Top charms ranked S through C for combat, sustain, and Pantheon clears. Quick Slash, Void Heart, Shaman Stone, and Mark of Pride lead the S-tier.
Quick Slash tops the Hollow Knight charm ranking because it solves the build problem every other combat charm only partially addresses: nail strikes per second. Per the wiki, the 3-notch charm raises swing speed by roughly 33%, which stacks with damage multipliers from Fragile/Unbreakable Strength and the reach bump from Mark of Pride. No other base-game combat charm scales as cleanly with the rest of the kit.
According to the wiki, the S-tier shortlist is narrow. Quick Slash, Void Heart (free notch + true ending unlock), Unbreakable Strength (+50% nail damage), Mark of Pride (+25% reach), Shaman Stone (+33% spell damage), and Spell Twister (-9 SOUL spell cost) form the consensus top 6 across Pantheon runs, Hall of Gods Attuned completions, and Steel Soul speedruns.
The wiki specifies the rankings shift by content. Pantheon-of-Hallownest runs lean on Mark of Pride plus Quick Slash plus Unbreakable Strength because the chained 42 fights reward damage ceiling over sustain. Hall of Gods Radiant completions favour Shape of Unn plus Quick Focus plus Sharp Shadow because the boss-rush format penalises hit-taking.
This guide ranks the top 20 charms S through C with per-tier rationale, the methodology behind the picks, and the controversial calls that diverge from the community consensus. The full 45-charm directory lives on the Hollow Knight charms hub linked below.
Quick Slash, Mark of Pride, Unbreakable Strength for any combat-focused loadout.
Void Heart (0 notches, locked permanent slot) is the single best charm by efficiency.
Shaman Stone plus Spell Twister is the spell-build core for Shade Soul DPS.
Grimmchild is fun but the 2-notch summon damage falls behind Unbreakable Strength in late game.Charm ranking inputs five variables. Per the wiki, damage scaling (Quick Slash, Unbreakable Strength, Shaman Stone), reach and projectile size (Mark of Pride, Longnail, Shaman Stone), sustain (Grubsong, Hiveblood, Quick Focus, Soul Catcher), traversal (Sharp Shadow, Dashmaster, Sprintmaster), and notch efficiency (Void Heart, Grubsong, Fury of the Fallen) all weigh into the per-charm verdict.
According to the wiki, the rankings here weight Pantheon and Hall of Gods performance most heavily because the endgame content stress-tests builds in a way standard exploration does not. A charm that dominates Forgotten Crossroads but falls off in Pantheon-of-Hallownest gets penalised; a charm that shines in Radiant boss rushes but is mediocre early gets boosted.
The wiki specifies the rankings are loadout-aware. Quick Slash is S-tier because it stacks with every other combat charm; Steady Body is C-tier because its no-recoil effect only matters for ranged-build edge cases. Charms whose value depends on specific multi-charm combos (Defender's Crest plus Glowing Womb plus Flukenest) sit lower than their self-contained peers because the notch budget gets expensive fast.
| Tier | Charms | One-line verdict |
|---|---|---|
| S | Quick Slash, Void Heart, Unbreakable Strength, Mark of Pride, Shaman Stone, Spell Twister | Auto-pick for combat, spell, and endgame builds |
| A | Fury of the Fallen, Quick Focus, Grubsong, Shape of Unn, Hiveblood, Sharp Shadow | Loadout-dependent but always strong |
| B | Soul Catcher, Soul Eater, Dashmaster, Sprintmaster, Baldur Shell, Lifeblood Core | Niche but excellent in their lane |
| C | Stalwart Shell, Steady Body, Heavy Blow, Longnail, Glowing Womb, Defender's Crest | Outscaled by S/A picks; situational use only |
Per the wiki, the S-tier 6-charm shortlist forms the spine of every Pantheon-clearing build. The A-tier 6 fills sustain and traversal gaps depending on the matchup. B-tier picks shine when the loadout leans into their niche; C-tier picks usually lose their slot to a better S or A pick once the 11-notch budget is built.
Quick Slash (3 notches)Quick Slash is the single most impactful combat charm. Per the wiki, the nail-swing rate boost is roughly 33%, which translates to a flat DPS uplift against every enemy and boss. The charm stacks multiplicatively with Unbreakable Strength and Mark of Pride, which is why the three-charm combat core is the consensus default.
Void Heart (0 notches)Void Heart is the only 0-notch charm in the game. According to the wiki, the Kingsoul upgrade triggers in the Abyss after collecting both Kingsoul halves; the resulting Void Heart cannot be unequipped but costs zero notches and unlocks the Dream No More and Embrace the Void endings. Efficient by definition.
Unbreakable Strength (3 notches)Per the wiki, Unbreakable Strength raises nail damage by 50%. The Fragile precursor shatters on death; the Unbreakable upgrade from Divine for 12,000 Geo eliminates that risk. Pair with Quick Slash for the 33%/50% nail-build core.
Mark of Pride (3 notches)According to the wiki, Mark of Pride raises nail reach by roughly 25%. The reach matters most against Markoth's orbiting shield and other tight-arena fights where positioning is the limiting factor. Drops from the Mantis Lords as the village clearance reward.
