Hollow Knight Fungal Wastes Guide
After you defeat Hornet in Greenpath you unlock the Dash ability. This ability allows you to access new areas which allows you to advance through the game’s main story. The next area you can reach is called Fungal Wastes. Our Hollow Knight Fungal Wastes guide below will show you how to complete this area.
How to Reach the Fungal Wastes
To reach the Fungal Wastes we are going to head to Queen’s Station first which requires a brief foray through Fog Canyon. To access Fog Canyon, see the map above. You basically just need to back track through Greenpath and head down. Before going down grab the bench on the way down for safety sake. You will arrive in Fog Canyon.
Fog Canyon is pretty much closed off to us currently, so we won’t be getting a map. All we are worried about continuing our descent down. At the bottom head right. You’ll know you are on the right track if you pass a bank (place to ‘put’ Geo incase you die). Directly across from the bank is a named location called Queen’s Station which has a Stagway station as well as a bench.
Where to Find the Fungal Wastes Map and Route through Fungal Wastes
With the Stagway open and the bench activated, let’s head into Fungal Wastes. Like other areas, the first thing we are going to grab is the map. Lucky for us, Cornifer is pretty close to us. Head to the top right exit from Queen’s station and continue right until you come across a hole in the ground. Drop into the hole and look for a hall/alcove on the lower left of this room. Here you will find Cornifer.
Shrumal Ogres, Bench & Leg Eater Merchant
Now that you have the map, let’s journey deeper into Fungal Wastes. Return to the room above Cornifer and head to the right. In the next room you will have to platform up until you reach what appears to be a closed gate. This gate can be opened by going into the room on the right and working your way through it. After the gate has been opened (for easy access later) continue going up.
In the next room you will face off against two big Mushrooms called Shrumal Ogres. These mushrooms will shoot projectiles into the air, or smash their heads into the ground. Defeat them to unlock the doors and receive a Charm Notch (+1 Charm slot). Continue right into the next room and head up. About halfway up, there will be a room you can enter to the right. This is where Leg Eater can be found as well as a bench.
Leg Eater
Leg Eater is a merchant who sells breakable Charms. What this means is that the Charm breaks should you die and will need to be repaired if you want to use it again. Leg Eater sells the following Charms and services:
| Item | Price (in Geo) | Repair (in Geo) |
|---|---|---|
| Fragile Heart | 350 | 200 |
| Fragile Greed | 250 | 150 |
| Fragile Strength | 600 | 350 |
If you buy one of the Charms listed above you will get a buff. If you get hit the charm breaks and the buff stops working. To retrigger the Charm and buff you will need to spend Geo to repair the Charm.
How to Get to Mantis Village
Return to the room right of where you fought the Shrumal Ogres and continue heading right. Follow the map route and grab the shortcut by opening the gate. You can return to the Queen’s Station bench if you want or head back and continue going down.
Before heading into Mantis Village, be sure to grab the lower bench. This will save a lot of time as the village has a lot of enemies. You can also grab the Dashmaster Charm which is to the left of the lower bench. Head back up and into Mantis Village (entrance is notable as it appears wooden and there is a Mantis guarding it).
How to Get the Mantis Claw
The reason we are in Fungal Wastes is to get the Mantis Claw ability. This ability allow us to wall jump. Unlike previous abilities, this one is not locked behind a boss, but rather, is found simply lying around.
When inside Mantis Village, stick to the lower level and head all the way left (be careful of enemies). Here there is a switch on the ceiling, hit it. This opens up a door on the upper level. Return to the entrance of the village and head up to the next level. Head all the way left and you should see a pile of hooks which is shining. Make your way to the pile of hooks and collect the Mantis Claw. After collecting the claw, you can leave the village OR fight the optional boss.
Optional Boss: Mantis Lords
To get to the Mantis Lords, you will need to open the huge doors on the floor of Mantis Village. This can be done by using the handy dandy Mantis Claw we just got. The way to do this is pretty straightforward, but basically look for the switch pictured above. Flip the switch and make your way into the huge hole.
Inside the lower room, you will need to hit a bunch of switches located on the left and right sides of the room. Hit all these switches and the bottom right gate will open which leads to the Mantis Lords arena.
This is a pretty hard fight, so leaving it until you are stronger is not a bad decision. If you do decide to take the boss head on note that it will probably take a few tries to beat.
Basically this boss fight has two phases. The first phase you face off against a single Mantis Lord, and the second phase where you fight multiple. The Mantis Lords are quick and teleport quickly around the arena, making handling multiple a bit of a challenge.
Strategy wise, use your Dash to dodge and try to get damage in when possible. After dealing enough damage to the single Lord, you get to faceoff against two at once. This is where things get way more difficult. Note that the bosses moveset does not change; your simply facing two at once.
When you beat both, the fight is complete. Beating the Mantis Lords, de-aggros the Mantis in Mantis Village, meaning you can explore without risk of dying. You also get access to the Mantis treasure room that contains a bunch of Geo.
How to Get to the City of Tears
Once you have the Mantis Claw you will be able to access the main city in Hollow Knight called the City of Tears. In order to get there from Fungal Wastes, we are going to head to the area where you bumped into Hornet, but she ran off. Here we will need to traverse the higher portion of the room using dash & wall jump. Note that there are controls for the bridge both halfway and anear the statue, so I highly recommend activating those. Once through the platforming part, we will need to insert the City Crest (found on False Knight’s body) into the statue beside the locked gate. Do this and the gate will raise, enter the city.
This guide is part of our Hollow Knight walkthrough and guide hub. Check it out for more guides about this game. As for where to head next, having Mothwing Cloak really opens up exploration. This means we can make our way to the new named area of City of Tears.
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