You pay the toll, the seat grinds up out of the floor, and then it stops halfway. That is the moment most players go hunting for help with the Sinners Road bench in Hollow Knight: Silksong. Nothing is bugged, and your rosaries are not gone. Something is tangled in the lift gears, and Hornet has to go cut it out herself.
The short version: the bench sits in the western half of the area, right beside Shakra. Paying raises it partway, then vines lock the mechanism. Climb the wall above Shakra, smash the cracked ceiling, run the spike tunnel hidden behind it, and slash the roots choking the cogs. Climb back out, and it works.
| Detail | Answer |
| Game | Hollow Knight: Silksong, released September 4, 2025 |
| Area | Sinners Road, entered from Greymoor |
| When | Act 1 onward |
| Bench type | Paid toll bench, then jammed |
| Toll | 60 rosaries (some bench lists record 40) |
| Why it sticks | Vines wrapped through the lift gears |
| The fix | Hidden spike tunnel above Shakra, cut the roots |
| Skills needed | Cling Grip and a reliable pogo |
| NPC on site | Shakra, who sells the area map for 90 rosaries |
| Other bench here | A free one in the east, beside Styx |
Key takeaways
- The toll is charged before the bench jams, so the money is spent either way.
- Carry 60 rosaries. Published walkthroughs say 60, community bench lists say 40, and 60 covers both.
- Repairing it is a platforming challenge, not an item hunt. Nothing to buy, nothing to fetch.
- Cling Grip and a steady pogo are the only real requirements. The glide is a comfort.
- A second bench in the east of the area costs nothing at all.
Where the Sinners Road bench sits
Come in from Greymoor. From the Halfway Home bench you head northeast, climb the tower on the far left, and ride the lift across the rickety platforms into the entrance proper. You cannot reach any of this without Cling Grip, so if the wall refuses to hold you, the wall is not the problem.
Inside, the level opens into a tall vertical shaft with swinging blades and roaches on every ledge. A signpost here points up at a bench icon, and it is honest but unhelpful. That seat is west and slightly above you, reached through a caged corridor and a lever rather than straight overhead.
Shakra stands next to it. She sells the map. That is a fair purchase if you plan to comb the place for the Simple Key or the Barbed Bracelet, both of which are easy to walk past twice.
What you need before you start
Short list. Most of it you already own by the time the game lets you in.
- Cling Grip from Shellwood. Mandatory. It gates the entire region, not only the bench.
- A clean downward pogo. You will bounce off swinging blades over open spikes, repeatedly.
- Swift Step, the dash from Deep Docks, for the two longest gaps.
- 60 rosaries, in hand, before you set off.
- A crest that pogos straight. The Wanderer keeps the down-strike predictable.
Input matters more than usual in this tunnel, because the pogo window is tight and a mistimed bounce drops you onto spikes. If your pad has a mushy d-pad or a lazy face button, this is the section that will expose it. Our ranked controller picks for 2026 cover the models with the fastest polling if you are shopping anyway.
You do not need the Drifter’s Cloak. Most guides quietly assume you have it, because the glide usually arrives before Cling Grip does, but the route was built around wall cling and pogo. Skipping the Seamstress and her Spine Cores costs you margin for error, nothing more.
How to unjam the bench in 6 steps
- Rest at Halfway Home in Greymoor. This is your respawn point for the next few minutes, so make it count.
- Climb northeast into the region using the leftmost tower and the lift, then drop into the tall shaft on the other side.
- Take the caged corridor east across the poisoned water, using the cages as cover from the roachkeepers, until you reach the chamber with the two spiked boxes.
- Hit the lever there. It opens a cage that gives you a fast route back west into the bench room, which you will want shortly.
- Pay the toll. The bench rises, sticks, and stops. Now cling to the wall on Shakra’s left, climb to the cracked ceiling, and break through with your needle.
- Follow the tunnel down. Pogo off the pendulum blades, ride out the dunk in the worm water at the bottom, then hack at the vines strangling the cogs until they tear loose.
