Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Most Useless Tools Ranked in 2026

It has been nearly a full year since Team Cherry finally released Hollow Knight: Silksong, and the community has had ample time to dissect every crest, every silk skill, and—perhaps most entertainingly—every single tool in Hornet’s sprawling arsenal. While the revamped tool system brought fresh strategic depth, not every gear piece earned a permanent slot in the loadout. Some tools are so situational, so underpowered, or so bafflingly designed that players wonder if they exist purely as a joke. What makes a tool truly terrible? Is it the opportunity cost of using it over a genuinely good alternative, or does the tool itself actively work against the player? Based on months of community feedback, speedrun data, and countless heated forum debates, here is the definitive ranking of the ten worst tools in Silksong as of 2026—starting with the absolute bottom of the barrel.

10. Needle Phial – A Practical Joke Disguised as a Tool

Nobody expected the Needle Phial to be good, and it delivers magnificently on that expectation. Given to the player during a pair of deliberately frustrating side quests, this tool offers unlimited uses—but that is the only kindness it shows. Its range is laughably short, the damage is pitiful, and only a couple of enemy types can even be damaged by the green mist it spews. Can you recall a single moment after those quests where you thought, “I wish I still had the Needle Phial”? The entire point is that it sucks, and in that regard it is a masterwork. As a functional tool, however, it sits firmly at the bottom, never to be missed once it is snatched away.

9. Spider Strings – Extending the Wrong Kind of Reach

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