The Top 5 Worst Things That Can Happen To You In Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is one of the best games ever made in my professional opinion. It is really tough at times and there are a couple of areas that are extremely difficult. In this video we are going to go over the top 5 worst things that can happen to you in Hollow Knight.
This list is the ultimate feels bad list as nobody wants this to happen.
I am sure that you may want to add some of your own things to the list, like a death in the Trial of the Fool. Let me know what you think or would add to the list in the comments.
Note there will be spoilers as we discuss end game stuff.
0:00 Intro
0:45 5th Worst
3:03 4th Worst
4:13 3rd Worst
5:39 2nd Worst
7:05 Absolute Worst
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[@imarrams511]

Worst feeling for me watching new players that use the Dream Nail on Marissa. It hurts a little. When I started playing HK for the first time,it was 2 weeks before my mother passing away from cancer. And when I found Marissa for the first time, my mom heard the music from HK. She said "that song is so sad but so beautiful". My mom was already bedridden but still was always watching me play HK. Even hours prior she passing away, I sang that song for her. She smiled a little. She died 2 hours later. For me HK,specially the City of Tears song have a special place in my heart. 😞😞😞

[@SillyVoid]

I am so sorry for your loss; God bless your mother

[@deadcatranacrossmykeyboard]

i mean i still need that essence so…

[@imarrams511]

@@deadcatranacrossmykeyboard 1 Essence? 😞

[@Failed3614]

@@imarrams511 better than nothing

[@nerd7616]

I need the one essence tho

[@feeglsnorf]

Honorable mention: Literally anything to do with primal aspids

[@alistairkalliarkos4747]

THIS THE ONE

[@RelyeaGaming]

fact

[@Moonlord2193]

(My opinion don't crucify me) I don't get the hype around primal aspids (and crystal hunters), they're annoying, sure, but they aren't even the most annoying enemy in kingdom's edge

[@gamereviews5384]

Another one is getting killed before getting ur shade losing all that geo you got painful

[@posseidao5447]

I KNEW I WOULD SEE THIS COMMENTARY

[@TrueDiox]

Worst part about Myla is it's not a sudden thing. If you keep checking on her, you'll see her slowly losing herself (forgetting things, etc), until she finally goes hostile. It hits too close to home and is seriously sad to watch.

[@lechadeur]

i never went back to crystal peak so she never attacked me and i never attacked her

[@soyelchyyno018]

I forgot about her and kill her lol

[@VoidPaul97]

​@lechadeur Yeah, after getting Crystal Heart, I never returned to the place Myla was. Just too much pain.

[@Pebbsi_official]

​@@VoidPaul97at least we can free her from radiance's control

[@ohkoxar]

Brought Grimmchild to Fog Canyon on a steel soul run. Fair to say, it did not go well lol (tho I technically died to qga)

[@RelyeaGaming]

ohh no, that is a rough way to go

[@rancholotl3384]

bring him to The Hive with Hiveblood lmao

[@SuperJefftroid]

That's rough buddy.

[@Mk-mz8zt]

I had a dream shield with me

[@rancholotl3384]

@@Mk-mz8zt oooh combine the two and it's bullet hell

[@2ndBreakfassst]

For me it was the first time I tried to do the under 5 hr achievement. No mask or vessel upgrades, 1 nail upgrade, ddark, and shaman stone. I got to thk at 4 hours after having a really hard time with watcher knights. I thought, thk is gonna be easy, I've beaten it several times. I crapped the bed and missed the achievement after wasting an hour failing, getting angry, and refusing to take a break. Hard lesson to learn.

[@mageshades]

I got this achievement on my first try; my biggest tip for you (if you haven't done it yet) would be to do each boss you do on the speedrun in the HoG on Ascended or Radiant

[@2ndBreakfassst]

@@mageshades I eventually got it by practicing watcher knights on another file until I got comfortable fighting them without a bunch of power ups, same with the hollow knight.

[@altarod9683]

Watchers knight are actually really hard at this moment ( i finish the game in 5h04) 😭😭😭

[@luborpietrasik9904]

I remember lost one run 5hr 4min same And do again with 4hr and 57 min. Aand I must say I'm a big dummy Should have take pale ore from ansiant basis for second nail upgrade But I forgot that it exist there

[@woofspider330]

I got stuck at watcher knights at about 1h,25m, beat my head against that wall for 30 mins, then got the 2nd nail upgrade, and I swapped my focus/quick cast buttons, because I cant do two fingers on the triggers, so I left one for dash, and the other for focus. Took 5 minutes to adjust, but I beat watcher knights pretty easily that time, and made it out of the game in just under 4hrs I think. I was surprised that I 2-phased Uumuu, and had to run back to Dartmouth for the lantern After going to deepnest and remember that it's dark in there. And forgot to stag to queens station, and just did the FCanyon acid skip again/walked all the way there lol. Maybe it's the console's limitations, but watching Relyea and Fireb0rn, they just make it seem so smooth and fast

[@taurin423]

I experienced the Path of Pain death on those last enemies. Worst feeling, dying to that and realizing the whole thing has to start over. Had to walk away from the computer for a moment there. However, best feeling, I went back in and blew through the path of pain 10x faster than my first run and was back to that part faster than I could have believed. I was astounded by how I had improved from my first run.

