Silksong Grand Mother Silk: Location, Requirements, and Step-by-Step Guide to Defeat Her!

What to know

Who is Grand Mother Silk? The final boss of Act 2 in Hollow Knight: Silksong, located in The Cradle, and a pivotal figure in Pharloom’s story.
Location: Found at the top of The Cradle, accessible after defeating Lace in her second encounter.
Requirements: You’ll need key abilities like Silkspear, Silk Soar, and upgraded needle attacks, plus completion of specific quests to unlock her arena.
Challenge: Her complex attack patterns demand precise timing, mobility, and strategic tool use to defeat her and unlock multiple endings.

Grand Mother Silk is one of the more elusive NPCs in Hollow Knight: Silksong, blending environmental storytelling with direct progression cues. Finding her requires patience, precision, and the right upgrades. Here’s a complete walkthrough of her location, requirements, and what you gain by meeting her.

Location of Grand Mother Silk

You can encounter Grand Mother Silk in the Cradle region of Pharloom. Unlike Hollow Knight’s Weaver’s Den in Deepnest, this area is much larger and spans several vertical shafts. She sits within a cocoon chamber at the very top, protected by layers of silk barriers and enemy patrols.

The chamber is marked by:

Thick white webs obscuring the entryways.
Whispering silk threads that glow faintly when you approach.
A large cocoon throne at the center, where she resides.

Requirements before visiting her

Reaching Grand Mother Silk isn’t possible early in the game. You’ll need a combination of movement abilities and quest progress.

Key abilities

Silk Thread Climb (wall-thread latch) – to ascend tall shafts.
Needle Grapple – to pull across silk hooks in the chamber.
Cocoon Song – unlocked from a prior NPC encounter, needed to unseal her chamber.

Quest progress

Completion of Act I main storyline (Widow defeated).
Access to Upper Pharloom Map to track the Weavers’ tunnels.
Collection of at least 2 Materium Shards to strengthen your needle, since enemies in the Den are significantly tougher.

Step-by-step guide to reaching Grand Mother Silk

Start from the Nameless Town. Head east until you reach the Weaver’s Tunnels.
Descend into the tunnels. Defeat spider-like foes and cut through web barriers using the Needle Grapple.
Locate the silk elevator. This webbed lift requires you to latch onto both sides with the thread to activate.
Climb the vertical shafts. Use Silk Thread Climb to scale walls. Several enemies ambush you here.
Find the cocoon seals. Three locks surround her chamber. Use the Cocoon Song ability at each seal to break them.
Enter the chamber. Inside, Grand Mother Silk sits waiting, offering dialogue and rewards.

Step-by-step guide to defeating Grand Mother Silk

Grand Mother Silk’s battle is divided into two phases, each with unique attack patterns and environmental hazards. Here’s a detailed guide to tackle her:

Step 1: Prepare your loadout

Before entering the arena, equip tools that maximize damage and survivability:

White/Red Tools: Flintslate for consistent needle damage, Cogfly for passive damage during dodges.
Blue Tool: Injector Band for healing.
Yellow Tool: Magnetite Dice for damage negation.
Crest: Reaper Crest for pogo-jumping to hit her stomach, her primary weak point.

Ensure you have at least one full Silk Spool for healing and ability use. Rest at the nearest bench in The Cradle to save your progress.

Step 2: Understand her phase 1 attacks

Grand Mother Silk hovers with six floating blades and uses silk-based attacks. Here’s how to handle each:

Blade Strafe: Three blades line up on one side (left or right) and shoot across the arena, sometimes followed by all six. Dodge by jumping or dashing through the gaps between blades. After they pass, rush in to strike her stomach.
Vertical Blade Dive: Three or six blades drop from the ceiling. Watch for their positioning and slip through the gaps. Use this window to land hits on her stomach.
Claw Swipe: She swipes her claw in a wide arc, followed by all six blades plunging vertically. Stay near the arena’s edge or jump over the swipe, avoiding the falling blades.
Web Snare: Glowing silk webs spread across the arena, lighting up to deal three Masks of damage if you’re caught. Stay mobile, jumping or dashing to open spaces to avoid entrapment. If caught, a cutscene triggers where she slashes Hornet.
Silken Dash: A fast rush toward you. Watch for her wind-up animation and dodge with a well-timed jump or dash.
Aerial Slam: She leaps up and slams down, creating a shockwave. Diagonally jump away to avoid both the slam and ripple effect.

Focus on staying mobile and using pogo-jumps with the Reaper Crest to hit her stomach while dodging. Aim to stagger her by dealing consistent damage, creating openings to heal or use abilities.

Step 3: Navigate phase 2

After dealing enough damage, Grand Mother Silk disappears, marking the start of phase 2. Silk strands appear, indicating environmental hazards:

Rockfall: Four silk threads sprout, followed by rocks falling in marked areas. Move to the sides, then back to the middle to avoid two waves of rubble.
Risen Spear: Silk threads quiver from below, signaling spears rising from the ground. Jump to avoid them.
Enhanced Attacks: She now chains three needle attacks instead of two and uses two silk grabs in succession. Stay grounded unless jumping is necessary to avoid webs.

Continue pogo-jumping to hit her stomach, using Flintslate for maximum damage. Heal during stagger windows or after dodging rockfalls.

Step 4: Exploit recovery frames

Grand Mother Silk is vulnerable after missed dashes, aerial slams, or when summoning minions (small silk creatures). Quickly dispatch minions with needle attacks to keep the arena clear. Use these moments to land safe hits or heal with the Injector Band.

Step 5: Choose your ending

After defeating her, you face a critical choice:

Bind Grand Mother Silk: Use the Bind ability to trigger the Weaver Queen ending, where Hornet assimilates her power but transforms into a beast-like entity, cocooned in silk. An alternate version may show the binding failing, with Grand Mother Silk taking over Pharloom (exact trigger unclear).
Play the Needolin: If you’ve completed the Silk and Soul Wish, choose this to trigger the Snared Silk ending, unlocking Act 3 (Abyss). A void portal ensnares her, and Lace sacrifices herself to save Hornet, cracking The Cradle and revealing new content.
Cursed Fight: If Hornet is cursed (via Twisted Bud from Bilewater and Rite of Rebirth Wish), defeat her for the Twisted Child ending. Avoid the Infestation Operation Wish to maintain the curse.

Rewards and dialogue

When you meet Grand Mother Silk, you gain:

Weaver’s Crest Charm – boosts silk regeneration when stationary.
Lore dialogue – she reveals ties between the Weavers, Hornet’s lineage, and the silk binding Pharloom.
Quest unlock – she hints at a greater ritual in Act II, expanding the main storyline.

Why Grand Mother Silk matters for Silksong Lore

Beyond rewards, she represents one of the most lore-heavy NPCs in Silksong. She connects Hornet’s journey to the ancient weavers of Pharloom, grounding both her powers and the kingdom’s mysteries in shared history. Meeting her is more than a side quest—it’s a turning point in understanding the world’s silken threads.

Grand Mother Silk isn’t just another hidden NPC—she is a narrative anchor. Finding her deepens your understanding of Pharloom and strengthens Hornet’s path forward. If you’re chasing both story and progression, don’t miss her chamber.