Coral Tower Complete Guide – How to Get Heart of Might in Hollow Knight Silksong

Conquer Coral Tower’s brutal arena gauntlet and defeat Crust King Khann! Complete guide to obtaining the Heart of Might (Encrusted Heart) in Hollow Knight Silksong’s toughest challenge.

The Ultimate Test of Endurance and Skill

Coral Tower represents one of Hollow Knight : Silksong most punishing challenges—a relentless gauntlet that strips away all comfort zones and forces you to prove your mastery of every combat technique you’ve learned. This isn’t just about collecting another heart; it’s about surviving an ordeal that will test your patience, skill, and determination like nothing else in the game.

Understanding the Heart of Might Quest

Why This Heart Matters

The Heart of Might (also called the Encrusted Heart) serves as one of three essential items needed to progress through the Abyss in Silksong’s later stages. Unlike other progression items that reward exploration or puzzle-solving, this heart demands pure combat excellence through sustained pressure.

What Sets This Apart:

• Pure combat focus – No puzzles or platforming challenges
• Escalating difficulty – Each arena fight increases in complexity
• High stakes progression – Failure means starting over completely
• Gestion des ressources – Limited healing opportunities test your efficiency

This quest serves as Silksong’s ultimate skill check, ensuring only prepared players can access the game’s final areas.

Getting to Coral Tower: The Sands of Karak Journey

Navigation Prerequisites

Before attempting Coral Tower, ensure you have:

• Capacité de vol en soie – Essential for vertical navigation
• Clawline proficiency – Required for the final platforming sequence
• Améliorations de santé maximales – You’ll need every mask you can get
• Upgraded needle – Higher damage output reduces fight duration

The Blasted Steps Route

Approche stratégique : Starting from Marches foudroyées, head consistently eastward through the Sands of Karak region. The unique branching mechanic in this area requires quick reflexes—hit branches to make them grow, then immediately use the new platforms before they retract.

The Critical Shortcut Creation

Pourquoi c'est important : Creating the shortcut in the first vertical room becomes absolutely crucial later. While you can technically skip this using advanced Silk Soar techniques, establishing this route early saves countless headaches during repeated attempts.

Processus étape par étape :

1. Drop to the bottom of the eastern vertical room
2. Hit the branch quickly and platform to the top without hesitation
3. Destroy the rock above the bridge to open the shortcut path
4. Test the shortcut before proceeding to ensure it works properly

The Final Platforming Challenge

Technical Sequence: The wall-clinging and Clawline combination at the end requires precision timing. Practice this sequence before entering Coral Tower—you don’t want to fail here and have to repeat the entire navigation process.

Conseil de pro : The hidden bench to the right of the slumbering warrior provides your last opportunity to heal and prepare. Take advantage of this breather before committing to the memory sequence.

Entering the Memory: Elegy of the Past

The Transition Sequence

Playing the Elegy of the Past transforms this encounter from a simple boss fight into something far more significant. You’re not just fighting in Coral Tower—you’re experiencing the memory of a fallen warrior, walking in their footsteps through their final trial.

This narrative framing adds emotional weight to what could otherwise feel like a simple combat gauntlet.

Arena Gauntlet Breakdown: Four Fights to Victory

Arena 1: The Opening Statement

Caractéristiques de combat :

• Wave-based enemy spawning
• Introduction of the white jellyfish healing mechanic
• Relatively spacious arena with full mobility

Approche stratégique : This first fight establishes the rhythm for everything that follows. Focus on learning enemy spawn patterns while conserving silk energy. The white jellyfish enemies that occasionally appear restore silk when hit—prioritize these targets for resource management.

Recommended Tools:

• Cogfly for automatic enemy targeting
• Venom-enhanced tools for increased damage over time
• Area-of-effect abilities pour le contrôle des foules

Arena 2: Environmental Hazards Introduction

New Mechanics:

• Red spikes appear mid-battle and persist
• Gradually reduced safe movement space
• Large enemy appears to clear spikes at fight’s end

Adaptation Strategy: This fight teaches spatial awareness and positioning under pressure. As the arena shrinks with each spike appearance, your movement options become increasingly limited. Practice wall-jumping techniques to maintain mobility when ground space disappears.

Critical Insight: The spikes aren’t just obstacles—they’re teaching you the spatial restriction concepts that become crucial in later fights.

