How to beat Moorwing in Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong has many bosses and they’re all a pleasure to fight, except where Moorwing is concerned. Okay, perhaps Silksong’s Moorwing fight isn’t that bad, but fighting a disc-slinging bird who dives at you isn’t the most fun I’ve had on Hornet’s adventure so far. That’s for sure.

To help you with not being stuck on Moorwing for as long as I was, we’ve outlined a few methods for taking him down in this Silksong Moorwing boss strategy. You can even skip him altogether if you want!

Looking for more help on your adventure through Pharloom? Check out our Hollow Knight: Silksong walkthrough and bosses list.

Silksong Moorwing boss strategy

Moorwing is found in the lower-left corner of Greymoor, in the area that ultimately leads left to the region of Bellhart. You must defeat him – or skip him – to reach Bellhart.

Technically, there are three ways in which you can beat – or avoid – Moorwing in Hollow Knight: Silksong.

The first way is the traditional way; learn his moves, master them, and defeat him after many attempts with the help of Garmond and Zaza. The second way is a cheese method that requires you to have the Reaper Crest equipped, and the third way allows you to avoid fighting this boss altogether with the help of the Flea Caravan. We’ll run through all three methods of beating (or avoiding) Moorwing below.

Beat Moorwing the traditional way

If you’re looking to fight Moorwing the traditional way, then there’s one thing you should do first; speak to Garmond and Zaza on the right-hand side of the room above him. This is on the way to the boss fight from Greymoor’s Halfway Home.

If you speak to the pair, they will offer to help you with the upcoming fight against Moorwing. You can, of course, decline their help if you wish, but I recommend taking it; they’re good fun to have around during this otherwise painful fight.

If Garmond and Zaza are not in the room above Moorwing, then it’s likely you have not met them in Greymoor yet. To find them, make your way to the small chamber marked on the below map and exhaust their dialogue. When you next rest at a Bench after this, the pair should have moved to the room above Moorwing where you can request their aid.

With that done and dusted, Moorwing has a few moves to take caution of:

• Dive Attack: Moorwing will dive across the arena, charging at you. You can jump over this but be careful of his exact route; sometimes, you may jump into him. Alternatively, you can force Moorwing to crash into the ledges on either side of the arena when he does this attack, stunning him briefly and opening up an opportunity for you to quickly attack.
• Disc Attack: Moorwing slings a projectile disc at you that will do two Masks of damage if you’re caught in it. You want to jump over or dash under this to avoid it, then attack him immediately afterwards before he conjures another attack if you can. Later in the fight, he will fire off multiple discs in quick succession.
• Slice Attack: Moorwing will shriek before performing a flurry of slices at you with his tail that deal two Masks of damage. You ultimately want to avoid being underneath Moorwing or too close to him, so as to not get caught out by this or his dive attack.

The fight against Moorwing is one where the use of Silkspear can be incredibly handy, as attacking Moorwing from range is your best bet for taking him down. Don’t forget to use this Skill and your throwing knives wherever possible. Whenever you do need to Bind to heal, try to do it while jumping or while Moorwing is stunned so you can avoid any attacks he throws at you.

When he dives and charges at you, this is a good opportunity to try and run to the right-hand side of the arena and force him to crash into the ledge, stunning himself (pictured above). This doesn’t last very long at all, but this allows you to land a few hits on him before retreating. If you can repeat this while dodging his projectiles, you’re off to a good start; just be careful his slice attack doesn’t catch you out when attacking him.

You can also do a downward attack on Moorwing as he dives if you’re feeling confident, but if you fail to land the attack, you run the risk of simply jumping into Moorwing and taking damage. All in all, I recommend jumping towards him from either side of him and attacking immediately after he attacks then retreating; rinse and repeat this while trying to stun him where possible. As mentioned, you want to avoid being directly beneath Moorwing in case he swoops in for one of his dive attacks or unleashes a flurry of slice attacks with his tail.

Garmond and Zaza will join partway through the fight to help out but don’t expect them to carry you by any means; this fight is tough and long. All in all, Moorwing needs to be stunned a total of five times – this is when you attack him enough for him to fall down to the ground – to be taken down with the fifth stun marking the end of the fight.

Moorwing cheese method

There is one method of cheesing the Moorwing fight which sees you able to damage him while he cannot touch you. To do this, you’ll need to first grab the Reaper Crest from Greymoor; here’s how to get the Reaper Crest in Silksong if you don’t already have it.

With the Reaper Crest equipped, start the fight against Moorwing and then run to the right-hand side of the room, using the updraft to reach the upper level. Go to the exit of the room but don’t leave. You’ll find yourself in a corner with Moorwing hovering below you (pictured below).

By jumping and attacking downwards as you fall, the heavy arc attacks of the Reaper Crest will actually reach Moorwing through the floor, thus allowing you to attack him while he can’t do a single Mask of damage to you. You simply want to keep attacking him through the floor until he is dead.

He will get stunned throughout the fight and fall to the ground but you can just wait this out. Once he is no longer stunned, he will fly back up to you and you can keep attacking him through the floor.

Avoid Moorwing using the Flea Caravan

It turns out that there is also one way of avoiding Moorwing altogether in Silksong, and that’s by rescuing five Fleas before you meet him. If you manage to rescue a total of five Fleas across The Marrow, Deep Docks, and Far Fields, you can pay a visit to the Flea Caravan and hitch a ride with them to Greymoor.

It then just so happens that the Flea Caravan will stop exactly where the Moorwing fight is and Moorwing is then nowhere to be found, allowing you to skip the fight entirely.

It is not yet known if Moorwing appears later or if there is an alternate method for triggering the fight after the Flea Caravan moves there. We’ll update this page if and when we know more.

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