How to Get Palmar Pills Fast
Complete guide to obtaining Palmar Pills quickly in Crimson Desert. Covers the crafting manual location in Shadow's Whisper Cave, the full list of accepted ingredients, the best herb farming routes, and tips for keeping a reliable stockpile before boss fights and Abyss dungeons.
Overview
Palmar Pills are one of the most important consumables in Crimson Desert. When Kliff falls in combat, a Palmar Pill lets you revive on the spot with 30% of your maximum health instead of reloading from a checkpoint. They work against every cause of death, including boss fights, regular enemy encounters, and even fatal falls. Because the game has no built-in auto-revive mechanic, keeping a steady supply of these pills is essential for progressing through the tougher sections of the story.
This guide covers the fastest ways to find, unlock, and stockpile Palmar Pills so you are never caught without one.
Step 1: Find the Crafting Manual
The single most impactful thing you can do early in the game is grab the Palmar Pill Crafting Manual. Without it you are limited to the handful of pills you stumble across in the open world, and those run out quickly.
Shadow's Whisper Cave
The crafting manual is inside a small cave on the west shoreline of Three Saints Falls, just north of Hernand and slightly west of the bridge you cross when first arriving in the region. The cave entrance is hidden in the cliff face; you may need to climb down from the ridge above it. Look for a narrow opening tucked into the rock.
Inside you will find a witch's alchemy chamber. The Palmar Pill Crafting Manual sits on a table on the right side of the room, along with two free Palmar Pills. A Cauldron on the left side of the chamber lets you start crafting immediately after picking up the recipe.
Tip: This location is accessible as soon as you reach Hernand, well before any major boss encounters. Prioritize visiting it the moment the open world opens up.
Alternative Source
A second copy of the crafting manual can be obtained during one of the Pororin Forest research quests tied to the NPC Lumiel and her Pharmacological Research on Medicinal Herbs project. However, this requires more story progression, so the cave route is faster.
Step 2: Crafting Recipe
Once you have the manual, you can craft Palmar Pills at any Cauldron in the world. The recipe requires only two ingredients:
Ingredient | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
2 | Gathered from rivers, wells, and lake edges. Also sold by vegetable merchants in Hernand. | |
Herb or mushroom | 15 | Any single material from the accepted list below. All 15 must be the same type. |
The second ingredient slot is extremely flexible. There are 31 different materials that count, so you can use whatever you have the most of at the time.
Full List of Accepted Ingredients
Herbs and Flowers | Rosemary, Yellow Rosemary, Pink Rosemary, White Rosemary, Lavender, Yellow Lavender, White Lavender, Peony, Begonia, Marigold, Pansy, Ginseng, Wild Ginseng, Lily of the Valley, Rosebay, False Hellebore, Cotton, Shrubby Sophora, Dunbaria, Snapdragon, Croton, Red Croton, False Starwort, Dendrobium Orchid, Satintail Root |
Mushrooms | |
Animal Parts |
Because the recipe accepts so many different materials, you will rarely run short if you make a habit of picking up plants and mushrooms while traveling between objectives.
Step 3: Best Ingredient Farming Spots
If you need to stockpile ingredients quickly, these locations offer the densest concentrations of accepted materials.
Location | Materials Available | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|---|
A large field of Red Croton grows near the Witch's house. One trip can yield well over 15 units. | ||
Open fields around Hernand | Common flowers grow in large patches across the countryside near the starting area. | |
Grove north of Pororin Village | Palmar Leaves, Palmar Beetles | A dedicated grove for gathering Palmar-related materials. |
Hill below Greymane Camp | A respawning cluster of Pine Mushrooms sits at the foot of the hill where the Greymane Camp is located. | |
Rivers and wells near Hernand | Water nodes respawn quickly. The vegetable merchant in Hernand also sells it. |
Quick farming loop: Start at the Hernand fields to grab Rosemary, Lavender, or Peonies in bulk. Pick up Water from the nearest river or buy it from the merchant. Head to any Cauldron and craft several batches at once.
