How to Beat Lost Lace, Hollow Knight: Silksong's Secret Final Boss
Lost Lace is Silksong's true final boss, guarding the game's secret ending in the Abyss. Here's how to unlock the fight and survive her four phases.
Late-game boss encounters in Silksong scale up fast as Hornet closes in on Pharloom's deepest secrets. Image: Team Cherry.
Lost Lace is the boss most players never see. She only appears if you finish a specific late-game questline, and she guards Silksong's true ending rather than a mandatory story beat. That makes her the fight the community argues about most: the Void-possessed form of Lace, built from the same moveset as her earlier duel but faster, meaner, and four phases deep. As of late September 2026 she's still widely rated the hardest fight in the game, and most deaths happen because players walk in without knowing the phase breakpoints or how to reach the arena at all.
How to unlock the Lost Lace fight
Lost Lace isn't accessible from the start of Act 3. You need to have finished the Return to Pharloom and Spell Seeker quests, which opens up Old Hearts. Start that quest at the Ruined Chapel in Bone Bottom by talking to the Snail Shamans, then clear the three "Claim" objectives scattered around the map; each one ends in its own boss fight, so budget time for those before you even get near Lost Lace. Finishing the set sends you into a memory sequence with the Snail Shamans that ends with the White Lady handing Hornet the Everbloom.
The Everbloom is the actual key. With it in your inventory, head into the Abyss beneath the sea of Void, grab the Arcane Egg in the western section, and make your way back to the deepest point of the zone. One more condition matters here: Hornet cannot be under the Cursed Crest status when she enters, so swap crests before you go in if you've been running Cursed for the extra damage.
The four phases
Lost Lace has 1,800 HP, and the fight is built around hard breakpoints that add new attacks on top of everything you've already been dodging. Treat each threshold as a new fight layered onto the last one:
- Phase 1 (1,800-1,350 HP): Dive, Leap, Parry & Riposte, Aerial Lunge, Void Tendrils, Balestra, Triple Cut and Lashing Lunge. This is the base kit you'll see for the entire fight.
- Phase 2 (1,349-900 HP): Adds Void Columns, Lashing Dive, Void Projectiles and Void Blobs, and the phase 1 attacks start coming faster.
- Phase 3 (899-540 HP): Introduces Void Waves — the arena shakes, then a full wave of Void Blades sweeps through it.
- Phase 4 (539-0 HP): Adds Lost Moulinet, where Lace stands still for a beat and drops 2-4 white circular telegraphs before detonating them.
Contact damage is 2 masks, pin attacks are 3, Void attacks and Void Tendrils/Waves are 3-4, and Lost Moulinet hits for 4. None of it one-shots you at full health, but the attacks stack fast once two or three phases' worth of moves are live at once.
Strategy that actually works
Lace parries constantly, so greedy strings get punished hard. Land one hit, then reposition instead of chaining a full combo. When she does parry you, jump forward over her head rather than backing off — you'll clear her follow-up attack entirely and land behind her during the recovery window for a free heavy hit.
- Stay in the air more than you think you should. Cogflys and pogo attacks are safer than standing and trading, since most of her dive and lunge attacks are built to punish ground positioning.
- Drop Tacks on the ground and lure her into them for chip damage between engagements.
- Move in short dashes instead of holding a sprint — a long sprint runs you straight into her charge attacks.
- Save your heaviest tool or spell for phase 4, once Lost Moulinet's telegraphs are the only new thing you have to track.
What you get for winning
Beating Lost Lace loosens the Void's grip on her and triggers the "Sister of the Void" ending — the game's true ending, distinct from the ones you get by skipping the Old Hearts questline entirely. Hornet carries Lace out of the Abyss with help from Grand Mother Silk and, eventually, the Knight and their siblings, closing out Hornet's arc in Pharloom. It's worth clearing even if you've already seen one of the other endings on a prior save; this is the one the postgame content and most of the fandom treat as canon.
If you're not ready for Lost Lace yet, spend more time in the Abyss and the surrounding late-game areas first — our Bell Beast walkthrough covers another late-game fight that uses a similar dodge-and-punish rhythm and is a reasonable warm-up. Full patch notes, the official trailer archive and the base game's store page are on Team Cherry's official Silksong site and the Steam store page. For the full attack list and hitbox notes referenced above, see the Lost Lace wiki entry and the Abyss area page; background on the game's development and release is on Wikipedia.
Quick checklist before you go in
- Finished Return to Pharloom, Spell Seeker and all three Old Hearts "Claim" objectives
- Picked up the Everbloom from the White Lady's memory sequence
- Grabbed the Arcane Egg in the western Abyss
- Not currently wearing the Cursed Crest
- A healing or shielding tool bound somewhere you can hit blind