How to Farm Bones Quickly in Mina the Hollower

Accumulating bones in Mina the Hollower can be handled in the traditional way—by exploring and battling foes—or you can optimize your efforts by targeting high-yield farming locations and equipping specific bone-boosting trinkets. You don’t necessarily need to rely on game modifiers to fill your pockets quickly; you just need a few strategic insights and a peculiar NPC encounter.

Here is how to farm bones efficiently in Mina the Hollower.

How to gather bones effectively

Before optimizing your routes, it helps to understand the fundamental ways to earn bones in the game:

• Slay enemies: Every monster drops bones upon defeat, but the payout scales with the enemy’s difficulty. While smaller creatures like bats offer minimal rewards, tackling formidable threats like knights or oversized frogs is far more lucrative.
• Scavenge the world: Keep an eye out for bone fragments and bonestones hidden in plain sight, tucked away in crates, buried beneath the surface, or stashed within boulders. Be diligent about smashing destructible objects and burrowing whenever the opportunity arises.
• Adjust your settings: If you are open to using modifiers, you can significantly accelerate your income (though note that this will deactivate achievements). Enabling options like “increased bone drop rate” or “prevent bone loss on death” can make the grind much more forgiving.

Graphic: Marloes Valentina Stella/Polygon | Source images: Yacht Club Games via Polygon

The Ultimate Bone Farming Loop

Since entering the Underlab triggers a reset of all non-unique overworld enemies and items, you can create a highly efficient farming loop. Simply find an Underlab entrance positioned near a high-density area of tough enemies. Sweep the area for loot, dive into the Underlab, exit, and repeat the process.

A prime location during the early game is Mourner’s Mile: Knight’s Rest, situated just east of Ossex. Traverse the Eastern Heath until you reach the area populated by armored knights, located just north of the graveyard featuring the headless monument.

Utilizing the Underlab entrance found in one of the northern chambers near the large door, you can easily access a route containing three bone-stuffed boulders to get your run started.

Graphic: Marloes Valentina Stella/Polygon | Source images: Yacht Club Games via Polygon

If you’re confident in your combat skills, systematically clearing the knights and destroying the surrounding breakable objects yields excellent returns. For an extended route, you can continue eastward to the Queensbury Crypt entrance to reset the zone and trek back through the path you just cleared.

Essential Trinkets for Bone Hunters

To maximize efficiency, pair the Deboning Wand with the Stolenoid. The Deboning Wand grants a 50% boost to bone drops; however, it causes bones to scatter and bounce rather than being collected instantly. While this makes it risky near pits, the Mourner’s Mile is relatively flat, making it a safe haven for this strategy. The Stolenoid serves as the perfect companion, automatically vacuuming up all nearby dropped items, ensuring you never miss a payout.

Finding the Deboning Wand

You can acquire the Deboning Wand by visiting Elizabeth in Ossex. From the City Center, head north and then veer northeast through the Courtyard, clearing the bushes in your path.

Engage Elizabeth in conversation and select the “nice skull…” dialogue option. Agree to her loan proposal; she will shatter her own skull, netting you an immediate 250 bones. While repaying her 1,000-bone debt may seem steep, it is the only way to obtain the Deboning Wand. Alternatively, you could simply take the initial 250 bones and walk away, though this lacks the long-term benefit of the trinket.

Finding the Stolenoid

The Stolenoid can be purchased from Belvedere in the Queensbury Crypt (east of Ossex). Progress through the area until you reach the Statue Head Hall, where you must restore two headless statues. Look for a small crawlspace to the left of the left-most statue; entering this area will lead you to Belvedere, who offers the Stolenoid for 600 bones—an investment that will quickly pay for itself.

Source: Polygon