fireb0rn's Hollow Knight Charm Tier List 

This video was originally just going to be an "underrated charms" video, so apologies if the tier list isn't perfect. I do see a lot of little adjustments I'd make already, but as long as it gives people a generally idea of what's good, that's cool with me. Join my discord to discuss! discord.gg/ZJmY9aH

Void heart is easily the best charm in the game. I have yet to see a single player attempt radiance without it equipped.

no you don't understand. grimmchild is so important. for my heart.

But Grimmchild is the best charm! He has a super amazing combo with Weaversong, it's called "making me not lonely."

“Kingsoul is good for challenges like radiance with spells only” -Fireborn, 2021

I love how the video haven’t even started and grimmchild is already in d tier

"a few years after the game released" but still a few years before silksong gets released

Shape of Uun is S tier solely for the animation, it's just so damn hilarious to slug across the room during an intense battle

I know its been 4 months but I feel like it went completely over everyone's heads that hiveblood was in *bee* tier

summary of the video: "This charm is one of the best charms in the game... this charm is terrible, but it does have some use... at least this one's not grimchild"

My friend and I call the Mark of Pride and Longnail combo the "Belmont Whip"

When I was fighting the Soul Master on my first playthrough, I kept jumping straight into the boss's attacks, but Dreamshield just went: "Nope, not doing that!" and blocked like 90% of the attacks I was gonna crash into. That must've been some insane luck. I still won't say Dreamshield is the best charm, but this was a funny experience I wanted to share.

This made me remember the time when I was moving around in crystal area trying to up grimm child and came across myla who was infected. I literally forgot I had Grimm child with me and trying to dreamnail her trying to see what her dialogues were. But you know what happened next...

But fireb0rn never saves grubs so it's technically impossible for him to get Grubsong and Grubberfly's elegy

Everyone's talking about how wayward compass is OP but underestimate the power of gathering swarm. The swarm completely devours bosses in seconds, how does everyone ignore it? It's an ez carry for the pantheon of Hallownest, S tier

I had no idea that most people disliked sharp shadow. I used it for most of my play through and found it immensely helpful. I get the awkward dash length but that was only really a problem for me on platforming sections were I could just take it off before hand.

Love the Baldur Shell discussion after having watched you use it in Abs Rad! I was definitely that beginner who used up all the charges and was like "this charm sucks" lol

carefree melody is op, as long as you leave some luck-improving mods on by “accident.”

He sounds like he’s trying to sell us the A/S tier charms lol

One other use for Heavy Blow is the Delicate Flower quest. You want enemies to stay off you as much as possible, and if you’re impatient like me (or you’re trying to deliver it to other characters that aren’t the grave), you’re gonna be encountering enemies because you didn’t clear the path beforehand. It was especially helpful when I took the flower to Oro because of all the Hoppers that respawn regardless. Heavy Blow makes dealing with them _so_ much easier, especially paired with Mark of Pride. Kingsoul also finds a niche in this quest by allowing you to stay completely at range and throw out Shade Souls without ever coming close to an enemy.

i can't believe i randomly chose to equip heavy blow after struggling with lost kin. the fight became so much easier afterwards and now i understand why.

The best use of dreamshield *Killing the enemy I'm trying to pogo on*

Something that I think is worth mentioning is that lifeblood heart does have a good use tied to Grubberfly's Elegy: when taking damage with lifeblood, you don't technically lose health, so until that lifeblood is gone, you can afford to Actually take a hit or two if necessary. This fact is especially useful in the pantheons once you unlock the lifeblood cocoons, as using the following charm combo basically allows you to just walk at bosses while spamming from a distance until they die, and believe me, it WORKS. Also, one thing to especially keep in mind is that grubberfly's doesn't get rid of your regular nail hitbox nor it's damage output, so against larger foes like Failed Champion, you can actually have both hits, the nail and the elegy projectile hit, connect at once, effectively dealing 48 damage per nail swing. - Strength - Quickslash - Lifeblood heart - Elegy Honestly I've kinda become enamored with this charm loadout. It's a lot more useful than one might imagine.

Very glad to see the justification for steady body. On my first playthrough with 96% completion and I've used steady body the ENTIRE game since I got it, thought about parting with it a couple times for something else, but I couldn't I just really hated the knockback restricting my movement.

