How to Make Money Fast and Early

Overview

Silver is the primary currency in Crimson Desert, and you will need a lot of it. Weapons, armor, camp upgrades, crafting materials, and cooking ingredients all cost silver. The game uses a straightforward denomination system: 100 copper equals 1 silver, and 500 silver can be exchanged for 1 gold bar at the bank. This guide covers every reliable way to earn money, starting with methods available in the first few hours and progressing to high-yield strategies that open up later.

Currency Denominations

Crimson Desert uses three tiers of currency. Copper is the smallest denomination and drops frequently from enemies in the form of coin purses. Silver is the standard unit that vendors and merchants deal in. Gold bars are the highest denomination and are used primarily for bank investments.

Enemies frequently drop Small Copper Pouches that stack in your inventory. Open them from the inventory screen using the "Use All" option to convert them into currency instantly.

Early Game Methods

These methods are available within the first few hours of gameplay, before you unlock fast travel to distant regions. They require minimal gear and can be repeated.

Red Croton Flower Farming

One of the simplest and most reliable early money sources is gathering Red Croton flowers. A large field of Red Crotons grows roughly 1,000 meters southwest of Hernand, in the woods near a fast travel point. The flowers grow in dense clusters with hundreds available in a single run, and they stack in groups of 50 per inventory slot. Ride through the field on your horse and gather everything you can carry, then sell the flowers to any merchant. Small insects buzzing around the petals can also be caught for additional income.

Red Crotons respawn after approximately one in-game week, so you can return periodically for another harvest. This method generates enough silver to cover initial gear upgrades and food supplies.

Selling Learned Recipes

As you explore Hernand City and the surrounding areas, you will find recipe pages in houses, on tables, and as quest rewards. Document icons on the map often indicate recipes lying around in buildings. Once you read a recipe, you permanently learn it, so the physical item has no further use. Sell the recipe page to any vendor immediately after learning it. This is a small but consistent source of income that adds up over time, especially in the early hours when every coin matters.

Bank Robbery

The bank in the northwestern district of Hernand can be robbed once. Go upstairs, equip a mask (available from a back-alley vendor near the windmill for 30 copper), and steal the Strongboxes from behind the shelves in the corner. There are roughly 10 Strongboxes, each containing between 1 and 5 silver when opened from your inventory. You can also grab paintings and vases to fence at a black market merchant. A single heist can net close to 90 silver in total. Be aware that robbing the bank triggers a crime search timer; getting caught leads to jail time. This is a one-time opportunity since the boxes do not respawn.

Bounty Hunting

Bounty missions from House Celeste in Hernand City are a reliable early income source. Look for purple page icons on the minimap; these are wanted posters pinned around the city. Examine a poster to accept the bounty, then track down the target via the quest marker. Chase them down, subdue them, and bring them back to the Guard Station in Hernand.

Each bounty pays approximately 10 silver and takes 10 to 20 minutes to complete. Capturing targets alive yields better rewards than killing them. While pursuing bounties, you will encounter enemy groups along the way, and their dropped loot adds to your total income.

Looting Enemy Camps and Selling Gear

Bandits appear throughout the countryside and in hostile camps. Kill them, loot their bodies quickly before they disappear, and sell the dropped weapons and armor at vendors. Even broken gear sells for a few copper each, and the amounts add up after clearing several camps. Coin purses dropped by enemies provide direct currency when opened.

During faction quests, enemies sometimes continue to spawn even after you have reduced the faction bar to zero, as long as the area boss has not been defeated. This creates an opportunity to farm loot indefinitely within a single quest instance. The Continuing Concern quest at Fort Perwin in southern Hernand is one known example.

Thievery

Equipping a mask lets you steal items from NPC homes and faction buildings. Check drawers, cabinets, and shelves for coin purses, artifacts, and puzzle boxes. Check every accessible home in towns for valuable items to sell. Stolen goods can be sold at regular merchants or, for higher prices, at black market dealers.

Earning Silver Through Minigames

Several minigames throughout the world pay out silver for winning. These range from quick physical contests to strategic card games.

Minigame Rewards

The Shot Contest: Bow at Lioncrest Manor (House Alfonso, northwest of Hernand City) is considered the most efficient minigame activity in the early hours. The goal is to hit ten randomly appearing targets faster than your opponent, and the contest can be repeated for steady income.

Duo and Five-Card Card Games

The Duo and Five-Card card games are available at gambling dens in Hernand, Beighen, and Tomasso. These games offer some of the highest silver payouts in the game but carry the risk of losing your entry fee.

In Duo, players receive five sticks with numbers and colors. The game automatically combines three sticks to sum to 10, 20, or 30, and the remaining two sticks form your hand. Hand rankings from strongest to weakest are: Ten Pair (both sticks are 10s), Pair (matching numbers), Perfect Nine (hand sums to 9), and Points (any other single-digit sum). A Bust occurs when no valid combination exists, resulting in an automatic loss.

Five-Card uses a similar structure but with different hand rankings that prioritize color. The strongest possible hand is a Prime Pair (Red 3 plus Red 8), which is a guaranteed win. Below that are Superior Pair, Ten Pair, standard Pairs, and various One-plus combinations.

A practical strategy for the card games is to save your game manually before sitting down at a table, then go all-in during the first round. The AI opponents have a tendency to call all-in bets early, even when holding weak hands. If you win, you collect a large pot. If you lose, reload your save and try again. The Tomasso Duo table at 300 silver per entry offers the highest potential returns but also carries the steepest losses.

