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The Silksong Sister Splinter boss fight gets quite hectic as she slams her fists and summons minions and impaling thorns all at once, but she has quite a repetitive attack pattern that you can exploit. However, as with many Silksong bosses, she's also got a lot of health, but unlike other bosses, only attacks from the ceiling, so you need to make sure that you perfect your movement techniques and attacks to bring her down quickly.
And while Sister Splinter doesn't offer any spectacular rewards directly, she is a mandatory boss that blocks the main path of Hollow Knight Silksong, so you have to beat her one way or another. With that in mind, I've explained how you can go about beating Sister Splinter in Silksong if you're struggling, starting with the attacks you need to be aware of, then some tips on how to counter-attack and defeat her.
Silksong Sister Splinter attacks
Sister Splinter can be quite a difficult boss to deal with, despite having such a small number of attacks to use in combat. At first, the fight seems quite simple but the way these moves can be combined is what makes it tricky, shrinking the arena and forcing you to constantly move around and potentially fall victim to her pulverizing fists and nasty reinforcements.
Here are the attacks you need to be aware of:
- Sister Splinter slams her fists down
- This is Sister Splinter's main attack combo where she slams her fists down three times in a short space of time. The attack always follows a left-right-left or right-left-right pattern, and she adjusts her position between each slam to find Hornet. Be aware that each hit deals two masks's worth of damage, so a single combo can kill Hornet, and the point where the fists hit the ground is almost directly below where Sister Splinter's head is, not directly below her fists.
- Summon thorny vines
- Sister Splinter will retreat into the ceiling to summon barbed vines that shoot into the ground, telegraphed by falling dust. At first, she only ever summons one or two, but she calls in more at a time as her health gets lower – as many as five at once. Touching these hurts Hornet, but they can be destroyed by attacking them.
- Summon minions
- Once you've chipped off what feels like one third of Sister Splinter's health, she'll start occasionally summoning one or two flying minion bugs. These minions track towards Hornet and perform a spinning, slashing attack.
Tips for beating Sister Splinter in Silksong
As I've said, Sister Splinter doesn't seem too hard to beat, but the difficulty comes from the fact that she is only ever on the ceiling, which means you need to be jump-attacking constantly (sadly no Silksong pogo jump attacks), and that the fight becomes very busy, escalating in difficulty rapidly.
Having defeated Sister Splinter myself, here are my top tips for overcoming this Silksong boss fight:
- Sister Splinter spends a lot of time idle, so make the most of these opportunities to attack her: She has a lot of health, so this isn't exactly a quick fight, but obviously the more you attack, the quicker it will go. This will also ensure you always have a good reserve of Silk, either to throw Silk Spears or to heal by binding. You'll know you're dealing good damage when she eventually falls out of the ceiling (this will happen a few times during the fight) and will be briefly vulnerable to even more attacks, and I recommend chucking a spear at her to deal massive damage before she resets.
- Use Swift Step liberally: A quick tap of the Swift Step button will help you easily avoid each of Sister Splinter's slam attacks and get out of the way of her summons. However, be careful not to misjudge the dash distance when thorns are in play as you can easily smash into them and shred Hornet's health.
- You can attack Sister Splinter during her slam attack: It might take a bit of practice as you need to learn the rhythm, but it's quite easy to attack Sister Splinter while she is trying to attack you. The best approach is to dodge in the opposite direction of the fist she's slamming down (if she slams to your right, dodge left, and vice versa) then jump back towards her and slash. While you're falling back down, you can dash to avoid the next attack in the combo and repeat.
- All of Sister Splinter's summons can be destroyed by her own fists: While this is much easier said than done, you can lure Sister Splinter during her slam attack to hit her own thorns and minions, destroying them instantly. Another way to kill the minions in one go is to lure them into the path of the thorns as they pierce the ground, but this is a bit harder to pull off.
- Alternatively, use the Silk Spear to destroy her summons: One Silk Spear deals enough damage to destroy a thorny vine or a minion, which makes it ideal for rapidly dealing with these threats and clearing space. The best part is that the spear can over-penetrate any enemy, so if you're facing multiple minions at once, make sure they're lined up and you can use the spear to kill them all in one go.
- Destroy the thorny vines as soon as they appear: The way they effectively shrink the arena makes dodging Sister Splinter and her minions much harder, and having plenty of space to move is a huge advantage in this boss fight.
- Don't underestimate her minions: Sister Splinter's minions are very easy to bring down using the Silk Spear or her own attacks, but they can be deadly as their spinning attack can hit Hornet multiple times. Each hit can be parried but that's multiple parries in a tiny space of time – just get out of the way and focus on killing them quickly so that you can get back to chipping away at Sister Splinter.
I've hopefully made clear that space and manoeuvrability are your friends for the Sister Splinter boss fight in Silksong, particularly with the amount of jumping you need to do to hit her. Broadly, anything that threatens these should be dealt with swiftly, balanced with careful Silk management – and if you've got the Flea Brew from collecting the first five Silksong Fleas, this is a good fight to use it! Master these two aspects and you'll get through Sister Splinter in no time to carry on your journey.
Silksong Sister Splinter rewards
Your reward for defeating Sister Splinter is sadly nothing. She doesn't drop any items or upgrades when defeated, but since she blocks the route through Shellwood, the real reward is unlocking the path ahead and being able to continue, but be careful as it's full of those sucker-punching flower buds.
Shortly after, you'll also unlock the Cling Grip ability, which lets Hornet effectively wall jump in Silksong. It's one of the more game-changing Silksong abilities that will let you access previously out-of-reach areas, especially in Shellwood and Bellhart, which is where you should head next.
If you've still not beaten the optional Silksong skull ant boss and perilously platformed and pummelled your way through Hunter's March in Silksong, our guides should be able to help you.
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