Best Builds For Pantheon In Hollow Knight

Summary

• Hollow Knight’s Pantheon challenges are the toughest in the game, requiring all base upgrades and charm notches.
• Various charm combinations offer strategies for players to tackle Pantheon fights effectively.
• Defensive, melee-focused, and spell damage charm builds cater to different playstyles for boss battles in Hollow Knight.

While fans patiently await news of Silksong, many still have yet to overcome the original game’s greatest challenge. Hollow Knight‘s Pantheon challenges, found in the DLC area Godhome, are the games’ toughest fights, pitting players against boss rush gauntlets, including powered-up versions of the base games’ toughest bosses.

Players will need to make sure they’ve found all the base game nail upgrades, spell upgrades, mask shards, and vessel fragments before challenging these end-game gauntlets. It’s also advisable to have all 11 charm notches unlocked, as well as every charm (or at least every useful charm).

The build variety in Hollow Knight comes entirely from the composition of the player’s charms. With that said, there are still plenty of options available, as well as some strategies that can help specifically with certain Pantheon fights. These are the best combinations of charms to take on Hollow Knight‘s Pantheon.

1

Carefree Melody, Dreamshield, Quick Focus & Baldur Shell

Tanking Potential, Patience Required

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 0

Defensive builds are not the most advisable strategy for the Pantheon. These fights are long, and learning to consistently avoid hits while outputting more damage will always be the better option in the long run. However, while players are learning the fights, some extra margin for error can be helpful, and this build helps achieve that.

Carefree Melody blocks a hit for free, then has a chance to block more incoming hits once the player has been hit again. Dreamshield will protect against incoming projectiles while rotating around the player and can damage enemies it hits. Baldur’s Shell and Quick Focus will allow the player to heal hits they do take quickly and safely. The only drawback is the lack of damage output.

2

Quick Focus, Shape Of Unn & Baldur Shell

High-Pressure Healing

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 4

This simple charm setup allows for fast and protected healing in high-pressure situations, giving the player more opportunities to heal even in relentless boss fights. The addition of Shape of Unn allows the player to move while healing and synergizes with Quick Focus for faster movement.

The nice thing about this simple defensive setup is that the player still has four charm notches to play with. This allows for a damage booster like Unbreakable Strength or Shaman Stone to be added, depending on the player’s preferred playstyle.

3

Unbreakable Strength, Shaman Stone, Quick Slash & Sharp Shadow

Basic Buffs, All-Rounder Build

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 0

This build boosts all the players’ basic damage sources without focusing on one area more than the others. Unbreakable Strength and Shaman Stone increase attack damage and magic damage, respectively.

Quick Slash boosts the speed of attacks, while Sharp Shadow gives the player a way to damage enemies while dodging. Players need to be aware that Sharp Shadow also increases the range of the dash though, which can take some getting used to for spacing attacks.

4

Sprint Master, Dashmaster, Sharp Shadow & Stalwart Shell

Dodge Master

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 4

This charm setup is designed for maximum maneuverability while allowing for some flexibility with additional charms. Sprint Master is a cheap, one-slot charm that’s mostly useful for traversing Hollow Knight’s locations, but the increased ground speed can help with dodging boss attacks without the need to dash.

For attacks that need to be dash-dodged, Dashmaster decreases the dash cooldown, lets players dash down for air escapes, and synergizes with Sharp Shadow, increasing its damage. Four additional charm notches are available to customize this further with the player’s preferred attack buffs.

5

Grubberfly’s Elegy, Quick Slash, Fury Of The Fallen & Unbreakable Strength

Adding Range To Melee

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 0

Grubberfly’s Elegy is an often overlooked charm, but it can be quite effective in combination with others. Quick Slash increases the speed at which projectiles can be fired from the nail, while Unbreakable Strength increases their damage.

The main drawback of the Elegy is that it only works at full health. However, Fury of the Fallen will allow it to work at low health (one mask) and cause it to fire more damaging red projectiles. The advantage of this setup is that players can maintain distance from bosses while outputting consistent melee damage.

6

Fury Of The Fallen, Unbreakable Strength, Nailmaster’s Glory, Quick Slash & Shaman Stone

Mega-Damage Amplifier With No Margin For Error

• Free Charm Notches remaining:​​​​​​​ Overcharmed

This build is not recommended for anyone but the most experienced and confident players. It allows for the highest damage output possible, but it requires the player not to take a single hit. This is because to get the most out of this setup, players need to activate Fury of the Fallen deliberately, putting them at one mask of health.

Since players can’t take a hit anyway, they can make use of Hollow Knight’s “overcharmed” state to equip some extra charms. Nailmaster’s Glory isn’t essential here, but it allows for fast nail art charging, making nail arts viable in boss fights, so it’s a charm melee players should always consider.

7

Unbreakable Strength, Mark Of Pride, Quick Slash & Steady Body

Melee Focused Basic Attack Booster

• Free Charm Notches remaining:​​​​​​​ 1

This build and the next are roughly equally effective. The difference is simply whether the player prefers to cast magic or use melee as their main damage source. This is the melee-focused build, and all charms are here to boost the player’s melee damage potential. Unbreakable Strength and Quick Slash should be self-explanatory, they’re just good buffs.

Mark of Pride and Steady Body have a less obvious but equally effective role, increasing the range of the players’ attack while allowing them to stand still while attacking. Combined with the buffs, this allows for quick, consistently high melee damage output, only interrupted when the player needs to dodge. With one free notch, Nailmaster’s Glory can be added as an extra charm for full melee capabilities.

8

Shaman Stone, Soul Eater, Soul Catcher & Spell Twister

Spell Damage Focus

• Free Charm Notches remaining: 0

This build allows for maximum damage and resource efficiency for players’ spells. For those who like to focus on spell damage as their primary damage source, this is the go-to charm combination. Shaman Stone buffs spell damage, while Spell Twister lets players cast spells for less soul. Soul Eater and Soul Catcher both increase soul generation when hitting enemies, and their effects stack.

This means that the nail is used as a resource generator for this build, and players can fire off more spells after just one to two hits. Certain Hollow Knight bosses, especially those that hover above the player, are vulnerable to the spell Abyssal Shriek, which is hard to pull off otherwise, but does more damage than most other spells. For those bosses, this build is unbeatable.