After you defeat the Bell Beast you’ll be able to proceed to the end of The Marrow, where you’ll have the opportunity to exit into two new areas - the Hunter’s March and the Deep Docks. This freedom comes with a cost, however, as the Hunter’s March features quite a bit of tricky platforming that may give some players fits - it’s almost certainly going to prove the more difficult of the two options! This page will provide a walkthrough for the Hunter’s March area in Hollow Knight: Silksong, perhaps most importantly including information on when you should even bother with this area at all!
How to Find the Hunter’s March¶
Make your way to the eastern edge of The Marrow and you’ll find two exits. Stick to the southeast and you’ll find a lift that’ll carry you across a river of magma, ultimately depositing you just outside of the Deep Docks. North of this you’ll find a passage guarded by a Skarrgard, which, if you were sane, would be enough to ward you away from this area… but gamers are rarely sane - who can resist dueling a nasty foe until emerging victorious? Defeat the Skarrgard and you can exit past it to the right to enter the Hunter’s March region.
When Should You Explore Hunter’s March¶
Just because you can enter Hunter’s March after defeating the Bell Beast doesn’t mean you should, however. Everybody’s preferences when it comes to platforming varies, of course, but getting through the area will be much, much easier after you obtain the Drifter’s Cloak upgrade. Not only does this allow you to float up air streams, but you can just glide at any time by holding down X or A when you’re in the air, meaning you don’t need to bounce off every red shell in a platforming segment - if you get enough height, you can just glide past some areas. It also won’t hurt if you grab the Swift Step ability - the more mobility options you have, the easier things will be.
(1 of 3) Failing that, you’ll need to strike red shells to bounce around, often over spikes.
Hunter’s March Bench Locations¶
There’s only one bench in this entire area, and if you’re entering from The Marrow, it’s going to be a long, painful trek to your destination - less so if you have Swift Step and the Drifter’s Cloak. After dispatching the Skarrgard, exit to the right and you’ll find a pit of red spikes with a red shell over it. If you do a jump+down+attack on the red shell you’ll rebound off it, propelling you towards the safety of the ledge beyond - the area ahead is made up of these platforming segments, albeit usually with a longer series of shells you need to his in succession to cross and/or ascend further. In this case, however, you can just glide or dash across the spike pit if you have Swift Step or the Drifter’s Cloak - many such instances where those abilities will help you bypass shell puzzles in part or in whole. Exit to the right.
Continue right, kill a red ant enemy (be careful, they can burrow and charge), then bounce off three red shells in succession to reach high ground. Continue up and to the left, kill another ant, and behold!: easily the worst sections of platforming in the game thus far! You need to ascend up six shells, alternating directions as you go to reach a ledge above you and to the right. Be wary of a flying foe currently lying dormant along the way - as you start to bounce off the shells it’ll rouse and cause you trouble.
Free the Flea¶
Once you reach the high ground (easier said than done), risk all your progress by bouncing off a shell to the upper left to reach a ledge above you and to the left, then bounce off two more shells above you to ascend, dealing with another flying enemy when you reach safe rock above. Finally, use three more shells to cross an elevated row of spikes to find a caged flea - one of the critters you need to free as part of the wish The Lost Fleas.
Backtrack down and left, then down and right to the ledge you reach after bouncing off the six shells, jump up and to the right to bait a flying critter into attacking you and dispatch it from the safety of solid ground before using three more red shells to ascend and reach a ledge above you and to the right. Defeat another flying foe or ignore it - the exit is to the right.
In the third screen you’ll encounter new foes, like the Spear Skarr,
and new traps - be wary of pressure plates that trigger these devious devices!
The third screen is where annoying enemies start becoming as much of a nuisance as the platforming, and remember - you die, you start this area over from the beginning. There’s a single bench in this place and we’re not even close yet. Bounce off shells to reach the upper right, then jump up to the upper left and defeat a red ant to score a Rosary Cache.
