It still feels surreal to say out loud, but the Hollow Knight: Silksong release actually happened, and this long-awaited game is tough as nails. Building on the challenge of the original, Silksong is laser-focused on challenging players through tricky platforming and a plethora of infuriating foes. Thankfully, you have more than a few tricks up your sleeve to take your enemies down.
In Silksong, instead of just having one possible moveset, Hornet can unlock and upgrade several different Crests. These change the way she fights, and each has different types of attacks and strengths that you will have to experiment with to understand. But, to save you some time, we’re exploring which of these crests is the best.
The Escapist recaps
- The Reaper crest is best for most of the game thanks to the additional Silk yield and offers a good balance of skills, versatility, and a reliable moveset.
- The Architect crest is good for augmenting tools, though the downsides mean it’s likely not the best for general gameplay.
- The Wanderer is likely the best crest for boss fights, offering up the fastest attacks and the chance for a critical attack when you have enough Silk stored to bind.
- The Beast crest is considered the worst, as it makes healing more difficult, and it makes it difficult to judge the trajectory of your downward attack.
Every crest in Hollow Knight: Silksong ranked
7: Beast
Slots – 1 Silk Skill, 2 Red, 0 Blue, 2 Yellow
All of the Hollow Knight: Silksong crests have a purpose, but the Beast crest is one we found ourselves using the least. Replacing Hornet’s usual attacks with fierce swipes, Beast requires you to go into a frenzy to heal, only regaining masks by hitting enemies in that state.
Plus, it has a frankly unwieldy downward attack, which makes it much harder to hit both enemies and platforms when moving around. It might be serviceable in certain fights, but you certainly don’t want to explore while equipped with this.
6: Shaman
Slots – 3 Silk Skill, 0 Red, 2 Blue, 0 Yellow
Only available in Act 3, the Shaman crest swaps Red and Yellow tools for three Silk Skills. Whether this tradeoff works for you is entirely subjective, but for most players, the swap is not ideal.
Though attacks with this crest have a large range, they are unfortunately much slower, meaning it’s harder to build up Silk and heal. Balancing this while using those Silk skills, this crest just ends up frustrating instead of helping.
5: Architect
Slots – 0 Silk Skill, 3 Red, 2 Blue, 2 Yellow
The opposite of the Shaman, the Architect crest swaps Silk skills for three Red tool slots, giving you more opportunities for tool synergy. Plus, you can craft tools without visiting a bench, which can be incredibly powerful.
Issues crop up though with the shard usage, as tools very quickly drain this resource, so you’ll be spending a lot of time managing them. Still, if you love Red tools, this can be a wonderful crest with some very unique attack opportunities.
4: Witch
Slots – 1 Silk Skill, 2 Red, 3 Blue, 0 Yellow
You won’t see this crest until much later in the game, unlocked by completing one of the many Hollow Knight: Silksong wishes, which is a shame because it can be good for getting rid of multiple enemies at once. Witch replaces your bind heal with a large tendril-based attack. But, you only heal if this attack hits an enemy.
This huge binding attack can be phenomenal, and coupled with the Witch crest’s fast attacks and the quick Silk regeneration, this is a really fun way to play. Sadly, though, a lack of yellow Skill slots is frustrating, and that large attack is so specific that it isn’t helpful in regular gameplay.
3: Wanderer
Slots – 1 Silk Skill, 1 Red, 2 Blue, 3 Yellow
If you want to get up close and personal, while doing lots of damage, the Wanderer crest is exactly what you need. This crest has the quickest attack of any, but you sacrifice a bit of range to do so.
When you are comfortable causing enemies problems, the Wanderer ends up having the highest DPS of any crest in the game, making it a fantastic choice for many of the Hollow Knight: Silksong bosses. But three yellow skill slots are a huge waste. You very rarely need even more than one yellow tool, let alone two.
2: Hunter
Slots – 1 Silk Skill, 2 Red, 2 Blue, 2 Yellow
While difficult to master, mostly thanks to the diagonal downward attack, the Hunter crest is likely going to be the main choice for Silksong speed runners. This crest actually increases Hornet’s attack power with each successive hit without taking damage. Couple this with the Barbed Bracelet tool, and if you avoid hits, you can wipe out some enemies very quickly.
It also has the ideal skill slots for most of the game, with two of each tool allowing you to mess around with a lot of the best synergies. The reason it isn’t higher is down to that awkward movement, and the fact that other crests just do some things a little better for overall play.
1: Reaper
Slots – 1 Silk Skill, 2 Red, 2 Blue, 2 Yellow
The Reaper crest hits the top of this list, in large part, thanks to the fact that it feels the best to control. With large, arcing swipes making up your attacks, it feels easier to hit opponents, plus that downward attack has such a large hot box, which makes traversal and pogo-ing on hazards so much easier.
Another important element is the Reaper crest’s ability to generate Silk, with additional orbs of Silk popping out of enemies after you attack them. This can be essential in some frantic boss fights. Coupled with an ideal tool layout, it makes the Reaper an all-around powerhouse.
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The best crest for boss fights is likely the Reaper, thanks to fast attacks and silk regeneration. Followed closely by the Architect, when using powerful tools like the Cogfly combined with the Pollip Pouch and Flea Brew.
There are four possible Crest upgrades. Two are unlocked by speaking to an NPC named Eva in Weavenest Atla, the latter after unlocking four crests. The third upgrade is given upon unlocking all crests. The fourth upgrade is given by unlocking a total of 24 tool slots across all of your crests.
Only available in Act 3, and after unlocking the Silk Soar ability, the Shaman crest is found in an area called the Ruined Chapel. This is located in the top left of the Moss Grotto.
Crest’s tool slots can be expanded using an item called the Memory Locket, which are located at several locations across the map, and held by certain vendors. When you own a Memory Locket, sit on a bench and select a Crest, you are then given the chance to expand the Crest’s tool slots.
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