I know that Grimmchild is useless and sometimes even annoying (like on path of pain), but I love him so much that i couldn't place him that low even if he deserves it. Also Deepfocus is in my opinion very underrated. If you combine it with quickfocus and shape of unn you are pretty much invincible. I know a person who played all game with that combo.

*puts grub song in my hitless build as it fits for any build*

Grimmchild may be useless for combat, but the emotional bond is worth two charm notches.

Fury and Elegy have a synergy where you can ranged attack at 1 mask as well. Considering both are really useful on their own in certain situations, it's actually pretty cool especially when you're not expecting it

I remember being in the early-game of my first playthrough, couldn't wait to find whichever charm let me swing my nail faster. I would have gladly given up even five notches to be able to do that. I'm certainly glad I didn't have to, but there were few moments that felt singularly better than putting on quick slash for the first time and swinging to my heart's content

It’s not that you use Defender Crest to kill the blobs vs Lost Kin. It’s that it kills them automatically if they’re about to attack you about 95% of the time. This means that when you heal, they hit your stench and pop like a bubble, instead of making it almost impossible to heal. Just as Hiveblood is possibly S-tier for a beginner in White Palace, this is amazing for a beginner vs Lost Kin.

So, fire said kingsoul is good for no nail radiance right? Uh how are you doing radiance with kingsoul??

This reminds me of my epic desperate tech against nightmare grimm: deep focus + shape of unn. Allowed me to heal for at least 4 masks every time nkg used his following fire pillars attack, since it lasts long enough for me to charge up and heal twice while I'm moving in front of them.

grubberfly also has a synergy with fury of the fallen, where you get a red ranged attack when at one mask

There should be an F tier for Grimmchild alone, since that thing keeps shooting Hornet when she's staggered and I'm trying to heal... AAAAAAA

"Shape of Unn is not the best charm in Hollow Knight, but it is the coolest, by far"

My favourite addition to Weaversong+Grubsong is to also use Sprintmaster, which makes the Weavers both faster and have a farther range. Used this combination for quite a few bosses during my midgame play. (They also give you soul from the Collector and from your siblings in the Abyss!)

I still really love dream shield tbh. Situational kinda, but it can really save you in fights like Coliseum of Fools and Radiance that have a lot of projectiles.

I used thorns of agony through most of my first casual playthrough. In its defense, it can double hit and is good in colosseum runs. It's still pretty bad but I have a soft spot for it.

The only 2 things that I don't share with this is Grimmchild being so low in D tier and Void Heart. It's true that Grimmchild has terrible aim and it's hell in Fog Canion, but it's definitely better than glowing womb against most - if not all - of the bosses where the "spawner" gimmick works well. This is because : 1) It does more damage 2) It doesn't drain soul. 3) It's devastating against Failed Champion because it's safe to spell spam when he's at the center, something that you can't do with GW So I'd put GC in C tier, just above Glowing Womb For Voidheart I understand that the effect is just... Nothing? But it IS free, so... It's free. P.S. If you're playing from PC, I'd consider modding the game (it's very easy, many tutorials on RU-vid too). Install the "Charm Overhaul" mod: what it does is basically make not very good charms better with various adjustments, create multiple new charm interactions and allow to switch between Grimmchild/Melosy and King/Void. All the info is listed in a file that you can read with Word when you install the mod.

sharp shadow does have a synergy with dash master, where it does a bit more damage

Grimmchild is really handy if you're struggling with Sly's final phase. You don't even need to attack Sly, just dodge and your little buddy takes him out pretty quick. I don't really use the charm but it did help with that Pantheon

Thorns of Agony is a crutch charm and I LOVE IT. It's perfect in places like Waterways if you're having trouble with those little things that dart at you on sight so you don't get swarmed to death, especially when you fall into the water. In exchange for being a 1-notch crutch, you gain no soul from the damage. It's probably not meant to be used professionally, especially if you have good timing and recovery.

(Sees Steady Body has one of the longest sections in the video) *Ah yes*

I love using Mark of Pride + Longnail for Sly. It gives you just enough room to very easily hit him during the second phase right after he finishes spinning his nail

Dreamshield has a special place in my heart because I had a really tough time with the balloon guys that spawn in the lost Kin fight and the extra range of the shield helped me deal with them really effectively

Joni’s Blessing is good when you’re in a fight that is very difficult or impossible to heal in. In that case, it pretty much gives you extra hits when you couldn’t heal anyway.

