Forty-three bosses across three Acts, from a duel with Lace to the climb against Grand Mother Silk.
Silksong is built around its bosses, and there are a lot of them. Per the wiki, the game has 43 distinct bosses, or 47 if you count the repeated rematches, spread across its three Acts.
They range from quick gatekeepers to multi-phase set pieces. The recurring duels with Lace thread through the whole story, while area finales like the Last Judge and Grand Mother Silk cap each major stretch.
The Acts also gate difficulty. Act 2 and Act 3 bosses need new abilities or the harder black-threaded versions, so the roster grows and sharpens as Hornet does.
This guide lists every boss grouped by Act, flags the story-critical and hardest fights, and covers the black-threading system that remixes them late game.
43 bosses, 47 counting repeated fights. Lace is fought across all three Acts.
Last Judge and Grand Mother Silk anchor the early and mid game.
Black-threading remixes many bosses in Act 3.Bosses gate Silksong's progress the way they did in the first game. Per the wiki, Hornet often has to beat a boss to open an area, claim an item, finish a Quest, or push the main story forward.
When a boss appears, its name flashes on screen and the music shifts to a battle theme. The roster is split across three Acts, and Act 2 fights need the Clawline or Faydown Cloak abilities, or entry to the Citadel, to even reach.
Act 3 introduces black-threading, a harder remix of certain bosses you skipped or did not clear earlier. It is the closest thing Silksong has to a built-in boss-rush challenge.
Many Act 1 bosses can be revisited and black-threaded in Act 3 for a tougher rematch. In practice, leaving a few optional fights for later gives you harder versions to test a stronger Hornet against.
Act 1 introduces Pharloom and its first wave of threats. These are the fights that teach Silksong's faster, more aggressive combat.
| Boss | Where |
|---|---|
 Bell Beast | Early gatekeeper |
 Moss Mother | Ruined Chapel and Weavenest Atla |
| Lace | Deep Docks |
| Last Judge | Act 1 finale |
 Sister Splinter | Optional duel |
 Widow | Optional |
The full Act 1 roster also includes Fourth Chorus, Great Conchflies, Moorwing, Phantom, Savage Beastfly, and Skull Tyrant. The Last Judge is the wall most players hit first.
Act 2 opens up the Citadel and the mid-game abilities, and the bosses scale with them. Per the wiki, most require the Clawline or Faydown Cloak to reach.
| Boss | Note |
|---|---|
 Cogwork Dancers | Citadel duo fight |
 Grand Mother Silk | Major story boss |
 Trobbio | Theatrical set piece |
 Shakra | Act 2 only, missable in Act 3 |
| Lace | The Cradle rematch |
Act 2 also brings Broodmother, Disgraced Chef Lugoli, Father of the Flame, First Sinner, Forebrothers Signis and Gron, Garmond and Zaza, Groal the Great, Second Sentinel, The Unravelled, and Voltvyrm.
Act 3 is the endgame, and it leans on black-threaded rematches alongside its new fights. The wiki notes Shakra and Garmond and Zaza can no longer be fought once Act 3 begins.
| Boss | Note |
|---|---|
 Lost Lace | Final form of Lace |
| Watcher at the Edge | Late-game challenge |
 Skarrsinger Karmelita | Kickstarter backer boss |
 Nyleth | Act 3 fight |
 Crust King Khann | Coral Tower boss |
The rest of Act 3 includes Bell Eater, Clover Dancers, Crawfather, Gurr the Outcast, Lost Garmond, Palestag, Pinstress, Plasmified Zango, Shrine Guardian Seth, and Tormented Trobbio.
A handful of fights stand out as the ones players remember and struggle with most. They are the story pillars and the skill checks.
The recurring Lace duels are the emotional core, escalating from a clean Act 1 fight to the brutal Lost Lace finale. The Last Judge is the first true wall, and Grand Mother Silk is the mid-game centerpiece.
For pure difficulty, the late Act 3 fights and the black-threaded rematches push hardest. In actual play, the endgame gauntlet is where Silksong earns its reputation as a step up from the first game.
A few details set the Silksong roster apart. The wiki notes Plasmified Zango is the only boss in the game with no battle theme.
Two bosses came from Kickstarter backers. Per the wiki, Skarrsinger Karmelita was a backer-created boss, the Silksong counterpart to God Tamer in the first game, and Crust King Khann arrived from the "create your own dungeon" tier with the Coral Tower.
The wiki also records that a playtester described the 2025 pre-release bosses as "much harder," with a few like Trobbio staying "pretty much the same." Team Cherry has promised more bosses are still to come.
The boss roster ties into Pharloom's characters, tools, and map. These guides cover the rest of Hornet's journey.
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.