By Danielle Rose

Copyright pcgamesn

What are the best Silksong Tools? It’s an understatement to say that Silksong is challenging. While some players are reveling in the undertaking, others are struggling with tough bosses and even tougher runbacks. If you’re in the latter camp, we feel your pain, so we’ve done our research to help you (and ourselves) out.

You may get some way through the Silksong map before even realizing how to equip Hollow Knight Silksong Tools, but these valuable items are essential to your success. There are three tool types, limited slots, and secret locations to get to grips with if you’re going to unlock the best tools in the Metroidvania game. Here are all the Silksong Tool locations and which ones you should be using.

The best Silksong Tools

Here are the best Silksong Tools in each tool type:

Best red tools: Straight Pin, Sting Shard, Plasmium Phial
Best yellow tools: Compass, Magnetite Brooch, Dead Bug’s Purse
Best blue tools: Druid’s Eye, Pollip Pouch

Best red tools

Red tools improve your attack capabilities, providing you with new ways to eliminate enemies. These weapons are generally ranged, and all red tools are limited, regenerating every time Hornet sits at a bench or rest spot. You will need Shell Shards to replenish these tools; otherwise, you won’t be able to use them.

For the best red tools, you’re best equipped with the ranged Straight Pin to start with. A simple tool that provides you with 12 throwable daggers, the Straight Pin gives you a long-range weapon to fight against pesky flying foes.

Depending on your playstyle, you could swap it out for the Sting Shard to place damaging traps on the battlefield instead, giving you a more passive secondary weapon. With an additional slot, the extra mask of health provided by the Plasmium Phial is an excellent choice for those who take a lot of damage, but we’d prioritize using Memory Lockets on yellow slots first.

Best yellow tools

Yellow tools are for exploration, aiding you in finding your way around the mammoth Silksong map or helping you find and collect valuable items from your surroundings.

One of the best yellow tools you can acquire early on is the Compass, as the map takes some getting used to. Once you have a Memory Locket, it’s beneficial to add the Magnetite Brooch to hoover up any loose rosaries, particularly useful on Silksong Rosary farming runs. Swap this out for the Dead Bug’s Purse when you have it, allowing you to keep some of your rosaries upon death.

Best blue tools

Blue tools are passive defensive tools that provide valuable support for Hornet during combat. Almost any combination of blue tools will prove beneficial, but they take a while to unlock.

The first choice is the Druid’s Eye, which can be picked up fairly early in the game after completing the Mossberries quest. Granting bonus Silk when taking damage, the Druid’s Eye allows you to heal or use your skill more often. If you can equip a second blue tool, we’d recommend the Pollip Pouch which applies venom to your weapon to deal additional damage, available once you reach Shellwood.

How to equip tools

Equipping tools is as simple as dragging an item into a slot on your Crest menu. However, you must be seated at a bench or rest spot to do so. This means you can’t switch tools at will, so you must plan ahead. For example, you may want to equip the Magma Bell if you know you’re about to enter the Deep Docks, then take it off again when resting on the other side.

Extra tool slots

You can unlock one additional slot for each tool type using Memory Lockets. These can be found across Pharloom and purchased from various vendors, including Mort, who also sells a Tool Pouch, another method for increasing tool capacity.

You should also bear in mind that additional slots are locked to the current Crest and won’t carry over to another, so be careful when using Memory Lockets. Check out our standalone guide if you need to know more about Silksong Crests.

All Silksong Tool locations

And that’s all you need to know about the best Silksong Tools. If you’ve missed any of the tools in this guide, you can get back to them quickly using Bellways, and you’ll be well on your way to defeating the remaining Silksong bosses.