Sharp shadow is good. Sometimes, in a fight where you’re shadow-dashing a lot (eg. traitor lord) the extra damage really builds up. Plus, sometimes when you have a low health, high powered enemy (eg. last phase sly), it’s safer to just shade- cloak through it a bunch to whittle down most of its health so you can tank a few hits at the end. The extra length can actually help a lot if you get used to it, it can let you dash through stuff you might not have been able to before (eg. failed champ). Plus only two charm notches is not bad for free, safe nail hits at your leisure.

I would like to mention that lifeblood doesn’t effect fury of the fallen, I can’t remember which pantheon it was but the speed runner stacked up on lifeblood while on 1 mask, and just slayed some bosses super fast.

I thought I was the only one who liked grubsong it pretty much allows you to benefit from your mistakes. Definitely helps with tricky platforming sections

Dreamshield was my favorite charm my first playthru, it may not b some sick speedrunner charm, but it was fun and useful to me

ok but hear me out: glowing womb is just grimmchild that sucks your soul to be useless.

I feel like Stalwart Shell being so similar to Steady Body is like those bugs or snakes that evolve to look like something dangerous

Dreamshield was very useful for me with the mantis lords fight. At the time i didnt know how to pogo off their nails so when they did the projectile attack i always got hit. Threw on dreamshield and won it first try. Never used it again.

Steady body finally gets some praise..I have no clue why everyone dismissed that charm so fast. It takes some getting used to but it’s so nice for shredding through bosses with knock back, and dealing hits without having to worry bout knock back is awesome

I played the whole game with Dash Master + Sprint Master + Sharp Shadow charms combination. I first completed Path of Pain and every Pantheon with it only. The speed it brings changes the whole game to me.

I feel like sharp shadow should be udleast b tier, I do agree to have more damage but it's good at combos. Not only it's also good at diluting damage, and the extra range may be wierd but it's not that bad. And it also does 1.5 damage with dashmaster, so it's good for your casual play because it's satisfying, good matching combo and safe in casual play

I have used joni's blessing in my casual playthrough, but only when I'm about to fight a boss that I'm having trouble with. I'm kinda in the mid to early game so I don't really have any other better charms to use but I would say it's bee quite useful when fighting bosses cause after that I immediately unequip it lol

41:57 "we'll throw it in the B tier because the B tier is lonely" _grimmchild with the D tier_ D:

I love the Fact that you split the Video into Parts, makes looking for a Charm really easy

Finally, someone appreciates just how great Steady Body is. You get so much more control over your character, and it's just a single notch...

Wayward compass is amazing for people that can memorize locations so although it is a bad (but better than Grimmchild) combat charm it is easily the best utility charm

I'm still not very familiar with most of the charms since I'm new to Hollow Knight, but so far I like this tier list.

Wayward Compass is D tier?! Whatchu mean lmao. I mean like it goes to the B tier imo because if you're no brainer in the game, its for you. I feel like Nailmaster's glory is S tier because Nail arts in this game are so reliable. God gamer never needed a compass in the first place. Like me of course.

i literally never used gathering swarm, i was always overflowing with geo lol i hate taking off wayward compass tho, i find it really easy to get lost even after playing through all the areas

When I first started and got baldur shell it felt nice to have the extra cover, but I still tried to improve after I found it. It got to a point where I wasn't triggering it often so I stopped for a bit, but then I started getting to some of the later bosses like Radiance and NKG and realized it could help me figure out patterns with health charms (to survive longer).

18:54 "And the boss DIES" *Dramatic strings kicks in

You can actually use Defender's Crest to cheese the initial Crystal Guardian Fight. He'll take damage while he sleeps on the bench until his health runs out and it bails an waits for the second fight.

This really gave me a new perspective on some charms. I will consider checking them out!

Just two major things: I've seen so many newbies get through bosses thanks to thorns of agony. And gathering swarm is insane for geo clusters, first playthroughs.

I love how positive you are about heal builds and stuff that's sometimes considered "crutches" by the community. I've run some heal builds that look like memes (think q focus, deep focus, unn, heart) when I was a noob, and I still used heart when I switched to a more sane build (shaman, strength, qslash, heart) so I really felt quite discouraged when I saw someone call heart a crutch. "Just don't get hit 4head" - well, now I've got the word of the God Gamer himself to back my choice of heart up. Don't know if I'll ever get through PoH, but you know I'll be using heart for my attempts.

Stalwart shell is great for boss fights when you find it difficult to dodge their attacks. Or for the colliseum trial of fool, where there's a ton of enemies that are hard to dodge- like the floorless section.

