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The more Masks the Knight has, the more hits they’ll be able to take before they are destroyed, sent back to the bench, and must defeat their Shade before regaining their Geo. To increase the number of Masks the player has, they’ll need to collect items called Mask Shards. From the default 5 Masks, the player can bump that all the way up to 9 with every Mask Shard. Ultimately, collecting every Mask Shard in the game will make the player more powerful, and will help them beat the absurd amount of bosses that Hollow Knight offers.

Updated January 28th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: Hollow Knight is a beloved indie game that’s constantly been on the minds of people in a few different fanbases such as Soulsborne fans, Metroidvania fans, and roguelike fans. And, with its sequel Silksong coming sometime in the near future (hopefully), more and more people are finally getting around the playing Hollow Knight for the first time in preparation.

And, these same players are finding out just how difficult of a game Hollow Knight is. Thankfully, there are a myriad of ways to make the game just a bit easier, one of which is increasing the Knight’s (aka the player character’s) health pool by collecting Mask Shards.

What Are Mask Shards & How Many Are There?

Collecting four Mask Shards will net the player one Ancient Mask, as each Shard is just one piece of the full mask. There are 16 Mask Shards in the game, which means the player can gain a total of four Ancient Masks, and each Ancient Mask increases their Max HP by 1. Adding that to the five the Knight already has by default, collecting every Mask Shard will allow players to have nine Masks in total, and this isn’t even including the extra health available through Charms or Lifeblood Cocoons (if they can even find them).

Players should also note that collecting every Mask Shard in the game will net them two achievements. One is called ‘Protected’, and it is obtained after the Knight finds 4 different Mask Shards for the first time. The second achievement is called ‘Masked’, ironically enough, and this is unlocked once every single Mask Shard has been found.

How To Find Mask Shards & How They Grouped

Now, actually finding Mask Shards in Hollow Knight requires some work. A lot of them are bought from NPCs using Geo, but there are others rewarded to the Knight after a boss fight, and some are just found lying about. So, let’s go over how to find each one, separating them by their method of acquisition.

Mask Shards Bought From Sly

Sly is a merchant NPC is Hollow Knight, who sells the player all kinds of goods after he is rescued in the Forgotten Crossroads. The player can immediately purchase two Mask Shards from him and another two after giving him the Shopkeeper’s Key, an item hidden in Crystal Peak.

Here are the prices for each Mask Shard in his shop:

150 Geo 500 Geo 800 Geo (only available after giving Sly the Shopkeeper’s Key) 1500 Geo (only available after giving Sly the Shopkeeper’s Key)

Given By Grubfather

The easiest way to earn a Mask Shard early in the game is to simply find and free five Grubs. Grubs are scattered throughout Hallownest, and players can determine their presence by the squeaky little noises that they make when they’re in the same room the Knight is in.

Once the player frees five of them, the player must return to the Grubfather, their patriarch of sorts. The Grubfather, adorable as he is in contrast to a lot of Hollow Knights horrifying Bloodborne-esque world, is absolutely distraught with worry for his Grubs, so he gives the Knight a variety of rewards for bringing his children back, one of which is a Mask Shard.

Defeat The Brooding Mawlek In The Forgotten Crossroads

West of the Forgotten Crossroads, at the lower left of the Ancestral Mound bench (easily reachable with the Mantis Claw), is the hidden boss the Brooding Mawlek.

This enemy isn’t too tough of an opponent compared to many of Hollow Knight’s other boss fights, but it can still send the player back to the bench if they’re not careful. Once the boss is defeated, the player will receive one Mask Shard.

Forgotten Crossroads

Another Mask Shard located in the Forgotten Crossroads is in a room just under the only hot spring on this level. This area is filled with Goams for the player to avoid.

Navigate through this area without being hit by the Goams. The player will need to do a bit of platforming and practice timing and precision here to get to the end of the room. If they manage it, the Mask Shard awaits them at the end of this area.

Bretta’s House

Bretta’s house in Dirtmouth contains another Mask Shard (as well as a variety of diaries, drawings, and dolls of the Knight and then Zote not long after). However, before players can open Bretta’s house, they will need to rescue her in the Fungal Wastes.

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Rescuing Bretta will require a little navigation. The entrance to her area is hidden in the room below her. From there, the player will need to work their way up, avoiding spikes along the way, to get to her. Once approached and freed, she will return to Dirtmouth. She’ll open her house to her savior, giving the player access to the Mask Shard.

