Where are all the Hollow Knight Silksong crests? Looted from their corresponding temples found throughout Pharloom, Silksong crests offer a way to switch up Hornet's combat style to your liking. Though you can't mix and match each attack to make your own build from scratch, upgrade paths and tool slots can offer a way to tailor your Silksong experience or exploit an opening in the attack pattern of an especially tricky boss.
We're pushing through the land of Pharloom to list every hidden Hollow Knight Silksong crest. Paired with our Silksong map, you might be able to unlock your preferred playstyle earlier than you think. Note that reaching some of these perks will require passing certain points in the game, so you may want to check out our guides on how to beat the Silksong Widow boss or how to unlock the Silksong Dash, too.
Every Hollow Knight Silksong crest
Here are all of the Silksong crests to collect.
- Hunter crest
- Wanderer crest
- Reaper crest
- Beast crest
- Shaman crest
- Witch crest
- Architect crest
Hunter crest
This is the default way to play Hollow Knight Silksong and is unlocked from the start. Hornet's standard skillset has a healthy mix of quick, wide, and long-range attacks. It's the way most people will play the majority of the game.
Hunter crest moveset:
- Standard strike: Hornet slashes forward quickly
- Upward strike: Hornet slashes in an arc above her
- Downward strike: Hornet diagonally dives down
- Dash strike: Hornet lunges forward
- Bind: Hornet channels, healing three masks
Wanderer crest
You'll find the Wanderer Crest in the Chapel of the Wanderer. This is in the Bonegrave area west of Bone Bottom. You'll need a Silksong simple key to make your way to through the Wormways, then continue downwards until you come across the chapel. Once inside, you'll have to fight waves of enemies to claim your prize.
Alternatively, we've found a route that takes you down the main funnel in Bone Bottom, though this method does require you to have Cling Grip. Begin at the bench at Shellwood just in case you fall. Then, head down towards the bottom, hugging the left-hand wall. Before you tumble down into Bone Bottom village, hook a left, effectively looping you under the Wormways. Then continue west until you reach the Wanderer's Chapel. This all sounds very vague, so here's a handy video of Aaron making the discovery.
The Wanderer Crest offers a similar arsenal to that of the first Hollow Knight protagonist. So if you can't adapt to Hornet's combat style, this is the Silksong crest for you.
Wanderer crest moveset:
- Standard strike: Hornet does a short forward slash
- Upward strike: Hornet swipes upward
- Downward strike: Hornet does a quick down slash
- Dash strike: Hornet slashes in front of her without stopping
- Bind: Hornet channels, healing three masks
Reaper crest
Found in the Chapel of the Reaper, you'll have to travel to the Greymoor area to unlock the Reaper crest. Continue west of the Halfway Home to find the chapel.
The Reaper crest specializes in heavy and hard-hitting attacks, with a few quick strikes for those twitch moments. If you're a patient attacker and know exactly when to strike, you can deal big damage with each swing using the Reaper crest.
Reaper crest moveset:
- Standard strike: Hornet does a heavy forward slash
- Upward strike: Hornet does a quick upslash
- Downward strike: Hornet slashes in a downward arc
- Dash strike: Hornet does an uppercut slash
- Bind: Hornet channels, healing three masks and increasing silk regeneration from hitting foes for a short time
Beast crest
The Beast crest is found in one of the game's trickiest areas: Hunter's March.
Blocked by the Savage Beastfly, one of the many Silksong bosses, fighting through the Chapel of the Beast to score this crest is no easy feat. Succeed and you'll unlock an agile way of fighting with a mode switch that can really punish your opponent's downtime.
Beast crest moveset:
- Standard strike: Hornet claws forward
- Upward strike: Hornet claws upward
- Downward strike: Hornet does a rolling slash
- Dash strike: Hornet jumps up before clawing downwards
- Bind: Hornet enters berserk state, increasing damage dealt and restoring masks from enemies hit
Best Hollow Knight Silksong crest
The best Hollow Knight Silksong crest is the Reaper Crest. There are several big reasons for this. It's attainable early on, gives you a downwards pogo similar to the original Hollow Knight's, has a larger hitbox which reduces enemy collision chance, and its passive is incredible for regaining silk after Binding. It's slower than some of the other crests, but it's a brilliant pickup if safety is your number one priority, be it when fighting bosses or exploring Pharloom.
As you get into Silksong Act 3, we'd recommend locking the Architect Crest in for bosses. Red tools are incredibly powerful in Silksong, especially when combined with the Pollip Pouch, and this crest comes with three of them. As a result of this, as well as its potent charge attack, Architect Crest has arguably the highest potential DPS output in the game.
How to equip Silksong crests
You can equip or change crests by resting at a bench and entering the inventory menu. Depending on the system you're playing on, the button to swap your crest will be X on a Switch or Xbox controller, or square on a PlayStation controller.
How to upgrade Silksong crests
You can upgrade your Hunter crest by talking to an NPC called Eva in an area called Weavenest Atla, which is behind a locked door in Moss Grotto only accessible after you've saved Bellhart by defeating Widow. After this point, you'll unlock an item called Needolin. Play it outside the locked door in Moss Grotto to gain access to Weavenest Atla, then make your way through this tricky, though quite small, area to Eva.
We don't yet know where or if you can upgrade your other crests, though it's hard to imagine you can't.
We'll add more details to our Silksong crests guide as we discover them. If you're still not feeling the game's reaction-heavy combat after applying any of these tweaks, you might want to check out the best Metroidvania games on PC until we uncover one that suits your style.