Hollow Knight's Most Broken Charm, Explained (And How One Great Hopper Changed Everything)

This video tells the story of Flukenest, both one of the most broken but also powerful charms in Hollow Knight's history. Despite Team Cherry's attempts, the charm remained broken in a variety of ways, even to this day. I go through how this has been utilized in Hollow Knight speedruns throughout the ages, as well as how a single Great Hopper revolutionized various current patch speedruns.
I want to apologize for taking so long in making this video. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload more often in the future.
FOOTAGE CREDITS:
Fivebrane: Glitched run fluke 1.1.1.4 footage
Scruffy: 106% TE NMG footage
Valigo: 112% APB footage
Spoonsei: Pantheon of the Master footage
My Twitch Channel:
/ blue_sr_
My Discord Server:
/ discord
TIMESTAMPS:
Additional credits:
Thumbnail by Frogmarss / frogmarss
Research help by Fivebrane, Jenkar12 and VioletBlight & Others

[@Skurry]

I think the only option at this point is to patch it out entirely

[@poggorseel]

Hi skurry

[@blockmath_2048]

Hi skurry

[@jeanyeap4229]

Hi skurry

[@KFCLoversWOOOOOO]

Hi skurry (lol)

[@zakkbwyldin]

Hi skurry (true)

[@Graphomite]

Flukenest was so powerful, it not only killed enemies, it killed them in six alternative dimensions.

[@theoverseer1775]

The Beerus the Destroyer of hollow knight.

[@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32]

Only six? PATHETIC

[@jens1313]

Was?

[@cernos7230]

We just realized it's one of the most powerful abilities in videogames

[@ChannelMiner]

@@jens1313 Did u not watch the video? its broken now but in a different way that doesnt involve the 6 alternative dimenions

[@tyrannomon267]

Good ending: Instead of majorly nerfing flukenest, team cherry decided to heavily buff flukemarm, making it an actually fun fight.

[@shimmering17.]

@Steven Victor Neiman i remember on my first run of hollow knight where i got everything before even fighting flukemarm and then killing it in like 20 seconds with abyss shrieks

[@user-qp7sr4dk2r]

@@shimmering17. I thought the fight was a fakeout and was waiting for some super hard phase 2 to come out of nowhere. After 10 seconds I was like “oh I guess thats it”. Guess I fought it too late into my play through

[@brunocardin4935]

Lmao for most people it's an easy fight because they use guides and know when and how to fight it.. I encountered it before I had enough power to kill each maggot with one hit, so the fight was brutal and I lost a lot of times.

[@shimmering17.]

@@brunocardin4935 wait… guides????

[@brunocardin4935]

@@shimmering17. People read on the internet how to beat the game. It's lame.

[@timbakker371]

It's worth noting that you can kill Galien in Pantheons with 2 casts (over 600 hp), given that he's moving towards you, because of his slow monement and massive hitbox.

[@lissam1137]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. HE'S MY LEAST FAVORITE BOSS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS HELPS. :D

[@lissam1137]

caps lock got stuck for a min sorry LOL

[@timbakker371]

@@lissam1137 you got it!

[@timothywalker4621]

this charm is telesto but not

[@lissam1137]

I tried it and it takes one for each phase but I probably hit him with it wrong haha

[@Ivi-Tora]

The coliseum keeps track of how many enemies you kill before going into the next phase, not WHICH enemies you killed. The glitch makes each kill count as multiple, instantly advancing to the next set of enemies over and over while the previous enemies stay alive. The stronger bugs stay alive, while weak ones are one-shot to progress faster, and then used as substitute for the bosses.

[@keithpoley3432]

Strange, I'll have to try this on my Hollow Knight

[@gavinlivingston9163]

I might do this instead of beating it the regular way

[@myweirdsecondchannelwithap9070]

does this still work?

[@mailcs06]

@@myweirdsecondchannelwithap9070 not on current patch

[@josebach02]

@@mailcs06 in which patch then?

