You're standing in front of a Great Husk Sentry in the City of Tears. Your heart is thumping because you’ve only got two masks left. You charge up your nail, wait for that flash of light, and let it rip. But you missed. Or worse, you traded hits and ended up back at the bench. It happens to everyone. Honestly, Hollow Knight nail art is one of those mechanics that feels clunky until it suddenly clicks, and then you realize you’ve been playing the game on hard mode for no reason.
Most players treat the three arts—Great Slash, Dash Slash, and Cyclone Slash—as secondary tools. They’re "extra." But if you’re trying to beat the Trial of the Fool or survive the later Pantheons in Godhome, these moves are the difference between a win and a salty restart. They aren't just fancy swings. They are tactical resets.
The Problem with Charging Up
The biggest barrier to entry with any Hollow Knight nail art is the button mapping. Holding down the attack button while trying to jump and dash feels like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach while a primal aspid spits acid at your face. It’s awkward. You’ll see a lot of pros talk about "claw grip" or remapping their controllers. You don't necessarily have to go that far, but you do need to change how you think about your thumb.
Basically, you should be charging your nail anytime you aren't actively swinging it. Walking through a hallway? Charge. Falling through a shaft? Charge. The moment you enter a boss arena, that button should already be down.
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Why Great Slash is the Bread and Butter
Great Slash is the first art most people find, tucked away in the howling cliffs with Mato. It’s simple. It hits hard. Specifically, it deals 2.5 times your current Nail damage. If you have the Pure Nail, that’s 52 damage in a single hit. For context, a standard swing with the Pure Nail does 21.
Why does this matter? Reach.
Great Slash has a massive hit box that extends slightly above, below, and behind the Knight. It’s the ultimate "get off me" tool. When you’re dealing with enemies that have high knockback or annoying shields, a single Great Slash often bypasses their defenses or kills them before they can cycle their next attack. It’s particularly disgusting against Squibs and Primal Aspids because it deletes them instantly, saving you the headache of chasing them around the screen.
Mastering the Dash Slash (and its weird hitbox)
Oro teaches you the Dash Slash in the edge of the world, and it’s arguably the most misunderstood move in the game. You dash, you slash. Simple, right? Except the timing is tighter than it looks. If you release the button too early, you just get a regular dash. Too late, and you’re just standing there swinging at air.
The real secret to Dash Slash is that the hitbox lingers. It stretches out in front of you like a physical spear. This is your primary tool for bosses like Nightmare King Grimm or Pure Vessel. You can close the gap from halfway across the arena and land a massive hit before they even finish their teleport animation.
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Kinda makes you feel like a samurai, doesn't it?
The Cyclone Slash Controversy
Then there’s Sheo’s Cyclone Slash. Most beginners hate it. You’re stationary, you’re vulnerable, and if you don't mash the attack button, it ends too quickly. But here's the thing: Cyclone Slash has the highest potential DPS (damage per second) of any physical attack in the game.
If you mash the button, you can get up to 6 or 7 hits in a single spin. Against a large, stationary boss like Massive Moss Charger or even a staggered Hollow Knight, it’s a meat grinder. It also gives you a slight hover. If you’re falling toward spikes and your dash is on cooldown, a quick Cyclone Slash can actually keep you airborne long enough to recover. It’s a niche platforming save that almost nobody uses.
The Secret Sauce: Nailmaster’s Glory
If you’re serious about using Hollow Knight nail art, you cannot ignore the Nailmaster’s Glory charm. You get it from Sly after finding all three brothers. It costs a single notch. Just one.
What it does is cut your charge time nearly in half.
Without it, charging a nail art takes about 1.35 seconds. With it? 0.75 seconds. That might not sound like a lot on paper, but in the heat of a boss fight, that half-second is the difference between getting a hit off and getting smacked out of your animation. It turns the arts from "situational moves" into "primary fire."
What People Get Wrong About Sly
Sly is the one who gives you the charm, but he’s also the one who shows you how terrifying these moves are when used correctly. When you fight him at the end of the Pantheon of the Sage, he uses all of them.
Most players struggle with Sly because they try to out-swing him. You can’t. He’s faster. The trick to beating him—and most high-level encounters—is to use your own nail arts to match his range. When he finishes his overhead spin, that’s your cue for a Great Slash. You don't need to get close. You just need to be in the general vicinity.
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Practical Combat Applications
- Trial of the Fool: Use Great Slash to one-shot flying enemies the moment they spawn. If you know the spawn patterns, you can have a Great Slash charged and ready to delete an Aspid before it even fires a shot.
- The Collector: In higher difficulty versions (Ascended/Radiant), the jars spawn enemies that take more than one hit to kill. A Great Slash ensures they die immediately, keeping the arena clear.
- Markoth: We all hate Markoth. His shields are a nightmare. Dash Slash allows you to poke him from a distance where his shields can't reach you. It’s slow, but it’s the safest way to chip away at his health.
Navigating the Learning Curve
Look, learning to use these arts is frustrating. You’re going to fall into spikes because you were holding the button and forgot how to double jump. You’re going to get hit because you were waiting for a charge that didn't come fast enough.
The best place to practice isn't Godhome. It’s the area around the King's Station. The Great Husk Sentries there are slow, have a lot of health, and telegraph their moves. They are perfect practice dummies for timing your Great Slashes.
Work on the "hold and move" rhythm. Get used to the sound cue—that sharp shing that tells you the art is ready. Once that sound becomes second nature, you’ll stop looking at your character and start looking at the enemy’s openings.
Why Does Team Cherry Make It So Hard?
There’s a design philosophy here. Hollow Knight nail art isn't meant to replace the standard nail swing; it’s meant to supplement it. The game encourages a flow state. You swing, you dodge, you charge, you unleash. It’s a dance. If the arts were too easy to use, you’d never use regular attacks, and the game’s balance would shatter.
By making them require a charge, the developers force you to commit. You are trading your ability to spam attacks for a single, high-impact moment. It’s a gamble. And in a game as punishing as this, gambles are what make the gameplay loop so addictive.
Actionable Next Steps for Mastery
To actually get good at incorporating these into your runs, stop trying to use all three at once.
- Equip Nailmaster’s Glory and go to a low-stakes area like the Crossroads.
- Spend 20 minutes using only Great Slash. Don't use regular attacks. Learn exactly how far that horizontal hitbox reaches.
- Practice the "Wall Jump Charge." Learn to hold the charge button while jumping off walls. This is the hardest movement tech to master but the most rewarding for exploration.
- Try the Dash Slash on the hoppers in Kingdom’s Edge. If you can hit those erratic jerks consistently, you can hit anything in the game.
- Re-evaluate your button layout. If holding 'X' or 'Square' is killing your hand, try moving your attack to a shoulder button like R1. It feels weird for an hour, but it changes everything for nail art uptime.
Mastering these moves isn't about being "pro." It's about giving yourself more options. When you stop fearing the charge time and start embracing the range, the entire world of Hallownest feels just a little bit smaller and a lot less intimidating.