Are Hollow Knight's Worst Charms Really That Bad?

[@BlueSR]

Thank you all so, so much for 100 000 subs! i really appreciate it, and while it may be an arbitrary number barrier, it blows my mind that so many people enjoy these silly things that i've made. What's next for me? Well, i'm going to continue doing these things, and try to put more effort in, be a bit more ambitious, and also try to make and talk about things that matter in the grander scheme of things too, as i really want to create something meaningful that carries significance. :D yippee!

[@whimsilamb]

Congrats on 100 000! Exited for what's to come

[@minerman60101]

"Crystal Peak but it's my voice" being that next thing, of course

[@Antoronyx_]

@@minerman60101sealed vessel but it’s my voice

[@Mr.Smashton_Smasher]

For 200,000 subs show us your other hand

[@WeirdTroll666]

yippe!

[@fireb0rn]

thanks for the charm build blue i will use this to finally defeat gruz mother

[@aidenthegreat7795]

She's too hard any tips I'm sooooo bad I cannot beat her but I can beat watcher nights?

[@Immys_Art]

Might need to add thorns as well. You have too much control over the knight that way, meaning there’s more opportunity to mess up against such a difficult boss. The super consistent and meaningful damage it offers is also a vital part of why you want this on your gruz mother build. Good luck God Gamer!

[@tHaTsWhAtI.mSaYiNg]

Next fireborn video: p5 with the worst charm build possible

[@ThatDwag69]

Hey u gonna cover the silksong in mc thing

[@Mtscl32]

Radiant markoth got nothing on gruz mother

[@ATinCanOnYT]

A worse build: Jonis blessing, deep focus, glowing womb, quick focus You get overcharm with no healing, so both focus charms are useless

[@BlueSR]

This one’s pretty clever, actually. I could see this being a contender!

[@BookWyrmOnAString]

Why glowing womb? Shape of unn is worse if you can't focus

[@shirshobanerjee7751]

@@BookWyrmOnAString unn can act like a crouch because it shrinks your hurtbox

[@MarcosArranzSoriano]

Overcharming also makes Jonis completely useless

[@asheevee_]

go heavy blow rather than glowing womb imo-- since you can't heal, the downside of glowing womb eating your focus during a heal isn't there (yeah it's still bad but heavy blow is worse)

[@WetchopClips]

Beginners tip: Dream shield is very good and you should equip it whenever entering fog canyon 😊

[@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun]

Yeah even better - grimmchild, or any other minions charm as well)

[@CinnammonTree]

On my first playthrough I did flower quest going through fog canyon with dream shield, for some reason. I guess it made me feel safer in the different areas?? Somehow?? I'm not sure what I was thinking but it did work eventually

[@LS-jj4sy]

I almost never took dreamshield off during my casual playthrough

[@Meiyu1]

Nah, use Weaversong, it's better in Fog Canyon, as it will protect you from those big jellyfishes)) Ngl, Dreamshield sucks even outside FC

[@Quirkalicious_07]

as a beginner this was so helpful

[@stephenrhoades308]

I think having charms that actively hurt you but cost negative charm slots would be a good way to increase options with charms, especially since it could heavily increase potential for charm synergies. It would also be funny to watch people go for min charm slot usage runs

[@chloemchll3774]

I thought an interesting idea for a charm (or charms) is a charm where you get a choice- a weak version of the charm that costs 1 slot and a strong version that costs 3 or 4. I could see making a negative choice as well where the benefit is it gives you extra charm slots. To use a specific idea, instead of Mark of Pride and Longnail both being individual charms, make Mark the 3 slot choice, Longnail the 1 slot (and slightly weaker than in game), and the negative version makes your nail 25% shorter but you gain an extra charm slot.

[@wolfbeat6427]

I had a similar idea with "Daredevil Charms". My first thought was using the Nail, Soul and Mask Binding (Charm doesn't work for obvious reasons)

[@inerkatakan8161]

​@@chloemchll3774nooo that would lock you out of stacking longnail and mark of pride (i need to compensate for something)

[@chloemchll3774]

@@inerkatakan8161 As someone who first started out the game being all about maximizing the length of your nail because of how much easier it made pogoing enemies and a couple of boss fights, I feel you. That said, after getting good at the game (beating it a few times, beating radiance, starting to learn some speed run strategies, etc) I moved away from the nail being a main damage source to something I use mainly to charge my soul for the next spell or to open up new ways of moving through an area, the idea of stacking the two became less important to me to the point where I kinda forgot a lot of people use that build. Okay, my solution then is a 4th level of the charm that uses 4 slots and combines the new weaker long nail and Mark of Pride.

[@Rotem_S]

Rusted Moss has a few trinkets like that

[@YoshiFawful64]

In the defence of Heavy Blow, I feel like looking at it from a speedrun/optimization angle is really bad for it. I think it's mostly intended as a _defensive_ charm for new players who want to get a little more breathing room from more aggressive, in-your-face enemies.

[@РоманВорфоломеев-е7ы]

Same with glowing womb and dreamshield really. You focus more on dodging and learning enemy movement,while still doing some damage at a safe distance

[@Eragonnogare]

@@РоманВорфоломеев-е7ы Exactly, yeah.

[@Woomycraft1572]

Heavy blow defenders rise up!

