Hollow Knight Charm Ranking & Analysis
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- čas přidán 8. 05. 2024
- Hollow Knight is an indie metroidvania that understands the importance of giving the player options. The charm system allows each individual to build their own set of buffs that complement their style of play and offers great variety when it comes to replay value. But not all charms are created equal, and today I'm going to dive into an analysis of all 41 charms present in Hallownest, ranking them on their function, efficiency, and overall use cases.
Twitch: / technovoid200
Discord: / discord
Video Segments:
00:00 Introduction
03:08 Dreamshield
04:24 Glowing Womb
05:41 Grimmchild
07:10 Heavy Blow
08:28 Kingsoul
09:50 Spore Shroom
11:35 Sprintmaster
13:21 Baldur Shell
15:06 Deep Focus
16:09 Defender's Crest
17:57 Greed
19:35 Grubberfly's Elegy
21:33 Hiveblood
22:56 Joni's Blessing
24:08 Lifeblood Heart
25:00 Stalwart Shell
26:10 Thorns of Agony
27:22 Wayward Compass
29:00 Weaversong
30:53 Carefree Melody
32:47 Dashmaster
34:00 Dream Wielder
35:38 Flukenest
37:21 Fury of the Fallen
39:04 Gathering Swarm
40:15 Heart
41:36 Lifeblood Core
42:55 Sharp Shadow
44:23 Soul Eater
45:27 Steady Body
47:52 Grubsong
49:09 Longnail
50:58 Nailmaster's Glory
52:18 Quick Focus
54:13 Shape of Unn
56:01 Soul Catcher
58:03 Mark of Pride
59:15 Quick Slash
1:01:13 Shaman Stone
1:03:05 Spell Twister
1:05:03 Strength
1:06:05 Outro - Hry
I always use Grimmchild, not because he's good. But because he's my son and I want to show him around the kingdom.
Your a good dad.
@@michael3141 *You're
y0urarer*
i know where your family resides
Before being locked in Black Egg for all eternity
when i was fighting nightmare king grim i was so close to beating him and i acedentally dashed into him, and i had 2 masks left, but i forgot i had sharp shadow on and the damage made me win. which is why i personaly assault anyone who says sharp shadow is bad
that is epic
Well, Sharp Shadow is my favorite charm, so you have my respect.
Sharp shadow is 1 of my favorite charms I only took it off for white palace because the extra dash length would screw me over
Sharp shadow can be an inconvenience when you try going through pistons in crystal peaks.
It’s definitely not bad, but probably not as good as other charms
I feel like people forget you can un-equip charms and switch them out for different scenarios. For that reason, I always use Compass and Gathering Swarm when traversing Hallownest. It makes it so much easier for me. And if I’m struggling with a boss, I just use Shaman’s Stone instead.
the thing is shaman is great any time you use a spell which is all the time even when fighting normal enemies whereas gathering swarm isn't that great because there are way faster ways to get geo like relics and boss chests and compass is useless after two playthroughs
@@egekahraman8985 not everyone has good memory for the map, and normal spells usually deal with common enemies just fine without Shaman Stone.
no compass is absolutely fine I just think shaman is good no matter how good you are
thats why i hate traitor lord's placing: the bench is rly far so you have to get through a platforming section before the fight, it's js such an inconvenience, plus i love sharp shadow and i cant use it for the boss cus of the stupid bench placement
@@10pitatesharp shadow can get through the parkour, i used Sharp shadow, sprintmaster, and dash master but still got through by short tapping space to jump
Little Disclaimer: The "hundreds" when he names the price at which divine will make leg eater's charms unbreakable are meant to be "thousands".
You mean, 10,000's.
@@Haxihoovis yes. Thousands.
@@Haxihoovis Even the most expensive one is 15000 Geo, which is less than 2 of (ten thousand). So it's thousands, not tens of thousands.
@@HaxihoovisBut my lord, there is no such force
@@SS-rf1ri The only times the term "tens of thousands" is used in Hollow Knight is for either describing how many hours of pain is required for P5AB Hitless or for talking about Geo on a MASSIVE scale. For example, the max amount of Geo spendable (excluding the infinite Rancid Eggs and/or Fragile Charm repairs you can buy) is just below 70000 Geo. Funnily enough, Divine accounts for more than half of that.
Even though it is a bad charm, Dreamshield will always have a soft spot in my heart for one reason alone. I wasn't very good at combat and I was trying to beat Markoth. I spent a LONG time trying to beat him and I just couldn't. I was about to give up when I said "Screw it, I'm putting on Dreamshield" so I did and Dreamshield got the kill. "HAHA! Your own weapon/defense killed YOU! TAKE THAT SUCKER!!!"
I ALWAYS have dream shield on because i suck so much at this game dreamshield has avoided a lot of damages for me
Used mark of pride and dream shield to beat Radiance. I played most of Hollow Knight rarely casting any spells.
okay thats badass, and i respect it, but dreamshield is still shit and that was pure luck lmao
@@salamandersharp3387 dreamshield is actually really good bc not only can you basically get double-triple the amount of normal damage if your using it against bosses who like to teleport/jump alot those extra hits really matter and it is a little luck based but you can manipulate a situation to where you can block a projectile then do critical damage using spin attack or something like against the soul mage or whatever his name is
@@salamandersharp3387 the amount of times it has saved me is insane. The person in the video really downplayed it. It doesn’t save you all the time, but when it does it REALLY saves you
I was doing a steel soul run with grimchild equipped while exploring, and let me tell you. You do not know fear until you bring that child into the fog canyon charm notch room.
