Putrified Ducts map in Silksong: how to find it and what it unlocks
The Putrified Ducts map is one of those small Hollow Knight: Silksong collectibles that quietly changes how the rest of a run feels. It is tucked behind a tendril-grab room in the northwest reaches of Pharloom, and it gates a useful portion of the Putrified Ducts area behind proper cartography. The map does not just fill a circle in the UI. It also turns confusing vertical shafts into a readable layout, which matters because the region is built around verticality, cling points, and a set of enemies that punish hesitation. This guide focuses on the path to the cartographer, the abilities the route expects you to have, the rooms that commonly slow players down, and what the map actually unlocks once it is back at the bench.
The intent here is practical. If you are an experienced Metroidvania player and you only need the path through the Putrified Ducts, the room order below will get you there. If you are also interested in how the map fits into Silksong’s broader progression, the later sections cover the cartographer mechanic, the map’s connection to The Slab key item, and how the area relates to the surrounding regions of Pharloom.
What the Putrified Ducts map is and why it matters
In Silksong, each named region has its own cartographer and its own map fragment. The cartographer is an NPC who asks you to record the layout of an area in exchange for a filled-in map. Until that contract is complete, the region is shown as a blank space with only your own placed markers, room names, and bench icons. The Putrified Ducts map is the deliverable from the Putrified Ducts cartographer. It is not a fast-travel tool on its own. It is the prerequisite that exposes the rest of the region’s rooms, hidden items, and connections in a readable form.
That distinction matters because a lot of the frustration that players report with this region is not the platforming itself. It is the platforming done without a map. A blank region in Silksong can hide vertical shafts behind identical wall textures, and the Putrified Ducts are particularly vulnerable to this because the palette is muted, the lighting is low, and many of the climb surfaces are off-screen until you move into them. Once the map is filled in, the area becomes a series of short, well-defined segments instead of a maze.
The map also functions as a soft gate. The Putrified Ducts sit between the Citadel approaches and the deeper infrastructure of Pharloom, and several side routes, item pickups, and the path to a Slab-related key are all placed behind rooms that the map makes readable. A player who skips the cartographer can still pass through, but they will miss pickups, waste healing, and frequently backtrack.
Prerequisites before you try to reach the map
The Putrified Ducts map sits in the northwest of Pharloom, past Memorium and the Putrified Docks. The route assumes a small set of traversal abilities and one questline flag. If you do not have these, the path is technically possible but slow, and several shortcuts will be closed off.
- Double jump from Mount Fay. The approach from the Putrified Docks uses a wall climb combined with a double jump to reach the upper passage that leads into the Ducts. The IGN walkthrough for the area explicitly calls for the double jump to clear the higher wall into the Ducts. Without it, you can still enter from the lower path, but the cartographer room is much harder to reach cleanly.
- Clawline. The route uses a clawline to cross a horizontal gap and then to reach the cartographer room. Clawline is the Silksong silk-thread grapple and is also required to take several shortcuts through the Ducts after the map is collected.
- Wall climb and pogo. Standard Silksong traversal. The ceilings in the tendril rooms are easier to manage if you can pogo off enemies orbs to extend your air time.
- Healing stock. The Ducts are hostile. Plan for at least three full heals, and bring a spool that lets you heal twice in a pinch. The tendril bugs deal chip damage that adds up across a long vertical run.
- The Jubliana wish complete. Jubliana is a side character who is found on the way to the Putrified Docks, and her wish acts as both a story flag and a soft quest marker. The IGN walkthrough treats completion of her wish as a waypoint before you push deeper into the Ducts. There is no hard lock, but the wish is part of the same route and is useful for orientation.
None of these prerequisites are hidden, but they are easy to miss if you are rushing west from the Citadel. A common failure case is arriving at the Docks without a fully upgraded silk kit and without clawline, then trying to brute-force the Ducts. The vertical shafts are long enough that one failed jump at the top costs more silk than you will have.
Route to the Putrified Ducts map, room by room
The path below follows the IGN walkthrough’s structure. It is written so a player who has the prerequisites can move through it without having to consult an external map in the middle of the run. The room labels are descriptive, not official names. Treat them as waypoints.
