Hey. Hey you. Yes, you. The one playing Hollow Knight: Silksong. I just wanted to let you know, before you go any further, that you’re missing a bench in Bilewater. Just in case that helps.
If you’re not to Bilewater yet, this PSA is still for you. You will get there, and you will want to know this. I am going to spoil what’s in Bilewater in this piece, so if you don’t want to know that information, leave and come back when you’ve gotten sufficiently angry at Bilewater.
Bilewater is notorious. It is a massive, disgusting zone on the other side of the already frustrating Sinner’s Road that you can stumble into fairly early on in Act 1 of Silksong, and which is required if you ever want to see the game’s Act 3. There are many reasons why Bilewater is loathesome: it has many obnoxious enemy types that can ambush you and ruin your day, there are lots of spikes you can fall on and hurt yourself, and notably, it is full of maggot-infested water that will stop you from healing and regenerating silk. Bilewater is awful.
But apart from the grub-water, one of the most standout horrors of Bilewater is its lack of benches. There’s one bench way, way down at the bottom of Bilewater, in the Bell Beast station. At first, you might be tricked into thinking there is a second bench nearer the top lefthand side of the zone but, surprise! It’s a trap. Not a bench at all. Down into the maggot water you fall.
So…uh…is that it? Is the Bell Beast bench really the only bench in Bilewater? Do you really have to do the entire zone, and the long, agonizing run back up to its boss over rivers of maggot-infested goop, past piles of spikes and exploding bug enemies and those awful things that belch poison at you, all with no break?
You don’t. Be free. You’re missing a bench in Bilewater. It is here:
We have a detailed guide to getting through Bilewater here on IGN, which you should use to find this bench when the time comes. The short version is that the hidden Bilewater bench is located behind a breakable wall on the far right-hand side of a cavern, past a giant pool of maggot soup at the bottom of a pit. Break the wall and drop down through another pit, then break another wall on your left to find the secret bench. This one, mercifully, is safe, and will not unceremoniously dump you into a pool of misery when you try to sit down.
This bench is much, much closer to Bilewater’s boss, Groal, though it’s still a bit of a trek up to him. Again, I recommend our walkthrough for help on surviving Bilewater, because it really is just a disgusting and difficult place.
We’ve seen a lot of people suggest that the run back to Groal, even with the help of the hidden bench, is one of the worst runbacks in the Souls genre. We’re curious if you agree, so we set up the poll above. Vote to let us know which of these bosses has the worst runback from safety to their arena every time you die and have to attempt fighting them again. Or let us know in the comments if there’s a worse fight we haven’t mentioned here.
In addition to our Bilewater guide, we have a detailed Wiki to help you through every step of your journey in Pharloom, so check it out before, during, and after Bilewater.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