Screw steel soul mode
Being grimm child with you when you have the delicate flower is a game of russian roulette with 7 loaded bullets
@@theauditor3224 nah, steel soul worse. Not even a question. He has the potential to end your run
You've earned the respect of the mantis people and now their village is a safe space where you don't get attacked unprovoked? Grimchild can fix that!
You want to cheese bosses with defender crest and without starting the boss fight? Grimm child is there for you!
@@wardeng9 defenders crest damages the mantises but they still do not turn aggressive making an easy kill lol
Shaman Stone being so easy to find is both a crime and a miracle tbh
One of my favorite things about Hollow Knight is that immediately upon scrolling to the comments, I see people defending low tier charms and describing the ways they use them. It's really fun and I appreciate that no charm is truly useless.
Edit: yay I get to do it too! I actually think Dream Wielder is crucial for colosseums, since it lets me grind out soul between waves on weaker enemies. I can just watch one of them float towards me, nail it, and repeat until my gauge is full, as opposed to only getting a bit from just killing it.
Never thought about using dream wielder to get soul during the Colosseums, I'll try that out when I attempt the fools challenge :)
Agreed. It is such a good charm for just one notch
35:35
I did that too and I was on a discord stream when I did it my friends called me strange but you do it too. This is the validation that I have been seeking
I did that too and I was on a discord stream when I did it my friends called me strange but you do it too. This is the validation that I have been seeking
Compass is unironically one of my favorite charms. Its notch cost and geo cost is incredible. Even after beating p5 with 112%, I still use it on new playthroughs because sometimes I forget where I’m going.
In early game of my first playthrough I was pretty good at using the map without Wayward yet now I suck at finding my way around outside infected crossroads without wayward compass. Noob luck I guess
I found Heavy Blow really useful in Colosseum of Fools - I attacking from above, I could strike flying enemies into spikes, getting rid of them quickly.
Oh that’s really clever! Never thought of that tactic.
I’m gonna be trying this
Im on my first play throught and this game is HARD. I think thats what makes this game so amazing is that the strategies seem to be infinite. In a way ive gotten no help from my research because there is no ONE WAY to do something but it has given me many different ideas of how i can adapt to my play style.
Yeah that was my analysis of heavy blow too. Use for environmental damage, i can't think of anything outside of the arena where it can be used consistently for that though.
Mossi bossi
S-Tier charms 57:40
A-Tier charms 47:40
B-Tier charms 30:36
C-Tier charms 13:00
D-Tier charms 3:00
He should have done the same thing
Thanks bro
Joni’s blessing helped me so much with later bosses. It’s very hard to find a window to heal in later bosses due to their aggression, and often times, I find myself only being able to heal when the bosses stagger. Joni’s blessing provides a massive health buff so you don’t need to heal, as long as you dodge well enough. It got me through the failed champion, grey prince zote, and nightmare king grimm easy peasy.
Quick Focus helps with Nkg
Beat radiance my first time with it for exactly the same reason. Couldn't figure out the heal windows so I just said "screw it" and didn't both healing.
yes, i love joni's blessing for learning bossfights as you dont know when to heal against a boss that kills you in minutes. i beat radiance for the first time by using joni's spirit. It's great to be able to freely focus on dodging and attacking a new boss rather than trying to find openings heal and getting punished for it
40:46 actually unbreakable heart costs 12,000 geo, not 1200, which is a pretty hefty price but still ultimately generally worth it
Wow, I don't know how this slipped past me in editing - I of course meant 12 thousand geo, not 12 hundred, yet I never caught my verbal slip up. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Isn't it 15,000?
@@thedanjago that’s unbreakable strength, unbreakable heart is only 12,000
@@Technovoid You also said 1500 for unbreakable strength. Just a typo I guess. Loved the video btw. I fully agree with your rankings.
no
Kingsoul does has its usage: Overcharmed flower quest. I did it right after White Palace and right before Void Heart, Sealed Siblings and Radiance.
Synergy: Shaman stone + Grubberfly's Elegy + Mark of Pride + Nailmaster's Glory + Kingsoul Overcharm
The ridiculous cost is now nullified as you mustn't take any damage, and Kingsoul ensures unlimited spells
this is a good point but if your having trouble with flower quest you can just kill all the enemys and not bench but still a good point if you want a challenge
@@alexmazza3784 cant you just dreamgate? or is it disabled?
@@Mikey04251 dreamgating breaks the flower
@@alexmazza3784 ah alright
I dod this and it worked great. One shard left
spore shroom is good in the lost kin fight because it can insta-kill the infected balloons making it safe to heal when he is staggered
Yes, so much this. I had to use that. I use it with the stink cloud charm too for maximum effect and it was great
@@Avatinfernus You only need defender's crest for blocking the balloons.
