You get Ground Pound in Hollow Knight from the Soul Master boss in Soul Sanctum, inside the City of Tears. The ability is called Desolate Dive in-game, and it’s the ground-slam move people usually mean by “ground pound”.

Where to go

  • Reach the City of Tears.
  • Find Soul Sanctum in the city.
  • Defeat Soul Master.
  • The reward is Desolate Dive , which lets you slam downward and break certain floors.

Why it matters

That move opens up a lot of progression and secret paths, since some cracked floors and hidden rooms only work once you have it.

Small note

If you want, I can also point out the fastest route to Soul Sanctum from where you are in the map.