[@RelyeaGaming]

second time through is soo much faster. I have a feeling a lot of people would just quit

[@211aonscratch4]

happened to me too

[@fulgentiuswilly5043]

Yus, have the same exp

[@Pogobro]

that feeling you are talking about is why we play games haha

[@thatotherandrew_]

I am in exactly the same boat as you, and even have the sama name as you lmao But yeah, first time through took me almost 3 hours, and second time was in under 6 _minutes_ - real Celeste vibes there

[@liljim_8845]

One of the worst feelings is when you go to the colosseum and you meet tiso and he tells you that he’s going into the colosseum. But then if you go down to where a bunch of bugs are falling from the colosseum, you can see tiso’s dead body on the side of the cliff

[@Ray-gp4rw]

Fr

[@Savrollo]

I actually lol´d and had a Nelson moment right there on the spot

[@wta1518]

IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ZOTE!

[@NoNames-vw3bq]

I thought I was going to have to fight him instead of Zote since I left Zote to rot in deepnest. 😂 I was a little surprised that I didn't have to fight him.

[@Justin-pp4uz]

And when i start up p5 and see tiso only to die to the falling mawlek

[@silky9978]

I had a steel soul run and fought the Radiance, thought since it was a dream boss that the death wouldn't count but it actually does.

[@Kriss-ys5pl]

I did absolute radiance on radiant before i even touched that dude on steel mode

[@puglord7947]

It is the only dream boss that actually kills you after all sooooo

[@sandjgaez257]

If she dies for real in the dream, then you die for real in the dream.

[@roarster27xbl74]

Same wasted 10 hours got 100 percent fought radiance to get the achievement for steal soul 100 percent and lost never been so upset in my life

[@quaff4870]

I underastimated her as well because i was like "well im in dream realm so no worries" and then i died lmfao

[@IceReptilian]

I'm a person that loves lore. To know what NPCs and enemies are thinking. Now, on my very first run ever, I acquired the dream nail and was stoked I got to read about additional dialogue from NPC's thoughts. I went from Sly to the Old Stag, to Bretta and to Cornifer. I also learned that dream nail can see the thoughts from my enemies that I fight. I eventually stumbled to a place in the city of tears, locked behind a key. I saw the painting and read the Lore about her, in the way in. When I found her, I spoke to her and listened to her sad story about people no longer visiting to listen to her sing. I sat there listening to her for several minutes, which I then realized it was her voice I was hearing in the city of tears music. After, I wanted to see if there was more secret dialogue, so then I struck her with my dream nail. The silence that came after was deafening. To my horror, I realized my mistake. It's been over 4 years since then and I still haven't gotten over it.

[@RelyeaGaming]

Oof, that is up there for sure

[@animejuggernaut2553]

I've been dream nailing all the 1 essence characters cause i thought you were giving their soul peace and making them pass on to bug afterlife rather than being stuck where they are or something....... HAVE I BASICALLY BEEN MURDERING SOULS ALL THIS TIME?!?!?!

[@Gardengap]

Technically you’re freeing her, bc she’s cursed to stay there forever

[@Guesnty]

i literally did the same thing

[@gizer-bs1476]

@@animejuggernaut2553 Well they are going into you pocket.

[@SunnyBunny9621]

I tried steel soul only once. I died to an acid pool in fungal wastes… an incredibly frustrating feeling.

[@RelyeaGaming]

That is not fun

[@zakariyabhamji5065]

@@RelyeaGaming lol

[@zakariyabhamji5065]

Lol

[@user-sf9ij4rs9o]

The baldur outside greenpath 💀

[@The_Rubber_Dino2]

In my steel soul I died to one of those soul sanctum guys that scoot around on the ground. I was getting more soul for soul master. Embarrassing

[@teaenthusiast6193]

"The happy couple achievement" Ah yes best friends

[@askerror1987]

Nothing will be funnier to me than hearing HK creators call them “friends”

[@fusiondraws7482]

They are gay and they can’t deny it

[@yummydragon8533]

i didnt know relyea was a historian

[@strawberrys0da714]

And they were roommates.

[@theye29]

​@askerror1987 why cant they be friends?

[@benbrown3039]

So you know that feeling when you're like, "Hey, I beat all the dreamers, I'm finally gonna get the steel soul achievement!" Then you try to fight THK with hardly any upgrades and you realize that he's a lot harder without shade cloak. You keep telling yourself, "I can do it and I don't want to go anywhere in case I die." So eventually you go and try to get some more powerful stuff and you find yourself in infected crossroads (arguably my least favorite area). As you're making your way to the charm dealer, you take a nasty double explosion dealing you 4 damage and ending your 4 hour steel soul run. Lets just say, THIS is the worst feeling I have ever experienced.

[@stefansimicic]

You need to set up your mind 1st upgrades (spells, nail, masks, vessels) do it as soon as you can 2nd buy fragile charms (its steal soul so no breaking possible) 3rd practice bosses you are uncomfortable on another normal save file till you can beat them easily ( best to do in hall of gods) Optional: just quit if you are on 1 mask or 2 mask if boss is doing 2 mask of dmg and u got only 2, its cheesy way but if you just want an achivment. Its so much easier then going over and over again being frustrated for losing so much time. Personally 1st time I was doing it I done it with quiting, then I thought to myeslf, thats just wrong, do it right now, and surprisingly done it 1st try with my 1st and 2nd tip, no practising bosses before fights, just playing carefully. P.S. sorry for my spelling mistakes

[@theworldthroughtyseyes8499]

I’m never gonna have safe dash problems with him I pogo him instead do share dash

[@Vuk2302]

I beat that first try i just got 1 mask early and some nail upgrades and fragile hearth and strength and beat it first try

[@thekohzyfam4499]

@@stefansimicic it’s okay I do it too😂

[@wta1518]

@@stefansimicic This. Absolutely make sure you are practiced with the bosses. Preferably with a harder version of the boss (i.e. if you're going to fight Hornet Protector, practice with Hornet Sentinel, or use Ascended difficulty for bosses that don't have a harder version) until you can beat them 3 times in a row.

