10 levels of Hollow Knight combat

ignore my low hp in the footage it was 5am when i recorded this ok
VG Lofi Nights - City of Tears Lofi
• Lofi | City of Tears |...
emphase - Greenpath Lofi
• Christopher Larkin - G...
emphase - Resting Grounds Lofi
• Christopher Larkin - R...
Pharloom's Musician - Gauthier - Symphony of Hallownest
• Video
Original Downwards Dash slash video -
• Downwards dash slash??

[@mcgoldenblade4765]

90% of my parries are completely by accident.

[@Grassman666]

100% of my parries are completely by accident

[@MasterIsabelle]

@@Grassman666 1111111% of my parries are by accident

[@fangthefabulous1132]

I didn't know parrying was a thing until recently. I beat the game years ago and I had 300+ hours on it.

[@greatestgrasshopper9210]

I only ever got parties while pogo-ing

[@crazyfriend50]

@@fangthefabulous1132 have you never played dark souls? Its pretty obvious to parry in hollow knight unless you thought the blinding light was the radiance come down from dreams to rape you everytime your nails clash

[@DemICE666]

"Many beginners don't use spells" Yes because we take so much damage that we need all our soul for healing and we still die.

[@Danitux11]

If u have void spells u can use the spell to make damage to the enemie and to avoid the enemie for hitting u. When u get uses to It spells are so usefil thats why shamman Stone is the BEST charm un the hame Edit: I don't know what was in my brain when I wrote this lol. Quick slash/fragile strength are much better

[@treesimp6686]

@@Danitux11 Incorrect, Shauman stone is best if your using a spell loadout, When working with the nail, unbreakable / fragile strength

[@squirtlett7369]

@@treesimp6686 I think quickslash is better and more versatile than unbreakable strength, when put together tho, the nail will shred everything

[@janthejetplane5668]

@@squirtlett7369 better? yes, more versatile? no, there is a quite a lot of bosses that doesn't care, and strenght is way better for exploring, making it more versatile in my opinion

[@squirtlett7369]

@@janthejetplane5668 I honestly think quick slash is better for exploring. When exploring I do a LOT of pogoing and often I miss my pogos due to cool down without quick slash

[@ScarletEmber64]

I once parried an attack and felt like the most powerful being at that moment then I got killed

[@crazyfriend50]

Mission failed we'll get them next time

[@andymcclurg9916]

I'll bet it was Pure Vessel I felt amazing after getting a triple parry on its three hit slash and then in my celebration I got impaled by the upward sword strike

[@crazyfriend50]

@@andymcclurg9916 i dont know why but any time he does that i gravitate towards it

[@swordzanderson5352]

@@crazyfriend50 me and my fat fingers walking into NKG and THK ground burst attacks AFTER dodging them successfully.

[@condor2279]

I parry by accident all the time.

[@Good_games555]

I remember the first time I faced Revek. I never thought "killing other ghosts" would be the solution, so I endlessly parried and dodged his attacks. More than 20 minutes had already passed when I finally began to think, "Wait, this is weird."

[@crazyfriend50]

Lol

[@Santiagocine1717]

Bro me toooo, but I have up after 10 mins

[@toiletpaper754]

lmao I counted the amount of times I hit him, I reached 70 and was like bro something ain't right

[@ricardobr1493]

Or you could...leave the room? Also why did you kill a ghost?

[@valentinpopescu98]

@@ricardobr1493 I can’t answer for him but I can answer for me: I killed the arrogant ones because why not

[@cupdog_spl]

"many beginners don't use spells" me, who has like 300 hours on the game and doesn't use spells like at all unless i absolutely need to: 👀

[@AshenDust_]

You never appreciate spells until you try to get the Speedrun achievements and absolutely melt Watcher Knights and THK with DDark (THK is actually pretty hard when you don’t have very many upgrades though)

[@N8crafter]

I learned to appreciate spells once I found out DDark has i-frames. Super useful in fights like pure vessel

[@EliasKaydanius]

i use spells on bosses i don't enjoy fighting, so i can end the fight faster. but fights like Mantis Lords? nail only

[@VitaEmerald324]

I abuse spells until I get to Pure Nail pretty much, and even then I’ll still use Abyss Shriek a ton.

[@williamthegoat1202]

@@AshenDust_ nah flukemarm and shaman stone is enuff for watcher knights lmao

[@Killroy007]

"side pogo is like pogo but more precise because you are on the side" me, a mark of pride user: *I DO NOT HAVE SUCH WEAKNESS*

[@dantealbarelli9338]

Ah, I see... A man of culture as well.

