Silksong‘s tool meta shifted with the patches (the Crafting Kit and Cogwork Wheel both took nerfs), so launch-week tier lists need an update. The current standouts, led by the still-outrageous Pollip Pouch, are below, each with its exact source and cost.
The Elite Tier
- Pollip Pouch: adds venom to your red (attack) tools, and the community still calls it broken post-patches. Get it by bringing 6 Pollip Hearts to Greyroot in Shellwood.
- Druid’s Eye: generates silk when you take hits, converting damage into Bind heals and skills. Earned via the Moss Druid’s wish in Mosshome.
- Sting Shard: the damage staple, sold by the Forge Daughter in Deep Docks for 140 Rosaries + 1 Craftmetal.
The Strong Utility Shelf
- Longclaw: needle range extension, from the Broodfeast wish in the Putrified Ducts; range is comfort, and comfort is DPS uptime.
- Reserve Bind: emergency healing tech, earned by beating the Second Sentinel in High Halls.
- Spool Extender: more silk capacity, from Jubilana in Songclave for 720 Rosaries.
- Magnetite Brooch: from Pebb in Bone Bottom, a bargain at 120 Rosaries.
- Silkshot: the projectile workhorse; three versions exist, and the best comes from the repair table on Mount Fay, worth grabbing while you’re up there for the Faydown Cloak.
The Nerfed-but-Fine
- Cogwork Wheel: still bought from the Twelfth Architect for 360 Rosaries, still good, but Patch 2 cut its capacity roughly in half (8-16 down to 5-10), so it’s a tool in the kit now rather than the kit.
- Crafting Kit economy went from 70% to 60% in the same patch, taxing all tool-spam archetypes; crest-core builds gained relative ground, which is why our crest guide and this list assume tools support the needle rather than replace it.
Loadout Logic
Tools slot into your crest, so build around your crest’s identity:
- Wanderer all-rounder: Pollip Pouch + Druid’s Eye + Sting Shard, the default carry kit.
- Boss killer: swap toward Longclaw and Reserve Bind for fights like Lace where range and emergency healing pay.
- Explorer: Magnetite Brooch and Spool Extender make the wide world cheaper.
Memory Lockets expand crest slots, so the endgame answer to “which tools” trends toward “more of them.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Do tools need ammo? Red tools consume from capacity refilled at benches (and taxed by the Patch 2 changes); passive tools like Druid’s Eye just work.
What’s Craftmetal and where does it come from? The tool-crafting currency, found exploring and via the Forge Daughter’s economy; it gates upgrade tiers on craftable tools.
Is Pollip Pouch getting nerfed? Patch 5 was stated as the last significant update before the free Sea of Sorrow DLC, so today’s balance is probably the lasting one.
Best first purchase for a new player? Magnetite Brooch at 120 Rosaries: absurd value, available early, useful forever.