Getting your hands on the Kingsoul in Hollow Knight feels like a massive victory. You’ve likely spent hours platforming through the buzzsaw nightmare of the White Palace and trekking through the overgrown thorns of the Queen’s Gardens.
It’s the reward for the game’s toughest endurance tests. But then you look at your charm notches.
Five. It costs five notches. That is more than any other charm in the entire game. For that price, you could equip the Shaman Stone and the Spell Twister and still have a notch left over for a Wayward Compass. Honestly, when most players finally combine those two white fragments, they’re met with a bit of a "wait, that's it?" moment.
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The Reality of Kingsoul Gameplay
Basically, the Kingsoul does one thing: it gives you 4 Soul every 2 seconds. That sounds great on paper because it’s "limitless" energy. You don't have to hit a single enemy to heal or cast spells. You could literally stand in a corner and wait for your meter to fill.
But have you ever actually timed it?
One single heal (or one spell) requires 33 Soul. If you’re generating 4 Soul every 2 seconds, you are waiting over 16 seconds just to heal one mask. In a boss fight against something like Nightmare King Grimm or Pure Vessel, 16 seconds is an eternity. You’ll be dead five times over before the Kingsoul gives you enough juice to fix a mistake.
It’s a passive charm in a game that demands aggressive play.
How to Get the Two White Fragments
You can't just find the Kingsoul sitting in a chest. You have to earn two separate fragments. Most people find the first one in the Queen’s Gardens. You have to kill the Traitor Lord—who is a total pain with those double-damage lunges—and then visit the White Lady in her hidden cocoon. She gives you the left half of the fragment while rambling about her shame and the "tarnished" nature of the Vessels.
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The second half? That’s the real hurdle.
You need the Awakened Dream Nail (which means collecting 1800 Essence) to even enter the Palace Grounds in the Ancient Basin. Once you're in the White Palace, it’s a gauntlet. If you haven't mastered the art of the pogo, you’re going to have a rough time. At the very end of this platforming hell, you find the corpse of the Pale King. Hit him, and he drops the right half.
The moment you pick up both, they fuse into the Kingsoul.
Is the Kingsoul Ever Worth Using?
Despite the hate it gets, there are actually a few niche spots where the Kingsoul is kind of amazing.
- Godhome Bindings: If you’re running Pantheons with the "Soul Binding" (which caps your meter), having a passive recharge can be a lifesaver.
- Radiant Bosses: In the Hall of Gods, where one hit means death, you can’t always risk getting close to a boss like Markoth to gain Soul.
- Exploring Difficult Areas: If you’re terrible at platforming and find yourself constantly falling into spikes, Kingsoul ensures you always have a heal ready before the next jump.
But for the average player? It’s a tool for a specific purpose, and that purpose is usually finding the Abyss.
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The Birthplace and the Void Heart
The Kingsoul’s description says it "opens the way to a birthplace." This isn't just flavor text. If you take the Kingsoul down to the very bottom of the Abyss, a new path opens up in the floor.
Descending into that pit leads you to your "reflection" and a sequence that explains the Knight's origin. At the end of this, the Kingsoul is permanently transformed. It turns into the Void Heart.
Here’s the kicker: The Void Heart costs zero notches.
It also cannot be unequipped. Once you get it, the Kingsoul is gone forever. You lose the passive Soul regeneration, but you gain access to the game’s true endings. You also make the Siblings and the Void Tendrils in the Abyss friendly, which makes navigating that dark pit way less stressful.
Actionable Next Steps for Your Run
If you just got the Kingsoul, don’t immediately rush to the Abyss. Try these things first:
- Cheese the Flowers: If you haven’t finished the Delicate Flower quest, Kingsoul makes it trivial. You can clear the path with spells and never worry about running out of energy to blast enemies from a distance.
- Practice Markoth: Go to the Hall of Gods and try to beat Markoth on Ascended or Radiant difficulty. The Kingsoul is one of the few ways to reliably have Soul during his second phase when there are no floors and two rotating shields.
- Decide Your Ending: Remember that once you turn it into the Void Heart, you are locked out of the "standard" ending (The Hollow Knight). If you want that achievement, go kill the final boss before you head to the birthplace in the Abyss.
Once you’ve had your fun with the infinite (but slow) energy, head to the bottom of the map. The lore payoff is worth more than the Soul regen anyway.