You don’t start Hollow Knight: Silksong with a map. You buy each area’s map from Shakra, the wandering cartographer, using rosaries. After that, the map fills in as you explore, and new areas of Pharloom open up as you collect traversal abilities and push the story through its three acts.
How the Silksong map works
The Silksong map works much like the one in Hollow Knight. You enter a new area completely blind and get no map screen for it. Once you find Shakra and buy that region’s map, you get its outline. The rooms you’ve walked through are drawn in properly, and the rest stays as a rough sketch until you visit it.
Team Cherry kept this design on purpose. The first few minutes in any new zone are meant to be disorienting, so you learn its landmarks before you get a safety net. That’s frustrating in places like Shellwood or the Citadel’s vertical districts. It also means a purchased map really feels like progress.
You’ll use three things together:
- The area map for each region, sold by Shakra.
- The Compass, a tool that shows Hornet’s position on the map. You have to equip it, so it costs you a tool slot.
- Pins and markers, which let you flag benches, vendors, travel stations and your own points of interest.
Quick steps: unlock an area's map
- Enter the new area and listen for humming.
- Follow the hanging rings Shakra leaves behind.
- Talk to Shakra and buy the area map with rosaries.
- Equip the Compass to see your position.
- Place markers on locked doors and unreachable ledges.
Step 1: Find Shakra in each new area
Shakra moves through Pharloom ahead of you. She usually arrives in a region before you get there, and she leaves signs that she’s nearby. Listen for her humming, which carries through several rooms. Look for the small rings she ties up along her route. Those rings point toward her position, so treat them like breadcrumbs.
When you find her, she sells the map for the region you’re standing in. Her stock changes as the game goes on, so don’t assume every map is available from your first meeting. If you can afford it, buy the map on the spot. She doesn’t stay in one place forever.
Step 2: Buy the map and protect your rosaries
Maps cost rosaries, the same currency you spend on tools, upgrades and everything else. Silksong is harsh about money. When you die, Hornet leaves a cocoon holding your rosaries. Die again before you break that cocoon and the rosaries are gone.
Heads up
Don’t carry a big rosary stack into a new area before you’ve found Shakra. String spare rosaries into a rosary string first, so they’re kept safe in your inventory and won’t be lost if you die.
Step 3: Equip the Compass
Without the Compass, the map shows the layout but not where you are on it. That’s fine in small rooms, but it falls apart in mazes like the Wormways. The Compass takes up a tool slot, so you’ll be tempted to swap it out for something combat-focused. Keep it equipped while you explore and drop it for boss fights, where you know exactly where you are anyway.
Step 4: Mark everything you can’t reach yet
Silksong gates a lot of rooms behind abilities you won’t have for hours. If you don’t mark a cracked wall, a high ledge or a sealed door when you first see it, you’ll forget it. Shakra sells several marker types. Give each one a single meaning and stick to it, for example rings for “needs a new ability” and shells for “item I couldn’t grab”.
Player tip
Before you put the controller down, press Create on your DualSense and take a screenshot of the map screen. It’s a free backup of your marker notes, and it reminds you where you were going when you come back days later.
Map tools at a glance
| Item | What it does | Where you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Area map | Shows the layout of one region | Shakra, paid in rosaries |
| Compass | Shows Hornet’s position on the map | Tool, takes a tool slot |
| Markers | Custom icons you place by hand | Shakra |
| Bench and vendor pins | Auto-mark rest spots and shops | Shakra |
| Bellway / Ventrica pins | Mark fast-travel stations | Shakra |
How to unlock every area of Pharloom
Pharloom opens up in two ways: story progress and traversal abilities. Act 1 covers the lower kingdom, starting in the Moss Grotto and running through regions like Bone Bottom, the Marrow, Deep Docks, Greymoor, Shellwood, Bellhart and the Wormways. To reach the Citadel at the top, you have to get past the Last Judge at the Blasted Steps. That opens Act 2, which takes place in the Citadel’s districts, such as the Choral Chambers, Underworks and High Halls, plus outer areas like Mount Fay. Act 3 is reserved for players chasing the true ending. It changes parts of the existing map and adds places you couldn’t reach before.
Most of the locked doors and impossible gaps you marked in Act 1 open once you have the right ability. Here’s what the main ones do for your map:
| Ability | What it lets you reach | When you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Swift Step | Long gaps, timed dash routes | Act 1, Deep Docks |
| Drifter’s Cloak | Wide drops and glide-only crossings | Act 1 |
| Cling Grip | Wall climbing, vertical shafts | Act 1, Shellwood |
| Needolin | Song-locked doors, some NPC events | Act 1, after the Widow in Bellhart |
| Clawline | Grapple points across open air | Act 2 |
| Faydown Cloak | Double jump, high ledges | Act 2, Mount Fay |
| Silk Soar | Tall vertical shafts | Late game |
Each time you get one of these, open your map and look over your markers. A five-minute backtracking loop right after a new ability almost always pays off with a mask shard, spool fragment or flea.
