Hollow Knight Silksong: How to Unlock Double Jump

If you’ve been bouncing around Pharloom, staring at ledges that look just high enough to reach if Hornet believed in herself a little harder, here’s the good news: the double jump in Hollow Knight: Silksong is real, it is extremely useful, and it turns a whole lot of “come back later” frustration into “oh, so that’s what was up there.” The even better news is that unlocking it is less about obscure secrets and more about surviving one of the game’s nastiest traversal tests without turning into a stylish bug popsicle.

In Silksong, the double jump ability is tied to the Faydown Cloak, one of Hornet’s most important movement upgrades. Once you get it, exploration opens up in a big way. Hidden rooms become reachable. Item cleanup gets easier. Quest paths stop feeling like cruel jokes written by a level designer who feeds on your confusion. And yes, platforming suddenly feels a lot more forgiving.

This guide breaks down exactly how to unlock double jump in Hollow Knight: Silksong, where to go, what you need first, why the route is harder than it looks, and how the upgrade changes your game once it’s finally yours. Think of this as your Mount Fay survival pep talk, minus the hot cocoa and plus a lot of grappling, freezing, and mild emotional damage.

What Is the Double Jump in Hollow Knight: Silksong?

Let’s clear up the big point first: in Hollow Knight: Silksong, the “double jump” is the Faydown Cloak. Players often call it double jump because that is exactly how it functions in practical play. You jump once, then jump again in midair for extra height and distance. It is the kind of upgrade every Metroidvania fan spots from a mile away and immediately starts craving.

But unlike a boring, plain-vanilla second hop, the Faydown Cloak fits Hornet’s faster, more acrobatic moveset. That matters. Hornet already feels more nimble than the Knight from the original game, with a traversal style built around momentum, timing, and fluid movement. So when the double jump arrives, it does not feel like a separate gimmick bolted onto the game. It feels like the missing puzzle piece that makes her whole kit click.

That is why people search for this upgrade so aggressively. It is not just another movement skill. It is the moment when the map starts saying “fine, you’ve suffered enough, here’s a little freedom.”

Short Answer: How to Unlock Double Jump

If you want the quick version, here it is:

• Progress far enough through the main game to reach the route connected to The Slab and Mount Fay.
• Unlock the Clawline first, because it is effectively required for the normal climb.
• Head into Mount Fay and survive its freezing platforming gauntlet.
• Reach the summit and claim the Faydown Cloak, which gives Hornet the double jump.

Simple on paper. Miserable in practice. Very Silksong.

Step-by-Step: How to Get the Faydown Cloak

1. Progress Until the Mount Fay Route Opens

You are not unlocking double jump in the opening stretch unless you are either a speedrunner, a genius, or someone who has quietly accepted that sleep is optional. For most players, the intended route comes later, once the game has already trained you to use Hornet’s movement tools with a lot more precision.

The standard path takes you toward The Slab and then into Mount Fay, which is the area you need to conquer to get the Faydown Cloak. If you have wandered into this region too early and felt like the game was laughing at you, that feeling was probably accurate. This upgrade is meant to come after you have built enough movement knowledge to handle what comes next.

2. Get Clawline Before You Attempt the Climb

This is the part many players miss when they are hunting for the Silksong double jump too early: the game’s normal route expects you to already have Clawline. That grappling tool is not optional flavor. It is one of the big keys that makes the Mount Fay climb possible.

Why? Because Mount Fay is not just a place where you jump from one safe platform to another. It is a vertical obstacle course full of chained movement actions. You need to latch onto surfaces, rings, and sometimes enemies, then combine grapples with wall movement and careful positioning. Without Clawline, the route goes from “very hard” to “are you trying to invent new swear words?”

So before you obsess over the double jump location, make sure your build and progression actually support the attempt. In true Metroidvania fashion, the game is not being mean for no reason. It is checking whether you’ve learned the vocabulary before giving you the essay question.

3. Enter Mount Fay and Respect the Mountain

Mount Fay is where this whole process turns from a guide into a character test. The area is not merely high up. It is hostile in a very specific way: the cold itself is part of the challenge. If you stand around too long, your health starts dropping. If you touch freezing water, things get worse. If you thought platforming was stressful before, try doing it while the environment itself acts like an unpaid assassin.

