Six SOUL-powered casts across 3 forward attacks, 3 upgrades, and 1 flat 33-SOUL cost. The Forgotten Crossroads Vengeful Spirit is the first; Abyss Shriek is the strongest.
Six spells in the game, all 33 SOUL each, all stored in the SOUL Meter the Knight fills by hitting enemies with the nail. According to the wiki, the three base spells are Vengeful Spirit (forward), Howling Wraiths (upward), and Desolate Dive (downward); each pairs with a single upgrade that roughly doubles its output.
Per the wiki, the upgrade pattern is the buried lede: Shade Soul, Abyss Shriek, and Descending Dark all cost the same 33 SOUL as their base versions while dealing significantly more damage. Once the upgrade is unlocked, the base spell is permanently overwritten; there is no reason to cast the base version after the swap.
The wiki notes nail-tier upgrades do NOT scale spell damage, which makes spells feel weak on Pure Nail saves and disproportionately strong on Old Nail speedruns. Shaman Stone (+33% to +50% spell damage) and Spell Twister (33 SOUL to 24 SOUL) are the canonical spell-build charms.
This guide covers all 6 spells: each base spell's damage, location, and gating boss, plus the upgrade path, the SOUL economy, the canonical spell-build charm spine, and the spells-do-not-scale-with-nail quirk that catches first-time players.
6 spells (3 base + 3 upgrades; each costs 33 SOUL).
Vengeful Spirit in Forgotten Crossroads (forward fireball, 15 damage).
Shaman Stone + Spell Twister for +33% damage and 24-SOUL cost.
Pure nail builds; spells ignore nail-tier scaling so the SOUL is better spent on Focus heals.Per the wiki, every spell costs 33 SOUL and overwrites its base version on upgrade. The damage values below are baseline (no Shaman Stone) and represent in-game tooltip data.
| Spell | Damage | Direction | Location | Upgrade gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vengeful Spirit | 15 | Forward fireball | Forgotten Crossroads | (base) |
| Shade Soul | 30 | Forward fireball, larger, pierces enemies | Soul Sanctum (City of Tears) | Vengeful Spirit + Soul Master fight |
| Howling Wraiths | 45 (3 ticks of 15) | Upward cone | Howling Cliffs | (base) |
| Abyss Shriek | 80 (4 ticks of 20) | Upward + downward cone | The Abyss (Birthplace) | Howling Wraiths + Kingsoul + Void Heart route |
| Desolate Dive | 15 impact + 20 shockwave | Downward smash | Soul Sanctum (City of Tears) | (base; Soul Master drop) |
| Descending Dark | 15 impact + 35 shockwave | Downward smash + i-frames | Crystal Peak (deep section) | Desolate Dive + Crystal Heart |
According to the wiki, the 4 reserve SOUL casts the Reserve Vessel allows doubles the effective spell economy. A full main SOUL meter (99 SOUL) holds 3 casts; full main + reserve holds 6 casts on baseline gear, or 8 casts with Spell Twister equipped.
Per the wiki, all 6 spells share a cast animation lock of roughly 0.5 seconds. Players queueing spells mid-fight can interrupt the cast animation only by taking damage. Plan spell windows around enemy attack telegraphs; a spell cast during a Mantis Lord ring slam guarantees a Mask hit.
Vengeful Spirit is the first spell and the canonical SOUL-spend for Mantis Lord positioning. Per the wiki, the spell sits in a chamber east of Forgotten Crossroads, gated by a 4-Husk wave that fires after the first cast.
According to the wiki, Vengeful Spirit deals 15 damage as a forward-traveling fireball that pierces the first enemy it hits. The projectile travels roughly 8 tiles before fading. With Shaman Stone, damage rises to 20 and the projectile size increases noticeably.
Per the wiki, the Shade Soul upgrade doubles base damage to 30 (40 with Shaman Stone) and adds wall-piercing. The upgrade sits in Soul Sanctum behind a Soul Tyrant chamber; defeating the Soul Master boss (City of Tears) opens the path. Once Shade Soul is forged, every Vengeful Spirit cast becomes a Shade Soul cast automatically; there is no downgrade option.
