Mask Shards Hollow Knight Location Guide

Health Upgrade / Hollow Knight (2017)

There are 16 Mask Shards in Hollow Knight. Every four you collect add one full Mask to the Knight's health.

Total: 16 ShardsPer Mask: 4 ShardsMax gain: +4 Masks

Mask Shards are the health upgrades in Hollow Knight. Per the wiki, the Knight starts with five Masks of health, and there are 16 Mask Shards scattered across Hallownest. Every four Shards combine into one extra Mask, so collecting all 16 raises the health bar from five Masks to nine.

Mask Shards are found in a mix of ways. Some are bought from a shop, some are rewards for beating bosses, some are tucked behind movement abilities, and a couple are handed over by NPCs once a quest is finished. According to the wiki, four of the 16 come from a single shop, which makes Geo the simplest path to the first extra Mask in many runs.

For the broader picture of how health, healing, and Masks work together, the Hollow Knight Mask guide covers the full health system. This page is the location list: every one of the 16 Mask Shards, the requirement attached to each, and a sensible order to pick them up.

The Shards are worth chasing early. In practice, the jump from five Masks to six or seven changes which bosses feel fair, so front-loading the easy Shards before the mid-game bosses pays off more than saving them for later.

• How many There are 16 Mask Shards in the base game.
• The math 4 Shards = 1 Mask; all 16 add four Masks, taking the Knight from 5 to 9.
• Easiest Four are bought from Sly's Shop in Dirtmouth for Geo.
• Hardest The Seer and Grey Mourner Shards need 1500 Essence and a finished quest.

How Mask Shards Work

Per the wiki, the Knight begins with five Masks, and each Mask Shard is a quarter of a Mask. Collect four and the health bar gains one full Mask, soaking up one more hit before death. With all 16 Shards, the Knight tops out at nine Masks.

Health refills at Benches and from focusing SOUL. According to the wiki, focusing costs SOUL to restore one Mask at a time, so a bigger health pool also means more headroom before a heal becomes urgent. Charms like Soul Catcher speed up that SOUL gain, but the raw Mask count comes from Shards alone.

All 16 Mask Shard Locations

According to the wiki, the 16 Mask Shards are spread across nine regions of Hallownest. The table below lists every Shard with its location and the requirement that gates it. Sections after the table break the trickier groups down in detail.

Four Shards sit in a single shop, four more are tied to combat or boss rewards, and the rest are exploration or quest pickups. The split means no single ability unlocks them all, but the Mantis Claw and Monarch Wings between them open the largest share.

The Four Shop Shards

Per the wiki, four of the 16 Mask Shards are sold by Sly in Sly's shop in Dirtmouth. The first two cost 150 and 500 Geo and are available as soon as Sly is rescued from the Forgotten Crossroads. They are the cheapest extra health in the game.

The remaining two shop Shards cost 800 and 1500 Geo, but according to the wiki they only appear after the Knight brings Sly the Shopkeeper's Key. That key unlocks the back room of his shop and the higher-tier stock, including these two Shards. Until the key is delivered, only the 150 and 500 Geo Shards are on the shelf.

Because all four are pure Geo purchases, they are the most reliable Shards to plan around. In practice, banking enough Geo to clear the two cheap Shards before the first major boss is one of the simplest ways to reach six Masks early.

Boss and Combat Shards

Four Shards are tied to fights or to combat-gated rooms. Per the wiki, the Brooding Mawlek drops a Shard at the far west of the Forgotten Crossroads, and the Enraged Guardian, the upgraded Crystal Guardian in Crystal Peak, rewards another once the Knight has Monarch Wings to reach the rematch.

According to the wiki, a third combat Shard waits in the Hive, hidden behind a cracked wall. Rather than break it directly, the Knight has to lure a Hive Guardian into charging through the wall, which opens the route to the Shard. The fourth in this group sits in Deepnest near the Mantis Lords arena and also needs Monarch Wings.

These Shards reward combat progress rather than raw exploration, so they tend to arrive naturally as the Knight clears the regions around them. In practice, the Mawlek Shard is the standout, since it is available very early and pays off the rest of the Crossroads run.

Late-Game and Quest Shards

The last group of Shards is the most demanding. Per the wiki, the Seer in the Resting Grounds hands over a Mask Shard once the Knight has collected 1500 Essence with the Dream Nail. That is a long-term goal that usually completes deep into a run.

The final Resting Grounds Shard comes from the Grey Mourner, who rewards it for finishing the Delicate Flower quest, the delivery run that requires carrying a fragile flower across Hallownest without taking damage. Two more exploration Shards round out the set: one in the Stone Sanctuary in Greenpath near No Eyes, and one given by the Grubfather for rescuing five Grubs .

According to the wiki, the Bretta Shard in Bretta's house in Dirtmouth appears only after she is rescued from the Fungal Wastes, and the Queen's Station Shard near the Queen's Gardens route needs the Mantis Claw to reach. None of these are missable, so they can be cleaned up at any point.

Best Collection Order

The Shards are not missable, so order is about efficiency rather than risk. This sequence front-loads the easy health and saves the slow goals for last.

1. Buy the two cheap shop Shards. The 150 and 500 Geo Shards in Dirtmouth are available almost immediately and are the fastest path to a sixth Mask.
2. Take the early combat and Crossroads Shards. The Brooding Mawlek, the Grubfather, and the Mantis Claw Shards in the Forgotten Crossroads all fall during normal early exploration.
3. Clean up ability-gated Shards. Once the Mantis Claw and Monarch Wings are in hand, sweep Greenpath, the Hive, Deepnest, Crystal Peak, and the Royal Waterways.
4. Finish the shop and quest Shards. Deliver the Shopkeeper's Key for the last two shop Shards, then complete the Delicate Flower quest and the 1500 Essence goal for the two Resting Grounds Shards.

In practice, most players hit eight Masks well before they finish the Essence grind, so the ninth Mask tends to be the final piece of a completion run rather than a mid-game milestone.

Common Mistakes

1. Forgetting the back-room shop Shards. Per the wiki, the 800 and 1500 Geo Shards only appear after the Shopkeeper's Key is delivered. Players who never return the key miss two Shards entirely.
2. Breaking the Hive wall directly. The Hive Shard sits behind a wall meant to be smashed by a baited Hive Guardian, not by the Nail. Trying to break it yourself wastes time at the dead end.
3. Skipping the Mawlek early. The Brooding Mawlek Shard is one of the earliest available and dramatically eases the rest of the Crossroads, yet it is easy to walk past the arena.
4. Saving the Delicate Flower quest too long. The Grey Mourner Shard needs the no-damage flower delivery, which only gets harder as enemies thicken. Doing it earlier is usually smoother.
5. Expecting Shards to be missable. None of the 16 Mask Shards can be permanently lost, so there is no need to rush any single one out of fear of locking it out.

Mask Shards FAQ

More Hollow Knight Guides

Mask Shards are one of two collectible upgrade sets, alongside Vessel Fragments. These spokes cover the connected items, regions, and rescues.

Vessel FragmentsThe SOUL-capacity collectibles, location by location

Love KeyThe Tower of Love key and The Collector

Simple KeyThe single-use key set and its four doors

Fungal WastesThe region that gates two Mask Shards

Hollow Knight GrubsEvery Grub location across Hallownest

Best Roguelike GamesSister picks to the Hollow Knight loop