Beast Crest

Civilisation encroaches from this kingdom's crown, but the lowlands are still ruled by great beasts. Its roar stirs something deep within me, some primal instinct.

– Hornet

The Beast Crest is a Crest in Hollow Knight: Silksong. While equipped, Hornet will slash aggressively with claw-like strikes. When using Bind, Hornet will instead enter a fury state in which her attacks will become stronger and heal her when they hit enemies.

Attacks

Neutral Slashes: Hornet performs a quick overhead slash. When attacking upwards, the slash starts slightly behind Hornet.
Down-slash: Hornet pounces forward and spins like a sawblade after a slight delay, with a movement arc similar to a dash that curves downwards and can be adjusted slightly. On a successful hit, Hornet bounces up unless she is too far below the target.
Run-slash: Hornet hops up and slashes in a wide arc. On a successful hit, she leaps up while keeping some forward momentum.
Needle Strike: Hornet leaps forward and performs a large forward slash. Inflicts Heavy Damage.

Mechanics

Bind is performed much faster than normal (about 1 second), but instead of healing Masks directly, Hornet enters a fury state, indicated with a red visual effect on the edges of the screen and the Crest HUD.

In this state, each Needle attack that hits an enemy heals 1 Mask, up to 3 Masks per Bind. The Masks that would be healed this way are outlined in red while fury is active. During fury, Needle attack range and speed are increased by 20%, Needle damage is increased by 25%, and attacks pierce through enemy guard stances, shields and armour. In addition, Needle Strike deals 3 x Needle damage instead of the usual 2.5.
- The exclusion to the pierce are the parry and riposte moves of Second Sentinel, Phantom, Lace in the Cradle and Lost Lace.
Fury ends after 4.7 seconds. The duration is extended by 1 second when a mask is healed, 0.5 seconds when a second mask is healed, and 0.25 seconds for a third. If Hornet does not have empty masks to heal, the duration will not be extended. Taking damage reduces the duration by 2.35 seconds.
When entering this state the frosting effect on Mount Fay is reversed by 15%, and while it is active the frosting rate is slowed by 10%.^[1]

Entering fury while it is already active does not stack its effects, instead resetting the remaining time and Masks that can be healed.

Hornet uses an alternate animation and deeper pitched voice line when using Challenge.

While Fury is active, Hornet uses an alternate idle animation and her attack shouts change to growling noises.

Beast can be identified by the light red colour of Hornet's slash attacks, which is amplified while in fury.

Usefulness

The Beast Crest is very aggressive, allowing Hornet to close gaps quickly and take advantage of openings with fury to deal large bursts of damage.

The Crest's Bind activates much faster than other Crests, creating more opportunities for Hornet to heal in combat as long as she can land hits.
- The attack speed boost from fury makes it easier to build up Silk for another Bind or Silk Skill use.
- Binding at or near full Masks does not waste healing potential; Hornet can take damage while in fury and heal it back if she is quick enough.
The Down-slash has an altered trajectory that is useful for combat, allowing Hornet to bounce on enemies from the side as a short-range alternative to the Clawline.
- The slight delay of this attack requires some horizontal space between Hornet and her target; otherwise, she can miss the attack or take contact damage before it can hit. The distance requirement can be awkward in tight platforming sections.
The Run-slash allows her to leap over enemies, positioning her to strike from behind or continue running past them.
Weaknesses:
- The Crest is limited by its lack of any Blue Tool slots.
- Hornet cannot heal without enemies to attack.
- In order to extend the duration of Fury, Hornet must have missing masks to heal; as a result, maximising Beast Crest's damage output requires strategically taking damage outside Fury.
- Beast Crest's nonconventional down-slash can cause Hornet to take damage if she is not positioned correctly, and is the most difficult version to platform with.

Synergies

The Blue Tool slot of the Vesticrest is very valuable for this Crest once obtained, unlocking several helpful Tool options for combat:
- Druid's Eye(s) helps with getting Silk to enter fury with, as Hornet needs to take damage outside of fury to maximise its duration anyway.
- Claw Mirror(s) pairs well with the short Bind, making it easier to hit enemies with.
- The range increase of fury stacks with Longclaw.
- The faster Bind time stacks with Injector Band, shortening it to approximately two thirds of a second.
  - Multibinder increases the potential healing up to 4 Masks, while increasing Bind duration to ~1.2 seconds. It does not increase the duration of fury, and actually healing a 4th Mask can be unreliable.
Flintslate can be used before entering fury to deal extreme bursts of damage.
- Using Flea Brew in the same way is not recommended, as the attack speed buff it grants is significantly reduced when combined with fury. This is due to a cap on attack speed which is lower than the sum of both effects.
Weighted Belt can allow Hornet to stay on the offensive even when struck.
Due to the unusual arc of her down strike, fighting in the air can be much harder than normal. Ascendant's Grip can allow for less stressful combat by relying on walls, and Clawline can be used for more reliable hits on airborne enemies.
- Similarly to the Hunter Crest and Architect Crest, the Delver's Drill can function as a Pseudo Down-Slash for platforming and damaging enemies below Hornet.
Plasmium Phial is useful for emergency healing. Being plasmified is uniquely powerful on this Crest as its Bind will still recover the normal amount of Masks, and it provides passive healing to make up for missed healing during fury.

How to Acquire

The Beast Crest can be obtained inside the Chapel of the Beast after defeating the Savage Beastfly.

Location in Hunter's March
Hornet binding the Beast Crest

Gallery

Deep Dive

Update History

1.0.29280 (Patch 4):
- Fixed Beast Crest fury slashes not piercing as intended.
- Fixed Beast's Needle Strike sometimes gaining unintended height when performed in the air.

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning/Explanation

Brazilian Portuguese	Besta	Beast
French	Bête	Beast
German	Bestie	Beast
Italian	Bestia	Beast
Japanese	獣者 Jūsha	Beast-one This is the same term used for Herrah the Beast in Japanese.
Korean	야수 Yasu	Beast
Russian	Зверь Zverʹ	Beast
Simplified Chinese	野兽 Yěshòu^?	Beast
Traditional Chinese	野獸 Yěshòu^?	Beast
Spanish	Bestia	Beast
Internal name	`CREST_WARRIOR` `BEAST`