Gathering

Overview

Gathering covers the collection of raw materials from the open world in Crimson Desert. This includes mining ore from rock formations, chopping trees for timber, picking herbs and flowers, collecting insects and butterflies, and harvesting wild food. Gathered materials feed into cooking, alchemy, crafting, and Greymane Camp upgrades, making gathering one of the core life skills that ties into nearly every progression system in the game.

Unlike combat weapons, which have unlimited durability and never break, gathering tools like the pickaxe and logging axe degrade with use. Players need to maintain or replace their gathering tools periodically, adding a resource management layer to the gathering loop. Gathering is available from early in the story once Kliff arrives in Hernand and can purchase or receive tools from local vendors.

Gathering Types

There are several distinct categories of gathering in Crimson Desert, each producing different resources and requiring different tools or interactions.

Gathering Tools

Gathering tools are required for mining and logging. Herbs, flowers, mushrooms, insects, and wild food can all be picked up by hand without any tool equipped. The two primary gathering tools are the pickaxe and the logging axe, both available early in the game.

Obtaining Tools

There are several ways to acquire gathering tools in Crimson Desert:

Tool List

To equip a tool, hold F2 on keyboard (Left D-pad on controller) to open the equipment wheel, then use the right thumbstick or mouse to select the desired tool and release to equip it. Only one tool can be equipped at a time, and switching between tools is done through the same equipment wheel.

Skill Alternatives to Tools

Two of Kliff's skills can substitute for gathering tools, letting you gather resources without needing to switch to a tool through the equipment wheel:

• Force Palm: This skill can instantly destroy ore deposits on contact. It is particularly useful for reaching ore veins that sit high on cliff walls where a pickaxe cannot reach. You can climb to the ore and blow it apart with Force Palm. The ranged Force Palm Pulse variant can also shatter deposits from a distance, consuming stamina and spirit instead of requiring manual strikes.

• Turning Slash: This skill can fell trees without requiring a Logging Axe. Activate it with R1+R2 (RB+RT on controller). It is useful when you spot harvestable trees while exploring and do not have the logging axe equipped, since you can cut a tree without opening the equipment wheel.

Mining

Mining is the process of extracting ores and minerals from rock formations found on cliff faces, mountainsides, and inside caves throughout Pywel. Equip the pickaxe and hold the aim button (LB/L1 on controller) to bring up a targeting reticle. When the circle turns light blue, indicating a solid lock on the ore deposit, press the attack button (RB/R1) to swing the pickaxe and break the rock. A few solid strikes will crack the formation, dropping ore onto the ground for collection.

Ore deposits are now automatically discovered when the player comes within an 8-meter radius, thanks to a change in Patch 1.00.03. Previously, you needed to mine an ore deposit at least once before its location would appear on your map. Since the patch, simply walking near a deposit marks it on your map under the "Environment" tab. This makes it much easier to catalog nodes on future gathering runs without needing to stop and mine every deposit you pass. Each ore or crystal deposit can yield multiple pieces of material per harvest.

Ore Types and Locations

Iron Ore can also be purchased from Rhett (3 ore at 18 coins each) or from Mineral Shops in liberated locations such as Cairn House and Karin Quarry (6 ore at 18 coins each). Vendor inventories restock every in-game midnight. Minerals serve two primary functions: crafting and refinement for strengthening gear, and as ingredients for certain alchemy recipes.

Logging

Trees can be chopped for lumber using a logging axe. Timber and Fine Timber are primary building materials for expanding the Greymane Camp and are also used in crafting tools, weapons, and equipment. Forests across Pywel provide a steady supply, with different tree types throughout the regions of Pywel.

Felling a standard tree originally took three swings of the logging axe, but Patch 1.00.03 (March 23, 2026) reduced the number of hits required, making logging faster. The BlackSpace Engine's physics system means chopped trees physically fall, and the direction they fall depends on where the player strikes them. Step back when the tree drops, because the physics engine will deal damage to Kliff if a tree lands on him. Once the tree is on the ground, chop the trunk again to break it into smaller segments, then chop those individual segments to yield Timber and Fine Timber.

Wood stacks heavily in the inventory, so expanding your carrying capacity early is recommended if you plan on extended logging runs. For specific harvest locations, see the Timber and Fine Timber Locations article.

Herb and Flower Collecting

Herbs and flowers grow throughout the world, from open meadows to forested hillsides. These are the primary ingredients for alchemy, used to brew medicines, elixirs, and dyes. Certain flowers only grow in specific regions, making exploration of all regions worthwhile for building a complete ingredient collection. Plants weigh very little, so pick up every flower you pass while traveling.