Ik i just decided to best the dream lost kin right then and there and BOY WAS THAT SHROM A SAVING GRACE
I find this funny, because for me, Lost Kin is dead easy, though l'm on my first playthrough and not dealing with a harder version of it, I just beat it to death with Quick Strike, Mark of Pride, and sturdy body (or whatever that charm is), and some misc stuff. They died quick enough that I barely need to deal with the bloons
So in defense of the hive's blessing combo, lifeblood cannot be recovered by focusing, so having a bigger delay on the regeneration makes sense as it's usually not supposed to heal back.
It costs EIGHT, though, I feel you deserve what ever brokenness it might give.
honestly i'm surprised sharp shadow wasn't an a- or even s-tier, considering how fun it is and how useful it is in boss fights. i pretty much never take it off except when i'm platforming or doing flower quest
i agree, sharp shadow is almost required for bosses like traitor lord or nosk, IMO
@@fig4714 the simple truth is that it only deals your nail's damage, it's just not worth it at higher levels of gameplay. it's fun, but ultimately just for more casual play
@@fig4714 with nosk you can stay in the corner the raised platform makes and jump when he shrieks in the left corner
and run when he is in celing
Because there are 2 and 1 notch charms that do way more than give you a nail hit of damage and extra dash length. It's good, just completely outclassed. It would be fine if it cost 1 notch
It's a must for my build
I just wanted to say that although yes, sporeshoom's damage is pretty neglegable later on, but in early game its actually pretty nice. You can get this charm before any of the nail upgrades, and then 24 spore schroom dmg vs 5 nail dmg doesnt sound that bad
Either way, an amazing video!
also its very very good against lost kin
@@vazinaypeter lost kin is susceptible to lots of cheese in general imo
@@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8 true
Mr mushroom
With me and healing it just shreds hollow knight running the grub, defenders, spore, quick heal, soul collector, and thorns just obliterates bait enemies (hornet, broken vessel (lost kin) and the hollow knight) but losses effectiveness for more damaging enemies. (Though I play more of a passive that includes shoving them into a corner) also weird fact I kinda saw in game if your damaged while healing multiple health states with def, spore it instantly recharges its aoe.
Sprintmaster has always been one of my favourites mainly because boss fights like pure vessel or Grimm with the pillar attack makes it easy to dodge the pillars. It helps for dodging attacks not for traversing!
Definitely, along with dashmaster and quick slash, my favorite combo to sneak in hits at every possible moment.
I was going to mention lost kin, d tiers seems to low for this charm
I like sprintmaster because it's silly too
Weaversong + Grubsong was my favorite combo when I discovered it lol. Who needs Kingsoul? You can cheese a good number of bosses with them by clinging to the wall at the top of the arena with Crystal Dash and just letting your buddies go to town, with the Weavers providing the Soul needed to spawn Glowing Womb babies if you've got that one on as well. Optionally throw on Grimmchild, Dreamshield, Defender's Crest, or maybe even Spore Shroom/Thorns of Agony if you've got a spare notch or two, and you can KO bosses without ever needing to use your nail or any spells at all! It's such a scumbag build but I love it lmao. I don't need to get good at this game my friends can do it for me
Same I am a lover of summon charms and I have used Grubsong+Weaversong+glowing womb to cheese 2 fights (collector and broken vessel). I didn't even know the synergy between Weaversong and Grubsong I just really enjoyed using them together . Just have to remember to take glowing womb off after. I am not good at combat so my build is summon charms all the way. I can barely get to the A key most boss fights anyways.
In addition summoning charms I think are really good for the collector fight where u have multiple small enemies to take care of. Your friends can help you kill them while u focus on the main collector/dodging and not dying.
This is crazy that’s literally my build. Weaversomg, grubsong, grimmchild, spore shroom, and the money flies. I love my buddies
I want to say I love Grimmchild, it was an amazing clutch in a lot of bosses for me and I love having that little companion.
Yeah! He is so adorable, but the low damage, low fire rate, and two notch cost always turn me off when making a build. I love the charm but often it gets swapped out for something more useful like Unbreakable Heart or Sharp Shadow
I've been carried by Grimm child so much
it has saved me from sooo many exploding bats
i genuinely got attached to grimm child lol i loves his company and was even sad when i had to take it off for an important fight, and even sadder when i had to say goodbye forever
@@bridiezdemedinap why did you have to say goodbye
I used DreamShield as part of a passive build, for bosses that spawn flying adds like lost kin or Soul Warrior, because the shield kills adds like them and leaves me to not worry about attacking them instead of the enemy. Also, when you Focus, the shield spins like twice as fast.
I used Dreamshield on and off for a while, but since I’ve been pretty much docked in Godhome I’ve used it, maybe twice.
I use it in like mantis lord combat and close range combat it really IS a good mean to make great damage bonus
Dreamshield holds a special place in my heart, as my first time fighting Nosk took me WAY TOO LONG. The time when I defeated him, I was so close to finishing him off but I was down to 1 mask shard. I kept dodging and dashing but he eventually got me and I died. Little did I know, the dream shield delivered the final blow AFTER I DIED. Best feeling I got while playing Hollow Knight.
