Revision 3

Overview

Silver is the lifeblood of Pywel. Every weapon upgrade, camp improvement, and cooked meal costs money, and you are never going to have enough of it. Crimson Desert uses a three-tier currency system: 100 copper converts automatically into 1 silver, and 500 silver can be exchanged for 1 gold bar at the bank. This guide ranks every repeatable and one-time farming method in the game, from quick techniques you can use in Chapter 1 all the way to endgame investment strategies that generate passive income while you sleep at camp.

If you are looking for a short summary of beginner tips, see the How to Make Money Fast and Early article. The guide below is a deep dive into every method with exact numbers, locations, and efficiency comparisons.

Currency Quick Reference

Before diving into farming methods, make sure you understand how the three denominations work. Copper accumulates automatically from enemy drops and converts into silver once you hit 100. Gold bars are strictly for banking.

Enemies drop Copper Pouches in several quality tiers, from Shabby Small Copper Pouches up to Heavy Bulging Copper Pouches. These stack in a single inventory slot. Open them from the inventory screen with the "Use All" option to convert them into currency instantly.

Method Comparison Table

The table below compares every major farming method by estimated income per run, time investment, difficulty, and the chapter in which it becomes available. Methods marked as repeatable can be farmed indefinitely.

Early Game Farming Methods

These methods are available within the first few hours of gameplay. They require minimal gear and no access to distant regions.

Fundamentalist Goblin Masks

Head to the Sunrise Plains, south of the Greymane Camp in the Howling Hills region. Bands of Fundamentalist Goblins roam this area and have roughly a 25% chance to drop Crude Devil Masks on death. Each mask sells for about 13.71 silver at any vendor. In a focused 10-minute run, you can clear several groups and walk away with 60 to 100 silver worth of masks.

The goblins respawn when you leave the area and return, making this one of the most reliable early farms. Loot everything from their bodies, including coin pouches and any gear they drop. Sell the gear you do not need to a merchant on your way back.

Tips for maximizing this farm:

• Bring a ranged weapon to pull individual goblins out of larger groups and avoid getting surrounded.

• Loot bodies immediately. Corpses despawn after a short time, and any uncollected drops vanish with them.

• Expand your inventory before attempting long farming sessions. The more bag space you have, the fewer trips back to town you need.

• Combine this with coin pouch farming. Open all pouches at once from your inventory to save time.

Red Croton Flower Farming

One of the easiest farms in the entire game. Roughly 1,000 meters southwest of Hernand sits a fast travel point surrounded by dense fields of Red Croton flowers. There are hundreds of them packed tightly together. Ride through on your horse, hold the gather button, and fill your inventory in minutes.

Red Crotons stack in groups of 50 per inventory slot, so even a modest bag can carry a substantial haul. Sell the full load to any merchant. Small insects buzzing among the petals can also be caught and sold for extra copper.

The flowers respawn after approximately one in-game week, so treat this as a periodic farm rather than a continuous one. Each trip yields enough silver to cover early gear upgrades and food purchases.

Selling Learned Recipes

As you explore Hernand City and the surrounding towns, you will find recipe pages in houses, on tables, and as quest rewards. Once you read a recipe to learn it permanently, the physical page has no further use. Sell it to any vendor immediately. Individual pages are not worth much, but they add up quickly, especially in the first few chapters when you are picking up recipes constantly. This is essentially free money since you would read the recipe either way.

Selling Unnecessary Items and Damaged Gear

Beyond recipes, your inventory will fill up with items that serve no gameplay purpose. Old books, documents, and posters picked up during exploration take up valuable bag space and have no use in quests or crafting. Sell them to any vendor as soon as you notice them.

Damaged gear is another consistent source of silver. When your own equipment breaks or when you loot defeated enemies, you will often pick up items labeled as damaged. These cannot be repaired, so there is no reason to hold onto them. Sell every piece of damaged armor, every chipped blade, and every cracked shield. Individually these items fetch small amounts, but over the course of a chapter they add up to a meaningful sum.

Collectibles are another category worth evaluating. Paintings, vases, and decorative objects can be displayed in your home or gifted to NPCs, but if you need silver more than decoration, they sell for respectable prices at regular merchants or at the Goldleaf Tradepost black market.