Mushroom Collecting

Mushrooms are commonly used as cooking ingredients to make food. They typically grow in shaded or damp locations: under the canopy of large trees, at the bottom of cliff faces, and around bodies of water. Three mushroom varieties have been identified:

Insect and Butterfly Collecting

Insects and butterflies are alchemy materials used in specific medicine and elixir recipes. They are easy to miss if you are not looking for them, but paying attention to environmental details while exploring rewards players with materials that are otherwise hard to acquire. Many insects only appear at specific times of day, with several species spawning exclusively at night. For the full list of materials, see the Alchemy Materials article.

Key insect behaviors and locations include:

Wild Food Gathering

Vegetables, wild plants, and other edible resources can be picked up throughout the world. These go into cooking recipes alongside fish from fishing and meat from hunting. Since Crimson Desert has no passive health regeneration, food is an essential survival resource, making wild food gathering a critical activity during long exploration sessions away from the Greymane Camp.

Respawn Mechanics

Gathering nodes in Crimson Desert are placed at fixed locations on the map. Once you memorize a farming route, the nodes will always be in the exact same spots after they respawn. Ore veins respawn after approximately 7 in-game days. Breaking at least one ore from a deposit for the first time permanently marks its location on your map, making it simple to track which nodes are ready for harvest on return visits.

Gatherables such as herbs, mushrooms, insects, and flowers also respawn. One known method to accelerate respawns is to save the game after collecting the desired materials, then reload the save file. This causes gatherables to reappear at their original locations, providing a reliable farming loop for alchemy ingredients and cooking resources. For more details, see the Enemy and Gatherable Respawning article.

Tool Durability

Gathering tools degrade with use, unlike combat weapons which have unlimited durability. Pickaxes, logging axes, and other gathering implements will eventually break and need to be replaced. This creates an ongoing resource management consideration: players need to balance gathering efficiency with tool replacement costs. New tools can be purchased from Provisioner's Shops in towns or crafted at the Greymane Camp workshop. Vendor inventories restock every in-game midnight (0:00), so you can always return for fresh supplies.

Camp Production

The Greymane Camp has a ranch and farm that can produce food and materials without manual gathering. Players can grow vegetables in garden patches and rear livestock for meat production. Working the camp's farm is a reliable way to keep your ingredient stocks up between trips into the wild. As the camp expands through camp buildings and upgrades, production capacity increases, eventually creating a self-sufficient loop for basic cooking and crafting ingredients. For a full guide on camp development, see the Camp Expansion Guide.

Companion Gathering

Players can dispatch Greymane companions on Freesword Dispatch missions to gather wood, ore, and other materials while occupied elsewhere. These missions take real time but provide a passive resource income. Dispatched companions can also collect alchemy materials, cooking ingredients, and crafting components, making the dispatch system an efficient supplement to manual gathering. For strategies on optimizing companion dispatch routes, see the Companion Dispatch Guide.

Regional Materials

Different regions of Pywel offer different materials. Each region's unique environment determines what resources are available locally. Visiting all regions is essential for building a complete collection of alchemy ingredients and crafting materials.

Tips

• Gather materials constantly while traveling. Most gathering nodes are along roads and paths, making them easy to pick up on the way to other objectives.

• Prioritize purchasing the Pickaxe and Logging Axe as your first tool investments. Both cost under 35 Copper at Alden's Provisioner's Shop in Hernand, and lumber and ore are needed in large quantities for camp upgrades.

• Use Force Palm and Turning Slash as alternatives to the Pickaxe and Logging Axe. These skills let you gather without switching tools through the equipment wheel, which saves time while exploring.

• Since Patch 1.00.03, ore veins are automatically discovered within an 8-meter radius. Simply passing near a deposit marks it on your map permanently, so you no longer need to mine each node once just to catalog it.

• Different regions have different plant and insect species. Visit new areas to expand your alchemy ingredient collection.

• Many insects and butterflies only appear at specific times. Check grassy areas and rocky outcroppings at night for Spiders, Centipedes, Fireflies, and Golden Silk Spiders.

• If you are running low on a specific material, dispatch companions on a gathering mission through the Freesword Dispatch system.

• Keep spare gathering tools in your inventory. Running out of tool durability mid-expedition means walking past valuable nodes empty-handed.

• When logging, step away after your final swing. Patch 1.00.03 reduced the number of swings needed to fell a tree. Falling trees still deal physics damage to Kliff if they land on him, so keep your distance when the tree starts to topple.

• Iron Ore can be bought from Rhett (18 coins each, 3 per restock) or from Mineral Shops at liberated locations (18 coins each, 6 per restock) if you need ore without the mining detour.