[@auricdex8270]

It's great when going against the infected vengeflies in crossroads, which is a great place for farming. Add swarm and greed, and you've got a decent farming build.

[@mothcatcher893]

Yeah. Heavy blow is an important charm for players just not an optimal one.

[@hugoheintz]

having over 3000 hours on HK without having unlocked all the achievements is criminal

[@onadaTotihotiH]

I’m genuinely curious which ones are missing

[@jeremytewari3346]

He could never bring himself to let Zote die

[@klopsmmm]

He WHAT

[@LambdaTF2]

@@jeremytewari3346 I remember after he annoyingly said that he "didn't need rescuing" I just unintentionally left him to die and it was like my 3rd or 4th achievement.

[@BeamTrigger]

He has ran All Achievements before and then removed them that's why

[@Wallace_Horsey]

as an avid supporter of glowing womb, I'm hear to say that it's really an awful charm but who cares because cute little bug friends :3 (I also used it to beat radiance for the first time so I may be a bit biased)

[@HunterSuchy]

They are adorable, especially with defender's crest; then they're orange and squishy!

[@skelecow]

i agree wholeheartedly with this comment (i used the stinky glowing womb kids to help me beat nkg)

[@Old_Man_Miku]

It would be better if it didn't constantly prevent me from healing

[@laurawitch3099]

For a new player who can't for the life of them understand spells AND find a place to heal during combat then womb is a good charm for them. But for anyone else it's either a nerf or an emotional support buddy like Grimmy.

[@Wallace_Horsey]

@@Old_Man_Miku i think it really shines in fast-paced boss fights like radiance and nkg cause you don't have much time to heal anyway

[@kcStranger]

I actually used Glowing Womb on my first clear of the Radiance. At the time, I was still really uncomfortable using spells. So I ran it with a nail build, mostly focused on dodging, and just got some free "passive" damage. Radiance not staggering also eliminated one of the normal downsides. I have since learned to play the game properly and would never run it nowadays, but at the time it unironically felt pretty useful.

[@BORN753]

Yeah, I didn't use spells either my first playthrough.

[@Eragonnogare]

I feel this

[@khajiitimanus7432]

Hmm. For the sake of memes, then perhaps the best charm build for Glowing Womb is a Fury of the Fallen nail build? If you don't intend to get hit or use spells, then ya don't need Soul. Might as well get extra damage.

[@MainTopmastStaysail]

@@khajiitimanus7432 Even there, having Descending Dark as an i-frame panic button is probably more useful.

[@Silksong_when...]

The hand reveal might be the most hopeful thing since the leth interveiw

[@dexnacorn7807]

The what?

[@Silksong_when...]

​@@dexnacorn7807 1:24 😉

[@Semi-GD]

Yippeee!!

[@TheGallicWitch]

I'm sorry but I'll defend Weaversong to my dying day. It always has a place in my build. I don't use nail arts so it takes the place that Sly's charm would (sorry can't remember the name off the top of my head) and I always pair it with Grubsong. I'm a disabled player with pretty poor hand response so I'm not the best at moving quickly and punishing bosses. So the way I play HK is to be a pretty good tank with an abundance of soul so I can use and abuse charms instead of hitting things repeatedly on the head like most top players recommend/do. Btw this is advice for disabled players who struggle with the game, I guess. I was a very bad player who struggled a lot for a long time. But tbh Weaver+Grub saved me. Now I get the soul that I would normally get if I was able to hit bosses as fast as others are, so I can cast spells and heal pretty reliably, meaning I can get through bosses semi-easily, it just takes me longer. It made me a bit better at dodging (not that much, re: poor hand response) but barely juuust good enough that paired with these two charms and essentials like Shaman and Strength I can now beat the game without wanting to tear my hair out in frustration. So all hail Weaversong, I won't stand for this slander anymore

[@Laezar1]

Weaversong is really not awful! it's not amazing but it's helpful. It's by far the best familiar charm

[@calvindang7291]

Weaversong is actually pretty usable! Note that the slander went on the other two charms :p The weaversong + grubsong combo actually saves the charm and makes it surprisingly viable.

[@katherinesmallbean3594]

Weaversong + Grubsong combo is one of my favorites. I'm not very good at the game, so them damaging enemies and collecting soul for me just feels more secure, ya know? Plus they're adorable!

[@horserummy]

weaversong fanclub 🗣️

[@icsgaming5371]

Add grubberfly to that, each hit will fill up your soul quite a bit more. Grubberfly, grubsong, and deep focus make you virtually invincible in white palace and path of pain. Mostly because of the grubberfly + grubsong combo.

[@LittleGhostxd]

All charms can be used strategically in their own way PLUS HAND REVEAL!!

[@vkvaran6338]

0:57 "3,114.2 hours" "ACHIEVEMENTS: 59/63"

[@balltickler762]

he most likely reset it at some point

[@vampireknight5821]

0:56 is a speedrunner with over 3k hours but still doesnt have all achievements 💀

[@rostbot2885]

I, for one, will never leave Zote to die, that little cutie!

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

He has done an All Achievements speedrun

[@laith8116]

@@rostbot2885 I'll never save Zote, ever!

[@rostbot2885]

@@laith8116 I'm gonna suspect that you already saved him once, albeit accidently...

