My thoughts on every charm

This isn't a ranking of every charm (for the most part). These are just my thoughts on each charm, their potential uses, and whether I like them or not.

 

Wayward Compass

• Wayward Compass is a strange charm. On one hand, it is practically required if you don’t know where you’re going, or aren’t familiar with the route to your destination, which is 90% of the time in a first playthrough. On the other hand, it’s completely useless in combat, and once you know the map by heart, it becomes worthless. All in all, I think the fact that it’s incredibly helpful in some scenarios and objectively useless in other scenarios is a good way to encourage new players to swap around their charms given the situation.

 

Gathering Swarm

• I’m personally a fan of Gathering Swarm. Its price is a bit steep, but it makes Geo collecting so much more convenient that I still like to use it in the early game. It unfortunately becomes less useful in the late game, when there just aren’t many things to buy, and relics become a much more useful source of money.

 

Stalwart Shell

• Stalwart Shell is a nice charm. Despite its simplicity, it’s actually pretty versatile, with both offensive and defensive utility. Offensively, it lets you land more free blows after getting hit. Defensively, it makes healing after getting hit easier, especially when combined with Quick Focus.

 

Soul Catcher

• Soul Catcher is a solid charm in the early game, when options are limited, but I feel like its usefulness wears out near the endgame. It’s just kinda boring, and only gives a little boost.

 

Shaman Stone

• Shaman Stone is hands down one of the best charms in the game. Not only does it give Shade Soul the power to kill most enemies in one or two hits, it also makes it much bigger, increasing its chances of landing double hits or hitting in general. Descending Dark with Shaman Stone makes Watcher Knights a joke. There’s a reason why Shaman Stone is the MVP in virtually every speedrun category.

 

Soul Eater

• Soul Eater is a powerful charm, but it’s just so expensive. And it’s still boring. I don’t know, I guess I don’t think three hits per charge is that steep a task that it warrants spending four notches making it easier.

 

Dashmaster

• Dashmaster is a very polarizing charm. Some people practically can’t go without it, while others can’t stand it. I’m in the “can’t stand it” camp. Being able to dash more often never felt that useful for traversal for me, as I have an “I’ll get there eventually” mentality. And the ability to dash down honestly just seems like it’s there to muddy the controls and yeet you into hazards when you’re trying to bounce. Still, it has some combat utility in being more mobile.

 

Sprintmaster

• I also don’t really like Sprintmaster. Not only does increased movement speed not appeal to me when traversing areas, but the fact that it only boosts ground speed and not air speed made moving around feel clunky, as the two speeds where no longer the same. Yet I can’t deny that Sprintmaster’s mobility has combat potential, especially when combined with Dashmaster. Walking is much less committal than dashing.

 

Grubsong

• What can be said about Grubsong that hasn’t already been said before? It’s one of the most universally useful charms in the game, and in my opinion, it’s the third best one-notch charm in the game. It’s free Soul when you screw up. It’s good.

 

Grubberfly’s Elegy

• I’m not that big a fan of Grubberfly’s Elegy. Mainly because it becomes available incredibly late in the game, and its beams deal poor damage. Nonetheless, the extra range means you have an easier time avoiding enemy attacks, making the requirement of being at full health not too bad, and its special synergy with Grubsong means that even if you do get hit, it’s likely that you’ll have enough Soul to heal off the damage and get back to full health. It’s also recently found itself a niche against Radiant bosses, where its stipulation of being at full health is literally impossible to break.

 

Fragile/Unbreakable Heart

• Eh, it would be useful in the early game when you first get it, but its fragility makes it hard to use. And once you do upgrade it, you’re likely to have acquired most if not all the extra masks in the game, so two extra hits don’t really mean much.

 

Fragile/Unbreakable Greed

• Fragile Greed is decent when paired with Gathering Swarm to make Geo farming is easier. Unbreakable Greed is a complete waste.

 

Fragile/Unbreakable Strength

• Like with Fragile Heart, Fragile Strength is hard to use outside of Dream fights because of its fragility, but Unbreakable Strength is pretty great. It has something of a rivalry with Quick Slash, and Unbreakable Strength has the advantage in raw DPS, especially against bosses that can’t easily be wailed on with Quick Slash.

 

Spell Twister

• Spell Twister is basically the Quick Slash of spells. While it doesn’t have the raw power of Shaman Stone, it lets you play much more liberally with spells, and lets you fire off spells more quickly, as you can fire four spells in a row instead of just three. Personally, I only ever use it with Shaman Stone, but the two make quite a formidable combo.

