How to unlock Hollow Knight Silksong Act 3

How do you unlock Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong? With the grandiose final battle of Act 2,  it's easy to miss the existence of the game's true final act. And with a convoluted unlock requirement most players only discover by exhausting everything the game has to offer, we're here to run you through the quickest way to unlock Act 3 in Silksong. Bewear: there's a long, spoiler-filled road ahead.

Unlocking Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong means completing a bunch of tasks you might have seen as optional side quests. And while there are plenty you don't need to complete, like winning the Silksong dice game, it turns out there are lots of cryptic challenges and hidden boss battles gatekeeping you from the true final showdown in one of the best Metroidvania games in recent memory.

Unlike the transition from Act 1 to Act 2, reaching Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong isn't tied to beating just one Hollow Knight Silksong boss - though you will obviously need to beat the final boss of Act 2 first.

Once you have that victory under your belt, you need to clear a bunch of specific side quests scattered throughout Pharloom, which unlocks a final mission that serves as the entry point to Act 3.

To reach Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong, you need to do the following:

• Complete all wishes from the wishboards in Bone Bottom, Bellport, and Songclave.
• Build the Bellhart house.
• Rescue at least half of the fleas and send the caravan to the Pale Lake safe haven.
• Bring the Cogheart pieces to Sentinel in Cogwork Core and complete its quest.

After hitting all the Act 3 unlock requirements, you should be able to speak to the Caretaker close to the Act 2 final boss room. You'll see a new option that, when selected, leads into Act 3 and The Abyss. You can access this area by using the Clawline on the door mechanism in the eastern area of Deep Docks.

Here's a more detailed breakdown of the Silksong Act 3 unlock requirements:

Help the fleas

One requirement of unlocking Act 3 is completing the flea caravan quest. While you don't need to find every single flea, you do need to track down more than half of them. Use our Silksong map guide to find any you might have missed, or our rundown of the Silksong flea locations if you're just getting started.

Once you find enough of the fleas, you need to find them a safe space. This happens to be the spot at the very end of the Pale Lake area of Bilehaven. Get close enough and Hornet should remark that it's a suitable location. Head back to the caravan to send it on its way.

Complete the wishboards

Another Act 3 requirement is completing the wishboards in Bone Bottom, Bellport, and Songclave. It's unclear if you need to complete every single wish, but the safest bet is to wrap them all. Yes, even the meat one.

Build your home

After saving Bellhart and buying Shakra's maps to trigger and complete her quest, you should be able to speak to an NPC by the Bellhart bench to unlock your home.

Fix the Sentinel

To complete the Songclave wishboard, you first have to bring the three Coghearts to the deactivated automaton in the Cogwork Core, the same area where you can find a valuable Pale Oil item.

Once he's able to move, you need to track him down in both the Memorium and Citadel Spa areas before his quest is posted to the Songclave wishboard.

Before you hit Act 3, here are some handy guides to finding the Silksong Double Jump ability and all the Silksong Needle upgrades to boost your damage.