I did not look at the length of this video. I was expecting an average 20 minute charm ranking video, and looked down after an hour. Really good content. It kept me watching because of your expertise is incredible.

I love how we care so little about lifeblood charms that we mix up heart and core lmao.

“I’m gonna put hive blood in b tier” I see what you did there

Just started this game and the use of charms is incredible. Able to adapt to each boss. E.g. Heavy blow is useless most of the time but when it works, it comes in clutch. Awesome tier list.

This was a year ago but I saw a different video from BlueSR 9 months ago that goes into more detail about the history of Flukenest. Apparently Flukenest was "broken again" ever since godmaster DLC and depending on the boss, it does actually hit twice with "invisible lingering hitboxes".

i used to be a steady body denier. Then i met Hunthussie!

Fireborn always looks like he's about to burst into laughter, like he's about to deliver the punchline of a joke. Amazing.

I love Grimm Child. He keeps me company when traveling.

I’m not sure whether or not this is the place to post a charm build. I just have to admit, this video is one I always come back to when I’m looking for ideas. I call this one “The Apprentice,” or “Oghrim’s Apprentice.” It’s a bit of a roleplay build, but it does decent damage. -Defender’s Crest (1) -Sporeshroom (1) -Quick Focus/F+U Strength/Shaman Stone (3) -Carefree Melody (3) -Grubsong (1) -Steady Body (1) -Nailmaster’s Glory/Dream Nail/Wayward Compass (1) *Spell Twister (2) Basically weaponizing stink and charisma. It’s also an acknowledgement to the Knight’s teachers and the Knight’s own prowess. Defender’s Crest+Spore Shroom makes a power fart that adds on damage between attacks through healing. There is a multi-purpose 3 slot based on which archetype you want to run, either with Nail, Spell, or Heal. I would personally lean on the nail damage, but faster healing means quicker farts. Shaman Stone is also a great power up (especially early on). Carefree Melody is a trickier charm to get, but a better trade off than Grimchild and a surprisingly decent clutch mechanic; lets you RP as Ogrim’s Jolly Apprentice. Grubsong adds on extra soul from taking damage, which is stupidly good and will give you some of the oomph needed to fart. Steady body is part of my playstyle choice, and I feel uncomfortable without it. Last 1 slot could be utility like Wayward Compass for my challenged sense of direction, Dream Nail for extra Soul, or Nailmaster’s Glory for extra Nail Art usage. I like using Nailmaster’s Glory on Spell Builds, though it is great no matter which you use (and it harkens back the Knight’s tutelage under all 3 Nailmasters). Dreamwielder is just stupidly useful (also functioning as the Knight’s token of apprenticeship to the Moth Tribe). *You COULD throw out Steady Body and add in Spell Twister for more farts per meter or Baldur Shell for a protected fart as a final charm Slot, but I prefer keeping Steady Body for DPS and comfort. Final Notes: I actually wanted to avoid Shape of Unn on this build somewhat for RP reasons. As cute and practical as it is to slug it up, AND with acknowledgement that it’s fantastic on heal-based builds, I wanted to preserve some of the Knight’s Honor as an apprentice to many honored and powerful knights. He should not crawl, but brace. Carefree Melody is also chosen for RP reasons. It’s true you COULD slot in power charms like Quick Slash, Shaman Stone, F+U Strength or even add on another 2+1 Charm Setup…but honestly, I thought it would be cool to RP a knight that’s… “charming.” Like Oghrim. Feel free to critique!

Voidheart best charm, no-one has ever beaten vanilla P5 without it

20:17 Shape of Unn helped me SO much with radiance because i could just keep dodging while healing. It safed the whole fight for me

Nice tier list ^^ It helps when playing through the game casually. I did actually genuinely appreciate Dreamshield much more than how you were describing. It increased my range without needing to spend Focus to cast spells and blocked fairly often when trying to heal. I dropped Dreamshield only later in the game when I had more charms to make a stronger cast build. Maybe I'm crazy, but it saved my butt many times :D

