Let me paint you a picture. It's 2 AM. My neighbors are probably drafting a noise complaint. I've just died to Groal the Great for the thirty-seventh time. You know the drill – that sinking feeling as Hornet gets clipped by a half-off-screen lunge, the slow-motion horror of watching the Muckmaggot poison tick your health into oblivion, the arena itself conspiring against you with collapsing platforms and zero safe footing. I'm convinced this boss wasn't designed; it was summoned from the collective rage of every Bilewater survivor. And then, like a silk-wrapped gift from the Pale King himself, the internet delivered: a genuine, no-asterisk skip that turns the entire encounter into a joke. No, I'm not talking about the usual "hide in the water and pray" nonsense. I mean a way to waltz past the door, grab the Seeker's Soul, and never swat a single Muckmaggot. If you're still banging your head against that grotesque wall, let me tell you about the Voltvessel.

Before we get into the juicy, boss-bypassing goodness, let's all agree on one thing: Groal the Great is a war crime. Team Cherry gave us gems like Widow and the Cogwork Dancers, fights that feel like a lethal ballet. Then there are the swear-inducing heavyweights – Savage Beastfly, Seth, The Last Judge, and the eternal pain that is Moorwing. But Groal? He takes the already-infuriating poison-and-puke mechanics of Bilewater, the persistent Muckmaggot swarm, and stuffs them into an arena that actively hates you. The floor? Optional. The movement space? A cruel joke. The advice veterans dish out – "just hide in the water, eat the poison, and chip away" – is basically an admission that fighting him fairly is a miserable, twenty-minute exercise in masochism. And honestly, if a boss refuses to play by the rules, why should we?

That's where the cheeky skip comes in. I stumbled upon it thanks to a YouTube short by the brilliant WikiWitIT (seriously, go watch it unless you enjoy smelling like digital swamp). They showcased a use for the Voltvessel Tool that feels less like a clever trick and more like an oversight of cosmic proportions. For the uninitiated, the Voltvessel is that lightning bomb you might have picked up and promptly forgotten about after using it to clear a vertical room. It crackles, it drops a charge, and it zaps enemies above and below it. Handy, but not exactly a game-breaker – until you realize its hitbox is having an identity crisis. The Voltvessel can reach through ceilings and floors, and its vertical range is absurdly generous. I'm talking about hitting things that you can't even see on the screen, which in a Metroidvania is just screaming "exploit me."

The Skip That Makes You Feel Like a Genius (or a Cheater, No Judgment)

Here's the magic: right in the heart of Bilewater, there's a platform that remains stubbornly out of reach until you've beaten Groal and activated a switch. You've probably glared at it. Behind it lies a handy little trinket called the Seeker's Soul, which you absolutely do not need to get from a poison-spewing behemoth. The normal route locks you into that dreadful arena. But WikiWitIT found that if you stand directly above that inaccessible switch – on the floor above, which you can reach without triggering the boss fight – and hurl a Voltvessel straight down, the lightning blast will clip right through the geometry and flip the switch for you. Yes, you read that right. You don't even see the mechanism; you just hear that glorious click, the platform jarringly descends, and suddenly the prize is yours. Groal is left standing in his rancid bath, wondering where the audience went.

Let's break down the "how" with a few crisp steps, because I want you to enjoy this before some purist convinces you it's a sin.

• 🗺️ Reach the upper floor: Navigate Bilewater until you're directly above the locked platform. Ignore the alluring arena entrance – we're not going there today.

• ⚡ Equip the Voltvessel Tool: Make sure you have it selected in your tool belt. If you haven't crafted it yet, you'll need to hunt down the schematic in the Clamorous Fungal Depths (and I'm sorry for reminding you that place exists).

• 🎯 Aim straight down: Position Hornet so you're not overlapping any random debris. Jump, look down, and tap the tool button to throw the Voltvessel at your feet. The bomb will plant itself on the floor and then discharge a pillar of lightning that pierces the room below.

• 🤞 Listen for the click: You might need to adjust your position a pixel or two. There's a sweet spot, usually slightly left of the visual indicator of the platform below. When you hear the metallic chunk of the switch activating, you'll know you've just cheesed one of the hardest bosses in the game without even entering his room.

But Wait, Isn't This Cheating?

Ah, the eternal question from the honor-bound knights among us. Look, I'm a firm believer that a game is a conversation between developer and player. When Groal the Great throws unavoidable cross-screen lunges and covers the only safe spots in persistent damage-over-time goo, that's Team Cherry saying "we wanted you to suffer." Using the Voltvessel to zap a switch through the floor is me saying "and I wanted to have a nice evening." Is it intended? Almost certainly not. Is it a beautiful testament to player creativity and the chaotic sandbox of Silksong's complex systems? Absolutely. Besides, you can always come back and fight him on a second playthrough when you've got nothing to prove and a full array of upgraded tools. For now, though, grabbing the Seeker's Soul without shedding a single drop of sweat (or poison) feels like justice.

And I have to ask: doesn't this make you love Silksong even more? How often do we find a tool that the community initially labeled as a niche combat gadget only to discover it can fundamentally alter level progression? The Voltvessel isn't just a bomb; it's a skeleton key for anyone willing to experiment. It's the kind of emergent gameplay that keeps forums buzzing even a year after release (yes, it's 2026 and we're still unearthing this stuff). If Team Cherry patches this out, I'll mourn it like a fallen comrade. But until then, I'll be gleefully skipping past Groal and spending my time on the actually enjoyable parts of Bilewater – which, admittedly, are few.

So go forth, fellow Hornet mains. Skip that grotesque maggot lord, pocket the Soul, and maybe use the saved time to practice parrying Seth instead. You have my blessing, the community's nod of approval, and the deliciously broken Voltvessel in your pocket. Just do me one favor: after you pull it off, stand on the newly lowered platform and look at the boss door over yonder. Give it a little wave. After all, he's not playing fair either.

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