By Ted Litchfield

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

I just found out I’ve been using Silksong’s powerful Thread Storm ability wrong this entire time

Ted Litchfield

15 September 2025

Holding Thread Storm longer is risky, but can improve your DPS.

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(Image credit: Team Cherry)

I’m making my way slowly to the end of Act One in Silksong, and one of my mainstays has been Thread Storm, a powerful AOE multihit ability that can be acquired fairly early on. But I’ve been a fool: despite using the attack in multiple boss fights, I actually haven’t been getting as much damage out of it as I could’ve. Thanks to a PSA video from Jason Mondal on YouTube, I only just learned how to use Thread Storm to its full potential.

Instead of pressing or holding right bumper on a controller once to activate the ability, you can rapidly mash the button to extend its duration without using more silk, giving you more damage per cast. The only downside is that this leaves you vulnerable to a counterattack for longer, but that’s kind of the basic tradeoff of Thread Storm already.

Hidden DAMAGE Buff with Thread Storm (Hollow Knight Silksong) – YouTube

My preferred deployment is at a diagonal, up and slightly to the side of a boss to get them in the AOE while having a good chance of avoiding any attacks. Against enemies who can be staggered by Thread Storm, though, there’s practically no disadvantage to using its max duration⁠—this ability can be a huge help during any of those tricky wave fights.

Related Articles

How to beat Silksong’s Widow boss, the speedy spinstress

If you’re having trouble with Silksong’s difficulty, keep going—Act 2 is worth the pain, and it does get ‘easier’

Silksong players stuck in Far Fields: Here’s how to get out

Where to find Thread Storm in Hollow Knight: Silksong
You can grab Thread Storm in the second half of Act One, in the Greymoor area. Instead of traveling west on the critical path to Bellhart, go east, past where Shakra is selling the map for the area, until the path dead ends at a building you can enter.

Inside, you’ll find a tough wave fight that, frustratingly, Thread Storm would be a great help for. Beating this encounter causes ladders of balloons to spawn outside: You can perform a downward attack in the air to pogo off of them, climbing to the top of the room and the entrance to a new area. The shrine with Thread Storm is at the end of a platforming section in this final room.

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

Silksong guide: Home of all our bug-battling tips
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How to beat Moorwing: How to cheese or beat it
Hunter’s March bench: Yes there is one
Silksong simple key: Where to use the costly key

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Ted Litchfield

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Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister’s copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he’s not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.

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How to beat Silksong’s Widow boss, the speedy spinstress

If you’re having trouble with Silksong’s difficulty, keep going—Act 2 is worth the pain, and it does get ‘easier’

Silksong players stuck in Far Fields: Here’s how to get out

Stuck on Silksong’s obnoxious big bug boss Moorwing? There’s a cheeky way to kill him in 30 seconds—or skip the fight altogether

You can make Silksong’s terrible Bilewater boss 100 times easier by simply surrendering yourself to the maggot bath

Suffering with Silksong’s hard-as-nails High Halls gauntlet? Fret not, there’s a way to get some help

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