The Moss Mother is the very first mandatory boss of Hollow Knight: Silksong, and it is not that hard since it actually serves as a tutorial. However, many players do not know that, later in the game, you can have a “rematch” with another moss in a much more challenging fight.
If you already have the Needolin (you acquired it after beating the Widow in Bellhart) and are looking for some backtracking, you may stumble on the “double” Moss Mother boss, which is hidden in a subarea in Moss Grotto.
And I say “double” because, yes, you are fighting two of them at the same time at a much more accelerated and aggressive pace – so you can imagine the tough fight that is waiting for you.
But there is nothing for you to worry about or fear, since we have got you covered with an incredible, foolproof guide for dealing with this “double trouble”. Grab your Needle and let’s go.
How To Find the Double Moss Mother & Best Preparation
First, you must have progressed through the main story enough to unlock the Needolin. You acquire it after defeating the boss Widow in the depths of Bellhart.
The Needolin is basically a passive ability that allows Hornet to use her Silk to play some ancient melodies with her Needle like a harp, which opens up a specific type of gate found in some corners of Pharloom – they are called the “Weaver Doors” and are usually dark, with some unknown inscriptions on them.
After that, you need to be in the mood to backtrack since we need to revisit the very first biome of Hollow Knight: Silksong, the Moss Grotto. To get over there quickly, fast travel to The Marrow and jump into the pit on the left.
Actually, before going there, make sure you have unlocked and mastered the Swift Step (the dash ability) from the Deep Docks area, since it is going to be important to our strategy to face these two bosses in one.
As you enter the Moss Grotto, open up your map and notice that you have a gate drawn directly in the rightmost area – that is where we need to go, so make your way over there to find a lovely Weaver Door (1 on the map above). Use the Needolin to speak “friend” and enter (I hope you got that reference).
Now, you are in the Weavenest Atla, which actually is not a major zone, but it has some very good items to claim (I highly recommend you to explore it) and, of course, a hidden boss.
First, follow the right passage to the end and hit the two slightly glowing lamps on the mysterious machine. Start heading back to the exit to find a huge panel on the way that you can interact with to unlock the map of this location. Then, continue heading left to find a weird device on the floor that glows when you step on it. Do that to fall into a new area.
From here, go left to find a Bench. Rest a little bit and turn this into your saving point, then jump into the pond of water and swim to the left to find a secret passage that leads to a bigger area. There are some common enemies around here (careful with the huge ones), but the main surprise is found at the very end of the corridor on the left: the double Moss Mother boss fight (2 on the map above).
How To Beat the Double Moss Mother
Phase One
As soon as you enter the arena, the first Moss Mother is going to appear with a much more aggressive behavior than the Moss Mother at the beginning of the game (revenge, maybe?).
She is going to try to sting Hornet with a pendulum swing more frequently, while also beating the ceiling to get some rocks and minions in the arena to bug you.
But before getting into the details of the strategy you must follow, you need to understand that this first phase may last for a very short time (maybe even seconds!), since it does not depend on how much damage you deal to her to trigger the second and final phase – she is the one to do that whenever she likes. Bossy, right?
With that in mind, what you are going to do is to deal as much damage as possible in this first phase, because it is the easiest and simplest one. For that, you must be really aggressive from the beginning and not let her breathe!
So, your strategy is to always position yourself in the center of the arena – that way, the boss can’t corner you – and jump to avoid her pendulum swings while also attacking her when she is under you.
When she hits the ceiling to drop some heavy stones on Hornet, quickly dash to get away from them (notice that some dust points where they will drop). For the summoned minions, you need to get rid of them as soon as they hit the floor. They are slow, but can take one or two health points from you if you get desperate to dodge the Moss Mother’s attacks.
Finally, when she hits the ceiling and screams, that means that the second Moss Mother is about to show up, and that is when things start to get more interesting.
Phase Two
Now you need to dodge and deal damage to two Moss Mothers at the same time, which is a scenario that can get chaotic pretty quickly if you do not take caution.
Again, always position yourself at the center of the arena to avoid getting cornered by their pendulum swings and kill every minion that appears in the arena – that way, you will eliminate any unfortunate surprises in the middle of the battle, and also gather some Silk to heal whenever possible.
The safest strategy is to stop being aggressive and actually accept that they are setting the pace of the fight. Simply be patient and let them come after you, then you jump (or dodge) to hit one of them as she passes by.
Only do that, though, when you are certain that the other Moss Mother is not going to “accidentally” hit you as you try to hit the first one! Do not worry about getting this over quickly – worry about surviving as long as possible.
Repeat that until one of the Moss Mothers is defeated. When that happens, she is going to explode and scream – what may distract you from the fight (I actually died once when this first happened to me), so get as far away as possible from the one that is still alive until the screen goes back to normal.
When you are down to one, you basically go back to the first phase. Simply go back to that strategy to defeat it.
Overall, this is a pretty tough fight, but it can be easier if you get very lucky like me. In one of my tries, the first phase lasted longer than usual (check the video above), which means that I had time to deal a lot of damage to the first Moss Mother before the second one entered the arena.
Then, when there were two of them, all I had to do was focus on the first one that was already with low HP to quickly defeat it, leaving only one boss in the arena and going back to the strategy of the first phase.
Rewards For Defeating the Double Moss Mother
After defeating the duo, be careful, because two flying insects are going to enter the arena – and it would be quite disappointing to survive the “double trouble” only to get killed by a couple of common enemies, right?
Defeat them with jump attacks and notice that there is an item glowing on the floor. This is your reward for overcoming the boss fight: the Weavelight, a blue tool that, according to its description, increases the speed of Silk regeneration.
In other words, it gives you an extra passive Silk, so it is pretty useful in combat. Congrats!