[@BSPancake]

On my first playthrough, I actually paused and tabbed out to check if I had to kill the Nail Smith or not. After I discovered I have the option to save him, I tabbed back in, pressed B to exit the pause menu and hit him with vengeful spirit... made me twice as sad since it wasn't even the nail that killed him.

[@buzzsawwyrm1595]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooof

[@Ferrero_rocher5782]

Controller moment

[@BrandonTheOne2]

​@@Ferrero_rocher5782They said they tabbed out which means they were on pc

[@Ferrero_rocher5782]

you can use a controller on pc @@BrandonTheOne2

[@wta1518]

@@Ferrero_rocher5782 Even worse, controller on a PC.

[@lottanieminen9173]

I feel the Myla one, I always thought of her as a really safe character and found her humming super calming and then suddenly SHE IS ATTACKING ME?? Top 10 anime betrayals

[@teaenthusiast6193]

The worst one for me is beating steel soul and managing to get the 100%, going to fight the radience and dying to the hk

[@RelyeaGaming]

Ohh no! That is so far in to get killed!

[@theaxbowlotl]

Fun tip: Right before you die, pause the game, and quit. You will be at full health, at the last bench you saved at. It's cheap, but it beats losing hours of progress.

[@luisapaza317]

@@theaxbowlotl related, my dad for not losing the cars in NFSMW also quit the game a lot haha

[@draygon6909]

I died to radiance instead

[@--astro--]

i died to radiance on my first run :c

[@blythepineda9929]

I once tried to complete a Steel Soul run on an enemy randomizer. I made it all the way to Isma's tear but in the room right before with all the enemies, one of them turned into the Radiance and I was already going in with low health. I was absolutely destroyed in that room and it was not pretty.

[@rat5493]

steel soul + enemy rando sounds awful

[@blythepineda9929]

@@rat5493 It was pretty bad. It wasn't so bad the second time because I knew what I was getting into.

[@Sakanamoto]

That’s insane! So the enemy randomizer can literally make anything anything??? I feel for your misfortune…but that must have been quite the sight to see! I haven’t played HK on the computer yet, but I plan to! I’m really curious about the mod support:)

[@rat5493]

@@blythepineda9929 i might have to try one of those now

[@Pollo520]

Unfortunately, I died couple times in steel soul. I could quit and teleport to bench however it would ruin the fun of this challenge.I was Always sad because I lose my progress but I never give up and play again. After few attempts I finally did it. I beat steel soul on 100%.i was so happy about that. Then I wanted to try path of pain because I know it that if you die in dream world (with that dream stamps in background) I will respawn like when you fight the dream version of bosses like soul tyran or lost kin. I did it but I forgot put on a fight charm and I died in that battle. I wasn't worried when I died because I thought I will respawn. Then only thing I saw was black screen with big white word. GAME OVER. I was so confused since I always respawn when I fail dream bosses. I google that in internet to see what happend and then I realized that if you died in white palace you will not respawn. I was so angry and sad at this same moment. I quit game and sit in silence for 30 minutes. That is my most painful story in hollow knight

[@heathkish6901]

Relyea is genuinely one of my favorite people on this platform. He seems like such a sweet, wholesome dude... The world could use more of that.

[@FrogKanna]

I didn’t strike the nail smith and now seeing Sheo and him together is like pure eye candy, I love them.

[@bikercat1829]

The worst feeling that I experianced, was when I lost my steel soul run. I had gotten both monomon and lurien, but I dead to one of the enemies that does 2 masks of damage in the Beast's Den, and I was so close to finishing it.

[@Sick-cada]

Ooh I hate those enemies. But if you have sharp shadow you can dash right through them, so I've got a way to get around them without the danger

[@FatPodMan]

I cannot state enough that the mindset behind these is what makes the moments frustrating. I went from having the mindset of "Well now I have to redo everything" in steelsoul to "Ok, I enjoy this world, I'm fine with restarting" Same thing goes for the pantheons and path of pain, took me 3 hours straight to get past path of pain but not one moment was I frustrated, it was fun. Pantheons I had a horrid mindset at the start, but once I enjoyed the fights themselves and learnt the bosses, it became easier. I was on holidays on a laptop that lagged when I first beat pantheon 5, along with it being my first try in over a month. This happened because I didn't think "this is the time I will win" I thought "Hey let's give it a shot and see how far I go". This also keeps you a lot calmer during those high intensity moments. For people who want to accomplish these like steelsoul, pantheons, ect: Enjoy the game, don't just chase the rewards and achievements. You can do these things, but it takes *time*

[@Alextheslayer_YT]

For me the WORST feeling is when you have over 1000 geo and you die so you go to get your shade but you DIE TO YOUR SHADE LOSING ALL YOUR GEO

[@user-dr4fz4jy9y]

Happend to me

[@William1w1]

Was doing a true ending run as first steel soul attempt. Took everything slowly and carefully and always tried to be OP for boss fights. Was nearly done and thought Marmu would be a joke... Marmu was not a joke.

[@user-BlackBear90]

The worst feeling, for a beginner, is collecting 2000 Geo and dying, then dying again, trying to reach the shade left a mile away...

