For a first run, follow a recommended area route rather than trying to clear every boss in a fixed sequence: Silksong’s progression is built around branching paths, unlockable abilities and optional fights. For the normal ending, prioritize the Act 1 route through Blasted Steps, then collect the Act 2 traversal skills and melodies before challenging The Cradle. The true-ending route adds substantial preparation and three Old Heart trials.
Spoilers: This guide covers Act 1 through the true-ending route, including late-game bosses and ending prerequisites. Names can vary by language; this route uses the English names cited by the sources.
Recommended boss and area order at a glance
This is a route recommendation, not a mandatory boss checklist. It aims to make traversal and the tougher fights more manageable. Detours and revisits are expected.
| Stage | Recommended route | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | Moss Grotto → Bone Bottom → The Marrow → Deep Docks → Far Fields → Greymoor → Bellhart → Shellwood → Blasted Steps → Citadel | Builds through the recommended area progression and uses Blasted Steps as the easier approach to Act 2. |
| Act 2 | Choral Chambers → First Shrine/Songclave → lower Cogwork Core → Whispering Vaults → Underworks → Mount Fay → upper Cogwork Core → High Halls → The Cradle | Collects traversal skills and melodies before the later access routes and combat trial. |
| True-ending route | After the Act 2 ending, return to the world, prepare, collect the three Old Hearts, then follow the final route. | Old Heart trials are a tougher optional extension; the recommended order is Woods, Might, then Wild. |
The route guide behind this sequence is an editorial recommendation, not a developer-prescribed order. Team Cherry’s Ari Gibson described progression as “It’s a specific kind of lock-and-key type of progression,” while explaining the aim was to make it feel natural within the world (GamesRadar+ interview).
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Act 1: choose the easier Citadel approach or the harder detour
Recommended route through Blasted Steps
Follow the Act 1 sequence above and leave Wormways until after Sister Splinter and obtaining Cling Grip. Hunter’s March is also better saved until after you have Drifter’s Cloak; the area is easier once Cling Grip is available. Bellhart and Shellwood form a natural loop before the recommended finish through Blasted Steps.
Blasted Steps is the recommended, easier route into Act 2. The usual Act 1 mandatory fights are Moss Mother, Bell Beast, Lace, Fourth Chorus, Sister Splinter, Widow and Last Judge. “Usually” matters: there is an alternate route that can let you begin Act 2 without beating Last Judge.
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Optional Sinner’s Road route
Sinner’s Road through the Mist and Exhaust Organ is harder, but defeating the boss in the Exhaust Organ grants a Silk Skill. The boss list identifies Phantom as the secret boss on this route. Taking this path can start Act 2 without first fighting Last Judge; you can return to Last Judge later.
Great Conchflies are technically optional during Act 1, but they block access to Sands of Karak, which matters if you intend to reach Act 3. Whether a fight is skippable therefore depends on your goal, not only on its Act 1 label.
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Act 2: unlock traversal before tackling the harder trials
Route through the skills and melodies
Use the recommended Act 2 route from the table, adjusting the start if you entered by Blasted Steps: you first arrive in Underworks, so make your way through before returning to Choral Chambers and the First Shrine/Songclave.
Cogwork Dancers begins the Threefold Melody quest. The melody order is flexible, but this sequence makes the travel and challenge curve more practical:
- Vaultkeeper’s Melody: Go to the Whispering Vaults first; it does not require an additional traversal skill.
- Architect’s Melody: Return to the upper Cogwork Core after getting Clawline in Underworks. Double Jump from Mount Fay is also recommended before attempting it.
- Conductor’s Melody: Save High Halls for last. Its ten-wave combat trial is demanding; collect Mask Shards and Spool Fragments and upgrade the Needle before taking it on.
The route places Mount Fay before the upper Cogwork Core so you can get Double Jump, while Clawline opens up access needed for the later route. Those abilities also make some areas and fights more manageable.
What is required for the normal ending?
The boss list names three required Act 2 bosses for the normal ending: Cogwork Dancers, Lace at The Cradle and Grand Mother Silk at The Cradle. Other fights may be necessary for alternate endings, Act 3 or completion goals. For example, Groal the Great is needed for Seeker’s Soul on the Bad Ending/Act 3 route, while Raging Conchfly is relevant to the Coral Tower and an Old Heart on the true-ending route.
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Act 3: prepare for the Old Heart trials
Act 3 follows completion of the Silk and Soul Wish. The recommended route returns to Moss Grotto, passes through Deep Docks into the Abyss to obtain the required Silk Skill, then collects the three Old Hearts. Before starting those trials, improve survivability: gather Mask Shards and Spool Fragments and fully upgrade the Needle.
Recommended Old Heart order
The three required Old Hearts can be collected in any order. This sequence follows the route guide’s difficulty recommendation:
- Heart of the Woods: Recommended first as the easiest of the three, although it is hidden and involves two bosses.
- Heart of Might: Recommended second. Reaching it involves the Coral Tower’s three combat stages, with five, ten and fifteen waves, followed by a shorter final trial and a boss.
- Heart of the Wild: Leave this for last if you are following the difficulty-based route; its boss is described as one of the game’s hardest.
If you freed Green Prince in Sinner’s Road and reach Verdania, the Conjoined Heart can replace any one of the three. After gathering Old Hearts and the Everbloom, Lost Lace is the concluding Act 3 boss.
How to choose what to fight or skip
- For a smoother first run: Favor Blasted Steps, collect Clawline and Double Jump before the later Act 2 challenges, and prepare before Conductor’s Melody or the Old Hearts.
- For a harder alternate route: Sinner’s Road offers a Silk Skill through the Exhaust Organ boss and can postpone Last Judge, but the route is tougher.
- For the normal ending: Focus on the three required Act 2 bosses at Cogwork Dancers and The Cradle.
- For Act 3, alternate endings or completion: Check each optional-labeled boss against your goal. Great Conchflies, for instance, gate access relevant to Act 3.
Version and naming note
Team Cherry’s Patch 5 announcement identifies version 1.0.30000 and describes it as intended to be the last significant update before the Sea of Sorrow expansion. The notes include balance changes, including reducing Last Judge’s death-explosion damage from three to two, as well as changes to proper nouns in some language versions. The route above uses English names; localized names may differ. The cited announcement described Sea of Sorrow as upcoming and does not establish a later release date or expansion-boss availability, so this route covers the base-game progression described here (Team Cherry Patch 5 announcement).
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