That's gotta be the definition of epicness.
I imagined this scenario:
Vessel, fading into a Shade: Aaarrggghh!!
Nosk: Hahaha, die!
Vessel: But I'm taking you with me!
Dream Shield: Repent, mtfk!
I defeated Nosk in a similarly satisfying way, first try. He gave me a hard time until I realized I could just... stand under a step of the arena and slash at him whenever he ran over me and dash through him when he ran from a low to a high part. The only thing that could hit me was the ceiling spit attack but that one is very telegraphed.
What I like about Hollow Knight is that your combat-level is so fluid throughout the course of the game. Not only do you get better, faster and more responsive on a mechanical and numerical level, but as you unlock new charms you experiment more with magic, what properties of nail besr fits your style, going for maximum damage or a more passive playstyle, all without having to devote to a fixed level up or class system. Not only does the game become more fluid, but the player's mindset becomes more fluid too, just not in a sexual orientation-type way.
Is bro attracted to hollow night characters
I also love how much of the hard stuff is optional. A casual player could completely ignore the dreamnail stuff, all the extra bosses and areas, and still have played an utterly incredible metroidvania. But if you want to dive deep, it just keeps providing more and more content. It's a genuinely astonishing achievement.
Cornifer really got a mfer acting unwise
speak for yourself, cornifer looking damn fine
I use Weaversong and Grimmchild when I fight Sly, because I REALLY suck at hitting him and finding spots to heal simultaneously. The build is basically perfect.
At the final stage of the fight, I can almost never hit him without getting hit myself, and usually don't have enough Soul to heal and am at low-ish health.
The Weavers give me constant Soul in case I get hit, and Grimmchild does most of the work when Sly's zipping around in the air.
Tbh, only reason I stand a chance at p3 is because of these two.
Definitely recommend great slash for his second phase, the extra reach makes it pretty easy to hit him before he jumps away. More effective than minions or mark of pride and costs 0 notches (nailmasters glory is nice but not necessary)
@@michaelwilkins1664 if you are good at aiming, dash slash can pull in some more range. Less risky
@@jackcopeland9193 I like dash slash but I don't see how it would be useful 2nd phase, just seems like sly moves around too much to have time to line it up. I'll try it though
The one instance the dream shield worked very well was the crystal boss guy sleeping on the bench with the lasers. I stood there and let the shield beat him before he even woke up.
Wait you can do that? Lmao
Dream shield is actually pretty useful in crystal peaks because it can kill enemies you can't otherwise
Or you could just blast them with magic.
Baldur Shell+Thorns of Agony+Spore Shroom+Quick Focus absolutely carried me through Flukemarm
You can beat flukemarm radiant without moving
@@johnthoppil7308 I was a noob then, have since got Embrace the Void
@@mistergray9664 how beat p5 😭
@@johnthoppil7308 practice! If you can do every HoG boss on radiant, p5 will come
Actually heavy blow with the hidden function is actually arguibly optimal against a few bosses, inculding lost vessel,
its counterpart and Sly. It`s pretty decent compared to a lot of other charms that are never good to use in the whole game, as opposed to being a great choice a couple of times in the whole game is a bit better.
Sprintmaster is also pretty good actually. Max cheapness, and it`s useful for NKG and absolute radiance, especially radiant versions
Moss charger
You shouldnt need to dash incredibly often in NKG.
If you do you have a very safe playstyle.
@@octogorb9853 Sprintmaster is the running speed one I'm pretty sure
@@vyrionx i believe i misread. My apologies.
Actually i think heavy blow is good in the coliseum cus yeeting enemies in to spikes. Try it out, it’s fun
Frankly I think in a lot of these tier list videos they don't take into account how hard it is to get a charm. I mean of course unbreakable strength is good, but you don't have it for 70% of a playthrough because of the 15k geo cost.
Either way, good video!
I hope that my ranking did take that into account, as I believe I mention when a charm is available early/late and how that affects usefulness (like Lifeblood Core, for example!). For Strength, I genuinely believe that even the fragile version is a top tier charm given how early its available and how much it helps, but if you think theres any charms I missed the mark for I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Breakable strength exists for only 600 geo. And for dream fights and pantheons the breakable strength doesn't break and offers the same damage for a much lesser cost
Yes if you take this in account spore shroom is a really good charm since when it's accessible it does a lot of damage and the other options you have are either too expensive to run or not much better.
@@Technovoid the thing with fragile strength is that at the point in the game where you find it, it is very easy to break since you are still extremely weak, so its effective cost is completely unaffordable until way later. And if you take accessibility in account, shroom spore is very good since you obtain it at a point where it actually deals relatively good amount of damage compared to anything else and your other options are way too expensive in both geos and notches.
@@artimist0315 hard disagree. I'm on my first playthrough and only had strength break once. Not to mention there's a pretty easy way to farm geo for the unbreakable variant once you have access to shade soul and kings station.
