Hollow Knight: 10 Best Charm Combos

Being constantly praised as one of the best indies ever, Hollow Knight is an immense game. It has tons of areas, bosses, secrets, and, of course, offers tons of ways to play, the latter thanks to its Charm system: passive benefits that the character can equip through the course of the adventure.

The game offers up to 45 charms and encourages you to try to find the best combos. There are synergies between some amulets to create a sense of agency and creativity, but it can be overwhelming to find the best set. If you’ve experienced that issue, and you want to know how to maximize the strength of a given build, these are the best charm combos for Hollow Knight.

10 Solid Knight

The best attack is an annoying defense

Hollow Knight offers a set of charms intended to defend the bearer, and you can use them all at once. In this build, suffering damage is better than avoiding it: Stalwart Shell will make you invulnerable for longer after taking a hit, at the same time as Thorns of Agony deals damage to the enemies and Grubsong gives you soul.

After that, you can use Quick Focus to heal rapidly (protected by Baldur Shell), while Spore Shroom emits a toxic cloud that combines with the area of effect damage that Defender’s Crest should already be dealing.

It’s a pretty compact defense that is best suited to those who are having trouble getting used to dashing and learning the patterns of Hollow Knight bosses. Or for those who like to attack everything without thinking twice.

9 Metroidvania starter pack

Exploration builds are important

Even though some people usually overlook it, Hollow Knight is a game in which exploration is as important as combat. After all, it is known as one of the best metroidvanias but also one of the hardest. You’ll need to keep track of everything you see while being careful not to die and lose your geo after a long run without benches.

In the scenario that you need equipment to explore Hallownest without worrying, Wayward Compass is the most important charm, as it always follows your position on the map.

Long Nail and Quick Focus are useful for fighting at a safer distance, while Grubsong, Thorns of Agony, and Defender’s Crest work as your protection. Finally, Dashmaster allows you to dash faster (and downwards) when you need to escape. Everything is covered.

8 Farming arc

The geo economy needs more ranchers

Whether it is for buying upgrades, maps, notches, or even the charms themselves, geo is king in Hollow Knight. Although it is not a game that forces you to farm artificially, your journey will require a certain amount of money, and sometimes it will be better to have a combination of amulets that are appropriate for the job.

Because the purpose is to repeatedly clean out an area that you’re familiar with, Fragile Greed (for more geo) and Fragile Strength (for more damage) are more than useful, since you won’t be in real danger and those two are less likely to break.

Gathering Swarm will make it easier and less tedious for you as it picks the geo automatically, Dashmaster will allow you to move faster, and Quick Slash is just there to speed the farm even more, although you could change it for any charm that is more comfortable for you.

7 Pokémon Master

A fast and portable zoo

There is a niche build in Hollow Knight that more often than not gets overlooked, but it is really fun. It’s commonly called the ‘summoner’ build, and it consists of taking every single charm that invokes minions, putting them together alongside some utility and movement amulets, and, ta-da!, you’ve got yourself a nice and powerful zoo.

Weaversong, Glowing Womb, and Grimmchild are the keys of this set, as they are the ones that create the companions. Grubsong, once again, is used for having more soul for the summons; Sprintmaster is used for making the Knight run faster while the minions attack, and Sharp Shadow is used for taking advantage of the fact that you will be dashing a lot.

It’s certainly unusual, but it gets the objectives done, adds to the replayability of Hollow Knight, and is hilarious to see. Gathering Swarm is just for cosplay, though.

6 Lifeblood Mage

Forget about healing, just spam spells

If managing your soul is overwhelming, and you just want to center on one of its uses, this is what you need: first, you’re going to attach Joni’s Blessing, a charm that increases your Mask count by 40% but makes you unable to heal.

Second, you’re going to attach Soul Eater, as you will need as much soul as you can get; finally, you’re going to attach Shaman Stone, because you need to defeat your opponent by spamming the most powerful spells you can before he defeats you (because you can’t heal).

Of course, as with the next build, you need to be experienced with the game, since not being able to recover Masks can be harsh for newcomers who are struggling to avoid attacks.

5 Do not try this at home…

Try it outside

As you become a better player and progress in the campaign, you will unlock some rare charms like Grubberfly’s Elegy, which will have you firing beams of white-hot energy from your nail at a distance while at full health, dealing 50% damage per hit.

Fury of the Fallen, instead, increases nail damage by 75% when you have 1 Mask, but these two have a special interaction that makes them both work when you have 1 Mask.

Simultaneously, Grubberyfly’s Elegy and Mark of Pride have their special feat, which increases the size of the projectiles from Grubberfly’s Elegy by 35%.

Additionally, Fury of the Fallen and Unbreakable Strength can be stacked, resulting in a 175% increase in damage with the nail and a 150% increase in damage with the beams. This combination yields a significant and undeniable outcome: ludicrous damage and chaos.

You die from one hit, though, so this is only recommended for veterans.

4 Snail Knight

The true, and squishy, maste of the nail

Shape of Unn is a fun amulet that transforms you into a snail while using Focus, allowing you to move (faster than normal thanks to Quick Focus) and even to avoid attacks because of the lowered hitbox.

This is a pretty standard nail build with Quick Slash, Long Nail, and Nailmaster’s Glory for some Nail Arts action.

However, the synergy between the first two is the necessary push for it to be something more interesting, more powerful, and, above all, more consistent. It works with almost every single boss, especially against those with multiple horizontal slashes.

3 Balance in All Things

End-game equilibrium

Sometimes, balance is what we need. Not being too invested in nail attacks, not being too invested in spells.

Therefore, accepting every tool that Team Cherry gives you to master the challenges that Hollow Knight proposes comes with using Quick Slash for fast attacks (empowered immediately by Unbreakable Strength) and fast soul acquisition (empowered subsequently by Shaman Stone), dealing tons of damage in a matter of seconds.

The addition of Sharp Shadow is handy because, like in other builds, you will be dashing a lot to avoid getting hit as you don’t want to use your soul to heal, but also because it is almost mandatory that you have Shade Cloak (one of the best abilities in Hollow Knight) for this playstyle.

2 The ‘5 Hour Speedrun Achievement’ build

Hollow ‘Knight’?

Sometimes, you need less than balance. Being invested in one thing: spells. Not the spammy style, but the conscious style, the elegant form of wizardry.

Shaman Stone, inevitably, is the cornerstone of the build, while Soulcatcher, Spell Twister, and Dream Wielder grant you maximum efficiency to manage your soul resources without sacrificing the ability to heal if needed.

With this combo, almost every single hit allows you to throw a spell, and, with Quick Slash, you will spend most of your battles with your meter full. It has a high skill ceiling, but is also the build with the most damage output of the entire game.

1 Pay to click

The most basic, the most powerful

Sometimes, conversely, melee attacks will be your preference. You can take that nail-swining approach to the very maximum with this build.

In opposition to the previous combo, this one is as basic as it can be: hit hard, hit fast, and hit far. No spells, no Nail Arts, no minions, and no combinations whatsoever— just the rawest way of dealing damage in Hollow Knight.

Even though it is simple, it has historically proven to be the most accessible but also powerful build that Hollow Knight players can try; it deals less damage than its magic counterpart, but it is significantly easier to pull off thanks to its straightforward approach. Quick Focus for rapid healing is incredibly valuable too.

If you are aiming to achieve 112%, all achievements or simply finish the game, there is no better and less complicated option.