How to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong

Understanding how to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong is all about learning to use Hornet's Bind ability and managing the Silk resource. Unlike the Knight in Hollow Knight, the protagonist is able to heal differently, and understanding the minor trade-offs is important to staying alive in harder fights.

Just like in the first game, benches are safe spaces where Hornet can fully regen health and save the game. They also act as save points and recovery points, so they are definitely your safest way to reset before continuing. With that covered, let’s break down how to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong.

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How to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong, explained

Silk Gauge in Hollow Knight Silksong (Image via Team Cherry)

In Hollow Knight, every strike against an enemy grants you Soul, which is used for spells and healing. Silksong introduces a new mechanic with the silk gauge, a spool wrapped with threads that fills up as you fight, as shown in the image above.

Hornet’s primary healing method is called Bind, which you trigger by holding A on PC or Xbox, X on PS, or B on Nintendo Switch. While it restores three life points instantly, it consumes the entire Silk spool in one go. A few things to keep in mind:

• Attacking enemies fills Hornet’s silk spool, with up to nine notches displayed beneath her health bar.
• Silk can be used for multiple purposes: Throwing the needle to grapple, pulling herself to platforms, using combat abilities, and binding wounds for recovery.
• In non-combat scenarios, like targeting a ring in platforming sections, silk is still consumed, but the health wheel doesn’t fill. You get the movement benefit, but no healing occurs, which makes skill choice important depending on your situation.
• Upgrades later expand the silk spool, allowing Hornet to store extra silk for abilities while still keeping enough for a heal.
• Risk factor: If Hornet is hit while channeling Bind, the entire silk spool is lost, leaving her without a heal and without silk for abilities until she rebuilds it.

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Other methods to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong

Gameplay still from Hollow Knight Silksong (Image via Team Cherry)

1) Healing while moving and in mid-air

Along with the Bind method to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong, Hornet can also heal while mid-air while fighting bosses, opening up more flexible ways to recover during hectic battles, something the Knight could never pull off.

These tweaks give healing a faster feel, but at the same time, the high cost of Silk makes it a much more tactical decision.

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2) Mask Shards and permanent upgrades

Another way to boost your survivability is by collecting Mask Shards. Gathering four shards increases Hornet’s maximum health by one mask. Not only do shards give permanent upgrades, but collecting a full set also restores health completely.

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Check out: Can you play Hollow Knight Silksong on Nintendo Switch?