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Hollow Knight Silksong: How To Get To & Escape From The Slab

September 10, 2025

Although The Slab is technically a late-game area in Hollow Knight: Silksong, you can actually reach it much earlier by exploiting a certain enemy mechanic. Many players have chosen to go to The Slab willingly, in order to obtain some of the loot located there or simply to challenge themselves.

There are effectively two ways to get to The Slab: either progress normally through the game and simply walk in through the Choral Chambers, or get kidnapped by a Wardenfly and taken there as a prisoner. If you’re looking to make it to The Slab, here’s how to get there, and what to do once you’re inside.

How To Get Captured By The Wardenfly In Silksong

Wardenfly Spawn Locations

In order to access The Slab early, you must be captured by a Wardenfly, the large, flying enemy pictured above. There are two types of Wardenflies – those with cages and those without – but the ones with cages will only spawn if you’ve yet to enter The Slab of your own accord.

Wardenfly spawn locations appear to be at least somewhat random, so it can be difficult to get one to appear reliably. However, the following locations are all the places I’ve seen Wardenflies spawn, or that have been reported by other players:

You may want to try entering and re-entering an area repeatedly in order to get a Wardenfly to spawn. When one does appear, you may attack it, but do not kill it. If you do, it may not respawn elsewhere, and you may have to wait until you find your way into The Slab organically.

At some point, the Wardenfly will fly up towards the ceiling and raise its cage, as if it’s preparing to slam it downward. Stand directly underneath, and allow yourself to be captured inside. The scene will transition, and you’ll spawn in The Slab.

How To Get To The Slab Organically

Walk Right In

A map of the Choral Chambers in Hollow Knight Silksong.

If you’re having trouble getting the Wardenfly to spawn, you can simply walk into The Slab once you reach the Choral Chambers area of Hollow Knight: Silksong. On the map above, the Slab entrance is visible on the western side of the map.

Beyond the entrance, you’ll walk down a long, ominous hallway before popping up in The Slab proper. This means you’ll have to navigate most of Choral Chambers to get there – you will, however, be much better prepared for the challenges of The Slab.

How To Escape The Slab

The Key Of Indolent

You’ll spawn into The Slab in the same cage the Wardenfly caught you in. Mash buttons until the cage falls, and you’re able to escape. You’ll be located on a small platform with no needle, no map, and no clothes. Our goal is to recover our equipment and get out of here.

Drop all the way to the bottom of this room and head left a screen. Note the lower ceiling directly in front of you: wall jump off it, then attack the ceiling to expose a passage. Wall jump up into a corridor heading left, then again to enter a new area.

In this next room, wall jump to the platform above, and look up – you’ll see a group of bugs huddled around your equipment. We can’t do anything about them yet, so continue left into the next room, where you’ll want to fall along the right wall until you find an exit.

In the next room, you’ll be confronted by a small group of enemies. You can attempt to take them on unarmed, but I recommend just jumping over them and running right until you see a hole in the floor. Fall through it.

Walk left until you see a glowing item on the ground. Pick it up to receive the Key of Indolent. Head back right to find a locked gate, which you can open with your newfound key. Go straight through the exit on the other side.

The Slab Map

Head immediately right through this next room, following the sign for the bench. In the next area, you’ll see Grindle, whom you may have encountered earlier. Talk to him if you want, and rest at the bench to recover and set your save point.

Go right from the bench, hopping over a small ledge to access a hidden corridor. At the end, you’ll find a dead bug whose body contains The Slab map.

Recovering Your Equipment & The Key Of Heretic

Hornet attacking an enemy in The Slab in Hollow Knight Silksong.

Return to the room before the bench, drop to the bottom (where you’ll see another giant lock that can’t be opened with your key) and head right into the next screen. Continue right past the hole in the wall, and you’ll find another lock you can open with the Key of Indolent.

Tread carefully in this next room, as it contains multiple pressure plates, the rightmost of which will shut the door and summon a group of enemies. You may either jump over it, or use the other traps in the room to eliminate the enemies, at which point the door will open again.

Wall jump all the way to the top of the next room and into the next area, being careful to avoid the spikes. This area is freezing cold, and, since you don’t have any clothes, you’ll have to warm yourself using the glowing furnaces to proceed through without taking damage.

Head left and jump up on the ledge, pausing at the furnace. Continue left and drop to the level below at the first chance you get. Warm up, then continue left across the spikes, where you’ll find another furnace. Use it, then wall jump up to the plaftorm above and continue left until you hit a dead end.

Drop off the platform to the left, then down through the hole beneath the nearby furnace. Follow the sign to unlock another bench, then head right and drop all the way down. Follow the path here until you find yourself right above the room where your equipment is being held.

Look down, and you’ll notice that one of the enemies below is wearing your dress and parading around the room with your needle. Attack the platform beneath you when he’s directly beneath you, and you’ll land right on his head, breaking his neck and stealing your equipment back in one fell swoop.

Defeat any remaining enemies in this room. One of them will drop the Key of Heretic, the next item we need to get out of The Slab.

Slab Bellway Station (Escaping The Slab)

Hornet summoning the Bell Beast in the Slab area of Hollow Knight Silksong.

Exit this room to the right to unlock yet another bench. Continue right, using the Key of Heretic to unlock a gate, and enter the next screen. Drop to the bottom of this room and exit to the left. On the other side, unlock the gate with the Key of Indolent, and drop through the hole in the floor.

From there, go right a screen until you find yourself in the room before the first bench we discovered. Defeat the enemy in here if you like, then drop to the bottom of the room. When ready, use the Key of Heretic to unlock the drawbridge, and stand on it to fall into a new area.

You’ll land on another drawbridge – attack the lever to your left to open it, and fall down onto a third drawbridge. Head left from here into the next area. Note the sign for the nearby Bellway station, and drop through the hole in the floor. The enemies in this area do drop Rosaries, so feel free to farm a few if you need them.

Follow the path through the next area, where you’ll encounter a lock you can’t yet open. Drop through the hole in the floor, then again into the next screen. Unlock the bench to the right in this area, then head left and spend 50 Rosaries to unlock the Bellway station.

At this point, you’re free to simply leave The Slab via fast travel, and return later if you want to pick up any loot you missed.

Key Of Apostate (Optional)

The location of the Key of Apostate in Hollow Knight Silksong.

There is a third key – the Key of Apostate – that you’ll need to obtain before completing The Slab. However, it’s actually located in the Putrified Ducts area northwest of Bilewater.

Head left and upwards from the Bilehaven bench, then left past the Huntress – the Key of Apostate is hidden in a small alcove in the upper-left corner of the room. You can use this to return to The Slab at any point in your Hollow Knight: Silksong journey, and explore freely with all your gear in hand.