You can also unlock a cheat ability by observing an opponent with a blue outline three times during play. When it is your turn to deal, this ability lets you select specific cards for your hand. Targeting Red 3 or Red 8 in Five-Card is the optimal use of this ability.

Mid-Game Methods

Once you have unlocked fast travel to regions beyond Hernand, more profitable farming methods become available.

Mining Valuable Ores

After speaking to Rhett in Hernandia to obtain a pickaxe, you can mine ore veins scattered across the map. The most profitable ores are found in later regions. Along the main road toward Varnia (the northernmost town), Scolecite deposits yield up to 6 units at 1.03 silver per unit, and Azurite deposits yield up to 6 units at 0.95 silver per unit. A focused mining session along this route can produce 60 or more silver.

The travel time from Hernand to Varnia is roughly 30 minutes, so activate every fast travel point along the way to make return trips faster. Mining deposits respawn slowly, so treat each sweep as a one-time haul and come back after progressing further in the story.

Diamond Mining

Diamonds are the most valuable mineable resource, selling for 2.28 silver each with 6 to 8 diamonds available per deposit. Diamond deposits are found inside caves and in hard-to-reach locations. Known locations include a crater southeast of Howling Hill (the cave at the bottom of the crater), the southwest corner of the Demeniss region, south of Tashkalp town, and north of Trader's Expanse along the Varnia road. Diamond locations are permanently marked on your map once discovered. Deposits regrow very slowly; check back after several in-game weeks.

Fundamentalist Goblin Farming

One of the best repeatable farming methods in the mid-game involves killing Fundamentalist Goblins on the Sunrise Plains (south of Greymane Camp in Howling Hills). These goblins have roughly a 25% chance to drop Crude Devil Masks, which sell to any merchant for 13.71 silver each. This is an unusually high sell price for a common enemy drop.

The farming loop is straightforward: ride around the Sunrise Plains on horseback, kill every group of Fundamentalist Goblins you encounter, loot the Crude Devil Masks, and continue until your inventory is full or no more goblins remain. Then fast travel to any merchant and sell. Ten minutes of farming can fill your inventory with masks worth a substantial amount of silver.

Treasure Trader Goblins

Treasure Trader Goblins are rare encounters that carry valuable chests. When you spot one, follow it until it is relatively isolated, then get behind it and kick it to make it drop its chest. Loot the chest to receive a Gold Bar (worth 500 silver). This method does not trigger a bounty or cost you any Contribution, but Treasure Trader Goblins spawn infrequently and are not a reliable farming target. Treat them as a bonus when you happen to encounter one during exploration.

Trading System

The trading system unlocks after completing the Glenbright Manor investigation mission. Trade goods are special items identified by a blue background in your inventory. Examples include Calligraphic Paintings, Tobacco, Red Ginseng, and Ceramics. They come from quest rewards, treasure chests, and stolen goods from wealthy NPCs.

To sell trade goods for maximum profit, speak to Carl (the Wagonmaster, found standing next to the wagon at camp) and select "Manage Provisions," then "Camp Provisions." Choose the trade goods from your inventory and pay 100 Alms per item from camp funds to pack them. Load the packed goods onto your horse or a wagon at a wagon depot, then transport them to a trading post. The closest trading post to camp is typically the Goldleaf Trading Post. Selling packed goods at a trading post yields higher profit than selling unpacked items individually to regular vendors.

Late-Game and Passive Income

Bank Investments

The bank is located north of Hernand town and becomes useful once you have accumulated enough silver to invest. First, purchase a Personal Strongbox Permit for 100 silver. Then convert 500 silver into 1 Gold Bar. Deposit the Gold Bar and choose a risk level for your investment. Returns are paid out roughly every three in-game days.

Investment returns adjust every 15 in-game days. For example, a medium-risk investment might pay out 85 silver (a 17% return) in one cycle and 30 silver (6%) in the next. The high-risk option can produce the fastest returns, but losing your entire 500-silver Gold Bar is a real possibility. Most players start with low or medium risk and move to high risk only after accumulating surplus gold bars.

Freesword Dispatch

The Freesword Dispatch System at Greymane Camp provides passive income. After reuniting with companion characters throughout the story, you can assign groups of 4 to 6 mercenaries to off-screen missions. These missions take real time to complete, and the party returns with silver, crafting resources, and other useful items. Run dispatch missions regularly for a steady background income that supplements your active farming.

Method Comparison

General Tips

• Open all coin purses regularly. Enemies drop Small Copper Pouches frequently. Use the "Use All" option from your inventory to convert them into currency without opening each one individually.

• Sell equipment you do not need. Boss drops, looted weapons, and armor you have outgrown all sell for decent amounts. Check vendors in different regions, as prices may vary.

• Gather everything while traveling. Mining, logging, hunting, and fishing all produce sellable materials. Sell any surplus you do not plan to use for crafting or cooking.

• Expand your inventory early. Completing Requests in Hernand City rewards inventory expansion slots (up to 3 additional slots per completed Request). More inventory space means longer farming runs before you need to return to sell.

• Save before gambling. Create a manual save before entering any card game or high-stakes minigame. If you lose, reload and try again.

• Upgrade gear before selling. In some cases, upgrading leather armor at a blacksmith and then reselling it yields more profit than selling the raw materials.