[@vbflame5645]

I died in steel soul run by that one crystal fly in the crystal peak shooting the spike at the worst place possible and killed me 2nd time by primal aspid

[@rockyboi1961]

The two worst non-boss enemies

[@Snake0Gamer]

I fear what Wort will do in Silksong 😨

[@nobody-ri5ng]

What's the wort thing that can happen

[@peppermush46]

Wort scares me

[@MudNic1]

I dont mind wort if silksong comes out soon

[@RelyeaGaming]

wort wort wort

[@switchboy2320]

Wort will skilksong come out

[@hollow9414]

On my way back from the kindoms edge to fight the radiance on steal soul, I died to the exploding bats

[@frog42]

That is horrible. I am genuinely sorry.

[@RelyeaGaming]

that sounds like pure pain

[@ejmatthews1012]

Oh yes they all feel really bad. For me the worst was Myla. I thought I was "helping" her when I killed her, but towards the end of the game I felt really bad. MAYBE there was a chance that she could have awoken from the infection? Maybe? We will never know... I haven't tried steel soul or path of pain yet, but the delicate flower quest did cause me to rage-quit multiple times haha! :) Thanks for the awesome content Relyea!

[@BattleFolly]

Avoided save-quitting during the steelsoul / -heart run, but got the dreamgate asap with dreamboss essence, just so I could dreamgate back to a bench whenever I lost courage. Didn't use it much, but just knowing I could use that made me feel more confident!

[@Sakanamoto]

That’s pretty smart! I love the dream gate and I’ve only played regular mode^_^

[@BattleFolly]

@@Sakanamoto Ha, good luck in case you're going to attempt it! And also in any other case :-)

[@preston_s.]

First time I tried the Path of Pain, I died to the enemies at the end after hours of frustration. I waited a couple years to try again.

[@moutsydumezweni2915]

Bruh I was on the verge of insanity at the white palace, I convinced myself I was Never gonna make it through,I gave the game a rest for a coupleof days ,somehow I eventually did it and I couldn't believe it, now that I know there is even more difficult platforming in the path of pain ,my stride a has already been broken before I have even reached the path of pain, this game is insane😅

[@escapegoat573]

After I did path of pain, i thought to myself i should do this again. so i did it over 20 times more that week

[@benjipixel1438]

yay! Relyea made another HK upload--sure the views aren't high but his quality always is! Thank you so much

[@afroampharos]

Thankfully I was prepared when I did both the Path of Pain and my Steel Soul run (in which I had a close call, but thankfully beat it without much trouble). For the Path of Pain I had all/close to all mask upgrades, a full soul meter and Hiveblood but what I never feared until after I started it was being sent back to the start upon death. Once I realised that, I was nearly half way through it so I had to keep playing till the end. I made it through the first half in decent time but the second half (mainly that last room) took most of the 7 hours of that one run. I was so lucky that I had full health on the go that I finally cleared that last room and I beat the two Kingsmoulds without dying.

[@dylankennedy1038]

I've got a combination of two worst feelings in this video. It was my first steel soul run and I was in the endgame so I decided to do the path of pain. Two hours later I completed the parkour gauntlet only to panic and die to the two kingsmoulds. I got revenge on the kingsmoulds in my second steel soul run and it felt sooooo good.

[@harry63242]

Yes these 5 things are definitely the wort things that can happen.

[@RelyeaGaming]

Another one could be the death in Trial of the Fool over and over again when the floor gives out

[@harry63242]

@@RelyeaGaming The true #1 worst thing in Hollow Knight is waiting for Silksong to release

[@billj.8690]

On my original blind playthrough of the game, I had 20,000 geo on me and I got halfway through that area where you gotta pogo off the big bugs to make it across deep in the Greenpath. I died about 3/4 of the way through. I went back to fight the Shadow and died halfway through. Lol. That was my worse experience by far.

[@saradllah4739]

We missed u.. i always go for ur videos for help since you started

[@nemanjalojanicic2786]

This is actually the *w o r t* thing that ever happened to me

[@mageshades]

This makes me feel good because I got the Steel Heart achievement first try and also didn't kill the Nailsmith. Thanks Relyea.

[@1uckyy575]

me too lol

[@patrickmorrey8722]

I have definitely experienced the p5 radiance one twice, I was trying to do p5 with each binding and already had two done but dying to the climb phase after a stressful hour with the shell binding made me quit the game for a few days. The worst feeling I've had was getting the last phase of absrad on radiant on my first try but falling off right as I needed one hit. It took me another 569 tries to beat it. and the whole time I was thinking "I could've been done on the first try."

[@prestonfrost6701]

I just started playing Hollow Knight a few days ago and the absolute hardest thing about it is getting 30 seconds to a couple minutes in to a video like this before I make myself shut it off because of spoilers. I can’t wait to finish it so I can feast on the lore and watch relatable videos.

[@shadowjedi4602]

ah, yes, wort wort wort wort

[@RelyeaGaming]

wort wort wort

[@themagm1673]

I died in my steel soul run in the white palace, where I got hit by one of the flying enemies, dropped down, got hit by another one and this time it flung me directly into spikes. I thought I was safe with 3 masks.

[@CatCyan]

Damn i feel that and *IT HURTS BADLY*

[@ilyasster]

Lol I found your channel by chance while looking how to find some rune. But damn this game is pain in the azz. Like floppy bird but harder. So when I get frustrated, I just turn off console and playing the next day. I am not sure whether I can manage to finish the game even though I have progressed so much. And some of the parts you have show in this video I haven't even been there yet. So maybe at one point I will leave the game unfinished. But I haven't killed two npc's you have mentioned because yea thought it was wrong after all.

