The following contains mild spoilers for Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is an intriguing game for various reasons, and certainly so when its design changes compared to the original game are examined. Personal preference will determine whether you favor Hollow Knight’s charms, for instance, or Hollow Knight: Silksong’s crests and tools, as there are quite a few differences between them and how they affect players’ builds in either game. For however long it takes players to find new crests, and assuming they don’t wish to stick with them once they’ve found a bench and are given the option to swap them out for a previous one, the Hunter crest is fairly well-rounded and excellently distinguishes Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Hornet apart from Hollow Knight’s Knight.
The Hunter crest automatically grants a red, blue, and yellow tool slot each, with one more for each color unlocked later on via memory lockets found throughout Hollow Knight: Silksong. The most immediately noticeable animation or moveset distinction is how it gives Hornet a downward-diagonal pogo, allowing for deliberate and calculated midair strikes. There is arguably no ‘best’ crest in Hollow Knight: Silksong, as any player could realistically have one they enjoy or are skilled with more than others, but a strong case can be made for the Wanderer crest being S-tier for anyone who adored Hollow Knight and has retained their muscle memory from it.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Wanderer Crest is a Godsend for the Sake of Nostalgia
It may seem subliminal in Act 1, but in Act 2, when players are prepared to challenge Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Grand Mother Silk or have continued aimlessly completing side content thereafter, exploration and experimentation blossom. Here, players will finally be collecting enough rosary beads, tools, and items to venture out of the bubble that’s formed around them. Eventually, there will be seven crests that players have access to that greatly extrapolate gameplay opportunities within concise builds:
- Hunter
- Reaper
- Wanderer
- Witch
- Architect
- Beast
- Shaman
Crests influence players’ movesets, animations, and effectiveness with silk abilities, and what a player inherently likes in a playstyle will help discern what crest they might lean toward. That said, seasoned Hollow Knight veterans, particularly those who’ve spent the last seven years mastering the massively popular Metroidvania game in anticipation of its sequel, may be drawn to the Wanderer crest like a moth to a flame.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Wanderer Crest Turns the Sequel into Hollow Knight
Not only does the Wanderer crest give players rapid attack animations, basically emulating Hollow Knight’s Quick Slash charm, but it transforms Hornet’s pogo attack into the same quick, downward strike from Hollow Knight, too. So, without a doubt, there will be a pleasant overlap for anyone who prefers the first game’s moveset to what Hornet begins the sequel with.
Pogoing suddenly becomes second nature, rather than a new traversal mechanic players have to relearn, and the drop in difficulty of maneuvering environments in general can be jarring when players are given the pogo jump functionality that they’re familiar with.
This may not have any effect on players who haven’t played Hollow Knight before being swept into the insurmountable hype of Hollow Knight: Silksong, but it is palpable and terrific to see it reprised. Even so, the Wanderer crest is debatably S-tier for how masterful players can feel as soon as it’s equipped, and they realize that all their muscle memory has flooded back to their synapses.
As for what tools to slot into Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Wanderer crest, there’s a lot more viability and subjectivity involved. Fully stocked—minus additional vesticrests—the Wanderer’s crest contains three yellow slots, two blue slots, and one red slot, which is admittedly not ideal for anyone who wants to prioritize tools in their build. Yellow tools are trivial at best and useless at worst.
Of course, the compass will probably be a fundamental tool for at least the majority of players’ first playthroughs, and thus, there are technically only two available slots. Meanwhile, players can supplement their one red tool slot with their two blue slots, such as equipping Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Cogfly as their red, offensive tool, reinforcing it with a blue Pollip Pouch tool for poison damage, for example, and ensuring their bind heals are swift with the blue Injector Band tool.
- Released
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September 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
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Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
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Team Cherry
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