Hiveblood

Hiveblood
Golden nugget of the Hive's precious hardened nectar. Heals the bearer's wounds over time, allowing them to regain health without focusing SOUL.
Effect	Passively heals the last unit of health lost after 12 seconds without taking further damage Makes the enemies inside the Hive passive
Notch Cost

Hiveblood is a Charm in Hollow Knight. It heals the last mask that was lost without having to use Focus. It also makes enemies in the Hive passive.

Usefulness

The regenerating mask is marked by a small blob of dripping honey that slowly grows bigger. Taking damage again while regenerating starts the process over (at the Knight's current HP). In the case of an attack that deals two masks of damage (such as an explosion), Hiveblood will only regenerate one mask. Finally, healing a mask with Focus ends the regeneration in progress.

Hiveblood does regenerate Lifeblood health gained from Joni's Blessing, though it takes twice as long (24s). Other sources of Lifeblood—like Lifeblood Cocoons, or the charms Lifeblood Heart and Lifeblood Core—are not affected.

Hiveblood is decent in combat if the player can dodge a boss effectively, but has trouble finding opportunities to heal. As the player is likely to not go on the offensive while waiting for Hiveblood to regenerate health, Hiveblood pairs well with charms that can damage foes while the player dodges, such as Glowing Womb or Sharp Shadow.

The best use of Hiveblood is to regenerate health in situations where SOUL is not readily available. This makes it very helpful in difficult platforming sections with few enemies, such as the Crystallised Mound in the Crystal Peak, the path to Nailmaster Sheo in Greenpath, the nail-jumping section to reach a Vessel Fragment in Deepnest, and most prominently, the White Palace.

It also serves as the only means by which health may be recovered mid-air, making it useful for the Colosseum of Fools.

Its ability to render the Hive's residents passive makes it very useful on return trips to the area.

How to Acquire

Located in the Hive, below the room where the Hive Knight is fought. Requires defeating the Hive Knight.

Charm Interactions and Combo Tips

	Joni's Blessing Regenerates the Lifeblood health gained from Joni's Blessing, though taking twice as long (24s). It also turns the blue Lifeblood masks into Lifeblood combs.
	Grubsong In combination with Grubsong it allows for regenerating SOUL infinitely albeit slowly by jumping into hazards or enemies, retreating, waiting for health to regenerate, then repeating.
	Grubberfly's Elegy Taking damage and then regenerating it with Hiveblood will restore Grubberfly's Elegy's effect. However, this will not work in combination with Joni's Blessing.
	Carefree Melody Carefree Melody can prevent damage from interrupting the regeneration of Hiveblood masks.

Trivia

• Despite the Hive enemies turning friendly while wearing Hiveblood, their Dream Nail dialogues will still show hostility towards the Knight.
• Before the Lifeblood update, this charm could be collected simply by walking through the open room after Queen Vespa's room, without having to fight the Hive Knight.