Bellways and fast travel
Fast travel doesn’t come for free. In the lower kingdom you use Bellways, which are stations you unlock and then pay to use. In the Citadel you use the Ventrica network. Buy the matching pins from Shakra so the stations show up on your map. Plan backtracking runs from the nearest station, not the nearest bench.
Optional and easy-to-miss areas
Some regions are completely optional and easy to walk past. Hunter’s March is a hard detour off the main Act 1 route, and many players don’t find it on their first run. Sinner’s Road and the wetlands of Bilewater are also side branches, not main-path stops. If your map shows an edge leading off-screen with nothing drawn beyond it, that’s a region you haven’t entered yet.
100% checklist: collectibles to track on the map
The map is also your main tool for tracking completion. These are the collectibles most players chase for 100%, and what each one gives you:
| Collectible | What it upgrades | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mask Shards | Health | 20 shards, 4 per extra mask |
| Spool Fragments | Silk capacity | 2 fragments per spool segment |
| Lost Fleas | Flea Caravan questline | Rescue them across Pharloom |
| Craftmetal | Tool upgrades | Found in hidden rooms |
| Pale Oil | Needle damage | Spent with Pinmaster Plinney |
| Memory Lockets | Crest slots | Unlock extra tool slots |
Hornet starts with five masks. All 20 mask shards bring her to ten, which makes a big difference against Act 2 bosses. Fleas are the collectible people forget most, because many sit in side rooms you’d never enter otherwise. Mark every flea you hear but can’t reach.
How big is the Silksong map compared to Hollow Knight?
Team Cherry hasn’t released an official area figure for Pharloom, so be wary of anyone quoting exact percentages. What’s clear from playing it is that Silksong takes longer to explore than Hallownest. It has three acts instead of one continuous world, and the map gets much more vertical as you climb toward the Citadel. Act 3 also changes parts of areas you thought you’d finished.
| Hollow Knight | Hollow Knight: Silksong | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Team Cherry | Team Cherry |
| PlayStation release | 25 September 2018 (PS4) | 4 September 2025 (PS4, PS5) |
| Kingdom | Hallownest | Pharloom |
| Playable character | The Knight | Hornet |
| Map seller | Cornifer | Shakra |
| US launch price | $14.99 | $19.99 |
| Story structure | One world, multiple endings | Three acts |
The bigger change is how you move through it. Hornet is faster and climbs earlier than the Knight did, so rooms are wider and taller. Distances that would have felt huge in Hollow Knight pass quickly here. That’s one reason the Compass matters more: it’s easy to overshoot a room and lose track of where you are.
Using a Silksong interactive map without spoiling the game
Fan-made Silksong maps cover Pharloom in detail. You’ll find interactive versions on sites like IGN and Fextralife, plus dedicated tracker sites and community wikis. Most let you filter by category, such as mask shards, fleas, benches and bosses, and tick off what you’ve found as you go.
They’re excellent for a 100% cleanup. On a first run, they’re also the fastest way to drain the tension out of the game. Here’s a sensible approach:
- Play each act blind first. Only use the in-game map and your own markers.
- Use interactive maps after an act’s main bosses. At that point you’re filling gaps, not skipping discovery.
- Filter hard. Turn on only the category you’re hunting, for example fleas, and hide boss and story markers.
- Check items off as you go. Tracking progress across a session is where these maps beat any wiki page.
PS5 tips for map-heavy play
You’ll open the map hundreds of times, so make it comfortable. If the default layout isn’t working for you, change it in Silksong’s own control options first. You can also remap buttons system-wide on your PS5 controller under Settings > Accessibility > Controllers > Custom Button Assignments, but in-game remapping is cleaner because it doesn’t affect other games.
Silksong runs on both PS4 and PS5. Save files and performance are the reasons to pick the PS5 version: load times are short enough that fast-travel loops for backtracking feel quick.
Troubleshooting common map problems
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Map is blank in a new area | You haven’t bought that area’s map | Find Shakra by following her humming and rings |
| Can’t see where Hornet is | Compass not equipped | Equip the Compass tool |
| Rooms visited but not drawn | Map bought after exploring, or a gap in coverage | Revisit the rooms and check the map again |
| Fast-travel stations missing | Station pins not bought | Buy Bellway or Ventrica pins from Shakra |
| Shakra has moved on | She travels ahead of you | Check her next likely area and listen for humming |
FAQ
Do you get the full Silksong map at the start?
No. Every region has its own map, and you buy each one from Shakra. Until you do, that area has no map coverage at all.
Where do I find Shakra?
She’s somewhere in most regions, usually off the main path. Listen for her humming and follow the rings she hangs along her route. They lead straight to her.
Why can’t I see Hornet on the map?
You need the Compass equipped. It takes a tool slot, so it’s easy to remove by accident when you change your loadout before a boss.
Can I miss areas permanently?
Most optional regions stay reachable, but Act 3 changes parts of Pharloom. It’s worth clearing your marked side paths before you trigger major story events.
Are fan Silksong maps accurate?
The major interactive maps are updated by large communities and are reliable for collectible locations. Use them for cleanup runs. On a first playthrough, use them sparingly so the game keeps its sense of discovery.
