Few encounters in Hollow Knight: Silksong capture the game’s mix of patience, precision, and chaos like Sister Splinter. This boss fight takes place in Shellwood’s upper reaches; she forces you to juggle a deceptively simple attack pattern with relentless summons that crowd the arena. Once you defeat her, you will open up new ground in Shellwood and unlock one of Hornet’s most important traversal abilities. Here’s how to find Sister Splinter and beat her in Hollow Knight: Silksong with the right strategy in every combat phase.
Where to Find Sister Splinter in Hollow Knight: Silksong
Sister Splinter can be found in the very top section of Shellwood, past the central Bench and its lift at the marked location in the above image on the map. Ride the lift up, head right, and you’ll reach a fork. Ignore the path that leads toward Bellhart and instead take the left route.
Keep leaping across the white flower platforms (use them for an extra bounce if needed), and you’ll reach a passage barred by thorny vines. Once you push through, the arena seals shut, and Sister Splinter appears in the arena. The path from the Shellwood bench to her arena is mercifully short, so retrying isn’t as punishing as some earlier fights.
Sister Splinter’s Attack Patterns
Sister Splinter doesn’t have a bloated move pool, but the way she uses her attacks with summons keeps you on your toes.
Triple Slam Combo
Her bread-and-butter move. She smashes the ground three times—right hand, left hand, right hand again. Each slam creates shockwaves and covers good space, but the rhythm is predictable. Dash toward the striking arm to avoid it. If she swings with the right, dash left, and the same for the opposite. This not only dodges but also lines you up for quick counter-hits.
Thorned Vines
At intervals, she vanishes, and thorned vines sprout across the floor. These act as arena hazards, limiting space to dodge. They break in three needle hits, or instantly if she slams on top of them with her hands.
Flying Minions
In later phases, she calls down flying pests that harass you around the arena. They only take three hits of either base or ranged needle to kill, but can easily chip away at your health if ignored but you won’t want them to be here when you are dealing with the main boss.
Recommended Abilities & Tools
While you can take her on with basic kit, some abilities and tools make the fight easier:
- Swift Step (Dash) – Important to slip past her triple-slam. Without it, you’ll be eating frequent damage.
- Thread Storm – Wide AoE that melts vines and minions at the same time, and also tags her.
- Silkspear – A high-damage strike that can one-shot Splinterbeak summons if timed right.
- Warding Bell – Provides a protective counter-shield during heal, reflecting damage back.
- Weighted Belt (optional) – Prevents Hornet from sliding back when hitting vines, helping you clear them faster.
How to Beat Sister Splinter in Hollow Knight: Silksong
Sister Splinter looks intimidating, but her danger comes less from her own strikes and more from the vines and flying minions that continuously invade the arena throughout the fight. She only has one attack move, her three-part slam combo, but the chaos she summons around it is what really tests your control.
At the start, stay aggressive. Watch her hands closely: when she swings with the right, dash left, and when she swings left, dash right. This puts you directly in range to punish with a couple of quick hits. Don’t linger, because she rarely gives long openings. When debris falls from the ceiling, vines sprout on the field. Slice them down as fast as possible, starting with the ones in the middle to always keep room to move. If she slams near or on them, play wisely to let her destroy the vines for you because her single hand attack breaks the vines when you have to hit three needle strikes to destroy them.
The fight escalates once she calls in Splinterbeaks minions. Falling dust shows where they’ll land, position yourself under one and swat it before it takes flight. They’re fragile, but their spin attacks deal heavy damage, so kill them immediately before turning back to the boss. A well-timed Silkspear can one-shot a minion, or even take down both if you line them up, while Thread Storm clears groups along with any vines. If you have Flea Brew, its speed boost makes it further manageable to clear the arena, and tools like Warding Bell give you cover when you need to heal in the middle of the chaos.
Sister Splinter occasionally staggers after sustained damage, collapsing to the floor. Dash away to avoid being hit by collision damage, then attack with three or four safe strikes to deal good damage to her. Don’t burn your big abilities here, save them for when vines and minions begin overlapping. Later in the fight, she fills the entire arena with thorns. You won’t have time to break them all, so prioritize breaking the central branches. Without that breathing room, you’ll quickly trap yourself at the edges.
The final stretch is to manage everything at once: dodging her predictable slams, destroying the vines, killing minions before they swarm, and keeping pressure on her so she can’t reset the arena endlessly. Stay disciplined with short combos after each dodge, AoE tools when things get crowded, and constant attention to maintaining space. Do that, and you’ll defeat Sister Splinter in Hollow Knight: Silksong with steady, controlled aggression.
Victory clears the thorn wall and unlocks access to Shellwood’s upper reaches. More importantly, it leads you to the Cling Grip ability—Hornet’s wall-climbing skill. From here, whole new areas of Pharloom unlock.
