All Dyes List

Overview

Dyes in Crimson Desert let players recolor their armor, weapons, and mount gear. The system goes well beyond a simple global tint: at a dyehouse, you can select individual sections of each equipment piece and assign a different color and material finish to every one of them. A chest piece, for example, might have separate dye zones for the main body, leather straps, ornamental designs, and frills. Each zone accepts its own color independently.

Dyes are obtained in five ways: crafting them at a cauldron using flowers and insects, buying pre-made dye bottles from regional merchants, finding them as loot in the open world, earning them as quest rewards, or stealing them from NPC houses (requires a mask). Once you have a dye bottle, open your inventory and select "Use" on it. This permanently learns the color. A single dye bottle unlocks all shades within that color family, so learning one red dye gives you access to multiple red tones at the dyehouse. There is no need to craft a separate recipe for every individual shade.

Dyeing gear costs a small amount of currency at the dyehouse but can be repeated as many times as you like. The system is purely cosmetic and does not affect equipment stats. Pearl Abyss has confirmed there are no microtransactions or cosmetic shops in Crimson Desert; all dye colors are earned through gameplay, exploration, and crafting.

Unlocking the Dye System

The dye system is introduced through Naira's faction quest chain called Brightening the Spirits, part of the Scattered Embers questline at Howling Hill. The chain has three steps:

1. Gloomy Gray: After an argument between Naira and Andrew at camp, accompany Naira on horseback to Hernand Farmland.

2. lively Dye: Naira hands you crafting materials (1 Rhinoceros Beetle, 1 Longhorn Beetle, and 10 Pink Rosemary) and asks you to craft a Bright Red Dye at a cauldron. You cannot craft it on the spot; head to the Alchemy Lab cauldron in the City of Hernand near the Tannery. After crafting, use the dye from your inventory to learn the color.

3. A Fresh Color: Visit the Hernand Farmland dyehouse, speak with the dyer, pick any color, and apply it to your armor. Return to Naira at Howling Hill to complete the quest.

Completing the chain rewards a Grey Dye, which cannot be crafted and is exclusive to this quest. After this point, the full dye system is available for the rest of the game.

How to Craft Dyes

Dye crafting uses a cauldron, not a cooking pot. Place your gathered flowers and insects into the cauldron, switch to the Dye tab, and select the recipe you want to create. Each recipe requires a specific combination of flowers (which determine the base color) and insects (which control the shade). The ratio and type of insects used, such as regular Beetles, Longhorn Beetles, Stag Beetles, and Rhinoceros Beetles, shift the resulting shade from bright to dark within a color family.

Dye recipes can be discovered in several ways. Finding a dye in the overworld or purchasing one from a dye shop automatically unlocks its recipe at the cauldron. You can also find recipe scrolls while exploring. Once a recipe is unlocked, it appears permanently in your cauldron's Dye tab along with the required ingredients.

Cauldron Locations

Three cauldrons are available for dye crafting. Each works identically, so use whichever is closest to your current location.

The Improvise System

If you do not have a specific recipe, you can select the Improvise option at any cauldron. This lets you throw together any combination of flowers and insects and see what color comes out. The improvise system is the primary way to discover new dye recipes you have not found as loot or purchased from merchants. Experiment with different flower types to shift the base hue, and vary the insect ratios to adjust the shade. Successful improvisation permanently unlocks the recipe.

Craftable Dye Recipes

The following dye recipes have been confirmed through in-game crafting. Flowers determine the base color family, while the type and ratio of insects control the exact shade produced. Flowers and insects are lightweight and stack in your inventory, so pick up everything you pass while traveling.

Notice the pattern: within a color family, swapping Longhorn Beetles for Stag Beetles shifts the result from bright to dark. More Stag Beetles produce a deeper, darker shade. More Longhorn Beetles produce a brighter, more vivid tone. Experimenting with these ratios through the Improvise system is how additional recipes beyond this list can be discovered.

Non-Craftable Dyes

Not every dye comes from a cauldron recipe. Some are sold by regional merchants, found as loot in the world, or awarded by quests. Using any of these works the same way: select "Use" in your inventory to permanently learn the color and all its shades.

Pre-made dye bottles also appear randomly in chests, barrels, and homes throughout Pywel. Stolen dyes work the same as any other dye once used. Keep an eye out for them while exploring dungeons and breaking into houses.