- Start at the end of Memorium. Move to the final room of Memorium, where the Memorium map fragment is collected. The IGN walkthrough notes that this is the room where you jump up to reach the outside of the Citadel.
- Exit to the outside of the Citadel. Drop down from the Memorium exit and move along the exterior. The lighting shifts and the wall textures change. This is a useful landmark: if you are in warm stone with vertical banners, you are in the right corridor.
- Find Jubliana and complete her wish. Jubliana is found in this exterior stretch. Completing her wish is the waypoint that the IGN walkthrough uses to mark progress before pushing west toward the Docks.
- Return to Memorium and take the right-hand route. Before leaving Memorium entirely, head all the way to the right. The IGN walkthrough describes Shell Shards near a wall and a path upward that leads to a semi-secret area called the Putrified Docks.
- Climb the first wall. From the Shell Shard alcove, jump up the first wall. The path is vertical, and the wall surface is slightly lighter than the surrounding rock so it is easier to read than most climb surfaces in the game.
- Clawline left, then jump up the higher wall. Clawline to the left to cross the gap, then use your double jump to clear the higher wall. The IGN walkthrough calls this jump out as the point where the double jump from Mount Fay is required.
- Break through the cracked wall. Attack the cracked wall and keep jumping into it until it breaks. A cave opens behind it. This is the threshold into the Putrified Docks proper.
- Clawline right and climb up. Inside the cave, clawline to the right, then use a double jump combined with a wall climb to reach the upper exit. The IGN walkthrough describes this as the path that leads into the Putrified Docks room.
- Stay on the upper level through the Docks. The Docks have a lower platform and an upper platform. Use the upper platforms to avoid the ground enemies. Continue right until you reach an open entryway that drops into a wider room.
- Watch the ceilings. In the Docks and the early Ducts, ceiling enemies hang from the ceiling with tendrils. They grab Hornet and start a short eating animation. You can free yourself by pressing the attack button, but the safer pattern is to trigger them deliberately and then attack mid-grab to break the grab early.
- Reach the Bellway and bench room. The next room contains a Bellway and a bench. Sit at the bench. This is the canonical save point for the cartographer run and the best place to top up silk and healing.
- Drop slightly and take the left-hand path. From the bench room, jump down a short distance and enter the path on the left, about halfway down the shaft. This is the route to the cartographer’s room.
- Jump up in the next room and let yourself be grabbed. The cartographer’s room has a tendril bug in the ceiling. The intended path is to jump up, let the bug grab you, and use the grab to reach a higher ledge. Free yourself with the attack button near the top.
- Find the cartographer on the left. Once you are on the upper ledge, the cartographer is on the left. Talk to her, pay the map fee, and the Putrified Ducts map is added to your inventory. The map screen will populate the next time you open it from a bench.
From the cartographer’s room, exit back to the bench and save. The map screen will now show the Putrified Ducts in their proper shape, including the rooms you have not yet visited. This is the moment the rest of the region becomes navigable.
What the map actually unlocks
Once the Putrified Ducts map is filled in, several things change in how the area plays. They are not all obvious from a single playthrough, so it helps to think of them as separate unlocks that stack.
| Unlock | What changes | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Readable room layout | Vertical shafts show their real length and connection points instead of a blank panel | Reduces backtracking and lets you plan routes before committing to a climb |
| Bench and Bellway icons | Map shows every bench and the Bellway room | Lets you choose a closer save point before a difficult room |
| Hidden pickup callouts | Map regions include shell shards, rosary strings, and key item nodes | Several pickups in the Ducts are off the critical path and are easy to miss without the map |
| Connection to The Slab key | Map exposes a deeper route that the IGN walkthrough describes as leading toward a vital key for unlocking more of The Slab | This is the main progression reason to push through the Ducts, not just for the map itself |
| Shortcut planning | Clawline shortcuts between upper and lower Ducts become visible | Speeds up farming runs and reduces time lost to long vertical climbs after death |
The Slab connection is the most important. The IGN walkthrough explicitly frames the Putrified Ducts as a place that hosts a strange being who can help you and a vital key to unlocking more of The Slab. In practice, that means the Ducts are not a self-contained side area. They are one of the routes into a deeper layer of Pharloom’s infrastructure, and the map is what makes that route readable. A player who clears the Ducts without picking up the map will still be able to find the key, but they will spend more time on it and will likely miss pickups that the map would have shown.
