Hollow Knight Silksong The Slab location and how to escape

How do you get to The Slab in Hollow Knight Silksong? Pharloom is a sprawling maze oozing delight and horror in equal measure. While, typically, you'd need to utilize a specific skill to access a new area in classic Metroidvania fashion, getting to The Slab lightly subverts your expectations. It also features one of the coolest sequences in the game.

The Slab is the Hollow Knight Silksong equivalent of the slammer, throwing Hornet into a derelict prison after she gets arrested for being too fabulous - and killing all those bugs, we suppose. You may have already peeped The Slab is quite a ways into the game if you're regularly consulting our Hollow Knight Silksong map, but as we alluded to, you can get there relatively early on if you know where to look. Below, we detail how to get to The Slab in one of the best Metroidvania games, as well as how to make your dramatic jailbreak.

To get to The Slab in Hollow Knight Silksong, take the top-right-most path in Deep Docks, heading east towards Far Fields. To get to it, you'll need to have the Cling Grip skill unlocked. After heading into the new section, you'll encounter a new enemy: a huge fly with a cage on its back. Let it capture you in its cage, and it'll transport you to The Slab. Congrats, you're in prison now.

How to escape The Slab in Hollow Knight Silksong

After awaking in The Slab and breaking out of the cage, a cloak and needle-less Hornet will have to navigate the prison in search of her confiscated belongings. There are three kinds of locked door in The Slab, each requiring one of the Indolent, Heretic, or Apostate keys. The first two are found on your first visit, while you'll have to later progress into Bilewater to find the Hollow Knight Silksong Apostate Key. Don't bother looking for The Slab map location, either; you can't access it just yet.

For now, head to the bottom of your current area and take the door to the left. You'll immediately find yourself locked out by an Indolent door. Don't worry, simply clamber up the left wall and kick out the ceiling to reveal the path forward. As you move, keep an eye out for floor traps, the first of which is telegraphed almost immediately by a dead bug. Don't get cocky, though, as a second trap lies a few steps beyond.

Now head up into the next section. Don't bother exploring the right hand side of the t-section once you get to the top, as there's only a mob spawn and a trap to be found there. Instead, head left underneath the congregation of guards who can be seen admiring your gear. Take the door to the left, and you'll find yourself outside. It's quite chilly here, so don't linger for too long, else you'll begin losing masks to frostbite.

Slide down The Slab's outer wall until you reach a doorway you can access on the right. You'll immediately encounter some less-than-friendly denizens of the prison, though you should focus on simply dodging past them for now. No needle, no damage. Shift your cloak-less carcass to the right of the room, before dropping down.

At the bottom of this next section, you'll run into a less-than-helpful Grindle, who has absolutely no intention of helping you escape. Once the sly fox has gloated enough, he'll scuttle off, leaving you no choice but to head left. Be careful, there are two floor traps in this first passageway, so sprint through to avoid getting hit. At the end of the passage, you'll see a glowing light attached to a chain, hit it and pick up the Key of Indolent. This will spawn two enemies that, you guessed it, you should flee from. Head back to where you spoke to Grindle and use the key on the door, unlocking the path forward.

This is where things start to open up a little. In the next section, scale the left wall and head up to the top of the area, kicking out the supports to open up a way upwards, completing a room loop. Instead of ascending, drop down to the right and you'll see a bench signpost. Zoom into this room where you'll find both Grindle and a place to rest your aching bones. Now, drop to the bottom of the area and head into the room on the right.

Now it's time to get creative with your bug slaying. Run up to the Indolent door and unlock it. As you sprint across the room, you'll trigger three traps that spawn large, rotating shuriken that move along a U-shaped track. Upon reaching the door to the right, the area will lock itself off, beginning an encounter. Bait the bugs that spawn into the path of these traps, trigger them, and they'll take care of the threats.

The door to the right will now unlock. We hope you've warmed up your parkour skills, because you're going to need it for the next part of Hornet's escape.

Now that you're back outside, you're going to need to get really proficient with the Cling Grip. This section requires you to scale the side of The Slab, taking care not to bump into any spiky objects you may encounter en route.

The trickiest part of this climb has you navigate past three pressure pads that spawn a vertically-roving shuriken trap when pressed. The first two pads can be passed without too much fanfare, but you'll inevitably trigger the third. Once you do, quickly bounce off it and dash to the outer wall, letting you continue your ascent unperturbed. Once you've reached the top of the area, jump up and out into the frozen tundra.

For this next section, you're on the frost-bitten clock. The good news is that there are warming beacons stationed throughout to give you a momentary reprieve from the cold. For now, stick to the lowest level you can. Continue leftwards, sprinting past the floor trap triggers that sit between the first and second fires - there's one on the middle level, as well as one directly below it, so you'll have to zip past one whichever way you proceed.

Continue to the left, hopping across a couple of platforms before reaching the third fire. Here, you'll have to double-back on yourself ever so slightly, as the path to the left is blocked off by a door. Clamber up the opening to the right of the fire. Now there are two routes you can take: the middle layer or the top layer.

Taking the middle layer will require you to sprint past two traps, so be aware of those. The top layer, meanwhile, will have you hop over a prison guard. Either way, you're heading left again, making your way to the end, where you'll be able to drop down to the fourth and final fire, which sits above a section opening.

Before heading down, move to the right of the opening and kick the lever, opening the door that was previously blocking your path.

Heading down the opening, you'll almost immediately spot salvation; another bench sign. Drop, then head left where you'll find the rest area. Now, run all the way to the right, sliding down the tunnel shaft and following the passage all the way along until you appear directly above the bug congregation. When prompted, 'Attack.' Enjoy the sequence that ensues, and Hornet will have her gear back.

Of course, the guards won't let you out so easily, so prepare to fight. This encounter features skinny flies with hooked needles (Guardfly), fat, armored flies (Wardenfly), and tiny flies that drone around (Scabfly). The order in which you face them is as follows:

• 1x Guardfly
• 1x Wardenfly
• 1x Guardfly and 2x Scabfly
• 4x Scabfly
• 1x Guardfly and 1x Wardenfly

Upon clearing the encounter, the final enemy will drop the Key of Heretic. Grab it, and leave the section via the door on the right. Rest at the bench before proceeding through the Heretic door.

Now that you're back up towards where you were first imprisoned, you'll need to head all the way down, through the hole you made after kicking out the supports earlier. You should end up at the Heretic lock next to the closed shaft doors. Bust out the key, crack it open, and drop. Hit the lever to open another double doorway and proceed to the left. You'll eventually happen upon a Bellway sign, indicating that you're nearly free.

Follow the path down and to the left, then head right. Kill the Scabfly, then break the door. Rinse and repeat with the final two enemies. Ignore the Apostate door and continue your descent. Instead of immediately dropping down towards your beloved Bell Beast, take a right at the sign and secure the bench.

Now, make your way out of The Slab by coughing up 50 Rosaries for the Beetleway, hopping on the Bell Beast, and getting out of Dodge.

And that's how to get in and out of The Slab in Hollow Knight Silksong. Though thankfully, you didn't have to deal with any of the Hollow Knight Silksong bosses in this part of the game, you'll want to load up on Hollow Knight Silksong mask shards and unlock some more of the Hollow Knight Silksong crests before taking on the even greater challenges that lie ahead.