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The Slab is a secret level you’ll encounter pretty quickly while exploring the Citadel in Act 2 of Hollow Knight: Silksong. This prison is locked from the outside and impossible to enter through the Citadel — the only way to get inside is by getting locked up. At a certain point in the story, enemies with cage will appear all over the Act 1 regions of the game. Here’s what happens if you get grabbed.
How To Enter The Slab
In Act 2 (some players report even earlier in Act 1) outside Bellhart in Greymoor, you’ll encounter new enemies with cages. They’ll attempt to grab you. These enemies appear in other locations outside the Citadel. If you’re caught and held in a cage, wait a moment. You’ll reappear in The Slab.
The Slab is a secret level that’s totally optional for progression. You never need to enter the Slab proper, as you can bypass the area when completing the main progression route in the Citadel.
- In the Slab, you lose all items and your Needle sword. You’ll also lose your cape — you’ll have to use a weaker kick attack to progress. Your sprite is completely different, with new animations.
Because you don’t have gear, you’ll need to rely on stealth and using the traps built into the prison to defeat enemies. Your goal at this point is to escape the Slab
How To Escape | The Indolent Key
To get your gear back, go down and left. You’ll reach a locked door. Most of the doors in this area are locked — climb up to a small hall with traps in the floor. Continue up and go left to spot your gear being held by a large group of guards.
- Go left from the visible guards to reach the exterior of the prison. It’s very cold, so you’ll need to move fast to avoid taking damage.
- Go down in the snowy, cold exterior to find a prison passage below. Run right through the prisoner enemies and drop down to encounter Grindle. Grindle won’t help you, but to the left you’ll find a key hanging from the ceiling. Knocking it down will summon two prisoner enemies.
Collect the Key of Indolent. It’s used nearby — use it to unlock the door where Grindle first appeared. Now you’ll be able to explore the prison more. Through the door, you’ll reach the vertical chamber where Hornet first appeared. Climb up and knock out the barrier to unlock a shortcut.
- Map & Bench: To the right of the shortcut, enter the room to find a bench and Grindle. Right of the bench, jump into the secret area to get a map of the Slab area.
How To Escape | Getting Hornet’s Gear
Go down in the main vertical chamber to find another passage that leads to an “Indolent” door. Go through and you’ll be ambushed by guard bugs in a chamber full of traps. Activate the traps to defeat the bugs instead of fighting them.
- This leads to the east outer wall. Up the outer wall, there’s a shortcut to the left before reaching the trapped climb. The cave weaves left and down to another shortcut.
At the top of the east outer wall, you’ll reach a large snowy area. The only way to survive is to sprint left (west) to each fire. The glowing red fires are the only source of warmth here. Keep moving west until you reach a door and a fire above a drop leading down. Unlock the shortcut door, then drop down. You’ll find a bench below.
Below the bench, you’ll find an entrance into the guard room where the bugs are carrying your stuff. Above, you’ll get an “Attack” command. Use it to ambush the bug below and reclaim all your gear. After getting your gear, you’ll need to fight all the guards in waves. Defeat them all.
- Getting The Key of the Heretic: Beating all the bugs unlocks the ‘Key of the Heretic’ and allows you to unlock the door to the right.
From the starting vertical chamber, go down to the bottom. There’s a gate that can be opened with the Heretic Key. It leads to the exit that takes you back to the Choral Chambers. Once you have the key, you can freely escape the Slab and fully explore it. The only key you won’t have is the Key of the Apostate. This key is much harder to get, so we’ll cover where to find it in a separate guide.
