How to Defeat Radiance in Hollow Knight

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Everything you need to know to restore Hallownest to her former glory

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: September 17, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Recommended Charms
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• Unlocking the Fight
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• Radiance’s Moves and General Strategy
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• Advanced Strategies
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• Video
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• Tips

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Radiance is technically the “final” boss in Hollow Knight. It’s also one of the hardest. We’re going to break down the best charms, strategies, and moves you’ll need to take Radiance down. Just keep in mind that, like many bosses in the game, a lot of your success here boils down to sheer perseverance. Don’t give up. It is probably going to take a lot of attempts to fully memorize the moves you need to know to muscle memory, so just stay at it!

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

Recommended Charms

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   Shaman Stone Shaman Stone increases spell damage. It also increases the size of Vengeful Spirit and Shade Soul. All of this will help against Radiance, especially since it’s very hard to get close enough to do a ton of melee damage.

   • Pairs well with: Spell Twister, Soul Eater, Soul Catcher, Joni’s Blessing.
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   Fragile Strength This fragile charm increases Nail damage by 50%. It’s kind of mandatory if you’re trying to do any meaningful amount of melee damage against Radiance.

   • Pairs well with: Fury of the Fallen, Grubberfly’s Elegy, Stalwart Shell.
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   Quick Slash Quick slash is maybe the most accurately-named charm in the game—it makes your slash quicker. Considering how narrow your melee opportunities are in the Radiance fight, Quick Slash is a huge help.

   • Pairs well with: Fragile Strength, Stalwart Shell, Steady Body, and Mark of Pride
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   Mark of Pride Mark of Pride increases the range of your nail, which is helpful for melee scraps with the Radiance. As a note, it grants more range than Longnail, but if you aren’t maxxed out on charm notch slots yet, Longnail is a good alternative.

   • Pairs well with: Grubberfly’s Elegy, Quickslash, and Longnail (these actually stack if you’re going for a maximum melee damage build).
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   Fragile Heart Fragile Heart gives you extra life, which is going to be helpful if you aren’t trying to beat Absolute Radiance. You get two extra masks when this charm is equipped, which makes it strictly better than Lifeblood Heart.

   • Pairs well with: Hiveblood and Joni’s Blessing (Blessing stacks! It counts the extra masks from Fragile Heart).
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   Spell Twister Spell Twister reduces soul costs for your spells, which is big if you’re running any kind of spell-heavy strategy in this fight. It’s not necessarily the best option if you’re going crazy on the melee-related charms, but if you’re doing any kind of spellcasting, it’s always helpful.

   • Pairs well with: Shaman Stone, Soul Eater and Soul Catcher (must equip both for the synergy), and Grubsong.
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   Soul Eater If your Radiance attempts are going very long and you keep finding yourself dying after running out of soul, Soul Eater is a solid charm to equip. It increases the amount of soul you earn with each enemy strike.

   • Pairs well with: Quick Focus, Quick Slash, Grubsong, and Spell Twister.
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   Grubsong If you are really relying on spells and your fights are going quite long, Grubsong is a great charm. It restores soul every time you take damage, so if your Radiance fights are extended, Grubsong will help you outpace the fight with spells and healing.

   • Pairs well with: Deep Focus, Soul Eater
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Section 2 of 4:

Unlocking the Radiance

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1. 
   You must beat the Hollow Knight boss with Void Heart and the Dream Nail. There are five endings for Hollow Knight, but only two of them include the Radiance. To unlock the Radiance fight (which is the “final” boss in the sense that it’s last in the main story), you must do two things in the final fight with the Hollow Knight:

   • Possess the Void Heart. You do not need to equip the Void Heart to trigger the Radiance fight, but it does have to be in your inventory.
   • Hit the Hollow Knight with the Dream Nail. When Hornet intervenes in the fight, use your dream nail on the Hollow Knight. This will send you to the Radiance fight.