[@laith8116]

@@rostbot2885 Unfortunately, you are right. But that's a mistake I'll never do again!

[@theok7423]

7:44 _most importantly_, it lets you get 101 egg

[@Γιώργος-ε3τ]

personally, the first time i equipped dream shield it was in kingdoms edge with all the primal aspids and it blocked so many of their projectiles and thats why i love dream shield

[@MichalWardt]

When I played the first time, I didn't think of the dream shield as a good thing, but after a few playthroughs I thought it was super useful charm, because its not only blocking something that's flying to you, but it removes it if the shield touches it my all time favorite charm but you must know how to use it .❤

[@kevinfetters7040]

Joni's Blessing massive mask spam was what I used to beat the end of Pantheon 5 for the first time so it'll always have a soft spot for me, didn't have to feel like I'd focus on anything other than dodging and hitting when I could which helped a lot vs Absolute Radiance as I could fairly consistently beat first phase without getting hit and only really struggled on second phase snowballing too hard so all that extra health was actually really nice, and funny enough glowing womb was the final charm slot, no need to heal and free chip damage just felt satisfying haha.

[@essneyallen6777]

I used Joni to learn Grimm's patterns, because at the beginning he flattened me too soon and I couldn't get a grasp on the fight!

[@kubad1420]

YO BLUE!! Nice to see you again! Challenge: Do a speedrun using this build

[@relaxed_llama_edits]

I would love if he did that omg

[@HarryTMason]

a speedrun race where you pick the oppositions charm build (using max notches) could be very fun and give an extra level of strategy

[@leinad1110]

One thing that glowing womb has going for it is that each hatchling causes one staggerhit

[@CinnammonTree]

Doesn't help much when they immediately attack during stagger

[@leinad1110]

@@CinnammonTree I saw someone using it on a modded nag, there it works

[@leinad1110]

NKG

[@aniznox]

Use it with the charm u get by killing the mud boss (football one) then it will give high damage charm name is chest or something like this

[@liampouncy7808]

It's probably been said a bunch online in different places but it's just struck me what I feel makes so many charms 'bad' in Hollow Knight: the pacing. During my first playthrough I didn't use Shaman Stone or Spell Twister at all, but that was fine. Instead I just loaded up on Longnail/ Mark of Pride/ Fragile Strength, which you can get very early on. There was never a point where these were the 'best' charms I had access to. It's either you're playing through the game and use *some* of the best charms, or you're doing godhome and use the best charm builds. For me it sort of ruined what should have been the wonder of finding a cool, new charm. I hope that Silksong doesn't give access to the best stuff so early on.

[@dimaginarylaw]

Funny because Shaman Stone and Spell Twister definitely are some of the best charms in the game

[@liampouncy7808]

@@dimaginarylaw Yup. Godhome and 100%ing steel soul have really put that into perspective. Point being it's even more nuts that even not considering those two I had no reason to use the low tier charms. :/

[@calvinhong4276]

woah when i was a beginner player i loved the minion charms, not having to attack and focusing only on dodging was super relieving especially for the stressful pantheons at first.

[@00Cubic]

0:56 3k+ hours and still not all achievements

[@zefile]

deep focus is actually REALLY insane in the right build. deep focus+quick focus+shape of unn+thorns+grubsong, makes the game trivially easy. you can heal back any damage you get hit for, doing insane thorns damage in the process. the deep/quick/unn synergies also make it really easy to heal. i beat pantheon 5 with this and it honestly is peak for an endurance test like that.

[@gamingtime468]

finally, some innovation! i am a more simple, directly dps oriented person who dodges and keeps nail spamming the boss, but it's nice to see a unique idea again. consider: quick slash+strength+shaman stone+defender's crest+steady body

[@zefile]

@@gamingtime468 besides defender's crest and steady body this is pretty standard yeah

[@cael5118]

you could also not use deep focus and the same build would be 10x better

[@zefile]

@@cael5118 no, it really wouldn't. why do people with zero experience with things insist on being so confident? i can guarantee you've not tried either.

[@katherinesmallbean3594]

@@cael5118 Nahh deep focus is an important part of this build

[@EmilyMemily-it3xp]

I use heavy blow consistently on nail art builds. It doesn’t hurt nail art builds, since you WANT time to recharge and also, the stagger bonus lets you fire off more of the STRONGEST ATTACK IN THREE GAME. It might not be that good, but if it were one notch, it’d be great.

[@LukeBurdick-cb7xm]

And then there’s me. In my first play through, my exploration charms were Wayward Compass, Gathering Swarm, Kingsoul, Sprintmaster, Dashmaster, and Grubsong. I loved Kingsoul, and kept it for hours. I didn’t even get voidheart until I learned that you needed it for p5. I even beat all three colosseums with Kingsoul equipped. (It was really useful for the shielded fools and the grub mimic because I could reach full health/soul.

[@K-yu-ko8dv]

couldn't you dreamnail the shielded fools?

[@LukeBurdick-cb7xm]

@@K-yu-ko8dv Yeah, but I liked kingsoul because it could also be used against faster enemies/ when there was no floor.

[@Retrophoenix-]

I did not know about the leg eater discount with defenders crest. THANK YOU. I was literally on my way to pick up those charms to feed them to whats her face at the grimm troupe tent.