Me and my gf made an amazing build that destroyed the pantheon and everything else and it doesn't look too good on the surface
Quick focus, deep focus, spore shroom, shape of unn, and grub song
Quick focus + deep focus + shape of unn let's you run around quickly while healing 2 health
Sporeshroom is just bonus damage that can help alot when healing this much
Grubsong let's you do the main focus of this build, healing more
We first tried Sly in the pantheon and I really didn't understand how people were having trouble with him but I understood when I fought him normally, so if you want an easy mode just use this build
Cool, but idh gf
@@ir0sky_344 Na shuts up, she's a fiance now
@@fanaticalgoose5130 congratulations
@@dinojack5567 thanks man she's my wife now
@fanaticalgoose5130 let's gooo man gg
Shape of Unn is still my favorite charm, I love the cute synergies and being able to heal while dodging specific attacks is very satisfying (I remember in the radiance fight being able to heal during the light beam attacks was very useful).
Nyooming around with quick focus on was so satisfying
A little note about the deep focus:
Although it is true that it's usually useless in regular combat scenerios, i found one where its actually decent- Nightmare King Grimm.
With Shape of Unn it allows you to heal though some of his attacks (fire bats and, floor spikes and fire pillars). Combine that with the fact that he is pretty hard to hit, meaning that you probably wont have that much soul to work with, so any soul that you can save ia valuable.
Does it make it viable? Not really, it still costs you a lot of charm notches that could have been used on something more offensive, but still, its good for survival in this fight
I completely agree that Deep Focus can be solid on builds when supplemented by other healing charms (like Shape of Unn!), I just couldn't justify placing it higher than I did when its already so costly by itself and doesn't provide meaningful combat benefits unless supported by even MORE charm notches, which essentially means you need to dedicate the majority of your charm notches to one pretty decent (but not gamebreaking) synergy. I totally stand by your comment that DF has its uses but I just think its too niche to be placed any higher, hope my reasoning is sound!
I totally agree- DF just isnt that useful by itself, which is a real shame.
The idea of being able to save up more soul is an interesting one, and would be useful in fights where soul is rather scarse, but.. it just doesn't.
The only fights that do fit this category are Fallen Champion, the Collector, PV and NKG (and parhaps some dream warriors), but on the first two Dream Weilder is simply a better choice, PV isnt exactly a soul-scarse fight (you probably wont be using that many spells, aside from maybe DD), leaving NKG as the only option (and even then, you need Shape of Unn to use it effectively).
I feel like DF would've been absolutely amazing if the focus time wasn't as long, even to the point of being considered broken, but as it stands, it's only a niche pick to cheese some bosses.
Plus, it's hard to argue a case for a 4 slot charm with a pretty crippling downside
@@woodywas4549 going full offense to melt a boss incredibly fast is kinda cheesy on its own though, no? As it doesnt let them attack much. Also NMG can help makeup for damage loss with DF which can help it provided you actually know how to use Narts.
@@octogorb9853 Well, true, it can be a bit cheesy, but it feels epic.
But yes, Unbreakable Strengh + Quickslash + Steady Body is by far the most powerful combo in the game (at least against most bosses) and it can basically triple your damage output.
That's why healing builds are not really used in the game- Ending the fight as fast as you can is just the best strategy. Spending 2 minutes on a fight instead of 4 means two times less ocasions to get hit. And since The Knight has not a whole lot of hit points, every reason do avoid damage is a good one.
Sorry for writing so much, but this got me to thinking; Usually the healing builds are the ones that are considered cheesy, but maybe it's the other way around? Maybe the damage builds are the real cheese in the game, and we simply lie to ourselfs to justify using the most broken charm combos in the game?
okey, gimme a moment, i need a moment to question reality
@@woodywas4549 damage focused builds are viable once you know when to heal, etc yes. Its just it can feel a bit cheesy if you can destroy a boss in less than a minute while they cant do anything to you. Some fights inheritly take a minute or two like NKG, endgame nail builds are incredibly viable and its fine if people do it for Radiant as you're 1 shot anyway. Its just i find it also cheesy in a sense. Healing leaves you open more but because of the fact a fight is prolongued, you have more time to learn the boss in a single attempt.
This is a nice video, what a *charming* host!
Ahahaha.....
So funny.
Nice pfp btw XD
MMMM
Nice one
One of my favorite challenges for myself is to beat Pure Vessel with only Sharp Shadow. No nail, no spells, no other charms, it's more fun than it sounds
I think I'll try thay with NKG, as I don't yet even have access to Pure Vessel.
I think that Steady Body is actually a pretty good charm, I picked it up and started using it for boss fights halfway through my game. I already knew how to fight with knockback, but combined with quick slash, I dealt a LOT of damage.
Steady Body is good. But not early in your first run.
Oi oi! I can't agree with Sprintmaster's placement in D-tier. It has little use for traversing the map, but when utilized in combat I praise it with the same merits you attributed to Steady Body; "it reduces the amount of gymnastics you need to perform to stay in safe zones."
There are situations where the set-distance covered by a dash overshoots. Sometimes that means you'll end up being too close to the enemy, or too far, requiring you to waste time walking back into striking range. I'm a nail-focused guy myself, and Sprintmaster helps to maximize my up-time thwaking away at bosses as the extra walking speed makes positioning and sticking to bosses a breeze.
