Hollow Knight Silksong walkthrough: Part 25 (Wisp Thicket)

Looking to pass through the Wisp Thicket region in Hollow Knight: Silksong? One of Silksong's dozens of regions is nestled secretively above Greymoor, and it's entirely possible to skip right by it and finish the game without ever knowing it was there. I speak of the Wisp Thicket - a small, dense, dark region of jungle which is home to a number of fire-wielding Pilgrims, led by one of the game's most memorable bosses - the Father Of The Flame.

In Part 25 of our Silksong walkthrough, I'll explain how to reach the Wisp Thicket with the help of your new movement abilities; and then I'll walk you step by step through this small region so that you can discover everything it has to offer before facing the Father Of The Flame.

Want the walkthrough for a different area of the game? Check out our Hollow Knight: Silksong walkthrough hub!

Wisp Thicket walkthrough steps:

1. Enter the Wisp Thicket via Greymoor.
2. Unlock the Bench to the right.
3. Obtain the Bone Scroll high above.
4. Reach the Mask Shard to the east.
5. Defeat the Father Of The Flame.
6. Break into the Underworks.

1. Enter the Wisp Thicket via Greymoor.

There's only one path into the Wisp Thicket (at the moment), and it's by reaching the very top of Greymoor. Fast Travel to the Greymoor Bellway, and head to the western windmill.

Climb all the way up the tower, and at the top (where you once found a Lost Flea), you can exit through the roof, and keep climbing the ledges above. Once you're at the top where you can start to see red lights in the air, double-jump up to the vertical piece of wall in the top-left corner, partially hidden by leaves. You can grab onto the wall and climb further up from here.

At the top, double-jump and dash over to the hanging bulb and Pogo off it to reach the higher platform on your left. You're now at the starting point of the Wisp Thicket.

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2. Unlock the Bench to the right.

First thing you need to do is leap over the spikes to your right, to the ledge beyond. A few steps further in, you'll see a couple of hanging bags above you, and one of them has something that looks rather conspicuously bench-like poking out of its sides.

Attack the bag until it breaks, dropping the Bench to the ground. You can now rest at the Bench and use it as your new and even better starting point within this region.

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3. Obtain the Bone Scroll high above.

Exit to the left, and start to climb up the shaft beyond. A short way up you'll come into contact with your first Wisp Lantern. These Lanterns will frequently spawn Wisps - invulnerable flaming projectiles that fly around a bit before careening towards you in a big fiery explosion.

The key takeaway here is: don't try to attack the Wisps themselves. Attack the flame that produces them; in this case, the Wisp Lantern.

Keep climbing all the way to the top, Pogo-ing off the red bulbs where needed. At the top platform, turn back and climb the left wall all the way up through the ceiling to reveal a secret passageway. At the very top, past even more Pogo-able bulbs, you can loot a Bone Scroll from the top ledge on the left.

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4. Reach the Mask Shard to the east.

Now drop down to the previous ledge and exit to the right. In the next room, you'll quickly come into contact with a Burning Bug - a teleporting enemy holding a Wisp Lantern that spawns Wisps to attack you constantly. These guys are annoying to fight, and I often just run past them, but you can stay and kill him if you wish; it's more time-consuming than dangerous.

Head to the far end of the walkway, and you'll find a ledge overhanging some worm-infested waters. Unfortunately, you have to dive into the worm-water to proceed. Swim to the far end, and you can then climb upwards and clawline over to the left, where a Mask Shard is waiting for you.

After collecting the Mask Shard, break the wall to its left and you'll be able to drop down onto dry land, bypassing the worm-water for your return trip. Head back to the Bench and rest.

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5. Defeat the Father Of The Flame.

From the Bench, head left across the spikes and exit through the upper-left doorway. Travel down this long corridor room, and you'll find a number of Burning Bugs waiting to attack (again, I prefer to jump over them and keep running). Halfway along, you'll also pass by a stone tower with a couple of Wisp Lanterns hanging above you - keep going past it for now, we'll return in the next step.