[@shadevp8924]

I can't agree about the total uselessness of Glowing Woomb. It really helped me to complete some fights (including the 2nd Colosseum and Failed Champion). You see, I am a lame player and really struggled with those fights. But having all pet charms + Grubsong allowed me to just stay in the very top (left or right walls of the arenas) and let the pets do the work. Yes, it was very long and not guaranteed, but still I managed to win over. So, even those charms that you deem to be completely useless and even harmful in general, can be useful.

[@44almm]

i came to say the same

[@secretmeister]

WAIT, how am I a only a year younger than you?? I could never create content like this, its incredibly impressive! I adore your content, really anything longform about hollow knight. Congrats on 100k!

[@greygimple6939]

bros younger than me and absolutely crushing it, definitely did some Robert Johnson deal with the devil type shit isgt

[@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun]

I'm a year older myself and can say the same thing, I'm really impressed in a best way possible

[@cosmiccomet2327]

Heavy Blow is great in most spike/liquid areas, as you can knock the enemies into environmental dangers. It's pretty fun and it kills them instantly. Quite satisfying to use it on flying mantises in that one vertical spiky room at Queen's Gardens.

[@SpadeOfAces55]

My radiance TE build, on my first playthrough, was hiveblood / dreamshield / lifeblood core. It worked better than it had any right to.

[@EaterOfGeese]

Fun fact: you can stagger a boss 137 times. No tricks, just go fight it and stagger it 137 times. Going to godhome and fighting lost kin on ascended with grubberfly's elegy, heavy blow, and old nail, and making sure to only use the grub nail hits and combo lost kin to stagger it more (search stagger combo on wiki) will let you stagger it 137 times before it dies. Poor thing.

[@stencillpencill]

I’m pretty sure that you can infinitely stagger false knight (not in godhome) if you manage to stagger him again before he falls through the floor. I was doing a randomizer and had wraiths when fighting false knight so it might not be possible edit: it might be possible if you get the false knight door destroy secret thing and get spirit and then refight false knight, if it’s still not possible you can get shaman stone by doing a shade skip or you could just get dash and then get up to salubra normally.

[@Stefan2010a]

@@stencillpencill False knight drop is useless,you can beat the whole game without it so in theory and practice yeah, you can get a pure nail with a nail build and go infinitely

[@thespookysoub]

yknow, defenders crest is actually kinda one of my staple charms lol. esp for broken vessels/soul warriors ghosts. i’m not particularly good at games, so i spend a lot of my time dodging. not having to worrry abt the ghosts at all helps. and i’m a very cautious player. so getting some extra damage in by hanging around the boss but not having to actually hit it is kinda nice! if it were anything more than one notch, nah, but it’s a good little buffer to have i think lol (ik defenders crest isn’t rlly in the video as one of the worst charms, but yknow xD) nice video, blue!! congrats on the milestone!!!!

[@gamingtime468]

defender's crest is even better when you *are* good at the game! if you spend a lot of time close to the boss and hitting it, the passive cloud damage literally splits the game time in half.

[@katherinesmallbean3594]

Defenders creat was a life saver when I first fought broken vessel! I was dying so much until I thought of trying it, and suddenly all those awful balloon enemies were no problem.

[@blipblop5757]

I could'nt have done the lost kin without it. I was malding so bad due to those orange fucking blobs before I discovered I could use Defenders Crest. And then I paired it up with that Mushroom Charm and it made lost kin trivial.

[@Drake-_-]

I hate thorns. Uses your i-frames to deal a tiny bit of damage and can't move out of the animation so you are likely to get hit again. I do think that just adding thorns to the BlueSR worst charm build would make it worst in more situations.

[@stary_kartofel2137]

AND it kills the enemy which you could have killed with your nail for soul for a heal

[@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun]

Aaand I would be a guy to defend thorns even just a little bit. Yeah, for experienced player this is complete trash, but for a beginner, would be more comfortable overall in exploring. For bosses - useless, sure, but for small enemies, especially flying ones, for a new player would be much easier to rely on thorns damage, wich in most cases would kill a bug that hit you, than try to use given i-frames to kill it yourself.

[@asterism343]

it's really good if you suck at the game tho

[@stanislawwitkowicz918]

​@@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSunExactly. If we were to rank charms just by the number of their uses, Thorns would get a 2 out of 5, which translates to "only in certain games". Specifically, your first two to three games. It's bad, could be better, but it's still not the worst by any metric.

[@Drake-_-]

@@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun I am casual. I used compass for most of the game and beat it once. I think I remember dying to them cause I got stuck in the thorns animation. I never used them after

[@RustyhairedAlp9575]

14:38 now p5 with it >:3

[@kaye6706]

i have a love/hate relationship with dream shield. i think it's really funny that it dinks when it touches geo but i also think that same thing is annoying as hell

[@gamingtime468]

dream shield is entirely terrible. it has almost all the downsides of glowing womb and costs 1 extra notch

[@lukedavies5728]

I think that heavy blow is really useful for newer players - players who are not used to the slash speed (without quickslash) and have trouble dodging enemies. Being able to hit an enemy farther away so that you can either heal or get your bearings is pretty helpful imo. It is also really good for colo 3 when youre on a platform above spikes so that you can instakill them by knocking them into the spikes whether your a new or experienced player. But for bosses and experienced players its..... terrible

