Blasted Steps Walkthrough

The Blasted Steps is the final area in Act 1 of the main story in Hollow Knight: Silksong if you take the main path towards the Citadel. These dusty, sandy expanses are filled with dangerous creatures that will swallow Hornet up from the sand and ancient statues that come to life. On the way towards The Grand Gate, Hornet will face off against the Great Conchflies and then the Last Judge, a menacing foe that blocks the path forward. This walkthrough will guide you through treacherous terrain, including how to acquire a new skill from the Pinstress, and defeat the bosses of this region.

Jump to a section:

• Reaching The Steps
• Ascending The Steps
• Great Conchflies Boss Fight
• Reaching The Grand Gate
• Last Judge Boss Fight

How to Reach the Blasted Steps

If you didn't finish exploring Shellwood after gaining the Cling Grip, there's still an area in the far upper left side past the Bellway that held a locked gate. To reach the other side, start from the Bench room in the bottom left corner of the region -- the one that connects to the large chasm over Bone Bottom, and leads to the Wormways.

Move to the room on the right to find a series of cargo containers hanging above an abandoned cart, and wall-jump up the containers to reach a hole in the ceiling.

In this long vertical room, you'll need to alternate wall-climbing up the sides as you deal with flying Pilgrims. You'll also need to bounce across the white flowers as you alternate between sides, until you can reach the opening at the very top of the room.

Now at the top of Shellwood's northwestern exit, you can head right first to pull the lever and sing the last of the five large bells in Pharloom, which opens a new Bench and unlocks passage to the Bellway.

Continue to the left to reach the very top of Mosshome. This is actually where Hornet's entry into Pharloom began at the start of the game when the bridge shattered! Jump over the gap and into the tunnels.

If you head to the left, you won't find anything to interact with just yet, although Hornet will recognize that this is where she was brought into Pharloom at the very beginning of the game. If you try to keep traveling left, you'll eventually find the border to Pharloom itself, but Hornet won't want to leave until she finds out why she's being hunted.

Instead, jump using the wall at the very start of the tunnels.

At the top, you can find some loose Rosary Beads among husks (watch out for falling rocks), and you can actually use your Needolin to hear the whispers of their ghosts. After collecting the beads, jump to the ledge on the right, and you can find a lore stone before some platforms leading to the next room.

Here you can find another bench to activate with some Rosary Beads. If you head to the left, you will enter the Blasted Steps fully.

Ascending The Steps

The Blasted Steps have a unique mechanic that is exclusive to the area. At times, the wind will blow heavily across to the right side of the screen. This will cause you to glide faster if you are traveling in the direction of the wind or push you backwards if you are gliding against it. So, in most cases, you want to wait until the wind has calmed down.

If you touch the sand at all, some worms will eat you and force you to respawn on the nearest ledge, so you need to land your jumps and wall climbs perfectly to avoid becoming worm food.

Jump over the first gap using the platforms and then wall climb up to the top of the wall at the end.From there, jump to the platform on your right and then the one on your left.

Here you will find one of the new enemy types in this area. These stalwart Judges have a mace and shield and will occasionally jump forward in your direction. If you dash under them or away from them, you can avoid the attack.

If you hit their shield, they will almost always follow it up with a mace strike, so back off as quickly as you can. They can also dash forward, but the attacks are indistinguishable from one another, so you can also jump backwards slightly to avoid a mace attack or the jump.

These enemies are fairly tricky to kill as they have a lot of health, and it is hard to do consistent damage because of the shield. So, the best strategy is to use Tools and keep jumping over them as and when you can until they die.

If you jump to the left and down, you can fight a small Pharlid bug that will perform several swipes. Landing hits between attacks is the best strategy, backing off after you land a hit or two to avoid the swipes, which will remove several pips of your health.

Follow the path to the end to find some Shell Shards to attack.

Return to the top of the area and glide back to the platform you were just on.

This time, run and jump to the platform on the left above you. At the end of the path, run and jump to the wall to avoid the sand below, scaling the wall upwards.

Two pilgrims are sitting, waiting at the top. One of these is a new Pilgrim Hiker. Though he looks feeble, he can use his walking pin as a fencing rapier, performing deft combo thrusts, and also hiding in his shell to provoke a counter-attack if you attempt to hit his armored pose.

