How to Obtain the Flukenest Charm in Hollow Knight

Learn how to obtain the Flukenest Charm in Hollow Knight!

Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, now a kingdom ruined by a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he can unlock new abilities, spells, and charms that will help him traverse through different areas of Hallownest and defeat enemies.

In the game, special items give the Knight different abilities and bonuses called Charms. To equip or unequip these Charms, the Knight must sit on a Bench, and the Knight must have enough unused Notches to equip them. In this guide, you will learn about the Flukenest charm.

One of the 45 Charms in the game is the Flukenest Charm, which requires and takes up three Charm Notches. When equipped, the Flukenest charm replaces the spirit of the Vengeful Spirit spell, or the shadow of the Shade Soul spell with Flukes.

The Flukenest charm replaces the spirit of the Vengeful Spirit spell with nine Flukes and the shadow of the Shade Soul spell with 16 Flukes. Each Flukes spawned can deal a damage of 4, meaning that the Flukes from the Vengeful Spirit spell can deal a total damage of 36, and the Flukes from the Shade Soul spell can deal a total damage of 64.

Because the charm’s effect of being able to deal increased compared to the regular Vengeful Spirit spell and Shade Soul spell, the Flukenest charm can greatly help when fighting against bosses. With the Flukenest charm, the Knight can now deal more damage to enemies when attacking them using the Vengeful Spirit spell or the Shade Soul spell!

Location

The Flukenest Charm can be obtained after defeating Flukemarm, which is found inside a hidden cave southwest of the Royal Waterways.

On the way to acquiring the Flukenest charm in the Royal Waterways, the Knight will encounter a few enemies, specifically Belflies, Flukefeys, Flukemons, Fluke Larvae, and, as previously mentioned, Flukemarm which is a hidden boss in the area.

Before the Knight can find Flukemarm and the Flukenest charm, it is recommended that the Knight must first have the Desolate Dive spell or the Descending Dark spell, which allows the Knight to strike the ground with concentrated Soul (and Shadow for the Descending Dark spell), the Mantis Claw ability, allowing the Knight to cling to walls and jump off of them, or the Monarch Wings ability, allowing the Knight to perform a secondary jump in mid-air.

The Knight must also purchase the Lumafly Lantern from Sly in Dirtmouth to light up dark rooms. With this item and these abilities, finding Flukemarm and acquiring the Flukenest charm will be no challenge.

To find the Flukemarm, this is what the Knight must do:

1. From the Memorial to the Hollow Knight in the southern part of the City of Tears, head to the left and take the exit; continue to the left until you find a path that leads downwards, then take that exit.
   
2. The Knight is now in the Royal Waterways. Upon entering, head to the left, where the Knight will encounter two Pilflips; at the end of the path, head down the path that leads downwards, where the Knight will encounter another Pilflip, then take the exit on the left.
   
3. Next, head slightly to the left, drop down the gap, head slightly to the right, then drop down the gap. At the bottom, you will see that the ground will rumble, which means it is breakable. Cast the Desolate Dive or Descending Dark spell on the ground to break it and head to the bottom of the shaft, then take the exit below. 
   
4. The Knight will drop down to a crooked Bench. Sit down on the Bench to save your progress.
   
5. Then, drop down on the gap on the left where, at the bottom, the Knight will encounter two Flukemons and a Flukefey. Near the end of the wall on the left, you will see a rounded metal structure with a rumbling floor underneath it. Cast the Desolate Dive or Descending Dark spell on the rumbling floor to break it and exit the room.
   
6. After that, head to the right, drop down the gap where the Knight will encounter another Flukemon, and continue to the right, where the Knight will encounter two separate but consecutive Belflies.
   
7. Next, drop down the gap on the right, where the Knight will encounter three Flukemons and two Flukefeys, head to the right, and jump up the platform on the right using the Mantis Claw ability or the Monarch Wings ability, where the Knight will encounter another Belfly.
   
8. Then, continue heading to the right, jump to the next platform below on the right, where the Knight will encounter another Flukemon, Flukefey, and Belfly, and drop down the gap on the left, where the Knight will encounter another two Flukemons. It is worth mentioning that there is a Soul Totem on the end of the platform on the right. 
   
9. After that, head to the left, where the Knight will encounter another Flukefey; continue heading to the left, where the path is filled with Fluke Larvae, which will not attack the Knight, so the Knight can kill them and gain Soul. Continue on the path where the Knight will encounter two separate Flukemons.
   
10. Next is a slightly tall platform at the end of the path. Instead of jumping up the platform, continue heading to the left, revealing a hidden, narrow pathway. Continue heading to the left and take the exit at the end of the path.
    