Shaman Stone (3 notches)Per the wiki, Shaman Stone boosts spell damage by roughly 33% and increases projectile size for Vengeful Spirit and Howling Wraiths. Sits in the Ancestral Mound above Forgotten Crossroads. Spell builds without Shaman Stone are leaving 33% damage on the table.
Spell Twister (2 notches)According to the wiki, Spell Twister cuts SOUL cost per spell from 33 to 24. The math: 4 Shade Soul casts off a full meter instead of 3, and that 33% cast-count uplift turns the spell economy from situational into the primary damage path.
Fury of the Fallen (2 notches)Per the wiki, Fury of the Fallen raises nail damage by 75% at 1 mask remaining. Pantheon-of-Hallownest runs that hit Markoth or Nightmare King Grimm with low HP get a panic-button damage spike that turns near-death runs into clean kills.
Quick Focus (3 notches)According to the wiki, Quick Focus speeds Focus heals by 33%. The faster channel closes the heal window in tight arenas like Traitor Lord or Broken Vessel where the standard heal time costs a mask.
Grubsong (1 notch)Per the wiki, Grubsong returns SOUL on damage taken. The 1-notch cost is the cheapest sustain charm in the game; the SOUL return makes spell heals and Focus heals viable in long-form Pantheon runs where SOUL drought is the death cause.
According to the wiki, Shape of Unn lets the Knight move while focusing. Pair with Quick Focus and Spore Shroom for the canonical heal-while-running loadout that dominates Radiant Hall of Gods completions.
Hiveblood (4 notches)Per the wiki, Hiveblood regenerates the most recently lost mask after 9 seconds out of combat. Steel Soul mode runs lean on Hiveblood for the between-fight buffer; standard mode runs use it for platforming-heavy zones where one mask trickles back between Husks.
Sharp Shadow (2 notches)According to the wiki, Sharp Shadow extends dash distance and damages enemies on Shade Cloak dashes. The Markoth orbit-cycle dodge is the canonical use case; Pantheon-of-Hallownest Sharp Shadow plus Shade Cloak loadouts solve the dodge-window puzzle that standard Markoth attempts struggle with.
B-tier picks fill specific roles cleanly but compete for notches with S and A picks. Soul Catcher (+33% SOUL per hit, 2 notches) and Soul Eater (+200% SOUL per hit, 4 notches) are spell-build sustain picks; the wiki specifies the Soul Eater jump is usually overkill once Spell Twister is online.
Dashmaster (2 notches) and Sprintmaster (1 notch) are the dedicated traversal picks. Per the wiki, Dashmaster speeds dash and adds a downward variant; Sprintmaster boosts run speed by 25%. Both win in platforming gauntlets like Path of Pain but lose their notch slot to combat charms during boss runs.
Baldur Shell (2 notches) and Lifeblood Core (3 notches) are mask-economy picks. According to the wiki, Baldur Shell blocks 4 hits during Focus; Lifeblood Core spawns 4 Lifeblood masks at the start of each bench rest. Both are situational in Pantheon runs because they refresh from the bench, which never happens mid-pantheon.
C-tier picks usually lose their slot to a better S or A pick. Per the wiki, Stalwart Shell (2 notches, longer i-frames after a hit) is outscaled by Quick Focus once the heal economy is built. Steady Body (1 notch, no nail-recoil) is a niche pick for very specific ranged loadouts.
Heavy Blow (2 notches, +50% nail knockback) and Longnail (3 notches, +15% nail range) overlap with better picks. According to the wiki, Longnail is pre-empted by Mark of Pride (+25% reach for the same notch cost); Heavy Blow knockback is rarely the limiting factor in boss DPS.
Glowing Womb (2 notches, Hatchling summons) and Defender's Crest (1 notch, damaging gas cloud) shine only in dedicated synergy builds. The wiki notes the Flukenest plus Defender's Crest plus Spell Twister combo turns the spell into a screen-wide AoE; outside that build, both charms underperform.
Quick Slash + Mark of Pride + Unbreakable Strength + Grubsong (10 notches, overcharm-free) Shaman Stone + Spell Twister + Soul Eater + Quick Focus (12 notches, overcharm by 1) Quick Slash + Mark of Pride + Unbreakable Strength + Fury of the Fallen + Quick Focus (14 notches, overcharm by 3) Quick Slash + Mark of Pride + Hiveblood + Stalwart Shell (9 notches, safety-first) Quick Slash + Mark of Pride + Sharp Shadow + Shape of Unn + Quick Focus (14 notches, overcharm by 3)Per the wiki, the Pantheon-of-Hallownest 42-fight chain is the strongest argument for the Pantheon loadout. The build locks at start, so overcharming intentionally is the only way to fit Fury of the Fallen on top of the Quick Slash/Mark of Pride/Unbreakable Strength core. In actual play, the Fury panic-button at low HP saves more runs than the double-damage penalty costs.
Charm rankings tie into the notch economy, the Pantheon difficulty curve, and the per-charm spoke pages. These guides 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.