Hollow Knight ► The Ultimate Starter Guide

what's going on guys i'm rusty and welcome to your very first expedition into the breadth of hallo nest this is a starter guide to hollow knight designed for newer players that may have played a decent bit of the game or perhaps you wanted to play more but didn't get too far in we're covering basic gameplay mechanics movement abilities the use of charms and general tips on how to travel and explore such a large kingdom without getting lost it's easy to get overwhelmed and perhaps even feel somewhat defeated when you realize just how massive this kingdom is but hopefully this guide will condense everything a beginner player needs to know into one cohesive video if you have played through the game once or twice and have decided you can't get enough of it my discord server is always looking for some new friends to chat with and i'll go ahead and link that in the description and in a pinned comment in case you're interested in joining this guide will be as spoiler free as i can make it but we are going over quite a lot of mechanics and gameplay for the length of this video so keep that in mind as you continue [Music] the basics of hollow knight are pretty simple to understand you have your health meter here in the top left measured by masks which is pretty self-explanatory when your masks are expired your health just reaches zero and you die this will probably be happening a lot in the first few attempts as you learn the ropes of the game so don't get too discouraged by the learning curve to the immediate left of that is your soul meter it currently starts as empty but you can fight enemies as a means of extracting the energy from them and filling the meter up to the top this allows you to access a healing mechanic by holding down the b button or whatever respective input that is for you and a few other skills and abilities as well down the road it will take three hits on an enemy to fill up your meter to the point where it is usable at this point you are allowed to heal yourself which is generally best done in a safe area away from the face of danger both your amount of soul and your health can be upgraded or buffed with various items and charms as you progress through the game permanent upgrades to your health and soul gauge will respectively be given in the form of mask shards and vessel fragments shards and fragments are quintessential items to your hollow knight playthrough and neither should be ignored it takes four individual shards to form a complete mask and three fragments to form an extra soul vessel these items can be earned from defeated bosses they can be sold to you or just found during your exploration of the kingdom as a reward for some tighter platforming soul gauge is absolutely critical to your vessel as it does much more than just let you heal throughout the game you are also given access to different types of spells your first spell is a linear and pretty basic fireball spell that fires a blast of soul energy straight ahead dealing significant damage to anything in front of you you also have a downwards diving spell called a desolate dive that deals a shock wave of damage around you starting from the point of impact this does significantly more damage than the former but only if both the dive and the shock wave hit the same enemy which can be a little difficult the dive spell can also be used for breaking through fragile floors and cracked glass and there's usually a visual cue that indicates the floor below you can be destroyed in this way your final spell is an upwards attack known as howling wraiths this spell hits three times in succession and is also capable of dealing a pretty large sum of damage but only if all three hits connect with the same enemy each spell has its own competencies and weaknesses and although a spell may output more damage that doesn't necessarily mean you should expect it to serve you better in every single situation there are upgraded variants to each of these spells that come with their own array of hidden talents and benefits but going through this game as blind as you can really does help the experience so i won't divulge these to you here and instead just let you explore on your own in addition to three primary spells your knight will also collect three separate melee abilities taught to the knight through talking to npcs known as nail masters these abilities are called nail arts they do not require soul or any resources to use and are extremely powerful the only major drawback being their significantly longer wind-up time without spoiling each in pc or their respective locations i can show you how each of these nail arts can be applied to different combat situations the great slash is a simple nail art that doesn't require any extra input outside of just holding down melee and waiting for the visual cue that it's ready let go of it and the knight will slash outward in front of itself dealing pretty massive damage the dash slash works very much the same only instead of standing still you would dash first and then let go during the dash animation to slash straight in front of you this has some extra applications in combat if an enemy is further away from you and you need to close distance quickly while still getting in major damage the cyclone slash my personal favorite is executed by holding either up or down on the d-pad and then releasing the melee button during this arc the attack button can be repeatedly pressed to lengthen the duration of the cyclone slash all the way up to 7 hits this one has a bit of a learning curve to it as the art itself has much more dps potential than the other two but the duration of the attack can leave the knight susceptible to interruption via damage do not expect to land all seven hits on most enemies unless they are designed to be stationary of all the facets that make a metroidvania a solid metroidvania one of the most critical features is the player's ability to move movement abilities are what make traveling through the scope of hallownest easier opening new paths and shortcuts to new areas secrets and other points of progression in the game throughout your exploring you will obtain new movement abilities that will help you do exactly this and some are of much more importance than others the mothwing cloak ability gives your knight a dash which is an ability that you actually do not have from the very beginning unlike most other abilities the knights dash is incorporated into plenty of other charms and melee abilities and is a rudimentary tool outside of navigation there are other abilities the knight uncovers through the game such as a wall kick a double jump an elongated dash that allows you to cross extremely wide chasms and even the ability to swim through acid pools without taking damage there are quite a lot of movement abilities out there to discover and not all of them are even necessary for the game's completion only making their discoveries that much more significant the four main movement abilities i would advise newer players to seek first would be the dash the wall kick the