[@jesseburgener442]

It may be very conditional, but I could see heavy blow being useful for knocking flying enemies into spikes in the Colosseum

[@GhostOfJapan]

Also the jellyfish in fog canyon

[@LixLorn]

I really like glowing womb. It's just so nice to have this constant supply of friends/kids to help me in my battle, and if I'm playing well I don't need to heal much, and I've always focused more on nail than spells. ...that said I can't claim it's GOOD. even back then when I sucked at using spells I was a bit frustrated by it. rip. x

[@Ramp4ge28]

Quick focus + deep focus + jonny's blessing

[@gamingtime468]

+ shape of unn

[@Ramp4ge28]

@@gamingtime468 oh yeah

[@gamerdomain6618]

@@gamingtime468 Quick Focus w/ Shape of Unn is incredibly fast movement with a reduced hitbox. Heavy Blows instead.

[@Jawrones]

quick focus + deep focus + spore shroom + defenders crest (watch the magic happen)

[@silverbolt6699]

I think the shell charm should have healed cracks you gain from blocking when you healed the knight. Literally no point to just have 4 total blocks.

[@Buyo200]

Yooo good vid!! If I may though, can I defend the bad charms for a bit? 😂I think HK players are overly harsh on them for the very specific reason that... They're too good at the game. A LOT of these bad charms were probably balanced and designed for people (like me) who are not as good. Explanation: If you have the reflexes to dodge the bosses while attacking like a quickslash equiped mad lad while also optimizing use of spells/DPS then indeed yes, there is no reason why you'd use anything other than Shaman Stone, Quick Slash, etc... But what if you don't? THAT's where these sucky charms will play a hand at helping the player. Going in the order you showed them in the vid: Joni's Blessing. You said it. Players who can't fight well can just cheat bosses by facetanking them. 4 notches is honestly a good cost for a literal "get past free card when i can't dodge this boss". Facetanking a boss is actually breaking them so TC had to be conservative in not making it literally broken. Deep Focus. Deep Focus + Grubsong makes you practically invincible on the map. 15 soul for getting hit and 33 soul to heal 2 hits. It's useless if you can traverse the map safely, but if you're a clumsy player getting impaled on every spike and taking hits from the random enemy you face, it WILL KEEP YOU ALIVE. And even if you use it without Grubsong, you literally have double amount of health/healing, it's a lifeline. Not to mention Quick Focus + Deep Focus will make a purely heal build that i'm sure it was useful to someone struggling to stay alive with a boss out there. Dream Shield. Well, Dream Shield defenders got this one. If you're struggling with being overwhelmed by enemies like in the colosseum, Dream Shield can literally save you from that one last infection shot or finish that enemy too close for comfort. Giving yourself another hitbox to hurt enemies is never bad. Unless you're a god at the game, then yes, you alone do more damage. But that's the point. Not everyone is. I can imagine Dream Shield would have been super exploitable if TC didn't give it a recharge time. Now the big ones: Glowing Womb. The thing with Glowing Womb guys, it's that it's passive damage. You don't work for it at all. You just get free damage on things. If this thing was STRONG, you'd get a lot of "i won the game by doing nothing" situations. So it is by design of not breaking the game that Glowing Womb alone cannot win you fights. And here's the catch. How many new players have you guys seen that used only nails and never used spells? There's a lot of them and I speculate that GW was designed with the pure intent of "giving you spell damage that you don't have to aim, cast or worry about". I won't defend it from taking your heals away or blowing jellyfish, that's awkward, but that's also probably the reason why the minions in Silksong appear to be manually deployed and will use a tool slot and not the silk used for healing, so TC is aware and corrected that. Also full full admission that I'm a grub player, so I used GW to defeat NKG for the first time because dodging and staying alive took all I had. I had zero extra bandwith to use the soul i was collecting 😂 Doing damage while dodging is not bad, and I think it's fair that it's not big damage for literally not attacking. Heavy Blow. See, even Heavy Blow I think you guys are looking at it from the wrong perspective. It sucks as an offensive charm because I don't think it is. I think it is a defensive charm. Sure you have less DPS when you throw enemies far and are trying to hug them... But you know what else happens when your enemies are standing farther? They don't hit you. Heavy Blow literally gives slower players more time to react and reposition. Gives you more time to time your pogos (although you lose altitude). It literally slows down the pace of the game. So sorta subtle slight easy mode. I'm a grub, again, I never use quickslash because i don't have the reflexes to spam the nail without getting hit eventually, so Heavy Blow is actually fun to use to throw enemies on spikes, especially in the colosseum. Anyway that's it, those are my two cents. Cool vid Blue. I love me some HK niche discussions, looking forward to whatever you cook next :D

[@BlueSR]

That’s a great perspective! I think you’re correct on most fronts, but as i’m analyzing from my perspective of squeezing every last drop of optimisation out of things, these nuances go down the garbage along with the charms themselves hahah. Glad u liked the vid :3

[@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun]

1:19 no you're amazing! Tysm for your incredibly good content. I'm really happy I discovered the HK community, it's so great, and you're IMO one of the best HK KZbinrs out there. The fact that you achieved such heights before even turning 18 is such an awesome and actually very inspiring thing! Keep up with your work. Love your content

[@aurelux385]

i think this game's worst charm is radiant markoth even if he's not a charm.

