Hollow Knight Guide
11. Ancient Basin
To get to Ancient Basin, head to King’s Station and head down into Royal Waterways. Heading straight down will take you to Ancient Basin, but before we do that, we are going to snage Isma’s Tears.
Ability: Isma’s Tears (Video via Relyea)
Isma’s Tears gives you immunity in poison. This means falling into poison no longer forces you to start over. It’s a really good ability to have and we are gonna grab it. To get it, follow the video by Relyea, or use my text guide below. Basically make your way to the bottom right area of the Royal Waterways until you reach an area where there are Crystal Peak crystals. These crystals hint that you should use the Crystal Heart ability. Use Crystal Heart to pass through the ruined elevator shaft and into Isma’s Grove. Here you will have platform a bit and also fight your way through a challenge room. Once you complete the challenge room, head deeper until you reach Isma’s shrine.
Collect Isma’s Tears from the shrine and either head back to the broken elevator shaft, or head up and open the shortcut to City of Tears. The second option is a lot easier, but the choice is yours. No matter the choice you made, we can now head into Ancient Basin. Ancient Basin can be accessed by going down the broken elevator shaft.
Ancient Basin
Unlike other areas we have explored, Ancient Basin is super straightforward to traverse. The goal here is to beat the boss and grab the Double Jump ability.
Getting the Map
The map to Ancient Basin can be purchased from the map maker in the large room below the tram. Look for a room on the right side (below statue room) of the large room. The map can be purchased for 112 Geo.
Boss: Broken Vessel
Located in the Ancient Basin is boss Broken Vessel. This boss is very quick and can dump out a ton of damage if you are not careful. Moveset wise, the boss will charge, jump charge, sword attack, call in adds, ground pound, and send out projectiles. When you deal enough damage, Broken Vessel will fall over. This is a good time to heal. Consider equipping the Stalwart Shell Charm for this fight as it will help offset timing.
Ability: Monarch Wings
After you beat Broken Vessel, head left until you reach a dead end. Here you will find the Monarch Wings. Monarch Wings allows us to double jump, which will help us as we head into the home stretch of Hollow Knight. After you have the Monarch Wings, return to City of Tears (King’s Station).
Now that we have double jump, I recommend returning to Crystal Peak and collecting the Pale Ore. Take that Pale Ore to the Nailsmith and upgrade your Nail (1 Pale Ore + 850 Geo).
Can I use your writing and pictures in this guide to create a android app and publish it legally?
On page 6, Getting to hornet section, isnt going left then down from Cornifer ability locked? I’m trying to speedrun this game using this guide. thanks!
…
This is an excellent, massively helpful walkthrough dude. It’s articulate, easy to follow, and is my default go to guide for when I’m stuck
Much obliged for your putting in the effort in its preparation. I know that the front of house end result belays an awful lot of back office work that you no doubt sweated into this. You’ve done a top job
Cheers,
Lee
– everygrainofsand –
Great guide!! it really helped me solve all of the grueling puzzles! who knew the creatures were bugs!
What about howling cliffs?
I need help. I went to the store in dirtmouth after being at the seers house. I accidentally fell in and got the dream nail on accident. I was traversing through crystal peak when i fell in. I would like to know if i can get back without the tram pass because i dont have that. Also the map wasnt in cornifers shop.
in section 10 of the guide it has discription on how to get to the resting grounds and you should find a card here that says cornifer left after that you will be able to buy the map at dirtmouth
How do i get to the other area in city of tears? In the other area to the northwestern bench. There is a little corridor and it has just a block and the leaver on the other side. OR how do i get to the area past where you meet hornet?
nevermind i got it.
“Uumuu only takes damage after being deflated by (name?) an ally who appears during the fight.”
Quirrel! You make it sound like you haven’t played the game for enjoyment, there are so many places you talk to him!
“This black substance blocks access to certain areas and must be passed through in order to access the final mask.”
What? That’s not true; I broke all three masks before getting the shade cloak 🙂 There’s a way into Fog Canyon from Fungal Wastes that puts you on the other side of the inky wall thing, Cornifer even comments on having found a way around. That wasn’t just to explain his presence there, you can find it too.