[@griglog]

Yeah, mark of pride + long nail = OP

[@iexist1300]

The key word here is more.

[@Halloweenharen]

@@griglog Honestly, mop id enough, leavr some space for fragile strength instead, much better imo

[@spamtongspamton9900]

[[Grubberfly’s Elegy]] + [[Buddy Build]]: YOU DARE [Oppose] ME, MORTAL?!

[@xchomphk.9788]

Spell stalls can save your life throughout the game. Especially uumuu and markoth :)

[@GreenYetti]

Just reading your comment gave me radiant markoth flashbacks. Never again!

[@krissellers5510]

Tbh I found umuu easy?

[@xchomphk.9788]

@@krissellers5510 just because uumuu is easy doesnt mean you cant get hit to it

[@krissellers5510]

@@xchomphk.9788 that's true

[@Johnald26]

XCHOMP

[@zzeethe1st451]

I play HK on a playstation. I can do things like spell stalls and side pogo, but I simply can't do slash cancelling. People don't seem to realize how different that makes it to play.

[@Link-fu7gi]

You can just slash up and turnaround. On d-pad its easier to pull of

[@Yoob-yh5gb]

Switch, me neither man Also it’s like two frames of time save a don’t care at all

[@fusronah2789]

I play on playstation as well and have got it down pretty well, I use the joystick rather than the dpad. Its a lot easier to hit cancel when looking upwards, as both animations are looking the way you want to hit. Same with downwards, though that's harder for other reasons -I managed to work out a pattern with Absrad fighting which includes it, which is how I beat her radiant- Doing it while trying to swing left or right, unless you can do it without thinking about it, is a waste of time since if you just mess and miss hits, it's not worth it. But it IS possible on playstation, just keep trying!

[@neoflame3140]

im on playstation too but i didnt realise it wa harder. i do it pretty consistantly but i have played for a while so its prob just practiice

[@cyandude3664]

​@@neoflame3140 your profile picture is telling me it's not just "a while". You're probably some kind of god from the way you downplay yourself.

[@tropeadope4532]

I remember once I parried by *total* accident when I was fighting one of the big dudes in the deepnest. I had no idea how I did it and very little motivation to try again.

[@megabigblur]

Stalking Devouts? Yeah me neither

[@cuboembaralhado8294]

You can do that to basically any enemy that atacks (some just run in your direction, but aside from them), so you can train with them. Those mosquitoes at green path are very interesting to use as training, as they recoil before atacking, showing the exact time to parry

[@tompi2.077]

Yeah me too

[@Im_Jakon]

Yeah these are cool, but as a skilled player I mainly just do whatever attack is the safest and most efficient, these seem to take too much prep and don’t allow for easy escapes

[@neonoir__]

Yeah most of the hard ones are just swag strats imo. Downward dashslash looks really cool though

[@spamtongspamton9900]

@@neonoir__ [[dds]] IS JUST [[Longnail + Mark of Pride]] BUT WITH [Extra] STEPS

[@firsa8824]

its only useful against hardcore mod boss/speedrun i think, you dont need it for normal unmodded challenges

[@mparker123]

Use the Quick cast button. It is a few seconds faster than if you hit the Focus button.

[@Sholver]

Wow really?

[@crazyfriend50]

@@Sholver yeah cuz the game has to decide whether you were spelling or healing

[@Sholver]

@@crazyfriend50 Wow ok thanks !

[@eriklarsen6790]

more like half a second at most but yes theres no reason to do spells with the focus button

[@megabigblur]

I really wish the keyboard/controller options menu would have some little text explaining that because I had no idea what the hell it was until I started watching this kind of tutorial KZbin videos.

[@crowpaper2882]

bom video. another useful one is using the double jump and nail at the same time. normally after you use a nail theres a little delay before you can double jump but pressing jump and nail at the same time removes the delay. helps me 3-4 hits where i can normally only get 1

[@HelloKitty167]

This game never gets old, I hadn't heard of some of these before!! Great work :)

[@Equimage_]

Great video! I might use the downward dash slash against markoth and finally be able to get ascended.

[@snowstorm5103]

That sounds like a death sentence if, you don't stand on a platform xD

[@svendinsvinderlin4569]

@@snowstorm5103 Using a regular nail on markoth is a death sentence so....