Howling Wraiths is the upward AOE spell that turns aerial bosses into chip targets. Per the wiki, the spell sits in Howling Cliffs on a small altar past a wind-tunnel platforming sequence.
According to the wiki, Howling Wraiths fires 3 damage ticks of 15 each (45 total) in a cone above the Knight. The cone covers roughly 90 degrees and reaches 6 tiles up. Shaman Stone adds a 50% damage boost (3 ticks of 22-23 each, 67-68 total), which is the largest single-cast damage in the game pre-upgrade.
The wiki specifies the Abyss Shriek upgrade sits at the Birthplace in The Abyss, gated by the King's Brand + Kingsoul route. Abyss Shriek deals 4 ticks of 20 each (80 total) in a wider cone that extends both up AND down from the Knight. The downward component makes Abyss Shriek the only spell that hits ground enemies directly below.
Desolate Dive is the downward smash that breaks floors and clears aerial crowds. Per the wiki, the spell drops from the Soul Master boss in Soul Sanctum (City of Tears) as the gate reward; defeating Soul Master unlocks the spell immediately.
According to the wiki, Desolate Dive deals 15 impact damage to enemies the Knight passes through during the drop, plus 20 shockwave damage in a small radius on landing. The cast grants brief invincibility during the descent, which doubles as a vertical-dodge tool. The spell also breaks specific floor tiles marked with crack patterns; several progression pickups (Crystal Peak breakable floor, Resting Grounds Soul Catcher chamber) gate on this mechanic.
The wiki specifies the Descending Dark upgrade sits in Crystal Peak behind a breakable wall past the Crystal Heart pickup. Descending Dark increases shockwave damage to 35 (47 with Shaman Stone) and extends invincibility frames across the entire descent. The upgrade is the canonical panic-button spell since the i-frames protect against multi-hit boss combos.
Hitting an enemy with the nail generates 11 SOUL into the main meter (6 into reserve once main is full). Per the wiki, the 99-SOUL main cap holds 3 casts at 33 SOUL each; the 33-SOUL reserve adds 1 more for 4 total per fight without farming.
According to the wiki, Soul Catcher (+3 SOUL per hit) and Soul Eater (+8 SOUL per hit) stack additively, raising main-meter hits to 22 SOUL each. With Spell Twister equipped (24 SOUL per cast), 1 nail hit nearly refills 1 cast, which turns hit-cast-hit-cast loops into the canonical infinite-spell-DPS pattern against tank bosses.
The wiki notes Focus also consumes 33 SOUL per Mask healed, drawing from the same meter as spells. Pure-spell builds route every SOUL into casts and rely on Hiveblood or the Bench-bench shuffle for HP recovery; mixed builds split the pool. Joni's Blessing prevents Focus entirely, which makes it the strongest pure-spell HP anchor in the game.
The 11-notch spell-build spine is Shaman Stone (3 notches), Spell Twister (2), Soul Catcher (2), and Soul Eater (4). Per the wiki, this configuration delivers +33% spell damage, 24 SOUL per cast, and 22 SOUL per nail hit, which doubles the practical spell DPS over baseline gear.
Shaman Stone (3 notches; +33% to +50% spell damage)
Spell Twister (2 notches; 33 SOUL to 24 SOUL per cast)
Soul Catcher (2 notches; +3 SOUL per nail hit)
Soul Eater (4 notches; +8 SOUL per nail hit, stacks with Catcher)
Joni's Blessing (4 notches; +40% Lifeblood Masks, no Focus, no SOUL drain)According to the wiki, Flukenest is the outlier spell-build charm. It converts Vengeful Spirit / Shade Soul into a dung-fluke swarm that scales differently from standard spells; the per-fluke damage scales with Shaman Stone, and the swarm pairs with Defender's Crest for an S-tier damage-cloud combo. In actual play, the Flukenest + Defender's Crest + Shaman Stone build is the highest-damage configuration against grounded bosses.
The spell roster ties to the SOUL-economy charms, the Soul Master gating boss, and the Ancestral Mound pickup pair. These spokes pick up the threads.
Game data and screenshots adapted from hollowknight.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Team Cherry.