Finding every Pale Oil location in Hollow Knight: Silksong is one of your biggest priorities, especially if you want to get every needle upgrade available and start dealing more damage to bosses and enemies. The more damage you do, the less time you'll have to survive each boss's high-intensity barrage of murderous attacks, which I think we can all agree is a good thing.
There are three Pale Oil locations overall, meaning three upgrades to your needle (not including the first you get with Plinney for free). The first two are available in Act 2, while the final upgrade is only possible to grab in Act 3. The first two are hidden behind little puzzles, while the final one is much harder to get, since it involves finding the lost fleas and winning all of the flea festival's minigames.
Below, I'll run through all three places you can find Pale Oil, plus I'll explain where to find Pinmaster Plinney is Act 3 so you can actually get those additional upgrades.
How to upgrade your needle in Silksong
The good news is that you can get your first needle upgrade for free, but to do so, you'll have to free Bellhart, (which you can find in the far left of Greymoor). This means heading into Shellwood and defeating Sister Splinter to acquire the Cling Grip upgrade so you can wall jump. You'll then need to use it to jump up into the Bellhart tunnels just to the right of her arena and defeat the Widow boss to free Bellhart from cursed thread once and for all.
When this is done, climb the platforms on the left side of town, hop past Relic Seeker Scrounge's bellhome to find Pinmaster Plinney's workshop on the upper right side. Plinney will sharpen your nail for free, giving you the first initial upgrade to your weapon, but he'll also mention that you can upgrade your needle even further with the right item.
Whispering Vaults Pale Oil
After your initial upgrade, Pinmaster Plinney will give you the Pinmaster's Oil quest, which sees you tracking down Pale Oil in The Citadel. It's important to note that you won't be able to acquire this for quite a while—you'll have to complete Act 1 and the initial sections of Act 2 to access the area, basically, making your way out of the Underworks, climbing the Choral Chambers and defeating the boss there, then descending into the Cogwork Core to gain access to the Whispering Vaults. This is all pretty straightforward and on the main track.
The only part that might give you trouble is getting into the Whispering Vaults via the Cogwork Core. As you descend into the main chamber, you'll want to go down, then right, then up again, completing a platforming puzzle that involves bouncing off a load of moving cogs with your needle.
Once inside the Whispering Vaults, make your way to the main descending chamber and then look for an entrance on the left as you go down. You'll have to head through the upper left entrance in the main room (by bouncing on top of the big enemy who's sleeping at the end of the platform). Inside, you'll have to complete a box-moving puzzle (the solution for which is in the video above) to get your Pale Oil. Bring this back to Plinney to get your second needle upgrade.
Great Taste of Pharloom Pale Oil
You can get a Pale Oil for completing the Great Taste of Pharloom quest in Silksong, which you find in the dining rooms on the upper left side of the Choral Chambers. This quest is quite involved and sees you collecting five edible items from across the kingdom, so see our linked guide for the entire walkthrough.
Bring all the ingredients back and you'll get a Pale Oil you can use with Pinmaster Plinney to upgrade your needle, though this time it'll cost you around 500 Rosaries too.
Ecstasy of the End Pale Oil
The final Pale Oil comes from completing the Ecstasy of the End quest. You can get this from the Bellhart board in Act 3 once you've found all of the flea locations across Pharloom and the fleas have moved to the Pale Lake in the Putrified Ducts. The quest itself consists of playing three minigames at the Festival of the Flea and beating the high scores in each to win the grand prize, which is, you guessed it, Pale Oil.
Where to find Pinmaster Plinney?
If you haven't yet, you'll also have to rescue Pinmaster Plinney in the Shellwoods in Act 3 before you can get any additional upgrades. You'll have to fight a small gauntlet of void pilgrim bugs and after that he'll head back to his house in Bellhart. If this is for your second or final upgrade, it'll also cost 500-ish Rosaries—a bit mean-spirited considering you literally saved his life five minutes earlier.
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