Overview
This guide is for us losers who can’t play the game properly and need help, but still want to get every achievement in Hollow Knight, including the Steel Soul and Speed Completion achievements.
Overview
This guide covers the steps on how to complete Steel Soul, 100% it, and in under 20 hours. The run is divided into 3 ‘phases’: Early, Middle and Late Game. Then, I go over my run using my route, and finally I go over some general tips. Hopefully this will be useful for you. Below are some abbreviations.
Key for Simplicity:
> Phases
– p1 : Phase 1
– p2 : Phase 2
– p3 : Phase 3
> Nail Upgrades
– N0 : Old Nail
– N1 : Sharpened Nail
– N2 : Channelled Nail
– N3 : Coiled Nail
– N4 : Pure Nail
> Movement Abilities
– Mothwing Cloak : MCloak
– Mantis Claw : Claw
– Crystal Heart : Heart
– Monarch Wings : Wings
– Isma’s Tear : Tear
– Shade Cloak : SCloak[/i]
Enjoy!
Introduction
Hey there!
I’m making this guide because I couldn’t find any good places on a walkthrough of Steel Soul, just some tips. And if there was any, it was usually ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 10+ hours. So, we’re here. Hopefully, you can get out of this guide a lot, if not, I don’t really care. I’m going to go over the completion percentages of each stage, and the order in which you should probably do stuff. There are some boss strategy and tips down further down. I’ll also show my route of gameplay to give you an idea of the journey you’ll need to make. Of course, you have some experience considering you’ve beaten the game at least once, so I won’t go over basic tutorial things. This guide can be used for a normal playthr-
**WARNING**
PLEASE, PLEASE, play the game fully before looking at any guides. Don’t spoil the game for yourself through searching stuff up.
**WARNING**
Some notes and rules to go over before beginning, there won’t be any major skips, like fireball skips, this will be a straightforward playthrough. Also, no cheats or game-breaking mods, obviously, like DebugMod.
Well, enjoy!
Early Game – Phase 1
So, the phases of this SS run will be divided into acquiring movement abilities: p1 begins with no MA, and ends when we get MCloak. p2 picks up where p1 ends and p2 finishes when we acquire our last MA. p3 is everything past getting all the movement abilities.
p1 is actually pretty straightforward, but still unusual. It’s not the shortest phase, but still tiny compared to p2.
Total Percentage = 9%
Except one, all items are 1%. This is includes:
– False Knight
– Hornet
– Gruz Mother
– Fury of the Fallen
– Soul Catcher
– Wayward Compass
– MCloak (2%)
– Vengeful Spirit
HOWEVER, you if want to chuck in Mawlek by bouncing on the spikes for the mask shard, then go and buy the 2 mask shards from Sly and the grab the one from Grubfather by rescuing all the grubs in the Crossroads. (The one which you need dash for, use a Vengefly to pogo off of.) This gives you 2 extra %, bringing the total for p1 up to 11%. That’s optional, and pretty dangerous considering this is a SS run. But if you can do it, then go ahead.
(I’ll put this disclaimer here: These are recommendations. You can do more or do less, up to you)
The general route is pretty standard otherwise:
(I’m not the best at drawing maps, please contend with this)
1. Grab Fury by nail-bouncing, then continue onwards to the Crossroads
2. Once through the corridor and possibly grabbing the map from Cornifer, do the forced battle section and check into the hot spring.
3. Take a detour to Gruz Mother, finishing her, then save Sly.
4. Grab the Station for later.
5. Defeat False Knight
6. Head into Ancestral Mound for VS, and finish the Mound to get Soul Catcher
7. Onto Greenpath!
Move through Greenpath as usual, getting the map if you need it, Hunter’s Journal,
8. Buy the Greenpath Station and go back for Wayward Compass, then Stag back.
9. Take on Hornet and claim MCloak.
With this route, you can probably be done with p1 in under an hour. Once we have our first movement ability, MCloak, p2 begins.
Middle Game – Phase 2
p2 is the largest and lengthiest phase by far. I think this was pretty obvious, but still, it’s a decent chunk of the gameplay.
