You’ve been staring at it for hours. We all have. Deep in the humid, metallic shadows of the Deep Docks, there is a massive, rusting hunk of iron known as the silksong old diving bell. It’s the kind of environmental mystery that makes you want to bite your controller. It looks like a portal. It smells like a secret. But when you walk up to it, you get nothing but a prompt about an "ornate clamp" and a shut door.
Honestly, it’s frustrating.
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Most players find this thing during Act 2 and assume they just missed a lever or a hidden wall. You haven't. The game is just playing a very long, very deliberate game of keep-away with you. If you’re trying to force your way into the abyss early, I have some bad news: it’s literally impossible until the game decides you’re ready.
The Deep Docks Bottleneck
The silksong old diving bell isn't just a side quest fluff piece; it is the literal gatekeeper to the endgame. Specifically, it leads to The Abyss, the lowest point in Pharloom. If you haven't reached Act 3 yet, the bell is basically a glorified paperweight.
To get that door open, you need the Diving Bell Key.
Getting the key isn't about being good at combat—it’s about being a completionist. You have to trigger Act 3 first. This involves finishing the massive questline with Grand Mother Silk. Once that’s done and you’ve reloaded at a bench, the world shifts. That’s when you need to track down Bellow.
Where to Find Bellow and the Key
Bellow is the NPC you likely saw earlier shoveling smoke-rock near the Forge Daughter. Once Act 3 is live, he moves. You’ll find him perched right above the diving bell in the Deep Docks.
Talk to him.
He’ll hand over the Diving Bell Key, but don't expect him to be happy about it. The lore here is heavy. The bell was designed to descend into the pressurized, dark depths where normal bugs just... pop. Using it signifies Hornet’s transition from a hunter of the Citadel to a scavenger of the world’s oldest, darkest secrets.
Why Everyone Gets Stuck
- The Questboard Trap: Many players think they can just grind out Songclave wishes to get the key. While the Songclave is involved in unlocking Act 3's prerequisites, the key itself is a specific drop from Bellow.
- The Act 2 Wall: If you are still in Act 2, stop trying to glitch through the door. The "ornate clamp" is a hard-coded progression lock.
- The Simple Key Confusion: There is a door in the Deep Docks that requires a standard Simple Key. Opening that door leads you to the room with the diving bell, but it does not open the bell itself.
Entering the Abyss
Once you use the key, the sequence is actually pretty terrifying. It’s not a fast-travel screen. You actually sit in the bell as it creaks and groans its way down. This is where you obtain the Silk Soar ability, which is basically the vertical equivalent of the Crystal Heart from the first game.
Without this ability, you can’t finish the "The Dark Below" quest.
It’s worth noting that the Abyss in Silksong is a direct mirror of the one in Hallownest, but while the Knight’s journey was a somber climb up, Hornet’s journey is a violent, high-speed descent. The diving bell is the only way to facilitate that shift in gameplay.
What to Do Next
If you’re standing in front of the bell right now and Bellow isn't there, you have work to do. Check your quest log for anything related to the Grand Mother Silk or the Threadspun Town. You need those flags to trip before the Deep Docks will update.
Also, make sure you have plenty of Rosaries saved up. Act 3 is a massive spike in difficulty, and the upgrades you’ll need from the Forge Daughter before heading down aren't cheap. Once you’re in the bell, there’s no quick way back up for a while, so pack your tools wisely.