How to Obtain the Sharp Shadow Charm

Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, which is now a kingdom in ruins because of 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 be sitting on a Bench, and the Knight must have enough unused Notches to equip them. In this guide, we’ll learn about the Sharp Shadow charm.

One of the 45 Charms in the game is the Sharp Shadow Charm which requires and takes up only two Charm Notches. When equipped, the Sharp Shadow charm allows the Knight to deal damage to enemies whenever the Knight dashes through them using the Shade Cloak ability.

The damage dealt by dashing through enemies using the Shade Cloak ability is the same as hitting them once with the Nail. Not only that, but the Sharp Shadow charm also increases the dash length of the Shade Cloak ability by 40%. It is worth noting, however, that the Sharp Shadow charm does not affect the dash length of the Mothwing Cloak ability.

This charm can be useful for dashing through enemies and bosses and dashing through their attacks. With the Sharp Shadow charm, the Knight can deal damage by passing through enemies!

Location

The Sharp Shadow charm can be found in the southeasternmost part of Deepnest, which a Shade Gate blocks.

On the way to acquiring the Sharp Shadow charm in Deepnest, the Knight will encounter a few enemies, specifically Garpedes and Goams.

Before the Knight can find the Sharp Shadow charm, it is recommended that the Knight must first have the Mantis Claw ability, which allows the Knight to cling to walls and jump off of them,  the Mothwing Cloak ability, which enables the Knight to perform a horizontal dash forwards, and the Shade Cloak ability, which is the upgrade to the Mothwing Cloak ability and allows the Knight to dash through enemies and their attacks. Additionally, the Knight must also purchase the Lumafly Lantern from Sly in Dirtmouth to light up very dark rooms. With this item and these abilities, finding the Sharp Shadow charm will be no challenge at all.

To find the Sharp Shadow charm, this is what the Knight must do:

1. Starting from Tram in the southeast of Deepnest, exit the Tram, head to the left, and take the exit.
2. The Knight is now in Deepnest and will be in a room that looks like a maze and is filled with Garpedes. Head slightly to the left, wait for the Garpede to pass through on the path above, quickly jump to the platform above, quickly head to the right, then jump to the next platform above.
3. Next, head to the left, wait for the Garpede above to pass through, jump to the platform above, run to the left, and drop down on the next path downwards.
4. After that, head slightly to the left, wait for the Garpede below to pass through, quickly drop down, run to the right, drop down on the next path downwards, head to the right, then take the next exit downwards.
5. Then, head to the left, down the shaft, take the next path on the right, and continue until you find the Shade Gate.
6. Next, pass through the Shade Gate using the Shade Cloak ability, head to the right, where the Knight will encounter a gap with spikes, a Goam, an open space, and two more Goams; wait for the leftmost Goam to retract up, then quickly jump across the gap of spikes, head to the open space, then pass through one of the two Goams using the Shade Cloak ability.
7. After that, continue to the right where there is a raised platform with spikes on time and two Goams popping down completely covering the path. Wait for the Goam on the left to pop down, then quickly jump and pass through the Goam using the Shade Cloak ability.
8. Then, continue to the right, where there are three more Goams and a gap with spikes on the floor. Wait for the middle Goam to pop down, then quickly jump and pass through it using the Shade Cloak ability.
9. Next, continue heading to the right, and at the end of the path, there is a gap, but below it is two Goams and a platform with spikes. Wait for the Goam on the left to pop up, then quickly drop down on the gap and pass through the Goam on the left using the Shade Cloak ability.
10. Afterward, head to the left and drop down the gap, where there will be a narrow path with short Garpede passing. Wait for the Garpede to pass through, drop down the path, head to the left, pass through the Garpede once it tries to pass again using the Shade Cloak ability, then jump on the next path above.
11. Then, head to the left, drop down the gap, continue to the left, and at the end of the path, you will find a statue with something glowing on it. Inspect the glowing thing, and the Knight will now obtain the Sharp Shadow charm!

To exit this area, head to the left, where you will find a wooden barrier holding up a wall. Strike the wooden barrier a couple of times to break it and open up a path, then head up the path to head back to the previous room.

There is another Charm that goes well with the Sharp Shadow charm, specifically the Dashmaster charm, which allows the Knight to dash downwards and reduces the cooldown of the Mothwing Cloak ability and, if paired with the Sharp Shadow charm, the damage dealt by the Knight when passing through enemies is increased to 1.5x of the damage output of the Knight’s Nail. Still, it will not have an effect on the charge or cooldown time of the ability.

Now that the Knight has the Sharp Shadow charm, the Knight can now equip it while sitting down on a Bench and the Knight will now deal damage on enemies whenever the Knight passes through them using the Shade Cloak ability!