[@a.h8075]

Fluke is the monster that team cherry kept on trying to kill but it always crawled back from that abyss

[@fantasyshadows3207]

This is the monster that the pale king tried to seal away! *But it always came back.*

[@HenrayPatter]

@@fantasyshadows3207 flukemarm?

[@n1tro72]

the real radiance was flukenest all this time

[@kirbystorm5627]

The Springtrap of Hollow Knight

[@zennvirus7980]

I gotta say it: Flukenest is a true fluke of nature, 'cause its nature is to fluke in and out of spaghetti code, and fluke back into glitchy speedrunner experience as the fluke it is. "For Fluke's Sake!" said Team Cherry every time they patched the game.

[@Ahrpigi]

The best part of the game was when the Knight said "it's Fluken time!" and fluked everything.

[@VonKrauzer]

@@Ahrpigi Stand the fluke back, I am flucking!

[@kiranaun9593]

My favorite part of the Flukemarm boss fight is when she says "it's flukin' time" (a reference to her name, flukemarm) and then proceeds to fluke all over those guys.

[@cryo7847]

im gonna fluke

[@choyi3583]

This is like reading a passage from dr. Suess

[@EchoBlox]

Clearly the best charm is wayward compass 🙄

[@happiestrain1926]

Amen to that

[@raventheampwave1900]

yup, no contest with that.

[@isuckdragon3978]

True

[@BanermanArthropide]

6:13 Blue Disagrees

[@bowlingpin3092]

Gathering Swarm is better

[@zememerr2329]

I had no idea Flukenest’s history was this crazy. All I knew was the Lifeblood nerf and a bit of multi-hit jank you could do with it (it can trigger multiple Zote kills to speed up Eternal Ordeal for example.) I wasn’t aware the infamous high damage Flukenest actually came from Hidden Dreams and that the lingering hitboxes existed in Godmaster. Thank you for taking the time to document all of the Charm’s history!

[@friendlybendy2070]

That's why hitboxes r the most important thing in any game... They either make u the cut, or u fail to cut through yourself

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

@@friendlybendy2070wut

[@santiagovidelaleiva]

My only problem with Team Cherry is how they balance the charms. I really don't get why things like fragile strength, fragile heart, quickslash and shaman stone can exists but the more fun options like flukenest are made to be worst. I rather have flukenest do way more damage rather than using the boring shaman stone. And that kinda applies with a lot more charms. Spore shroom should do way more damage. All the lifeblood ones should cost 1 notch less. All minions should do a bit more damage and heavy blow should maybe increase your damage slightly? I love the game but i always end up playing with the most boring builds in every playthrough, and i do try using different stuff but is just a heavy auto imposed nerf that it isn't worth it.

[@thecherrypi9718]

notching down lifeblood would encourage more tank and spank style, because most bosses are easy to get to without getting damaged

[@santiagovidelaleiva]

@@thecherrypi9718 yeah, i suppose that's true. I almost forgot that starting the game you struggle with most bosses. I'm so used to beat them all first try when exploring, so when it comes to lifeblood charms they are useless to me for both exploration and the pantheons.

[@joznski]

I do think that this is one of the cases of "no game can be perfectly balanced" though. I mean, I don't think you'd ever see a game where EVERY item is perfectly balanced with every other item. Each charm has a niche and a playstyle it can fit, maybe heavy blow is objectively terrible in every way to an experienced player. To someone new, that logic would apply to fury of the fallen. Which is an amazing charm for high dps in pantheon runs.

[@hellboy19991]

try doing a playthrough with just minions, it's not that bad honestly, take all minions and their secret supporting charms and you'll have a really good time. it's obviously not as good as the meta charms, but it is absolutely fine and reasonable to do anything aside from P5 in my opinion.

[@santiagovidelaleiva]

@@hellboy19991 Even with glowing womb? Because that charm feels really bad to equip.

[@Windette]

Hell yeah more blue content 💕 genuinely love topics like this

[@hollowknightfan5938]

No way it's the pathway to silksong!!!! Get the nets ready

[@creeperface4675]

We’re ready. On your signal, we throw.

