Overview
Grindstones are interactive stations found throughout Pywel in Crimson Desert that temporarily increase your weapon's attack power. When you interact with a Grindstone, Kliff sharpens his currently equipped weapon, gaining a damage buff that lasts until it is depleted through strikes in combat. Grindstones are free to use, have no material cost, and respawn after a period of time, making them a reliable source of bonus damage.
The companion to the Grindstone is the Anvil, which similarly provides a temporary Defense buff for equipped armor. Together, Grindstones and Anvils offer free combat enhancements that smart players should take advantage of whenever they spot one in the world.
How Grindstones Work
Property | Details |
|---|---|
Effect | Temporarily increases weapon attack power |
Duration | Lasts until depleted by strikes dealt in combat |
Cost | Free (no materials required) |
Interaction | Approach and press E (PC) or the interact prompt (controller) |
Respawn | Respawns after time or area reload |
Locations
Grindstones are found at camps, near blacksmith shops, and in settlements across Pywel. Notable early-game locations include:
Hernand City area, near the main road and blacksmith
Timberturner Wainwright, southeast of Hernand
Bandit camps on the Hernand outskirts and Howling Hill
Greymane Camp (unlocked via dispatch upgrades)
Bloomwood Ranch, southeast of Hernand
Greymane Camp (hidden): A grindstone sits hidden behind the main tent at the Howling Hill Camp, present from the moment the camp first unlocks in Chapter 3. Walk around the back of the main tent to reach it. Many players miss this station for the entire early game.
Usage Tips
Always interact with a Grindstone before heading into a tough fight. The attack buff can make a noticeable difference during boss encounters, especially in the early game when weapon refinement options are limited. Because the buff depletes based on strikes rather than time, it pairs well with slow, heavy-hitting weapons like two-handed swords and greataxes, where each swing deals more damage from the buff.
Combine a Grindstone buff with an offensive elixir like Freya's Elixir (+7 Attack for 10 minutes) for a significant damage spike at the start of a fight.
Grindstone vs. Anvil
Station | Effect | Target |
|---|---|---|
Grindstone | Temporary Attack increase | Equipped weapon |
Anvil | Temporary Defense increase | Equipped armor |
Patch 1.04 Changes
Patch 1.04 adjusted how much permanent power players gain from equipment reinforcement performed at Grindstones and Anvils. The patch notes reduced the amount of attack and defense gained from reinforcing weapons and armor at these stations. The regular on-the-fly buffs described earlier on this page still work the same way: Kliff can still walk up to a Grindstone to sharpen his weapon for a temporary attack boost, and the corresponding Anvil still grants a temporary defense boost to equipped armor. What changed is the stat gain that gets baked into gear when you actually spend materials to reinforce it.
In practical terms, any weapon reinforced at a Grindstone after the patch ends up with a lower final attack rating than the same item would have received at the same reinforcement tier before 1.04. The same applies to armor reinforced at an Anvil, which now produces a lower final defense value per tier. The patch notes frame this as a balance pass rather than a bug fix, which suggests that reinforcement was judged too strong relative to other progression sources such as skill observation, artifacts, elixirs, and gear set bonuses.
Scope of the change: both station types were affected. The grindstone attack nerf and the anvil defense nerf shipped together as a single balance bullet in the Patch 1.04 notes, so the attack reduction on reinforced weapons mirrors the defense reduction on reinforced armor.
What is unchanged: the free temporary buff from simply interacting with a Grindstone or an Anvil is untouched. It is still worth topping up these buffs before a boss fight for a short attack or defense spike. Station respawn timers, material costs (free), and interaction prompts were not called out as changing.
What is lower: the permanent attack added to a reinforced weapon, and the permanent defense added to reinforced armor. Both are now smaller than they were at launch for every reinforcement tier the patch notes cover.
No published before-and-after numbers: the patch notes do not list the specific pre-1.04 and post-1.04 reinforcement values per tier. Existing items that were reinforced before the patch carry their old stats forward; the reduced numbers only apply to reinforcements performed from Patch 1.04 onward.
The take-away for players already deep into the game is that the gap between a fully reinforced weapon and an unreinforced one is smaller than it used to be, so reinforcement is still worth doing but yields less raw stat value than before. Combining a reinforced weapon with the temporary sharpening buff, an appropriate elemental assignment on your quick slot, and an attack-boost food or elixir is still the standard pre-boss preparation loop.
For a full map of where to find these stations across the world, see the Grindstone and Anvil Locations article. For the hands-on tutorial chapter that first teaches how Grindstone sharpening works, see Breaking in the Grindstone. For the complete list of changes shipped in version 1.04, including the other balance bullets that landed in the same wave of combat tuning, see the Patch Notes article. This page will be updated with specific tier-by-tier comparisons once community testing settles on reliable post-patch numbers.