Archery Contest at Lioncrest Manor

After you gain access to Lioncrest Manor (northwest of Hernand City, during the Bruna's Request chain), you can participate in the archery contest. Each round challenges you to hit ten randomly appearing targets faster than your opponent and rewards roughly 80 copper on completion. It is repeatable without cooldown, so you can grind it for consistent small payouts between other activities.

Clearing Bandit Camps

Hostile bandit camps are scattered across the countryside. Clearing them grants Contribution points, loot drops, and coin pouches. The key to profitability is looting every single body before it despawns. Bandits in the Hernand Highlands drop Crude Devil Masks (about 12 silver each), while those at Fort Perwin carry Scarlet Blades Gas Masks that sell for roughly 14 silver. Even if you are not deliberately farming, always loot camp enemies for their silver pouches and sellable gear.

Hernand Commissions and Requests

The notice boards in Hernand and surrounding towns post commissions from local townsfolk. Look for NPCs with orange dot icons on your minimap, as these indicate quest givers with tasks available. Most Hernand Commissions reward a Medium Bag (adding an extra inventory slot) along with crafting materials and a small silver payout. While the direct silver reward is modest, the inventory expansion makes every other farming method more efficient. Think of commissions as an investment: each extra bag slot lets you carry more loot per run before needing to visit a vendor.

Prioritize commissions early in your playthrough. The inventory space they provide has a compounding effect on all your future farming sessions. Check the commission board and nearby lantern posts regularly, as new requests appear as you progress through the story.

Mid-Game Farming Methods

These methods become available once you progress past Chapter 2 and begin exploring regions beyond Hernand.

Gambling: Duo and Five-Card

Duo is the single fastest way to make silver in the game, bar none. The card game deals five sticks with numbers colored yellow or red. Three sticks combine to total 10, 20, or 30, and the remaining two form your hand. The AI opponents have a well-documented tendency to call all-in bets early in a match, even when holding weak cards. You can exploit this by pushing all-in whenever you have a strong hand (Five Points or better), draining the table in a single round.

The strategy is straightforward:

1. Create a manual save directly outside the gambling den before entering.

2. Sit down at a table and check your hand. If you have Five Points or higher, go all-in immediately.

3. If multiple opponents call (they usually do), you win the entire pot, often 50 to 200+ silver in a single hand.

4. If your hand is weak or you bust, reload the save and try again.

After playing enough matches, you may notice some opponents glowing with a blue outline. This means they are cheating. Observe this behavior three separate times to permanently unlock the Cheat ability for Kliff, which lets you peek at other players' hands. Once unlocked, your win rate increases dramatically.

Five-Card tables work on a similar principle. The risk is the buy-in fee, but over time the all-in exploit nets far more than you lose. Combined with save-scumming, Duo is effectively risk-free.

Bounty Hunting

Bounty notices appear on boards in major settlements and as purple markers on your minimap around Hernand. Visit Pedro at the Hernand Guard Station to pick up capture targets. Rewards range from 1 silver for easy marks like Jeffrey up to 25 silver for dangerous targets like Warren. Track down the outlaw, apprehend them (alive if specified), and deliver them to the Guard Station.

Bounties are not infinitely repeatable since each target can only be caught once, but they provide solid payouts alongside combat loot. Prioritize Bandit Camp Clearout bounties over escort missions. Clearouts are faster, have zero fail conditions, and let you loot all the enemy chests and corpses along the way.

Fort Perwin Infinite Loot Farm

During the Continuing Concern faction quest for House Roberts, you assault Fort Perwin in southern Hernand. The quest objective is to deplete the enemy faction bar and defeat the boss. Here is the trick: even after the faction bar drops to 0%, enemies continue to pour out of the fort until you actually kill the boss. By ignoring the boss and farming the endlessly spawning soldiers, you can accumulate massive quantities of loot.

Enemies at Fort Perwin drop Scarlet Blades Gas Masks (roughly 14 silver each), Copper and Silver Pouches, and various weapons and armor. The loot generation is so heavy that you will likely need multiple trips to a vendor to sell everything. After clearing your inventory at a merchant, return to the fort and keep farming until you have had your fill, then finish the boss to complete the quest.