[@thedazzlingshell101]

Yeah, the enemies at the end of the Path of Pain took me out when I 1st got there to the end. The Absolute Rad. was tough because all 4 phases were a chore to beat.(I’m counting both the Final Ascend, & the Final Duel as 1 Phase.) My advice if you have it, Healing using Quick Focus & Deep Focus during the Ascent helps a lot, if you’re not in the wrong spot.

[@LoanWolf329]

I'm new to HK, and have tried Steel Soul about 5 times... never once realized I could quit out and reload. Last time I was halfway to the crystal heart, and couldn't go back or forward because I panicked. Thanks for the video!

[@guineatheowl7109]

Im usually a planner type, so when i wanted to go for a Steel Soul run (and wanted to go for Steel Heart while at it), i would do a couple test runs on classic mode first. Basically, scout the route and see what i might have problems with. I actually got two dumb deaths doing those - first to a Grimmkin Nightmare, second to well... You know that charm notch in the fog canyon? I kiiind of walked straight into one of the exploding bubbles. I was decently embarassed about that one. During the proper run though, i was actually doing really well. I admit to bench warping, albeit i only did it once during the entire run, having almost died to markoth due to a bad start of the fight. In the end, i've managed to do the steel heart achievement first try and funnily enough, i managed to get through the entire thing fast enough to get speed completion on top of it, which i wasn't going for initially but was pretty happy about.

[@beatrizf.beckhauser252]

When I was first playing the game and I got the pure nail, I was so paranoid to kill the nail smith like "NO THAT CAN'T BE!! IT HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!!" And even tho I hate spoilers, I searched about that and my god, I'm glad I did. I saved him, went zooming to the place where him and the Artist would be, and watched they together for a good 10 minutes with a smile in my face, and ngl, I sobbed a little reading their dialogue One of my favorites things in Hollow Knight for sure ❤️

[@nowcow6128]

I kept dying to Brooding Mawlek after I got Claw and dash, and so then I was determined and got to Brooding Mawlek as soon as possible and lost probably about 20 runs just to Brooding Mawlek, (not that big of a deal since I'm going straight there from kings pass) and finally, I did it! After that I learned about Save/Exit and used it to get all the way to the end of the game, so that's going to be my 100% Steel Soul run currently at 89%, but I must say that strategically going into battle only when you have prepared enough to think you can beat the boss is really cool! It makes death feel even more real, like your actually risking your entire run just because you're confident enough to beat this boss.

[@Mastergengar]

Myla left me heartbroken. Sometimes through my first run I'd come back and check on her while I was getting lost and was happy to see she was good. And then I went to visit her that last time... As for Steel Soul, I got to the Brooding Mawlek and stopped to take a moment to hope back to my Godhome save and practice. I beat it multiple times on Radiant and even went back to the normal to practice with it on its platform. Feeling confident I went back to the Steel Soul save and went to my fight. I got hit once, panic set in, and I ended up losing my cool and dying.

[@thebigbisme1317]

I most definitely agree with you. I lost my steelsoul run at 99% completion while carrying the delicate flower because i hit an Ooma (exploding jellyfish) and the explosion hit me, stunned me and triggered a second Ooma who killed me....😭😭😭

[@lancealexander5925]

love the vid relyea keep it up!

[@RelyeaGaming]

thank you

[@TheMaryWriter]

I used the save and quit save a few times during the Steel Soul run. However, I believe I had already beaten the game once without dying (not in steel soul mode) so for me, it was more about unlocking the achievement than getting that perfect run.

[@macadameane]

It's not the same. Nerves get to you when in those situations and hours of progress are on the line.

[@krefcik772]

My first steel soul run ended in like 5 minutes because of mawlek early game for a mask shard. My second steel soul run was a beauty, 112% without quiting and saving myself because I didn't thought about it at the time, and then I did another 112% steel soul but with all the bosses (NKG and GPZ) and Pantheon of Hallownest and Path of Pain

[@lslime1545]

The last one is especially true. When I reached Absolute Radiance in a 5p all bindings run for the fourth time, I climbed to the top, and she's down to last-hit health, and a light-ball-thing just curved around the platform and went back and killed me immediately after I dashed toward Radiance. (The RNG was really bad, when I lured the light-ball-thing to the platform, it went through the gap between the void and the platform then landed right on top of my head. Because Radiance is down to the last hit, I didn't care about the threat that much and just dashed toward her)

[@lslime1545]

And that's half a year before I actually completed 5p with all bindings

[@karelh8858]

Oh man, I've had so many of those. Hit the last thorns while carrying the delicate flower: check. Died to the Kingsmould after spending like 8 hours getting through the Path of Pain: check. Mastering the Pantheon of Hallownest, getting to Absolute Radiance, somehow making it through the climbing phase on full masks only to completely choke and fall apart on that final platform phase and dying when she's already moved to the center: absolute check! I like to think it builds character and made the eventual triumphs that much better, but it's such a gut punch when it happens.

[@ninevehguitar]

Oh man, the PoP one happened to me the first time, and I was SOOOOOO upset 🤣 Upside of it though, was that my second run through it was way easier because I knew how to do it all.

[@matthewschwer6048]

Yeah, I've tried a steel soul run. I died of course. I was exploring along, doing great, feeling good after taking out the Soul Master, so I drop down into the sewers to fight my best friend, knock him down and head toward the Crystal Peak. I made it a few screens after saying "Hi!" to Myla before getting bodied by a stray Hunter. Then I had a run that I forgot was Steel Soul.

