#charm poll

Originally these art pieces were likely associated with the Unpopular Opinions post, but we no longer know where we intended to put these, so we opted to just put them together in one post. Enjoy!

(The rest will be under the cut to prevent the post from getting too long.)

Overcharming is a mechanic in Hollow Knight that allows you to put on charms with a total notch cost higher than your maximum number of notches. More charms are obviously beneficial, but being overcharmed comes with one significant drawback: you take double damage on everything. For this reason, 141 of our respondents (66.5%) said that they do not regularly overcharm, and many responses noted that the guaranteed double damage is scary. This is very understandable, and it’s unsurprising that so many people do not do it regularly. A few of these respondents did not know what overcharming was; this is also not particularly surprising, since this mechanic is never explicitly explained beyond one dialogue hinting at it, and newer players may have never discovered it. 

The next largest proportion of people were those who only overcharm for radiant Hall of Gods (RadHoG) and/or for the delicate flower quest. Both of these situations require the player to complete a challenge hitless, so the double damage penalty is negligible. 46 respondents (21.7%) noted that they only overcharm for one or both of these challenges. Particularly with RadHoG, where an extra charm can make or break a fight, it’s not startling to see how many people overcharm in this situation.

A smaller proportion of respondents, only 8 of them (3.8%), noted that they only overcharm when inside of Godhome, whether for radiant challenges or radiant pantheons (which we take to mean hitless pantheons). Godhome, as it is a dreamscape, does not have the same penalties as dying in the overworld, encouraging players to take more risks in their playstyle. Besides this, Godhome is often intended for late stages of a playthrough, meaning that players have more upgrades to make survivability more viable. Many people have also completed hitless pantheon challenges, where overcharming would be helpful. It is possible that some of these respondents only overcharm for RadHoG despite not overcharming for flower quest, which would put them in the former category, but due to lack of clarity we opted to sort them into this separate one. The remaining few explicitly noted that they practice for radiant pantheons (and to that: good luck! It’s a tremendous challenge.)

In the poll, one of the questions provided was: “What is your usual playstyle, with respect to charms?” Players were asked to classify their playstyle in a few categories of charm builds, through which we identified specific gameplay strategies employed by them. The most popular category was tied between nail builds, which focus on dealing damage with the nail, and hybrid builds, which was named “Combo nail-spell build” in the poll; this build does not have a preference between dealing damage with the nail or with spells. Both builds had 78 players (35.3%) each, and combined, they constituted 70.6% of all players. The next most popular given category was the heal build, centered around optimizing heals and healing windows, and this was listed as the preferred build of a total of 17 respondents (7.7% of our sample). Tank build was preferred by only 11 people (5.0%), while just 9 people (4.1%) reported using a spell build. Collectively, they made up 193 people of our sample of 221 players.

And what of the remaining players?

We understand that trying to classify charm builds is ultimately an open response question since there is no one way to name a specific charm build, and there are many more strategies used by people than a small team of people could come up with. While we provided options, we gave respondents the option to type in their own answers in the event that they felt their builds did not match any of the five we offered, or if they wished to elaborate on their answers. There were 26 players who did not choose any of the five given categories, corresponding to 11.8% of the sample of 221. This is a significant number that demonstrates there are alternatives that weren’t previously considered.

A significant portion of the remaining players opted to blend heal builds with other previously listed builds, and another marked portion blended nail builds with other builds; some listed a specific mixture of a nail and heal build. There were also other charm builds that did not build on the five offered selections, a noteworthy example being the summons build, which outsources dealing damage to summons granted by the Glowing Womb, Weaversong, and Grimmchild charms; as one respondent said, it is the “send the children in to fight instead” build. Elements of tank builds were also fairly popular among these respondents. Some other respondents prioritized movement, with charms like Dashmaster for extra speed and Thorns of Agony for crowd control. This all shows that more than one strategy can be found in one particular build, and that there is a great variety of charm builds.

Beyond that, a small but significant portion of respondents noted that they used more than one build listed, preferring to change their charms to suit the boss or situation. Others noted that they had no specific strategy; as another respondent put it, “m8 i just see a charm and go “ooga booga that seems somewhat helpful”.” Many players may feel similarly, which is what led us to look deeper into the charm trends in different contexts of the game: combat and exploration.

