Are Hollow Knight's Worst Charms Really That Bad?

Hollow Knight's got a lot of really good charms.... and some really really useless, and in some cases, actively detrimental charms. What are they, and do they potentially have any niche use cases that redeem them? (no)
Also, what's the worst possible charm build you could possibly equip??

Also, thank you so, so so much for 100k subs! really appreciate it. I'll hopefully continue to make silly things you all enjoy :D sorry for the lack of uploads recently btw, i've been lazy lmao

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:33 - Bad, but redeemable charms
03:34 - Glowing Womb
07:45 - Heavy Blow
12:22 - What's the worst possible charm build???

Music used:
Hollow Knight OST by Christopher Larkin

[BlueSR]

Thank you all so, so much for 100 000 subs! i really appreciate it, and while it may be an arbitrary number barrier, it blows my mind that so many people enjoy these silly things that i've made.
What's next for me? Well, i'm going to continue doing these things, and try to put more effort in, be a bit more ambitious, and also try to make and talk about things that matter in the grander scheme of things too, as i really want to create something meaningful that carries significance. :D
yippee!

[firebrn]

thanks for the charm build blue i will use this to finally defeat gruz mother

[ATinCanOnYT]

A worse build:
Jonis blessing, deep focus, glowing womb, quick focus
You get overcharm with no healing, so both focus charms are useless

[BaldDougClips]

Beginners tip:
Dream shield is very good and you should equip it whenever entering fog canyon 😊

[stephenrhoades]

I think having charms that actively hurt you but cost negative charm slots would be a good way to increase options with charms, especially since it could heavily increase potential for charm synergies. It would also be funny to watch people go for min charm slot usage runs

[hugoheintz]

having over 3000 hours on HK without having unlocked all the achievements is criminal

[kcStranger]

I actually used Glowing Womb on my first clear of the Radiance. At the time, I was still really uncomfortable using spells. So I ran it with a nail build, mostly focused on dodging, and just got some free "passive" damage. Radiance not staggering also eliminated one of the normal downsides.

I have since learned to play the game properly and would never run it nowadays, but at the time it unironically felt pretty useful.

[Silksong_when...]

The hand reveal might be the most hopeful thing since the leth interveiw

[Wallace_Horsey]

as an avid supporter of glowing womb, I'm hear to say that it's really an awful charm but who cares because cute little bug friends :3 (I also used it to beat radiance for the first time so I may be a bit biased)

[LittleGhostxd]

All charms can be used strategically in their own way

PLUS HAND REVEAL!!

[YoshiFawful]

In the defence of Heavy Blow, I feel like looking at it from a speedrun/optimization angle is really bad for it. I think it's mostly intended as a _defensive_ charm for new players who want to get a little more breathing room from more aggressive, in-your-face enemies.

[vampireknight]

0:56 is a speedrunner with over 3k hours but still doesnt have all achievements 💀

[kubad]

YO BLUE!! Nice to see you again!
Challenge: Do a speedrun using this build

[leinad]

One thing that glowing womb has going for it is that each hatchling causes one staggerhit

[liampouncy]

It's probably been said a bunch online in different places but it's just struck me what I feel makes so many charms 'bad' in Hollow Knight: the pacing. During my first playthrough I didn't use Shaman Stone or Spell Twister at all, but that was fine. Instead I just loaded up on Longnail/ Mark of Pride/ Fragile Strength, which you can get very early on. There was never a point where these were the 'best' charms I had access to. It's either you're playing through the game and use *some* of the best charms, or you're doing godhome and use the best charm builds. For me it sort of ruined what should have been the wonder of finding a cool, new charm.

I hope that Silksong doesn't give access to the best stuff so early on.

[theok]

7:44 _most importantly_, it lets you get 101 egg

[kevinfetters]

Joni's Blessing massive mask spam was what I used to beat the end of Pantheon 5 for the first time so it'll always have a soft spot for me, didn't have to feel like I'd focus on anything other than dodging and hitting when I could which helped a lot vs Absolute Radiance as I could fairly consistently beat first phase without getting hit and only really struggled on second phase snowballing too hard so all that extra health was actually really nice, and funny enough glowing womb was the final charm slot, no need to heal and free chip damage just felt satisfying haha.

[TheGallicWitch]

I'm sorry but I'll defend Weaversong to my dying day. It always has a place in my build. I don't use nail arts so it takes the place that Sly's charm would (sorry can't remember the name off the top of my head) and I always pair it with Grubsong. I'm a disabled player with pretty poor hand response so I'm not the best at moving quickly and punishing bosses. So the way I play HK is to be a pretty good tank with an abundance of soul so I can use and abuse charms instead of hitting things repeatedly on the head like most top players recommend/do. Btw this is advice for disabled players who struggle with the game, I guess. I was a very bad player who struggled a lot for a long time.

But tbh Weaver+Grub saved me. Now I get the soul that I would normally get if I was able to hit bosses as fast as others are, so I can cast spells and heal pretty reliably, meaning I can get through bosses semi-easily, it just takes me longer. It made me a bit better at dodging (not that much, re: poor hand response) but barely juuust good enough that paired with these two charms and essentials like Shaman and Strength I can now beat the game without wanting to tear my hair out in frustration. So all hail Weaversong, I won't stand for this slander anymore

[calvinhong]

woah when i was a beginner player i loved the minion charms, not having to attack and focusing only on dodging was super relieving especially for the stressful pantheons at first.

[EaterOfGeese]

Fun fact: you can stagger a boss 137 times. No tricks, just go fight it and stagger it 137 times.


Going to godhome and fighting lost kin on ascended with grubberfly's elegy, heavy blow, and old nail, and making sure to only use the grub nail hits and combo lost kin to stagger it more (search stagger combo on wiki) will let you stagger it 137 times before it dies. Poor thing.