Godmaster, Lifeblood & The Grimm Troupe Updates Guide

This guide is for the three Hollow Knight updates: Godmaster, Lifeblood and The Grimm Troupe.
It includes information and videos on:

• the Godhome and Pantheons
  
• boss added in Lifeblood
  
• the Grimm Troupe questline, boss fights, latest charms, and new NPC interactions
  
• the Path of Pain location and walkthrough

Feel free to leave comments and/or ask questions. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Godmaster update

The latest and final Hollow Knight DLC, Godmaster, comes with the addition of a new location: the Godhome. Here you have the opportunity to challenge the five Pantheons (Boss Rush challenges).

The video below shows you how to gain access to the Godhome. You require a small key.

1. Go to the back of the Colosseum of Fools to find a breakable wall.
   
2. Defeat enemy there to obtain small key
   If you have a spare small key you can skip the steps above (02:08 in the video)
   
3. Go to Junk Pit (new area connected to Royal Waterways)
   
4. Use small key on coffin.
   
5. Pick up Godtuner.
   
6. Use the Dream Nail on corpse to enter Godhome.
   
7. Watch video from 5:15 onwards to see how to unlock a shortcut from the Junk Pit to the City of Tears (Nailsmith).

Pantheon of the Master

The charms I used for this Pantheon can be found at the beginning of the video. I suggest you use charms that you are most comfortable with/suit your play-style the best.

Most of the Pantheon is fine, just the final fight with both brothers Oro and Mato can be challenging because there are two of them. Be wary of their Nail Arts and try not to get surrounded. I recommend using Vengeful Spirit/Shade Soul whenever you can hit both of them with it.

Beating this Pantheon will unlock you the Brotherhood achievement:

Pantheon of the Artist

The charms I used for this Pantheon can be found at the beginning of the video. I suggest you use charms that you are most comfortable with/suit your play-style the best.

Surprisingly I actually managed to beat this Pantheon on my first try. I also found Painmaster Sheo easier than fighting the two brothers in the Pantheon of the Master. Be wary of his range and the splashing paint drops.

Beating this Pantheon will unlock you the Inspiration achievement:

Pantheon of the Sage

The charms I used for this Pantheon can be found at the beginning of the video. I suggest you use charms that you are most comfortable with/suit your play-style the best.

This Pantheon took me many tries. MANY. If you watch the video you'll see that I almost died many times in this run. Maybe it's just me, but Prince Zote always kicks my butt. The Great Nailsage Sly is very fast, has a ridiculous range, and uses Nail Arts. In his final phase (where he bounces around before he attacks) you have just enough time to heal once between his attacks if you time it right. I abused the healing and invulnerability frames to beat him.

The Abyss Shriek spell is fantastic in general, but I found it particularly useful in this Pantheon.

Beating this Pantheon will unlock you the Focus achievement:

Pantheon of the Knight

The charms I used for this Pantheon can be found at the beginning of the video. I suggest you use charms that you are most comfortable with/suit your play-style the best.

It's been a long time since my last update... Oopsie!

This Pantheon took me approximately 5 tries; honestly, I found this Pantheon easier than the Sage. There are opportunities during the Pantheon for you to regain your composure, especially No Eyes during the first half, and Soul Tyrant during the second half (semi-final boss). Both are slow to kill, but they have offer windows for you to heal, especially before Pure Vessel (final boss).

Pure Vessel is essentially a harder version of the Hollow Knight. His attacks do two damage each and you only two tight windows opportunities to heal once during the fight. My main advice is to react to his attacks by jumping. Sometimes you will need to dash as well, but you are generally safer in the air.
Good luck!

Beating this Pantheon will unlock you the Soul & Shade achievement:

Pantheon of Hollownest

Working on it... This one will take me forever.

Lifeblood update

The Lifeblood update makes several tweaks to the menu, graphics, audio, charms, old bosses, and NPC interactions. A new boss was also included in this update. Watch the video below if you want to see the new boss' location and fight.