Hiveblood comes out in first place for this category once again with a total of 66 votes (more than 1 in 4 players!), showing how much specific situations can affect the build a player may need. HIveblood has a unique effect, offering an alternative and passive way to heal, as long as the player does not take new damage, thus saving in soul. Because of this, this charm can be helpful for platforming areas that lack other enemies to draw soul from. For this reason, many tutorials advise using this charm to traverse the White Palace, making the player able to survive for longer and not lose their progress. Though four notches is a high cost for a charm with a slow effect, when getting through buzzsaws and spikes is all you need to progress it can be just the thing you need.

Girimmchild has earned second place, reflecting the exploration necessary to collect all the flames needed for the Grimm Troupe’s ritual. Minions so far seem to be a mixed bag in terms of opinions, and Grimmchild is no exception, however, the quest does require you to bring them with you, and as such is likely to be used in those situations. 

No two players are the same, and while numbers can tell us a lot about the community as a whole, it’s nice to hear what makes people stand out. Several ratings have been created by speedrunners and other content creators, but today, the average player gets to spill the truth and show us their unpopular opinions.

Some charms have created a lot of controversy, causing division among the responders, with comments ranging from useless to overpowered. The charms that stood out to us while reading were Sharp Shadow, Steady Body, and Flukenest… though that last one has more avid haters than likers. Lifeblood charms in general seem disliked, someone mentioning they only acquire them for completion purposes, but even they have some supporters. 

One thing we noticed upon first seeing the results was the repeated mention of Sharp Shadow as an underrated or unpopular charm, mentioned both by people who loved it or hated it (and there were many of both sides). The charm has more than proved its popularity, though, being the 5th most used charm in the combat category, rising as an unexpected contender against other, more universally loved, charms. As people pointed out, the extra damage can be tempting to use, even considered broken for some bosses, but others have trouble adjusting to the way it affects the dash’s length. This last argument could also explain people’s divided opinions on Dashmaster as a charm, since it also modifies dash length and frequency, besides adding downwards dashes.  

Minions were brought up often as well, deserving their own category. Having a companion next to you can make the inhospitable world of Hollow Knight a less lonely place. Still, people are divided about them. At least four different people expressed their hatred for these charms, giving a heated opinion. Grimmchild was brought up both in terms of usefulness and cuteness, with polarized opinions as well. One player states they will take them to shoot aspids, or sometimes bring them for company.

Do you want a challenge? We found not just one, but multiple people confessing to willingly bringing minion charms to Fog Canyon, an area infamous for the exploding enemies all over the caverns, which would take your love for minions one step further. Be careful not to do it in a Steel Soul file, though. 

Dreamshield, which is not a popular charm overall (scoring 1.56 in combat and 1.4 in exploration) has unexpectedly sparked a few positive opinions, highlighting it as “stronk” or good for certain circumstances, as it can destroy projectiles. The sounds can be overwhelming and its protection is not total but there are a few people who do like this charm.

On the opposite end, a few respondents were not fond of Quick Slash, which is among the most popular charms. According to them, it can change your pace, and be a detriment to a player’s ability to dodge attacks. Meanwhile, while charms like Shaman Stone are popular (likely due to its use in any% speedruns), many people have a clear preference over nail damage and thus consider spell builds to not be worth the trouble of even putting them on. 

When it comes to healing, the synergy between Deep Focus and Quick Focus stood out to us. For a total of 7 notches, players can heal slightly faster than normal speed and gain two masks at a time, for half of the soul cost. As you can see, the cost can be steep, yet a few players have expressed using it during combat. Besides this, Hiveblood can cause divisive opinions regarding its high notch cost, driving people away from using it in normal gameplay, but it’s been favored for specific situations like the Path of Pain and the White Palace.

Regarding quality of life, many people recommended Gathering Swarm, Unbreakable Greed and the Wayward Compass. The third of these charms got a few messages, being gr[the rest is unfinished.]

mention something about sharp shadow actually being a favorite

people are very split on loving sharp shadow, steady body, or flukenest, or disliking it enough to mention it. especially sharp shadow

lifeblood charms distaste (+1 love)

minion love (+4 minion hate, +1 grimmchild hate)

dreamshield love (include the drawing under this)

slug love (+1 hate)

grubsong love

some people do not like quickslash

some spell build dissenters

sprintmaster love, but dashmaster controversy

surprising number of people taking minions into fog canyon

someone recommending kingsoul for platforming

genuine compass love (and compass memes). +1 legitimate compass hater

penny pinchers (gathering swarm love)

elegy love

deep + quick focus is a popular combo

hiveblood controversy, but not as much as the other three

nmg love

The top three charms for three notch charms are the same as those in the combat section. However, Mark of Pride is now in first place. All three charms also decreased somewhat in popularity, which implies that even though the popularity of these charms in exploration builds is at least partially due to people not switching their combat charms out, when exploring nail length is more prioritized than nail damage. This also helps explain why Longnail is first place in the top five of two notch charms. When outside of a combat situation, nail range is more important than raw damage, which makes sense. Often, the goal when traversing the map is not necessarily to kill enemies, but rather to push them out of the way from a safe distance. 

