Since there’s no news yet on Hollow Knight: Silksong, many veteran fans have spent their time playing through the game and introducing it to newcomers. And those who have a completionist playstyle may find the collectibles in the game interesting. However, there’s one collective in particular we’d like to talk about today, and that’s the Rancid Egg Hollow Knight.
Because there are so many collectibles in the game, it can be very hard to figure out which ones you’re missing and which ones you already have. The Rancid Egg is one such collectible, like a needle in a haystack, lost among the sea of other bits and baubles the Knight can find.
The whole process can be a bit tedious and overwhelming, especially if you’re a new player. However, we’ve put together a small guide to make the process of searching for this Hollow Knight collectible much easier for you. Take a look below!
What are Rancid Eggs, and where do you find them?
Rancid Eggs are a disgusting albeit particularly useful item in the game. As the name says, it’s basically a putrid egg. However, the Rancid Egg in Hollow Knight lets the player summon the Shade.
It’s hard to imagine you’re unfamiliar with what the Shade is, but we’ll explain it anyway. The Shade is a very volatile and aggressive creature that comes out of opening the player’s shell after they die. Sometimes, finding the Shade can be a tedious task. For that reason, simply summoning the Shade is a much easier option for players looking to regain their lost inventory.
There are many places to find Rancid Eggs. You can harvest them from the bodies of certain enemies and you can even get them from NPCs such as Tuk, Sly, and Grubfather. However, these NPCs are more likely to sell them to you.
You can also find Rancid Eggs in the following locations as well as the amount:
- City of Tears – 2
- Crystal Peak – 3
- Deepnest – 3
- Fungal Wastes – 1
- Greenpath – 1
- Kingdom’s Edge – 1
- Queen’s Gardens – 1
- Resting Grounds – 1
- Royal Waterways – 4
How many Rancid Eggs are there in Hollow Knight?
The number of Rancid Eggs in Hollow Knight depends on the mode you’re playing on. If you’re in normal mode, you can expect to find 101 Rancid Eggs throughout the game in total.
You can buy 80 Rancid Eggs from Tuk as well as 1 from Sly, and you can receive 1 from Grubfather. However, you can get 18 Rancid Eggs from Bluggsacs. You can also receive one free Rancid Egg Hollow Knight from Tuk if you’re wearing the Defender’s Crest Charm.
There’s another way to receive a Rancid Egg from Tuk, but it involves killing him and is probably not the best idea.
Which enemies drop Rancid Eggs?
If you’ve seen the repulsing little brown Bluggsacs around, you’ll be happy to know you can collect Rancid Eggs from their bodies. They have 20 health and are not too hard to farm if you want to get a Rancid Egg from them.
However, keep in mind that Bluggsacs are some of the few enemies that don’t respawn in the game. There’s a limited number, so you should take care of how many Rancid Eggs you use from them.
If you need a Rancid Egg Hollow Knight, you can seek them out in the following places:
- Crystal Peak – 2
- Deepnest – 2
- Blue Lake – 1
- Kingdom’s Edge – 1
- Royal Waterways – 3
- Queen’s Gardens – 1
Where is the first Rancid Egg in Hollow Knight?
As we said before, you can buy a Rancid Egg from Sly. This is the earliest egg you can get in Hollow Knight.
You have to make sure to visit Sly’s shop in Dirtmouth at the beginning of the game to find it. However, make sure to take a look at what else he’s offering. Sly has a lot of great items for sale. Unfortunately, he’ll only have one egg to sell to the Knight and it’s impossible to get more from him.
If you do decide to purchase a Rancid Egg Hollow Knight from Sly, make sure you have 60 Geo in your pocket to pay for it!
How do you use the Rancid Egg | Hollow Knight?
So you’ve got your Rancid Egg and you’re wondering; what do you do with this thing? Let’s take a look at how you can use Rancid Eggs.
We’ve already mentioned that the Rancid Egg is the item in Hollow Knight that summons your Shade. The question is, why would you want to summon this hostile being in the first place?
Simple. You’ll need to summon your Shade and fight it if you want to recover your items from the last time you died. Fans have mixed feelings about this mechanic, but we think it’s an interesting and creative twist in the gameplay.
To use the Rancid Egg, you’ll first need to find Confessor Jiji. To find Jiji, you need to reach the far east end of Dirtmouth, where you’ll find a cave entrance. To open this cave entrance, you need to have the Simple Key. After you’ve found the Simple Key and used it, you’ll find Confessor Jiji inside. Jiji will take the Rancid Egg from you and summon your Shade in return.
If you’ve died in a place that’s hard to access or you can’t seem to break through to your Shade, you can just bring them to you with the use of a Rancid Egg. Considering how many enemies there are in Hollow Knight, as well as the fact that some areas are just so darn hard to platform in, this is a welcome mechanic.
How many Rancid Eggs does Jiji need?
If you’re out there obsessively collecting Rancid Eggs and worrying about how many of them you’ll need to give away to Jiji, you can stop worrying. Confessor Jiji only needs one Rancid Egg to be able to summon your Shade.
This means you can have Jiji summon your Shade about 101 times, as that’s how many eggs are in the game.
Do all merchants accept Rancid Eggs?
Although Jiji isn’t technically a merchant, she also isn’t the only character in the game that will accept a Rancid Egg Hollow Knight from you.
Tuk will also accept the Rancid Egg from the Knight, as she sustains herself with them. However, if you’re playing in Steel Soul Mode, you can’t expect to give Tuk eggs or buy them from her, as she is found dead. You can, however, harvest a single Rancid Egg from her body.
The other character accepting Rancid Eggs is Steel Soul Jinn, available only in Steel Soul Mode. Steel Sol Jinn replaces Confessor Jiji, and she’ll buy your Rancid Eggs despite finding them disgusting. She does this as a favor for Jiji.
If you’ve been doing a bit of Assassin’s Creed gaming on the side, make sure to check out our Deserted Chalet guide!
