You're deep in the Overgrown Mound. The air is thick with spores, and those annoying Squibits are diving at your head from every angle. You find a strange, fossilized mound shaped like a screaming face. You press the button. Suddenly, a burst of spectral energy rips upward from your body, screaming into the ceiling of the cavern. It’s loud. It’s violent. It’s the Howling Wraiths Hollow Knight players often forget they even have until they’re staring down a boss that refuses to stay on the ground.
Honestly, the first time I picked this up, I barely used it. I was a "Nail-only" purist, convinced that spells were a waste of Soul that could be used for healing. I was wrong. Most people treat spells as an afterthought, but Howling Wraiths isn't just a move; it's a defensive barrier and a massive DPS tool rolled into one.
Where the Hell Are the Howling Wraiths?
Finding this thing is a bit of a trek if you don't know the Fog Canyon layout by heart. You have to head to the Overgrown Mound. It’s tucked away in the bottom-left area of Fog Canyon, past those terrifying explosive jellyfish (Oomas) that will absolutely end your run if you’re careless. You’ll need the Mothwing Cloak at the very least, but having the Mantis Claw makes the platforming significantly less of a headache.
Once you’re inside the mound, it’s basically a gauntlet. The game throws a bunch of Squit and Fungified Husks at you. It's tight. It's claustrophobic. But at the end of the path, you find the ancestral remains. Inspecting them grants you the spell. No boss fight is required just to get the spell, which is a rare mercy in Team Cherry’s world.
The spell consumes 33 Soul. In exchange, it blasts three hits of upward-moving energy. If you’re standing directly under a large enemy, all three hits connect. That's a base damage of 39 (13 per hit). Compared to your starting Nail, which does 5 damage, that’s a massive jump in power for the early game.
Why Howling Wraiths Changes the Boss Game
Most bosses in Hallownest love to jump. Or fly. Or teleport right above your head where your horizontal Slash can't reach. Think about the Soul Master. He spends half the fight hovering just out of reach, mocking you with those orange orbs. Howling Wraiths is the hard counter.
When he teleports above you to start his dive or projectile phase, you don't jump. You stand still. You scream.
The Vertical Advantage
The hitbox for Howling Wraiths is surprisingly wide at the top. It fans out. This means even if your timing is a little bit off, you’re likely to catch a wing or a leg of whatever is hovering over you. It’s particularly devastating against:
- Winged Sentinels: They have a habit of hovering just above nail range.
- Xero: One of the Dream Warriors who spends the entire fight floating.
- Noysk: Specifically when it's scurrying on the ceiling.
You've probably noticed that some players struggle with the "Brooding Mawlek" early on. If you can sneak into Fog Canyon and grab the Wraiths before that fight, you can stand under its belly and delete its health bar in seconds. It’s almost unfair. Sorta.
The Abyss Shriek Connection
You can’t talk about Howling Wraiths without talking about its older, angrier brother: Abyss Shriek. This is the "upgrade" found in the bottom of The Abyss. You need the King's Brand to access the area, and you need to stand on a specific pedestal in a room filled with screaming faces while casting Howling Wraiths.
The transformation is intense. The blue-white ghosts turn into black, shadowy void screams. The damage goes from 39 to a staggering 80 (if all four hits connect). With the Shaman Stone charm equipped? That jumps to 120 damage.
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Think about that for a second. Most late-game bosses have a few thousand HP. If you land five or six Abyss Shrieks, you’ve basically skipped half the boss's phases. It is widely considered the highest DPS move in the entire game. But it all starts with that dusty old mound in Fog Canyon.
Charms That Make You a Ghostly God
If you're going to lean into a spell build, you can't just wing it. You need the right kit.
Shaman Stone is non-negotiable. It increases the size of the Wraiths' hitbox and bumps the damage of each hit. It makes the spell feel "thicker," if that makes sense. You’re less likely to whiff a hit against a moving target like Prince Zote.
Spell Twister is the other big one. It reduces the Soul cost from 33 to 24. This allows you to chain screams. Instead of getting three casts off a full meter, you can get four. In a fight like the Radiance, that extra cast is often the difference between moving to the next platforming phase and getting beamed into oblivion.
Then there’s Soul Eater. It’s expensive at four notches, but the amount of Soul you get per nail hit is absurd. Hit the boss twice, scream once. Repeat. It’s a rhythmic way to play that feels much more active than just "swinging a stick."
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The biggest mistake? Casting it while an enemy is on the ground in front of you. Howling Wraiths has zero horizontal range. If you try to use it against a Shielded Fool in the Colosseum while he’s charging you, you’re going to get poked. It’s an upward-only tool.
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Another issue is the "animation lock." When you cast, the Knight stays still for a fraction of a second. If a boss is about to slam down on you—like the False Knight or Failed Champion—you shouldn't cast. You'll get the damage off, sure, but you'll take a hit to the face in return. Trade-offs are rarely worth it in Hollow Knight unless you’re running a specific "Fury of the Fallen" glass cannon build.
Real World Application: The Radiance
If you want to see why this spell matters, look at the final boss. The Radiance is a massive moth. She stays at the top of the screen. Your nail barely reaches her fluff.
Expert players don't even bother with the nail for damage in that fight. They use the nail to farm Soul from her legs, and then they spam Abyss Shriek (the upgraded Howling Wraiths) into her face. It bypasses her first phase so quickly it almost feels like a sequence break. Without the foundation of the Howling Wraiths, the "True Ending" of the game becomes exponentially harder.
Actionable Strategy for Your Next Run
Stop hoarding your Soul for heals. It’s a trap. If you use your Soul to kill the enemy faster with Howling Wraiths, you won't need to heal because the enemy will be dead.
- Go to Fog Canyon early. Don't wait until you're forced there by the story. As soon as you have the Mantis Claw, make the trip.
- Equip Shaman Stone. You can buy it from Salubra in Forgotten Crossroads very early for 220 Geo. It is the best investment in the game.
- Practice the "Under-Cast." Find a Great Hopper or a Large Sentry. Run underneath them as they jump. Turn around, look up (you don't actually have to aim up, just hit the button), and cast. Get a feel for the timing of the three hits.
- Upgrade to Abyss Shriek immediately after getting the King's Brand. Don't wander around the Abyss and forget to visit the room on the bottom left.
Howling Wraiths is the difference between a player who struggles with verticality and a player who masters the environment. It turns the ceiling from a limit into a weapon.
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Key Takeaways for Mastery
- Location: Overgrown Mound, Fog Canyon.
- Cost: 33 Soul (Base), 24 Soul (with Spell Twister).
- Damage: 39 (Base), 60 (with Shaman Stone).
- Upgrade: Becomes Abyss Shriek in the Abyss (80/120 damage).
- Best Use Case: Bosses that fly or hover (Radiance, Xero, Soul Master).
Once you've secured the spell, head back to the City of Tears. The Great Knights there are perfect target practice for testing the vertical hitbox. You'll find that many enemies you previously found "tanky" melt away when hit from below by a spectral scream.