Total Percentage = 87%
I’m just going to list all the completion here:
Bosses (1% Each)
– Broken Vessel
– Brooding Mawlek
– The Collector
– Dung Defender
– Hornet 2
– Mantis Lords
– Nosk
– Soul Master
– Uumuu
– Watcher Knights
Dream Wariors (1% Each):
– Gorb
– Xero
– No Eyes
– Galien
– Elder Hu
– Marmu
Charms (1% Each)
– Gathering Swarm
– Stalwart Shell
– Shaman Stone
– Soul Eater
– Dashmaster
– Thorns of Agony
– Fragile/Unbreakable:
Heart
Greed
Strength
– Spell Twister
– Steady Body
– Heavy Blow
– Quick Slash
– Longnail
– MoP
– Baldur Shell
– Flukenest
– Defenders Crest
– Glowing Womb
– Quick Focus
– Deep Focus
– Lifeblood:
Heart
Core
– Joni’s Blessing
– Grubsong
– Grubberfly’s Elegy
– Hiveblood
– Sporeshroom
– Sharp Shadow
– Shape of Unn
– Nailmaster’s Glory
– Dream Wielder
– Colo 1, 2, 3 (1% Each)
– Lurien, Monomon and Herrah (1% Each)
– Dream Nail:
Acquire Dream Nail
1800 Essence
2400 Essence
– 4 Masks of Health (1% Each)
– 3 Soul Vessels (1% Each)
MAs (2% Each)
– Mantis Claw
– Crystal Heart
– Isma’s Tear
– Monarch Wings
– King’s Brand
– Shade Cloak
Nail Stuff (1% Each):
– Sharpened Nail
– Channelled Nail
– Coiled Nail
– Pure Nail
– Cyclone Slash
– Dash Slash
– Great Slash
Spells (1% Each):
– Vengeful Spirit
– Shade Soul
– Desolate Dark
– Descending Dark
– Howling Wraiths
– Abyss Shriek
Yeah. That’s a lot. Of course, it’s possible to just get all the MAs and be on your way. Almost all of this stuff you’ll probably get.
Now would also be a good time to mention the DLCs. There are 4, but only 3 actually contribute completion to the game (Hidden Dreams is optional)
– The Grimm Troupe (6%)
– Lifeblood (1%)
– Godmaster (5%)
They add a total of 12% to the game. This means you can get away without doing everything in the main game. The Grimm Troupe DLC is the largest and probably you’ll do all of it.
– Grimmchild/Carefree Melody
– Weaversong
– Sprintmaster
– Dreamshield
– Grimm
– NKG/Banishment
Most likely you will get all the charms, beat Grimm, but banish (You don’t perma-death in NKG, but it might take a while).
Hiveblood has 1%. That’s all.
– Hive Knight
Godmaster has 5%, second biggest DLC, but I wouldn’t advise doing it, since it will be boring and just annoying in general. Do go get the Godtuner, that’s just free.
– Godtuner
– 4 Pantheons (1% Each)
In terms of a route, that would be REALLY broad. In terms of a starting point;
1. Go for Claw first
2. Head to the City, and grab the Nail Upgrade and Desolate Dive, gathering charms and artifacts along the way for completion and Geo respectively.
3. Go to Crystal Peaks and speedrun Heart.
And your good to go!
Late Game – Phase 3
p3 is the shortest phase by far, but serves as the ending to the journey as well as the most mysterious part. I say this since the percentage in this section is variable depending on how much you complete in p2 (This could be said about p1 – p2 transition, but the 8% is pretty easy to get).
Total Percentage = 4%
From:
– Markoth (Blocked by Shade Gate, which, as I said in p2, SCloak will be the last).
– Traitor Lord (Again, blocked by Shade Gate)
– 1/2 Kingsoul, can only be completed and given for the full charm percentage once Traitor Lord is defeated.
– Sharp Shadow, again Shade Gate.
However, this is the MINIMUM percentage that you can save for p3. These cannot be done in p2 or p1. The maximum is up to you. If you just speedrun the MAs, then it will be a longer p3 but easier since you have a vast array of movement options. Because of the flexibility of p3 , I won’t do a route here either, but scroll down a bit more and you’ll see the next section.
My Route – Part 1
So far, I haven’t given you a definitive route as I promised, and that’s because it’s up to you really. There are optimised 100% and 112% routes out there, which are definitely viable for SS, but I highly recommend you make your own. That being said, I will give my route in which I completed SS. This is my personal route, where I made a lot of mistakes. Also times for each section are provided.
p1: (Time – 40m)
This is just the same route as from the section before, so I’m just going to…
not do anything, go back to the p1 section again.
p2: (Time – 13h 20m)
My plan for this section was to get all MAs except SCloak so that I could speedrun everything else. Of course, I did do all three dreamers as well and grabbed some other things as well.
First of all, I went over to Fungal Wastes to just grab Claw and some charms on the way(Fragile Heart, Dashmaster).