Run and jump to the right, and the platform will have two pilgrims that spawn after being resurrected by some Silk.

Continue to the right and bounce off the bells to the next platform. Just below you is a switch. Slide down the wall and then glide to reach the platform with the switch. This will lower a platform, allowing you to skip this section in the future.

Up and to the left is another of the Judges and some pilgrims, which you will need to defeat. Tools are handy here to hit several of them at once.

Continue to the right and then jump down. Avoid the sand, using the platforms and the falling rocks. Grab the Memory Locket and then climb upwards and to the right into the next room.

Blasted Steps Memory Locket

To the right, you will find a small Conchfly. These will fire off small drills that bounce five times. Jumping and attacking are the only ways to defeat them, as they often fly just out of reach or high up.

Jump across the gap and down. Halfway down, you can find a Frayed Rosary String in a broken cage, but watch for Pharlids that climb the nearby walls, and use Tools or jumping attacks to take them out at range before the climb back.

Now, climb back up and head into the path on the right.

In this next room, use the platforms to cross the sand and find Shakra, who has the Blasted Steps map, which you should buy as soon as possible.

Item	Rosary Bead Cost	Description
Blasted Steps Map	70 Rosary Beads	Huge caves ascending to Pharloom's Citadel. The roads are slowly being devoured by sand and howling wind.

Scale the wall above Shakra, avoiding the conchflies and jumping across the platforms to the left.

Bounce off the bell, and climb the wall. At the top of the ledge above, you can find another Judge and a conchfly to defeat.

Jump to the right and defeat the pilgrims that spawn. Before moving on, be sure to look down to the right from the high edge, and you can spot a bundle of Rosary Beads on a low ledge below, just be sure to watch for falling rocks!

Blasted Steps Hidden Room 1

While on the lower right ledge that held the bundle of Rosary Beads, you can strike the wall here to revel a hidden passage. Inside you'll find a large cocoon that can be attacked to reveal the first of many Silkeaters. These collectible key items, which are also procured by Styx in Sinner's Road, can be used to instantly regain your lost Silk and Rosaries that appear where you've fallen, without having to go reclaim them yourself!

Climb the wall next to the platform where the pilgrims were and jump across to the left to find another Judge. Defeat it, and then hop across the bells and to the left, back into the large chasm room.

In the next room, jump over the hanging cages using your wall climb and hit the switch. This lowers one of the hanging cages while raising the other, unlocking both a shortcut up from below, and the path to climb to the very top of this large room.

Now you can simply climb up the wall above the passageway leading to Shakra and climb the assorted rock and hanging cages to quickly get upward.

Be sure to jump across to the left side of this area as you ascend, and you'll spot a tattered blue banner adorned with two pin weapons. Jump across the gap and avoid the conchfly to find a long passageway beyond. Hop along the platforms to find an optional boss: Great Conchflies. While this boss isn't necessary, we do suggest you beat it for the reward on the other side.

Great Conchflies Boss Fight

• Recommended Tools: Sting Shard, Fractured Mask/Warding Bell
• Recommended Crest: Any
• Recommended Skill: Thread Storm

The Great Conchflies actually only have two attacks between them. The most common will be when they burrow into the ground, walls and ceiling and emerge from them, dealing damage in a straight line.

The damage is concentrated on their drill-like points on their heads, allowing you to avoid damage and still land attacks by standing to the side of them, close enough for your hits to land.

These burrowing attacks have various timings and formations. They can happen at different times for each Conchfly, be synchronized, or come from two different directions (such as from the ceiling and ground).

Occasionally, one Conchfly will emerge and hover. At this point, it can perform a powerful burrow down after a short delay.

Alternatively, one of the Conchflies can shoot out drills that will bounce off the walls, floor and ceiling, four times.

The trick to beating the Conchflies, though, is to simply nail your dodges and jumps. Their attacks are not complicated at all and quite easy to avoid, but they involve landing well-timed jumps and being able to attack consistently from the side as they prepare to burrow.

With a bit of practice and patience, you'll be able to anticipate the path of their attacks and even set traps by placing Sting Shards along their incoming pathway, or jump between them and use your Thread Storm to hit both as they fly by.