[@switchstar098]

I love deep focus, it's what carried me through the entire game! The double healing during bosses did me so much wonders!!! Especially with Basin Hornet, Nightmare king Grimm, and a few other bosses

[@bearantarctic5843]

10:14 Gotta love the cut before showing how you ddraked into the void Happens to the best

[@Stefan2010a]

Drake referenced?

[@bearantarctic5843]

@@Stefan2010a hell nah

[@Stefan2010a]

@@bearantarctic5843 hell yeh

[@Tropical_Tutorials]

I'd love to see a full speedrun with this charm build (with a mod giving you the notches and charms at the start, since playing without them would be easier)

[@Poke_JR77]

Glowing womb looks like sad SpongeBob when his nose drops down

[@MarkAlias314]

Another video! Let's go! I am glad to say that I was there when you hit 100,000 subscribers and when you did the hand reveal. It was a great time. Just wanna say congratulations again for the 100k milestone. Can't wait until you get to a million!

[@Pending_Rainfall]

1:18 yippee yippee yippee

[@Stonesword_]

Heavy Blow is good for more casual players who instead of minmaxing their damage instead gotta focus on dodging and stayin alive, because it gives a bit of breathing room and time to dodge the next attack. Also kinda good for colloseum imo, you can just throw things into spikes easily

[@abyssal_beans]

One thing you didn’t mention is the anti-synergy with glowing womb and deep focus, since the longer heal time opens an even bigger window for glowing womb to burn enough soul to waste your heal

[@squidkid642]

I'm trying this build right now for a Steel Soul run, and the heal still works even if your soul is sapped from you by the minions

[@AlbedoR34]

Ive been an avid dream shield defender since i was born. I love that charm and the noise makes me happy

[@DrTrayCreeper]

3000 hours not 100% achievements? Go to the hunters journal purgatory

[@fanaticalgoose5130]

Deep focus is in the BEST (unironically) build in the game (I first tried Nailsage Sly) This build makes ANY damage you take meaningless and it is completely brainless to use, here is the build that can kill every boss in the game: Deepfocus: Heals you for 2 every heal Quickfocus: Works beautifully with deepfocus and shape of unn Shape of unn: Makes you not be a sitting duck and shrinks your hitbox (free heal) Spore shroom: healing damage, not a lot but it adds up in the long game (you will be healing A LOT) Grub song: Gives you even more healing and allows complete brain dead plays This build makes it so that if you get hit, you punish the boss, you will NEVER DIE with this build.

[@erierierierierie]

alternatively: quickslash, quick focus, stalwart shell. 3 notches left over for anything you want. qs means you get good damage in on the boss (unlike spore shroom). qf + stalwart allow you to heal during s, meaning as long as you're only being hit for 1 damage, you can stall infinitely with good enough soul generation, while making that stall far more bearable with good combat charms.

[@pentasquare]

Why is the audio glitchy??? Edit: nevermind it might be just me

[@JeffLikesArson]

It’s not

[@Guyonyoutube-ie8fz]

If ur talking about the cut at foreshadowing, it’s because everyone has heard it a billion times. If ur talking about the glitchy effect at the last yippee, it’s intentional

[@pentasquare]

@@Guyonyoutube-ie8fz nah it's a probably an issue on my side

[@Philyshark7]

its glitchy for me too

[@fake_emperor365]

Yeah I noticed it too. Audio sorta "jumps" every few seconds. Really noticeable sometimes like at 3:34 when he says "Hollow"

[@ZER0__0NE-_-]

YOUR 18! AND YOUR THIS ACCOMPLISHED. Absolutely amazing

[@heyfiona7492]

Weversong is a good charm if you use it with grubsong you get soul every time the spiders hit an enemy

[@ShadestheMothman]

Exactly! You see the vision!

[@yyaaee2610]

In defence of heavy blow i found it actually usefull when doing Sly on radiance. The build i was using was mark of pride, longnail, strengh, steadybody and heavy blow. it alowed me to get more safe hits on him and run away more easly. I know its not the most optimal way but i had a lot of satisfaction needing to take of the optimal damage output for a nonconventional build that in the end worked out way better. (sorry for bad english, its not my first language)

[@Rtificer]

Grimm Troupe But It's Just My Voice when?

[@yovelregensburger6002]

A pretty great use case for deep focus is to stack it with shape of unn and quick focus 1.2× speed and reduced hitbox while healing and the extra heal time actually allows you to properly dodge attacks, and if you stack grubberfly's elegy and grubsong to deep focus (as long as you can consistently heal) you are literally immortal. Great for white palace and path of pain.

[@glitchingnumber]

If I remember correctly I used that first combo on my first time beating ON or at least shape of unn + deep focus

[@Barquevious_Jackson]

0:48 HBomberGuy really did just invent the worst joke ever. I hate this more then that morbius line "is the X of all time" like guys, for the love of god, can we stop with the self aware bits in which we do a thing, point out, and do it anyways? Let me watch the video bro, shut up, don't spoil the ending god damn! I'm begging bro. I would actually like the foreshadowing if you didn't point it out.

