Mask shards increase your health total in Hollow Knight: Silksong, and, as everything does so much damage, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on as many of these shards as possible.
In the beginning of Silksong, you’ll quickly encounter enemies that deal two masks of damage in one hit, which means you can die in as few as three hits as soon as you start the game. To increase your odds of survival, you need to find mask shards as soon as possible, but that is easier said than done. You need four mask shards to increase your health total by one mask, but the mask shards themselves can be pretty difficult to track down.
Here’s where you can find all the mask shards in Hollow Knight: Silksong, and if you need extra help locating them, check out our interactive map.
All Hollow Knight: Silksong mask shard locations
There are 20 mask shards for you to find in Hollow Knight: Silksong, which means you can increase your total health to ten masks. As Silksong is a nonlinear game, we’ve listed out the most likely order that you’ll run into each of these mask shards, as well as everything you’ll need to get them.
Mask shard #1 — Bone Bottom
The first mask shard can be purchased from Pebb in Bone Bottom for 300 rosaries.
Mask shard #2 — Wormways
For this mask shard, you’ll need to unlock the Swift Step ability in the Deep Docks. Afterward, make your way to the left end of Mosshome, just beside the hanging cages. Dash jump across to the other side and sprint across the long corridor with the huge acid-spitting bug. Go through the exit on the left to find yourself at a locked door. Rather than open it, drop down the hole below and break the destructible wall on the right. Inside, you’ll find a mask shard.
Mask shard #3 — Far Fields
For this mask shard, you’ll need to unlock the Drifter’s Cloak by completing the “Flexile Spines” quest in Far Fields. Afterwards, head to the right of the Seamstress’ house and ride the air currents upward. In this section, you’ll find stone platforms with air currents and explosive rocks. Make sure to hit the explosive rocks to release more air currents, and glide your way to the opposite side. Head into the room and hit all of the explosive rocks inside to reveal a mask shard hidden in the ground.
Mask shard #4 — Shellwood
Starting from the Shellwood Bellway station, head right into the next room. The path downward is split into two sections: left and right. Glide over to the path on the right, and you’ll find an exit directly at the top of the path. Go inside and use your platforming skills to pogo your way across the enemies and plants ahead. At the end of the path, you’ll find a mask shard.
Mask shard #5 — Deep Docks
You’ve probably seen this mask shard as you rode the elevator up to the bench as soon as you entered the Deep Docks, but you can only grab this mask after you’ve unlocked the Cling Grip ability. This mask shard is found in the Deep Docks, but you’ll actually need to start in The Marrow. Make your way to the left side of the bottom right room of The Marrow, but don’t drop all the way to the bottom. Instead, take the upper path and continue to the right to find a vertical wall that you can climb. Jump across the platforms to the right to enter the Deep Docks, where you’ll encounter a gauntlet of enemies. After you defeat them, continue to the right to collect the mask shard.
Mask shard #6 — Weavenest Alta
After unlocking the Needolin, return to the bottom right corner of Moss Grotto to find a door with a weaver’s face etched onto it. Play your Needolin to unlock the door and head inside. Power up Weavenest Alta by hitting the two silk spools in the far right room, and return to the glowing platform in the center of the hallway. If you step on it, you’ll be teleported to the bottom of Weavenest Alta. Use Cling Grip to jump up the wall on the right and onto the platform to your left. Climb up the open shaft and enter the first opening on your right. This will take you to a secret area of Weavenest Alta where your pogo skills will be put to the test.
After you make it past the lava and pogo challenge, you’ll find a mask shard in the top left corner of the room.
Mask shard #7 — Cogwork Core
To get this mask shard, you’ll first need to defeat the Cogwork Dancers in the Cogwork Core in Act 2. After you defeat them, drop into the holes below and carefully descend your way through the spinning cog death trap. On your way down, look for an exit on your left. This will take you through more spinning gears and a gauntlet of robots. After you defeat the waves of enemies, hit the switch on the left and follow the path upward to find a mask shard.
Mask shard #8 — First Shrine in Songclave
A mask shard can be purchased from Jubliana at the First Shrine in Songclave for 750 rosaries. However, to find Jubliana at the First Shrine, you’ll first need to complete the “The Wandering Merchant” quest, which is found on the wishboard nearby. After you complete the quest, she’ll make her way to the First Shrine and stand beside the wishboard.