[@ultraallstarx9210]

In my 4th Steel Soul run, unlike the others (which i usually die in crystal peaks), i was getting the grub that id basically under oro's house. I made it through all the way into the great hopper basically 1 dash to the grub. And i dashed into the spikes, the great hopper bumped into me, and repeat until 7 masks turns into 0. Some good news from this is that my next Steel Soul run has recently hit 112% as of yesterday.

[@ultraallstarx9210]

The successful run was only 12h and 35m

[@Ascerious]

I think my first attempt of trying Steel Soul ended after i already spent a few hours on it, because I forgot to press the pause button as I was AFK in Deepnest. A lovely game over screen greeted me as I just came back after dinner

[@maesgaming01410]

Steel soul, I had 4 masks in fog canyon, I made the fatal error of hitting one of these explosive jellyfishes, it hit me and another jellyfish who ALSO hit me. I had four masks and died in three seconds by ffin JELLYFISHES Fortunately I was only on my way to mantis claw so I didn't lose that much progress, only 45 minutes or so. Also I think that the worst feeling about dying in steel soul would be trying to get the steel heart achievement, getting to 100%, try to kill the final boss and dying during the fight

[@Nneontastic]

The worst feeling in my opinion is when you’re carrying a lot of geo and then die to like a mistake or fuly. And after you go to the same location where you died you get bombarded by mistakes and fulys and die again loosing your 2k geo. Yes this happened to me :( I hate soul sanctum

[@mkronox6039]

I did Steel Soul and got it fully done. I did die on a first attempt against the Brooding Mawlek since I was prioritizing upgrades as soon as I could get them, so these one was like 20 minutes into it (I also died to NKG, but since that's a dream boss it doesn't kill you really), so it didn't really hurt. Also, since I was doing steel soul I wanted to do everything, which made me a bit scared on the coliseum of fools, which I surprisingly got first try.

[@heliumrabbitroleplays2256]

gosh i remember dieing multiple times in steel soul to the elder baulders before the baulder shell charm and felt so dumb and i attempted a shade skip in steel soul mode, it didn't go well =( i also remember the pain of the delicate flower quest, the mantis petras man, they sucked and dieing on the last jump was awful, i remember having a nightmare about the delicate flower quest XD

[@DarkMaster0208]

Did a steel soul run a couple weeks back. Did basically everything possible, did radiant HoG, got the hunter's mark, 112%, and then died to the Kingsmolds at PoP. Was about a 40 hour save file gone to something I've done many, MANY times before. Didn't feel really bad or anything, but was definitely frustrating, and I can imagine how bad it would be for a less experienced player. Everything you've done just to die to the damned Kingsmolds, possibly the last thing you would ever die to.

[@santiagogil7508]

Bonus: when you think there will be ss news at a big gaming event. This one i relate with because i understand people saying "don't pressure tc, if anything the wait probably means this game will be amazing" which i agree with. But why not give us news? I'm pretty sure they said "we're excited to give you more news as the release draws closer" it's drawing reeeeal close rn considering we know it won't come out any later than june 12th 2023. So I'm not trying to pressure them to release the game right now. I just want my reminder that the game actually exists

[@amykenny6743]

I remember getting pure nail knowing he could go chill with sheo and I talk go out to talk to him and I had a full bar of soul, I accidentally pressed quick cast after I said I would let him live. I also remember challenging myself to kill all the ghosts in spirit’s glade. I killed everyone until only revel was left and I noticed that he wasn’t the same, so I decide to talk to him and dreamnail him to see if he will still attack me. I still regret doing this to this day. I also didn’t know you could save cloth, and when they were talking about how that battle was epic and they were going to go see “Nola” like they were alive almost made me cry.

[@joshuapatrick682]

I played over 40 hours my first play through, including Godhome. My 2nd was a Steel Soul run and I died 18 hours in to The Radiance….I didn’t do the easy ending for the achievement first… But my 3rd I did get the SteelHeart achievement by beating it with 106% in 13 hours!

[@andrewaldrich3602]

I know some of the worst things, but the WORT things? That’s new

[@derpymule7977]

I can one up the last one. The worst is getting all the way to the end of p5 and dying to that one bug where the void covers the screen

[@miscellaneouschaos6693]

First time ever fighting radiance was on steel soul, was completely unprepared and got killed before the spikes even began forming on the floor, since it was a dream i thought "oh well ill be fine!" then that game over screen hit and oh man

[@mufa657]

hey relyea, im just doing a playthrough of hollow knight and i just got crystal heart, where do i go next? also what is the best charm combo for 5 notch?

[@nauticade5270]

!Ability location spoilers ahead! You can go to the ancient basin and get duoble jump (through royal waterways and then downwards through the long shaft) or you could go for ismas tear, wich lets you swim in acid (there is a place in royal waterways where you can crystal heart from to get there). I would do shaman stone and longnail for five notches.

[@RelyeaGaming]

After crystal heart I’d suggest going into royal waterways and opening up the other side of city of tears. From there explore the lower right area of the map in the new area

[@mufa657]

alright thanks, also i love your vids dude!

[@sailormoonwannabe]

When I was a beginner at the game, I did white palace with the dumbest charms on. I had thorns on so I wasn't able to jump on those white guys easily and I was loosing soul like crazy. Right at the end I had no masks or soul left and I tried jumping on the last of those white enemies and my thorns activated so I couldn't jump, fell and died. I remember staying up all night trying to finish it.