[@wetburntbagel]

it was still kinda obvious without the foreshadowing

[@DutchBlackMantha]

My first playthrough I had dreamshield equipped for a long time. Mostly, what it did was make me feel I was fine just dodging, since I was guaranteed a bit of damage any way. That way, I could learn to dodge first, and only go for hits when I had an opening. So not so much the effect of the charm itself was useful, but my reaction to it.

[@kiriyalwasp]

I would like to remind anyone who happens upon this comment that kingssoul does, in fact, exist

[@De1taF1yer72]

This comment is propaganda by the Pale King. No evidence supporting the existence of the King Soul has ever been found. Don’t believe the Pale King’s lies.

[@colourbright1159]

In my last playthrough after a long break I actually found kingsoul good for overcharming when delivering flowers to every possible recipient and some radiant bosses (Markoth and oblobbles, mainly), so it is at least somewhat useful sometimes! Not with glowing womb though, that is still worse than just casting shade soul at everything...

[@frawzch.048]

Its bad but its mainly for story porpouses so it is forgiven becouse lore

[@RosaliaEmerald]

we need a speedrun category with this build now

[@melanciaagridoce]

0:39 I NEED that sound effect please anyone knows the name or how I can find it?

[@themistymagixen]

I think it's from Undertale/Deltarune? Probably from the newer of the two, but I couldn't tell you where in deltarune it would be.

[@skree5999]

Search up On Sight sound effect, it’s from a Kanye west song of that name

[@melanciaagridoce]

@@skree5999 omg thank you so much, I was trying to find it for my partner, they got do happy :D

[@SNTBX]

Its from a Kanye West song On Sight- Kanye West

[@Charlie_374]

@@themistymagixenlmao it’s on sight by Kanye

[@wallyksilva5281]

The dream shield reflectt the guardians beams,didnt help much but theres a thing most of people dont know.

[@eelmail2077]

Now beat P5 with the charm build lol.

[@user-fr4hg8md5p]

I just want to say weaversongs actually pretty good in a spell build with grubsong You literally never need to use your nail at all to do consistent spells if you add twister

[@viva4636]

bro how can you have 3000 hours in hollow knight and not have 63/63 achievements?

[@ivana6382]

Was wondering the same thing lol

[@bigfireaxe5403]

He resets the game pretty often

[@Vetrical]

​@@bigfireaxe5403why?

[@lack7940]

All achivement runs​@@Vetrical

[@Vetrical]

@@lack7940 but why reset them on steam too? you'd just need to reset it in the game

[@magtea92]

thanks for the great video blue! I remember using defenders crest +glowing womb+ dreamshield +weaversong +grimmchild for radiance fight once, and it was kinda hilarious since dung bombs were all over the mighty goddess's face

[@Crazy_Dave_-lv2pu]

I didn't realize that you're only a few months older than me. wtf

[@essneyallen6777]

Deep focus+grubsong was my "I'm so bad at platforming" crutch build, like for Sheo's gauntlet. A lot of the suboptimal charms are beginner friendly little helpers (like thorns, joni, weavers, soul catcher...)

[@rayseodium]

How the heck do you not have all achievments yet after 3k hours? Blue you are fraud

[@JustALittleGhostOfHallownest]

I think every charm has a niche that makes it useful. There are only a couple I haven’t used, and even those I can concede are decent in some cases.

[@JohnDoe-ev8fk]

Is the audio screwed up for anyone else?

[@jaash7981]

I used a Joni's Blessing/Lifeblood build to beat GPZ my first time because i didn't want to deal with his annoying fight lol. Stalwart Shell also. Niche application, but Glowing Womb is also good for early randomizers when you need to clear Elder Baldurs.

[@donnurk3523]

3k hours, still doesnt have all achievements, lmao

[@dungq-g5s]

Fantastic video, BlueSR. Great editing and humor got me good. Keep at it! I'm surprised you didn't talk about Kingsoul due to extremely high notch cost + slow regeneration of SOUL build-up. It's useful for earlier pantheons for survivality, then at some point it's better to pick up Dreamwielder before the player peaked at the Pantheon's final bosses. My friend played the funny strat with Markoth's ascended/radiant mode. They pick up Glowing Womb + Kingsoul. Somehow they actually defeated him with little nail arts attacks and shaman's stone spells, letting it be passive then abuse the overcharming build. It was slowest way to get him done. We were hoping that Godseeker mode allow us to play two charms such as Kingsoul & Carefree Melody, but it replaces as a Void Heart & Grimmchild. Exploring this game is fun anyway, we don't mind replaying it.

[@damoonguy3743]

0:57 3000 hours in the game and you still don't have all achievements? Interesting...

[@Tom-et5gy]

icl i liked glowing womb because i got it early asf (my hk nerd friend told me i wouldnt be able to get it so i spent 20 mins getting through the spike tunnel without crystal heart) and it acc helped me when i was bad at control for some bosses

[@countcrocodile1115]

Heavy blow isn't bad, you're just not using it properly and expecting it to do what you want rather than what it does. When i was first playing the game Heavy Blow allowed me to keep enemies at a distance, learn their moves better if they required timing to react to, and keeping them at bay if they were swarming me from multiple directions. It's not a dps charm but ome geared to give you a breathing room from opponents, and at that it does it's job decently well. Stop slandering it when you claim it's purpose is a detriment, it simply doesn't fit your playstyle, but it does so for a lot of beginer players who aren't as accostumed to things like spells or like to save their soul when exploring

[@Adroitbit]

0:40 Man...I *NEED* that... Sending Every monsters to see Radiance is a *MUST*

[@watsonjunior85]

glowing womb have niche use if you have skill issue. In a boss fight that you can wall jump you can combine it with kingsoul to beat a boss u aren't skilled enough to beat just by walljumping. I beat failed champion the first time by doing this

[@DariuusMusic]

Heavily enjoyed this video, truly a banger, no but really, the true peak of human creativity and ingenuity.. Truly a life-changing experience. Loved it!

