Hollow Knight Full Walkthrough - Fungal Wastes (2024)

If you’ve been following our walkthrough guides so far, you’ll have just taken out Hornet, the first real boss of Hollow Knight.

For beating them in battle, you’ll have received the Mothwing Cloak, which will allow you to explore further into Hallowsnest, and your next port of call is the Fungal Wastes, a place with plenty of mushrooms and plenty of dangerous stuff.

It can be a tough place to make sense of, but with this guide, you should be able to navigate it pretty well, so without further delay, here is IGC’s Hollow Knight Full Walkthrough – Fungal Wastes.

Hollow Knight Full Walkthrough – Fungal Wastes

Before You Head to The Fungal Wastes

Before you make your way along the main quest path, there are a few things that you’ll want to do in order to make this next portion of the game a little easier.

Beginning from the Stag Station in Greenpath, you’ll want to make your way back to the Forgotten Crossroads and then make your way to the area where you rescued Sly. Then, use your Dash ability to get to the building on the right.

Here, you will find Salubra, who will be able to sell you Charms and Charm Notches depending on how extensive your collection is already. We would suggest getting Longtail and a Charm Notch, at the very least.

After this, head back to Greenpath, and head back along the top path where you rescued Zote. You’ll come to an area where you can dash across, and then you’ll find a Chest that contains one Geo.

Don’t be fooled, though; you can actually jump into the chest, and you’ll fall into an area with two Elder Baldurs. Try to focus on the right one, as killing it will open up an area to compose yourself and go again, and in this area, you will also find a new charm, ‘Baldur Shell.’

Then, lastly, before you head to Fog Canyon, just before you head down there, you’ll see an area where you can dash across just off the Pilgrim’s Path. This will lead you to the Massive Moss Charger Mini-Boss.

The key to this fight is using Vengeful Spirit and Pogo attacks when the Charger uses a low charge, and running beneath the Charger to evade when it uses a Belly Flop. Beating this boss will earn you 300 Geo in total for your efforts.

Getting To The Fungal Wastes

Before you head to the Fungal Wastes, you’ll need to go through a portion of Fog Canyon, and also pass through Queen’s Station.

The opening portion through Fog Canyon is pretty straightforward, as all you have to do is avoid the Jellyfish enemies, taking extra care with the larger variants as these fire back an explosive at you when killed.

At the bottom of this area on the right, you’ll find Mirabelle the Banker. An NPC that will keep up to 4,500 Geo at any one time, meaning you don’t need to worry about losing it. It will cost you 100 Geo to open the account, but it’s worth doing.

After this, head right, and you’ll find yourself in Queen’s Station, a huge Stag Station with a few NPCs hanging around. You’ll find Quirrel, you’ll find Willoh, and you’ll be able to unlock a new Stag Station point for 120 Geo.

Continue onward by heading out the top right of Queen’s Station and you’ll be in The Fungal Wastes.

Exploring The Fungal Wastes

Upon entering the Fungal Wastes, you’ll find Funglings and Fungoons. The Funglings are no real issues at all, but the Fungoon has a Spore Breath attack that can be tough to deal with so be on guard.

Head right and follow the trail of paper sheets down until you find Cornifer, who will sell you a map of the area for 75 Geo. Aside from some Purple Mushrooms to practice Nail Jumping on, there’s not much else below him, so head back up.

Just after the Funglings, you’ll have an opportunity to climb directly up past a Fungloon, and you’ll need to dodge a number of homing Spore projectiles. But if you clamber up this area, you’ll find a Hallowsnest Seal, which can be sold in the City of Tears.

After you grab it, drop back down and keep working to the right. You’ll need to dodge more Homing Spore projectiles in the next room, but just keep hopping and exit to the right.

This will lead you to an area where you will need to fight several Shrumal Warriors, which behave sort of like Baldurs as they can roll and pursue you. Best way to deal with them is hit and retreat, or use Vengeful Spirit.

You should defeat all four of these in the area and then exit on the top left to open a shortcut. Then, jump up the opening on the same screen. This will take you into a room where you will need to fight Two Shurmal Ogres.

These are much slower enemies by comparison but can fire projectiles that act as a temporary environmental hazard. Focus on one to get it out of the way and make this fight more manageable. If you come out on top here, you’ll be able to collect another Charm Notch.

You can head right and then up until you see an acid pool with an opening to the right. This is where Leg Eater lives, and for 86 Geo, he will agree to show you their shop, which has a selection of Fragile Charms for sale.

Don’t head any further up this way, though. Come back down and keep heading right. You can fight the Shrumal Warriors up top or stay low to avoid the fight.

Work your way down the area with more Homing Spores and head out to the left. You’ll enter a clearing and feel a humbling below you. But don’t worry, a friendly NPC called Cloth appears who you can talk with before continuing.

After this, you’ll need to go through a few sections where the game tries to urge the player to nail jump on Mushrooms. This leads to an open area with Mushrooms, and on the bottom right, you’ll see Hornet again, who will walk through to the right.

Before following them, head down the path on the left, dodging Spore Projectiles as you go. At the end of this optional path, you’ll be able to open up a shortcut near where you found Cornifer, and you’ll also find a skill-based area where you’ll need to use your Nail Jumping skills to get to the top of a platforming section while killing Funglings as you go. You’ll find a few Geo Caches and a Grub if you succeed.

Entering Mantis Village

Head through the doorway you seen Hornet pass through, and this will lead you to a new area where you will encounter Mantis Youths and Warriors. The Mantis Youths are just tough Squits, so don’t sweat them. As for the Warriors, it’s best to jump and Pogo attack them for best results.

Enter the next area and work all the way down, carefully dispatching or avoiding Mantis Warriors as you go, and at the bottom of this area, you’ll find a Bench where you can rest.

You can attempt to backtrack, but you’ll soon realize you are trapped. This is by design, and you’ll need to head through the big doorway that leads to Mantis Village. This area is full of more Mantis Youths and Warriors, but you should be well-versed by now.

Take the low road initially to flick the switch, then take the top platforms across. Then platform to the top, where you will find the Mantis Claw, an item that allows you to jump off walls, making a tonne of new areas accessible.

It’s at this point that you have a decision to make. Do you explore the Mantis Village further, or use your new powers to return above and push on to the City of Tears. Both are viable options, but for the sake of being thorough, we will resume in our next guide by taking on the Mantis Lords.

Fun In The Fungal Wastes

So there you have it, folks: another portion of Hollow Knight is conquered, and a new boss awaits. I hope that this got you through the Fungal Wastes in one piece, and as always, thanks for reading Indie Game Culture.