20 hour 100% path

[Appaguchee]

I recently finished this guide for speedrunning the game: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=878193536&searchtext=3+HOUR
and I'm wondering what's the best places to go and best things to do to quickly get 100% completion. Is there a guide? Defeat all the bosses? what?

[Kaza_IA]

It's actually pretty easy if you already did 100% once. Because then you will know the enemies, level design and where everything is. Then you can easily grab all you need, and prioritse the most important stuff

[Poyzo]

You can also use Notepad to write down the stuff you want to accomplish the next play session and go from there. After you are done, exit the game and update Notepad with new tasks.

[Appaguchee]

But what's the most effecient things to kill, aka killing/doing what gives the most percentage in the smallest amount of time?

[JapanGamer29]

I’d like to know this, too. Last time I tried it (before any DLC was added) I got to 99% in 20hrs (curse you, Trial of Fools). I imagine it would be easier to accomplish now.

[Slimchance]

Hi!

First of all; the time limit is not very tight. Soon after completing my first playthrough, I started a steel soul save. Without following a guide, I got 105% in around 7 hours. With the very generous 20 hour time limit, my number one tip is : have fun :)

I would recommend downloading a map, like the one found in Demajens guide here on steam - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=876122772. I opened this map in paint, and marked the items I got. This made it much smoother to run through the areas.

The list of items that give completion% is here: http://hollowknight.wikia.com/wiki/Completion. A summary would be

4% Nails
3% Nail arts
4% Mask Upgrades
3% Vessel Upgrades
6% Spells (1%/spell, 1%/upgrade)

3% Dream Nail (0 essence, 1800 essence, 2400 essence)
12% Movement items (2% per)
2% Kings Brand
1% Godtuner

3% Dreamers (The mandatory ones)
7% Dream Warriors
15% Bosses

3% Colisseum
4% Pantheon

1% Grimm
1% NKG OR Banishment

40% Charms

I would prioritize going for movement items and pale ores early, because they make the rest of the game faster and smoother. You should pick up every every stray charm, as each gives a very easy 1% completion. I would also pick up a couple of the sellable items (kings idol etc), so you can buy charms and charm notches from the various shops.

Again - the time limit is very generous. The 100% "speedrun" felt more like a victory lap than a true challenge. So I would just use the map to mark which items and bosses I've gotten, and not worry too much. :) If you would like more concrete tips, though, feel free to ask.

Edit: Forgot to add: If you pause and click on "Exit to Menu", everything you have picked up will be saved. When you load your save, you will start at the lates bench you rested at. I used this all the time, and it probably saved me a ton of time.

[Darc Vader]

You can ignore the harder/longer stuff like the Trial of the Fool and White Palace fairly easily now, since you can get extra completion from dlc stuff like Hive Knight(fairly easy and gives a second percent from Hiveblood), Grabbing the extra Grimm Troupe charms for an extra 4 percent and banish the troupe for the total 6 if you can get through Troupe Master Grimm reliably (Godhome is fantastic for practice against bosses)

[Sze]

Things I skipped: last trial, all pantheons (did get Godtuner), 4th mask (most importantly grey mourner quest), Void Heart, 15 grubs (no grubberfly's elegy; need at least 31 grubs to get pale ore), Markoth (had about 800 essence), Traitor Lord. Hm, that's only 10%, guess there's 2% more that I skipped or the wiki has some incorrect values.

I ended with 10k+ geo and didn't particularly rush and finished in under 10 hours. If you can do the 5 hour speedrun, the rest is just mop up. As someone said above, get a map and keep track of what you've done to minimize revisiting areas and backtracking. Target clusters of points of interest and quit to get back to a bench near a stag. It helps to know which direction you need to come from to get past certain doors or passages that are closed off. Prioritize mobility upgrades, charm notches, and nail upgrades.

[Hazearil]

Late comment, but for anyone stumbling across this; some input of my own:
- First of all, take in mind that you can miss 12%. It doesn't have to be the 12% added by DLCs.
- There is no point to Void Heart. All it unlocks for you is The Radiance, but she gives no percentage. Upgrading Kingsoul to Void Heart also gives no percentage.
- Pantheon of the Master, and maybe also of the Artist could be done. You'd want Godseeker anyway to get the Godtuner. You also don't need to save Zote to get the Vengefly King in Godhome. There is no point to save Zote.
- Not doing Kingsoul and Seer's Final Words reduces your Essence count from 2400 to 1500. If you already plan to miss out on one mask due to the Delicate Flower, you just need 700 Essence. All Warrior Dreams give 1100 Essence, and each gives a percentage. So do them, ignore whispering roots and dream bosses.
- Not doing Grubberfly's Elegy gets your Grub requirement from 50 to 31. Heck yea.
- If you got a second monitor, maybe keep a map open of the area you're in for quick navigation. The wiki got maps with things like geo caches and such even marked on them.
- You will need quite some Geo, but you don't need much early on. At first, go for Gathering Swarm, Fragile Greed, and Fragile Strength. With the first 2, you should not have geo problems in the end.
- If you want to do the 5 hour run and 100% 20 hour run in one go, then don't plan a 100% 5 hour run. Go for Hollow Knight, then 100%, then Hollow Knight again.
- You just need 2 simple keys: One to unlock Godseeker for the Godtuner and a pantheon or two, and one for the Royal Waterways entrance. Pleasure House and Confessor Jiji aren't needed.

Skipping all things I said you could skip (2 pantheons, kingsoul, seer, a mask, and grubberfly) only means you miss 6%, so still leaves room to skip more. Trial of the Fool can be skipped for another 1%, it only gives geo (which you should not have a shortage of by that point) and Godtamer doesn't actually need to be defeated here to find her in Godhome. Figure out what your shortcomings are, and just don't do those. If you for example have a hard time with Grimm, not beating him just misses his percentage, banishment's percentage, and a charm notch which has no percentage.