Hollow Knight: Silksong’s first boss, Moss Mother, awaits in the Ruined Chapel. In true Hollow Knight fashion, she serves as the final test of the area you must survive to reach her.
Since the Moss Grotto is an introductory level with only a handful of predictable enemy types, the Moss Mother isn’t an overly punishing fight. Still, taking her down will require you to get familiar with some of Silksong’s core mechanics.
How to read Moss Mother’s attacks
The Moss Mother has only two basic types of attacks: the dive bomb and the ceiling slam. Both have a few variations between them, but are pretty easy to read.
Moss Mother’s dive bomb attack
The swoop starts with her flying up, floating for a bit, and then charging at you. She’ll swoop pretty low, making it easy to jump over her, after which you’ll have enough time for exactly one safe ground hit, followed by another air hit while she’s ascending.
@spilled.gg Getting clapped by a tutorial boss? That's rough 💀 Moss Mother isn't actually hard—she's just testing if you've been paying attention. Two moves, same pattern every time. Jump the dive, dodge the rocks, don't get greedy. She's basically a rhythm game disguised as a boss fight ⚡ Who else thought Silksong would go easy on us? 😅 #HollowKnightSilksong #Silksong #Gaming #BossGuide #GitGud ♬ original sound – spilled
If you can land a pogo attack, which is performed by jumping and then attacking downward with the Nail while in the air on your way down, you might get a window for two safe hits before she either retreats or strikes back.
That said, Silksong’s downward aerial is a diagonal move rather than a straight jump slam like in Hollow Knight, which makes it a bit tricky to pull off at first, even though its invincibility frames are tempting.
The opening that the swoop attack provides is where you’ll want to get most of your hits in. You can also push in damage by jumping toward the Moss Mother and catching her with an air attack in between her moves.
Given that Hornet doesn’t have a lot of health at this stage, it’s safer to wait for the boss to come to you than be aggressive in this fight. The Moss Mother’s health pool isn’t that big, either, so you can leave pogo practice for later and just keep jumping over her and following up with two slashes. She’ll go down pretty quickly.
Moss Mother’s ceiling slam
The Moss Mother can also slam the ceiling, which will initially cause several dislodged boulders to fall down. Watch for the three massive piles of dust and just don’t be under them when that happens.
There’s a second variant of the ceiling slam, which will cause Moss Grubs to fall down instead of boulders. These worm-like creatures aren’t much of a threat and go down in two hits, so you can safely ignore them until you need to move through their space.
Boulders and Moss Grubs alternate with each ceiling slam, showing up every other attack. The slam itself always follows a swoop, and the swoop always follows a slam, making the Moss Mother’s pattern extremely predictable. She’s just a tutorial boss, after all, so this isn’t a real test so much as a reminder that Silksong needs you to pay attention.
Moss Mother’s turbo mode and stun
The Moss Mother can be stunned by dealing enough damage to her, allowing you to get a bunch of free hits in. There are no visual cues for how close you are to that goal.
Her hidden stun meter seems to degrade over time. I played this fight really conservatively and only stunned her once before she went down. But some players report getting two stuns with a more aggressive strategy.
Either way, when she receives enough damage, she’ll go into overdrive and start doing all of her attacks faster. Since you now know how to read her, this will just speed up her downfall.
The fight should take about a minute once you get the hang of it. With the Moss Mother out of the way, you’ll be advancing to your first city and see Hollow Knight: Silksong begin in earnest.
