If charms play essential roles in boss fights, then spells and abilities are inevitable if you want to reach every corner of the Hallownest. These are also the “abilities” to open the “gates” in Hollow Knight, the mechanism you could find in every Metroidvania game. In this guide, we break down all the information you need to know about how to get spells in Hollow Knight, including the locations, upgrade forms, and functions of each (except for Focus, which is given to you right from the beginning). Let’s get started!
How to get all Spells in Hollow Knight:
- Vengeful Spirit
- Shade Soul
- Desolate Dive
- Descending Dark
- Howling Wraiths
- Abyss Shriek
Vengeful Spirit
All you have to do is press FOCUS/CAST or QUICK CAST to launch a soul stream in the direction the Knight is facing and deal 15 damages to penetrated enemies. Technically speaking, this is an AOE skill that could be useful when you want to wipe out a whole cluster of creeps at once. This spell will be given to the Knight by Snail Shaman without any challenge.
Shade Soul
Shade Soul is the upgrade to Vengeful Spirit, and each cast of Soul Shade now will deal 30 damage to the penetrated enemies. To acquire this spell, you have to open a locked door in Soul Sanctum of the City of Tears with the Elegant Key from Sly in Dirtmouth and defeat a Soul Warrior guarding the room. However, you need the Monarch Wings in advance to reach that location. You can find how to acquire the Monarch Wings in our guide on how to get all abilities in Hollow Knight.
Desolate Dive
To perform this spell, you have to press FOCUS/CAST or QUICK CAST while holding DOWN to make the Knight strike down the ground dealing 15 damages and generate a spread shockwave dealing 20. Also, performing this spell will make the Knight immune to every damage for 0.4 seconds. And on top of that, using this spell is the only way for you to destroy shaky grounds, which unlock many hidden areas of Hollow Knight. So, try to obtain this spell as soon as possible.
Desolate Dive will be rewarded to players after defeating Soul Master in the City of Tears. Personally, this is a tough boss to beat because there are two different phases with two entirely different skill sets. I suggest not trying to attack or chase the Soul Master but reading his attacks and dodging instead. Pogo-jumping is a helpful technique in this boss fight, and also you will have plenty of time to heal amid the battle when Soul Master deflates and suspends still after taking a certain amount of damage.
Descending Dark
Same as the Shade Soul, this upgrade version of Desolate Dive merely deals a little more damages than the original. The shockwave now bursts twice, dealing 30 and 15 damages, respectively.
You have to reach Crystallised Mound in Crystal Peak rescue a snail shaman trapped in crystal in a room located on the right of it. All you have to do is break the crystal and free the snail shaman. You may need Monarch Wings or Mothwing Cloak to reach that place.
Howling Wraiths
Instead of holding DOWN to cast the Desolate Dive, now you have to FOCUS/CAST or QUICK CAST while holding up, and the Knight will release a Soul Explosion above him, dealing three bursts at a maximum of 30 total damage. This spell could cover a much more expansive space than other Spells, which is very useful for handling those irritating flying enemies such as Primal Aspid or Winged Fool.
Howling Wraiths is located in the Overgrown Mound of Fog Canyon. You have to wipe out a swarm of Squit to get the Howling Wraiths.
Abyss Shriek
Abyss Shriek is the upgrade to Howling Wraths. Now, each time you cast this spell, you will be able to deal four hits with a maximum of 90 damage. However, you can acquire this spell without any effort. You just need to cast the Howling Wraths in the room at the bottom left of the Abyss, and Abyss Shriek will be yours.
Now you know how to get all the spells in Hollow Knight, so it’s time to move on to the abilities!
