Beating Silksong With A Taunt
Hollow Knight: Silksong is already known for its tight combat and challenging boss fights. Most players learn every move Hornet has to survive. But one player decided to ignore almost all of that and focus on something most people do not even realize is an option: the taunt.
In Silksong, Hornet has a taunt move mapped to a button. Press it and she widens her stance and shouts Garama to lure enemies toward her. It is meant as a way to control enemy positioning, not as a serious attack. Many players make it halfway through the game or more before even noticing it exists.
However, that taunt does a tiny bit of damage. And for one determined fan, that single detail is enough reason to attempt one of the strangest challenge runs you will see in a modern action platformer.
The Garama Only Challenge Run
YouTube creator Bloblumordthe3rd is attempting to beat Hollow Knight: Silksong using only Hornet's Garama taunt as a source of damage. They call the run Garama percent and have been uploading regular episodes that document the journey through the game.
This is not a speedrun. Every encounter is slow, deliberate and usually painful to watch in the best possible way. Because the taunt is incredibly weak, almost every fight drags on for an absurd amount of time as they wait for the perfect moment to shout Garama and chip away at an enemy's health bar.
To put the numbers in perspective:
- With the Hunter's Crest equipped, Garama deals a total of six damage.
- Hornet's main weapon, the Needle, does five damage at the very start of the game.
- Once fully upgraded, the Needle reaches 21 damage per hit.
So by the time a typical player has upgraded their Needle, the taunt is still one of the least efficient ways imaginable to deal damage. That is the entire point of this run: taking an almost useless move and seeing if it is possible to carry it all the way through the campaign.
The results are oddly gripping. One example is the final boss of act 1, which took around two hours of attempts just to secure a win using only Garama damage. Every safe opening matters, every mistake costs time, and the whole fight becomes a test of patience as much as skill.
Community Reactions And Ongoing Progress
The comments on Bloblumordthe3rd's videos are full of players shocked to learn that the taunt even does damage at all. For many, it is a move that exists as flavor rather than something that belongs in serious combat. Seeing bosses fall to what is essentially Hornet yelling at them has turned into a kind of community spectacle.
Some reactions capture the absurd heroics of the challenge. One commenter compared watching the run to seeing Sisyphus finally push the boulder to the top of the hill and actually win. Another joked that Silksanity will never end, a nod to how Silksong fans latch onto any new excuse to dive back into the world while they wait for more content.
One of the most accurate descriptions calls the strategy ragebaiting bosses to death. That is exactly what it looks like when Hornet stands her ground, unimpressed, repeatedly yelling Garama at agile enemies like the Cogwork Dancers. Their carefully choreographed, synchronized attacks collide with this stubborn, almost comedic tactic of shouting them into oblivion.
The run is not just silly, though. It exposes how flexible Silksong's combat and enemy design really are. A game that can support something this limited without completely breaking shows a lot of underlying depth.
As of the most recent updates, Bloblumordthe3rd has made it into act 2 and is still progressing. However, cracks in the strategy are beginning to show. In one encounter that throws several waves of enemies at the player, it turns out the fight cannot be cleared without help from an NPC. On top of that, some flying enemies are simply too high or too awkwardly placed for the taunt to reach consistently.
Those limitations raise a big question for the rest of the run. As enemy patterns and arena layouts become more demanding, will there always be a way to wiggle Hornet into the right spot to land Garama damage, or will some fights simply be impossible without using the Needle or other tools?
Why This Kind Of Run Matters For Players
Challenge runs like this have a long history in gaming. From no hit boss marathons to beating RPGs without leveling properly, they show how players love to rewrite the rules once they understand a game well enough. Garama percent fits right into that tradition.
For players and fans, there are a few reasons it clicks so well:
- It reveals hidden mechanics, like the fact the taunt is not purely cosmetic.
- It highlights how robust the combat system is when pushed to the extreme.
- It turns familiar boss fights into something entirely new to watch.
- It gives the community something fun to follow while waiting for new Silksong content, including its recently announced expansion with new areas, bosses and tools.
Even if the run eventually hits a hard wall, the attempt itself has already done its job. It sparked curiosity, entertained a lot of players, and reminded everyone that even in a finely tuned action game, there is room for playful experimentation.
Until the Silksong expansion arrives with its new zones and challenges, watching someone slowly yell their way across Pharloom is not a bad way to pass the time. Whether Garama percent ends in total victory or a heroic failure, it is exactly the kind of creative stunt that keeps a game alive long after launch.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hollow-knight-silksong-player-discovers-hornets-taunt-does-damage-proceeds-to-spend-hours-trying-to-beat-every-boss-with-it-this-is-like-watching-sisyphus-push-the-boulder-and-win/