The smart approach is to treat Mount Fay like a survival route, not a sightseeing trip. Move with purpose. Watch for heat or light sources that temporarily protect you. Use benches wisely. Learn the shape of each segment instead of trying to brute-force every jump in a panic. The mountain punishes hesitation almost as much as sloppy movement.

This is also where Hollow Knight Silksong movement upgrades start to feel beautifully interconnected. You are not solving one jump at a time. You are chaining your entire toolkit together: mobility, momentum, timing, recovery, and route memory. That is why the area stands out. It is not just hard because it wants to be hard. It is hard because it is testing whether you deserve one of the game’s best traversal rewards.

4. Climb to the Summit

Once you are in Mount Fay, your job is straightforward in the least comforting way possible: keep climbing. There are checkpoints and opportunities to stabilize your run, but the mountain never really lets you relax. Every room feels like it was designed by someone who heard players wanted more movement freedom and responded, “Cool, earn it.”

The climb forces you to stay calm when your first attempt falls apart. And your second. And your fourth. Maybe your twelfth if Mount Fay decides to humble you properly. That is normal. This is one of those sections where progress often comes in little flashes. You learn one grapple timing. Then one wall transition. Then one safer path between hazards. Suddenly the impossible route becomes a route you can read.

That is the trick with Silksong: improvement does not always feel dramatic. Sometimes it just feels like dying slightly farther up the mountain. Which, in this game, counts as personal growth.

5. Claim the Faydown Cloak

At the very top of Mount Fay, you receive the Faydown Cloak. That is the reward, and yes, that is your double jump.

The moment is satisfying for two reasons. First, it gives you one of the most useful movement upgrades in the game. Second, it retroactively makes the suffering feel weirdly elegant. All that cold, all that grappling, all those jumps you missed by half a pixel suddenly become part of the story you tell later: “I hated Mount Fay. I want to go back immediately.”

Once the Faydown Cloak is unlocked, movement becomes noticeably more flexible. Backtracking gets easier. Platforming routes that once felt insulting become manageable. Hidden items start practically whispering your name from across the map. And because this is a Metroidvania, that means the game’s world suddenly feels both larger and more welcoming at the same time.

Why the Double Jump Matters So Much

In a game built around vertical exploration and layered routes, the Hollow Knight Silksong double jump is not just convenient. It is transformational. A lot of places in Pharloom are designed to tease you early and reward you later. You see an unreachable shelf, a suspicious opening, a platform just beyond your current movement range, and the game basically says, “Not yet, athlete.”

That changes once you have the Faydown Cloak. Suddenly, your map knowledge starts paying off. You remember all those almost-reachable spots and can finally go back with a better toolkit. This is one of the great pleasures of the genre: the world has not changed, but you have. Well, technically Hornet has. But you are the one sweating at the keyboard, so let’s share the credit.

It also changes the rhythm of play. Before double jump, movement can feel tense and exacting. After double jump, movement becomes more expressive. You have options in the air. You can correct mistakes. You can route more creatively. You can turn an awkward climb into something stylish. And in a game starring Hornet, style absolutely matters.

Common Mistakes Players Make

Trying to Force the Upgrade Too Early

If you are attempting Mount Fay before you have the right setup, the game will make that very clear. The answer is usually not “play harder.” The answer is “come back with the tools the route expects.”

Ignoring Clawline

This is the most common practical issue. If your route planning does not account for Clawline, you are making the entire journey harder than it needs to be.

Underestimating the Cold

Mount Fay is not a normal platforming zone. Environmental damage changes the tempo. You cannot dawdle, overthink every jump forever, or treat freezing water like a harmless inconvenience. The mountain is effectively another enemy.

Letting Panic Control the Climb

The worst runs usually happen when players rush after a mistake. A bad landing leads to button mashing, which leads to a missed grapple, which leads to another fall, which leads to the exact face you make when you realize the bench is farther away than you wanted. Slow down mentally, even when the route wants you to move fast physically.

Can You Get Double Jump Early?

Technically, yes. Practically, most players should not bother unless they enjoy sequence breaks, challenge runs, or the kind of self-inflicted difficulty that makes other people stare respectfully from a distance.

There is already community discussion around getting the Faydown Cloak earlier than intended through high-skill routing and platforming tricks. That is fascinating if you love pushing systems to their limits. It is not the normal way to unlock double jump, and it is definitely not the method most players should use for a first playthrough.

So if you were hoping for a secret ten-minute shortcut, I regret to inform you that the mountain still wants your full attention. Team Cherry did not build this upgrade path so you could casually bunny-hop into late-game mobility while half-awake.