How the cartographer mechanic works in Silksong
Silksong inherits the cartographer system from Hollow Knight with a small but important change. Each region has a cartographer NPC who offers to map the area in exchange for a fee. You do not have to explore every room to earn the map. You only have to find the cartographer, pay, and then the map fills in based on rooms you have already visited, plus any rooms you visit afterward. Rooms that you have not entered stay dark on the map until you walk into them.
The fees scale by region. Early regions are cheap. Late regions are expensive. The Putrified Ducts sit in the mid-late portion of the game, so the fee is meaningful but not punishing. The exact fee is not given on the IGN walkthrough excerpt used here, and the in-game value depends on patches and difficulty settings, so the practical advice is to arrive at the cartographer with at least a buffer above the displayed price rather than counting on the last rosary pickup.
There are two cartographer behaviors worth knowing about for the Putrified Ducts run:
- Map updates are tied to benches. When you buy a map, the new layout is not visible immediately. You need to sit at a bench and open the map screen for the data to refresh. This is a small but real source of confusion for players who think the map has not worked.
- Markers are independent of the map. You can place your own markers on a blank region and they will persist when the cartographer fills in the area. The IGN walkthrough’s path is easier to follow if you place a marker on the cartographer’s room the first time you see it, so that the blank map still has a useful pin.
The mechanic encourages you to explore a region with intent rather than to brute-force it. For developers and technical players, the cartographer system is also a useful case study in how a Metroidvania can pace information reveal across a single region without forcing a 100 percent clear before the map is available.
Common failure cases in the Putrified Ducts
The Ducts have a small set of repeated failure modes. They are worth knowing because the rooms that cause them are reused in several later regions, and the muscle memory carries forward.
| Grabbed by a ceiling tendril and dropped into a pit | Vertical shaft rooms where the bug is positioned over a drop | Attack on the way up to break the grab early, or pogo off the bug’s body to extend your jump |
| Clawline target out of range | Wide horizontal gaps with low-contrast anchor points | Clawline from the highest reachable point on the wall, not from flat ground |
| Double jump timing off on the second wall | The wall climb into the Docks that requires the Mount Fay double jump | Commit to the double jump at the apex of the wall climb, not during the climb itself |
| Map does not appear after purchase | Cartographer’s room | Return to a bench, open the map, and wait one second. The data refreshes on screen load, not on purchase |
| Lost in the lower Ducts after collecting the map | Lower routes below the Bellway | Use the now-readable map to pick a lower bench before dropping, instead of committing to a long fall |
Two of these deserve extra attention. The ceiling tendril grab is the single most common cause of lost silk in the Ducts. The grab animation locks movement, and if you let it play out, the bug will either drop you or eat a heal charge. The intended counter is the attack button, which the IGN walkthrough calls out specifically. The second is the wall climb into the Docks. The double jump timing is unusual because the wall climb eats part of your air time, and the apex of the climb is the only point where the double jump has the horizontal distance to reach the next platform.
How the Ducts connect to nearby regions
The Putrified Ducts do not sit in isolation. They connect to Memorium to the east, the Putrified Docks to the south, and a deeper route toward The Slab to the west and below. Understanding these connections is the difference between treating the Ducts as a side area and treating them as a hub.
- Memorium to the east. The Ducts share a border with Memorium along the upper route past Jubliana. The IGN walkthrough treats the Memorium exit as the entry point for the Docks, which is in turn the entry point for the Ducts. This means that anything you have not finished in Memorium, including the Memorium map itself, is best done before the cartographer run.
- Putrified Docks to the south. The Docks act as a buffer between the Citadel approaches and the Ducts. The Bellway in the Docks is the most useful fast-travel anchor for the entire northwest portion of the map, so it is worth unlocking even if you are not ready for the cartographer.
