[Top 5] Hollow Knight Best Builds

Updated:

22 Sep 2020

The Knight manages to dispatch a miner in the Crystal Peaks

The Best Kind of Armor

Throughout Hollow Knight the player will come across a wide variety of charms. The purpose of these charms are to help the knight get special advantages in battle. But did you know that some charms can be combined to enhance each other? If combined perfectly, the charms can be turned into an effective build for the player. These builds may help the player by giving them different combat-styles or by helping them through certain bosses. Of all the many charm combinations, only five will be the Best build to have on your journey.

5. Battle Mage

The Knight launches a powerful Vengeful Spirit attack at the King Vengefly!

To Be a Wizard

In Hollow Knight, you will discover spells that grant powerful magic-based attacks. However, players may find themselves debating whether or not to use Soul to heal themselves or for spells. Spells are useful against the more powerful enemies, but sometimes the damage may not be enough. A build that can help increase the power of your spells is the Battle Mage Build.

This Spell Build is a build that mostly focuses on the use of spells. Players can easily acquire Soul to use for those spells with this build as well. Part of this build involves having the Shaman Stone equipped. With the Shaman Stone the power of all their spells increase greatly. Players have to basically get in a few strikes with their nail and then retaliate with a barrage of powerful spells.

This build is heavily effective against bosses that may be nail resilient. It's especially helpful if the boss may be a bit out of reach and dealing a ton of damage to you. Abyssal Shriek and Vengeful Spirit are two spells that benefit greatly with this build.

What’s good about this build:

Increase spell attack damage: Spell based attacks do more damage to enemies.
Easy Soul acquisition: Allows the player to easily acquire Soul for spells and healing with one hit.
Some Soul left over: You may be left with enough Soul to heal while using this build.

Full build details:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=875851140

4. Holy Light

The Knight sends a powerful nail attack to counter the Brooding Mawlek!

The Power of the Sword Beam

In Hollow Knight, your nail is your only weapon of self-defense. It isn't until you discover spells that you finally have powerful ranged attacks. However, the cost of using spells is Soul that could also be used for healing. By default, your combat style requires you to get up close to damage enemies until you can use one or two of your spells. However, there is a build that allows you to send out ranged attacks with no Soul needed. This build is called the Holy Light.

With this build, the player sends out a flurry of quick slashes. What's more is that the slashes are accompanied by a beam of energy that does damage to enemies. The beam is slightly capable of pushing an enemy back. Now you can attack enemies from a distance, as they are being pushed back. The only cost is that the player MUST be at full health or the beam won’t activate.

For some enemies, the beams can kill in one hit. The build can also be used to stagger bosses, just to give players that extra opening. If you find yourself in Fog Canyon, it's also useful for detonating the Ooma safely.

What’s good about this build:

Strong ranged beams: The beam attacks deal a ton of damage to enemies.
Fast quick beams: The beams can be launched in fast succession at enemies.
Can stagger bosses: Can stagger some bosses by just attacking them with the beam from afar.

Full build details:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=875851140

3. Ultimate Summoner

Hornet is overwhelmed by the Knight minions as they detonate.

The Cavalry has Arrived

Throughout Hallownest, there are charms that allow players to have small minions with them. The Grimmchild charm summons a young Grimm to shoot at enemies with accuracy, if players didn’t stop the Ritual. Then you have the Weavers that jump out and slice at foes, but they’re more useful against smaller mobs. Then you have the Broodflies, the little minions that rush into foes and detonate on impact, with the cost of Soul to summon more. If you combine these respected charms, then you get the build, Ultimate Summoner.

Ultimate Summoner is a Minion Build that focuses heavily on the use of minions to protect the player. The player may hardly have to lift a finger as their minions seek out enemies to destroy. Another perk to this build is that it has the Defender Crest and Spore Charm equipped. Those charms may not increase the abilities of the minions, but they add an extra layer of protection to the player. These extra charms also add a cloud of smoke and spores that continue to deal damage when the Broodflies detonate.