Then, I went over to the City, getting N1 and Desolate Dive, as well as selling a few items to Lemm, and getting Spell Twister. Note that I’m leaving the grubs for later, as in my eyes it’ll be much easier.
Once doing those things, I got to the Crystal Peaks and took the path with the dive entrance. I then ran over and beat Crystal Guardian for Enraged later. Doing the parkour, I got Heart and headed for the Waterways.
Literally just beat the living ♥♥♥♥ out Dung Defender with Dive, got Isma’s Tear and left the place for Ancient Basin.
I went over straight over to Broken Vessel, pushed past him to get WIngs (My last MA for a while). I then snatched the Pale Ore in the Basin.
Back at the city, I upgraded my N1 -> N2. I quickly headed over to Resting Grounds to get Dream Nail and other things. Feeling good about myself, I went over to Mantis Lords and slashed them up. I grabbed MoP and continued onwards. Before that, I gathered two Mask shards from Sly, one from Queen’s Station and the one from Brooding Mawlek. On the way, I took Howling Wraiths in Fog Canyon.
After this, I went over to Lost Kin an beat him up too, and took his essence. I went back to the Seer and got the Pale Ore from her (Along with some charms in Resting Grounds), then went to Crystal Peaks once more, to Hallownest’s Crown and got the Pale Ore from there too.
Once done, I went to the City, sold most of my Relics, upgraded my nail from N1 -> N2, then went back to Dirtmouth and bought the Lumafly Lantern from Sly. I also bought the Elegant Key from him too.
I unlocked Steel Soul Jinn with a Simple Key from the Basin for later. I went back to the Soul Sanctum, and with the Elegant Key, got my first Spell Upgrade: Shade Soul.
Back at the Crystal Peaks, I defeated Enraged Guardian to possibly get a new mask of health. I then went over to Crystallised Mound and saved a grub and upgraded to Descending Dark. I jumped into the Resting Grounds below and beat Xero back into his grave. With him, Elder Hu, and some Living Roots, I managed to reach 700 Essence and get another Soul Fragment. Along with the Fragments from above the Forgotten Crossroads and City of Tears Lift, I got my first Soul Vessel.
I go to Howling Cliffs and get a bunch of things. I’ll just list them here:
– Gorb
– Cyclone Slash
– Map
– Baldur Shell
– The Grimm Troupe
– Living Root
– King’s Idol
Once I reached Greenpath, I continued to Sheo and got Great Slash, and went back to grab Shape of Unn.
I went back to Dirtmouth to be granted with Grimmchild. I’m not doing that now. Instead, I went to the Fungal Core and got the Mask Fragment there, and bought the other two from Sly for my second Mask.
I headed over to Crossroads to get Glowing Womb, and then got two charm notches from Salubra (After selling a lot of Relics). I then beat Failed Champion and Soul Tyrant to get more Essence.
I went to Greenpath to do few things there. First, I grabbed Thorns of Agony, then went over beat No Eyes, taking the Mask Fragment as well. I then beat up MMC, and got the grub and Vessel Fragment past him.
I cashed in all my Essence for an Arcane Egg and Mask Fragment. Since I was in Resting Grounds anyway, I broke the crypt and unlocked the Grey Mourner for later, plus Soul Eater.
Before going into Deepnest, I saved Bretta, one for the extra Mask Fragment, and two, so when I save Zote in Deepnest and then fight him in Colo, I can quickly begin GPZ. I also went to Grubfather to get another Mask Fragment to make a third Mask (I also got Grubsong and Geo) For now, I’m just waiting to defeat Collector before getting all the grubs..
Once I saved Bretta, I headed into Deepnest. I had a lot of things I wanted to achieve in Deepnest before leaving:
– Nosk + Pale Ore
– Tram Pass
– Zote, aforementioned
– Distant Village
– Galien
– Weaversong
– Vessel Fragment
Once doing all of this, I went back to Dirtmouth for 10 mins to plan the rest of the run. I bought a Vessel Fragment from Sly, for second Soul Vessel.
I decided to buy out Salubra (Other than Blessing). After this, I headed to King’s Station and into Kingdom’s Edge. I bought the map from Cornifer because why not, and then headed over to Oro, realising I had no Geo to get Dash Slash. Luckily, below the house was a large Geo Deposit, along with Quick Slash. I got them both before heading out and mastering Dash Slash.