[@hollowknightfan5938]

@@creeperface4675 one Two Three SILKSONG IS OURS

[@gavinmartinson2366]

Uhh it just cut the net

[@gavinmartinson2366]

IT HAS A GU-

[@DoktorTaiko]

Maybe this is all on purpose and TC just wants the weirdest boss to drop the weirdest charm.

[@lesvideosduboncoin506]

I found a glitch for being overcharmed but without taking double damage. Just put the charm you want (overcharmed) then take a new charm slot by beating grimm or buying it for example. So be 2 slot overcharmed or more before gaining the new slot and that’s it. You can go to 14 slot max

[@abby4684]

Omg

[@1th_to_comment.]

*Oh*

[@minty9565]

That could make for an insane strat even if not for speedrunning but just regular repeat playthroughs

[@maizjsj]

But is it permanent?

[@bazookajoe2889]

Holy shit . I need to try this asap

[@violetblightSpeedruns]

Mmmm, that tasty tasty fluke damage. Happy to see the 107 shoutout, a little sad about no Collector quick kill being shown off for 1.4+ but good video. Appreciate the shoutout too

[@coffeecup1196]

Oh Hello, it must be a small world after all. Nice to run into you in the wild.

[@Deathworm-eg5lt]

Mmmmmm, flukes 🤤🤤🤤🤤

[@mynameisnotyours]

Programmer: the "spaghetti code" checked for and executed the enemy kill code for each of the flukes. So standing on an enemy, many would hit at the same frame and execute the kill code simultaneously. Nothing in the code checked if the enemy was actually dead before running thereby letting it run as many times as called.

[@kirin1230]

Team Cherry is an incredible coding juggernaut, but falls into spaghetti with this one damn charm.

[@jedrzejkoszewski4342]

15:21 Me: "Oh, that's a good advice." Also me playing Silksong after it releases: Tests out Flukenest.

[@Thy_Punishment_Is_OOF]

We will find it. If we won't, we'll make it.

[@raynac224]

You know this is so consistent I'm beginning to think it's not a fluke anymore

[@iveharzing]

10:41 The only use I *ever* found for _Heavy Blow,_ is _Radiant Markoth._ Because combined with _Nailmaster's Glory,_ you can consistenly attack Markoth with _Great_ or _Dash Slash_ without getting hit by his shield.

[@sn0wballz_]

also, heavy blow can be used in deepnest against dirtcarvers if you dont have quickslash yet in a normal playthrough (although maybe that was just me)

[@VideoMask93]

@@sn0wballz_ I don't remember having an issue with dirtcarvers, and I didn't have either of those charms.

[@sn0wballz_]

@@VideoMask93 oh. maybe it was just how i went with my playthrough then?

[@VideoMask93]

@@sn0wballz_ Yeah, and likewise with mine-I didn't get Desolate Dive until comparatively late, for instance, because I went into Soul Sanctum early and got thrashed in the first main room before deciding "okay I should come back here much later"! Love how people's experiences of this game can differ after reaching the City.

[@TCOwlet]

I’ve used flukenest to cheese both traitor lord and failed champ in my first play through and some randos but I never noticed/ knew this. Time to start messing about with flukenest a lot more then.

[@lumitry]

I'll be honest, I've never seen more than a few seconds of hollow knight gameplay in my life. Regardless, this video was extremely interesting and very well-made. I felt like I understood things that I should have no reason to understand. Great work!

[@ascended313]

You should do yourself a favor and play this game, arguably the best metroidvania game of all time.

[@Anxmaly666]

I got the game last week and finished it in 54 hours with a 94% honestly i would reccomend the game you'll really enjoy it

[@organizerbmo]

Definitely worth a try. I've seen the reddit community for it be so big, but only checked it out recently since it's been on sale. 60 hours in and still loving it

[@casualbird7671]

It always bothers me when devs remove silly glitches like this, I am glad it remained broken in the end and I really hope it can stay that way

[@thyduke3010]

Tbf. Some of that shit was a bit to silly.