This is one of the highest-yield repeatable farms in the mid-game. If you have already completed the quest, similar faction assault missions at other locations can sometimes produce the same infinite-spawn behavior.

Mining for Ores and Gems

Once you acquire a pickaxe (complete Rhett's request in Hernand), mining becomes a steady income source. Ore deposits are scattered across the world, with each one yielding up to 6 units. The main road to Varnia in the north is lined with Scolecite and Azurite deposits.

Diamonds are the most valuable common ore, selling for 2.28 silver per unit with deposits yielding 6 to 8 pieces. Diamond locations include a cave at the bottom of the southeast Howling Hill crater, the southwest corner of the Demeniss region, south of Tashkalp town in the Crimson Desert region, and along the road near Trader's Expanse heading toward Varnia. Once discovered, deposits stay marked on your map permanently. Respawn rates are slow (several in-game weeks), so mark every deposit and revisit them periodically.

The most accessible early diamond deposit is inside the Hernand Highlands Cavern, located south of Hernand City just beyond the Hernand Highlands. Follow the narrow cave opening to the back of the cavern to find roughly 10 diamonds in a single deposit cluster. At 2.28 silver per diamond, one trip nets around 23 silver for a few minutes of mining. Combine this with any Azurite or Scolecite veins you pass along the way.

A mining run along the Varnia road can net around 60 silver if you hit every deposit. Activate all the fast travel points along the route so you can teleport back later without walking the full distance.

Hunting and Skinning Animals

Wild animals roam the forests and plains outside every settlement. Deer, boars, and other creatures drop hides, meat, and bones when skinned. Sell the raw materials directly to vendors or use excess hides and leather at the blacksmith to craft leather armor. Selling upgraded leather armor earns a bigger profit than selling the raw materials, though it costs time and additional crafting materials. Target groups of deer near Hernand for the densest spawns.

Late-Game and Advanced Methods

These methods either require significant story progression, starting capital, or access to late-game regions.

Wagon Trading

Wagon trading is the game's dedicated commerce system. To unlock it, progress the Greymane questline at Howling Hill far enough to recruit Brice, the wagon manager. From there you can build a wagon at camp and begin hauling goods between trade posts for profit.

The core trading loop works as follows:

1. Buy trade goods at a trade post or Goldleaf Tradepost where prices are low.

2. Pack the goods through Carl at your camp (costs 100 Alms per item from camp funds).

3. Load packed goods onto your wagon or horse at a stable or depot.

4. Transport them to a different trade post in another region where they sell at a higher price.

5. Sell the packed goods for profit. Packed goods transported by wagon or horse sell for significantly more than unpacked items sold directly.

Prices vary by location and region, so the key principle is buy low, sell high. Keep an eye on prices at the Goldleaf Merchant Guild and the Royal Trading Post north of Hernand Castle. Buy in stacks of at least 25 for the best margins. Black market vendors at Goldleaf Tradeposts (unlocked in Chapter 3) will buy any item from you, which is useful for offloading stolen trade goods.

The most profitable trade goods to look for include Calligraphic Paintings, Tobacco, Red Ginseng, and Ceramics. These items have the highest price margins when transported between distant regions. Black market vendors at Goldleaf Tradeposts (unlocked in Chapter 3) will buy any item from you, including stolen goods, making them useful for offloading items that regular merchants refuse.

Trading takes longer per run than other methods, but the profit scales well as you learn the routes and expand your wagon capacity. It also pairs nicely with exploration since you can haul goods while traveling to new areas.

Bank Investment (Passive Income)

The bank in the northern district of Hernand offers a passive investment system. You need 600 silver to get started: 500 silver to purchase one gold bar and 100 silver for a Personal Strongbox Permit. Once set up, deposit your gold bar and select one of three risk profiles.

Investment cycles pay out every three in-game days. You can change your risk strategy every 15 in-game days. A single gold bar on Medium Risk generates 75 to 100 silver per cycle with minimal downside, making it the best option for most players. High Risk can return 250 to 275 silver per cycle on a good roll, but you can also lose the entire gold bar.

Gold bars can be exchanged back into 500 silver at any time, so your capital is not permanently locked. Once you have surplus silver from other farming methods, funneling it into bank investments creates a passive income stream that pays out while you focus on quests and exploration.