I went up to Hornet Sentinel, and beat her to imprinted onto me the King’s Brand. I won’t go straight to the Abyss just yet, but it’s good to have this.I continued upward, meeting Bardoon, and then finally descending upon the Colosseum of Fools. Here, I did the first two trials. I skipped the third because I hate it and don’t want to risk it (Charms for Colo were Fragile Heart, MoP, Shaman Stone and Grubsong)
Back in Dirtmouth, I accepted Nailmaster’s Glory from Sly, then went to Leg Eater and bought him out. I came back to Dirtmouth once more to buy out Sly and fight GPZ. It longer than expected, bu I managed to beat him. Now with an abundance of Essence, I went back to the Seer for the Awakened Dream Nail.
Just so I had it done, I headed over to Watcher’s Spire and destroyed Lurien’s Seal. I then went down into the Abyss and upgraded to Abyss Shriek; not yet Shade Cloak, that’s later. I went over to Fog Canyon through Crossroads and destroyed Monomon’s Seal too. I then went back and got the Charm Notch in Fog Canyon and then headed to my next destination: Queen’s Gardens.
In Queen’s Garden’s, I did a few things. Firstly, I talked with Cloth for the Traitor Lord fight later. Then, I grabbed the Love Key for the Tower of Love which I was going to do afterwards. I then continued through the area, beating Marmu and unlocking the final Stag Station I needed for Stag Nest.
I stagged over there and grabbed the Vessel Fragment. That and the one from the Donation Fountain, I unlocked all the Soul Vessels.
My next step was to head to Tower of Love and beat Collector and take his map. This is why I wanted to stay away from saving grubs, so I knew how many I needed to get. (Of course I did save some, but I made sure to know how many I had saved so I could do this count). I then went ahead and saved as many Grubs as possible. (I’m not mapping this, all of them are accessible are this point.
The last Grubs I saved were in Beast’s Den, The Hive and Royal Waterways. I decided to head to Waterways first to explore that area first. I got that grub, along with a Mask Shard and Flukenest for beating Flukemarm. I then FINALLY got the Mask Shard in Crossroads.
Next was the Hive. Here I saved the Grub, got the Mask Shard and beat Hive Knight for Hiveblood. Afterwards I headed to Beast’s Den for the final Grub! Oh and I also got the last Dreamer but that doesn’t matter.
I claimed Grubberfly’s Elegy from Grubfather before leaving and never returning, then headed over to Black Egg to find out that I had completed 95% of the game!
My Route – Part 2
p2 (CONTINUED):
Next I went over to Grey Mourner and did her quest, getting the final mask of health. I then went to White Defender and beat him, getting a ton Essence, enough for the Seer to peace out of this world.
Before ending p2, I wanted to do the Grimm Troupe. So I went out and got all the flames and fought Grimm once, then talked with Brumm in Deepnest. I headed back to the Lantern and banished the Troupe, since I can’t deal with NKG (also I versed him already).
I headed down into the Abyss with 16 Lifeblood Masks, and got Lifeblood Core with an Arcane Egg, I then headed over to Shade Cloak after lighting the Lighthouse.
p3 (Time – 30mins):
I head first to get Sharp Shadow in Deepnest. Then I head over to Queen’s Garden’s to fight and beat Traitor Lord with Cloth. Then, I head over to Kingdom’s Edge and beat the crap out of Markoth.
Finally, I I fought the Hollow Knight. It wasn’t the hardest fight, and with a last heal, I beat the game. I finished with 105% in about 14h 30m, more than enough for the three achievements I aimed for.
General Tips
Here are some general tips/advice for the run:
Keep Fragile Charms On: 
Skip some Main Game Stuff for EZ DLC:
This should be obvious but I’ll explain anyway. As there is a total completion of 112%, 12% from the DLC, you don’t have to do all of the main game completion % to actually reach 100%. I would suggest doing Grimm Troupe and Lifeblood, as they have really easy percentage. I would only go to Junk Pit for Godtuner, which I didn’t even go to since I already had most of the game done anyway. Main Game Completion I would recommend Skipping:
– Colo 3
– Seer Ascension
– Kingsoul (if you really want to skip it).
– Warrior Graves
Overprepare:
It’s risky taking on a boss under prepared, especially in movement. Make sure that you at least have the sufficient MAs to actually be in the fight. There isn’t really any point for skips, considering your going to get everything anyway. The only time I would recommend skips is to skip for items, like double-jump skip at Halownest’s Crown.
Conclusion
Hopefully, once reading this guide, you go forward with your play through and earn those achievements well. I thank you for reading this far, and hope you enjoy the rest of day. Make sure to take those tips in, because ultimately they make or break runs. And this is your journey, you don’t have to take my route into consideration. Be careful through it too. Also, there’s nothing wrong with quitting out at one mask.
But, till next time,
Farewell.