Hornet’s needle (her signature weapon) in Hollow Knight: Silksong is your lifeline in Pharloom. But early on, you’ll notice that even basic enemies need too many hits to get killed, let alone hard bosses who seem like brick walls. That’s when you need something more powerful, and like a lot of other players including me, you will wonder: can you upgrade your needle in Silksong, the way you upgraded the Nail in Hollow Knight?
Yes, you can upgrade your Needle in Silksong but the system is a little different this time, and it requires some work before you unlock your first boost. Here’s everything you need to know about the Silksong Needle upgrade.
How to Upgrade Needle in Hollow Knight: Silksong
Unlike the Nailsmith who appears fairly early in the original game, Silksong makes you earn your first damage upgrade. You won’t encounter a smith in the first few areas. Instead, the needle upgrade is locked behind specific progression points. The upgrade path opens up after you liberate Bellhart, a town strung up in threads that needs to be freed before its services become available.
You need to look for the Needlesmith of Bellhart, Pinmaster Plinney, found in a bellhouse marked with three pins above the door. After defeating specific bosses (notably the Widow fight), you’ll unlock dialogue with him that includes the prompt “Sharpen Needle?” Select yes to get the Sharpened Needle, your first powerful upgrade weapon.
This upgrade works much like Nail upgrades in the first game: a flat increase in base damage that applies not only to normal strikes but also to silk-based skills like the Silkspear.
While exploring Pharloom, you can come across other forge-like NPCs like the Forge Daughter in the Deep Docks. Don’t get confused here. She doesn’t level up your needle but she has Crafting Kits. These are separate progression items that improve Hornet’s secondary tools. The kit costs 180 Rosaries, and you can find up to four across the game.
What Difference Upgrade Needle Make in Silksong
Before upgrading, basic mobs are very tanky. Even the trash fights can drag on, and arena-style encounters get exhausting. Once you finally sharpen the needle, though, the difference is immediate. Clearing weak enemies in two strikes instead of five completely changes the game’s pace, letting you focus more on boss mechanics rather than slogging through filler combat. The needle upgrade even makes the mid-game difficulty curve much easier by giving you some much-needed breathing room before Pharloom starts to throw horrors your way.
