Speedrunner Achievement Guide

Guide and route to help with beating the game under 5 hours.

Introduction

Hey so i just did the speedrunner achievement and wanted to make a guide because this great higher quality guide helped me get the achievement in the first game, also this game is so incredibly beautiful and it's everything on my mind rn. My run was pretty close but i wasted like an hour on an arena because i completely forgot about the pinmaster and didn't buy bell stations. All to say the time limit is pretty generous and i think if u beat the game you can probably do it.

Spoilers

just in case

This route isn't very optimized for comfort so grabbing some tools or a skill on the way will make the run easier i'll mention some i thought of after doing the run but i haven't tested them. Let me know if u have suggestions for upgrades to put in the route.

Did a second attempt to show that there is quite a bit of spare time. I still had plenty of deaths and its by no means a speedrun but i wanted to show that i really did just waste 1 hour on that arena.

Route Overview

1. Play with bell beast
   
2. Get Dash
   
3. Defeat Lace
   
4. Get Hover
   
5. Defeat Moorwing
   
6. Get Claw
   
7. Defeat Widow
   
8. Defeat Cogwork Dancers
   
9. Get Melodies
   
10. Defeat Lace again
    
11. Defeat Grandmother Silk

Route and Guide

Path order is:
Red > Dark Blue > Yellow > Pink > Green > Light Blue > Yellow again > Purple > White
sorry for using Yellow twice i forgot i already used it at the start
I'll mark optional Benches with an O on the route and arenas with an A.
The achievement goes by ingame time so you can pause the game and take breaks (map and inventory probably count aswell)

Bone Bottom - The Marrow

Red path:

1. Get to Bone Bottom
   
2. Get Silkspear

Dark Blue path:

O: Bench
1. Defeat Bell Beast

Deep Docks

Dark Blue path:

O: Bench closer to Dash (arena ahead)
1. Get Dash

Yellow path:

O: u can bench closer to Lace but its locked behind an arena
1. Defeat Lace

Optional Upgrades (Warding Bell, Craftmetal)

(thx to King Ultimax in the comments for suggesting the Craftmetal)
Warding Bell is a good defensive option and the Craftmetal can be used to get 4 tools on the way (2.5 of which are usefull imo).

Yellow path:

1. Get Warding Bell
   
2. Get Craftmetal
   This can be used to get either the Cogwork Wheel or Sawtooth Circlet at the Twelth Architect or later on in High Halls to craft the Cogflies if you don't have enough rosaries for the other two.
   
3. Continue to Seamstress
   

Far Fields

Yellow path:

1. Talk to the Seamstress and accept the wish
   
2. Farm the spines then quit to bench (u can respawn the enemies that drop them by exiting and reentering the room at the transition to the right)
   
3. Get Cloak

Pink path:

1. Defeat Fourth Chorus and go up to Greymoor through Pilgrim's Rest

Optional Upgrades (Thread Storm, Threefold Pin)

Getting Thread Storm and Threefold Pin provides more offensive options. Thread Storm is good aoe and helps with arenas and Threefold Pin is good dmg against bigger bosses (beware of shell costs tho).

Pink path:

1. Bench at Shakra (arena ahead)
   
2. Beat the arena inside the Craw Lake building
   
3. Get Thread Storm
   
4. Get Threefold Pin
   O: Bench at the Bellshrine

Greymoor

Pink path:

1. Bench at Halfway Home (arena ahead)
   
2. Unlock the shortcut
   
3. Defeat Moorwing

Bellhart - Shellwood

Pink path:

1. Bench at Bellhart (arena ahead)
   O: There is an enemy pogo to skip Sister Splinter (example video)
   
2. Get Claw

Greenpath:

1. Defeat Widow
   
2. Buy the Bellhart Bellway station
   
3. Get the first nail upgrade

Greymoore - Sinner's Road

Greenpath:

1. Unlock Elevator
   
2. Bench at Halfway Home for Sinners road
   O: Unlock shortcut
   
3. Solve The Mist
   
4. Bench inside of Exhaust Organ top left
   
5. Defeat Phantom

Citadel entry

Greenpath:

1. Bench at Grand Bellway and buy the station if u can't there will be another chance later
   
2. Bench at Songclave
   
3. Defeat Cogwork Dancers
   
4. Unlock the lower door
   
5. Unlock the upper door
   
6. Get Pale Oil

Light Blue path:

1. Bench at Grand Bellway and buy the station if u didn't earlier (farm rosaries in the room to the left of the station if u can't afford it)
   Travel to Bellhart and get the second nail upgrade
   
2. Defeat Trabbio back at Grand Bellway

The Cauldron

Light Blue path:

1. Bench at the Architect
   
2. Get Harpoon
   
3. Take the path below elevator

Citadel again

Light Blue path:

1. Bench and get the Sacred Cylinder

Yellow path again:

1. Get the 1st melody (give cylinder to collector)
   
2. Bench at Songclave and make your way to High Halls

High Halls

Yellow path again:

1. Bench infront of High Halls
   
2. Bench after High Halls (arena ahead)
   Beat the hardest Boss in the game this arena took like 1 hour without any nail upgrades gl
   
3. Get the 2nd melody and follow purple path back to Dancers

Cogwork Core

Purple path:

1. Bench below Cogwork Dancers
   
2. Solve Core "puzzle" and get the 3rd melody

White path:

1. Bench below Cogwork Dancers one last time
   
2. Defeat Lace again

The Cradle

White path:

1. Bench at Terminus
   
2. Unlock shortcut
   
3. Defeat Grandmother Silk

Hope this helps some people if you have feedback let me know.
GL on your runs!

Credits

Guide inspiration: Hollow Knight - 5 Hour Speedrun Achievement Guide by fireb0rn
Full Map image: Post by u/Zignixx
Sister Splinter skip: Video by DuoRue

[Zin]

very helpful, thank you !

[Gottschkopf]

How did you link the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ video for the Splinter skip?? It doesn't even show the full skip, this one is better.

[simaoo_o]

Thank you! Just did it in 3h 59m, had a lot of dumb deaths especially in the early game + 5-ish on my way up to the 3rd melody (was my fault, it isn't that hard 😅) Ended up not using my craftmetal cause I forgot to enter the room for the cogflies in the high halls, and then the way back from the 2nd high halls bench is nearly impossible w/o double jump. Best advice I can give for this achievement is watching boss guides on youtube to remind yourself of their movesets. Other smaller stuff is just like paying attention to where you're going and making sure you don't get lost w/o the in-game map. The High Halls arena is probably the hardest part of this run, but you shouldn't underestimate Lace 2 and GMS just because they were easy on your first playthrough: I usually found it helpful to heal whenever possible in boss fights (even if you're still on 4 masks) cause you can die pretty quickly with just 5 of them

[Zityu]

Did it with your guide, thank you!

[Browen]

Just got it in 2h48m using this! For a while there I was afraid I wouldn't be able to beat Lace with no mask, silk, or tool upgrades!

I agree with PewPewDragon that adding in the runback to open the bench before Widow is a good idea, I would probably call it the 3rd hardest fight in the run and the shortcut saves a lot of time

[PewPewDragon]

Thanks, completed in "4h23m" following your route almost exactly. In hindsight, I should've deviated to acquire some masks and tools. I ended up cheesing my run by reloading to a previous checkpoint to redo my slow sections because I ran out of time fighting Silk Mother (only had enough time for 2 attempts). Took way too long on the High Halls arena, the Mist, and Widow of all things.

I recommend adding an "optional bench" just before the Widow fight, it is two rooms over toward the left of Widow. Also, getting Thread Storm is a crucial game changer tbh, it was much needed for the High Halls arena.

Would have liked it if the guide included more optional items, but I guess that's what I get for not planning my own route. Anyway great guide, will be attempting the 100% 30hr run next.

[QUesoLOCO]

Muchas gracias por la Guía, me lo pase en 4h13s

[Fikumiku]

Great and concise guide, 2:10 and 1st tried HHA.

[Mirai]

Got it in 3:33 on my first try with this guide, thanks!

[Everday]

Nice 4:32 on my first attempt. ♥♥♥♥ that gauntlet actually. Harder than lace + mommy silk