In Hollow Knight: Silksong your loadout has two parts: one Crest, which changes Hornet’s attacks and sets how many slots you get and of what kind, and the Tools you put into those slots. This guide explains what the slot colours mean, how tools are restocked with Shell Shards, what expands your loadout and what the first Crests do. It applies to all platforms, as of 20 October 2026 (version 1.0.30000 on PC). You won’t find a “best build” here, just how the system works.
How equipment works in Silksong
You always have exactly one Crest equipped. It changes Hornet’s moveset, including the down attack, and decides how many tool slots you have and in which colours. You then fill those slots with Tools. Team Cherry sums it up as “Craft powerful tools! Master an enormous arsenal of weapons, traps and mechanisms.”
The key rule: you can only change your Crest and Tools while resting at a bench. The bench is also where you respawn after dying. Plan your loadout before a tough section or a boss, because you can’t rebuild it mid-fight or on the move.
Slot and tool colours
Tools and slots come in three colours. A slot of a given colour takes a tool of the same colour.
| Colour | Type | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Red | active, offensive | triggered with a button, limited number of uses |
| Blue | passive | defence and support |
| Yellow | passive | exploration and utility |
Restocking tools and Shell Shards
Red tools have a limited number of uses. You restock them at a bench, paying with Shell Shards, which drop from enemies. You don’t lose Shell Shards when you die, unlike rosaries. Rosaries are a separate currency used mainly with merchants, and our rosary farming guide covers them in detail.
According to the guides, the default red tool, the Straight Pin, doesn’t cost silk. That means you can keep using it even while you’re saving silk for healing.
Expanding your loadout: Memory Lockets, Crafting Kits, Tool Pouches
Three kinds of items expand your loadout:
- Memory Locket adds another slot to a Crest.
- Crafting Kit increases the damage of offensive tools. Since Patch 3 it also boosts offensive blue tools.
- Tool Pouch increases how many uses of a tool you can carry.
You get Crafting Kits and Tool Pouches from merchants and from wishes, the side quests characters post, mostly on boards in towns. We’re not listing prices or the number of upgrades, because the guides don’t agree on them.
Silk Skills and silk
Alongside Tools you have Silk Skills, abilities paid for with Silk. They include Silkspear, Thread Storm, Cross Stitch, Sharp Dart and Rune Rage. You fill your silk spool by hitting enemies, and healing draws from the same spool. Healing is called Bind, and one Bind restores 3 masks of health.
Because healing and Silk Skills share the same pool, the guides advise against hoarding silk only for healing and recommend actually using your offensive skills. The basics are covered in more depth in our beginner’s guide.
Crests: what they change and where to find them
You start with the Hunter Crest, which attacks diagonally downwards rather than straight down like the Knight in the first game. Bouncing off enemies with your down attack (“pogo”) takes practice as a result. Other Crests change the down attack. Below are the Crests where the guides agree on what they do and where they are. We don’t give a total number of Crests because we couldn’t verify it.
| Crest | What it changes | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter | starting Crest, diagonal down attack | you have it from the start; upgraded by Eva in Weavenest Atla |
| Wanderer | the moveset closest to the Knight from Hollow Knight | Chapel of the Wanderer in Bonegrave below Wormways, the route goes through a Simple Key lock |
| Reaper | after a Bind you gather extra silk from enemies, reliable down attack | Chapel of the Reaper in Greymoor |
| Beast | after a Bind, healing comes from hitting enemies | after defeating Savage Beastfly in Hunter’s March |
You reach Eva through a door in Moss Grotto that you open with the Needolin ability. You get Needolin after defeating Widow.
Which Crest to use depends on how you play. If the diagonal down attack doesn’t click for you, try a Crest with a different one. If you heal a lot, look at the Crests that change what happens after a Bind. Since you swap gear at benches, you can try them out every time you rest.
Example tools
The table lists tools whose function the guides or Team Cherry’s patch notes agree on. It’s not a complete list.
| Tool | Colour | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Pin | red | default offensive tool, doesn’t cost silk |
| Sting Shard | red | offensive tool, from the Forge Daughter in Deep Docks |
| Druid’s Eye | blue | extra silk; reward for the wish to bring three Mossberries to the Moss Druid |
| Fractured Mask | blue | absorbs one lethal hit |
| Compass | yellow | shows Hornet’s position on the map, must be equipped |
| Magnetite Brooch | yellow | pulls loose rosaries towards you, handy for farming |
Keep an eye on patches too, as Team Cherry has rebalanced some attacks. The changes are summarised in our Silksong patches overview. If you want to know how demanding the reviews say the game is, see Silksong difficulty.
Join our Discord to compare loadouts with other players: GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
Only while resting at a bench. You can’t rebuild your loadout anywhere else, so sort it out before a tough section.
Red tools are active offensive tools with limited uses. Blue and yellow are passive: blue for defence and support, yellow for exploration and utility.
At a bench, where they are refilled using Shell Shards. Enemies drop Shell Shards and you don’t lose them when you die.
A Memory Locket adds another slot to a Crest. A Tool Pouch increases how many uses of a tool you carry, and a Crafting Kit raises the damage of offensive tools.
The guides disagree, so there’s no single answer. Each Crest changes attacks and slots differently, so pick one that suits your style and feel free to swap at benches.
Information verified on 20 October 2026. More guides are in our Silksong guides section.