Ascending the Abyss | Hollow Knight Silksong - Beast Hornet Purifies Lost Lace (No Tools)

Here it is, the true final boss of Silksong and I’ve got a LOT to say about it. I will have ONE more Lost Lace fight after this but I should note this was not my first win but my second. I got my second win not long after my first since I wanted a cleaner run and even though I nearly died at the end, my P1, 2 and a lot of 3 felt clean up then. It sucks I got hit by her cutscene attack but honestly the animation is so badass I don’t really mind LOL. Anyways here’s my experience with Lost Lace who is definitely up there now for one of the hardest final bosses I’ve fought in a game. Time wise I’d estimate it took me at least 5 hours worth of attempts for my first win. Despite this, there was no point I ever considered dropping the Beast Crest. I’d gotten this far so I was fully committed to finishing the game with it. I did however go through a lot of changes with my blue Vesticrest slot. The main ones I switched off of were Longclaw and Injector Band. Longclaw was an option for a while because the extra range was good for hitting more consistent dash attacks, especially before a teleport. In the end I settled with Injector Band because the faster bind helped me get the most out of the short punish windows LL has before she moves again. As for the fight itself there are tons of combo branches LL can use depending on your positioning. My approach to this fight evolved a lot and in the end I was able to her fight fairly aggressive, something I didn’t think was possible at first. This is because LL is coded to punish you for sprinting by literally teleporting in your path. But while she does limit your sprinting in neutral this doesn’t mean you can’t sprint at all, you just need to find the opportunities to do it, like during her attack animations. It took me a few hours but I was able to build some consistent muscle memory in the times I could sprint and for how long. Because of this mechanic you’d think you always have to play at the tempo of Lace and that is true but you CAN still have calculated aggression on her. As a whole I think Lost Lace has a very engaging moveset that really tests the limit of your positioning, movement skills and reaction speed. She has just about every attack type imaginable; melee, long range and dash attacks, AoEs, projectiles, jumping attacks even a cutscene “grab” attack in P4. LL is a fight that can be played in two ways, you can either play it safe and wait for when she comes to you or you can play with calculated aggression and create more punish windows by precise spacing and positioning. There’s a ton of skill expression in the way this fight can be played because there are numerous ways to deal with her attacks. Since her combo strings are so dependent on spacing you can also manipulate her AI in your favor a lot. There is still a lot of RNG in this fight but she CAN still be predictable once you recognize what triggers certain attacks. I think this is a lot of what makes her fight good. She’s extremely challenging but it’s a fight with a good flow with many different ways to approach. But while she is highly ranked in A tier there are a few things that prevent her from being in S tier. One of the big reasons I don’t put her in S tier is from a singular move; the spinning jump attack from neutral. I’ve grown to REALLY dislike this attack because there is seemingly no tell for when she can do it. If you’re close to her or trying to extend a punish she can pull this attack out and there is simply no time to react. Even if you aren’t at point blank this attack has such a massive hitbox that sucks you in. Outside of this I don’t really have any issues with LL’s moveset but when she’s gets to P3 it can be hard to see her with all of the black void effects, especially if she comes from off screen when hazards are in the arena. Overall I’d say Lost Lace is a solid final boss. She doesn’t make it into my top 3 but I think she’s still a good fight & her OST is fantastic too. I also think she’s a fitting and touching final boss for the true ending of Silksong. But with this my Silksong first playthrough series has concluded! It’s been a long journey but I will be back again when the DLCS come out for sure. Here’s my final tier list for the fights: Final Boss Rankings: First Sinner (S+) Karmelita (S) Widow (S) Seth (S-) Phantom (S-) Lost Lace (A+) Last Judge (A+) Cogwork Dancers (A+) Lace 2 (A) Second Sentinel (A) Moorwing (A) Lace (A) Crust King Khan (A-) Nyleth (B+) Fourth Chorus (B+) Tormented Trobbio (B) Trobbio (B) Grand Mother Silk (B) Clover Dancers (B) Raging Conchfly (B) Gurr the Outcast (B) Great Conchflys (B) Disgraced Chef Lugoli (B) Bell Beast (B) Skull Tyrant (B) Watcher at the Edge (C+) Bell Eater (C+) Forebrothers Signis & Gron (C+) The Unraveled (C) Moss Mother (C) Sister Splinter (C) Crawfather (C) Pinstress (C-) Groal the Great (C-) Father of the Flame (C-) Savage Beastflies (D) Broodmother (D-)