11. Then, head to the left, swim on the water, and the Knight will finally find Flukemarm!

To exit this area, simply take the exit on the right to exit Flukemarm’s room, head to the right to get out of the narrow path, jump up the slightly tall platform at the end of the hidden path using the Mantis Claw ability, or the Monarch Wings ability, head to the left, head up the shaft using the Mantis Claw ability (it is worth noting that there is a Geo Chest at the end of the path on the right in the middle of the shaft), head up some more where the Knight will encounter another Belfly, then destroy the wooden barrier that is holding up a wall on the right. After that, the Knight will be back near the room’s entrance.

Flukemarm

As previously mentioned, the Knight must first defeat Flukemarm to obtain the Flukenest charm, so it is important to be familiar with Flukemarm’s moves and behavior.

In battle, Flukemarm will only perform one move:

• Spawn

Flukemarm will spit out two Flukefeys from one of the holes in her body. A maximum of six Flukefeys can be spawned at once.

Strategy

The main strategy for defeating Flukemarm is to defeat the spawned Flukefeys as fast as possible and then attack Flukemarm in between the spawning of the Flukefeys. Then, once the Knight has enough Soul to attack the Flukefeys, the Knight can cast the Vengeful Spirit spell or the Shade Soul spell to deal huge damage to Flukemarm.

Another strategy for defeating Flukemarm is by continuously Nail-bouncing at the top of Flukemarm and simultaneously killing the Flukefeys as they fly toward the Knight to attack. However, this strategy would require the player to be good at Nail-bouncing and attacking different enemies simultaneously.

It is recommended that the Knight’s Nail is upgraded to at least the Channelled Nail, as this can kill Flukefeys with one hit, even without the boost of charms.

The most important thing that the Knight must not do is fall into the water below as the Knight will not be able to attack while swimming in the water, which makes the Knight completely vulnerable.

As for Spells, the Vengeful Spirit Spell or the Shade Soul Spell (the upgrade to the Vengeful Spirit Spell) would be useful as these are quick spells that will shoot out a spirit (or shadow in Shade Soul Spell’s case) that flies forward and hit enemies in its path. The Howling Wraiths or the Abyss Shriek spell (the upgrade to the Howling Wraiths spell) would also be great as this spell will release Soul and deal damage above and around the Knight. 

Charms are also very beneficial in fighting Flukemarm: the Quick Focus Charm can be great to have as it can help the Knight heal faster. The Mark of Pride and Longnail Charm can help by increasing the length of the Knight’s Nail, and the Shaman Stone Charm can help by increasing the size and damage of Spells.

The Soul Catcher and Soul Eater Charm can help by increasing the amount of Soul the Knight will gain when hitting enemies. The Kingsoul Charm can help regenerate Soul every two seconds, and the Grubsong Charm can help gain Soul every time the Knight takes damage.

The Spell Twister Charm can help by reducing the amount of Soul needed to cast Spells, and the Stalwart Shell Charm can help by increasing the invincibility time and decreasing the recoil every time the Knight takes damage.

The Thorns of Agony Charm can help by sprouting out thorny vines that can damage enemies once the Knight takes damage. The Fragile Strength Charm or the Unbreakable Strength Charm can help by increasing the damage output of the Knight’s Nail by 50%, which, if paired even with the Sharpened Nail, is enough to kill Flukefeys with one hit.

Flukenest Charm

After defeating Flukemarm, the Infection will burst out, and Flukemarm will explode and leave behind the Flukenest charm.

Other Charms go well with the Flukenest charm. Specifically, the Shaman Stone charm, which increases the damage output of the Knight’s Spells and increases the size of the Knight’s Vengeful Spirit spell and Shade Soul spell and, if paired with the Flukenest charm, the total damage output of the Vengeful Spirit spell Flukes will be 45, the total damage output of the Shade Soul spell Flukes will be 80.

The size of the Flukes will be increased by about 32%. The Defender’s Crest charm, which will spawn toxic clouds around the Knight that can deal damage to enemies and, if paired with the Flukenest charm, the Flukes that are released when casting the Vengeful Spirit spell or Shade Soul spell will again be replaced by one huge Fluke that deals an impact damage of 3 and will explode into a toxic cloud that lasts for a little bit more than 2 seconds and deals up to 22 damage.

Now that the Knight has the Flukenest charm, the Knight can equip it while sitting down on a Bench, and the Knight will now release Flukes when casting the Vengeful Spirit spell or Shade Soul spell!