[@justreznak]

To finish Delicate Flower quest u need to clear the whole path of enemies and DON'T use the bench at any point, cause they'll respawn if u sit on it, u can heal with soul (even i u loose it go back with the same path without using benches), then collect the flower and go to the place. In the final part, the last jump, u don't even need to jump, u can just go forward, The Knight will fall down a liitle, use Dash and u'll get through. It's crazy stressful tho :D

[@quaff4870]

In my steel soul run i was wandering the right side of the greenpath yknow the the howling cliffs biome but still in greenpath and i accidentaly fell inside of a chest with 2 baldur enemies and i only had 3 masks and they bullied me to death. And also another worst thing that can happen in hollow knight is dying when your shade soul is around. You lose every single geo you have and i remember i got stuck at the stage of the game where i needed a lot of geo.

[@dellusiionall]

Hi relyea I’ve noticed you don’t play hollow knight that much anymore but I’m stuck in ancient basin and I don’t wanna restart but idk how to get out without beating the boss 😭

[@grumpyentity2029]

I played the game on Steel Soul. I got really far into it. But then I went into the Colosseum of Fools. I easily beat the first two trials so I got overconfident and thought I could beat the third. But no, I didn’t even get a quarter of the way through. I eventually started a new game and tried again though and was able to beat it(with some very near death experiences along the way), and I eventually even beat the Hollow Knight. I’m gonna keep playing to try and beat the Radiance

[@PeterJamesVillegas]

I actually tried to do a Steel Soul run for several times after I played it for a week now, and let me tell you, most of my run enders are from the Mantis Gods, and the Path of Pain. Even with Grubsong and Hiveblood equipped, my skittish, impatient me just went ahead and blew it all in just one swipe from the Mantis or to the spikes.

[@Gabeysword]

The worst thing is dieing a second time without getting your shade and losing an hours worth of geo.

[@bryanhelvy9849]

Earlier today or sometime yesterday (days blend together) I lost a Steel Soul run where I was trying to get everything I physically could including but not limited to 112%, 168 journal entries, gold GPZ statue, the harder white defender fights, delicate flowers delivered to Elderbug and Godseeker, mister mushroom and side quests in general, all rotten eggs, all relics, all bindings at once for pantheons 1-4 (I was still practicing for p5 with each and all bindings). I got super used to dying in hall of the Gods or in pantheon attempts and became desensitized. I died trying to get money to pay for the upgraded fragile heart and greed. I had enough money for greed I knew but then gave the wrong charm to Divine. To fix that I decided to go to trial of the fool to get money. I was just kind of messing around I guess and didn't think about the fact it was a steel soul run and I died at the spike floor where you have to wall jump only. The save file had something like 150 hours on it (mostly from practicing for p1-4). The only things I was missing was the aforementioned unbreakable charms, weathered mask entry, the eternal ordeal gold Zote statue and the tier three void idol entry (radianted everything except absrad). I did everything legit and didn't bench warp because in my first Steel Soul run did do that. I really like the Steel Soul hud and it made me happy that I could have it on such a thoroughly completed save file. It's super depressing. I intend to keep the file in my game as a constant reminder of what carelessness can bring. I tend to rush through stuff that I don't take seriously so I hope I can learn from this.

[@evanpower22]

Steel soul is pretty difficult, but I usually only fail early in my play through when it still have like five masks and zero nail upgrades. I’ve died to brooding mawlek (don’t try this boss before getting vengeful spirit), the moss knights in greenpath, the stupid mushroom plants in fungal wastes that do double damage, and mostly annoying things like dirtcarvers and flukefeys

[@peterjansen4826]

I have one steel soul game in which I did everything (including the 5th pantheon, bosses beaten at radiant difficulty) including the third colosseum trial. But I did practice the 3rd colosseum on other save-games first. That 3rd colosseum is by far the moste nerve-wrecking part of the game when you do steel soul.

[@lilyrose6819]

Where’s thing that have happened in the whole night for me is losing every single one of my Geo when I have like 7000 Geo

[@spatate3050]

I agree with your top, this are really painfull. The first time i’ve completed PoP, it took me 9h (Yeah i was pretty bad) and i almost died at the kingsmolds, but miraculously survived at 1 mask and died at the spikes just after. This same day i’ve killed NKG in less than half an hour. The feeling of finishing PoP was so incredible, that i decided to recreate a save just to try to learn how to speedrun this thing. And on my first attempt, not even trying to speedrun just a normal attempt, i died at the kingsmolds 😐 In my first steel soul run, i died at greenpath, i tried to heal cause i was at 1HP but there was a mosscreep under me…and on my second attempt i died at the place where there’s a lot of mantis protecting a hole, i was at 1hp with no soul, so i tried to poggo a mantis, failed, and fell on her.

[@spatate3050]

For the delicate flower quest, i was actually pretty easy for me, i cleared all the way to the grave first, and set a portal at the start, i’ve jumped only twice in the thorns at the end, that was really frustrating but since i cleared the path to the grave first, it was like a walk.

[@alvossozaandronito6]

In my first steel soul attempt, I was doing pretty okay and progressing through the game with no major difficulties and each hour that passed I would feel more confident in the playthrough. So at 18 hours I stumbled upon the coloseum, did colo I and II, and thought “nah i don’t need another nail upgrade, I can handle colo III”. You already know what happened

[@ultraallstarx9210]

Coliseum III was the last the last thing I did in my 112% Steel Soul run.

