Up there with Phantom, the First Sinner has to be one of our favourite fights in Hollow Knight: Silksong. This fast-paced, fair fight leaves you on your toes from start to finish, and you will have to walk a tight line of silk if you want to effectively dodge the punches the First Sinner throws your way.
It is a shame that one of our favorite bosses is so easy to miss, but curiosity and the drive to grow through exploration will be greatly rewarded with her presence. Of course, another great Ancestral Art to add to your catalog of options is a nice prize too.
How To Find The Apostate Key And The First Sinner
The First Sinner is a hidden boss in Act Two you will likely miss if you are not committed to exploring Pharloom. Although you may find the Slab — her map region — early in Act One, you will not have access to the key required to unlock her until much later.
At the bottom of the Slab (near the Bellway station), you might notice a giant locked door heading east. To open this door, you will need the Apostate Key. However, this key is not able to be found in the Slab.
Rather, to find the Apostate Key, you will need to visit the Putrified Ducts. Regardless of how you plan on entering this area, you will need the Faydown Cloak, found at the top of Mt. Faye. There are two entrances into the area:
- Via Memorium above the Citadel’s Choral Chambers
- Via the top of Bilewater after defeating Groal the Great
Once in the Putrified Ducts, you will have to make your way towards the bottom of the area near where you can find the NPC Huntress. If you go to the top left corner of the bottom room, through the many enemies you find along the way, you can pick up the Apostate Key from the ground.
There are two locations where you can use the Apostate Key in the Slab. To reach the First Sinner, you will want to use your key on the bottom door east of the Bellway. Once past it:
- Drop off the first ledge down one level and to the right.
- In this room with a Rosary chest and hanging Rosaries, collect your prizes.
- Jump up onto the wall above the door.
- Jump from that wall with double jump to a barely visible path above the room.
There is a tiny portion of platforming up in this tunnel, but follow the path to the end where you will find a giant bell-shaped container covered in Silk.
The Apostate Key can also be used to grant you access to the Slab if you were never kidnapped, as well as open the door at the top of the Slab. Inside the second door, you can do a platforming section with a Mask Shard at the end. If you are close to filling your Mask Shards, we recommend taking a detour up here quickly so that you can fight First Sinner with a little more of an edge.
To unlock the container, note the chains that are pinned to the walls. You need to strike the embedded pins to break the chains holding the door to First Sinner’s prison shut.
Once you have destroyed them all, the door will open and allow you to enter. Starting the fight with the First Sinner will require you to interact with the weaver statue in the center and Bind to it.
We recommend ensuring you have a good build before starting this fight. Defeat will not send you to a bench (or cost you Rosaries), but you will also not be able to refill your tools or change your build after each loss without running back to the Bellway station bench.
How To Defeat The First Sinner
The First Sinner is one of those fights that you absolutely should not walk into without preparation. Though you will likely stumble into her at first, you will almost always need to run back once to the bench to tweak your build to something more appropriate.
As far as preparations go, there is one that is highly recommended no matter the build you are running: ensure that you have at least a +1 Needle. Ideally, you should have upgraded your Needle to the Hivesteel Blade by completing:
- Pinmaster’s Oil
- Great Taste of Pharloom
Additionally, whichever Crest you primarily use for boss combat should have all tool slots unlocked with Memory Lockets. Any less than this would be setting yourself up for a much more painful experience than necessary.
There will not be many opportunities to heal. First Sinner is highly aggressive, meaning your heals are mostly limited to two instances:
- During a stagger
- While high in the air during the Frenzied Slashes attack
However, this changes if you bear the Beast or Witch Crests. We highly recommend having one of the two (preferably the one you are most comfortable with) as they will heal while also countering the First Sinner’s high aggression.
For us, we used the Witch Crest with the Injector Band for a faster animation and Claw Mirror for extra ticks of damage when using the close-quarters heal. This combination can even allow for emergency heals that can heal three ticks of damage at the same time as you take two from an attack, netting you one mask positive.
For attacks, the First Sinner is thankfully straightforward. There is nothing fancy about her attacks, only that they are very quick and have very little cooldown between each one. In fact, as you progress in the fight, many of her attacks will start to overlap (especially her Silkspears).
The best way to not get hit is to be mindful of dashing and to stay toward the center of the arena. This will minimize the amount of accidental walks into Silkspears or the weaver’s teleports.
Though Weaver will be staggered multiple times throughout the fight, the thing that indicates her second phase is a fake-out win. Acting as if you have beaten her, she will move into her second phase when she reappears on the stage.
This second phase will feature even faster chains and Rune Rage.
The most likely reasons you will take damage are from her Frenzied Strikes and her teleports during Silkspear. To minimize damage taken from either of these:
- If you dash, make it your priority to move toward her last known location rather than away as she disappears.
- Jump quickly during Frenzied Strikes. If you cannot, you can try parrying at least one of her attacks to minimize damage.
Otherwise, the best advice to give for this fight is to take your time and be patient with her attacks. You are the Hornet; sting like one.
When eventually you best the First Sinner (and you will), you will gain the right to Accept the weaver’s power. Inside the weaver’s memories, you will have to navigate a small bit of platforming that requires the use of the Faydown Cloak to reach the end.
At the close of the dream, you will leave the First Sinner’s prison (and the Slab) with a new Ancestral Power: Rune Rage. This power, which she used on you during your fight, can now be turned on your enemies and the enemies of the weavers.