Stealing and Fencing Goods

If you are willing to risk your reputation, stealing offers a fast but risky path to silver. You need a Mask equipped to steal. Masks are available from back-alley vendors for 10 copper, or you can loot one from your first bounty target (Jeffrey). With a mask on, you can steal from chests, shelves, and dressers in houses and faction buildings.

Pickpocketing works by sprinting into an NPC and pressing the steal prompt. It yields coin purses and small items. Be warned that all theft costs Contribution points with the faction that owns the stolen goods, whether or not you get caught.

High-value theft targets include:

• Hernand Bank Strongboxes: Roughly 10 boxes upstairs, yielding 1-5 silver each (about 25 silver total). One-time only.

• Paintings and Vases: Stolen from wealthy homes and sold at the black market vendor (Groks) at the Goldleaf Tradepost. Higher value than regular stolen goods.

• Faction Headquarters: Drawers and strongboxes in faction buildings often contain coin purses and artifacts. Explore thoroughly.

• Puzzle Box Artifacts: Locked puzzle boxes found during exploration sometimes contain equipment or valuable items worth selling.

After stealing, you must stay hidden until the crime timer expires to avoid imprisonment. Sell stolen goods at black market vendors since regular merchants will not accept flagged items. The net income from a full theft run through Hernand (bank, homes, and faction buildings) is around 90 silver on the first pass, but contribution losses can lock you out of faction services if you overdo it.

Treasure Trader Goblins

Occasionally you will encounter a rare goblin carrying a treasure chest on its back. These Treasure Trader Goblins wander the world and are difficult to spot. If you find one, follow it until it separates from other enemies, then get behind it and kick it to dislodge the chest. Loot the chest for a chance at a gold bar, all without triggering combat or losing any Contribution.

This is purely opportunistic since their spawn rate is very low. Do not go out of your way to hunt them, but always keep an eye out during normal exploration. A free gold bar (worth 500 silver) is an enormous windfall at any stage of the game.

Selling Stolen Wagons and Carts

If you already have a Mask for stealing, wagons and carts offer another avenue for silver. Merchant wagons travel the roads between trading posts, and you can hijack them while masked. Drive the stolen wagon to a Wagon Fence NPC to sell it for roughly 15 silver per delivery. The earliest Wagon Fence is located east of Hernand, along the Nas River.

Stolen wagons can only be sold at Wagon Fence locations (also called the Wagon Black Market). Regular merchants and Trading Centers will not accept them. Like all theft, stealing a wagon costs Contribution with the owning faction, so weigh the reputation hit against the silver. The best wagons to steal are those traveling between Goldleaf Tradeposts and major cities, as they tend to appear frequently along well-traveled roads.

Selling Captured Animals and Horses

Captured wild animals and spare horses can be sold for silver. Animals caught during exploration can be traded at the black market, while horses you no longer need can be sold at stables. If you have been hoarding tamed creatures, liquidating your collection can yield a lump sum of silver. See the How to Sell Animals article for specifics on pricing and locations.

For stolen livestock specifically, you need a Livestock Fence NPC rather than a regular merchant. The earliest Livestock Fence is located southeast of Hernand at the end of a path near Grimrak. Regular animals you have tamed through non-criminal means can be sold at stables and regular merchants. Horses are particularly valuable if you have collected extras beyond your active mount. Check the How to Sell Animals article for a complete breakdown of pricing and which NPCs accept each type.

Maximizing Farming Efficiency

Regardless of which methods you favor, these general tips apply to all money-making efforts.

Expand Your Inventory Early

The biggest bottleneck to farming is bag space. Complete side requests in Hernand City to unlock up to 3 additional inventory slots per quest. Buy inventory expansion bags from merchants whenever you can afford them. Check your journal to see which faction quests reward "Bags" by hovering over the quest description. More space means longer farming runs with fewer trips to the vendor.

Use Fast Travel Strategically

Always activate fast travel points as you discover them, especially along farming routes. The ability to teleport back to a vendor and then return to your farming spot saves enormous amounts of time. You can also press R3 on the map to access the sky island and skydive down to any unlocked point.

Upgrade Leather for Extra Profit

If you have excess animal hides from hunting, visit a blacksmith to upgrade them into leather armor. Selling upgraded armor fetches a higher price than selling the raw hide. This is especially useful when you have a surplus of crafting materials and want to squeeze maximum value out of every material.