If you press on along the ledge to the lower right you’ll eventually run afoul of a Spear Skarr (who fights like a weaker version of the Lace boss) while if you drop all the way down to the bottom of the chamber (down and right of where you started) you’ll find a Skarr Stalker. Both will be somewhat regular enemies here, so any practice will help. The rest of the chamber is otherwise more of the same - bounce off red shells when you must, use Swift Step and glide to bypass annoying platforming whenever possible. You can find a Rosary Necklace if you bounce off two shells to the right of where you encountered the first Spear Skarr. You also need to be wary of pressure plates on the ground that trigger swinging spike traps - there’s one on the ledge above a second Spear Skarr near the eastern exit. Press on through this chore of a chamber and exit to the right.
Fend off a host of Skarr alongside Shakra,
then buy the Hunter’s Reach map from her.
Hunter’s March Map¶
Bounce across some red shells to cross some spikes and enter a chamber ahead only to find that it’s a combat arena! Defeat a host of Skarr foes, first a solo bout against a Spear Skarr, after which Skakra will show up and aid you against other Skarr. Defeat them all and talk to Shakra, after which you can buy the Hunter’s March map from her for 70 Rosary beads. This should help make navigation easier! You’re about halfway to the bench now. Exit to the right.
More of the same to start the fourth screen off - there are more enemies if you take the high ground, more challenging platforming if you go low. Pick your poison and you’ll end up in the same spot either way - across a spike pit. Bounce up some shells to reach a [Shell Deposit[(https://www.gamerguides.com/admincp/map/333/markers?markerId=230315) above you, then drop down and continue right, being wary of a series of three pressure plate traps in succession as you go. Once past them, bounce off two shells to cross a spike pit and exit right.
Hunter’s March Bench¶
The fifth screen is perhaps the most interesting in this area - it’s a vertical chute that connects to numerous side-chambers, including one with the bench we’ve been seeking. If you’ve got the Drifter’s Cloak, getting up and down will be a breeze - literally! An air current blows from a spike pit at the bottom and you can ride it up to near the top of the chamber. Drift out of the air current and you can float down. If you don’t have the Drifter’s Cloak, some painful leaps of faith and red shells will be how you get down and up.
You can find the entrance to the Chapel of the Beast in the Hunter’s March area.
If you exit to the bottom left you’ll find a lever you can hit to open a gate, beyond which is a dark tunnel leading to two different exits to the Deep Docks. If you land on a ledge to the lower right you’ll have to do some platforming, and the Drifter’s Cloak isn’t optional here. Eventually this path leads to a cave leading to a side area - the Chapel of the Beast, which is outside of the scope of this page (defeat the [Savage Beastfly] boss to obtain the Crest of the Beast).
On a more relevant note, bounce up red shells or float from where you entered and land on a ledge to the right, where you can exit right to find an old Skarr statue, presumably before they went feral. Attack a bush near the statue to reveal an NPC named Gilly whom you can talk to, but nothing comes of it at this time.
Exit back to the main chamber and climb onto a ledge to the left, then exit left. On the next screen you’ll find your bench, but do not sit on it. The developers, after forcing you to fight through a hellscape of traps, enemies, spike pits and insufferable platforming, have decided to heap one more indignity upon you. The bench is trapped. Honestly we weren’t even mad - they got us fair and square, but we suffered so you don’t have to. Head past the bench to the left to find a secret room where you can smash Disable the trap, use the bench, and pat yourself on the back - you’re almost done, and it’s all downhill from here.
You may be relieved when you see the bench, but don’t rest on it - it’s trapped!
Enter a secret room to the left of the bench and disarm the trap before using it.
Mottled Skarr¶
Ride the air current up as high as it’ll go (or platform the old fashioned way) and exit to the left. You’ll find yourself in a dark room with some Shard Deposits. Even more interesting, you can jump through the wall to the left to reach another tunnel where you’ll have to platform over some spikes (or bypass much of it by dashing and gliding) while being wary of traps. At the end of which you’ll find the Mottled Skarr vendor, who sells the Curveclaw, a Fractured Mask and a Shard Bundle.
With that, you’ve done as much of the Hunter’s March as you can at this time. A painfully difficult early area, but one that you can make much easier by waiting until you have some better mobility options at your disposal!
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