- Slab approach to the west and below. The IGN walkthrough describes a vital key to unlocking more of The Slab as one of the rewards of pushing through the Ducts. The Slab is a late-game infrastructure area, and the Ducts are one of the gates that controls when you can enter it.
- Hidden pickups in the lower Ducts. Several shell shards, rosary strings, and a hidden NPC are placed in the lower Ducts. The map is what makes their rooms identifiable as separate nodes rather than as anonymous vertical shafts.
For developers, the structural lesson is that the Putrified Ducts function as a soft tutorial for late-game traversal. The vertical room patterns and the ceiling tendril enemies are reused in later regions with harder timing. Learning the Ducts cleanly is preparation for the Slab approach, not just a side objective.
Player guide or developer reference: how to read this page
If you are reading this as a player, the room-by-room route and the failure mode table are the parts that will save you the most time. The prerequisites list is a useful checklist before you commit to the run. The map unlock table is most useful after you have the map, when you are deciding which room to clear next.
If you are reading this as a developer or technical artist, the more interesting parts are the cartographer mechanic and the way the Ducts connect to the surrounding regions. A few things are worth pulling out:
- Progressive information reveal. The cartographer system is a clean way to pace information within a region. It separates mechanical exploration from cartographic exploration and lets the player choose how much of each they want to do at once.
- Vertical readability. The Ducts are a useful test case for how to handle vertical rooms on a 2D map. The game’s solution is a stylized vertical projection that compresses long shafts into readable segments. This is a common problem in Metroidvania design and the Ducts handle it well enough to be worth studying.
- Region pacing. The Ducts sit between a story beat (Jubliana’s wish) and a progression beat (the Slab key). That ordering is deliberate and is a good example of how a region can carry both a narrative and a mechanical function without either one dominating.
- Enemy as traversal tool. The ceiling tendril bugs are the most interesting design choice in the area. They are simultaneously an obstacle and a traversal tool, because the grab animation can be used to reach higher ledges. This dual role is rare in the genre and is worth noting as a pattern.
The IGN walkthrough used as the source for this page is the canonical reference for the room order. The walkthrough frames the Ducts as a place that hosts a strange being who can help you and a vital key to unlocking more of The Slab, which matches the structural reading above. If you want a second pass after the map is collected, the walkthrough is the right place to start.
Practical checklist for the run
This checklist compresses the article into the order a player actually executes. It is intentionally short. The detailed route is above; this is the version you can keep open in a second window.
- Confirm double jump from Mount Fay, clawline, and a full silk kit.
- Finish the Memorium map and the Jubliana wish.
- From the Memorium exit, move right along the exterior toward the Putrified Docks.
- Climb the first wall, clawline left, double jump up the second wall.
- Break the cracked wall, enter the cave, clawline right, and climb into the Docks.
- Stay on the upper platforms through the Docks, watch the ceiling tendrils.
- Reach the Bellway and bench. Save.
- Drop slightly, take the left path halfway down the shaft.
- In the next room, jump up, let the ceiling bug grab you, free yourself near the top.
- Talk to the cartographer on the left and pay the map fee.
- Return to a bench, open the map, and confirm the Ducts are now readable.
- Use the map to plan a run for the Slab key and any pickups you want to grab before pushing deeper.
If you are doing this in a single sitting, the run from the Memorium exit to the cartographer takes roughly the length of a short exploration session. The slowest part is the Docks approach, not the cartographer room itself. Plan your silk accordingly.
When to come back later
It is possible to reach the Putrified Ducts before you have every prerequisite, and it is also possible to clear the Ducts without buying the map. Both of those are valid choices if your goal is the Slab key and you do not need the rest of the pickups. The map is most useful if you are planning to do a full clear of the region or if you are going to use the Ducts as a farm route. If you are not, the cartographer can wait.