[@Galaxy-dw8lg]

Imagine radiant markoth then That is a thing I am never doing

[@Ani]

im at level 8, but my spell stalls are severely lacking. the damn abs rad nails get me every time

[@seineevee]

Hello

[@LumboDumbo]

Why not just dash through it instead of spell stalling? Unless you run out

[@GhostHunterDipperPines]

I’m at level 2 and I’m getting close to beating pantheon 5

[@stellart5664]

Seeing this list reminds me just how much I’ve yet to learn in this game

[@andymcclurg9916]

THANK YOU! I usually don't like combat tutorials but I loved the format with examples and context. Great video!!

[@Ankarin1]

6:33 when you flex so hard you can’t move right 1 cm

[@toastedbred2961]

it was to demonstrate the short ddark in the fight, but in reality i would move the 1cm lol

[@orenashes3961]

there are some great white palace skips you can do by side pogoing on wall spikes. also youre very good at the game holy moly

[@flyghtft8701]

This video is actually incredible, definitely a must watch

[@dabasil]

The fact that im good at everything except pogo is something else

[@thenorfnonly3486]

3:43 Holy (SHAW!), someone found a use for Dashmaster

[@TotallyNotSnowman]

5 seconds in the video and I already below level 0. I can't pogo shit man

[@chickennugget6684]

there’s a secret 11th level, what is it you might ask? Defeat AnyRadiance.

[@Sholver]

There is 12th level... And it's... Beating Primal Aspid

[@mrpe5517]

Then the secret 12th and 13th level, beat any radiance 2.0 and 3.0, now that is a challenge.

[@itsemick748]

There is secret 14th, 15th and 16th level no one knows(?), these are AnyRadiance 4.0, 2 AnyRadiances and AbsRad + AnyRad + AnyRad 2.0

[@IsaacTorresProf]

It is amazing how this game is open to so many ways of playing. I think I already knew some of those techniques, but I don't really think I can do most of them regularly. Anyways, shoutouts to you for the increase of subs in your chanel! Hope it keeps growing.

[@swordzanderson5352]

that's what happens when you leave in mechanics, even obscure ones, that aren't a necessity in fights: They become an option for optimisation, and from there, perfection and ascension, to the point where modded bosses NEED said mechanics, even the most obscure ones. That, imo, is what makes fights interesting. Same reflex number game, but still all so varied and unique.

[@ruberine2086]

i love how i do harder stuff like spell stalls and parrying pretty easily but cant fucking use a spell and a nail at the same time

[@rns6889]

Apparently the downwards dash slash is from my video damn I feel honored

[@sparchamp2]

Me trying to pogo without dying: interesting

[@samuelhuang2196]

5:02 Spell Stalls, also very useful for Path of Pain

[@marcosmendez6833]

I never thought of some of these techs to improve my combat, definitely will be applying them from now on

[@nightmare_symphony]

Great video, it's straight to the point and I learnt many things from here Thanks! You earned a sub

[@cyandude3664]

either I suck at the game or quickslash animation cancelling is too low in the list. I can and have utilized the ones that are 3 stars and below (excluding downwards downslash, I didn't even know you can do that) and can also do them consistently except of course the animation cancel. Unless the star ratings don't mean application and instead means doing it without any interference.

[@cyandude3664]

and I don't even know why I typed this out

[@neonoir__]

Yeah i can't do the slash cancels on controller but tried it on keyboard and it was pretty easy

[@karmagreif]

Every time I parry an attack I die inside because it doesn't give me the dopamine of that beautiful wet, crunchy hit noise.

[@tompi2.077]

True ahahah

[@domomcbeasty743]

I learned a lot of great stuff from this! Thank you!

[@gameeverything816]

Pretty neat. I didn't even know that you could parry. I'll have to try it.

[@evanwhite5704]

The downward dash slash right next to nkg is so funny when you could just great slash

[@gimmer6014]

Thats what I love about Hollow Knight. You dont need to be the best player ever to play or even finish it, but if you put time and effort into it, you are rewarded by getting better and getting a sort of satisfaction out of it that is hard to find in most games.

[@sunharvesterglobeeater5080]

When I first watched this video, all I could do was pogo Now I regularly use all of them except animation cancelling, dash canceling, downwards dash slash, and side pogos. Practicing side pogos now 😆

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

Side pogo is useful but I don't know if I've used it that much against bosses... But for navigating the world and especially in the path of pain, it's pretty helpful.

[@EaterOfGeese]

Side pogo is useless for most enemies

[@bigstix0614]

good vid, i didnt know that thing about the slash cancel thats pretty interesting ngl

[@parawing7064]

keep doing what you're doing your videos are cool easy to enjoy! just stay active.

