Gruz Mother w only dream shield% guide

The run is rather self explanatory: make it to and defeat the Gruz Mother using only the Dream Shield.

Now, this is a fairly simple run so I encourage to try and do it with your own route. Whatever way you choose, it would bring me immeasurable joy to see and/or hear about your attempt of this challenge.

Also a quick note: Though its a bit obvious this guide will contain spoilers for Hollow Knight and if you are a new player I very much recommend playing the game blind before you attempt this challenge (or view the rest of this guide for that matter).

Quick note #2: if you find another route or find any part of my guide inaccurate/hard to understand/lacking in some other capacity feel free to make a comment or shoot me a friend request and I'll work on fixing it.

As far as I can figure there are only three possible routes for this challenge, one that goes through the Royal Waterways (route A), one that goes to Deepnest to get the Tram Pass (route B) and finally one that gets Desolate Dive and goes through the Crystal Caverns (route C).

Above I have included a color coded map of what I imagine the possible routs would look like
White to represent the (mostly*) normal any%** before the routs diverge and other points where all routes are the same
Purple to represent where routes A and C overlap
Green to represent route A
Orange to represent route B
Pink to represent route C

*Note: If you plan to do route A or C you do still need to kill the False Knight and get the City Crest.

**Note: I will not be detailing the normal any% instead I will be skipping straight to route A. If you need help learning how to do any part of the any% route I suggest taking a look at fireb0rns tutorial.

Route A is the first, and at the time of writing this only, route that I have attempted. I chose this to be the main route because I believe it to be the simplest and easiest to complete (it being the only route with no dark rooms). I was able to do it in <40 minutes with only a few ♥♥♥♥ ups.

the route A specific map which has colored dots to represent points of interest.

This route is by far the simplest and does not differ from any% until a little ways into the Soul Sanctum so just gun for good any% time till then (just be sure to grab the bench in the pic above (marked with pink on the map)).

Once you get to the room in the screenshot below you're gonna abandon the any% route by going to the left and breaking the wall in the elevator. After that make your way to the room with the hanging platforms and go to the middle platform on the right wall (also marked in pink on the map). In there you should find a Simple Key, after you grab that, bench warp back to the bench you got earlier.

Next head to the Royal Waterways and make your way to the Dung Defender. The Royal Waterways are hard to navigate if you're unfamiliar (I personally lost time on this in my first run) so make sure you know your way to the Dung Defender before you start the run.

After you've put the Dung Defender in his place head to the right and make your way to the elevator. I've found its quicker to go on the floor in the left half of the big room then move up in the middle and go back down at the right wall.

Making it up to the elevator is simple enough, just don't get stuck up on any of the enemies. In the Resting Grounds there's no way to make it to the Dream Shield without doing the sequence with the three Dreamers. I know there's some way to make it go faster but I've got no clue how to do it, so that ones on you.

After you've grabbed the Dream Shield you're at the home stretch. Head through the Blue Lake (rip Quirrel), you should be able to enter the boss room from the right (don't quote me on that) from here feel free to skip to the section entitled "The big fight" for strategies and whatever other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I come up with.

I would like to preface this by saying that I have not yet attempted this route so everything I say here is all in theory. Though I have done everything I can think of to make sure this route is as quick and easy as possible, take everything I say here with a grain of salt.

Now, I *think* that this route, if done correctly, would be the fastest. However, I also think it would be the hardest to complete as it requires multiple darkrooms back to back deathless. If you want a simple easy challenge I recommend try route A instead (I put it first for a reason).

The route B specific map with colors to represent points of interest.

After you get the Mantis Claw you have two options. You can head down and fight the Mantis Lords or you can go up and to the left to fall down into Deepnest. I'm not sure if it would be faster to fight the Mantis Lords or to go around the other way. But if you do choose to fight the Mantis Lords I recommend opening the stag station in Forgotten Crossroads and nabbing the bench in the Mantis Village (pictured above).

After you make it into Deepnest there's little I can do to help you. Since you wont have the Lumafly Lantern most of the rooms will be pitch black, so make sure you know your route and are ready to damage tank a little. The general goal in the area is to make it to the hot spring and then head up to the bench at the right end of the broken tram rail.

Two things now that you've made it up. First: great job making it up, I probably wouldn't be able to make it. Second: DO NOT SIT ON THAT BENCH, you're gonna need to do a bench warp after you get the Tram Pass and that bench will ♥♥♥♥ EVERYTHING up. Just head to the left and try not to die.

Once you make it all the way to the left drop down into the broken tram and grab the Tram Pass (tagged in pink on the map). After that you can bench warp back either to the Forgotten Crossroads or the Mantis Village. If you took the bench in the Mantis Village you should head up to the Queens Station and travel to the Forgotten Crossroads. If you didn't get the crossroads station you can just go to Dirtmouth and eat the time loss (or restart the run, whatever fiddles your biscuit).

Home stretch, head over to the Tram Station in the crossroads and take it to the Resting Grounds. There's no way to skip the sequence with the three Dreamers but there is some tech to make it go a little faster (feel free to look up how to do that because I've got no clue). Grab the Dream Shield and run back to the tram then down to the Gruz Mother and you're done(ish) (see the 'The Big Fight' section for more info).

I have not attempted route C. I put it last because it is a waste of time. This route has no redeeming qualities, it is not fast enough to be worth doing over route A and it is not easy enough to be doing over route B. Nonetheless, it is one of the three routes that I came up with and I will be providing a guide for it. If you wish to attempt this challenge I highly recommend doing one of the other routes instead.

The route specific map for route C with colored dots to represent points of interest.

I'm gonna be lazy with this route because its 1:36 and I'm almost done with this guide (also because this route sucks ♥♥♥♥). Follow normal any% until you slime the Soul Master, then head over to the Storerooms Station and travel to the Forgotten Crossroads.

From the Crossroads head to the Crystal Caverns and go along the bottom through the dark rooms (a personal hell which I crafted for you specifically). Go in the hole.

You can't skip the three dreamers sequence but I think you can make it go faster (I don't know how but you can probably look it up). Get the Dream Shield and go to the Gruz Mother. Skip to the 'The Big Fight' section.

You can only deal damage with the Dream Shield, that means no spells and no nail (if she does not wake up from the Dream Shield then wake her with your nail). Once the Gruz Mother is dead the run is over and you can stop the timer (your don't need to kill the children). Thems the rules. Even using only the Dream Shield it is not a hard fight (its literally one of the two bosses you can fight first). The shield does 1x your nail damage and does not scale with fury of the fallen. When you attack the shield does a "bash" which does no extra damage. After the shield makes contact it goes on cooldown for two seconds. The shield moves at 173% speed when focusing. Theres not really any strategy. Just hit as often as possible while getting hit as little as possible.

If you've made it this far in the guide I'd like to thank you for your time. I myself spent quite a bit of time making it. Hopefully you enjoyed my writing, if not then eat ♥♥♥♥ you could've just stopped reading. This run started as a bit between me and my friend, this guide is likely the peak of the bit. The run is stupid but I had fun making the guide so I'll probably do something like this again (maybe with Silksong).

I said this at the start of the run but I would love to see someone else do this run. So, if you do PLEASE record it or something so I can see it. It would make me so so so sosososo sooooooo happy.

Thank you again for reading I love you and a hope you have a good day or night or morning or some other thing :3