About halfway through the fight, their attacks will speed up, but nothing changes. They just burrow and emerge from the walls, ground, and floor at a faster speed.

In truth, you only need to defeat one of the two Conchflies to end the fight. When one is defeated, the other will escape into the background, letting off an angry screech before it retreats. Seems you've made a lasting enemy...

Great Conchflies Defeated

After defeating the Conchflies, continue to the left. Run and jump across the sand to the platforms. With the high winds, low visibility, and very small spaced out platforms, you'll need to look and listen closely to know when the gusts die down before attempting to jump and float to the next section, or you may be pushed backwards into the worm-filled sands!

Eventually, you can run and jump to a platform being held up by a balloon and chain. Enter the building to find a bench to rest on and the Pinstress.

Much like the Seamstress, this blue-garbed friendly bug prefers to love in isolation in her floating hut. Speak to her and she will offer to train with you. Accepting her training will reward you with the Needle Strike, a new attack that deals a charged hit by holding the attack button.

You'll find that like your basic attacks, the Crest you equip will also influence what kind of charged strike Hornet will perform when using the Needle Strike. These can include attacks with wider range, or ones that hit multiple times, so be sure to experiment to find a Crest with attacks that suit your playstyle!

Needle Strike

Reaching The Grand Gate

Now that you have explored this area, return to the room before Shakra and climb upwards using the cages you lowered. Climb continuously upwards, using the cages and across the gaps. Eventually, you will reach the ceiling and can head left to find another Bench (40 Rosaries) and the Bellway (60 Rosaries) that can be unlocked.

To the left of the Bellway, you can find a small side area. Climb upwards using the walls until you reach a room with a lamp next to it. As you enter, you'll catch a brief glimpse of Grindle (or perhaps another Snitchfly) before he dashes off up a high ledge that's out of reach. You'll want to mark this spot on your map, and return here when you have the ability to double jump!

Blasted Steps Hidden Room 2

Head upwards even further and attack the wall on the right of the next cliff edge. Here you can find a lore tablet in front of a rack of weapons, armor, and shields, that indicates the bugs here are to one day become the Judges you've seen elsewhere in this region.

Sure enough, if you jump down the pit to the right, several bugs known as Squirrms will scatter. If you wish to add them to your Hunter's Journal, you'll need to set a trap by placing Sting Shards before moving into the room on the right (alternatively, they can be lured in by playing your Needolin for a short time).

In the next room on the right, climb upwards, avoiding the spikes to find a large statue at the end, which you can destroy for some Shell Shards. It will also drop a Beast Shard. To exit, look for another small pit, and it will drop you back at the beginning of the secret room.

Back outside in the tall room, you'll find that there's even more room to continue your climb above the secret room entrance. This will require you to wall-jump up and then dash to the far side, using downward pogo strikes to bounce off the spikes to carefully reach the far wall. Continue this method all the way upward, and at the top you'll find a high ledge holding the Lost Flea for this region.

Blasted Steps Lost Flea

Leave the room and jump downwards to the bottom. Run across the gaps and into the next room.

In here, you can find Lumble the Lucky. They will offer to play a dice game with you for Rosary Beads. You can bet 4 beads per roll (and Lumble only has a total of 16 on him). While it's not exactly a great way to earn lots of beads, you can keep playing until Lumble eventually runs out of beads and offers you the dice. These Magnetite Dice have a small percentage chance for Hornet to completely avoid taking damage. While the chance starts at 0, for every hit you take the chance will slightly increase until the effect is activated, at which point the percent chance returns to its default 0. Even though it's slightly random, you'll find it invaluable against bosses that may be the difference between life and death!

Magnetite Dice

Return to the Bellway (where you may find Sherma now resting before making the final push toward the Citadel) and head to the right. In the next room, hop across the platforms and kill the conchfly, and then keep heading right.

Jump up to the next small platform, and then up to the left to a larger ground where one more of the Judge enemies waits to face you.

To continue from here, head up to the right onto another small platform. If you look closely, you'll find there are two paths you can take: To the right, you can bounce across two bells to reach the far right wall, leading up to a platform with a Judge and conchfly. However, you can also take a running leap to the left of this small platform to find a narrow wall leading up, an use the bell to the right to bypass the Judge (which can be incredibly useful when running back from a boss attempt).

