Silksong Whiteward walkthrough

After defeating the Cogwork Dancers in Hollow Knight: Silksong, multiple regions – including Whiteward – become available for you to explore. It might be tempting to steam ahead into the Cogwork Core and beyond, but there’s a very important ability waiting for you just past Silksong’s Whiteward that you should grab before doing anything else.

This movement ability – Clawline – allows Hornet to grapple hook onto various discs you’ll have seen around the environment in Silksong. To ensure you don’t miss out on it or anything else in this strange region, here’s our Silksong Whiteward walkthrough.

Silksong Whiteward walkthrough

First things first, you can’t just waltz into Whiteward in Silksong. You need to first collect the White Key from Choral Chambers’ Songclave. Upon arriving in Songclave (which is where you activate the First Shrine and meet the Caretaker NPC), the White Key is on a corpse to the far-right of the area.

Gain entry into Whiteward

With the White Key in your possession, we can now make our way to Whiteward. If you happen to be in Songclave right now, use the Ventrica Station there to reach the Grand Bellway. From there, you want to keep left until you arrive in the tall chamber labelled on the below map.

At the bottom of this tall chamber, exit to the right, where you’ll come to a silver elevator in need of a key. This is where the White Key comes into use. Pop the White Key in the lock and just before riding the elevator down, go to the right of it. There’s a Bench here to rest at. Now you can go down the elevator!

Collect the Choral Commandment

Keep heading left and you’ll eventually come to an ornate lock in need of a key that we do not have yet. Keep left and begin platforming upwards into the next room.

Carefully avoid the steam, sawblades, and Drapefly enemy in the following room. Keep heading right and upwards until you arrive at a lever; attack it to be dropped into a new room.

Head left to retrieve a Choral Commandment – an item we can sell to Relic Seeker Scrounge in Bellhart – from a pram.

Upon going to leave this room, a rather horrible Dreg Husk will spawn for you to either kill or run past. To exit, begin attacking the right-most wall to reveal a hidden passage.

Collect the Whiteward Map

You’ll come to a lever that you can attack to reveal more of the upcoming path. Dash over into the path on your right and immediately jump down to find and collect the Whiteward Map at last. It’ll set you back 70 Rosaries, however.

Collect the Silkeater

Climb back up from the Map to find yourself at a crossroads. Look to the right, however, and there’s a breakable gate here.

Climb to the top of this room and attack the cocoons to receive a Silkeater.

Exit this room and jump back down to where you unlocked the Map. Go right this time.

Collect the Injector Band

The following room contains multiple Mortician enemies and some spike traps you’ll want to try and avoid. When you arrive at the platform towards the end of the room, go upwards.

At the top, head left to retrieve the Injector Band item from an inactive furnace.

The Injector Band is a blue Tool that can be equipped to speed up Binding.

Enter Underworks’ The Cauldron

Next, head right again and jump down the narrow orange passage to arrive in a boiling furnace. Head right before Hornet takes any damage, then jump down again.

Jump down again into the next room, where you’ll then need to carefully jump down another passage while avoiding the sawblades on either side.

Once you reach the bottom, you’re officially in the Underworks, specifically near The Cauldron section of the area. We’ve a couple things to do here before we can get our hands on the Clawline Skill.

To continue progressing through Act 2, here’s our Silksong Underworks walkthrough.

Once you do finally unlock the Clawline Skill in the Underworks and wrap up everything that needs to be done there, I recommend returning back to Whiteward. The new Skill will now allow us to access a hidden boss arena in that region which I'll explain how to reach below.

How to open the ornate lock in Whiteward

Using the Clawline Skill in Whiteward allows us to gain access to the Surgeon’s Key, which we can then use on the ornate lock near the elevator that allowed us entry into the region.

To get your hands on the Surgeon’s Key, you need to go to where you looted the Injector Band. This is the room full of furnaces and Mortician enemies. We’ve labelled a route from Whiteward’s Entrance to the Surgeon’s Key on the below map in case you get lost.

Platform up to the upper level of this room. Directly above, there’s an obscured passage we can climb up.

Head right to find a room with some lore you can read. Head left to come to a breakable wall. Attack it, and you’ll arrive in a room with a single disc we can use Clawline on. Do that.

A corpse – with the Surgeon’s Key attached – will be flung out of the chute above. Claim the Key and a Dreg Husk will spawn.

Return to the elevator next and ride it to the bottom, if it isn’t already there. Exit the elevator and head left to eventually arrive at the ornate lock, which you can now use the Surgeon’s Key on.

Beneath this ornate lock, you’ll be thrown into a boss fight against The Unravelled. Enjoy!

For more on Hollow Knight: Silksong, take a look at our list of all bosses, all Wish locations, and our Silksong walkthrough.