The setup that I used to beat the Pantheon of Hallownest was Fragile Strength, Quick Slash, Mark of Pride, Steady Body, and Sprintmaster in order to create the ultimate nail build. It feels especially gratifying to use against bosses like Sly, as I'm able to weave in attacks in between his combos as I dart in and out of his attack range.
Fair enough! You make a convincing point!
secondlly, it does actually speed up long traversal somewhat, although not as much as dashmaster. someone should never use sprintmaster instead of dashmaster, but both of them combined allow you to travel at lightning speed, allowing you to get to the really annoying out of the way places quickly.
That comment makes me want to use sprintmaster since I'm using the same build as you just with grubsong instead and most of the time I don't use much soul
Same I love this charm with the longest nail combo for hits I shouldn't hit XD
My main build is unbreakable strength, mark of pride, unbreakable heart, sharp shadow, and sprint master.
I can’t tell you how many times sprint master has saved my ass, especially for NKG, PV, and AbsRad.
It also is really useful for re-engaging quickly with elusive bosses like lost kin, soul tyrant, and failed champion. Being able to close the distance quickly while still wanting to hold on to my shade dash for when I need it to avoid damage is core to my play style.
I took that intro to heart. I started my first playthough just a few hours later. Im currently about halfway through the game, and im loving it.
thanks for making this video and putting the thought and detail you did. I had this saved to watch later as I didn't want to spoil anything until I collected every charm, and blind test it. Hollow knight has quickly become one of my favourite games and I really love how every charm even when bad has a situational usefulness or unique fan tactic changing ability.
Great video! I've watched TONS of HK lore videos, this by far was the best breakdown of every charm!
Yeah especially steady body so cool
Fantastic video! I've always wanted to play HK, and this will be really helpful information to have as I start to collect/use the charms.
Use steady body
@@agent8395don't
Furry of the fallen is really useful if you keep almost winning boss fights and just need a little extra push
dude thank you for this vid. i was not aware of pretty much any of the charm synergies and this just gave new life to my perspective on charms
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!
The best video on this masterpiece of a game iv seen. Very informative! Thx 🙏
Wayward compass on top for sure
Great video man, really well thought out and this is a really helpful ranking. I was always wondering which charms might be better to use, and you even mentioned many times what charms are helpful to pair together with certain other ones. lots of hard work went into this video, that's easy enough to tell. awesome dedication, keep it up
Yeah so cool steady body being "situational" yeah not top tier
great stuff and super helpful my guy, you got a sub!
I don’t understand how Glowing Womb has 2 Function. For about a full soul charge, it deals 36 damage. For that same amount of soul, you could use Descending Dark, which does 60 damage, and that’s without Shaman Stone. It also interrupts healing. I wouldn’t equip it if it *gave* me charm notches. Also to anyone who doesn’t know, Grubberfly’s Elegy does not increase melee damage, the beam only hits enemies that don’t get hit by your nail. If I knew this it would have saved me a lot of trouble with GPZ 10 and some radiant bosses
I agree that Glowing Womb's function is not great, and I may have been a bit too lenient on it. That being said, I think the main benefit to it compared to something like DDark is its passive damage - you dont need to get into harm's way, or plan out a moment when the enemy is open, as they just kind of spawn and then attack on their own. They're at least somewhat useful in an add build that gets soul from the Weaverlings if you're going for a challenge run that doesn't allow for things like nail or spell upgrades, and let you actually focus on dodging instead of doing damage (something I cant say is true for Dreamshield, lol). Its similar to Grimmchild in that way, except it trades soul drain for actually being consistent, unlike that dumb baby. You make good points though, I think this one could have probably been a 1 function and nobody would have batted an eye!
Ive actually seen it hit with the nail and then the wave so you can potentially get a 2 for 1 in some cases
ngl glowing womb is pretty good against nkg, it makes the fight goes a lot faster
@@thoraxtheimpalor1345 Did you have Heavy Blow equiped?
@@jameskelly-smith1279 been a long time since I beat everything except the last pantheon. Im playing competitive Pokémon now. lol I had the elegy the one that shows your location on the map the extra 2 butterfly masks so i could take 3 hits before loosing the wave Thats 5 + 2 + 1, and i think the max was 8 notches, any way I would hit some things that would require 2 hits with out the elegy and would OHKO it. Along with Some pesky flying enemies and anything else that would get normal knock back when hit would seem to get hit by the nail and wave. But I have no video evidence or proof that I can show you, give it a whirl and see what you think. The extra range is also nice at times if you play it safe hornet can be very easily delt with just watch out for the 3 spike balls in phase 3
Honestly, I clicked on this video to see what you have to say about Thorns of Agony. That's my favorite charm and I love having it equipped especially with Grubsong. See, despite playing Hollow Knight for... hundreds of hours... I'm pretty clumsy and often bump into enemies missing to hit them. With thorns dealing damage in this kind of situation, I can beat the boss much faster and not worry at all about small enemies. If equipped with Grubsong it will even give me soul allowing me to heal or use a spell, thus turning tragedy into not so bad encounter. And it's only one notch per charm!