long dash and then finally the double jump hollow knight's gameplay is extremely simple at its core yet there is tons of room for nuance this is the role that charms play in hollow knight charms are a very unique type of item in hallownest that give your knight various buffs ability tweaks and general bonuses everything ranging from quality of life charms like gathering swarm and wayward compass to nail lengthening charms like mark of pride you can increase the soul you get from enemies make spells more powerful increase the knockback of your melee attacks quicken the pace of your heal and many other buffs and talents that i'm not about to go spoiling charms require a certain amount of notches to be equipped you start the game with only three which might be enough room for one or two to start but you can also find charm notches in the same way you would find shards or fragments you can buy them from a vendor or you can find them scattered throughout the kingdom you were once only able to achieve 10 notches in the vanilla game but the grim troop expansion has now made it possible to obtain up to 11. and even then if you don't think a charm will fit in your current build you can always you know try some charms work well with others while some don't and some even have very unique interactions when equipped together that will add a small extra layer of excitement to the gameplay experience exploration is of paramount importance to the experience you will have in hallownest and it's just as important to know where you're going as it is to occasionally allow yourself to get lost not all those who wonder are lost and hollow knight is a cornerstone example of this philosophy you will first find cornifer at the foot of the long drop in the crossroads area this isn't really any kind of spoiler as the game is set up to where you find him pretty easily in the first five minutes of the game cornifer is an invaluable npc that sells you maps to the area you're currently in and what is a metroidvania without a solid map system the more you take the plunge into the old kingdom the more necessary maps become as the many interweaving routes become increasingly more complex and can even be a tad overwhelming if you let it this is why maps are integrated into the game the way they are maps give you some information that cornifer has already filled in for you but the only way to properly chart where you've been by yourself is to purchase the quill item from zelda now you can fill in the map as you explore sitting on a bench updates your map with all of the new locations you've discovered prior this is a system i've always been fond of because it gives you just enough guidance through the area while still encouraging exploration due to the fact that you have to physically go through the areas in order for those areas to be filled in on the map the wayward compass charm is also a massively helpful tool here because with this charm active you can see the exact location you are on the map giving you an easier perspective on where to go next along your journey through the kingdom you will almost definitely come across these critters trapped in glass jars these little guys are called grubs and rescuing them from their capture will get you access to a variety of geo and other rewards from the grub father in the crossroads upon descending into the crossroads area at the start just keep heading left until you find this room here this is the progress room for how many grubs you have freed from capture and the more grubs you have freed during your journey the more generous the grub father becomes with his rewards rescuing one grub gives you 10 geo rescuing a second gives you 20 a third gives you 30 all the way up to 46 grubs in total these guys don't seem like too much of a big deal but i promise it's worth your time to go forth and rescue as many as you can find the grub father also gives out other rewards like mask shards charms and pale ore that you can use to upgrade your nail the kingdom of hallownest is filled with hostile faces and deadly foes but there's a handful of friendlies that you can talk to and some of them are very much worth seeking out due to their quest lines don't be afraid to take your time and just assimilate yourself into the local flavor make friends talk to warriors hear stories of the travels of others and just absorb all the details some npcs can actually help you along your quest and very unexpected ways so it certainly pays to talk to everyone you can and just absorb as much info as possible from the locals of the kingdom some npcs have quest lines that can be followed all the way to the ends of the game and some also become vendors in the game that have various trinkets and charms they can sell you it pays quite a bit to be social because you never really know who you're talking to or the relationship you would end up cultivating with them by the end of the game the story and exploration of hollow knight is what makes the game feel as massive as it is but the game's mechanical aspects contribute to this atmosphere just as much a large percentage of the gameplay revolves around using your movement abilities to conquer the natural hazards of the kingdom acid pools crystal lasers and various spikes and thorn pits of the like it's always important to keep an eye out for when you can use one of these abilities to traverse an otherwise impassable obstacle if you have the wall jump ability and see an instance where you can perform it but the surfaces might be too high up this indicates that you could be missing out on another ability you need to see what's up there the platforming begins fairly simple while also encouraging the player to think of creative solutions to get past obstacles such as downstriking a series of spikes to get to a hard to reach grub or a particular relic the platforming expectedly gets more precise as you discover more late game areas but your abilities are given to you in a way that makes sure you can be equipped for that challenge master your movement abilities and you can uncover relics new charms fragments charm notches and even entirely secret areas that are off the beaten path recognizing signage in the environment goes a long way when you feel like you've lost yourself somewhere in one of the game's many winding canals and interweaving tunnels hallownest has signage all throughout its kingdom that prevents the player from ever completely feeling like they're 100 lost there are signs that point you to benches stag stations elevators and other landmarks that will help you get around the kingdom much easier breakable walls is another facet of the game's exploration that isn't always immediately apparent the game tries its best to convey this mechanic by giving you a geocluster to strike while also placing it next to a breakable wall so that you'll go for the cluster hit it and then realize the wall starting to give it's not always easy to keep that at the forefront of your mind but if a wall feels out of place and you feel like it should be tested you can always just try and nurture that impulse as much