Puzzling out how to unlock Act 3 in Hollow Knight: Silksong is a tricky business. If you're trying to do it yourself, you'll likely have seen that you need to acquire a special quest from the Caretaker at Songclave, but it's not entirely clear what the exact unlock conditions are for it. Some say you have to do every quest or find every lost flea, but I'm here to get rid of any misconceptions.
Since I didn't do loads of side content, it wasn't actually too hard to pin down the unlock conditions for the Silk and Soul quest you need to complete to open up Act 3.
Below, I'll go through the exact requirements, what you need to do after, plus I'll provide a list of other quests I did and my reasoning as to why they likely don't matter, just in case there's an outlier you need to complete for Silk and Soul.
How to unlock Act 3 in Silksong
Before I go into specifics, I first want to clarify some misconceptions I've seen about unlocking Act 3:
- You don't have to do all quests
- You don't have to find every lost flea
- You don't have to do every town quest (though almost all of them)
- You don't have to beat the final boss to acquire the Silk and Soul quest
Now that's out of the way, here's what you need to do:
- Complete *most* of the wish wall quests for Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave
- I'll go into specifics about which below because there are exceptions
- Move the Flea Caravan to its final spot at the Pale Lake in the Putrified Ducts
- To do this, you'll have to find 22 fleas (if I counted right), possibly also the giant flea in Memorium, Kratt in Greymoor, and Vog in the Putrified Ducts
- You'll also have to find the Pale Lake and tell Fleamaster Mooshka
- Collect the Architect, Conductor, and Vaultkeeper melodies and gain access to the final boss in The Cradle
Upon successfully fulfilling the above criteria:
- Complete the Silk and Soul quest which you should be able to get from the Caretaker of Songclave
- Defeat Grand Mother Silk and choose to play the Needolin instead of binding her at the end of the fight
If you fulfill all of these requirements, the credits will roll, and afterwards you'll be put back at the main menu. From there, just select "Start Game" and smash the black tendrils around your save file to start Act 3.
Silksong Act 3 quest requirements
Below, I'll go through the exact quests and conditions I completed for each town to unlock Silk and Soul, plus those that I reckon are likely unnecessary.
Bone Bottom quests
- Bone Bottom Repairs
- A Lifesaving Bridge
- Garb of the Pilgrims
- Volatile Flintbeetles
- The Terrible Tyrant
- An Icon of Hope
Also, make sure to fight the Skull Tyrant that attacks Bone Bottom, witness the funeral, and talk to the leader of Bone Bottom to receive the Hornet Statuette once all these quests are done.
Bellhart quests
- Restoration of Bellhart
- My Missing Courier
- Silver Bells
- My Missing Brother
- Bone Bottom Supplies
- Savage Beastfly
- Bellhart's Glory
You'll also have to complete Trail's End. This is Shakra's quest and requires you to either find (or miss) her when visiting The Marrow, Deep Docks, Hunter's March, Far Fields, Wormways, Greymoor, Sinner's Road, Shellwood, Bilewater, Blasted Steps, Sands of Karak, and Mount Fay. You'll also have to purchase the maps for these regions either when you see her, or in Bone Bottom or Bellhart depending on your progress. The Trail's End will appear in Bellhart once done.
Make sure to also speak to Pavo (bell guy) in Bellhart to receive your Bellhome in the town. It seems like you can do this before completing Shakra's quest, provided you've done the Restoration and Glory ones.
Songclave quests
- Fine Pins
- Strengthening Songclave
- The Lost Merchant
- The Wandering Merchant
- Cloaks of the Choir
- Balm for the Wounded
You'll also have to complete Final Audience. This first requires you to complete three bell puzzles to collect Cogwork Heart pieces, which you then use to revive the Second Sentinel in the lower section of the Cogwork Core. You then need to encounter her twice, randomly fighting enemies around the Choral Chambers. For me, this was en route to the Cogwork Dancers boss and in the top left near the entrance to the High Halls. After that, the Final Audience will appear in Songclave
You'll also need to complete Silk and Soul, of course. I also did some other quests that I don't think are related. For example, I completed two of the courier quests (Bone Bottom and Pilgrim's Rest), but I didn't do the delivery for Songclave or the Queen's Egg. In terms of the Grand Hunts, I didn't do the Wailing Mother (meaning The Terrible Tyrant and Savage Beastfly may not be necessary). I also didn't do any quests for Greyroot or the Huntress.
These are the other quests I did (just for reference in case doing the above doesn't unlock Silk and Soul):
- Berry Picking
- Flexile Spines
- Bugs of Pharloom
- Pinmaster's Oil
- Crawbug Clearing
- Alchemist's Assistant
- Great Taste of Pharloom
- Pilgrim's Rest Supplies