At the far end of the room, Pogo up off the hanging red bulbs to reach the next room. Here, jump over the spikes and enter the arena beyond, where you'll face the boss of the Wisp Thicket: the Father Of The Flame.

The Father himself is invulnerable. The only way you can damage him is by attacking the four points of fire on his arms - two on the left, two on the right. You need to Pogo up off the red bulbs in order to reach them, and all the while, the Father Of The Flame will summon Wisps to fire at you from the centre of the arena.

I strongly recommend that you take out the top arm before the bottom arm on each side, because taking out the bottom arm first gives you one less Pogo-ing point for you to reach the top arm.

Once you take out all four of those side flames on his arms, the chest of the Father Of The Flame will open, allowing you to attack it. However, in this phase, the chest will also periodically spew out flames that are very tricky to avoid unless you already have some distance from the source.

Because of this, it's best to stay at a distance during the flame-spewing, and then try to attack the chest as much as possible while the Father is back to sending Wisps at you. Not because the Wisps aren't dangerous, but simply because they appear less frequently than the smaller flames going off in all directions.

It's also very possible to Pogo up off the top of the chest area for repeated hits. It's a high-risk, high-reward tactic, because although you have more opportunities for dealing damage, it's harder to evade the Father's attacks in mid-air. If you opt for this tactic, I encourage you to use the Flintslate tool just beforehand so all your hits deal extra damage.

It's a tricky fight, particularly if you're not terribly comfortable with repeated Pogo-ing in a short space of time. But stick with it, you can absolutely beat him.

Once the Father Of The Flame is finally slain, he will drop an item for you to loot. This item is the Wispfire Lantern - a tool which automatically generates friendly Wisps of your own which will aim themselves at nearby enemies. It's powerful, for sure, but it also passively uses up some of your Silk with each Wisp spawned, and it's never fun to be caught out by a lack of Silk when you need it for clawline-ing or otherwise doing some important move.

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6. Break into the Underworks.

With the Father Of The Flame now ashes, head back to the previous screen, and walk to the base of that stone tower you passed earlier. Destroy the Wisp Lanterns above you, and climb to the top ledge to loot a Rosary Necklace from one of the hanging bags there.

Then attack the ceiling at the very top-left, and climb up through it. Make your way up the next room, clawline-ing over to the walls as needed. Once you reach the metal platform at the top, head to the right and attack the stone in the wheelbarrow for some Craftmetal. You can also play your Needolin here for some lore.

Now head back to the very edge of the metal platform, and then jump to the left-hand wall and break the section of breakable wall near the top. Head through into the next room and down a path filled with Pharlids waiting in ambush.

There are a couple of side passages with some Shell Shards, if you need them. The first is below the first Pharlid, past a breakable wall by the spikes at the bottom. The second is much larger - near the end, head down past the spikes instead of up to the top-right ledge, and break the wall there for lots more Shell Shards. Once you've done that, exit upwards via that top-right ledge.

Surprise, you're now in the Underworks! Head to the left and carefully make your way past all those horrifying moving saw-blocks. Hit the lever at the end to reach the upper walkway, where you'll immediately see a Flea trapped inside a rock. Free the Flea, and continue to the right.

At the far end, past the saws (and the Pharlid that ambushes you), you can hit the lever to open a trapdoor for an easier path through everything you just did. Then exit off-screen, and climb up to the top, just below the ceiling of saws. Hit the lever at the left-hand side for another trapdoor shortcut back the way you came. Then break the wooden strut holding up the ceiling of saws, and immediately duck down and hide to the right of the lever as all the saws come tumbling down.

That's it! You've opened up a way from Greymoor through the Wisp Thicket and up into the main part of the Underworks.

Congratulations on defeating the big bad boss of the Wisp Thicket, but unfortunately things are about to get much tougher. It's time to hold our breaths and delve properly into Bilewater next; at least you can make the journey a little less awful by following along with Part 26 of our Hollow Knight: Silksong walkthrough.