Climb the shaft on the right to get back. It works now. Sitting on it saves you that entire trip forever, which is the whole reason anyone puts up with the tunnel in the first place.
The toll number nobody agrees on
Here is the mess. Every published walkthrough of the repair states the toll as 60 rosaries. Two community bench checklists, the ones assembled from datamined lists rather than from a playthrough, record it as 40 instead.
Both numbers are plausible, because Silksong charges different tolls in different regions. The Marrow asks 30, Shellwood asks 40, and the Blasted Steps entrance asks 60, so a 40 or a 60 here would fit the pattern.
What matters for you is simple. Turn up with 60, and the question never comes up. Turn up with 45 because a checklist said 40, and you may be walking back to Greymoor to farm the difference through a corridor of roaches.
Pay first, then run it
Order of operations matters here, and no guide seems to state it plainly. You pay, and only then does the mechanism reveal that it is stuck. No inspecting the bench, spotting the jam, clearing it, and settling up afterwards.
That order is quietly in your favor. Die anywhere in the spike tunnel, and you wake at Halfway Home, with a silk cocoon marking the spot you fell and your loose rosaries at risk. Rosaries already handed over to a toll cannot be lost, so spending them before the dangerous part is the safer sequence, not a sunk cost.
This region also drops a Frayed Rosary String, which ties your rosaries so death cannot take them. Worth grabbing, with one catch: strung rosaries cannot be spent until you snap the string, so untie them before you walk up to the toll.
The other bench here is free
Head east through the upper corridor instead, past the spiked walls and cages, and clear the two roaches waiting at the end. Styx turns up, and a bench comes with him at no charge.
It is not a replacement, since it sits on the opposite side of a long unfriendly stretch. If you are pushing east toward Bilewater rather than back toward Greymoor, though, it is the checkpoint you want.
What the repaired bench gives you
Benches in this game do more than the ones in Hollow Knight did, which is part of why the runback stings so much without one. Sitting down does all of this.
- Save your progress and set your respawn point.
- Refill your health, and your silk once Sylphsong is in hand.
- Recharge red tools for Shell Shards and restore blue tools for nothing.
- Clear muckmaggot infestation and plasmification.
- Let you swap crests and rebuild your tool loadout.
- Write every room you have explored onto the map, assuming you bought a Quill.
Enemies respawn when you rest, so clear the corridor before you sit, not after.
Is the repair worth doing?
Yes, if you plan to spend real time in this region, and almost everyone does. The area feeds into Bilewater and The Mist, hides a Simple Key and a Lost Flea, and hosts Crull and Benjin with their Tacks trade. Doing all of that from Greymoor is a long walk each time.
Skip it only if you are passing straight through to somewhere else and already know the exit you want.
Silksong lists at $19.99 on Steam, and this bench is a neat sample of what the money buys. It charges you twice, once in currency and once in patience, then hands you a permanent shortcut for the trouble. On PC it also runs happily on modest hardware, which is welcome given where graphics card prices sit this year.
What to do next
Go and clear the tunnel before you spend another twenty minutes walking in from Greymoor. Bring 60 rosaries, wear the Wanderer, and treat the pendulum blades as platforms rather than hazards. Then sit down, swap your crest, and let the region start working for you instead of against you.
Chasing another locked thing this month? Our Ark safe code walkthrough lists both Resident Evil Requiem combinations, including the one hiding behind the Magnetic Key door
FAQ
Because payment and repair are separate problems. The toll releases the lift, the vines stop it, and only cutting them finishes the job.
Yes. No lever, no key, no helpful NPC. That tunnel is the whole puzzle.
The toll isn’t refunded, but it isn’t at risk either. Money you have already spent cannot drop out of your pockets on the way down.
Wanderer, for most players, because the down-strike stays vertical. Reaper works too if you are used to its longer swing.
If you are hunting the Simple Key or the flea, yes. If you are cutting straight through to Bilewater, save the rosaries for the toll.
