Hollow Knight Silksong Hokers - Flexible Spines quest guide

What are Hokers in Hollow Knight Silksong? So you've happened upon the Seamstress down in Far Fields, and she has a wish for you to fulfill. Bring her 25 Spine Cores for the Flexible Spines quest, and she'll give you a Hornet upgrade that's well worth your endeavor. But there's just one question: what in Pharloom are Hokers?

Hollow Knight Silksong has switched up its approach to side questing from its predecessor. Now, in one of the best indie games out there, you can grab bounty-style wish quests from the board in Bone Bottom, sending you out into the vast Hollow Knight Silksong map in search of riches. Flexible Spines, however, operates differently in that you have to speak to the Seamstress directly in order to take on her quest. Once you've found her home in the large section of the lower Far Fields, it's time to track down those Spine Cores. Here's what you need to know.

Hokers are the floating, bushy, bowling-ball-looking enemies that can be found in the section directly to the right of where you meet the Seamstress in Far Fields. However, killing them won't yield Spine Cores. Instead, you'll need to whack the spines they fire off into the terrain, which have a chance of yielding their cores.

While it's tempting to just hit the Hokers, have them fire, then quickly finish them off before they can reload, it's far more efficient to take this step slowly. Hit them once, run around collecting the accessible Spine Cores, then come back and hit them again so they'll fire off another salvo. Do this once more, and you'll have had three bites of the Spine Core apple before the Hoker perishes. Simply rinse and repeat the step, saving and quitting back out to the rest spot in the Seamstress' home to reset the mobs, until you have all 25 Spine Cores to turn in.

Hollow Knight Silksong Flexible Spines reward

For completing Flexible Spines in Hollow Knight Silksong, the Seamstress will grant you the Drifter's Cloak. This is a core upgrade for Hornet that's required to progress in the game. By holding down the jump button mid-air, Hornet will flare out her cloak, allowing her to glide, as well as ride wind currents.

You can make good use of this ability straight away, using the currents above the Seamstress' house to access a previously-unreachable area where you can find one of the Hollow Knight Silksong mask fragments.

It'll also come in handy when you're taking on the Fourth Chorus, one of the Hollow Knight Silksong bosses, which crops up shortly after you receive it.

And that's all you need to know about Hollow Knight Silksong Hokers, and with it, how to complete the Flexible Spines quest. If you're curious as to how long Hornet's big Pharloom adventure is going to take to beat, check out our Hollow Knight Silksong length guide. Or, if you need to take a breather, peep more of the best Metroidvania games you can play right now.