I can see why experienced players might not find it useful, but for clumsy beans like me I say it's a must-have
Thank god there was still a video about Hollow Knight I hadn't watched, and a good one, thank you!
Back to waiting for Silksong news now I guess :D
amazing video! helped me so much on my charm decisions
OMG, at the end of the video when I saw the number of views I was shocked. You are truly underrated!
I agree he should have more subs than rusty
Dream Wielder is under appreciated by the content creator here. It's legitimately an S tier charm and for the cost of one notch turns any build into one that can spam spells at will. Cannot recommend this charm enough.
THANK YOU!!!! DREAM WIELDER IS OP IN SO MANY SITUATIONS
Yeha I agree, it’s really good! One downside however is that it requires a very high level of skill to be able to effectively use it to its highest potential. Hitting things, especially bosses with dream nail can be very challenging
However, in the hands of a competent player, dream weirder is undeniably an s-tier charm!
why are you spending that time hitting with dream nail instead of hitting 3 times with quick slash then still getting that spell out
I love how pretty much everyone (including me) has atleast once equipped Grimmchild while exploring not to actually explore, but to show Grimmchild around the kingdom.
Very nice video! I actually used dream shield very often against boss fights. It might not be optimal, but it allowed me to change my play style to something safer and it worked. After watching the video I'm convinced Baldur's she'll would've done the same thing, but so many in this game is just personal preference... Amazing content
I actually think that sprintmaster is genuinely useful charm late game when conserving shadow dash is either crucial for dodging attacks or using sharp shadow and you cannot just dash whenever. I also found the synergy with weaversong and grubsong to be a lifesaver for heavy soul cost activities and general utility.
Even though quick focus + deep focus costs 7 charm notches, it is definitely worth the cost. In the pantheons, that combination single handedly allowed me to win. Combine it with sharp Shadow to dash away from threats faster and/or dealing damage, and even spore shroom, you have a really good healing/sustainability build.
Also, quick focus is OP, should be SS tier imo. It allowed me to win nightmare grim and pure vessel, which otherwise I get destroyed by. Quick focus also help getting used to bosses’ attack patterns to. I got so used to nightmare grim’s attacks, I can basically no hit him now with relative ease.
The most helpful video I've seen on hollow knight yet. Thank you.
Love your content keep it up 👍
Love the video, but I wouldn't put Soul Catcher ANYWHERE above the C rank. The difference is just so neglectible 95% of the time...
on my first playthrough steady body was the charm i defaulted to whenever i had a spare notch available, meaning it was equipped about half the time. i always felt it was a nice bonus without being crucial. I'm a bit surprised to learn it's so controversial
I can’t understand the analogy between heavy blow and sprint master, where while heavy blow defensively pushes enemies away, sprint master can allow you to to offensively chase your enemies, similar to how steady body allows you to close the gap between you and your enemy. This is why I always put sprint master in all my builds, as for a measly cost of 1 notch, one can both run from enemies or chase them down.
why am i watching a year old video at 2am of a game ive never even played before, idk either but its nice to listen to so imma keep watching
34:46
My first playthrough, I thought dream wielder functioned like a cheaper soul catcher, and that the faster dream nail was just an added bonus. After dream nailing some fools in the colosseum a few times to see what they’d say, I ended up realizing that dnail gives soul, and ended up using it so I could heal off of shielded fools, death loodles, battle obbles, and sharp baldurs every time they appeared on screen, and is why I was never running low on resources by the time I made it to god tamer in the trial of the fool
One of the charms I think is great is Balfour Shell. When fighting the radiance, I never took it off as it prevented me from taking double damage at a failed heal. It is quite useful.
The statistics on most of these I guessed at, and it ended up being very similar on almost every one. Very solid list with only perception-based nitpicks to mention like steady body etc, liked it alot.
during your video I beat NKG. Great video for background sound for comfort while I'm shaking with Grimm. Thank you.
I've stumbled upon this gem in my recommended today, underrated video for sure!
It's strange that they made Grimmchild so inefficient considering it's essentially the 'reward' for beating a whole DLC and definitely one of the harder charms to get, especially at full refinement. However, Grimmchild's cuteness makes up for it to me.
Thank you for the video
I just starting playing last night
Damn, starting video with Dung Defender theme, love it! Were trying to beat White Defender 3 last couple of days...
Steady Body changes a lot indeed, as knockback sometimes is useful, for example to jump to an enemy over a spike pit and safely return back with basic movement only. I got used to it so much in trial of the fool that when I tried to do the trial with SB equipped I were sticking to the platforms, as I was dropping into the spikes each time I tried to do it.(That showed me I'm not as used to pogoing as I thought I was though)
Shape of Unn in A-tier would make Merg feel proud.
Personally carefree melody is one of my favorite charms, especially in pantheons. I mostly play steel soul mode and this charm is super useful when it comes to steel soul.
Spore shroom is something I will never unequip,ut helped me soooo much in the watcher knights battle and it handy in close quarters
Love the Mark of Pride. Always favoured it over Quick Slash, because I wanted my nail to feel 'tanky', which is strange. Great video!
This feels like it was made by a professional, keep it up!