[@Irish_Enderman]

Parry is not 4star difficulty It's like 3 at most Though I guess that depends on the boss you are fighting, parrying NKG(5stars) is much harder than parrying Broken Vessel(1-2stars)

[@blackmage1276]

Parrying that one nkg move is so easy wdym? A good example would be sly. So hard to pary

[@TheLaughingMan42]

To me parrying NKG is easier than Broken Vessel because NKG is straight reflex while I actually have to think about the timing for broken vessel.

[@prismoth]

i parried nkg 4 times in the same attack lmao then died immediately

[@lostjay9736]

The amount of times I parried Broken Vessel and Lost Kin lmao.

[@plugshirt1762]

@@blackmage1276what do you mean lmao sly is the easiest to parry. I beat him with parries by accident sometimes because of how much he attacks

[@mozart88]

me who doesnt use spells

[@silasthedoofice3380]

Why does your pfp match so well

[@Sonnic7]

There was some really neat information I could have used on my first playthrough

[@Slashoom]

I love dashmaster+sharpshadow so I will definitely be using that horizontal dash slash.

[@malynberger9737]

I’m watching this video in October 2022, 10 months after it was posted. The video said you just hit 40 subs, and now you’re at nearly 2.5k!!

[@billannala1709]

Very nice list however, i think one other thing to add would be imo the hardest or at least second hardest combat skill. Its the thing that abs rad speed runners do where they pogo, side slash, up slash and then pogo again so they stay in the same spot on top of absrad. However this could be labled as just pogoing but i think it is its own unique thing and is very hard.

[@rod0fdiscord]

I didn't know that by turning around on absrad while upslash quickslash spamming I was doing an advanced technique

[@neoselket562]

If you flex any harder your arms will fall off

[@yuzhifur]

I think the basicist move is pogoing a charging enemy or boss. People who don't know this shade dash through for example traitor lords dash attack, which is a bad idea.

[@NoNames-vw3bq]

Sharp shadow is better suited for that, longer reach & inflicts damage as you pass through the enemy. A regular shade cloak through is more likely to result in taking damage to yourself potentially twice in rapid succession.

[@tyrantrex-cf3jy]

Me who cant even do normal pogo: Hollow knight is not suitable for me.

[@VitaEmerald324]

Some bosses I get a lot of unplanned parries on. Soul Warrior is a notable example, I often hit it on its downward attack as it’s doing the slash motion.

[@Krillori]

great video! you’re and underrated channel and i hope you get more attentions

[@Krillori]

autocorrect lmao

[@onepoh4680]

Wait…can you parry?

[@valtaline4875]

"a jack of all trades is a master of none" I am a master of one art The "spamming quick nail long nail mark of pride and unb. Heart and unb strenght until whatever dies

[@selethag]

another trick for Radiance/Absrad is that you can ddark/dive the glowing spikes in the first couple phases which will keep you from taking damage and temporarily dismiss the spikes

[@adriancole745]

And here I was beating P5 at only level one lol.

[@IsaacJShillingford]

This will definitely make godhome at least a bit easier for me to beat, thanks for the tips

[@CharlotteMimic]

Canceling attacks into other actions into more attacks is SO cool

[@daniel-gx5bw]

I think i see another move, its like a combo in the air. You jump and hit 2 times, then uses the double jump and hit another 2 times

[@Stingray1706]

The charm combinations are important too, well you can do Baldur's shell and Shroom spore

[@JohnnyFromVirginia]

This was cool! I learned something today

[@alexandro8814]

i thought you were going to show the "pro pogo" that every speedrunner use in Radiance

[@Niiloc-kg9cv]

I once parried the pure vessel triple slash attack, most satisfying thing ever happened to me

[@tannerd37]

I saw the word parry, and my first though was parry the platypus.

[@azure663]

So the thing is I find myself an almost master of Nail-play, but am absolutely horrible at spells, I've only recently gotten to the point where I can somewhat consistently use my spells and nail together effectively, meanwhile I can actually get somewhat consistent parries against some bosses, if only the ones who are a little too zealous with their nail.

[@GlorytotheImperium]

Can you parry hornet?

[@magagocareca3400]

Why?

[@tompi2.077]

I think so

[@thegalaxy4388]

I got good at parrying on accident because my brain decides to adapt to the fight,I remember I parried an 8 hit combo from lost kin once

[@poisonedmaple6874]

yo what the fuck i wanna do an 8 party combo

[@Silksong_sketches]

hornet's voice in the greenpath song jumpscared me so bad

[@osimdra1063]

side pogo can also be useful in white palace or path of pain

[@vidigre]

Big note, you can actually also parry with sharp shadow

[@isaiahkepner8078]

That's pointless since you aren't taking damage anyway because shade cloak.