Thanks for the guide – I’ve tried to avoid using it other than as a pointer for the next general direction to head. I’m 26 hours in, and just heading towards the second mask in Deepnest. So far the Watcher Knights have been the biggest pain in the ass, but I’m currently getting owned by a dream essence fighter thing I stumbled across in Deepnest (not on your map, but it’s near one of the blue glowing bulb things that gives you extra blue hearts). Such an awesome game.
Fuck the Mantis Village
I have a question, on this guide it says to backtrack to where Hornet was. But there is a passage right above where you get the mantis claw, are you supposed to go there?
strange, queen’s garden is not in the guide ….
queen’s garden is a completely optional part of the game is probably why, this guide isn’t for a 100% completion so it makes sense that its ignored
How do you get to that bench in the picture? I cant find a way there.
How do you get out of the soul master area after defeating him?
Wait nvm I’m and idiot i didn’t notice the wiggling floor
Hi, I am loving the guide. I am on page 12 and I can’t understand how to follow the map to Isma’s Tear. I am on the passage from King’s Station, the one with the broken elevator down below, and can’t find any opening on walls to follow the path on your map. If anybody could help me..
Hello, in the guide number 14, you tell us to go for the first bench in the deepnest. However, the area is blocked. There is no way to go there. What should I do?
I’m sorry, I meant guide number 13
For everyone wondering what to do. This seems to be a mistake.
You can go down to the other bench and then transition one screen to the left and and then go up.
This way you can reach the bench and follow up the route in the guide.
Thanks for this! Was wondering what I was doing wrong. Nearly died two times trying to backtrack to find a path to that bench x_x
First of all, congratz on a great guide. It helps a lot! I have a question about King’s station stagway. I managed to get there but there’s a bench broken and bell on a ground with no possibilty to activate it. I went far right but I gotto Kingdom’s edge. Did I miss something?
Found it, question non relevant anymore;)
Great job on the guide! I’ve dropped 15 hours into Hollow Knight and the lack of pointing you in the right direction has made the challenge only harder. I’m fighting Soul Master now even though I’ve completed the Royal Waterways, Deepnest, and have explored a lot of the map. I think at just glancing at the order that your guide has the areas will make it much more manageable.
Great guide. Simple, easy to understand and it allows to head in the right direction while leaving 90% of the content unspoiled for the user to discover. Thank you so much!
Cornifer can appear in two locations in Deepnest, one where you said, and one near the entrance from the mantis lords.
Yeah, I actually experienced the other one first lol
Great guide. I use it to navigate workout wasting time in the wrong place, but in between each page I explore and test out my new ability or buy more charms. What a fantastic game.
Without wasting time *
Hey man. Just bought this game on Switch and LOVING it. Admittedly I’m more of a casual gamer so guides like these are super helpful. I love your hand-drawn notes. Some guide-writers tend to over-complicate things but I really appreciate that this walkthrough is so super simple and easy to follow. Thanks again and keep up the awesome work.
Same here! Don’t get much time to game nowadays so don’t like to wander around lost. Guides like this make me appreciate the game more. Just got it on the switch and loving it.
Thanks a lot for the kind words. Enjoy Hollow Knight!
Thanks for the comment! Enjoy Hollow Knight.
I love how you read “kill hornet#2” or “kill watcher knights” it sounds soo easy…
Till you get to the bosses and you rage over them.
(Tip: You can skip Watcher Knights and come back for them later after you get the void dash thingy)
I cant get the simple key?? how do I get into the waterways if ive i already bought the key and used it to open jiji’s cave? its not for sale anymore and apparently i dont have it :///
There is a simple key somewhere in the city of tears just lying around, I got lucky and found it. I am probably also late on the info
How do get to the bench right before the mantis lords? I’m getting sick of trudging all the way back from the first bench.
it opens after you beat them
You have to use the upgraded flying dash move to make it through the door before the mantis hits the switch.
Flukemarm is incredibly easy with the 3rd (channeled) nail upgrade.
Getting the Pale Ore is not possible. There are spikes everywhere in the area near it.
Nevermind you have to zoom across I feel dumb, I spent a solid hour trying to get across by swording the stuff
Flukemarm can be stupendously easily beaten using the desolate dive above it. I just tried it as a fluke and it beat the boss in probably 3 seconds
I’m a little confused on page 12.. I’m trying to get Isma’s Tear, but I can’t figure out how to get into her grove. I’m at the bit where there’s the sign that reads “Only those who prove their honour through combat may enter the grove beyond.” above the acid pool. How do I get in?