Arena 3: The Ultimate Positioning Test

Maximum Difficulty:

• Nearly immediate spike coverage of all ground
• Wall-clinging becomes essential for survival
• Ascendant’s Grip tool provides significant advantage

Stratégie de survie : This fight represents Coral Tower’s most technically demanding encounter. Without proper wall-clinging abilities, this becomes nearly impossible. The Ascendant’s Grip tool transforms this from a nightmare into a manageable challenge.

Why Ascendant’s Grip Matters:

• Prevents sliding during wall-cling combat
• Allows sustained attacks while maintaining position
• Provides confidence for aggressive play styles

The Crucial Shortcut Unlock

Game-Changing Moment: Destroying the rock after Arena 3 creates a shortcut that bypasses the first three fights. This becomes essential for multiple attempts at the final boss, transforming potential frustration into manageable practice sessions.

Valeur stratégique :

• Eliminates repeated gauntlet runs for boss practice
• Allows bench rest between attempts
• Reduces overall stress and maintains focus for the final encounter

Arena 4: Platform Limitation Challenge

Mécanique unique :

• Only three platforms available for positioning
• One platform temporarily disappears mid-fight
• Forces adaptation to changing battlefield conditions

Stratégie de préparation : This fight demands flexibility and quick thinking. When the platform disappears, you must immediately adapt positioning without losing combat rhythm. Practice platform-to-platform movement before engaging enemies.

The Final Boss: Crust King Khann

Understanding the Encounter

Khann represents everything Coral Tower has been building toward—a boss that combines mobility, area denial, and aggressive positioning pressure into one overwhelming package.

Attack Patterns:

• Spike Summoning: Covers large arena sections with dangerous terrain
• High Mobility: Frequent jumping creates positioning challenges
• Refus de zone : Spikes limit safe movement options throughout the fight

Strategic Approach

Gestion des phases : Unlike previous arena fights, Khann requires sustained single-target focus while managing environmental hazards. The spike summoning creates temporary safe zones that shift constantly throughout the encounter.

Positioning Priority:

• Stay mobile between spike waves
• Use platform edges for maximum movement options
• Time attacks during Khann’s landing recovery frames

Gestion des ressources : This is your final encounter—use consumables and silk abilities liberally. Saving resources for later fights doesn’t apply here.

Alternative: The Green Prince Route

When to Consider Alternatives

If Coral Tower proves consistently overwhelming, the Green Prince questline offers an alternative path to heart acquisition. However, this route presents its own unique challenges and shouldn’t be considered an “easy mode.”

Comparison Factors:

• Different skill requirements (puzzle vs. combat focus)
• Unique progression challenges
• Similar difficulty level, different approach

The choice between routes often depends on your playstyle preferences rather than objective difficulty differences.

Preparation and Optimization

Essential Upgrades Before Attempting

Combat Effectiveness:

• Maximum améliorations des aiguilles for increased damage output
• Complet health expansion to survive mistake sequences
• Tool optimization with venom enhancement

Skill Prerequisites:

• Comfortable with all movement abilities
• Efficient techniques de guérison sous pression
• Parrying proficiency for damage mitigation

Préparation mentale

Mindset Management: Coral Tower demands patience and persistence. Multiple attempts are normal—even experienced players rarely clear this on their first try. Treat early attempts as learning experiences rather than failure sequences.

Stress Management:

• Take breaks between attempts to maintain focus
• Practice individual arena types in other areas when possible
• Remember that the shortcut eliminates most repetition after Arena 3

Disponibilité de la plateforme

Ready to face Coral Tower’s ultimate challenge? Hollow Knight: Silksong is available on:

• Vapeur
• Nintendo Switch
• PlayStation
• Xbox

The Reward of Perseverance

Coral Tower represents Silksong at its most demanding, but also at its most rewarding. The Heart of Might isn’t just a progression item—it’s proof that you’ve mastered the game’s combat systems under extreme pressure.

The journey through these arena fights teaches lessons that apply throughout the rest of Silksong. Resource management, positioning awareness, and sustained performance under pressure become second nature after surviving this gauntlet.

When you finally defeat Crust King Khann and claim the Encrusted Heart, you’re not just progressing the story—you’re joining the ranks of players who’ve proven themselves against one of the medium’s most challenging combat encounters.

The memory of Coral Tower will stay with you long after you’ve moved on to other areas. Every subsequent challenge will feel more manageable because you’ve already survived the ultimate test.

Conquered Coral Tower and ready for more challenges? Explore our complete Act 2 progression guide or check out strategies for other heart collection quests to continue your journey through Pharloom’s most dangerous regions.