The new boss, Hive Knight, now defends the Hiveblood charm. As you can imagine, he is located in the Hive. The boss isn't particularly difficult, especially if you're fully upgraded... I could practically spam attack and tank him.
I know, I fought very poorly. It's been a while since I played. Don't judge me.

Grimm Troupe spoiler free guide

I recommend you make a copy of your save file when you start the Grimm Troupe quest line so you can perform the ritual and banish it (both cannot be done in the same save file).

The save files are located in C:\Users\[yourname]\AppData\LocalLow\Team Cherry\Hollow Knight. There your save files will be called user1.dat or user2.dat (the number represents which save file it is). So if you want to copy it, copy user1.dat and change the file name to user2.dat or user3.dat.

Go to this location in the Howling Cliffs and break the wall. After you are done lighting the fire, go back to Dirtmouth. Don't watch the videos if you want to go through the quest by yourself.

Grimm Troupe full video guide

I recommend you make a copy of your save file when you start the Grimm Troupe quest line so you can perform the ritual and banish it (both cannot be done in the same save file).

The save files are located in C:\Users\[yourname]\AppData\LocalLow\Team Cherry\Hollow Knight. There your save files will be called user1.dat or user2.dat (the number represents which save file it is). So if you want to copy it, copy user1.dat and change the file name to user2.dat or user3.dat.

If you choose to follow this video and NOT banish the Grimm Troupe (skip 09:49 to 11:24), you will have the opportunity to fight the Nightmare King Grimm. It is a difficult fight, but very fun (see Nightmare King Grimm video). Doing this will allow you to keep the Grimmchild charm and the opportunity to unlock the Ritual achievement.

Divine and charms

Divine will transform your fragile charms into unbreakable charms, for a price (1:47).
Heart: 12000 Geo
Greed: 9000 Geo
Strength: 15000 Geo

Brumm and Banishment

Brumm can be found in the Beast's Den after you beat the Troupe Master Grimm (follow the flame on the map) (watch the video below). He will hand over one flame and give you the opportunity to end the ritual. Brumm will then go back to the location where you started the quest and wait for you there. Choosing to extinguish the flame will cause the Grimm Troupe AND Divine to go away permanently.
If you choose to end the ritual two things will happen:

1. Nymm will stay behind and give you the Carefree Melody charm (if you talk to him):
"Token commemorating the start of a friendship.
Contains a song of protection that may defend the bearer from damage."

2. You will unlock the banishment achievement. Make sure you talk to Nymm after banishing the Troupe and sit on a bench. If the achievement still doesn't unlock, try exiting and entering the game.

Fighting Troupe Master Grimm

Troupe Master Grimm is fairly difficult. His attacks do 1 damage and are fairly straight forward. Don't panic like I did in the video. At the end of each phase (the boss will transform into bats) you will have enough time to heal 3 times, maybe even 4 times if you're quick.


Beating this boss fight will earn you the Grand Performance achievement.

These are the charms I chose:

• Nailmaster's Glory
  Basically reduces the charge time for Nail Art. Honestly, this wasn't very useful in the fight. I would recommend using a different charm.
  
• Void Heart
  Can't be unequipped.
  
• Mark of Pride
  Increases the range of the nail. I like having a longer nail just because it makes attacks easier to land. An added bonus is that you don't have to get as close to the boss to hit him.
  
• Long Nail
  Also increases the range of the nail. Same reasoning.
  
• Stalwart Shell
  Increases invulnerable time after taking damage. Pretty self explanatory.
  
• Grimmchild
  Grimmchild is required for both the Troupe Master Grimm fight and Nightmare King Grimm fights.

Fighting Nightmare King Grimm

Yep, this is a tough one. Be prepared to die. A lot. Each attack does 2 damage. The flames lingering behind his body will damage you as well. Similar to the first boss, you will have enough time to heal 3 times between each phase. I wouldn't recommend trying to heal a 4th time - it is not worth it if you get hit and lose 2 health. Be patient, learn his moves, and don't give up.


Beating this boss will earn you the Ritual Achievement.

I equipped the same charms as I did for the Troupe Master Grimm fight. See above.

