Route Strategy Breakdown

dream gate ability

the abyss

Joni's Blessing

3 mask shards = 3%

3 Soul vessels = 3%

4 Nail Upgrades = 4%

3 Nail Arts = 3%

7 Warrior's Grave = 7%

3 Dreamers = 3%

All charms except Grimmchild: 39%

3 Abilities with upgrades = 6%

Dream Nail and Awoken = 2%

Mothwing Cloak = 2%

Mantis Claw = 2%

Crystal Heart = 2%

Isma's Tear = 2%

Monarch Wings = 2%

King's Brand = 2%

Shade Cloak = 2%

2 Colosseum Trials = 2%

All Bossess except Grimm = 15%

Part 1

False Knight --/ Vengeful Spirit --/ Greenpath --/ Hornet --/ Mothwing Cloak



Fungal Wastes --/ Mantis Claw --/ City of Tears --/ Soul Master --/ Desolate Dive



Forgotten Crossroads --/ Gruz Mother --/ Shaman Stone



Crystal Peak --/ Crystal Heart and Shopkeeper's Key --/ Dirtmouth --/ Elegant Key



Forgotten Crossroads --/ Resting Grounds --/ Dream Nail

Part 2

City of Tears --/ Shade Soul



Royal Waterways --/ Dung Defender --> Isma's Grove --/ Isma's Tear



Ancient Basin --/ Broken Vessel --/ Monarch's Wings

Part 3

Dirtmouth --/ Lumafly Lantern --/ Crystal Peak --/ Resting Grounds --/ Xero



City of Tears --/ Royal Waterways --/ Fungal Wastes --/ Mantis Lords



Deepnest --/ Nosk --/ Tram Pass --/ Herrah

Part 4

Greenpath --/ No Eyes --/ Fog Canyon --/ Queen's Station



Fungal Wastes --/ Leg Eater --/ Fragile Charms --/ Elder Hu



Fog Canyon --/ Uumuu --/ Monomon



City of Tears --/ Soul Tyrant



Forgotten Crossroads --/ Failed Champion



Resting Grounds --/ Dream Gate

Part 5

Dirtmouth --/ Howling Cliffs --/ Gorb



Kingdom's Edge --/ Hornet --/ King's Brand



Ancient Basin --/ The Abyss --/ Abyss Shriek --/ Shade Cloak



Ancient Basin --/ Lost Kin



Queen's Gardens --/ Marmu --/ Traitor Lord

Part 6

Kingdom's Edge --/ The Collector --/ Colosseum of Fools --/ Markoth



Resting Grounds --/ Awoken Dream Nail



Ancient Basin --/ White Palace --/ Kingsoul



Buy every essential item in Dirtmouth, collect reward from Grubfather



Endgame

It is mostly intuitive for anyone who had played the game but it's worth mentioning anyway. Since every time you reload a save file the game spawns you at the last bench you sat on, you can use this mechanic as a pseudo fast travel method, this is especially useful during early stages of the game.1. Identify all your objectives before you begin the run. While you're running from objective to objective, you should be picking up any grubs that you see along the way. Make sure all your objectives add up to 100% (I'd personally recommend going for 101% since I had a bug before where only 99% completion was registered in-game even though I was sure I did 100%).2. Sequence your objectives in such a way that you minimize the number of times you have to run through the same path, try to avoid areas that require large detours until after you have obtained the. For example, you can use dream gate to escapeor the cave wherewith a chunk of time save.3. Start running.For reference, here is my (glitchless) run. I finished it just a little above four hours (my PB! hooray!) because I got a little bit too excited at the end and died to the hollow knight, aha.Run completion percentage:The run can be separated into 6 parts.The sequence can be summarized as follows:Notes1. The moss knight requires one nail hit and three spirits to kill while the elder baldur requires four spirits. By charging up your soul meter before each fight, you can make it significantly shorter and easier.2. Reloading back to the bench in Ancestral Mound will make the trip to Fungal Wastes from Greenpath much shorter, so unless you're not confident that you can defeat Hornet in one attempt, there is no need to sit on any bench in Greenpath.3. The reason why I keep changing the controls is because I use mouse5 to cast spells and for some reason the game resets it every time I quit.The sequence can be summarized as follows:The sequence can be summarized as follows:1. You can choose to skip the tram pass because you won't be needing it until much later in the game. You can always come back for it via the shortcut in Queen's Gardens.2. Dream nail a Glimback or a Shardmite to easily charge up your soul meter.3. Now that you have shade soul and all the movement abilities, the run becomes fairly easier after this point.The sequence can be summarized as follows:1. I forgot to equip Fragile Strength before the Soul Tyrant boss fight.2. Failed Champion is easy when you realize you can dream nail it once its down, but if you take too long he can stand back up.The sequence can be summarized as follows:1. Make sure you set down dream gate before entering Joni's Cave or The Abyss, this will save a ton of time.2. It is at this point where I forgot to claim the Grimmchild charm.The sequence can be summarized as follows:And there you have it, folks. You should be able to get the achievement in your first try, even if you die and have to backtrack a ton of times. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer all of them. Good luck, and I hope this doesn't sound too cheesy, but don't forget to have fun!