Hollow Knight: Silksong, released September 4, 2025, is a brutal Metroidvania with over 40 bosses. Here are all the bosses in the game ranked from easiest to hardest.

Tier 1: The Warm-Up Waltz (Easiest – Act 1 Mini-Bosses)

These opening encounters serve as tutorials disguised as fights, often skippable or cheesable with basic dodges. Players frequently call them "forgettable fun" that build confidence without breaking spirits.

  • Moss Mother (Moss Grotto, Main): A lumbering plant-beast with predictable vine swipes. Dodge left, pogo off its head—done in under a minute.
  • Bell Beast (The Marrow, Main): Tosses bells like confetti; her aggression fizzles once you learn to wall-cling and counter. Becomes a fast-travel mount post-fight.
  • Skull Tyrant (The Marrow/Moss Grotto, Optional): Dual encounters with bone summons, but slow telegraphs make it a nail-upgrade farm. Some players call it the easiest optional boss ever.

Tier 2: Gentle Reminders (Low-Mid Act 1)

Slightly more aggressive but still merciful, these introduce environmental hazards without overwhelming. Fans praise their "dance-like" flow.

  • Great Conchflies (Blasted Steps, Optional): Shell-shooting swarm in a wide arena—silk-thread them mid-air for easy crowd control.
  • Moss Mother Rematches (Weavenest Atla, Optional x2): Beefier versions, but the same vine patterns. Rather repeatitive.

Mid-Tier: Building Tension (Act 1-2)

Here, bosses start testing tool usage and positioning, with runbacks adding frustration. Community consensus pegs these as "annoying but fair."

  • Fourth Chorus (Far Fields, Main): A choral horror with soundwave blasts. Parry the echoes for safe heals, the boss look pretty epic but die pretty quick
  • Lace (Deep Docks/The Cradle, Main Rematch): Hornet's fencer rival returns with dash flurries. Early fight is a breeze; later amps the speed, but pogo exploits trivialize it.
  • Cogwork Dancers (Cogwork Core, Main): Synchronized spins and gears—time your silk grapples to disrupt the rhythm.
  • Forebrothers Signis and Gron (Deep Docks, Optional): Tag-team bruisers with combo chains.

The Grind: Act 2-3 Stepping Stones

These optionals ramp up with adds and debuffs, but smart crest builds (like Architect for silk spam) melt them. Community feedback highlights their "mid-game wall" status.

  • Raging Conchfly (Coral Tower, Optional): Drill charges in a cramped room after a trap-filled gauntlet. The runback is actually the more annoying part of beating this boss.
  • Broodmother (The Slab, Optional): Spider summons and web traps—burn them with fire tools.
  • Voltvyrm (Voltnest, Sands of Karak, Optional): Electric eels in a flooded arena. Manageable with lightning dodges.
  • Unravelled (Whiteward, Secret Optional): Thread-based puzzle-boss; unravel its defenses for a quick win.
  • Watcher at the Edge (Sands of Karak, Optional): Vigilant sentinel with laser sweeps—stay mobile.
  • Gurr the Outcast (Far Fields East, Optional): Exiled warrior with heavy slams. You can actually just tank her charges.
  • Second Sentinel (High Halls, Optional): Echoes the first with added spikes—precision platforming key.

The Final Stretch: Act 3 Hurdles

Late-game mandatories introduce void corruption and multi-enemy phases, prepping for the endgame. Community rankings dub these "soul-crushers for completionists."

  • Bell Eater (Summon via Bell Beast, Main): Devours its own kind for buffs—interrupt feasts.
  • Seth (Grand Gate Southwest, Main): Gatekeeper with seismic stomps.
  • Father of the Flame (Wisp Thicket West, Optional): Fire wisp manipulator—extinguish orbs mid-air.
  • Disgraced Chef Lugoli (Sinner's Road, Optional): Leech blobs debuff healing; cure with silk spends. Gimmick hell.
  • Trobbio (The Stage, Main): Theatrical bombs and tornadoes—dodge the fireworks. Fans call it a "death performance."

Top 10 Hardest Bosses

Now, the meat: the top 10 hardest bosses, ranked from #10 (still a nightmare) to #1 (pure agony). Early bosses feel tougher sans gear, but late ones scale brutally with phases and environments.

10. Sister Splinter (Shellwood, Main)

A splintered tree horror summoning vine adds and claw swipes that chunk two masks. Pre-nerf, it was infamous for unblockable grabs; even now, players gripe about the "endless adds distracting from the real threat." Manageable with area tools, but the arena's roots trip up dash timings.

9. Moorwing (Greymoor, Optional)

This massive flyer dives with claw barrages and orb patterns that evolve into screen-filling chaos. Fans blame its "unpredictable arcs" for 50+ death loops, though allying with local bugs or ceiling pogoing cheeses it. "Feels unfair until it clicks," says a player.

8. The High Halls Arena (High Halls, Optional Gauntlet)

Not a single boss, but an 11-wave endurance test with shifting enemy types—from ninjas to sludge divers. One mistimed heal can ruin your streak. Fans cry about the no-checkpoint design.

7. Phantom (Exhaust Organ Secret, Optional)

Lace's void-tainted shadow, amped with projectile storms and dash teleports. Faster than her base fights, it leaves "no safe pixels," per players. Community mods even buff it further for masochists.

6. Groal the Great (Bilewater, Optional)

A poison-spewing frog after a 10-minute sewer slog with healing debuffs. Summons ninjas mid-fight amid pendulums and sludge—players call it "environmental torture." Interrupt its inhales or drown in blobs.

5. Widow (Shellwood, Main)

Silk bells bounce unpredictably in phase two, mixing melee rushes with projectile spam. Players hail it as a "precision check," with frequent heals needed amid her agility.

4. Grandmother of Silk (The Cradle, Main)

Aerial blade webs and laser traps fill the screen, hittable only via exposed weak points. Phase three floods the arena with rocks, punishing every dodge gap. The boss' patterns are unforgiving.

3. Nyleth (Grand Gate Southwest, Main)

Wall-clinging darts and orb barrens collapse the floor into spike hell. Players rank it for "layered aggression," where mistimed wall-sticks mean instant death. Demands perfect tool swaps.

2. Skarrsinger Karmelita (Far Fields, Main)

No runback mercy, but her pre-fight summons and identical melee/spike/jump attacks baffle predictions. Final phase unleashes rapid combos, timing attacks to beat it is like threading a needle in a hurricane.

1. Savage Beastfly (Hunter's March/Chapel of the Beast/Lava Room Variant, Optional)

The undisputed king of pain: summons minions to split focus, slams with two-mask hits, and in its lava variant, shatters floors over insta-kill pits. Community rankings agree—flying adds spit fire, tight arena clips you mid-dodge.

Silksong's bosses aren't just hard—they evolve with your build, turning frustration into euphoria. Whether you're dancing through Tier 1 or cursing #1, Pharloom's insect overlords await. What's your personal nightmare? Share with the community—we're all in the silk together.