[@vidigre]

@@isaiahkepner8078 parrying still slightly interrupts their attack

[@isaiahkepner8078]

@@vidigre cool, I guess you could get an extra one or two hits in.

[@vuelle9816]

*Puts pogo as a stupidly easy move that anyone can do* Me, consistently failing it after over 80 hours of playing: :’)

[@greatestgrasshopper9210]

I used to use spells near the very beginning of my hollow knight experience, then I would run out of soul for healing. So that kinda disincentivized better fighting strategies lol

[@shady5604]

This was actually really helpful. Thanks 👍

[@Kuze_Oscar]

Souls are my estus flask, I rarely use them as offensive maneuver in hollow knight

[@kit-san4846]

When I fight the Pure Vessel, I do a weird combo of pogo-parry off his sword to pogo-parry on his head plus his sword if he doing the two slash attack to spell into his back or just anothing pogo to get some distance. Its hella risky... but I can't stop doing it, its so flashy.

[@DJ-skittles]

Parrying is my go to for NKG’s ground attack where he jumps up after

[@paultapping9510]

1:46 Lost Kin does that! It was trying to teach us!

[@Redd-rf4df]

you cannot speedrun path of pain without mastering the art of pogo dashing

[@Redd-rf4df]

or side pogoing

[@amberhernandez]

I don't even play HK, but here I am absorbing hours worth of content from it lmao. If only my PS4 had more storage space, aaaaa!!

[@bridgeseller7004]

I would highly recommend not spoilering the game too much if you're going to play it.

[@deadmemes719]

Parrying is the swaggiest thing in any video game ever imo

[@matthewkuhl79]

At 90ish hours, i am still a novice. i watch these videos and think, _"Man that looks easy."_ and proceed to go into a battle and get slaughtered promptly.

[@Simi_336]

Accidentally did the most clean spell stall on absrad once, never pulled it off since then

[@notaspider4084]

actually learned quite a bit from this video

[@TheLardzard]

That filthy resting grounds remix at the end tho

[@buzzsawenthusiast6006]

This is like 7 forms of light saber combat, but hollow knight

[@marxstarlight8169]

One thing I noticed is that you can bypass staggering when enemy intros and screams by opening your inventory right before they do it, that way you can hit them while they taunt you

[@e_rl4221]

parrying a parry from HK or pure vessel just feels like you say "no u"

[@EnabiSeira]

After I don't know how long I've tried the game again and OH BOY... Last time I played I loved Sisters of Battle and NKG, now I can't even pogo! I'm at level -10 xD Good video!

[@shonk132]

side pogos are easy and only two star: Proceeds to mess up all his side pogos

[@treymtz]

Man so many beginners would insta evolve just from learning that Descending Dark has a solid amount of s. Unless you looked it up/someone told you or got into the habit of experimenting new things often it you'd never know since the game won't tell you or give you a hint. Applying that knowledge to dodge hard attacks is basically a different level from not knowing that.

[@CrazyMindTheKing]

its actually kinda obvioua if you stop to think.

[@scp-049]

Pogo is really easy, but whenever you are first starting out it does take a bit to master the timing

[@maziksizik5601]

it being at 0 difficulty made me feel pain........ 50 hours in still cant learn it for my life

[@scarwkat]

Crazy speedrun thing. Really fun)

[@goomy6502]

Damn bro parried the parry of pure vessel

[@unknownturtle7736]

Great slash pogo literally cracked for nkg

[@RussianSpy4632]

Wait so you’re telling me I can play this like a souls-like and use parries like a dodge roll? New playthrough time

[@ragdraki1029]

Look, I know spells could increase my damage output by a lot but it makes the fights shorter so I’ll stick to just the nail

[@araikaslanyan1465]

I had no idead its possible to downdash and dashslash at the same time

[@Kuripar]

i never learned to do nails+spells even in absolute radiance

[@MatthewBrown64]

Me, accidentally parrying the mantises every 3 attacks: maybe I am good- Also me: dies to mantis lords 2nd phase

[@retrub]

I'm using 80% of this, but most of all the time I just dodging all attacks and hit when I can hit.

[@saeedodeh5084]

I usually just do whatever attack is the safest, and all my parries are just luck I wanna learn parrying cuz it rlly does make you feel like an unstoppable force lol