How to Beat Act 2 in Silksong (Progression Guide)

After defeating the Last Judge at the end of Act 1, Silksong players will see a cutscene displaying the Citadel high above Pharloom. After gaining access to the Citadel, Hornet's next goal is to seek an audience with the one who imprisoned her at the start of the game, to find out why they went to such lengths to capture her.

Related

Hollow Knight: Silksong - Interactive Map (Pharloom)

Our interactive map for Pharloom in Hollow Knight: Silksong. All the skills, tools, benches, and more found in the game.

Posts 4

By  The Best War Games Staff

Compared to Act 1, Act 2 of Silksong is much more open-ended, and it can be difficult to figure out where to go next in Act 2 when there are so many directions available.

This guide explains how to complete Act 2 in Silksong, including directions and maps that guide players to every mandatory boss and item in Act 2 and tips to beat every required challenge along the Act 2 progression path in Silksong.

Silksong Act 2 Walkthrough – Reaching the Cogwork Dancers

• New Areas: Grand Gate, Underworks, Choral Chambers
• Mandatory Bosses: Cogwork Dancers

The Grand Hall & Underworks

After you enter the Citadel, you will quickly come across a machine with a model of the Citadel inside. Interact with this and pay Rosaries to unlock the map to the Grand Gate area. Continue to the right and enter the elevator.

The elevator will initially lead upward as Hornet slashes the lever over and over, then crashes down to the basement below in the Underworks.

Follow the route above to find the Underworks map location, then continue through the halls to the right until you find a way up, turn left, then escape the Underworks into the Choral Chambers above.

Navigating The Choral Chambers

From the Underworks entrance, go left from the bench, then up and to the right to find the Choral Chambers map machine. Once again, pay Rosaries to unlock the map of this sprawling Citadel zone.

After picking up the map, continue to the right, then loop back left along the route shown above. You will encounter Lace again, but you don't have to fight her – yet.

Eventually, you will rise up through a tall room with lots of offshoot rooms, then go left to find a Bench underneath a hanging hook – this will become important later.

For now, sit on the bench, then continue all the way to the right, taking care to jump over the two large enemies on the way, to arrive at the Cogwork Dancers boss fight.

The Cogwork Dancers & Ancient Statues

The Cogwork Dancers are a unique boss in Silksong, as the duo will move and attack to the beat of the music and indicate the direction they will travel next. Don't take this boss for granted, though – as you progress through the phases, the Cogwork Dancers will get faster and faster, making it harder to avoid their attacks and anticipate their movements.

After defeating the Cogwork Dancers, the background of the room will rotate and display three gigantic Ancient Statues. These Statues will tell Hornet to gather the three pieces of the Threefold Melody, a sacred song she must learn and play in front of these statues to ascend to the Crown of Pharloom.

Silksong Act 2 Walkthrough – Exploring & Collecting Act 2 Abilities

• New Areas: Songclave, The Cauldron, Mount Fay
• New Abilities: Clawline, Faydown Cloak
• Mandatory Bosses: N / A

Unlock Songclave & Get Clawline

After interacting with the ancient statues, all the way to the right, to the top-right area of the Choral Chambers, to find the Grand Bell. Enter the building, and ring the bell, to call the Caretaker to the area, a strange NPC who will stand outside and deride Hornet for ringing the bell.

Leave and return to this area, and it will turn into Songclave, a new town hub with a Wishwall and traders.

Before you leave Songclave, be sure to go all the way to the right of the town to find the White Key, which unlocks access to the Whiteward zone.

Go to the bottom of the Choral Chambers, heading down through the large wheel gate, then left through a long hallway, to find the Whiteward locked door. Use the White Key to open the door, then take the elevator down to the bottom level.

Loop your way around to the far right side of this zone, taking care to avoid the deadly malformed enemies along the way, to drop into The Cauldron – a sub-zone of the Underworks.

Follow the route above to find your way to a Weaver Statue in the middle of a pool of lava, which will grant Hornet the Clawline ability. This ability is required to complete the game, and will unlock access to several new areas across Pharloom – including Mount Fay.

Optional: Get the Faydown Cloak

The Faydown Cloak is one of the most useful Ancestral Arts in Silksong, though it is technically an optional item. The Faydown Cloak grants Hornet the ability to double jump, but to get it, you'll have to complete one of the most difficult platforming challenges in Silksong.

Get to Mount Fay by going all the way left from the Choral Chambers, across a bridge, and into the Slab. Drop to the bottom of The Slab to find a Bellway. From here, go left, and use your Clawline to get to a safe, warm cave on the left side of the snowy exterior area.

Buy the Mount Fay map from Shakra, then prepare to quickly, and precisely, climb your way to the peak of Mount Fay to get the Faydown Cloak.

Silksong Act 2 Walkthrough – Completing the Threefold Melody

• New Areas: Cogwork Core, Whispering Vaults, High Halls
• Mandatory Bosses: Trobbio, High Halls boss gauntlet

After defeating the Cogwork Dancers, and after acquiring the Clawline (and optionally, the Faydown Cloak), players are ready to start acquiring pieces of the Threefold Melody. The first piece players should go for is the Architect's Melody.

Step One: The Architect's Melody (RED)

To get the Architect's Melody, drop down into the Cogwork Core from the Cogwork Dancers boss room, then navigate around the bottom of the central wall in this room, using downward attacks and your movement skills to avoid getting hit by cogs.

You will reach a door on the top-right side that leads to an interior challenge zone. Make your way through this area to find the exit, which leads to the top half of the Cogwork Core (above the Cogwork Dancers' boss room).