Queen’s Station

Just outside the area’s Stag Station, the player will find a room filled with spikes. They must navigate their way up this area, avoiding the spikes in the process, to get to the Queen’s Station.

Once the player reaches the top, the player can immediately spot a Mask Shard. They can then hit a lever here that opens a door back to the outside. Keep in mind that the Mantis Claw ability is necessary in order to reach this Mask Shard.

Stone Sanctuary

To get the Mask Shard in the Stone Sanctuary, the player will first need to have the Lumafly Lantern in their inventory. They can also purchase this item from Sly for 1,800 Geo.

The Mask Shard is hidden in a room next to the boss named No Eyes’ combat room, which means the player must first defeat this Dream Boss to get the shard. Once this tragic Warrior Spirit is defeated, a path at the top-right corner of the room will open. This path leads to the Mask Shard.

Royal Waterways

The Royal Waterways area is covered in darkness, so players will almost always need the Lumafly Lantern to navigate this level. Find the Mask Shard left of where Conifer is.

From Conifer’s room, players must simply travel left until they reach a room filled with water. There are two openings at the far left: one at the top, and one at the bottom. Head to the bottom one to find the Mask Shard at the end of this section.

Deepnest

Unlike some of the other hidden areas in Hollow Knight where players can use well-timed bounces and so on to access areas that they would usually need the Mantis Claw to get to, this next Mask Shard truly does require some items beforehand. Specifically, players will need the Monarch Wings and the Mantis Claw to get the Mask Shard in Deepnest. They’ll find it on the eastern part of the map, just above the passage left of the Mantis Lords’ boss room.

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While the area where the Mask Shard is located lies in Deepnest territory, which is very different from Hallownest, the only way to actually reach this room is to drop down from the Fungal Core, a sub-area of the Fungal Waste biome.

The Hive

Players can find the Mask Shard in the Hive approximately in the center area of the map of the Hive. It is situated in a room that the Knight can only access after it is broken by a Hive Guardian. Players should be able to recognize this breakable wall by the simple fact that the two rooms are basically connected on the map but separated by a single ’line’. But, it’s completely understandable if players had to look this up, as this little detail is something most would only notice on a second or third playthrough.

With that in mind, the player must bait a Hive Guardian into breaking the leftmost wall in this room. Once aggroed, the Hive Guardian will repeatedly bounce off walls for a small period of time. The player must make sure that the Hive Guardian hits the wall that leads to the Mask Shard.

Defeat The Enraged Guardian

In the Crystal Peak, the Enraged Guardian guards another Mask Shard. Reaching the Enraged Guardian’s room will require the Monarch Wings, there’s no way around this. The player will first need to defeat the Crystal Guardian in Crystal Peak to even gain access to this area.

During the fight and after the first ‘phase’, the boss will jump up to the second level and players can fight their second form there. Once defeated, a room left of the arena will open, revealing yet another Mask Shard.

Collect 1,500 Essence

In Hollow Knight, the player will start to collect Essence after receiving the Dream Nail. They can collect Essence on their own by activating Whispering Roots, defeating Warrior Spirits inside Warrior Dreams, and beating Dream Bosses.

Once the player collects 1,500 Essence, head back to the Seer NPC and she will reward the player for their Essence-hoarding achievement with one Mask Shard.

Deliver The Delicate Flower To The Traitor’s Child

The Delicate Flower side quest is one of the game’s most tedious tasks and one of its seemingly infinite secrets. The player must deliver a Delicate Flower from the Grey Mourner, located in the Resting Grounds, to the grave of the Traitor’s Child in Queen’s Garden. They must do this without being hit, and without using a Stag Station. The closest comparable sidequest in any other game is maybe the pizza delivery quests in Death Stranding, and even that is a bit of a stretch.

The easiest way to complete this quest is to open a Dreamgate outside the Grey Mourner’s hut. The player must then find a route to the Traitor’s Child and travel that route, killing every enemy along the way without sitting on a bench. Then, travel back to the Grey Mourner using the Dreamgate. Players can then get the flower and take the path again, without any enemies to damage them. Be careful, though, as environmental damage will also destroy the flower. Once the quest is complete, the player will earn one Mask Shard.

Hollow Knight is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

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