Joint hypotheses and conclusions:

Overall, there is a trend where low notch cost charms have more versatile applications, while high notch cost charms have more specific uses. As a result, charms with low notch costs are more common in exploration builds, since there are more environments to deal with when exploring, while charms with high notch costs are more common in combat builds, since combat is a very specific environment where charms can be highly optimized, especially to a specific boss. However, people also tend not to change their charms out for exploration, instead opting to keep their combat builds on. Dreamgating may also make this phenomenon more common. 

Sharp Shadow, while listed as an unpopular charm by many respondents, is actually quite popular, at least among casual players. It makes combat easier for people who are playing the game for fun, while more professional players like speedrunners find more optimized ways to play the game that do not utilize Sharp Shadow. However, it does have drawbacks when it comes to traversing the map, so it falls from favor a little bit.

To further help determine player experience, we also polled on completion of combat based challenges in the game: the Colosseum’s three trials, and the five Pantheons in Godhome. The Trial of the Fool, the third Colosseum trial, and the Pantheon of Hallownest, the final Pantheon, are contested as two of the hardest achievements in the game. The main distinction between them is that their duration, number of enemies, and platforms require different strategies to succeed.

Colosseum

To our surprise and delight, however, a whopping 62% of respondents, 137 players, have completed all three Colosseum trials, and 33.5% of respondents, 74 players, have completed the first two Colosseum trials but not the third. Only 10 respondents do not fall into either of these two categories, which is a tribute to the overwhelming experience our respondents have in wave fights.

Pantheon

Pantheon experience is more varied. 27.1% of respondents, with 60 players, have completed the first four pantheons, but not the Pantheon of Hallownest. 19.9% of respondents, 44 players, have completed all five pantheons, and right on its heels at 19.5% of respondents and 43 players are those who have completed at least one pantheon out of the first three. There is also a marked population of respondents who have completed the first three pantheons, and they comprise 16.3% of the sample at 36 people. Among the remaining 38 people, 30 of them have not completed any pantheons yet, but are considering trying them out or are currently trying to complete one. This shows a strong desire in our respondents to complete the pantheons as well as a remarkable amount of combat experience in boss fights. It also helps to show the variety of skill level of players, allowing for a more diverse sample.

Pantheon Bindings

Additionally, we asked about pantheon bindings, an optional pantheon restriction that increases their difficulty. Each pantheon has four bindings, which can be applied individually or in tandem, and there are a total of 20 bindings to complete. An overwhelming majority of respondents, consisting of 137 people and representing 65.2% of players, have completed 4 or less bindings. Because of this range, this includes both people who have never finished a pantheon with a binding, regardless of whether they ever intend to try. The second group is made up of people who have completed between 5 and 8 bindings, with 31 people. Following them are those that have completed 9 to 12 bindings, with 21 players. Of the remainder, only 13 people, representing 6.2% of the sample, have completed 13 to 16 bindings, and 8 have completed 17 or more bindings. 

Unlike the other challenges, respondents were less likely to have attempted doing pantheons with bindings, showing that most people are either uninterested in trying them out, or there is a difficulty spike they must overcome before they can do so. Playing with bindings does not add to game completion percentages, and only offers a small boon of 3 to 5 lifeblood seeds in every bench room in the pantheons. Additionally, all 20 bindings must be completed to unlock the Weathered Mask journal entry, which also does not add to any completion percentages, including that of the Hunter’s Journal. This and the fact that bindings are not required to progress in Godhome could explain why so many people are not interested in attempting to complete pantheons with bindings.

The top contenders for the three notch charms are likely self-explanatory. Since most players have some sort of focus on nail damage, it’s unsurprising that increasing net nail damage will be a popular choice. The fact that Unbreakable Strength applies a multiplier on the nail’s damage value must be considered; with each nail upgrade, there is an increasingly large boost to nail damage when Strength is equipped. Something similar can be said of Quick Slash, and the two charms are commonly used in tandem.