How to beat Great Conchflies in Silksong

The Great Conchflies appear to be an optional boss in Hollow Knight: Silksong, but you should definitely go about beating them either way if you wish to explore the entirety of Pharloom. Additionally, Silksong’s Great Conchflies aren’t the hardest enemy you’ll be facing in Blasted Steps. They’re tough, but once you’ve dispatched a few Driznit enemies, you’ll know what to expect from this duo.

To help you out with the fight against these two annoying bugs, here’s how to beat the Great Conchflies in Hollow Knight: Silksong.

How to beat Great Conchflies in Silksong

The Great Conchflies is a surprisingly easy fight once you’re used to the pair's very limited moveset in Silksong. If anything, the main issue with this fight is finding ample opportunity to attack rather than trying to avoid the pair; just don’t get impatient and this fight will be over relatively quickly.

You’ll find them both situated in the left-half of Blasted Steps, blocking the route to the Pinstress (shown below).

This is a boss fight towards the end of Act 1, so I highly recommend seeking out some Mask Shards and upgrading your Needle if you haven’t already. It’ll make this fight that little bit shorter if you do and an extra Mask while in Blasted Steps can never go amiss.

Before we delve into the moveset of the Great Conchflies, be aware that they both act independently of each other and you only need to kill one of them for the fight to end. With that in mind, you should try to focus your attacks on just one of them, but considering they both look the exact same, that’s pretty tricky. I wouldn’t worry about this too much but if you’re able to keep a better track of the pair than I am, then do so!

Without further ado, here are the Great Conchflies few moves and how to avoid them:

• Horizontal and Vertical Charges: The Conchflies will drill into the floor, wall, or ceiling before emerging from them again with speed. Look for any debris to predict where they are coming from and dash or jump to avoid their drills. Upon smashing into the wall or floor, you have a brief opportunity to safely attack one of them two to three times before they disappear again.
• Projectiles: If one of the Conchflies is flying around the arena rather than charging about, anticipate them firing off a bouncing projectile, much like the ones that Driznits fire off. If their mouth opens, dash out of the way of the incoming projectile quickly and be prepared for it to bounce off the walls temporarily.
• Hovering into Charge Attack: If one of the Conchflies is hovering around the arena rather than charging about, but they have not dished out a projectile, the likelihood is that they’re about to charge into the floor. Mind out of their way and once they’re embedded in the floor, you’ve opportunity to land two or three hits before they disappear again.

As you can see, the Great Conchflies’ moveset mainly consists of them drilling into the walls, floor and ceiling before drilling out of them again at a speed; keep your eye on the smoke and debris coming from each surface to predict where the Conchflies are emerging from and dodge accordingly.

Aside from that, this fight is simple provided you don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the duo. Their charges are easily predicted and can be dashed over and whenever either of them get stuck in the floor, you’ve ample opportunity to attack them multiple times – or use Skills such as Silkspear and Thread Storm to do additional damage – before they disappear again.

Your only concern when attacking is another Conchfly charging at you in the process, but again, keep an eye on any debris and you can easily avoid their paths. Keep repeating this process, which mainly consists of dodging until one of them is stuck, and you’ll find the fight will be over quite quickly. No stuns or second phases; once one of the Conchflies is down, the fight is over and you can continue exploring Blasted Steps.

Good luck taking down the Great Conchflies! Well, one of them.

For more on Hollow Knight: Silksong, take a look at our Silksong walkthrough.