You have to go through dung defender then you come in isma’s grove from above.
Atleast i think, i’m in the same area as you
when you go back to the city of tears to fight the watcher knights, there is this picture of a way to break a chandelier and reduce the number of them… i can’t seem to find that area.
Right before you enter the Watcher Knight’s room, there is a breakable wall directly above the entrance to the boss arena. Break it to reveal a small area with the chandelier chain.
hello, after defeating the broken vessel the area of the false knight became blocked by the infection blobs, any idea if this area will be accessible later in the game? I wish there was a warning in the walkthrough about it prior to the fight.
my bad, there’s a route.
I dealt with Herrah first, but now I’m stuck in her area, once you beat her, how do you leave?
Maybe I just haven’t noticed something obvious but I have no idea how to get to mantis village or even the entrance to city of tears from the fungal wastes, I’m stuck in an area with bouncy purple mushrooms and every walk through I’ve seen people have jumped really high on the but whenever I jump on them I don’t go high enough and can’t get from fungal wastes to the lower areas like city of tears, hopefully someone can help.
When you jump onto the mushrooms, you need to down attack. This will send you bouncing higher than a simple normal jump. Hope that helps!
I couldnt figure it out for a while lol.
I think everyone was confused on that one (1hr here)
One quick correction: On page 14, you show dropping only down to the rectangular room with the centipedes, then immediately going left to the bench room. However, the first time you go to the area, that way is blocked – you can just go into the very edge of the room and you seem to be at a dead end. So instead you have to drop all the way to the spring, go left a big and climb back up to get to that bench. Once you get there you can go to the ‘blockage’ and a bit of floor will collapse, opening up the previously blocked passage.
Thanks. Good catch!
Page 7: For me, Cornifer is behind the black barrier in Fog Canyon, and not in the alcove in Fungal Wastes. How do I get to him?
wait until you get the shade cloak, then dash through the black barrier.
That black barrier is to be considered a red herring. Theres another way into the fog canyon that leads you to the other side of the barrier.
This was great! I tried to use it as little as possible for that “into the unknown” vibe, but it truly did help with the moments where I sat there thinking “Where the hell do I go now?”
Glad it helped!
wow,,,,this guide is priceless for person like me; beginner of hollow knight…
I salute your effort to create this awesome guide! Keep it up man.
Thanks. I appreciate it!
good guide it was helpful for me to get thru the game , but i gain access to the third mask before going to deep nest , and beat the final boss
Glad it helped. The beauty of Hollow Knight is that there is flexibility in how you play. Thanks for reading.
If you see in the boss fight the left area with the wood, if you hit it 4-6 times you can escape to the other side,and come back around to fight the boss with VS(Vengeful spirit),and if you beat him to collect the chest come back quickly to see the mallet/ball at the end of his mace run away, i didn’t get to kill it but if anyone does please get back to me, this is my second run and i don’t wanna start a 3rd one, the only reason i’m doing it again is because i killed Marissa ;-;…. I realized how big of a mistake that was…. and thanks to whoever made this walk through, You helped so much, hope my VS tip helped
Thanks for the love.
I ahve a problem in page 8, I used the key in other palce, so I don’t have key and I can’t access the Royal Waterways. What do?
That’s okay. There are a total of three simple keys in the game. Two are accessible to you. There is a key you can buy from Sly in Dirtmouth 950 Geo. For further reference, this is a good wiki entry http://hollowknight.wikia.com/wiki/Simple_Key
I know for sure an enemy drops a simple key in city of tears
You don’t actually need the Shade Cloak to reach Teacher’s Archives. There’s an alternate way in that only requires Isma’s Tear.
I didn’t know that. Thanks!
True, you only need to came from east entrance.
I didn’t know that. Thanks, Mikuru!
utilize downward dive and spell charms and its a piece of cake
In what area/boss?
thx for your guide. but the room for crystal heart is so dark and I can barely see the surroundings, and fell off the abyss quite often. No other ways to light up the path?
You can buy lumafly lantern in sly shop
thanks buddy. i’ll try search for it.
You guys rock! This guide was SUPER handy and I ended up using it for most of my run, though I was at 61% complete with the game when I finished.
Thanks! Glad it helped