Steady body is mid yeah so true
i like defenders crest... i like to think it carried me through broken vessel, that 1 damage every time i dodge his dash slash or slams seems like it added up
On my first playthrough, I was struggling with lost kin. I remembered that I had compass on, because who prepares for fights on a first playthrough, and went to changed it for steady body, since I figured it would help me chase him after pushing him away. Never really needed to unequip it, since a core build needs just 9 slots for quick slash, shamans and strenght. Filled last slot with grubsong and eventually beat p5 with that build. If I knew how good spell twister was I may have changed it, but idk
I find that tier-listing charms for general map-roam and exploration vs for boss battles vs for colosseum of fools, all 3 are very different conversations, where say a good bit of low tier charms can shine really well in the colosseum for example, which is about when charm choices started to really really really matter lol
Heavy blow combined with steady body, sprintmaster and quick slash can be incredibly good with a very aggressive playstyle. Heavy blow can be good for any aggressive method of nail combat. Deep focus is also good for healing during staggered bosses.
why is heavy blow good for aggressive nail combat? you're making it harder to combo enemies.
I actually defeated NKG on radiant the first time with 3 charms from "the bad ones" tier. I couldn't defeat him with any other build. NKG is one of the top 3 hardest bosses in the whole game so only being able to defeat him with the worst build in the game shows just how useful any charm can be depending on who you are and what you fight (Minion build btw). Each type of build can be the best on multiple boss fights if you're not a very high level player.
43:02 same here, I also love Sharp Shadow. Just the feel of hurting/killing your enemies by piercing right through them like a bullet is amazing to me! Especially better when you don’t get hurt from it!
Charming video. Thanks
I always use a Steady Body build purely because I love the charm, simply removing knockback means you can really go brr, even if ya just get one or two extra hits, that makes a HUGE impact. I think it's really good against Pure Vessel, when he uses the spikes attack you can go brr. If ya wanna be safe about it, use MOP so ya don't gotta get dangerously close to the spikes if they spawn near Pure Vessel.
also, for me, when i'm on a tiny platform and there's something bobbing towards me, and a single hit will knock me off the platform... yeah, i appreciate it. idk if that's what he meant by not understanding a combat mechanic, but i don't see why i'd take it off either, when you stay in place during boss fights instead of getting knocked away into spikes or worse.
Weaversong, Grubsong and Sprint Master are a good way of safely generating focus. I used this build along with Sharp Shadow against the Traitor Lord, dashing through him, spamming Shade Soul and generally staying faraway from him. I don't know if I even hit him with the nail once.
The fragile health and strength are a must for Dream bosses like Grey prince Zote, Soul Tyrant and Lost Kin.
To beat the Pantheon, I used the combo of deep focus/quick focus/grubsong/unbreakable strength against Pure Vessel and AbRad. I needed this combo for AbRad and had to practice using it against PV (since you can only switch charms before PV). So, this build, centering on Deep Focus, was awesome and IMO makes Deep Focus very good in boss fights where you can find spots to heal.
6:27 that reference is golden
Sharp shadow is an absolute go to for me, makes dodging so much easier and rewards playing safe with damage.
Dream shield feels really nice early on, carried me throughthe crystal peak and several bossfights
I just want to say if you combine defender's crest with sharp shadow, it becomes great combo.
Amazing video! First time watching one of yours! Just a quick correction, i love the combo of dash/sprintmaster, desite this i agrre with you that for 3 slots, most likely its not that good despite my bias. What i have to say is that sprintmaster and dashmaster combo also makes the dash faster, not only its running animation, so sprintmaster i think should be 1 tier above imho :)
Dream shield is what got me through Mantis Lords lmao, not having to worry about the boomerangs as much was a godsend
1:05:05 I bought strength thinking it’d be a normal charm, I then came to the realization that it breaks if I die (I die to stupid things)
And I kid you not out of pure coincidence I decided: what if I just summon Grimm, he sounds fun. Happiness peaked when I realized the vendor next to Grimms place could actually make them unbreakable
However my happiness depleted once I realized it costed 15k and I was broke 💀
6:04 I mean it makes sense for it to be weak from a lore standpoint since it is a baby
I used a healing build on NKG shape of unn saved me so many times. Sahpe of unn is one of my faves and I’m glad you put it in a high teir.
Bro I'm close to beating Hollow Knight! It's a dope ass game! Just wanna let u know I'm going to subscribe and I watched this video all the way through!! Thanks!
59:47 it's not 65%. You can't do a nail attack until your nail's previous hitbox is gone so quickslash has an effective attack rate of 0.28 seconds. So it ends up being ~45% increase in dps, less than unbreakable strength.
1:04:04 entirely wrong. Soul catcher gives a 27.3% increase in your nail's soul generation while spell twister gives a 37.5% increase in the value of soul used for spell casting. If you don't heal, it's a direct upgrade.
QS decreases hitbox duration lmfao
Without any Charms, attack duration is 0.35 seconds. With Quick Slash, it is 0.28 seconds.
Without any Charms, attack cooldown is 0.41 seconds. With Quick Slash, it is 0.25 seconds.
you are extreamly undrated and your content is amazing
Great vid
44:58 that sync with the nail hits wow