Hollow Knight: Silksong Guide | How to Beat the Widow Boss

Here's a guide on how to beat the Widow boss in Hollow Knight: Silksong

Game Guide by Imdeadfrfr on Oct 06, 2025

Hollow Knight: Silksong has no shortage of memorable fights, fights where your limit is tested, and fights that mesmerize you with the visuals, or fights that can do both. One of these said fights is the Widow boss fight.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Guide, How to Beat, the Widow Boss

In this guide, I will help you through the Widow boss fight in Hollow Knight: Silksong.

What You Will Need

Widow, who you will find in the area Bellheart, is a challenging encounter that tests both your reflexes and your ability to manage multiple threats at once. To reach her, you need to start from Shellwood and unlock the cling grip ability to access the boss arena in Bellheart. Without this ability, you cannot progress to this fight.

How You Can Approach the Fight

The fight is divided into multiple phases, and with each phase, the difficulty amps up. Widow mostly uses side-down slashes in the first stage, which are somewhat easy to avoid if you know when to dodge. You have a small window of time to dash or glide over the visible threads that come before the balls she throws.

Another attack she employs in this phase is the ground spikes, which sequentially cover the ground. You should try to focus on the first spike ball that appears, jumping over it as soon as it appears and gliding over the first ball of the spike; in each sequence, it is the best tactic; later balls of the spike accelerate and have unpredictable angles, making them much more difficult to dodge.

She also does vertical bell throws that come from the ceiling and angled bell throws that follow through a white thread that appears at the corner of the screen, both of which do 1 mask of damage but are mostly dangerous because they open you up to her slash attack. The vertical bells can be easily dodged, but the angled ones are tough.

In this stage, she may do a bell strike that covers both ends of the arena, and she scurries into hiding there. Here, you cannot hit her. I would suggest that you use this moment to heal, as the sequence lasts just long enough for you to bind, but be aware that there is a chance she will come in and immediately do her slash attack.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Guide, How to Beat, the Widow Boss

The Widow's angled bells are throws that are more difficult to dodge, as you have to use your intuition to determine the path they will follow while keeping track of the Widow's position. The Widow's side slashes throughout each phase are the main threat, but sometimes she overextends her attack, which allows you to hit her from the back and momentarily stun her.

Once you have landed enough hits, she will disappear from the screen, making you think the fight is over, but it is not; you have now moved into the second stage, where the difficulty ramps up significantly. In this stage, the Widow's goal is to distract you with the balls as she leaps in for side swipes. You have to be aware of both the bells and their trajectories, as well as her movements.

I would suggest that you refrain from jumping during angled bell attacks unless absolutely necessary, as it can put you at risk. After completing especially challenging sequences, you should heal strategically during the safe openings. You need to have patience and may need to try again and again, but it is essential not to lose hope and to keep trying to make it past this stage.

Defeating her gets you the Ancestral Art Needloin, which allows you to play ancient melodies by stringing silk along the needle and uses up silk. It enables Hornet to reopen previously closed locations, allowing the story to progress.

Attacking enemies restores the silk meter, which is needed to use the ability. As well as that, the needolin can be used to uncover lore about enemies, as using the ability on them causes them to be stunned, and they start singing to the music being played.

A few tools that I can suggest for this fight include those that increase attack range or mobility, such as Reaper Crest for downstabs and for its ability to generate more silk for more binds. Using the Drifter's Cloak for dodging the spike ball attacks on the floor by gliding over the spike balls and Cling Grip for wall clinging is a great strategy as well.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Guide, How to Beat, the Widow Boss

A strategy I used in this fight was the air binding method, where you bind while hovering in the air, causing you to be frozen in that position until the bind is released. Using this, you can heal during fights where there are extended ground attacks like this one. However, be cautious not to get hit by the angled bell attacks.

The Widow's side slash attacks do not have any reach near the top, but the vertical projectiles might pose a problem, and that is where the Warding Bell comes in. It causes you to be protected while casting your bind, taking one hit of damage, and releasing a spread of damage around you, in exchange for your bind animation being cancelled and your silk being depleted, unless your bind is nearly at the end.

Long-range tools come in handy in fighting Widow safely while dodging her attacks. Tools such as the thorn trap and the boomerang are great for this fight. Other tools that might come in handy are the pins and the tacks if you have them unlocked. The binding ward bell is also great, so that if you get hit while binding, it will prevent damage.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Guide, How to Beat, the Widow Boss

By keeping focus, mastering her attack patterns, and using your abilities effectively, you can overcome Widow and gain the Bind Ancestral Art, which is important for unlocking hidden parts of the game.

Overall, this fight is visually stunning and effectively tests your reaction time and ability to overcome, building you up for the rest of the game.

Also, check our Hollow Knight: Silksong Review and other guides below: