Hollow Knight Silksong: Last Judge Boss Guide

After you’ve gotten all five citadel bells in Hollow Knight: Silksong, you may think your pilgramage is near over, but it’s far from done. Once you reach the top of Shellwood to even start making your way, you have the entirety of the Blasted Steps to contend with.

These steps set the tone for the upcoming fight. If you can’t reasonably handle the enemies here, then you may want to start backtracking. At this point in the game, there are tons of things you can do to prep, so you may as well go back.

Before attempting this, I’d recommend grabbing the upgraded weapons from the forge, an extra mask, a silk spool upgrade, your pin sharpened, and anything you can get your hands on. You can go in without this, but prepare to be shredded into pieces.

Once you’re at the top right of the Blasted Steps, ready to play the song and enter the citadel, the Last Judge will appear. I’ll be showing you how to fight this thing off, through all its tricky phases.

Gear Loadout

For this fight, I ran with a loadout that let me play very patiently, and helped get me far into phase two on every attempt I made, eventually securing me the W. First and foremost, Sting Shards, they are your friend.

I ran with the default Hunter crest, primarily because the range and speed it provides are incredibly helpful. This boss bears a resemblance to a Godmaster, so I’m treating this like I’m trying to win against Ascended Markoth.

The Warding Bell is very nice, as it can block a hit even after you’ve fully healed. The Druid’s Eye isn’t super necessary, but it does occasionally help get in another heal or two throughout the fight.

The knives are optional and can be substituted for Flea Brew. I prefer playing at range when possible, so I went with Knives, but if you’d rather go for all damage all the time, pop a Flea Brew. This setup is pretty trap-heavy, so I’d recommend two toolkits if you can manage.

The Climb

Every time you take an attempt at the Last Judge, you need to climb up a large part of the Blasted Steps first. Buy and rest at the bench near the Bell Beast, as it’s unfortunately the closest option.

To get up there quickly, start by running right, jumping past all the obstacles, then jumping to the platform on the left. Ignore the enemies, and dash jump over to the right, across some bells, and up over another enemy to a little cove on the left.

Wait for the flying enemy to stop pestering you, then dive attack the bells to get higher up. You should be able to glide freely forward until you hit a red spot, where you need to quickly drop down, hit more bells, and wall jump up.

It’s a pretty simple shot from here. Jump across another bell, wall jump up, and jump off, and all the way across, landing you on the platform that leads into the citadel, and into the boss.

How To Beat Last Judge

The Beginning

Right from the moment you get jumped by the Last Judge, it will immediately start targeting you, trying to land on top of you. Make liberal usage of your dash here, and try to dash in the direction it’s coming from if it’s close, and dash away if it’s far.

Whenever it starts circling the whip around, dash backwards. Being inside this whip circle can shred your health bar to nothing in seconds, so watch out for that whip at all costs, and play very patiently.

It will occasionally jump into the air, attempting to slam down with its whip. This attack is slow and covers very little horizontal ground, making it the perfect time to throw out your ranged weapons or get in a heal.

Do not let it corner you. If you must tank a hit to get out of the corner, then make sure you do so while you’re dashing out of there. Dash attacks in general are your most effective melee option, letting you quickly get in two hits and get out.

The throw attack isn’t a problem on its own, but it can be really tricky to dodge. Whenever you see it winding up on the ground, assume it’s going to be either the circle attack or throw attack, and keep your distance.

Fire Phase

After you get enough hits in, the Last Judge’s bell whip will burst into a blaze of flame, and will now explode with every attack. Be incredibly mindful of where the end of the whip is at all times, as being anywhere near it will lead to you taking massive damage.

The normal whip attack is mostly the same, just with an AoE explosion tacked on at the end, but all the other attacks are significantly different. When it spins its whip, watch out for fire particles, as you need to slip between the middle of the fiery lines.

The ground slam now has a shockwave that you would have expected it to have in the first phase, so just jump over that. The last attack to watch out for is the fire pillars, which make you jump over them as it charges at you, then quickly realign yourself between the pillars.

Don’t be afraid to use your Sting Shards liberally if you can afford it, as they can deal a massive amount of damage if well-placed during a moment when it isn’t moving. With enough patience and good dodging, you should be able to pass this phase.

Fire Phase Finale

After several staggers, it will start rapidly spinning the whip, massive waves of fire emanating from it that you must weave between. This is an extended version of the fire circles from before, and the strategy is the same. Just make sure to get damage in quickly after it’s done.

Once that attack is over, the attack patterns return to the usual. Keep weaving in and out, playing at range, and using your dive kick to ensure you stay at a healthy distance. Once it starts screaming out, back away fast, as things will get rather explosive in a few seconds.