This build is effective in situations where the player may be outnumbered. It's especially useful in the Colosseum of Fools, where you are attacked with wave after wave of enemies. Even in a stroll to reach the next area, the minions can seek out and destroy enemies before they even reach the player. This build has its cons as you probably won't be able to heal as much with this build as Soul will be slowly consumed to summon the Broodflies.

What’s good about this build:

Allows you to constantly bombard your enemies with minions: Bosses and enemies can be swarmed with your minions.
Uses soul to spawn more minions: The Soul you collect can be used to spawn more Broodflies.
Ranged damage: The minions do a ton of damage from afar.
Weavers collect Soul: The Weavers collect Soul for the player to further utilize.

Full build details:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=875851140

2. Radiant Destroyer

The Knight keeps the Radiant Massive Moss Charger away with the Nail Beam.

Rise of the Godslayer

You just make it to Godhome and you’ve beaten all the boss statues. There are three levels of difficulties for each statue that can be unlocked each time you defeat a boss. The highest difficulty for these bosses is Radiant Difficulty, but the catch is that the bosses can kill you in one hit. That’s where this build, Radiant Destroyer, comes in handy.

With this build equipped, players can attack their enemy from a distance with the nail beam. Players won't have to worry about the nail beam being negated because losing one shell equates to death in Radiant Mode anyway. The beam may keep some bosses at a distance as it pushes them back with every hit.

This build is used preferably for Radiant Bosses given the fact that it can be overcharmed. When a build is overcharmed, it means that the player can add one more charm, but will take two shells of damage. Because of this, players can overcharm the build in godhome where damage doesn't matter in radiant mode. Very useful against bosses that try to close the distance while dealing a great bit of damage with the beam too.

What’s good about this build:

Useful against Radiant Bosses: Recommended against radiant bosses given the fact that it has stun potential.
Has speed and range: Players can deal a flurry of nail beams at the opponent.
Can be Overcharmed: You can overcharm this build to fit more slots for the Radiant bosses without worry.
Will work the entire battle: You don't have to worry about the nail beam being disabled with damage given the fact that Radiant Mode is a one-hit-kill mode. So the ability is throughout the battle until death.

Full build details:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/204582-hollow-knight/77096747

1. Lifeblood Galore

Despite being one shell down, the Knight still has the advantage as they stagger Hornet.

Staying Alive to the End

During your travels, if you’ve come across strange, blue gel-like cocoons in Hollow Knight, then you’ve encountered Lifeblood. Lifeblood works to add a few extra shells to the player's current ones when struck. They are useful whenever players haven't unlocked all the mask shells in game. When Lifeblood is lost, you can't get it back unless you come across another Lifeblood Cocoon. But there is a build that allows you to use the Lifeblood and as well as recover them at benches. The Lifeblood Galore Build is just the build with those advantages.

This build is centered heavily around the Lifebloods. With it, players can have more shells and survive a bit longer during boss fights. Though it doesn't affect the players damage output, it's useful for those who haven't got enough mask shells. The only downside is that lifeblood can't be regenerated with Focus. Players ,with this build, may find themselves visiting the benches often. But the upside is that this build is great for dealing with bosses.

Some players recommend this build against certain bosses like Nightmare King Grimm and other bosses that deal two shells of damage. The build will allow the player to save Soul for spells that can do damage to the boss as opposed to healing. Against bosses, this build allows the player to survive a bit longer especially if they take no damage during the fight. Even if the player does take damage, they still have twenty-one more shells that must be subtracted off first.

What’s good about this build:

Grants more masks: With this build, the player has a total of 22 masks.
Useful for boss battles: Allows players to have more shells during boss battles.
Saves Soul: Soul can be used for spells instead of healing with this build.
Can regenerate lifeblood at benches: Instead of losing the lifeblood, players can regenerate them at benches.

Full build details:

Builds are essential for players in their journey throughout Hallownest. These are just the most notable builds, but there are many out there. Some players come up with their own combinations that helped them get through their journey and through other tough bosses. Do you have a build you’d like to share? Describe it below and who knows, it might become a featured build in the future!