How the Faydown Cloak Compares to Hollow Knight’s Monarch Wings

Veterans of the original Hollow Knight will immediately compare the Faydown Cloak to the Monarch Wings, and that comparison makes sense. Both upgrades act as major mobility unlocks. Both dramatically improve backtracking and secret hunting. Both arrive at a point where the map suddenly starts making more sense.

But the feeling is a little different in Silksong. Hornet is faster, sharper, and more athletic from the start. Her traversal is already built around aggressive movement, and the Faydown Cloak enhances that identity rather than redefining it. In other words, the original game’s double jump often felt like finally growing a new set of wings. In Silksong, it feels more like Hornet deciding gravity has had enough say in the matter.

Best Advice Before You Start the Climb

• Make sure you have Clawline before committing to the normal route.
• Bring patience, because Mount Fay is absolutely a “learn by failing” zone.
• Treat light, warmth, and benches like precious gifts from a kinder universe.
• Do not measure progress only by success; measure it by how much farther you get each run.
• Once you unlock the double jump, revisit old areas immediately. The payoff is half the fun.

Final Verdict

If you are wondering how to unlock double jump in Hollow Knight: Silksong, the answer is clear: earn the Faydown Cloak at the summit of Mount Fay, and expect the game to make you work for it. This is not a casual pick-up hidden behind a breakable wall. It is a meaningful progression milestone, a platforming exam, and one of the most satisfying upgrades in the entire adventure.

That is also why the unlock feels so good. The game does not hand you freedom. It teaches you why you need it, then dares you to climb for it. Once you succeed, Pharloom opens up in a way that feels earned, not scripted. And honestly, that is pure Metroidvania magic.

So yes, go get your double jump. Just do not be surprised if Mount Fay steals an evening, your pride, and maybe one or two overly confident assumptions about your platforming skills on the way there.

What the Mount Fay Experience Actually Feels Like

There is a very specific emotional arc to chasing the Faydown Cloak in Hollow Knight: Silksong, and anyone who has gone after it will probably recognize every stage. First comes confidence. You tell yourself this is just another movement upgrade, another classic Metroidvania milestone, another trip up a dangerous-looking area with some mildly rude level design. Then Mount Fay introduces itself properly, and your confidence quietly leaves the room without saying goodbye.

At first, the mountain feels almost theatrical. The cold changes the rhythm immediately. You are not simply platforming upward; you are negotiating with the environment. Every safe point matters. Every missed landing costs more than it feels like it should. You start reading rooms differently because survival is tied to momentum. Suddenly, that ledge is not just a ledge. It is the difference between recovering with one mask left and respawning while muttering things unfit for a family website.

Then comes the middle phase, which is where the experience gets interesting. This is when frustration starts turning into fluency. The same jumps that looked ridiculous on your first few tries begin to make sense. You see where the grapple should connect. You understand which wall movement is safer and which shortcut is actually bait. Mount Fay stops looking impossible and starts looking demanding. That is an important difference. One is discouraging. The other is a challenge with a solution.

And that is what makes this part of Silksong memorable. It does not just test reflexes. It sharpens awareness. Hornet’s kit begins to feel less like a list of abilities and more like a language. Dash, cling, grapple, recover, leap, repeat. The mountain teaches you to think vertically and act decisively. It is brutal, yes, but it is also strangely elegant once you stop resisting the lesson.

By the time you finally reach the summit, your reaction is usually a weird mixture of relief, triumph, and immediate retrospective pride. The climb felt unfair while you were in it. Five minutes later, it starts feeling legendary. That is the classic difficult-game effect: pain on impact, fondness in hindsight. You go from “this section is ridiculous” to “actually, that was incredible” with alarming speed.

And once the double jump is yours, the rest of the game reflects that effort back at you. Earlier areas become more inviting. Movement becomes more expressive. Optional routes stop feeling theoretical. You start improvising in the air in ways that were impossible before, and the world feels richer because you now have the mobility to really engage with it. That is why the Faydown Cloak stands out. It is not just useful. It is a reward that changes how the entire adventure feels in your hands.

So the real experience of unlocking double jump in Hollow Knight: Silksong is not merely about getting from point A to point B. It is about the game taking one of its most important upgrades and tying it to a climb that teaches you exactly why you deserve it. Annoying? Sometimes. Brilliant? Absolutely. Memorable? Without question.