After passing through a small room, you'll need to cross the sands by floating over them once more. Along the way, you can bounce off two hanging bells to reach the right wall.

You may have noticed below the two bells is a small pit between the worm-infested sands. You can actually drop down into this pit if you carefully float down and don't touch the edges.

Slide down the pit and jump to the left at the first ledge you spot. Don't keep going down, or you'll eventually find pits of worms at the bottom here. Just keep going left, dodging falling rocks from the shafts as you drop to lower levels. At the very end, you'll find a large chunk of Craftmetal you can attack to free a piece of, and add to your inventory.

Blasted Steps Craftmetal

Return to the main pit and wall-jump up to bounce off the bells, then climb the wall on the right. There's one more Judge up here, but thankfully it is completely inert and won't fight you.

Finally, jump across to the bell, climb the wall and glide to the next bell to reach the final platform, allowing you to finally reach the Grand Gate.

At the Grand Gate, you can speak to two friendly pilgrims. If you reached this spot earlier than expected, you'll learn that two things are needed to enter the Citadel: All five Bells in Pharloom must have been rung, and a song must be played. The bells you should have already rung while making your way up through Pharloom, located in The Marrow, Deep Docks, Greymoor, Bellhart, and Shellwood. As for the other part, you'll need to play your Needolin to activate the gate.

However, upon opening the gate, a huge towering boss will appear and launch themselves into the foreground, marking one last challenge you'll need to complete to be granted access.

Last Judge Boss Fight

• Recommended Crest: Reaper or Wanderer
• Recommended Tools: Curveclaw/Straight Pin, Flea Brew, Magma Bell, Magnetite Dice, Fractured Skull

The Last Judge is a truly powerful opponent, able to deal a lot of damage, move fast, and offers little time to react with attacks that can hit at almost any range. Be sure you're adequately prepared by upgrading your Needle at the shop in Bellhart, and finding at least four Mask Shards to get yourself an extra health point.

Above all else, the Last Judge will be a true test of your movement ability and to adapt to attacks at different ranges, plus knowing when (and when not to) get close for your own attacks. Many of their attacks also encompass wide areas, and can make this more of a platforming test than all-out combat. Keeping calm and focusing on your own evasion first is key, and as you learn their attack patterns, you'll be able to better understand when it's safe to strike back.

The Last Judge will begin the fight (at least during your first attempt) by throwing her flail-like censer with an overhand toss with a surprising amount of range that can be difficult to judge. The good news is that since it comes in high, you can sprint close and unleash a dash attack or two.

However, after tossing the censer, she will always yank it back along the ground in an attempt to trap you and damage you as it comes back low. After getting 2-3 hits in, be ready to jump upwards and back as the weapon zips back into her hand.

Her other censer attack looks very similar to her toss at first glance, and it can be difficult to judge whether to rush in or stay back. If she holds it steady behind her, she's going for a toss. But if she starts to spin it, immediately dash backward out of melee range, as she'll spin the censer rapidly to cover an area all around her that can hurt, and can even deflect tools and traps.

Her last main attack in this first phase has two variants of a leaping strike, which can only be identified when she bends down slightly while holding her usual pose. Most times, she'll leap high into the air, pause for a moment, then slam down just a few paces away with her weapon. The pause should give you plenty of time to either back up, or dash under her and then dash back to strike when she lands, as it will take her a moment to get back up and move to her next attack.

A trickier variant can happen much faster, usually if you've been fighting on one side of the arena. She'll perform the leap but always move to the center of the room without pausing to slam down, which can still damage you if you are expecting that moment of grace. Because of this, you'll just need to remember your spacing and stay out of the exact center when she starts a leap -- just in case.

The good news is that aside from twirling her censer weapon, she's quite vulnerable at range, and you can use the Curveclaw tool to deal a great amount of damage at medium range as it hits multiple times, or the Straight Pin while staying out of range of her weapon toss. If you're feeling gutsy, use Flea Brew during the first phase to get in and strike quickly while her moves are more limited.

Once she's been stunned at least once and taken a good amount of damage, she'll soon ignite her censer, starting the second phase. Things will get a lot more chaotic at this point, requiring a lot more mobility on your part. Failure to predict her new fire-based attacks will have you taking double damage, but you can mitigate this with the Magma Bell Tool sold in the Deep Docks.

