Widow is Hollow Knight’s Silksong’s sixth mandatory boss fight, found within the [ Shellwood] region, and the boss that is linked to the fate of Bellhart, its denizens, and, crucially, its vendors, one of whom can upgrade your Needle sword damage for the first time.
This guide explains how to find and beat Widow in Silksong, including tips, strategy, and a way to cheese the boss fight to make it easier.
Widow is located above Bellhart town in the center of the Bellhart region in Silksong. The Cling Grip is required to reach her from the far northeast of Shellwood.
The first several phases of the Widow fight are not too bad, but her final phase can be overwhelming with the amount of projectiles and tight-quarters combat.
Widow can largely be damaged the most during her weaving attack, where she sends strands from the ceiling vertically and diagonally that you must dodge — the strings are your clue as they show the exact path of the bells, just move away from their impact zone and remember that the bells bounce.
While she’s spinning this attack, you can hug her close and get three attacks in.
Another attack involves her diagonally dashing from the air down, then across the level. If she appears in the air, dash under her, then jump and try to swipe down as she passes beneath you for a returned blow.
A final attack type she has is calling bells from the bottom of the level — you’ll need to float over these towards the edge of the room they start at to avoid them as they retract in the ground. This attack is the best time to heal up once you get to the room’s edge.
There’s a fakeout end to her largely similar attack phases (one more move she adds is calling rains of bells you can easily dodge before this).
After this, she summons far more bells, and does a repeated crawling dash attack. You need to get in 30 more hits. We recommend the method below!
In Widow’s final, hauntingly long and brutal phase, after she disappears and returns even more evil, you can hug the right wall and not get hit by any projectile.
The only attack that can hit you while you stand here is her rush attack. Wait for that, and learn to recognize its unique starting sound and pose, and then jump over it, still hugging the wall, and strike down when she runs beneath you.
It will take 30 more regular hits, so this is SLOW going, but safe!