[@MrBreiart]

My first couple of steal soul runs were also supposed to be completed within 10 hours, to get all the speedrun achievements. So I studied the speed running path, and it took me 5 or 6 attempts to complete it, dieing twice on Mantis for no reason, once against some ecplosive enemy in the infected crossroads, and another time (the most painful) just after completing the things I had to do in Deepnest. But the Deepnest death was so painful.. hours and hours threw away just like that. In the end I completed the run in 9 hours and 42 minutes. I suggest everyone rrading to give it a try, it’s so satisfieing to kill the Radiance with the added pressure that you can’t mess up

[@Glaive8]

For me the worst feeling was during my first playthrough and I entered crystal peaks using dive and without lumifly lantern (I didn’t know you needed it), I thought I had soft locked the game and the only way out was the dark room to dream nail. Fortunately after a while of panicking and thinking I was going to do the whole game again, I looked up a map and found my way out. Not as bad as steal soul loss but still just horrible.

[@blazerj7364]

Impaled by spikes in city storeroom area. I was running away from the flyers and just jumped down right onto them. Honorable mention: killed by traitor lord about 20 minutes before challenging HK, 11 hours in, full gear.

[@lucianovargas5044]

A few times, with steel soul. During my first run on steel soul, I had gotten pretty far into the late game parts, and well, a belfly, the enemy that dives then explodes, and the pain I felt was not fun. Momentarily forgot healing was a thing. I know I was in the royal waterways just exploring for the third or fourth time for no reason.

[@zahisunohr]

I didn’t even know you could save the nail smith, I was happy I fulfilled his wish and then you learn about his other ending :,)

[@copycat500]

I hate dying in steel soul, it gives me a feeling as if a part of my own soul actually dies. So far, it’s happened 4 times, all to different enemies. 1st time I died was to a Great Hopper. I don’t remember how I died on the 2nd one. 3rd death was to Soul Warrior (I know, extremely embarrassing). And the 4th death was to that specific bird that guards the shortcut from Kings Station to Kingdom’s Edge. I did have full soul, but my mind decided not to heal because “I’m near a bench, I can make it!” Haven’t started the 5th run yet but will start it soon.

[@thefancydavd5508]

On the elevator from dirtmouth to city of tears, if you go to the left there is a health mask. On the way there though, there's this small hole with spikes around the walls and enemies at the bottom. If you get hit by the enemies though you can get combod in the spikes and take two masks of damage. I was at 4 masks when I went into the room and I got hit by that combo twice and lost my steel soul run :(

[@thefancydavd5508]

This was like 4 hours in when I was trying to farm mask shards

[@alcoop8729]

The absolute radiance one was simultaneously the worst and best moment for me, because i died on the last phase, but the next run, my. friends were hyping me up, server deafened me so i could focus, and i beat AR on 1 mask left, best feeling ever

[@ellpoyohlokoh]

I've lost 4 steel soul runs. First was too watcher knights, hardest fight imo. Second was to 2nd crystal guardian, during my last item rush before taking on the radiance. Third was too the crystallized mound, hardest platforming in the game, and I lost one to the actual radiance fight. I've never lost an early run or just from being careless while wandering. Crystal guardian feels so bad though, he's so absurdly easy now.

[@stanisawdrewienkowski2843]

Oh, my Steel Soul death? I got cocky, was trying to do both speedrun , and stre heart (on second try I did both, ob this try I was on track). But in Colloseum of Fools I don’t know how I don’t remeber why, maybe I got nervous, I took unnecessery damage. And what fo you know, the enemy-spikes combo took my two last masks away before I even had a chance to quit out, even if I wanted, it was over before I had chance to react. It was Trail 2 or 3, I think it was 2 since I wanted to get pure nail but didn’t feel like wasting time on trail 3

[@TotallyNotConnorFR]

Top five worst feelings in Hollow Knight: 5. Dying to a primal aspit 4. Dying to a primal aspit 3. Dying to a primal aspit 2. Dying to a primal aspit 1. Dying to a primal aspit

[@olive_oil87]

“he’s got a friend” bro it’s the happy couple achievement…

[@dryboy8416]

My worst feeling in Hollow Knight, is the fact that I have seen the death of Quirrel, my favorite npc, in an animation. I was thinking he was just gone, but no he is dead. And the worst part is the fact that sometimes I have just skipped him because I wasn't seeing him (like in Lake of Unn, where I just entered the aera without entering into the little house thing.)

[@goodgulfgas]

I finally completed the PoH a few months ago got all achievements checked off. I practiced soooo much on AbRad, Pure Vessel, Markoth, NKG, and damn Grey Prince Zote. When I practiced, I was finally getting to the top of AbRad on a constant basis. And then, yes, going through the whole PoH just to die on the very last part. The next time I'd get there, I'd get more and more anxious about getting killed at the very end. So, yes, it's the worst feeling because if you haven't beat AbRad before, you're on the razor's edge when you get to AbRad.

[@TailzGaming]

I was doing steel soul and this was pretty recent and I also do the save and quit strat, but I had everything I needed, 3 dreamers, all abilities and everything. I was going into fog canyon and was going for that one charm notch, but on my way there, I was playing with the big jellyfish, the homing ones. And I had completely forgot they dealt 2 HP instead of 1, so I was just having fun. When I least expected it, I hit one and the bomb flew into the corner hitting me and killing another one. Left on 1 HP, I paused the game. I saw that I had soul and thought, "Okay, I can just heal." But the second I pressed continue, I saw a ball just sitting on the wall, and before I knew it, I died. I have started a new one and I've beaten the game getting Speed run 2 and am now going for 112%

[@faxthefox]

Hollow knight makes you feel the worst things everywhere, losing thousands of geo or by seeing a sad part or ending. It always hits you hard in a sad way or hits you hard that you hit it back harder and have to get a new TV, hollow knight is an amazing game because of those (except the rage stuff) and I love it. Pretty new to the game btw and I'm happy I didn't kill the nail Smith