The Last Judge will always start the second phase by spinning her fiery censer causing a wall of flame. To make matters worse, you'll begin to see outer rings of smoke drift toward you, which will also ignite into flame after a few seconds. They are evenly spaced, so watch the smoke closely and don't dash around -- using the opportunity to toss more projectiles her way.

Her censer toss attack also gets an upgrade, as the weapon will now cause a delayed explosion after it slams into the ground. If you are dashing out of the range, don't try dashing back in or the explosion will hit you, and instead toss traps. If you dash under the toss, stay close to her and jump right after the explosion to avoid it coming back.

The jumping slam attack has a similar fiery bonus, but rather annoyingly it won't always trigger, so you'll either need to react quickly or play it safe and assume the worst for each jump. At the height of her jump, she'll ignite the censer before slamming into the ground. You'll have the briefest of moments to spot the wave of smoke rising up along the ground when she slams down before the smoke ignites into flames, covering all the ground.

The best counter for this is to simply jump up as she lands, and extend your Drifter's Cloak to slowfall for a moment, or try a downward strike to "pogo" off her to increase your airtime.

Finally, she'll have a new attack often performed at mid distance. She'll crouch down and raise up her weapon behind her, engulfed in fire for a moment before dashing forward. The distance covered is usually pretty considerable, always past you as she drags the censer along the ground.

In her wake, several columns of smoke will appear, and will ignite after a brief moment. This means just dodging her charge isn't enough, you'll need to also reposition yourself quickly to avoid taking fire damage. The good news is since the Last Judge lunges low to the ground, you'll have a great opportunity to slash downward as she passes under you. Don't worry about trying to stay close and counter after her dash as the fire plumes are almost always too close to her and negate melee range, so toss some projectiles instead.

Her dash is also a great time to heal if you need it, the moment you spot the plumes of smoke, jump in between them and Bind and you should be healed by the time the fire dissipates. Otherwise, try to bait out her weapon toss and stay far away from the weapon and you'll have time to heal.

When she gets into a final more murderous phase, she'll perform an extended fiery censer spin. Keep your distance, and be ready to alternate stepping away from the rings of smoke that will burst into flames at least four times in succession.

One the flames dissipate, she'll be momentarily winded and give you an opening, but get your hits in quickly until she stands back up, then retreat before she spins her censer again.

She'll only do the extended attack once before returning to her usual moves, and you should play this as defensive as you can. Always reset to standing out of range of her spinning attack so you can adapt to either moving away from the rings of fire, jumping over her dash, moving under her weapon toss, or dodging and jumping up when she slams down. If you're having trouble finding openings, there's no shame in waiting for a specific attack you know how to counter, like slashing down when she dashes, or getting off a slash after floating over the wave of fire following her jump attack. Once you've gotten the evasion part down and can reliably avoid most attacks, you can chip away at her at your leisure.

When she finally falls to the ground, her censer will begin to emit a large amount of smoke as she recites one final chant. This would be a good time to back away, as she'll have one last explosive laugh if you're standing too close!

Last Judge Defeated

Once you defeat the boss, head right and activate the switch on the door. A huge citadel will reveal itself, and you will officially enter Act 2 of the main story.

Please note that soon after, you'll enter a temporary "Point of No Return" where you won't be able to return to the previous regions until finding a Bellway in the Citadel. It can take a bit of time, so we highly recommend going back to wrap up any remaining side quests or explore places likeSinner's Road(though nothing from Act 1 will become inaccessible during Act 2).Blasted Steps

Blasted Steps Checklist
Tools Collected
Magnetite Dice	---
Bosses Defeated
Great Conchflies Defeated	Last Judge Defeated
Lost Fleas Found	Memory Lockets
Blasted Steps Lost Flea	Blasted Steps Memory Locket
Abilities Learned	Craftmetal
Needle Strike	Blasted Steps Craftmetal

Up Next: Sinner's Road Walkthrough

PreviousWormways WalkthroughNextSinner's Road Walkthrough

Top Guide Sections

• Differences and New Features
• Essential Tips and Tricks
• Walkthrough
• Boss Guides and Boss Order

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Initial Release: Sep 4, 2025

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