Hollow Knight: All Pale Ore Locations (tips and tricks)

In Hollow Knight, Pure Nail is the Nail’s strongest form. So how to obtain the Pure Nail? Collect Pale Ore and bring it to the Nailsmith in the City of Tears. Then he’ll do the job. 

There are 6 Pale Ores in total, and these locations are scattered all over the Hallownest. For each enhancement, there are different materials required by the Nailsmith. However, what you will receive will be worthwhile, so don’t worry about them.

	Damage	Geo required	Pale Ore required
Old Nail	5	–	–
Sharpened Nail	9	250	–
Channeled Nail	13	800	1
Coiled Nail	17	2000	2
Pure Nail	21	4000	3

This post will give you information about where all the Pale Ore locations in Hollow Knight. Also, we will rank Pale Ores from the easiest to the hardest to acquire, along with some tips and tricks that make your adventure as easy as pie.

All Pale Ore Locations in Hollow Knight

1. Pale Ore in Crystal Peak

I suggest collecting the Mantis Claw, Monarch Wings, and Crystal Heart in advance to get this Pale Ore. In fact, only Mantis Claw is required (and you have to be of perfect pogo-jumping skills* as well). However, I genuinely recommend you to acquire these other two unless you think your life is not hard enough. You don’t have to fight any boss to get this Pale Ore, and all you have to do is reaching the top of the Crystal Peak.

For the location and the function of these three recommended skills:

• Mothwing Cloak: Press DASH to dash a short distance, which helps you cross the gaps too far to reach by normal jumping. Can be found on the body of a Vessel after defeating Hornet in Greenpath.

• Mantis Claw: Help you cling to the wall, and pressing JUMP while clinging helps you perform another jump. Can be acquired in Mantis Village of the Fungal Wastes.

• Crystal Heart: Hold DASH for about 1 second and release the button to rocket forwards. Only be interrupted when the Knight hit a wall or take damages. It can be acquired in Crystal Peak.

2. Pale Ore in Forgotten Crossroads

During your journey, you will come across Grubs confined to glass jars. By rescuing them, when you come back to the Grubhome in Forgotten Crossroads, you will be awarded by the Grubfather with Geo, Charms, and after saving 31 Grubs, he will grant you a Pale Ore.

Even though you don’t necessarily fight any bosses to rescue 31 Grubs, there are only 46 of them around the Hallownest. Also, you will not be able to know how many Grubs you have been saving. Nevertheless, hard work pays off, right? 

3. Pale Ore in Deepnest

For me, Deepnest and Royal Waterways are two areas that I don’t want to traverse for another time, from the darkness, stuffy atmosphere to tedious, weird, and terrifying enemies. However, I evaluate that the Nosk in Deepnest is the easiest boss you can defeat to acquire Pale Ore because there are two spots that will keep you safe from the Nosk (which is easily spotted out, and I don’t want to ruin your experiences by making it too easy). 

Also, the Nosk is a hidden boss, and to reach its liar, you will have to destroy a breakable wall. Then you will get to a maze and see the Nosk in disguise being another “the Knight.” Chasing this form of Nosk till the end, you will be able to reach the boss room. Defeat the Nosk, and you will find your reward at the end of its liar.

*pogo-jumping: a skill can be performed when you jump over enemies and strike down at the right time. If successful, you will be bouncing up as if making a JUMP.

After acquiring 3 Pale Ores, you will be able to upgrade your Nail to Coiled Nail. The damage dealing by your weapon will be tripled (from 5 to 17), your strength will be reinforced but remember, this is just the beginning of your journey on Hallownest. 

The remaining 3 Pale Ores require you to embark on boss fights that maybe take you hours to overcome. But remember, things will only get more challenging in Hollow Knight, not vice versa. So pull your socks up and get ready for the next battle.

4. Pale Ore in Ancient Basin

You will have to defeat 2 Lesser Mawlek, which can be found in the Ancient Basin. They are a weaker and smaller variant of Brooding Mawlek, the mini-boss in Forgotten Crossroads. If you are fed up with finding 31 Grubs, perhaps this is an alternative for getting the 3rd Pale Ore. 

To be honest, they are not strong enough to be called “boss.” You can quickly analyze and remember their attacks patterns. After getting past them, you’ll see Pale Ore embedded on a fossil stone at the left end of the room.

5. Pale Ore in Resting Ground

This Pale Ore will be given to you by the Seer abiding in the north part of the Resting Grounds. But first, how to get to Resting Grounds?

There are two ways bringing you there. The easiest path is from the entrance of the Crystalised Mound, you jump down the rabbit hole. You will be in the Resting Grounds when reaching the surface. Another more challenging way is by using the elevator in the City of Tears. However, you will come across several mini-bosses in order to get there. Also, the Seer won’t give you Pale Ore for free, so I recommend the former.

After setting your foot on Resting Grounds, going to the right and you will stumble across the Dreamers Memorial. By inspecting these, you will be transferred to the Dream World. Then you will be chasing after the dream form of the Seer. When you catch up with the Seer, she’ll give you the Dream Nail and bring you back to her house. Both of you will have a short conversation and after that, she’ll urge you to find and collect Essence and get it back to her. Returning after obtaining 300 Essence, the Seer will give you Pale Ore.

Again, how and where to collect Essence? Overall, there are five sources for you to collect Essence. However, the primary source you should utilize to collect Essence is Whispering Roots, offering 482 in total. 

6. Pale Ore in Colosseum of Fools

The Colosseum of Fools is the arena situated at the top of the Kingdom’s Edge, where you have to battle with endless waves of enemies one after another. I rank this as the hardest Pale Ore to get because you have little time to rest and heal yourself after each wave so you have to stay focus because a mistake will lead to a retake. 

Luckily, you only have to overcome the first Trail – Trail of the Warrior to collect Pale Ore, where your enemies are slow and you have more break time to replenish your Masks than the two other Trails. My recommended charms for this stage are Longnail and Quick Focus.

Trails are where you can have reunions with your good old enemies, such as Gruz Mother, Vengefly King, and even, Zote the Mighty (even though he is innocuous and not your enemy as well).

My tip for you is to remember the order and enemies’ behaviors of each wave. There will be waves that enemies will leave you with plenty of times to heal, but some won’t give you a second or any space to do so. You may have to repeat challenges several times, but try to learn from past mistakes and find a suitable tactic for yourself. 

Now you know all the Hollow Knight Pale Ore locations, so feel free to refer to this guide at any time if you need a walkthrough! You can also check out our Hollow Knight section for more related content and guides.