Every Crest in Hollow Knight: Silksong Revealed — Find All 7 Locations and How They Change Hornet
Silksong gives you seven main crests that change how Hornet fights; each crest swaps your basic moves and tool slots, and most are found by clearing a named chapel or completing a quest. Below I list where to find every crest and what each one does, including starting slot makeup and how some crests expand when fully unlocked.
- Wanderer Crest
- Beast Crest
- Reaper Crest
- Architect Crest
- Witch Crest
- Shaman Crest
- Vesticrest (extra tool slots)
All crests in Hollow Knight: Silksong
There are seven named crests you can equip in Silksong: Hunter, Wanderer, Beast, Reaper, Architect, Witch, and Shaman. Each crest acts like a different weapon archetype and comes with its own set of colored tool slots (red, blue, yellow, white). Furthermore, most crests can gain extra slots after you find and unlock all crest expansions.
Hunter Crest
The Hunter Crest is your starting crest in Silksong and can be upgraded by speaking to Eva in Weavenest Alta after you unlock the Needolin. To reach Eva, go to the southeastern corner of Moss Grotto, play the Needolin at the weaver-face door, hit the three silk spools, then take the elevator down to find Eva on the right.
Effect: Attacks grant Focus; higher Focus increases damage but is lost when you take a hit. After you unlock all seven crests, Eva can upgrade the Hunter Crest again to increase your Focus bar size.
Starting slots: 1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 white. Full unlock adds: +1 red, +1 blue, +1 yellow.
Wanderer Crest
The Wanderer Crest is in the Chapel of the Wanderer inside Bonegrave, left of Moss Grotto. There are two main ways in: via Wormways with Swift Step and a simple key, or via Mosshome rooftops using Cling Grip and the Drifter’s Cloak.
Effect: Copies the Knight’s attack patterns; binds gain a small chance to land critical hits when you have enough silk to bind.
Starting slots: 1 red, 0 blue, 2 yellow, 1 white. Full unlock adds: +2 blue, +1 yellow.
Beast Crest
The Beast Crest is earned by clearing the Chapel of the Beast in the southeast of Hunter’s March. You need the Drifter’s Cloak (bought from the Seamstress in Farfields) to ride the air current up to the chapel, then defeat the Savage Beastfly to claim the crest.
Effect: Replaces bind with lifesteal and a fury state: after binding, attacks heal masks (one mask per hit, up to three per bind) and grant increased range, speed, and damage while the fury lasts.
Starting slots: 2 red, 0 blue, 0 yellow, 1 white. Full unlock adds: +2 yellow.
Reaper Crest
The Reaper Crest is in the Chapel of the Reaper, located left of Greymoor’s western tower. From the top of the left tower, proceed left, drop to the platform below the Dreg Catcher and exit left to find the chapel. Inside you clear a short enemy gauntlet to earn the crest.
Effect: Slower, arcing attacks plus a bind that heals and spawns silk balls when you hit enemies; silk balls last about 10 seconds and refill your spool when collected.
Starting slots: 1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 white. Full unlock adds: +1 red, +1 blue, +1 yellow.
Architect Crest
To get the Architect Crest, buy the Architect’s Key from the Twelfth Architect (110 rosaries) after you have the Clawline harpoon from The Cauldron. Use the key to enter the Underworks chapel above the Twelfth Architect and claim the crest inside.
Effect: Turns attacks into drill strikes that can be charged for extra range and damage. Also adds the ability to craft new tools by holding Up plus the bind key while spending silk.
Starting slots: 3 red, 0 blue, 0 yellow, 0 white. Full unlock adds: +2 blue, +2 yellow.
Witch Crest
The Witch Crest is tied to a long quest chain involving the Twisted Bud. First, obtain the Twisted Bud in Bilewater after finishing the “Rite of the Pollip” in Shellwood. Giving the bud to Greyroot starts a curse quest line. Afterward, talk to Yarnaby (a surgeon in the top-left of Greymoor), complete the “Infestation Operation” quest by buying Steel Spines from Crull and Benjin (top right of the hanging cages in Sinner’s Road), then return to Yarnaby to claim the crest.
Effect: Downward and dash attacks hit twice and let you weave around enemies. Bind becomes an area-damage effect that only heals you if it damages an enemy; each damage dealt heals one mask.
Starting slots: 1 red, 1 blue, 0 yellow, 1 white. Full unlock adds: +2 blue, +1 red.
Shaman Crest
The Shaman Crest is in the Ruined Chapel in Act 3. You must unlock Silk Soar as you progress through Act 3. Return to the Ruined Chapel, find the small hole in the ceiling to the right of the bench, super-jump through it, and follow the passage to the crest.
Effect: Swings send out wave projectiles, increasing attack range. Silk Skills are strengthened. The bind only heals when Hornet is touching the ground; if used mid-air it propels you downward until you land.
Starting slots: 0 red, 0 blue, 0 yellow, 3 white. Full unlock adds: +2 blue.
Vesticrest (extra tool slots)
The Vesticrest provides additional tool slots independent of your equipped crest. You unlock Vesticrest slots by talking to Eva in Weavenest Alta—this is the same NPC that can upgrade the Hunter Crest.
Known unlock conditions (reported):
- Yellow Vesticrest slot: Four crests unlocked with at least 12 total slots open.
- Blue Vesticrest slot: Five crests unlocked with at least 20 total slots open.
These conditions were the working requirements in testing, but note that the Vesticrest requires meeting both crest-count and slot-count thresholds.
If you want to plan routes, remember that some crests require key movement abilities (for example, Cling Grip, Drifter’s Cloak, Clawline, or Silk Soar) or quest progression. For quick reference, crests are usually found in named chapels or as rewards for specific quest chains, and most crests list their starting colored slots and the extra slots they gain when fully unlocked.