Apparently Grimmchild is required for this fight. Thank you, Tom

Path of Pain

There is a new (secret) platforming challenge in the White Palace called the Path of Pain. It can be found behind a breakable wall. The video below shows how to find the Path of Pain.

The full Path of Pain obstacle course:

This was pretty hard. The video is quite short but this took me about 1.5 hours. Some of the jumps are extremely precise and will require a lot of practice/patience. Here are some of my tips:
1. This is not for everyone. The "reward" might disappoint some of you, considering how difficult it is to get to the end. You will not get an item or achievement. Don't go crazy trying to finish it.
2. Knowing what is coming ahead (from watching this video) is already a big advantage.
3. If you are determined to finish, don't give up. You will get better at it. Take a deep breath and don't rush. Also if you back track (return to a previous screen) or close the game, you will have to start over; keep that in mind.
4. The soul statues (the ones you hit to regain soul) will provide infinite souls (at least from my experience). You SHOULD take advantage of it to fully heal and refil your soul canister.
5. I REALLY recommend using the D-pad instead of the analogue stick (if you're not using a controller, I would recommend you do so too). I find that nail bouncing/pogoing is much easier and my movements are more precise when I use the D-pad.
6. There are 2 enemies at the very end who do 2 damage per hit. Don't be surprised - dying here means you will have to start from the beginning.
7. The charms you equip can make the Path of Pain less painful.

These are the charms I chose:

• Hiveblood
  This will allow your health to regenerate over time (only 1). You will take a lot of damage in the Path of Pain and you want to avoid death at all costs. Why? If you die, you start from the beginning. With this charm you will regenerate 1 health every 30 seconds (more or less). So as long as you get injured at a slower rate than you heal, you will be fine.
  
• Deepfocus
  Allows you to heal for 2 health per soul focus. Same idea as Hiveblood; try to avoid death at all cost.
  
• Mark of Pride
  Increases the range of the nail. This is just a personal preference. In this parcours you are required to down slash A LOT. The extra range on the nail makes this a little easier (at least in my opinion). If you don't have this charm, you could use the Long Nail charm instead.

The new charms

ATTENTION:

As far as I know, you CANNOT have both the Grimmchild AND Carefree Melody charms in the same save file. Make a choice and be prepared to sacrifice one for the other. Or copy your save file and make both choices.

Grimmchild

Where is it? 00:00
Charm effect 01:50

Carefree Melody

Where is it? 02:08
Charm effect 03:50

Sprintmaster

Where is it? 04:04
Charm effect 04:22

Dreamshield

Where is it? 04:30
Charm effect 04:51

Weaversong

Where is it? 05:10
Charm effect 06:17

New NPC interactions

This video includes all the new NPC interactions I could find after the update, including the Dream Nail thoughts of bosses and enemies.

1. Bretta (talking to Zote) has new dream dialogue. (00:00)
2. If you activate the Grimm Troupe flame, and equip the Grimm(child) charm, go talk to the White Lady. (05:31)
3. After you convert all your fragile charms to unbreakable charms with Divine, go visit Leg Eater. (07:13)

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[RapidFire4]

dude best guide gtbh

[ready2b]

no problem

[<Username Not Found>]

Sweet, Thank's so much for the answer.

[ready2b]

Oh right. As far as I know, the Grimm Troupe doesn't affect the game ending. According to the wiki page [hollowknight.fandom.com], there are 5 endings

[<Username Not Found>]

I meant "game endings." There are only the endings I get by defeating the HollowKnight/Radiance and the then the Mr.Mushroom ending correct?

[ready2b]

There are 2 different endings to the Grimm Troupe

[<Username Not Found>]

To be clear, there isn't a different ending for the Grimm Troupe?

[ready2b]

Thanks for the update

[Tom]

It's no longer possible to fight Nightmare Grimm without the child.

[ready2b]

As far as I know, the introduction of new enemies (with every new update) adds to the Hunter's journal (like the new boss added with the Lifeblood update). So I'd assume that the hunter's mark shown is to mark the killing of the two enemies at the end of the path of pain. Sorry I can't be of more help