Mask Shard #9 — Savage Beastfly Grand Hunt
To unlock this mask shard, you’ll need to complete the following prerequisites:
“The Threadspun Town” quest in Bellhart
Defeat the Savage Beastfly in the Chapel of the Beast in Hunter’s March
Defeat the Cogwork Dancers in Cogwork Core
Afterward, return to Bellhart to find the Savage Beastfly Grand Hunt on your wishboard. You’ll find the Savage Beastfly in the same area you fought against the Fourth Chorus in Far Fields. After you defeat them, return to the Bellhart wishboard to earn a mask shard as a reward.
Mask shard #10 — Whispering Vaults
Head to the hallway just one layer above the very bottom (if you’ve gone through the Underworks), to find a suspicious object hanging from the ceiling. Hit it to release it, which will reveal a hole that you can climb up. As you proceed up, hit the ceiling to push the wooden block upward and continue jumping up the wall. Make your way to the very top to find a mask shard.
Mask shard #11 — Far Fields
In the bottom right region of Far Fields, you’ll find a house that seems to be unreachable and a few hanging rings. Use your Clawline to grapple to the rings and jump up to the house. Once inside, the doorway behind you will cave in, making the hole in front of you the only way to go. Carefully glide down the hole and avoid all of the spikes until you reach a room with an explosive rock. Before you hit this rock, you should know that it will make the floor disappear and reveal a bed of lava and two destructible platforms. To make things worse, you’re going to have to battle your way through a gauntlet of enemies with only the two platforms and the walls to aid you. We recommend getting the Cogfly so you can focus on dodging, and using the Magma Bell just in case you fall into the lava.
After you successfully complete the gauntlet, the lava will start to rise and you’ll have to outrun the lava as you platform your way back to the top. If you fail and perish in the process, you will have to start over from the beginning — gauntlet and all. At the top, you’ll find a mask shard waiting for you.
Mask shard #12 — Mount Fay
The mask shard in Mount Fay can be collected after you unlock the Faydown Cloak at the top of the mountain. Afterward, slide down the snowy mountainside and hop over the spikes until you reach the bottom left corner of the area. In this room, you’ll find a hollow pillar that you can double jump into, which just so happens to contain a mask shard.
Mask shard #13 — Blasted Steps
The mask shard in the Blasted Steps will require Clawline and Faydown Cloak. Make your way to the bottom left corner of the Blasted Steps and stop on the last stone platform on the ground. If you see platforms in the air, you’ve gone too far. From the stone platform, sprint jump to the left, use your Clawline midair, and double jump using your Faydown Cloak to reach the platform above. To reach the next platform, you’ll have to do something similar. Sprint jump off, use your Clawline, and glide over to land on the platform.
Proceed upward to enter another room with more bugs crawling up and down the walls, rocks falling from the ceiling, and spikes on the floor. Cautiously navigate your way through the room to find a mask shard in the top left corner.
Mask shard #14 — Wisp Thicket
For this mask shard, make your way to the Wisp Thicket, whose entrance is found in the top left corner of Greymoor, but first, unlock the Faydown Cloak as you’ll need double jump to enter the area and collect the mask shard.
After you enter Wisp Thicket, head to the right, where you’ll find a bench in a sac hanging from the ceiling. Break open the sac to drop the bench, and rest on it just in case anything goes wrong during the upcoming platforming section. In the next room, pogo off of the hanging red balloons and use your Clawline to grab onto the walls. As you’re climbing up the room, take the first exit on the right. In this section, there are a few fire-spewing enemies, but you can just speed past them. Use your Clawline and pogo skills again to reach the end of the path where you’ll find a mask shard.
Mask shard #15 — Bilewater
The mask shard in Bilewater will have you platforming over mucky waters full of disgusting grubs. To make it even worse, the benches in Bilewater are extremely far apart, forcing you to make long treks if you do end up dying along the way. To get this mask shard, make sure you have Clawline and Faydown Cloak, as they’re necessary to progress further into Bilewater.
From the Bilewater Bellway, enter the upper exit on the right side and continue to the right until you enter a tall chamber. Double jump up and climb up the wall above. For this section, you’ll need to zigzag your way up, using your Clawline and Faydown Cloak whenever possible. Along the way, you’ll encounter bloatroaches, which are huge flying bugs that spew bile at you. Use cover to wait until they’re done puking and quickly pass them to avoid being spit on. Enter the third exit on the right and continue to the right in the next room. From here, you’re going to follow the path to the right until you reach the mask shard, but watch out for the slubberlugs in the water as they’ll jump out as you’re passing by and drag you into the grub-infested waters.