[@DoctorBones1]

@@thyduke3010 for speedrunning sure but for normal play lingering hitboxes and dupe geo is too overpowered

[@ericmarcelino4381]

Too easy to execute lol All player can do this I rather they buff the charm and fix all the janky interaction

[@natalimoina]

It's called improving a game and fixing a mistake

[@nightmare-qn6mo]

@@natalimoina They replaced it with OP and broken stat boosters that have no unique qualities.

[@platycorn5301]

what a lot of people don't know is that you can syngergize flukenest with dung defender (plus shaman stone for dmg frequency buff), throw in glowing womb and spore shroom for a full diarrhea build

[@ecstaticwooper368]

why do people have to abbreviate "current patch" it caught me so off guard the first time 💀

[@la_win69]

CP 💀

[@Zordyn]

Hey I like CP

[@manmadethings6986]

I love how the panteon strat is just shoot the flukes into a corner and bully the bosses into said corner

[@whee2390]

I'm disappointed that I sorta missed the second flukenest renaissance, but it's neat to see how there are so many new developments happening even so long after the last major update. Great video and explanation too!

[@Numberplay]

My biggest worry is that flukenest might need to be tested on every version of the randomizer now.

[@Bragemaster]

OH GOD DAMN IT.

[@johngreenaway1472]

I like how at 6:09 you show Fragile Strength because the unbreakable charms didn’t exist yet.

[@darksoles1305]

Fragile strength is better from a speed running point of view. Getting unbreakable is a big time sink.

[@johngreenaway1472]

@@darksoles1305 That too.

[@arzfan29]

@@darksoles1305 not in a 112%/106% run

[@Gardengap]

…and the wayward compass…

[@ethribin4188]

Sounds like Flukenest is in a good spot now. Where running it might save you time. Or might not. Not to mention its gimicy and hard to use at max capacity, but also not compleatly broken. So, I feel its balanced enough as it is now.

[@HackRazor1012]

I never thought I'd see something in a game broken enough to rival Telesto. Their battle will be legendary.

[@potatogirl9436]

Despite that, blue still refuses to use the flukenest charm

[@VonKrauzer]

Professionals have standards.

[@lankymaccrazyhair264]

This would have been nice to know during my Pantheon attempts.

[@radishhat5736]

Unfortunately Pure vessel is immune to flukenest entirely

[@smallblackcoffee7340]

@@radishhat5736 shit

[@lankymaccrazyhair264]

@@radishhat5736 at least there's a bench before Pure Vessel

[@prekoldune]

damn, i remember how i began speedrunning, and tried a strat with flukenest in the first pantheon not knowing that it was broken. i dropped trying after some time because got bored, but its still funny that this strat is actually viable

[@BlueSR]

There are a couple small editing mistakes in the first few minutes of the video, sorry for that! These are some text elements that stuck around in the wrong places due to me moving around the beginning portions of the video. Sorry if they're distracting, my bad!

[@awqrtz]

Blue : " And, as a speedrunner, i could talk about this for hours. " Me : 👀👀 In my head : " yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah- "

[@BlueSR]

More coming soon. Got like 5 new video ideas and i just need to get off my lazy butt and make them haha

[@personexisting123]

Live and learn

[@octogorb9853]

185 damage is 3 more than Cyclone. How does a charm outdo your actual best move?

[@knvs2931]

Must've been a fluke I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@anbon4985]

Wow its a upload you dont find these often on this chanel

[@Addy0302]

It's almost as rare as a finished run

[@rowletribombee]

I didn't know about the lingering hitboxes on current patch, it's really cool that flukenest actually has some use still

[@Lavi.Ami67cc]

The thing that shocked me most in this video was not how broken Flukenest really is, BUT THE FACT THAT THERE’S MUSIC FROM THE TOHU OST OMG

[@Qualicabyss]

The year is 2172, silksong has been released for 3 years now. Team cherry, now called team blueberry, has just released the new vessels together update adding cross compatability between hollow knight and silk song. Flukes now have a 30% chance to be replaced with a copy of the player.