Pure White Dye

Pure white dye is a Hernandian dye that is not available from merchants initially. To unlock it, players must complete the Fading Tinkerton quest, which is part of the Blackwater Oil Merchant Guild faction in Delesyia.

After completing the quest, a new provisioner appears in Timberton who sells pure white dye. Purchase it and use it from your inventory to permanently unlock the color at all dye houses.

The first accessible dye merchant who stocks it is Theoric, located southeast of Hernand Castle. The universal dye PC at Greymane Camp in Howling Hill also carries it once unlocked.

How to Apply Dyes at the Dyehouse

To apply learned dyes, visit any dyehouse and speak with the dyer. Select "Dye" from the dialogue menu, then choose the equipment piece you want to recolor on the left panel. On the right panel, you will see all the colors you have learned. Select a color and confirm the change. Each application costs a small amount of silver.

Per-Section Dyeing

The dyehouse does not apply a single color to an entire piece of armor. Instead, each equipment piece has multiple dye zones. A chest piece, for instance, might let you color the main body, leather straps, ornamental trim, buckles, and lining all separately. The number of dye zones varies by equipment: some pieces have several channels, while a few simpler items have only one or two. Weapons and shields also have dyeable sections.

Horse gear follows the same system. Horses have four equipment zones (head, body, saddle, and legs) that can each be equipped and dyed independently. The War Robot mount also supports custom paint jobs through the same dyehouse interface.

Material Finish

Beyond color, the dyehouse lets you adjust the material finish of each dye zone. This changes how the surface looks without altering the color itself. Available finish options include polished metal, worn leather, matte fabric, and shiny lacquer. Combining different finishes across zones of the same armor piece creates more distinct visual results than color alone.

Where to Find Ingredients

Dye crafting ingredients come from two categories: flowers (which set the base color) and insects (which control the shade). Both are gathered by exploring the open world. They weigh very little and stack well, so there is no reason to leave them behind.

Regional Dye Merchants

Across Pywel, there are ten dye specialists located in various towns. Each merchant carries dye colors associated with their region. You can spot dye merchants by the brightly colored fabrics hung out to dry near their shops. Buying a dye from a merchant also unlocks its crafting recipe at the cauldron.

Additional dye merchants are located in other towns across Pywel, bringing the total to ten regional specialists. Each new region you enter through the story unlocks its local dye merchant, gradually expanding your available color palette.

Tips

• Pick up every flower and insect you encounter while traveling. Alchemy ingredients weigh very little and you will always find a use for them.

• Each learned dye unlocks all shades within its color family. You do not need a separate recipe for every single tone.

• Dyeing is purely cosmetic and does not affect your equipment's stats or durability.

• Use the Improvise option at the cauldron to experiment with new color combinations beyond the known recipes. Swapping Longhorn Beetles for Stag Beetles is the most reliable way to discover new shades within a color family.

• Pre-made dye bottles can be found in chests, barrels, and homes throughout the world. Some can also be stolen from NPCs if you have the stealing mask equipped.

• Unlock Oliver at Greymane Camp by progressing the Greymane faction questline. Once recruited, he stocks all dyes you have discovered, saving you the trip to distant regional merchants.

• When dyeing armor at the dyehouse, experiment with the material finish option. Combining a bright color with a polished metal finish produces a very different look from the same color with a matte fabric finish.

• Rhinoceros Beetles are the rarest dye ingredient. Focus on collecting them whenever you spot one, especially in the rocky areas and large trees of the Hernand region.

• The Greymane Camp Alchemy Lab becomes available as you expand your camp. It is the most convenient cauldron location once unlocked since it sits next to your other crafting stations.

• Complete the Brightening the Spirits quest chain from Naira early. It teaches you the dye system and rewards the exclusive Grey Dye, which cannot be obtained any other way.

Bulk Crafting Totals for All 50 Dyes

If you plan to craft every craftable dye in a single session, the table below lists the combined materials required across all 50 recipes. Gather these totals, head to any Cauldron, and you can produce every craftable shade in one pass. The true black and true white dyes are not included because they are not craftable and must be obtained from hidden vendors instead.

The 50 craftable dyes cover the full spectrum of shades you can register at your camp dyer once you have also visited the ten regional Dye Vendors. Grayscale colors such as true black and pure white are handled separately: see Black Dye and Pure White Dye for those quest lines.