How do you unlock Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong? With the grandiose final battle of Act 2, it’s easy to miss the existence of the game’s true final act. And with a convoluted unlock requirement most players only discover by exhausting everything the game has to offer, we’re here to run you through the quickest way to unlock Act 3 in Silksong. Beware: there’s a long, spoiler-filled road ahead.
Unlocking Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong means completing a bunch of tasks you might have seen as optional side quests. And while there are plenty you don’t need to complete, like winning the Silksong dice game, it turns out there are lots of cryptic challenges and hidden boss battles gatekeeping you from the true final showdown in one of the best Metroidvania games in recent memory.
How to get to Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong
Unlike the transition from Act 1 to Act 2, reaching Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong isn’t tied to beating just one Hollow Knight Silksong boss – though you will obviously need to beat the final boss of Act 2 first.
Once you have that victory under your belt, you need to clear a bunch of specific side quests scattered throughout Pharloom, which unlocks a final mission that serves as the entry point to Act 3.
To reach Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong, you need to do the following:
- Complete all wishes from the wishboards in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave.
- Build the Bellhart house.
- Rescue most of the fleas and send the caravan to the Pale Lake safe haven.
- Fix the Second Sentinel
- Complete the ‘Silk and Soul’ wish quest
After hitting all the Act 3 unlock requirements, you should be able to speak to the Caretaker close to the Act 2 final boss room. You’ll see a new option that, when selected, leads into Act 3 and The Abyss. You can access this area by using the Clawline on the door mechanism in the eastern area of Deep Docks.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the Silksong Act 3 unlock requirements:
Help the fleas
One requirement of unlocking Act 3 is completing the flea caravan quest. While you don’t need to find every single flea, you do need to track down more than half of them. Use our Silksong map guide to find any you might have missed, or our rundown of the Silksong flea locations if you’re just getting started.
Once you find enough of the fleas – 25 should do the trick – you need to find them a safe space. The caravan will initially move from The Morrow to Greymoor, then onto the Blasted Steps. The fleas’ forever home happens to be the spot at the very end of the Pale Lake area of Bilehaven. Get close enough and Hornet should remark that it’s a suitable location. Head back to the caravan to send it on its way.
Complete the wishboards
Another Act 3 requirement is completing the wishboards in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave. It’s unclear if you need to complete every single wish, but the safest bet is to wrap them all. Yes, even the meat one.
Build your home
After saving Bellhart and buying Shakra’s maps to trigger and complete her quest, you should be able to speak to an NPC by the Bellhart bench to unlock your home.
Fix the Second Sentinel
To complete the Songclave wishboard, you first have to bring the three Coghearts to the deactivated automaton in the Cogwork Core, the same area where you can find a valuable Pale Oil item.
Once he’s able to move, you need to track him down in both the Memorium and Citadel Spa areas before his quest is posted to the Songclave wishboard.
Complete the Silk and Soul wish
Now with all of the pre-requisites out of the way, speak to the Caretaker in Songclave. They’ll reveal there’s an alternate way to take down the final boss without Hornet having to sacrifice herself in the process. You’ll get the Silk and Soul wish quest, which has you collect three souls and a Snare Setter so the Caretaker can put together a very special trap. Here are their locations:
- Maiden’s Soul – Speak to the Maiden in Bone Bottom (she’s the first NPC you meet in the game)
- Hermit’s Soul – Speak to the Bell Hermit in the hidden area accessible from the Bellhart Bellway
- Seeker’s Soul – Picked up from an abandoned bellhome next to the bench in the Bilewater boss arena
- Snare Setter – Picked up from a table in a section above the bench in Weavenest Atla, which itself is accessible by playing the Needolin at the giant metal door in the east of Moss Grotto. Head to the semi-circle bump on the map in that long section, and hop up into the hidden opening in the ceiling between the last light in the passage and the water.
Once everything’s been gathered, speak to the Caretaker again. They’ll craft the trap, before setting off for The Cradle. Now, simply head up The Cradle, defeat Grand Mother Silk, and, when prompted, play the Needolin, rather than bind her. Absolute cinema unfolds, concluding with the void being unleashed upon Pharloom.
Once the cutscene’s ended, you’ll be spat back out to the main menu. Go to load your save, and you’ll find it covered in void tendrils. Keep spamming to load it, and eventually it’ll let you back in. Welcome to Act 3, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Before you hit Act 3, we’d recommend finding the Silksong Double Jump ability and all the Silksong Needle upgrades to boost your damage. At least, all the needle upgrades you can get up until this point.