Unlock the shortcut by hanging off of a Clawline hook, then take on the final challenge to get to the top of the Cogwork Core.

Here, you must solve the Architect's Melody puzzle and rotate four large cylinders so that all of the lines and symbols line up on each.

Upon completion, play the Needolin to learn the Architect's Melody as a chorus of ancient statues sing alongside your Needolin.

Step Two: The Vaultkeeper's Melody (BLUE)

The next piece of the Threefold Melody you should get is the Vaultkeeper's Melody, hidden in the Whispering Vaults. To get here, follow the same route through the bottom of the Cogwork Core to get to the other side – but take the exit below the door that leads to the upper half and the Architect Melody.

Continue to the right, and you will eventually reach a lever on the left side of the giant wheel gate. Hit the lever, then proceed through the wheel gate to the other side to enter the Whispering Vaults.

Make your way through the maze-like large room you enter, hitting boxes along the way to unlock shortcuts, until you reach an exit on the bottom-left side. Go all the way to the left here to unlock The Stage, where you must fight Trobbio to proceed.

Defeat Trobbio, then head down into the Underworks via a drop on the right side of Trobbio's boss arena. Navigate your way up and to the right to re-enter the Whispering Vaults. Go to the left here, and you will pick up the Sacred Cylinder.

Bring this to Vaultkeeper Cardinius, who can be found a few rooms above the exit from the Sacred Cylinder room. Cardinius can play the Sacred Cylinder on his record player.

Play your Needolin at the same time to learn the Vaultkeeper's Melody.

Step Three: The Conductor's Melody (GREEN)

The Conductor's Melody is arguably the hardest part of the Threefold Melody to complete. To get here, you must go to the top-left corner of the Choral Chambers, use Clawline on a hook to lift yourself upward, then use a combination of your movement skills to platform to the highest reaches of the Citadel.

The Clawline and Drifter's Cloak skills are used in tandem with one another during several sections, including the large room on the right side of the High Halls, where Hornet must essentially float and grapple the whole way down.

At the bottom of this area, sit at the bench on the right, unlock a shortcut down to the Choral Chambers, then continue left to enter the Conductor's Melody boss gauntlet.

This room features 10 waves of enemies from around the Citadel – on wave 5, a large armored boss will appear. On wave 10, Hornet must defeat two of these bosses.

Get every Needle upgrade you can, backtrack to find more Masks and increase your HP, and only attempt to tackle this arena once you have acquired powerful Tools (like the Sting Shard, which can be used to quickly deal damage to large enemies easily).

After completing the gauntlet, head into the left room to meet Conductor Ballador. Talk to him, and he will teach Hornet the melody passed down to him.

Play your Needolin at the same time to learn the Conductor's Melody, completing the Threefold Melody.

Silksong Act 2 Walkthrough – The Cradle & Crown of Pharloom

• New Areas: The Cradle
• Mandatory Bosses: Lace, Grand Mother Silk

After you collect all three pieces of the Threefold Melody, return to the Cogwork Dancers boss room and interact with the Ancient Statues. After they reiterate their requirements and melody locations, Hornet will whip out her Needolin.

Play the complete Threefold Melody, and an elevator will open up in the middle of the room. Take this elevator to find a familiar face up above.

Penultimate Boss: Lace

Lace shows herself once again in this final sequence of the game. Though her actual moves don't change too significantly, she performs them faster and with more flair, making her one of the hardest bosses in Silksong thusfar.

For example, instead of just slashing rapidly in a single location, she will move to several locations to perform this close-range AoE slice. Instead of just attacking Hornet with a diagonal downward slash, she will leave AoE explosions in her wake, making it harder to avoid.

Upon defeat, Lace will reveal the truth of her nature, and tell Hornet to seek her earned audience with the enigmatic deity above.

Final Boss: Grand Mother Silk

Climb up through The Cradle and you will eventually find a long bridge with a gigantic white ball of silk in the background. Walk near the ball of silk, then press the up input to Challenge the final boss.

Like when the Knight challenges the Radiance, Hornet will whip out her iconic Needle, and say her iconic challenging line: "GURAMA!"

After a short sequence in which the ball of silk explodes, the final boss of Silksong will appear: Grand Mother Lace.

Grand Mother Lace is a godlike being with six large sewing needles that float constantly around her. Though you do not take contact damage for touching Grand Mother Silk, it is tough to avoid her rapid slashing attacks and the onslaught of sewing needles that attack Hornet from all sides.

Defeat Grand Mother Silk and you will be treated to a spectacular cutscene as Hornet destroys Grand Mother Silk, then binds her Silk into her shell. This completes Act 2, and you will unlock the default ending, which appears to show Hornet inside the giant silk ball that Grand Mother Silk once occupied.

This his is not the end of your journey in Silksong. Though beating Act 2 will let you see the credits and counts as completing the game for completion's sake, you can still go back to explore optional areas (like the Putrified Ducts and Bilewater).

You can also unlock the secret Act 3, which introduces new areas, bosses, items, and much, much more to do post-Act 2.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Display card tags widget Display card system widget

Display card community and brand rating widget

Display card open critics widget Display card main info widget

Released

September 4, 2025

Display card main info widget end Display card media widget start Display card media widget end

• 
• 
• 

Where to play

Close

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION

• 

DIGITAL

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood

Developer(s)

Team Cherry

Engine

Unity

Franchise

Hollow Knight

Number of Players

Single-player

PC Release Date

September 4, 2025

Genre(s)

Metroidvania, Action, Adventure, Soulslike

Platform(s)

PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC

Powered by

Expand Collapse