Pits

Pits are a hazard occurring in some form in every stage of Treasure Trove.

Plunges into the void so deep to be essentially bottomless, falling into a Pit causes instant death regardless of current hit points, similarly to Spikes.

Of the playable knights available in the four main campaigns, Plague Knight can easily Bomb Burst out of a pit, King Knight can Shoulder Bash into a wall to recover when falling in a pit, while Specter Knight's limited ability to wall climb can potentially achieve the same effect; this leaves regular Shovel Knight out of options for escaping a Pit before it is too late, making the plunge inevitably fatal, although some of the exclusive abilities of Custom Knight can make up for this weakness. In Showdown, multiple other characters have means to escape a fatal plunge, although some of them have very limited options.

Using the Fishing Rod, Shovel Knight can fish in pits to find items like food. Sparkling Pits, Pits with a shimmering effect, have special items to be fished up including Treasure, Music Sheets, or helpful Troupples.

While Shovel Knight, even in his Custom Knight guise, can only fish using the Fishing Rod, Plague Knight can instead do the same with the Bait Bomb, finding in sparkling pits, other than Treasure and Scrap Sheets, additional items such as Health Tonics and Cipher Coins instead of Troupples, but at the cost of being unable to reel in food out of a regular pit.

Some Pits are not bottomless, but as they are filled with either lava or very deep water, both lethal hazards, they functionally remain unaltered. The Void Crater also is essentially a Pit, but with a secret in order to survive it.

In Shovel of Hope, never falling into a Pit at any time will earn the feat Perfect Platformer. Also, the Cloak of Clemency and the Rodent Regalia are protective gear devised to offer a chance to survive the otherwise fatal plunge in a Pit, although they are not flawless.