I didn't have the 11th notch until later on.
I don't know how anyone can beat Broken Vessel without the compass equipped, hot damn. Wayward Compass + Gathering Swarm + Soul Catcher + Sprintmaster + Grubsong + Steady Body + Thorns of Agony + Spore Shroom + Dreamwielder In my first playthrough, my charm build was pretty consistent regardless of what I was doing (except later on when I started using Joni's to tank bosses) and my universal build was essentially a clumsy hodgepodge of all the single-notch charms (except defenders crest) along with soul catcher, so by the end of the game it was something like: There are very few instances where you are required to approach combat in a certain way (literally the only exception I can think of is using spells to kill fat baldurs), and for everything else, you are able to equip what you want to play how you want.
Hollow Knight is a simple game with simple gameplay, yet it's super customizable to a wide assortment of playstyles using equippable items called charms.