Section 3 of 4:

Beating Radiance

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1. 
   1
   Memorize the Radiance’s moves (& learn how to evade them). Like every boss in Hollow Knight, beating the Radiance requires knowing its moveset. Here are Radiance’s eight moves (and what you can do to avoid them):

   • Light Wall: Radiance sends a giant beam of light across the screen.
     • Evasive Manuever: Shadow dash through it.
   • Homing Projectiles: Radiance sends balls of energy that track you.
     • Evasive Manuever: Go towards the balls at the last second and dash.
   • Light Beam: Radiance sends beams of light that rotate out of its head.
     • Evasive Manuever: Stay in any open section and move with the beam.
   • Center Spikes: Radiance sends spikes out from its head.
     • Evasive Manuever: Get out of the spike’s path before they fire.
   • Horizontal Spikes: Radiance sends spikes horizontally across the screen.
     • Evasive Manuever: Look for the opening in the spike wall and jump through it.
   • Vertical Spikes: Radiance sends spikes horizontally across the screen.
     • Evasive Manuever: Look for the opening in the spike wall and stand in it.
   • Blinking Spikes: Radiance sends spikes up from the ground.
     • Evasive Manuever: Look for the blinking indicator and just avoid it.
   • Fixed Beams (2nd Phase Only): Radiance fires lasers directly at you.
     • Evasive Manuever: Move as soon as the indicator appears.
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   Get your attacks in after evading Radiance’s moves. Here are our very general recommendations for what kind of attacks make the most sense after evading Radiance’s moves. This is just a general guide, so if you find a pattern or strategy that makes more sense to you, use that instead!

   • Light Wall: After dodging the wall, dash towards Radiance and hit her multiple times. You can use Abyss Shriek or Shade Soul if you prefer.
   • Homing Projectiles: Run at Radiance as the projectiles fly at you so that you can evade them and attack in one move. Jump, dash past the projectile, and hit them with your nail.
   • Light Beam: Unless you start off with a ton of room directly under Radiance, we do not recommend attacking during this attack.
   • Center Spikes: Look for gaps that allow you to hit while dodging, but don’t rush it.
   • Horizontal Spikes: Get hits in with the nail while you track the horizontal opening, if possible.
   • Vertical Spikes: Like the Horizontal Spikes, get licks in when you can. However, the gap always spawns within reach of you, so don’t get offensive if the gap is on the opposite side.
   • Blinking Spikes: Just avoid these.
   • Fixed Beams (2nd Phase Only): These are a great opportunity to get ranged attacks in. The Abyss Shriek is also a great move here if you’re under Radiance.
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   Prioritize defense when multiple attacks are out. Radiance only cycles between different moves at the start of the fight. Once you hit them a few times, they’ll begin combining moves. Just take your time and wait for openings patiently. Rushing to beat the Radiance and getting hit while you’re on the way to attack is a surefire way to die.

   • Radiance is not on a timer. They will not increase their difficulty until you hit them a certain number of times, so there’s no benefit to trying to rush things.
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Section 4 of 4:

Advanced Strategies if You’re Struggling

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1. 
   1
   Turn the music off and the audio up. Radiance’s moves all have individual sound cues that play before the attack goes off. If you keep dying, try turning the music all the way off in the settings; you’ll have a much easier time hearing (and memorizing) the cues.
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   Heal on the Light Beam and Center Spikes. These two attacks radiate (ha) out of Radiance’s head, which actually makes them quite easy to track visually. Whenever these two attacks are coming, check your health and use the opportunity to heal (after confirming you’re positioned correctly to do so, of course).
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   Heal as much as you can after the first stage. The Radiance fight is split into two halves: the opening fight and then the platforming fight. There’s a cutscene in between these two stages, but you can’t deal damage while the animation plays out. This makes it the perfect time to heal all the way back to maximum health.
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   The platforming isn’t as hard as it probably feels. The second half of the Radiance fight feels like a lot at first. And it is. It’s a super hard fight. That said, this isn’t nearly as difficult as it probably looks or feels. You’ve spent the entire game (at least 20 hours at this point) nailing difficult and ridiculous jumps, so don’t freak out. The calmer and more confident you are, the more likely you are to nail each platform and avoid dying.
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   Once Radiance flies up, you only have to hit them once. At the very end of the fight, Radiance will fly way above you and begin pelting you with attacks. You have to keep jumping up. Do. Not. Freak. Out. You do not have a third phase here—Radiance will die once you get to the top and hit her once with any basic or magic attack,
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Tips

• The only difference between Radiance and Absolute Radiance is the life restriction. Like all Absolute bosses/runs, you only get one life.
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