 

Steady Body

• Heck Steady Body. Why get pushed away to safety when you can just stay in place dangerously close to an enemy’s hitbox? It’s nice in the early game when fighting enemies on small platforms, but once you get Nail Arts, this niche disappears. The only other time I’d consider Steady Body is when running through early areas with a jacked up nail, since you can OHKO the enemies without slowing down.

 

Heavy Blow

• Heavy Blow might be a meme, but I will say one thing in its defense: it would actually have a nice niche in walling out standard enemies if Quick Slash didn’t exist.

 

Quick Slash

• Speaking of Quick Slash, here it is. I mentioned before that it faces some competition with Unbreakable Strength. While Strength brings raw power, Quick Slash brings utility. The extra hits mean extra soul, especially if you’re against a slow boss that can be wailed on. It also makes staggering bosses easier, and it makes walling out enemies that take knockback easier as well. Finally, prior to upgrading Fragile Strength, Quick Slash is a much safer charm to use for Nail builds.

 

Longnail

• The range boost it gives is too small for me to seriously consider it.

 

Mark of Pride

• Now THIS is a range boost. Mark of Pride is super useful for pogo platforming, as well as making it easier to tag quick enemies with the nail. Solid charm.

 

Fury of the Fallen

• It may be INCREDIBLY risky to use, but in the hands of capable players (aka not me) it can do amazing things, like clearing the four main Pantheons is around three to four minutes each.

 

Thorns of Agony

• I’ll say it right now: I’m not a fan of Thorns of Agony. It deals a lot of damage when it hits, but the delay from getting hit and it activating make it so that it has a hard time landing its mark. The increased hitstun it gives you also turns me off from it.

 

Baldur Shell

• I absolutely hate Baldur Shell. It is an insidious charm that tricks countless players into thinking it isn’t complete horse shit. You might think “Oh, but it makes healing easier!” No, it doesn’t. All it does is reduce the punishment for getting hit while healing. Instead of losing a mask and the Soul you had used up to that point, you only lose the Soul. You’re still getting punished for getting hit, and you're just as likely to get hit than if you didn't use Baldur Shell. The only time it’s ever useful when used conventionally is if you get hit right after completing a heal, but that happens so rarely that it isn’t worth spending notches on. The only conceivable consistent use I can think of for this worthless charm is if you use it as a traditional shield to block attacks, but I’m not sure what frame the shell comes out on, so I’m not sure how viable that technique is.

 

Flukenest

• Once the king of DPS, Flukenest took a huge it in the Lifeblood update. Nonetheless, it’s still good for an easy one-cycle on Vanilla Uumuu.

 

Defender’s Crest

• Defender’s Crest is pretty bad on its own, and its “synergies” are a mixed bag. Defender’s Crest + Spore Shroom is very good. It doubles the strength of the cloud, and seemingly cancels to cloud’s cool down if you get hit. Defender’s Crest + Glowing Womb is decent, with about a 50% power boost. Defender’s Crest + Flukenest, however, is pretty awful.

 

Glowing Womb

• Glowing Womb is arguably the best of the minion charms. It deals decent damage, spawns at a reasonable rate, and homes in relentlessly on bosses. I don’t have much experience with it though.

 

Quick Focus

• Oh baby. Quick Focus is undeniably THE best defensive charm in the game, and in my opinion, one of the best charms in the game. By allowing you to safely heal in times and places that you wouldn’t normally, it allows you to outlast bosses that you would otherwise need to constantly dodge to stay alive. Indeed, why get good at avoiding damage when you can just heal it off? In my opinion, this is the easiest way to play the game.

 

Deep Focus

• My history with Deep Focus is complicated. At first, I condemned it for being a waste of four notches. Who would want to slow down your healing? Wouldn’t you just get hit? Then I realized it’s great for conserving Soul while exploring, where it’s easy to retreat and find places to heal. Recently I realized that it pairs incredibly well with Quick Focus and Shape of Unn to make you practically invincible, as it lets you heal almost to full while dodging attacks. I can’t recommend using Deep Focus in combat outside of a dedicated heal build, but it’s damn effective on said heal builds.

 

Lifeblood Heart

• I don’t have much to say about Lifeblood Heart. It’s the nice early game charm that Fragile Heart wanted to be, but it just kinda fades into obscurity in the late game.

 

Lifeblood Core

• If you’re looking for extra health, Lifeblood Core is probably your best bet.

 

Joni’s Blessing

• The only thing you should use Joni’s Blessing for is getting Lifeblood Core. It gives at most the same amount of Lifeblood masks as Lifeblood Core, and before you get enough masks, it barely gives more than Lifeblood Heart. Not worth the four-notch cost and the inability to heal.