Two specific cases are worth calling out. If you are low on rosaries and the cartographer fee is a meaningful chunk of your total, finish the rest of the run and come back when you have a buffer. The map does not change, and the cartographer does not move. If you are doing a no-map challenge run for personal difficulty, the Ducts are one of the harder regions to clear without a map because the vertical shafts are easy to confuse. The IGN walkthrough is a good backup in that case, but expect to spend more time on each room.
What the Ducts tell you about the rest of the run
The Putrified Ducts are a useful waypoint for two reasons beyond the map itself. First, they confirm that you have the traversal kit required for the Slab approach. If the Ducts feel comfortable, the Slab will be hard but manageable. If the Ducts feel like a struggle, it is a sign to go back and finish a couple of side regions before pushing west. Second, the Ducts expose the ceiling tendril enemy pattern that the game reuses with harder timing in later regions. Learning the counter here pays off more than once.
For a developer reading this as a reference, the takeaway is that the Ducts are a structural bridge. They connect a story beat, a cartography beat, and a progression beat, and they do it inside a region that is short enough to clear in a single session. That combination is a useful template for how to design a mid-game region in a Metroidvania: a small area that touches three different systems without overstaying its welcome.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Putrified Ducts map located in Silksong?
The Putrified Ducts map is found in the cartographer’s room in the upper part of the Putrified Ducts. To reach it, go through Memorium to the Putrified Docks, then take the left-hand path past the Bellway and bench room. In the next room, jump up and let the ceiling tendril bug grab you, then free yourself near the top. The cartographer is on the upper ledge to the left.
Do I need the double jump to reach the Putrified Ducts map?
Yes, in practice. The IGN walkthrough for the area calls out the double jump from Mount Fay as a requirement to clear the higher wall into the Putrified Docks. Without it, the cartographer room is still reachable through a longer lower route, but the upper approach that the walkthrough describes is the clean path.
How much does the Putrified Ducts map cost?
The cartographer fee for the Putrified Ducts is not specified in the source used for this page. The fee scales by region, and the Ducts sit in the mid-late portion of the game, so the cost is meaningful but not punishing. Plan to arrive with a buffer above the displayed price rather than spending your last rosaries.
What does the Putrified Ducts map unlock?
It unlocks a readable layout of the Ducts, including bench and Bellway positions, hidden pickups, the connection toward The Slab key, and the clawline shortcuts that connect the upper and lower Ducts. The map itself is not a fast-travel tool, but it exposes the rest of the region’s rooms in a form you can navigate.
What is the vital key in the Putrified Ducts for?
The IGN walkthrough describes the Ducts as hosting a strange being who can help you and a vital key to unlocking more of The Slab. The key is a progression item that opens further access to The Slab, a late-game infrastructure area. Collecting the key is one of the main reasons to clear the Ducts beyond the map itself.
Can I clear the Ducts without buying the map?
Yes. The map is not a hard gate. The Slab key can be reached without it, and the area is technically passable. The map makes the route faster, exposes pickups, and reduces backtracking, but it is not required to finish the region.
Why does the map not appear right after I buy it?
Map updates in Silksong refresh when you open the map screen at a bench, not immediately on purchase. Return to a bench, open the map, and the new layout will populate. The cartographer’s data is committed on screen load.
What is the best build for the Putrified Ducts run?
A balanced build with a full silk kit, a healing spool that allows two heals, and at least one crests tool that improves your air time is the most reliable. The vertical shafts reward commits to double jumps at the apex of a wall climb, and a single extra heal in a tendril grab room is often the difference between clearing the cartographer run and losing the silk kit halfway through.
How do the Putrified Ducts connect to other regions?
They connect to Memorium to the east through the Jubliana route, to the Putrified Docks to the south through the cracked wall and the upper platforms, and to a deeper route toward The Slab to the west and below. The Docks also host a Bellway that is the closest fast-travel anchor for the entire northwest portion of the map.
Should I do the Putrified Ducts before or after finishing nearby side areas?
Finish the Memorium map and the Jubliana wish first, then push into the Ducts. Both are prerequisites for the cleanest route, and the Jubliana wish also acts as a story waypoint. Any pickups you have not finished in the Docks can be cleaned up on the way back, after the cartographer is done.
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