So a few things 1) Reading through the comments, I was honestly surprised to see that people who like sharp shadow are in the minority 2) He mentioned offhand how defenders crest helps with lost kin. I think he underrepresented this a bit. Lost kin's gimmick is that it's a small boss that takes knockback, and it has a ridiculous # of staggers. This boss is a joke with the right charms. Use defenders crest to simply negate his balloon bois while he's staggered for a free heal or two, quick slash, heavy blow, and steady body to pound him into a corner. Just facetank whatever he does and go back to whaling on him as soon as you can. He staggers often enough that you don't have to worry about health. 3) Kingsoul is really good for the delicate flower quest. I understand grubsong is better in every other scenario, but when you're not allowed to get hit, Kingsoul is surprisingly good. 4) I straight up did not understand the mechanics of baldur shell before this. And kinda still don't, but thanks for somewhat enlightening me. 5) I got addicted to gathering swarm in my first playthrough, now cannot play without it. I know the inconvenience is so incredibly minor, but I prefer to murder everything in sight while I'm just traipsing through Hallownest, and I'm just lazy about picking up geo. Easy S tier for me 6) All of the additional health/additional lifeblood plus Joni's blessing and hiveblood is amazing for white palace

Thorns at the absolute bottom and Grubsong in S tier makes me so incredibly happy. I feel validated.

Quick Focus carried me through early game, and Sharp Shadow is carrying me through Endgame

Something I haven't seen talked about much is how shape of unn can let you low-profile under a lot of projectiles. Off the top of my head I know you can low-profile under Grimm's 3-shot projectiles and get free heals during that attack. There are also some enemies whose targeting get thrown off by the low-profile, allowing you to completely dodge an attack without moving and get free heals. Another little tidbit is that there's a spot in the white palace where you can use shape of unn to low-profile under a buzz saw and skip a portion of the challenge.

I’ve thought about using steady body when fighting Grimm of HK during their pillar moves, hitting them if you’re in range usually makes you hit the attack you already dodged

Doesn’t grubberfly elegy have synergy with fury of the fallen, which makes you shoot stuffs at 1 hp?

I like grubsong! I used it along with thorns of agony and shape of unn to get through many boss fights that I wasn't good at in my 1st playthrough. My brother said it's a terrible charm since you shouldn't go to a fight expecting to get hit. But he also said shaman stone isn't good bc it costs too many notches. He is nail build all the way

This is the most down to Earth, genuine, entertaining and interesting tier list I’ve ever watched. Tier lists have become very stale for me and, not just that, but I never really loved them to begin with, because they often don’t feature deep discussion of the reasoning behind things, and often feel tacky and lazy. You have genuine opinions that are well thought out, are willing to think things through and adjust things, and you actually have interesting, unique, original takes that feel like true opinions, formed from knowing the game and keeping an open mind, rather than meme picks or “unpopular opinions” that are actually just negative, popular ones. You just earned yourself a new sub! Between this and your Boss Tier List, I’ve gained a lot of respect for you and your work.

This tier list helped me finally beat P5 by inspiring me to try Steady Body! Thanks! (I ended up using Strength - Quickslash - Mark of Pride - Grubsong - Steady Body)

Steady body, quickslash, and mark of pride are part of my setup at basically all times. Have been since my first playthrough. I swear steady body is the most underestimated charm in the game.

54:10 Grubberfly's Elegy also has a synergy with Fury of the Fallen, where the effect also activates at 1hp. I used this quite a bit in the Hall of Gods for Ascended fights like Pure Vessel, NKG and Failed Champion. As with all of those fights, if you overcharm you never lose the Grubberfly effect (since you take 8hp of damage from 1 hit ;P)

I love how fireb0rn doesn’t even talk about Grimmchild, and that it’s already instantly in D tier at the beginning of the video.

Sharp shadow throwing a boss backwards when it gets stunned and dropping it on top of you at the end of the dash is criminal.

I could feel my heart crack when I saw sharp shadow being put into a tier described as "crap" at the beginning xD But it also makes you feel kinda cool being in that minority of people who love sharp shadow 😎

I didn’t know I wanted this until now

My first kill on Nightmare King Grimm was using Sharp Shadow with Dashmaster (which apparently makes Sharp shadow do 1.5 nail damage) to deal most of my damage along with using Shape of Unn to heal twice during his bats projectile attack. Goes to show that even mediocre charms can be situationally useful.

That video was soo useful for me (playing for second time, I didnt finish first time, got stuck on nightmare Grimm and lost motivation). Some stuff becomes obvious right away when you play like quickfocus being great for boss fights, mark of pride being awesome, quickslash being broken (during my first playthrough it was 2 notches) and thorns of agony being shit but with many of those insight from a pro player is so helpful in planning a build.