How To Get To The Abyss Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is a tricky metroidvania set in a delightful and enormous underground world. The sheer amount of lore and collectibles in this game are astounding, not to mention the variety of enemies and the scope of the map. Spells are one of the most important tools for defeating key bosses and opening up new locations, and as such, it's in your best interest to fortify your Knight with as many of these spells as possible.

There are six spells total that the Knight can acquire, three base spells and three upgrades:

Vengeful Spiritand its upgradeShade Soul
Desolate Diveand its upgradeDescending Dark
Howling Wraithsand its upgradeAbyss Shriek

Each of the spells consumes a small amount of the Knight's Soul reserve, so they can not be used when the Knight's stores of Soul are depleted.

The spells have been laid out here in the order the player is most likely to encounter them, but since there is no right or wrong way to play Hollow Knight, the player may encounter these spells in a completely different order. The only general rule is that base spells(Vengeful Spirit, Desolate Dive, Howling Wraiths)must be acquired before their respective upgrades unless you're using a mod.

Vengeful Spirit

The Vengeful Spirit is a useful and powerful range attack that fires a burst of Soul from the Knight's reserves in a horizontal line away from the Knight. It can be used while jumping or while on the ground and is a relatively quick attack.

How To Get Vengeful Spirit

You can, and must, get this spell fairly early on in the game since it's located in the first section of Hallownest and is needed in order to enter the Greenpath. This spell is located directly left of the False Knight, which Corniferous will have marked on his original portion of the map.

Once you've defeated the False Knight, head to the left to the next room, which will be creepily adorned with bug skulls on sticks. Climb to the top of this room to find the lair of the Snail Shaman, an area called the Ancestral Mound.

Speak to the Snail Shaman in his lair, and he will offer you the Vengeful Spirit. Jump into it to accept the spell.

Note: accepting the Vengeful Spirit will trap you in a new location with a mini-boss that must be defeated before exploring Hallownest further.

Desolate Dive

The Desolate Dive is a vertical attack that uses a small amount of the Knight's Soul reserves to shoot directly down at the ground. It can be used while jumping or while standing, but it is a bit unwieldy to use for attacking.

Its primary purpose is to break areas of weak ground or cracked glass windows, to further open up areas for the Knight to explore. Patches of shaky ground that can be destroyed are often accompanied by a sound effect that sounds like tumbling pebbles, and an animation where tiny rocks jump up from the ground.

How To Get Desolate Dive

This spell is immediately acquirable after defeating the formidable boss the Soul Master. The Soul Master is located in the top room of the Soul Sanctum, a higher sub-section of the City of Tears.

Once you've defeated the Soul Master, Desolate Dive will automatically appear in front of the Knight. Jump into it to acquire the spell.

Note: Soul Master is a two-phase battle. Don't get complacent!

Howling Wraiths

Howling Wraiths is a vertical area attack that uses a portion of the Knight's reserve Soul to attack upwards in a cloud around the Knight.

This attack can be used while jumping or standing and can be useful against flying enemies, although it only deals damage in a narrow radius around the Knight.

How To Get Howling Wraiths

This spell can be found by entering a sub-location in Fog Canyon called the Overgrown Mound. This location is found to the far left of Fog Canyon.

There is no major boss to defeat here, although the player will encounter an abundance of Squits that must be destroyed before the spell can be obtained. Once the Squits have been defeated, continue right through Fog Canyon to find the husk of a large Snail Shaman, and the Howling Wraiths spell floating beside it. Jump into the spell to acquire it.

Shade Soul

This spell is an upgrade for Vengeful Spirit and will replace that spell once it has been acquired. It is a more powerful version of Vengeful Spirit spell that functions the same way and consumes the same amount of Soul.

Keys To Shade Soul

Accessing the location of the Shade Soul requires first gettingtwo literal key items. The first key item to acquire is the Shopkeeper's Key. This can be found in the Crystal Peaks area, close to the bench in the middle of the area.

Once you have the Shopkeeper's Key, return to Dirtmouth and visit Sly's shop. The Shopkeeper's Key will open up his storeroom where he keeps his rare items. These items then become available to purchase. Among them is the second key item that must be bought for 800 Geo: the Elegant Key.

How To Get Shade Soul

The Elegant Key can be used to open up a locked door located in the Soul Sanctum, a subsection of the City of Tears.

Hint: On the elevator up to the locked door there is a secret breakable wall on the left. Smashing it will allow the Knight to travel quickly between the Soul Sanctum and the nearest bench.

Behind the locked door in the Soul Sanctum is a tough mini-boss battle against a Soul Warrior and his Folly summons (which is why the shortcut to the bench is handy!).

Hint: this battle is made much easier by using Pale Ore to upgrade to the Channelled Nail, which allows the Knight to one-shot kill each Folly.

Once you've defeated this boss, continue left and above the fight area to find a strange bug figure attached to a device. Examine the figure to consume the Shade Soul.

Descending Dark

This spell is an upgrade for Desolate Dive and will replace that spell once it has been acquired.

Like the Shade Soul, it is a more powerful version of its base spell that functions the same way and consumes the same amount of Soul.

How To Get Descending Dark

Descending Dark can be acquired in a sublocation at the bottom right of the Crystal Peak called the Crystallised Mound.

Inside the Crystallised Mound is a challenging platforming section. There is no maze, or map, so follow the path to the right across the platforms until you encounter aSnail Shaman imprisoned in a crystal. Destroy the crystalized Shaman to receive the Descending Dark.

Abyss Shriek

The Abyss Shriek is an upgrade for the Howling Wraiths and will replace that spell once it has been acquired. It is again a more powerful and darker version of its base spell that functions the same way and consumes the same amount of Soul.

The Abyss Shriek upgrade can only be obtained after receiving the King's Mark. (The King's Mark is located in the Cast-Off Shell, a sublocation in the Kingdom's Edge area that can only be reached after encountering Hornet for the second time.) The King's Mark will allow the Knight to break the seal at the bottom of the Ancient Basin and enter the Abyss, the lowest section of Hallownest.

How To Get Abyss Shriek

The Abyss Shriek is located in a tiny room in the left-most area of the Abyss.

In this room is a square stone surrounded by statues that bear faces resembling the Howling Wraith attack. Stand on the stone and perform the Howling Wraith to receive the Abyss Shriek upgrade.

NEXT: 10 Games To Play Like Hollow Knight

Gamers Are Mad At Aloy's Cheeks In Horizon Forbidden West Because Of Course They Are

Aloy's cheeks have been the subject of a lot of mockery from gamers online in the past few days because they're a bit bigger.