[@ghaia_]

Incredible video blue! the wait was worth!! hope you do more of these videos in the future :D

[@leeisanerd8332]

Nice video! Interesting to see how it changes over time

[@shadownight3030]

I always use flukenest on the watcher knight in my playthroughs with them rolling along everywhere they took all the damage and the fight is ended really easely

[@Blooblah05]

Great video. I love hollow knight and never knew this charm was so bugged! Feedback: there are several times in the video where there is nothing in focus on the screen for several seconds, and it makes it very hard to look at. I understand the blurred background gameplay with info in the foreground, but when the entire screen is blurred background with no foreground present for several seconds, it is physically hard to look at. Examples: 4:06 4:58 6:41 6:50

[@draymusic_]

I love this video essay. Really informative and entertaining. It's insane how one single game mechanic can make nerve-wrecking boss fight seem like child's play

[@thegoddoge6849]

Nice content man! Good luck going forward.

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

I missed your videos, they're a LOT of fun, and very informative. Glad you're back

[@Tallinsafur]

the editing in this is amazing! awesome video as always blue, hope i catch the next stream

[@sholmes3654]

I love hearing game community lore, thank you for explaining everything about the fluke charm and thank you for sharing, this is a great video!!

[@RavenBane]

Incredible video blue! I loved the topic and learned so much new hollow knight trivia today! Also your editing was phenomenal on this video! Just an absolutely amazing job keep up the good work!!

[@alanarkham143]

I didn't know I needed this video this much. Thank you for you work. I will start using Flukenest right away!

[@laurad7228]

That was a great video. Definitely worth the wait!

[@shreshthanigans]

1:51 flukenest confirmed hottest charm Really entertaining video blue!

[@WaluigiisthekingASmith]

Alluring God of motherhood

[@randomperson8375]

So you're telling me that the only reason I haven't beaten Abs Rad yet is because I have never considered using Flukenest? Well that explains a lot actually

[@kayplaya86]

How to make it non-optimal: make it require every charm notch in the game

[@brbupdatingtheautopsyrepor8955]

*LAUGHS IN OVERCHARM*

[@kayplaya86]

@@brbupdatingtheautopsyrepor8955 laughs in it *not being able to be equipped with any other charms*

[@jaffil4026]

@@kayplaya86 *LAUGHS IN PUTTING IN ALL CHARMS BEFORE FLUKE*

[@FewNewReasonss]

I'll say one thing about my own experiences, I wish I had played it when it first came out and again with all the updates. I've only played it during the later and I love it, but I would've loved to see the progress. I hope to see similar when Silksong comes out

[@mys3cretskill]

nice video blue. worth the wait. i'm a flukes believer now since they melt failed champion :)

[@BenTMCB]

Imagine if heavy blow actually one shots every enemy, but no one knows because no one uses it.

[@GenkiColleen]

Wow, you put a LOT of time and research into this... Amazing!

[@nerdolo748]

I love how TC had a nice idea for this charm but the implementation of it is obviously hard and more complex than most (all?) other charms when you think about it - and of course this led to spaghetti code and brokeness.

[@spoderman4383]

Wayward compass still 🔛🔝

[@thegreatmindgorb8948]

GORB FEARS THAT CHARM, GORB IS GLAD YOU HAVE SHOWN THE WORLD ITS POWER.

[@Zordyn]

GORB

[@Redium_rd]

Came after watching the gameshow video, so nice to hear a full story of this nightmare!

[@jalepinojoe6285]

I remember seeing Bosjesmannen make a video a long time ago showcasing that flukenest most definitely doesn't do it listed damage, but I didn't know any of this story, great video!

[@fifty6737]

hollow knight will forever hold a dear place in my heart, truly in the top 10 games i've ever played in my life, and easily the best metroidvania to this day, i mean this game is even better than ORI, Metroid, Castlevania im truly grateful to the day i gave this game a try, 1 month later and i truly experienced something amazing

[@aler3485]

I used Fluknest in all time just for a meme, now I know the powerful that I had.

[@bblonde25]

Love your humor, love your editing, love your video, new suscriber

[@Gastro-enterite-en-imax]

Dashmaster being in A tier is criminal

[@SPAMTONGG]

can you do a story for the other charms like you said you could for one per video? i’d watch them all!

