Path of Pain | Hollow Knight Wiki

Path of Pain
Main Location	White Palace

Path of Pain is an added Sub-Area Location in Hollow Knight from The Grimm Troupe DLC. It can be found within the White Palace. The various locations and sub-areas of the forgotten kingdom of Hallownest feature a variety of objectives, quests, and secrets that'll need to be uncovered, as well as NPCs and hostile characters that you will encountered through your journey to the top of the fortress.

Have you visited the remnants of his palace? It's down below this city, in the bedrock of the kingdom. Must've been an impressive sight in its time. Now there's nothing left. It's a strange thing though. There are no signs of conflict around the area. It's as though the whole place just vanished. 

                                                                                                   —Relic Seeker Lemm

Path of Pain Information

• The Path of Pain can be found within the White Palace accessible via the dream world by dream nailing the corpse of a Kingsmould in the Palace Grounds with the Awoken Dream Nail.
• The White Palace is a difficult area alone that requires precise platforming and patience. It's comprised of three main sections that have benches in between each one: Entrance, Atrium, and Balcony. The Path of Pain will be found hidden behind a breakable wall just above the elevator (past the second bench in the Atrium) in the upper part of the map. Players must have the Monarch Wings and the Crystal Heart in order to enter and complete this area.
• Completing the PoP will unlock a cutscene with the Pale King and a younger version of the Hollow Knight, alongside a Journal Entry for the Seal of Binding.
• Platforming in PoP can be exceedingly difficult. It requires precise movements and good timing of your jumps. Not to mention patience! It is made up of four sections/rooms demarcated by 7 infinite soul totems along your path (See dark grey pathway on the White Palace map below).
• You will need to become proficient with a technique called pogoing to beat this area. Jump and hit the hazards below you with the Nail to generate knockback (you might want to use Charms that extend your Nail length). Pogoing can be used to halt your movement when there's no place to rest, or to traverse dangerous areas. Again, be patient, since it'll take some practice to get the pogo timing correctly.
• Pogoing will be made easier with charms like Longnail or Mark of Pride, giving you some wiggle room for error and allowing The Knight to keep a safe distance from the hazards. Hiveblood and/or Grubsong can be useful for regaining health, so that you're not sent to the bench every five minutes (remember, no Dreamgate in the White Palace). They can be useful in a pinch; however, Path of Pain is also the only area that has infinite soul totems, typically at each check point. Furthermore, a section can be skipped once you reach a lever in section 2.
• The thorny bramble that covers the fortress walls cannot be pogoed. You'll have to use the buzz-saws, Wingmoulds, and the thrusting spikes to control your movement.
• Similar to other platforming areas, the saws and spikes in the Path of Pain will follow a single rhythm. Develop a keen eye and watch for the hazards, keeping count as they'll quickly appear, then vanish. It might even help to tap your foot or nod. After some trial and error, you'll instinctively know which beats are safe, when to jump or swing your Nail.
• Once you've managed to reach and complete the final section (room 4), you'll pass between two saw blades and fall down into a pit surrounded by thorns on both sides of the walls. Immediately once you land, you'll be ambushed by two Kingsmoulds. Spells are very effective in dealing with them quickly. You're gonna want to make sure you have full health and soul, since they deal double damage!
• After completing this challenge, you'll wake up outside the area, and the Path of Pain will become inaccessible and you can no longer enter the sub-area again.

Items Found in Path of Pain

• Soul Totem x7 (Infinite ∞) 
• Seal of Binding Hunter's Journal entry

Characters in Path of Pain

• The Pale King
• Hollow Knight

Enemies and Bosses in Path of Pain

• Kingsmould
• Wingmould

Path of Pain Notes, Trivia and Notable Loot

• All the Charms that were useful for the main White Palace such as, for Nail: Longnail or Mark of Pride, and/or Quick Slash. For Healing between Totems: Hiveblood, and/or Deep Focus + Grubsong, will also be useful for this challenge. Dashmaster is not recommended, since you'll be holding down as you pogo off buzz-saws and can accidentally dash downwards. Another consideration is Sharp Shadow which allows you to dash further, but keep in mind you'll have to make adjustments to your movements based on this fact.
• There are several unique Soul Totem that grant unlimited SOUL scattered throughout the Path of Pain in the White Palace and are the only ones in the game.

Maps 

There is no map of White Palace, therefore Path of Pain available in-game. See also Hollow Knight Interactive Map: [https]scripterswar[dot]com/hollowknight/map