variant sucks. They sent out a projectile that ricochets and it will always find its way back to you. I saw them initially and went "hell naw"
• And yet... they don't do that at all, LMAO. This boss took me two attempts because they just. Tunnel into the ground, ceiling, or the walls, all well telegraphed with visual rumbling of where they'll emerge, you only have to actually kill one, they always do their actions in synch. Simple
Last Judge
• me, two hearts: yeah let's just see her mechanics | boss spawns and instantly throws her weapon at you and the two pilgrims singing by the door, which of course, does two damage | me: man.
• me, trying to brute force some mechanics and failing: don't do that.
• I actually really enjoyed her fight, you have to make use of floating in mid air and mid air dash jumps
• The run back isn't actually that bad it's just the conchfly. Simply don't give him time to spawn and zoom past him
• The fire rings kind of suck tho. These were my sticking point for a while because if you stand too close to the boss, the new rings spawn on top of the old ones and you are being hit by seemingly nothing. Dodge roll away from that shit
• I also knew from watching that one LP to RUN THE FUCK AWAY when she's dead or you will explode and have to fight her again. and no. no we are not doing that.