[@Zero-eu4sx]

0:41 I saw that...

[@Gnome10]

Here's a nice Heavy Blow build, just because... Heavy Blow, obviously. Steady Body for less recoil. Sprintmaster for faster recoil recovery. Quick Slash for faster attacks. Longnail for better reach. Either Strength for higher damage. If you're okay with overcharming you can replace Longnail with Mark of Pride.

[@GMPranav]

Replace deep focus with king's soul in the last build and you are set. Because honestly deep focus might be accidentally useful somewhere.

[@mous3kteer]

The problem with that is that King's Soul's constant soul refill partially negates Womb's problem of making the player constantly out of soul. With Deep Focus' long heal time, you're almost guaranteed to never be able to heal, since you'll never stay above 1 cast worth of soul long enough. Without it and with regenerating soul, you could probably heal fairly often.

[@Dungeon_Dunce2011]

But kingsoul makes glowing womb break even with soul cost, so hat would make he build better.

[@notveryimmortal7350]

The thing is that specifically overcharming for Deep Focus is what makes it actively harmful. With Deep Focus, you heal slower, but restore 2 health instead of 1. When overcharmed, you take double damage from all sources, meaning instead of most things doing 1 damage to you, they now do 2 damage. So in the end, you just heal slower without actually getting any benefit from it, because your extra point of healing is directly offset by taking an extra point of damage.

[@weasel_in_a_tophat]

Actually, I have found 1 use case for Glowing Womb: it makes going through soul sanctum much easier. The mages who often teleport when you get within nail distance don't dodge the flies, and theres plenty of soul pots lying around so you don't need to worry about running out of soul. But yeah, its generally a trash tier charm

[@HenryBuck-mh8zc]

I'm surprised that with 3000 hours you haven't gotten all achievements

[@PlebBora]

he has an all achievements speedrun posted on this channel 😭

[@EmpinadoMaxbmdggTheSun]

Well I have over 500hours and... Yeah, hunters mark was always too annoying for me to finish, so I think I'll never get all achievements because I'm too lazy for that)

[@HenryBuck-mh8zc]

​@@PlebBora @0:55 it says he missing 4 achievements

[@PlebBora]

@@HenryBuck-mh8zc because you can reset your steam achievements? my guy, blue literally speedran all achievements. it is a video. it exists. it will take you literally 5 seconds of scrolling to find it.

[@PlebBora]

@@HenryBuck-mh8zcnot sure if my previous reply went through but you can reset your steam instance of hollow knight. he has a speedrun of all achievements on literally this channel, it would take you 5 seconds of scrolling for you to find it. runners can sometimes reset their hollow knight data to start from a fresh file, it's a thing that happens. he just hasn't bothered to redo all of them again

[@harryshell212]

100k subs before silksong. Congrats... 😭

[@LolO36675]

1:38 seems like you got a little too excited there

[@autismandgaming4532]

I can’t wait to see people attempt pantheon 5 with the build you suggested

[@OliyTC]

Fully went into this expecting compass to be mentioned since it does nothing but charms being actively harmful actually made it not worth mentioning which was a twist to me

[@Link-dx1lx]

As much as it's memed on, for a casual (first) playthrough compass is super useful especially if you're like me and suck at directions

[@quietlychaotically]

@@Link-dx1lx i'm on my twelfth playthrough and i still use compass lol (i am very, *very* bad at directions)

[@Link-dx1lx]

@@quietlychaotically yeah I still sometimes use it just switch it out for boss fights now😅

[@RR-dh2ub]

Tbf most of the better charms for damage are also super dull. Like a bigger that attacks faster is not nearly as fun as a mini spider army with a magic shield flying around you

[@Mikry._.]

Hey man, congrats on 100'000 subs, you actually deserve it and are a great youtuber, keep up the good work, cant wait to see you grow more!

[@the_godbodor7026]

Dream Shield actually did help me when doing a Randomizer once. Managed to get a bunch of quick dreamers and so went to fight THK and equipped it as one of my only charms I had gotten to that point (and it was randomized to be 1 cost instead of 3 so it wasn't using up a ton of notch space). It then proceeded to save me from several sets of THK's infection shot move that he shoots in an arc, one of those attacks having every single shot blocked by the dream shield. It is highly situational but I will say I'm a little fond of it after that experience.

[@maeydae]

congrats on 100k!! and belated hbd :D

[@versatility2201]

Can’t wait to see this set up in a P5 hitless run! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Ninthalias1]

Sweet charm build! Thanks Blue, I'll try it out!

[@Mahdiyar-v5l]

Jony's blessing,quick focus, shape of unn, heavy blow you are welcome the best build you can have