Mask shard #16 — The Slab
Before you head to The Slab, you’ll need to grab the Key of Apostate, which is located in the Putrified Ducts. The key can be found in the bottom left corner of the area, as seen in the image below:
Now that you have the key, head to The Slab through the Choral Chambers entrance. If you haven’t been to The Slab before, we recommend progressing through the area and collecting the Key of Indolent and the Key of Heretic to unlock gates along the way. Once you’ve done that, head to the top of the central chamber and unlock the door on the right with the Key of Apostate.
In this room, you’re going to need to put your pogo skills to the test as you’ll be pogoing off a moving gear. You’ll need to follow the gear all the way to the top where you’ll find a mask shard in the top left corner. If you lose track of the gear or it moves out of range, you will unfortunately need to start over from the very beginning.
Mask shard #17 — ‘Fastest in Pharloom’ wish in Far Fields (Act 3)
To get this mask shard, you’ll need to start Act 3. Head to the top right corner of Far Fields by going through the secret area, which can be accessed by using Silk Soar in front of the statue in Hunter’s March.
Once you make it to the top right corner, you’ll find Sprintmaster Swift, and he’ll challenge you to see who is the fastest in all of Pharloom. You’ll need to win three races, with the difficulty getting harder after each race. We recommend using all of your speed-boosting tools, like the Silkspeed Anklets and Flea Brew to give you that extra oomph. After you beat Swift three times, you’ll get a mask shard as a reward.
Mask shard #18 — ‘Dark Hearts’ wish in Bellhart (Act 3)
Head to the Bellhart wish board in Act 3 to find the quest called “Dark Hearts.” For this wish, you need to destroy 12 void masses throughout all of Pharloom. Void masses look like a clump of enemies held together by void strings. As a reference, here’s an image of a void mass in Shellwood:
Luckily, there are more than 12 void masses scattered around the map, and you’ll naturally run into a lot of them as you explore Act 3. If you’re looking for more void mass locations, consider checking out our interactive map, which has all of the void mass locations marked for you.
After you defeat 12 void masses, turn in the wish to receive your mask shard.
Mask shard #19 — Mount Fay (Act 3)
To get the Act 3 mask shard in Mount Fay, you’ll need to use Silk Soar to reach a secret area. Climb Mount Fay until you reach the hallway in the center of the map.
During the portion where you need to use your Clawline to grapple onto the flying crystal bugs, you’ll land on a small platform in the water. Use Silk Soar to go up the hole in the ceiling and follow the path to the right. Break through the ice to make it to the bottom right corner of the room, and use Silk Soar again to reach the exit in the top right corner. Enter the hidden cave to find yourself in another difficult platforming challenge.
To reach the top and collect the mask shard, you’ll need to use your Clawline to its maximum potential by hooking onto the mnemonords, which are huge versions of the flying crystal bugs that you’ve seen around Mount Fay. You’ll also need to hook onto the walls and stand on ice crystals to give yourself a boost. Once you’ve made it to the top, use Silk Soar again to find the mask shard.
Mask shard #20 — ‘The Hidden Hunter’ wish in Bellhart (Act 3)
For the last mask shard, you’ll need to accept the “The Hidden Hunter” quest on the wish board in Bellhart in Act 3. In this quest, you’ll need to track down Gurr the Outcast and defeat them.
Rather than have you track down Gurr and deal with all of the traps they left behind, head over to the far right section of Far Fields, just before the area with Sprintmaster Swift. In this location, you’ll find the Gurr’s last tracks, and if you interact with it, you’ll be trapped inside of a cage and dragged down into an arena with Gurr. As you can already tell, Gurr loves traps and this battle mainly focuses around Gurr throwing the traps you’ve seen along the way and a few spikes popping out of the ground. To easily defeat Gurr, wait for them to land on the ground after they’ve thrown their traps and land a few hits.
Once you defeat Gurr, head into the room on the left and collect the Grass Doll in the top left corner, but watch out for the trap in the top left corner. There is a platform that will activate a swinging axe if you step on it, so be quick or jump over it. Bring the Grass Doll back to the wish board to collect your mask shard.
Looking for more Silksong help? Check out our essential beginner tips and top rosary bead farming locations if you’re just getting started, and if you’re running up against a few locked doors, our simple key locations guide is the one for you.