as you can remember some of hallownest's most notable treasures are hidden behind these walls and it's up to the player to find them all [Music] we might be getting into some minor gameplay spoiler territory in case some of you may not want to continue but i will be briefly mentioning charms that can be found in the late game certain combat related charms are designed to accentuate certain play styles that you may have if you gravitate towards melee builds that utilize your nail you could invest in nail lengthening charms like long nail and melee damage charms like fragile strength if you tend to prefer a playstyle that uses ranged attacks and spells and whatnot you might be better off investing in a spell damage charm like shaman stone possibly coupled with either soul catcher or soul eater there are also charms you can seek out that are designed to increase your survivability quick focus for instance decreases the amount of time it takes for you to heal leading to exploiting more healing opportunities in the middle of chaotic encounters or bosses with faster attacks once you begin finding charm notches throughout the kingdom your freedom to create and experiment with builds increased dramatically i've always been a personal fan of what i call the mark of soul build soul leader and shaman stone for the first seven charms to maximize spell efficiency and dps followed by mark of pride for the really convenient reach if you've made it to a certain point in the grim troop expansion you will likely have 11 notches instead of 10 and there are some pretty underrated single notch charms you can find out there so i'll leave that last one up to you advanced combat techniques isn't really a topic that seems compatible with the game like hollow knight but you would be surprised just how specific your play style can really become with a bit of practice and some patience one of my favorite techniques involves the use of the quick cast button which triggers the spell as you press the button instead of when you release it this is so that the game can properly distinguish when the player is trying to heal versus when the player is trying to use a spell when approaching an enemy you can engage with a nail strike and then immediately follow up with a vengeful spirit dealing some pretty decent burst damage this technique is especially good against dispatching early game enemies really quickly because the player likely won't have that many upgrades it's quite a common occurrence for newer players to forget they even have access to spells and so it's always good to practice being a little more mindful of them if you don't feel like you're using them too often or you notice that your soul gage spends a lot of time being topped off but the greatest defense at least in hollow knight is also a great offense practicing healing during frenetic encounters and faster boss fights is an invaluable skill to learn because the pressure can get pretty overwhelming at times boss fights are one of hollow knight's most highlightable facets of its gameplay and they make up some of the game's most memorable moments for me knowing where to look for opportunities to heal during boss fights is quite the skill to have especially once you get into the late game because those windows will expectedly become fewer and further between some bosses can be forced into a staggered state when hit a certain number of times although this number isn't the same for every susceptible boss healing windows can also be found in between longer-winded attacks dealt by some bosses the brooding maulik has a hop attack where it hops towards you once and then back to the center of the arena if it hops towards you once and misses and you stay on the sides of the arena during the second hop you will almost always be able to heal yourself when the false knight jumps to the center of the arena and begins flailing his mace around this is a great opportunity to retreat to the sides of the arena and pop a quick heal if you need it as you begin learning the finer mechanics and specifics of what the game expects from you looking for these windows of opportunity will come to you much more naturally downstriking on and parrying enemies are essential and perhaps even underrated mechanics of the game that i haven't seen get a lot of use in order to parry an enemy attack you must time your nail strike to clash with the enemies attack when done correctly you will receive a higher pitched clashing noise and the gameplay will freeze for an extremely short moment indicating that the parry was successful this is a highly advanced combat technique that almost seems to happen naturally by complete accident and as you learn the timing of certain boss's attacks carrying an attack really does seem to just happen more on its own but it certainly can be done purposefully with a bit of practice parrying an attack comes with a couple benefits you receive a quick moment of invincibility frames as well as doing the damage you would have to the enemy had your attack went through normally parrying is a bit on the nuanced side however but you still have the option to downstrike over enemies to avoid certain attacks while still doing damage practicing this just gives you an extra degree of movement and control over the environment that a lot of your enemies won't be able to defend against downstriking is an extremely useful skill to learn both for platforming and for combat and perhaps even if you'd like to throw in a sequence break or two in there for good measure after you've spent a good deal of time with this game this is something i would hone in quite a bit of practice into mastering the timing of down striking can really help your combat experience and can open up the areas you're able to explore pretty drastically but of course the most important bit of knowledge to keep in mind if you really want to get into hollow knight is to approach it with an open mind and just be a little patient with it if the game seems slow to start that's only because it wants to take its time if you like some more tips and guides on how to tackle certain bosses or obstacles in hollow knight there is an entire community behind you waiting to help you out thanks for tuning in i'm rusty and tell me in the comments about some of your most memorable experiences in the game during your first playthrough just without you know being too spoilery of course thanks for watching and i will see you in the next video take care [Music] we

Channel: Rusty.

Views: 201,346

Keywords: hollow knight starter guide, 15 weird hollow knight tips, hollow knight charms, hollow knight speedrun, hollow knight walkthrough, defeating all hollow knight bosses, hollow knight all endings, hollow knight lore, hollow knight steel soul tips, hollow knight charm combos, hollow knight mask shards locations, vessel fragment locations, charm notch locations, hollow knight 112 guide, hollow knight tips and tricks, hollow knight 112, hollow knight all upgrades, steel soul 112

Id: x36qvYaDkq4

Length: 22min 7sec (1327 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021