Open Coin Pouches in Bulk

Do not sell coin pouches to vendors. You cannot sell them, and they have no value until opened. Pouches stack in one inventory slot, so let them accumulate during a farming session and use the "Use All" option from your inventory to cash them out all at once.

Combine Methods in a Single Run

The most efficient farming sessions layer multiple methods together. For example, ride south from Hernand to gather Red Crotons, clear goblin camps on the way back for masks and coin pouches, sell everything at the vendor, then hit the Duo tables before logging off. Each method takes 10 to 15 minutes, but combining three or four in a single loop can yield 200+ silver per hour.

Optimal Farming Routes by Chapter

Rather than sticking to a single method, the most efficient players chain together multiple farming activities in a single loop. Below are suggested routes tailored to your story progress.

Chapter 1 Route

Start at Greymane Camp and ride south to the Sunrise Plains. Clear Fundamentalist Goblin groups for Crude Devil Masks and coin pouches. On your way back, swing through any Red Croton fields you pass. Sell everything at the nearest vendor. If you have already unlocked the archery contest at Lioncrest Manor, run a few rounds for extra copper before returning to camp. Expected yield: 80 to 130 silver per loop.

Chapter 2 to 3 Route

Pick up bounty notices from the board in Hernand. Complete one or two bounties on the way to the Duo gambling den. Play several hands using the all-in strategy (save beforehand). On the return trip, clear any bandit camps along the road and loot every body. Sell all masks, gear, and loot at a Hernand vendor. If you have a pickaxe, detour through the Hernand Highlands cavern for diamonds. Expected yield: 150 to 250+ silver per loop.

Chapter 3+ Route

Once wagon trading is unlocked, buy high-value trade goods (Calligraphic Paintings, Tobacco, Red Ginseng, Ceramics) at a low-price Tradepost. Pack them through Karl at camp and load your wagon. Transport the packed goods to a higher-price region and sell for profit. Along the route, mine any ore deposits you pass. On arrival, check the local bounty board and gambling den. Deposit surplus silver at the bank as gold bars for passive investment income. Expected yield: 200 to 400+ silver per session, depending on trade margins.

What to Prioritize Spending On

It helps to know what to buy so you do not waste silver on things you do not need yet.

• Inventory Expansion Bags: The single best early investment. More bag space means more efficient farming loops.

• Weapon and Armor Upgrades: Buy or forge better weapons and armor only when your current gear is noticeably holding you back in combat.

• Cooking Ingredients: Meals are your primary healing source. Keep a steady supply of ingredients from food vendors.

• Crafting Materials: Needed for crafting upgrades and special items. Buy when prices are fair.

• Gold Bars: Only buy these when you have 600+ silver to spare and plan to invest at the bank.

• Camp Upgrades: Spend camp funds (Alms) on Greymane Camp improvements to unlock new services like the wagon workshop, blacksmith, and kitchen.

Best Items to Sell vs Keep

Knowing what to sell and what to hold onto saves time and prevents you from accidentally discarding something valuable. The table below breaks down the most common item categories and whether you should sell, keep, or evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Ignoring coin pouches: They look like junk, but they are direct currency. Always loot and open them.

• Selling items one at a time: Stack items and sell in bulk to save time at the vendor screen.

• Skipping the bank: Even if you cannot afford a gold bar early on, start saving toward 600 silver. Passive income from investments compounds over time.

• Over-stealing: Losing too much Contribution locks you out of faction shops and quests. Steal selectively and manage your reputation.

• Forgetting to loot corpses: Enemy bodies disappear quickly. Loot immediately after every fight.

• Neglecting inventory expansion: Running out of space mid-farm forces you to make extra vendor trips, cutting your silver-per-hour in half.

See Also

• Gold and Currency Guide

• Naira

• How to Make Money Fast and Early

• Trading

• Bank

• Duo

• Mining

• Gatherables

• How to Steal Items

• Cooking Guide

• Crafting

• How to Get More Inventory Slots

• NPC Vendors

• Contribution System

• Faction Quests

• Greymane Camp

• Hernand Commissions

• Weapons

• Armor

• Bounties