Hollow Knight Silksong Bell Beast boss fight and puzzle solution

The Hollow Knight Silksong Bell Beast is the first truly challenging boss fight of the game, but before you can even beat it, in true Hollow Knight Silksong fashion you need to solve a puzzle and work out how to free this giant beetle from the webs and silks that have trapped it. It's all worth it through – freeing the Bell Beast unlocks a key feature of the game that you'll be using for the rest of your playthrough, as I'll lay out below. Here's how to beat the Bell Beast boss fight, one of the earliest Hollow Knight Silksong bosses, and how to get the creature down from the webs that trapped it in the first place.

How to beat the Silksong Bell Beast boss fight

The Silksong Bell Beast is a tough foe with a lot of health, and this is a fight that's about understanding the clear response to each of its limited attack patterns. Here's what you need to do for each type of attack:

• Bell Beast charges across the ground.
  • Jump above it and do a Hollow Knight Silksong pogo jump on its back to do damage while it passes beneath you.

• Bell Beast leaps in an arc through the air.
  • Depending on where you are, either run beneath it and slash at its belly, or back away into the wall so its jump doesn't reach you and slash its nose.

• Bell Beast burrows and erupts to send a couple of bells rolling away.
  • If you're close, run at the Beast so the bells pass over your head before they land. If you're far away, jump over the bells as they roll past.

• Bell Beast roars, causing bells to start falling randomly from the ceiling.
  • This marks roughly the halfway/two thirds point of the boss fight. A bell that's about to drop is marked by a trickle of dust from above. Keep watching for these markers indicating that you're about to be in danger – they remain for the rest of the fight.

Throughout this fight, you'll have the chance to use your more powerful Silkspear attack and heal, though if you are going to heal, do it between Bell Beast's attack patterns, not during. Healing always takes longer than you'd think, so make sure you do it at the least dangerous moment, or you're almost guaranteed to get hit before it can trigger, potentially losing the fight.

If you've completed the Hollow Knight Silksong Mossberries quest nearby, you can also get a badge that'll give you Silk whenever you take damage – a useful bonus that can make the difference in this fight.

How to free the Bell Beast from the web in Silksong

To free the Bell Beast and actually start the fight, you need to find the Silkspear attack, which isn't far away. Head to the spot marked on the map above, and there'll be a plaque on the wall you can interact with (if you haven't yet unlocked the Hollow Knight Silksong map, our guide can show you how).

Interacting with this plaque unlocks the Silkspear skill, a powerful long-range lunge triggered by R1/RB, and which costs a small amount of Silk. This damages enemies more than your needle, but also can be used to break silk sand webbing in the environment. Once you have it, head back to the Bell Beast, and a single use should shatter the web and free it.

Bell Beast rewards

The main reward of the Bell Beast boss fight is to unlock the fast travel mechanic, as the monster is now pacified and happy to work as a steed, similar to the Stag in the first game. You'll need to unlock fast travel points to move between, but once discovered, you'll be able to get around the world much more easily.

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