Hollow Knight

Agreed, Wanderer seems to be the most versatile and the most usable, at least for me. They seem to really, really want you to default to the Hunter Crest what with the constant upgrades that it can get, but that diagonal downward strike is bullshit and the rest of its moveset is just the Wanderer's Crest anyway except slow. Being able to do 1.4x or 1.7x damage per swing in specific circumstances does not trump being able to fit in two hits with the Wanderer, nor does it confer any advantage when you can't get a hit in, or miss, or dive-bomb into the enemy's attack, when the Wanderer would would have been able to hit.

The Reaper crest is okay. The Beast is 100% worthless. Theoretically the Architect should be able to enable some cheese strategies, but it's slow and its dive attack also sucks, so refilling your silk with it is problematic especially against faster bosses. It's good for farming rosaries from the Citadel faithful, though, since a charged up standing drill attack can one-shot many of them.

The Shaman crest is occasionally useful for cheesing a handful of annoying bosses when combined with the Volt Filament by simply out-damaging them in a war of attrition before you run out of health.

I found no use whatsoever for the Witch crest and never touched it again once I unequipped it after you're forced to use it briefly after you pick it up.

TL;DR: Get the knife.