[@TheTroupeMasterGrimm]

This stuff is so good. I was more immersed in this that most movies I’ve watched, and your so good at holding that attention and directing it to small details, and you still manage to patch in crazy hitbox stuff, minor and major glitches, math, and good humor. I genuinely can’t wait for your next upload.

[@shadow-lu7kl]

really well done video!

[@lonelysheepling]

Because of this video I’ve started using flukenest for certain bosses and I can say that it works wonders on the watcher knights I play with a health bar mod so it’s really fun to see that health bar halved once they get within fluke range

[@a_little_flame589]

no lies i actually found this out like 6 months ago against galien who i noticed i could kill way too early for flukes i never published it but it made me hate galien for not doing the quick kill find it so interesting what someone can find in their living room on their ps4

[@earlynot]

all of this was due to me thinking it did too much damage to crystal guardian, i also just killed the great hopper for fun :)

[@Jerryboi9]

You honestly give me the best Hollow Knight Knowledge for the 2017 game thank you for all your help

[@raedien]

I'm commenting and subscribing with the hopes you put out more videos like this.

[@MegaChickenfish]

The year is 2050: Silksong is finally released. Flukenest wasn't even added to the game. Somehow, it is still overpowered.

[@zandbergx9747]

But Blue! Heavy blow is really good for er... NKG spell only? That makes it a valid charm right... RIGHT??

[@nothankyou6840]

KZbin randomly recommended me this video and I'm glad they did this was very well done and interesting!

[@q-kumbah7435]

11/10 video, holy shit this is high quality content. absolutely awe inspiring video

[@PurpleR4t]

does it still work to this day ?

[@MyPetCactus]

7:05 LOOK GARY THERE I AM!!!!

[@MALGAMING69]

GG on the run!

[@vertigognome6617]

Great video yet again!

[@thatsaladprophet7051]

If I've learned anything about spaghetti code from valve is that when you patch spaghetti code, it will only come back stronger.

[@mtvrerandom4053]

I think that at this point they will patch it like this: 2 dmg per fluke 4 notches Only 3 flukes spawn

[@laxmidhardash7186]

And it will break again, now each fluke will hit 100 times dealing a total of 600 damage.

[@stairgoms3044]

you can get this charm easy if you have dreamnail, wall jump, and dash with a bit of sanity by getting grimm child and then getting 3 flames and waiting about 1 min 10 seconds for it to kill flukemarm (it worked with crystal guardian trust me!). Edit: it doesnt work :(

[@josephflowers2682]

Yo why was this such a majestic and inspiring video

[@yaficool]

1:26 “This is the story of flukenest” Couple seconds later…. “DUNGGGGGGGGGG DEFENDAAAAAAA”

[@ihatemarkoth3256]

I can't believe my eyes! a blue upload? edit : wth this is so good love the video

[@raresnaftan3977]

My brother keeps calling this charm the "wormussy" and I hate it

[@Anxmaly666]

Lmao

[@sturicky2105]

U have my subscription for making me laugh with that “Nuh uh” bit

[@anomaliethewitch]

1:52 NOW HOL' UP WHAT WAS THAT LAST THING-

[@Ori_-]

blue are you ok....... you uploaded

[@zocritter]

Only way to fix it, is to replace it with ‘Fluke Hermits purpose’ all it does is make empty boring areas feel more interesting, because you never know where it is, and it’ll leave your inventory every single time you enter one of those rooms, examples include -City of tears bridge -mantis village (after beating mantis lords) -other boring walking spots.

[@FewNewReasonss]

Thanks to your video popping up, I realized I have one trophy left before the platinum. With hearing about the charms maybe I'll try a new set up and get it done.

[@moonshine1282]

what a good video well done dude

[@CyanicCore]

So............ its initial success wasn't just a fluke?

[@ShadowOfOurHearts]

Flukenest is: Weird Unique (Hot UwU)

[@MadameRhapsody]

Great video on a really interesting topic! My only issue is that the blurred bakgrounds really hurt my eyes and the occasional overlapping text made it hard to read.

[@agasteenbrink]

Great video!