Dashing is an almost necessary mechanic for any Metroidvania side-scroller game. For Hollow Knight, this comes in the form of an acquired ability. Here’s everything you need to know about it, and where it’s acquired.
How to Dash in Hollow Knight
At the beginning of the game, the player’s movements are restricted to walking or running left and right and jumping around. However, they can increase their mobility with the use of the Mothwing Cloak ability. Once acquired, the Knight’s traversal opportunities are increased significantly as this ability doesn’t only allow them to dash on the ground, but also while in mid-air.
There is a cooldown period after every use before the dash can activate again, but only for a measly 0.6 seconds. However, with the Dashmaster Charm, you can reduce this cooldown to only 0.4 seconds.
Where to Get the Mothwing Cloak
The Mothwing Cloak can be picked up from a Vessel’s body in Greenpath. Refer to the image below for its exact location.
Before the player can get to this area, however, they must first encounter and defeat Hornet. It will be your first time dealing with Hornet this early in the game. Hornet is a tough boss fight but this can be made considerably easier once you familiarize yourself with her attack patterns and movements.
Here are the attacks and movements she performs during the fight and how you can take advantage of them to damage her.
- Lunge: Hornet will dash towards you with her Needle pointing forward. This can be easily dodged by jumping over her. If you can manage your timing properly, you can also land a hit on her by nail-bouncing when you’re directly above her.
- Aerial Lunge: Similar to the previous attack, only this time, she jumps into the air first and then lunges toward you. She’ll follow your movements right before lunging, so constantly be on the move to have a higher chance of avoiding the attack. Once she lands, you’ll have a small window of opportunity to land a couple of hits on her.
- Thread Attack: This is when she performs an area of effect attack and scrambles a couple of threads around her body. She can do this move on the ground and in mid-air. She usually projects this attack by slightly bending her body backward, so be sure to watch out for that and immediately move away. Only close in to attack after her move is finished.
- Ranged Attack: Hornet will also occasionally throw her Needle at you. Not only will this damage you when it hits, but it will also do so when Hornet pulls the Needle back to her. The range of the throw doesn’t cover the whole arena though, so you can avoid this attack by moving as far away from her as you can. Alternatively, you can also jump towards Hornet as the Needle is approaching you, and jump again when it returns to her. This way, you can be closer to her when her attack is done, thus giving you a better chance of attacking her.
- Leap: Hornet will occasionally leap around the arena. Note that you’ll take damage if she happens to land on you.
- Run: Hornet has a faster movement speed than the Knight. She’ll often run around the arena and damage you upon collision. Just be prepared to jump over her whenever she does this.
Once you defeat Hornet, you can then move forward to claim the Mothwing Cloak and gain the ability to dash.
You can also give your dash an upgrade by picking up the Shade Cloak ability. The Shade Cloak will cover your body with Void as you dash, allowing you to dash through enemy projectiles and Shade Gates.