Other Ways to Find Palmar Pills
Crafting is the most reliable method, but you will also pick up free pills throughout the game:
Grave sites and graveyards scattered across Pywel often have a pill resting on top of a gravestone or similar monument.
Enemy encampments and friendly settlements sometimes contain pills on tables, shelves, or inside supply crates.
Golden glowing items found during exploration may contain Palmar Pills among other loot.
Quest rewards occasionally include a small number of pills, particularly quests tied to alchemy or herbal research.
These world pickups are limited and do not respawn, so treat them as bonuses rather than a primary supply line.
Refined Palmar Pill (Late-Game Upgrade)
Later in the story, you can unlock the Refined Palmar Pill, an upgraded version that revives Kliff at full health instead of just 30%. The recipe becomes available after completing Chapter 9 (The Sage of the Desert: Six Statues and the Beast), which leads you to an Abyss island called Ascetic's Rest. The formula and three free Refined Palmar Pills can be found on a stone ledge there.
The Refined variant uses the same Cauldron crafting system and follows a similar ingredient structure, but the full-health revive makes it far more powerful for the game's toughest encounters.
When to Use Palmar Pills
Knowing when to use a pill matters just as much as having one. Keep these tips in mind:
Save them for multi-phase bosses. Many major bosses in Crimson Desert have multiple health bars or phases. If you die in the first phase, it is usually better to restart the fight rather than burn a pill. Save pills for the later phases so you do not have to replay the entire encounter.
Dodge immediately after reviving. Enemies do not pause when you come back. As soon as the revive animation finishes, dodge or roll away to avoid getting hit again while your health is still low.
Pair pills with Grilled Meat. After reviving at 30% health, eat Grilled Meat (or another food item) right away to top off your health bar. You can consume food every two seconds, so rapid eating can stabilize you quickly.
Stock up before Abyss dungeons. The Abyss areas contain some of the game's hardest fights. Entering one without at least a few Palmar Pills is risky.
Do not sell them. Palmar Pills have a sell value, but the safety net they provide is worth far more than the coins you would get.
Quick Reference Checklist
Visit Shadow's Whisper Cave (northwest of Hernand) as early as possible to pick up the Crafting Manual.
Gather 15 of any accepted herb, mushroom, or animal part while exploring.
Collect 2 Water from a river, well, or merchant.
Craft at any Cauldron in the world.
Repeat before every major boss fight or Abyss dungeon entry.
After Chapter 9, upgrade to the Refined Palmar Pill for a full-health revive.
Buy from Lacey (Patch 1.04 Roaming Vendor)
Lacey is the new roaming vendor introduced in Patch 1.04. She walks a continuous loop along the circular main road of Pororin Village in Pororin Forest and sells Palmar Pill alongside the Sigil of Bonding pet item.
For any player who is already passing through Pororin Village, buying directly from Lacey is one of the fastest routes to a fresh stack of Palmar Pills. No ingredients need to be gathered and no cauldron trip is required. The trade-off is cost in coins and the small amount of time needed to catch her on her circuit, which is easy if you simply run the main road in either direction and watch for the backpack she carries.
When This Route Is Fastest
You are in Pororin Village for a quest, the Pororin Research Institute, or the nearby Pororin Forest area and have not prepared pills ahead of time.
You are short on Palmar Leaf patches or other accepted herb materials and do not want to detour to a farming loop.
You also want the Sigil of Bonding for a cat companion and plan to pick up pills on the same visit.
Stock Refresh and Limitations
Lacey's inventory refreshes on a vendor-cycle timer that behaves like other roaming merchants in the game. If she is out of Palmar Pills when you find her, come back a short while later and her stock will replenish. Her position is not fixed; if she is not on the stretch of road where you last saw her, keep moving along the circuit until you spot her pack.
Crafting from the manual remains the most scalable supply line for a long adventure, but Lacey is the quickest option when you only need a handful of pills on short notice and you are already in the Pororin Village area.