Randomizer - Main Menu Settings

*This page describes the available options in Rando 3. For Rando 4, see its README.*

## Seed

Randomly generated upon new file select. Can be edited to any seed of 1–9 digits total, with numbers 0–9 only. This feature is used for races to make sure all players are running the same seed.

## Mode Select

* **Item Randomizer** – Randomizes items
* **Item + Area Randomizer** – Randomizes items and area transitions, which are understood to be any region with a title card, excluding dream areas, trams, and elevators
* **Item + Connected-Area Room Randomizer** – Randomizes items and nearly every transition but tries to keep rooms from the same area connected
* **Item + Room Randomizer** – Randomizes items and nearly every transition
* **Cursed** – Optional setting to increase difficulty. Replaces most of the game's convenient safety items, such as pale ore, spell upgrades, mask shards, vessel fragments, relics, and charm notches. These item locations will be replaced with a "1 Geo" drop. Generally creates much longer and more linear logic chains.
* **Create Spoiler Log** – Generates a spoiler log, containing the placement of every random item or transition, and puts it into your saves folder at `username\AppData\LocalLow\Team Cherry\Hollow Knight\`

## Required Skips

* **Preset** – Seed Logic Difficulty settings. Easy/Medium/Hard can be selected.
* **Mild Skips** – Refers to simpler movement tech, such as using enemies or background items to "pogo" with the nail in order to reach new items and areas. Also reduces requirements on some boss fights.
* **Shade Skips** – Strategically killing yourself in a specific location to leave a Shade to pogo off of, allowing you to access items and locations normally unreachable. (example)
* **Fireball Skips** – Also known as "Air Stalls". Can be used for horizontal boosts to reach locations that normally require Mothwing Cloak or other movement abilities. Vengeful Spirit and Howling Wraiths are the only spells these skips benefit from – use the ‘Quick-Cast' button, not the ‘Focus' button, when attempting these skips. (example)
* **Acid Skips** – An advanced technique that allows players to travel across areas of acid, without the need of Isma's Tear. Most instances require Mantis Claw and Crystal Dash. (example)
* **Spike Tunnels** – Being able to maneuver spike tunnel segments without the intended methods. Most instances require Mothwing Cloak and an Air Stall. (example)
* **Dark Rooms** – With this setting set to 'True', Lumafly Lantern is no longer required for any of the game's Dark Room areas except for the Crystal Peak toll entrance. (example)
* **Spicy Skips** – Extremely difficult skips. (example)

## Quality of Life (QoL)

* **Reduce Rock/Totem Preloads** – Only preload a single geo rock/soul totem type; randomized geo rocks/soul totems will use that type instead of the correct original type.
* **Early Geo** – Gives a random amount of Geo between 300 and 600 at the start of the game.
* **Extra Platforms** – Adds various platforms throughout the game to facilitate backtracking when checking locations without sufficient items to escape.
* **Show Recent Items** – Shows recently collected items in the top right
* **NPC Item Dialogue** – If disabled, certain NPCs such as Nailmasters are replaced by a shiny item on the ground

## Restrictions

* **Randomize Focus** – Randomizes the ability to heal and adds a check at the lore tablet in King's Pass that explains Focus
* **Randomize Swim** – Randomizes the ability to swim in water
* **Elevator Pass** – Randomizes the ability to use the two big elevators. Also adds a check at the City Storerooms elevator toll.
* **Cursed Nail** – Randomizes the ability to upslash, leftslash, and rightslash
* **Cursed Notches** – You start with only one charm notch at the start of the game.
* **Cursed Masks** – You start with only one mask at the start of the game.

## Item Randomization

* **Dreamers** – The 3 dreamers and World Sense, located next to the Black Egg Temple bench, which gives you the ability to see the completion percentage.
* **Skills** – All spells, nail arts, and movement upgrades
* **Charms** – All 40 charms and both White Fragments
* **Keys** – All keys in the game, along with other certain key-locked items. Includes all 4 simple keys, Lumafly Lantern, Shopkeeper's Key, Elegant Key, Love Key, King's Brand, Collector's Map and Godtuner.
* **Duplicate Major Items** – Creates two copies of major items. The second copy works additively with other copies for additive items (e.g. Vengeful Spirit and Shade Soul). When all copies in a family have been collected, subsequent copies reward 300 geo. The "Dreamer" pickup works additively with the usual dreamers, so that any 3 out of 4 allows access to the Black Egg Temple.
* **Mask Shards** – All 16 Mask Shards
* **Vessel Fragments** – All 9 Vessel Fragments
* **Pale Ore** – All 6 Pale Ore
* **Charm Notches** – All 4 Charm Notches (excluding Salubra notches)
* **Geo Chests** – All Geo Chests, except the one above Baldur Shell and those in the Junk Pit
* **Relics** – All sellable relics (Wanderer's Journals, Hallownest Seals, King's Idols, Arcane Eggs).
* **Rancid Eggs** – All 20 Rancid Eggs (excluding Tuk's Egg).
* **Stags** – All Stag Stations, including Dirtmouth and Stag Nest. You can still travel from any station to the stations you have unlocked and Dirtmouth, but you can only unlock new stations by collecting the randomized pickup or by unlocking Stag Nest with all other stags. The door to leave the Dirtmouth stag station only opens once you have obtained the Dirtmouth stag pickup.
* **Maps** – All Cornifer locations. Each location is tied to the corresponding map, except for bottom-right Deepnest, which is tied to Quill.
* **Whispering Roots** – Whispering roots award a randomized item. You can preview the reward before collecting essence orbs, even without Dream Nail.
* **Grubs** – All 46 Grubs
* **Lifeblood Cocoons** – All 8 Lifeblood Cocoons
* **Soul Totems** – All Soul Totems outside the White Palace
* **Lore Tablets** – All Lore Tablets outside the White Palace
* **Palace Totems/Tablets/Entries** – Soul Totems, Lore Tablets, and the Seal of Binding journal entry in the White Palace
* **Grimmkin Flames** – Rewards for defeating the Grimmkins. Grimmchild no longer starts with 6 flames.
* **Geo Rocks** – All 207 Geo Rocks
* **Boss Essence** – Rewards for defeating the Dream Warriors and Dream Bosses.
* **Boss Geo** – Geo drops from Gruz Mother, Massive Moss Charger, Vengefly King, Gorgeous Husk, Crystal/Enraged Guardian and both Soul Warriors
* **Journal Entries** – The Hunter's Journal, along with the Goam, Garpede, Charged Lumafly and Void Tendrils entries
* **Junk Pit Chests** – All 5 Junk Pit Chests
* **Split Cloak** – Replaces Mothwing Cloak with "Left Cloak" and "Right Cloak", which allow you to dash to the left or to the right, respectively. Shade Cloak is *not* split.
* **Split Claw** – Replaces Claw with "Left Claw" and "Right Claw", which only work on left or right walls, respectively.
* **Egg Shop** – Instead of summoning your shade, Jiji sells items for Rancid Eggs.
* **Mimics** – All 4 Grub Mimics outside the Colosseum
* **Randomize Notch Costs** – Changes the notch cost of each charm to a random value from 0 to 6 but makes sure that the total notch cost is no smaller than 60 and no greater than 120.

## Start Settings

* **Randomize Start Items** – Gives the player a selection of items to start with, including vertical movement and an equipped charm.
* **Start Location** – Lets you choose your start location. The start location can also be randomized for an added surprise! Note that a location displayed in red text is not eligible for the currently chosen difficulty as defined by the "Required Skips" setting.