 

Hiveblood

• Hiveblood is an interesting charm. At first glance, its steep cost makes it unappealing. But I believe u/Shyntaxe found its true potential on what I’ll refer to as “dodge builds”. By using indirect means of damage like Glowing Womb, Dreamshield, or Sharp Shadow, Hiveblood can let you continuously dodge, never put yourself in danger of getting hit, and slowly whittle away at a boss. If you happen to get hit, just keep on dodging, as Hiveblood will take care of the healing for you. This is especially useful against fast bosses that give very little breathing room for healing.

 

Spore Shroom

• My personal favorite charm, that I’m a bit sad had to be retired from my usual build to make room for Deep Focus. I think Spore Shroom is the superior “revenge charm” over Thorns of Agony. Sure, it lacks the raw power of Thorns, but it’s much more consistent.

 

Sharp Shadow

• Sharp Shadow is SO MUCH FUN. Dashing through enemies with Shadow Dash is already one of the coolest-feeling things you can do in Hollow Knight, and you’re telling me that you can make Shadow Dashing through enemies easier, AND it damages them? Count me in!

 

Shape of Unn

• A semi-recent addition to my usual build, I can’t believe I passed up on Shape of Unn for so long. While it’s mediocre on its own, with Quick Focus, it allows you to heal practically any time, any place. Boss charging at you while you’re healing? Just scooch away! Attacks coming at you from above? No problem! I think the most hilarious instance of Shape of Unn putting in work is against the Mantis Lords / Sisters of Battle. The slight hurtbox shortening makes the lunge attack go right over you, and the drop attack is super easy to weave between.

 

Nailmaster’s Glory

• Not everyone likes using Nail Arts, usually because charging and moving is uncomfortable. Thankfully for me, I remapped my controls very early on, and the controls I settled with happened to allow for comfortable charging and moving. Anyway, my point is that Nail Arts are amazing, and on the same note, Nailmaster’s Glory is amazing for making them spammable. I mentioned earlier that Nail Arts make Steady Body obsolete, and I feel I should elaborate on that. By making Nail Arts spammable, Nailmaster’s Glory effectively compresses the power and utility of ten notches worth of nail charms into a single notch. Great and Dash Slash have the raw single hit power of Fragile Strength, only stronger. Cyclone Slash has the incredible Soul gaining and staggering potential of Quick Slash, only better. All three have increased range like Mark of Pride, only longer, none of them cause the user knockback, like Steady Body. Ironically, since Nailmaster’s Glory doesn’t actually interact with any of those charms, it’s best used as a filler charm on spell and heal builds, where the extra Soul from Cyclone Slash especially is put to good use. In my opinion, Nailmaster’s Glory is THE BEST one notch charm, and joins Shaman Stone and Quick Focus as one of the best charms in the game.

 

Weaversong

• Weaversong is pretty decent against grounded bosses, but bad against airborne bosses. Like Glowing Womb and Sharp Shadow, it gives a way to passively damage bosses while dodging, and its special synergy with Grubsong pairs very nicely with Glowing Womb, allowing you to fuel the Womblings without having to every hit enemies.

 

Dream Wielder

• I’ve mentioned Nailmaster’s Glory and Grubsong being the first and third best one-notch charms, and here’s the second best. Dream Wielder is without a doubt the fastest and cheapest way to get Soul while exploring. The increased charge speed makes Dream Nailing bosses actually feasible, and even if you trade hits with the boss, you get enough Soul to heal for a net gain. In the right hands, Dream Wielder is INCREDIBLY powerful.

 

Dreamshield

• Dreamshield is pretty rubbish as a shield, but it makes a decent weapon. It’s a bit similar to Sharp Shadow, in that it damages nearby enemies as you dodge.

 

Grimmchild

• Grimmchild sucks. It deals decent damage when it hits, but it doesn’t start shooting at enemies until they’re right up close, and it has a tendency to miss.

 

Carefree Melody

• I hate Carefree Melody for one reason and one reason alone: it’s random. No other charm is random, and 90% of the time, I don’t want to rely on RNG. There is one situation where it shines, however, and that’s in Radiant fights. If you didn’t know, Carefree Melody can block hits from even Radiant bosses, effectively randomly giving you a second hit point.

 

Kingsoul

• Kingsoul is easily the best charm to use for the dreaded Flower Quest, as infinite Soul means infinite spells, and infinite spells means you can just blast everything from a distance with Shade Soul and never have to worry about getting hit by an enemy.

 

Void Heart

• I mean, it doesn’t really do anything, but it also doesn’t take up any notches. Actually, I guess it does one thing: lock you out of using Kingsoul for the Flower Quest.

Submitted February 28, 2019 at 03:31AM by DrPumpkinz https://ift.tt/2tFakmj