Quick Answer
Crafting and gathering feed directly into your power: materials refine weapons, cook consumables, and expand storage. Key materials include ginseng and bloodstone, while gold bars, storage upgrades, and contribution points govern your economy and progression.
Crafting Basics
Crafting takes place at camp facilities — primarily the Cooking Station for consumables and the various workshops for gear. The loop is simple: gather in the world → return to camp → craft or refine. Materials come from harvesting plants, mining nodes, looting enemies, fishing, and dispatch missions.
- Food and potions heal and buff you before fights — always keep a stock for boss encounters.
- Upgrade materials feed the Weapon Forge and Armor Workshop covered in the Weapons guide.
- Idle companions on dispatch missions can passively bring materials back to camp.
Ginseng: Gathering and Use
Ginseng is a sought-after herbal material used in crafting valuable consumables and certain upgrades. It is gathered from plant nodes while exploring, often in less-traveled areas away from main roads.
- Use first-person view while gathering — small harvestables are easier to spot (see the Gameplay guide).
- Revisit regions after progressing; resource nodes respawn over time.
- Save ginseng for high-value healing/buff recipes rather than selling it early.
Bloodstone
Bloodstone is a rarer crafting material tied to higher-tier upgrades and special crafting. Because it is less abundant than common ore, prioritize where you spend it.
- Mine ore nodes in higher-level regions and cave/dungeon areas for the best chance at rare drops.
- Spend bloodstone on upgrades that match your chosen weapon path rather than spreading it thin.
- Companion dispatch missions targeted at resource gathering are a steady supplementary source.
Gold Bars and Economy
Gold bars represent concentrated, high-value wealth. Managing your economy well funds camp upgrades, refinement, and storage expansion.
| Income Source | How It Works | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Quests & bounties | Direct cash rewards | Stack nearby bounties per trip |
| Selling loot | Convert excess materials/items | Sell duplicates, keep upgrade mats |
| Dispatch missions | Passive income from idle companions | Always keep followers dispatched |
| Gold bars | High-value concentrated wealth | Cash in when you need a big upgrade |
Storage Management and Upgrades
You will accumulate materials fast, so storage space becomes a bottleneck early. Expand storage at camp as a priority — running out of space forces you to discard valuable materials or make repeated trips.
📦 Storage Priority
Aim for 2–3 storage upgrades before leaving the starting region. It is one of the highest-value early investments because it lets you hoard refinement and crafting materials without constant cleanup.
Contribution Points
Contribution points are a progression currency that unlocks valuable features and upgrades. Earn them through quests and bounties, then spend them — they are meant to be used, not hoarded.
- Prioritize permanent unlocks: storage, camp facilities, and feature access.
- Complete regional quests and bounties to build a steady contribution income.
- Don't let points sit capped — spending them accelerates every other system.
Crafting FAQ
Ginseng is harvested from plant nodes while exploring, most often in off-road, less-traveled areas. Use first-person view to spot small plants and revisit regions later as nodes respawn.
Bloodstone is a rare material for higher-tier weapon/armor upgrades and special crafting. Mine in advanced regions and dungeons, and focus it on your main weapon path rather than spending it broadly.
Upgrade storage at your camp using funds and materials. Prioritize 2–3 storage upgrades early so you never have to discard refinement or crafting materials.
Spend them. Contribution points are designed to unlock permanent upgrades like storage and camp facilities. Letting them sit capped slows all your other progression.
Ginseng is a small herb with distinctive palmate leaves — usually 3 to 5 leaflets radiating from the top of a slender central stem — and often a cluster of bright red berries at the apex when mature. It grows in shaded, forested areas and near mountain bases. When gathering, approach the plant and press the gather prompt. Ginseng is a valuable alchemy and crafting material used in potions, cooking recipes, and camp upgrades. This describes what does ginseng plant look like crimson desert gatherers search for — palmate leaves and red berry clusters in shaded forests.
Bismuth is an ore found at specific mine nodes, typically in cave systems and mountain regions. Equip a pickaxe of sufficient tier, approach a bismuth ore node (identified by its distinctive iridescent, multicolored surface with rainbow-like mineral flecks), and press the mine prompt. Complete the gathering mini-game (timed button presses) for bonus yields. Bismuth is used in advanced crafting, weapon refinement, and alchemy.
Bloodstone is a rare crafting material obtained from several sources: mining bloodstone ore nodes in dark cave and abyss-related regions, as a drop from specific enemies and bosses, or purchased from specialty vendors in major towns. It is a key material for high-level weapon and armor crafting, enhancement, and alchemy. Bloodstone nodes are less common than iron or copper — check cave and mountain regions for spawns.
Once a recipe is learned (added to your crafting knowledge), it cannot be sold — it is permanently bound to your character. Unlearned recipe scrolls, books, or formula items may be sellable to vendors or tradeable before use. To make money from crafting, craft the actual items using learned recipes and sell the finished products to vendors or use them in quests — this is generally more profitable than selling recipe items.
Gold bars are crafted at a smelting station or furnace (available at your camp once upgraded, or at blacksmiths in major towns). You need gold ore (mined from gold ore nodes in mountain and cave regions) and access to a smelting facility. Open the smelting/crafting interface, place gold ore in the input, select the gold bar recipe, and wait for crafting to complete. Gold bars are used for high-value trading, advanced crafting, and camp upgrades.
Skyroot is a wood material gathered from specific trees, often found in elevated, mountainous, or high-altitude regions of Pywel. Equip an axe of sufficient tier, approach a skyroot tree (identified by its distinctive bark color and foliage — typically lighter or bluer than common trees), and chop it down by pressing the gather prompt. Complete the mini-game for bonus yields. Skyroot is used in crafting, construction, and weapon/gear making.
Palmer pills are an alchemy consumable that provides a buff or healing effect when used. Craft them at an alchemy station using the required ingredients (typically herbs like ginseng, alchemical reagents, and a base solvent). You must first learn the palmer pill recipe — from a recipe book, an alchemy NPC, or a specific quest. Open the alchemy interface, place ingredients, select the recipe, and craft. Higher alchemy skill improves yield and quality.
Constellation examination is done at specific observation points or through a telescope/stargazing mechanic. Travel to a stargazing location (often marked on your map with a star/telescope icon, found at high elevations, observatories, or certain camps), interact with the observation point, and complete the constellation matching mini-game (connect stars to form the correct pattern). Examining constellations may unlock lore entries, buffs, quest progress, or crafting recipes.
Mining is a gathering profession. Equip a pickaxe (purchased from a vendor, crafted, or obtained early in the game), approach an ore node (visible mineral deposits on rock faces, cave walls, or mountain bases), and press the gather prompt. Complete the timed gathering mini-game — hitting the prompt at the right moment yields bonus ore. Different ores (iron, copper, gold, bismuth, bloodstone) require different pickaxe tiers and are found in different regions. Ore is used in crafting, weapon upgrades, and smelting.
Iron ore is the most common and widely available ore, found at mine nodes throughout Pywel — especially near cave entrances, mountain bases, quarry regions, and rocky outcrops. Look for gray or silver rock faces with visible metallic flecks. Early-game areas near the starting region typically have iron nodes, making it easy to gather from the beginning. Iron ore is smelted into iron bars for basic crafting, weapon upgrades, and construction.