BDO Gathering Guide (Black Desert Online 2019)

Gathering Tools

Each gatherable resource category requires it’s own tool.

Gathering Tools are obtained via Tool Workshops, Seal exchanges, Events, and the Marketplace. You can obtain tools at a <Material Vendor>, but these are only recomended if you have no other choice.

Gathering Tools
	Axe	Use on trees to gather logs and timber
	Hoe	Use on vegetation to gather herbs, fruits, weeds, seeds, and flowers (Barehanded gathering without a tool will mostly reward weeds which are used in alchemy)
	Tanning Knife	Use on animal corpse to gather hides and feathers
	Butcher Knife	Use on animal corpse to gather meat (Also used in the Hunting Life Skill to gather blood, meat, and Hunting XP)
	Fluid Collector	animal blood or tree sap (used in Alchemy)
	Pickaxe	rocks, ore, and gem nodes
	Empty Bottle	gather river and sea water
	Shabby Shovel	Use in the desert of Valencia to gather muddy water, vanadium and titanium ore and shards, blue and violet crystals

Gathering Tools with a Lucky Boost

Magic is the best option, until you reach 600 Gathering Mastery. After that use a Loggia/Life Mastery tool.

Magic gathering tools give the best gathering speed and Durability out of all the non-Life Mastery tools. They aren’t cheap, but they are worth it. You obtain them by exchanging Imperial Seals.

Magic Tools:
Requires Gathering Skilled 5
-11 Seconds to Gathering

You can find Magic Tools more easily these days since Gathering Mastery came out. If none are available, you can use Lucky gathering tools.

Lucky and Magic tools give a bonus to obtaining rare resources like:

• Hard Black Crystal Shards
• Sharp Black Crystal Shards

Rare resources like these are highly valuable and increase silver/hr.

MAGIC GATHERING TOOLS

Magic Tool	Seal
Magic Lumbering Axe	Imperial Training Seal x2
Magic Pickaxe	Imperial Conquest Seal x35
Magic Hoe	Calpheon Trade Seal x100
Magic Butcher Knife	Imperial Conquest Seal x35
Magic Tanning Knife	Imperial Training Seal x2
Magic Fluid Collector	Imperial Fishing Seal x10

Magic tools have been readily available on the Market. They are also cheaper in price than Steel tools. This can change at any time as the Marketplace balances out after the Gathering Mastery update.

Magic Fluid Collectors are still one of the most plentiful. This is mostly because they are the easiest and cheapest to get via imperial fishing trading.

Shiny Golden Seal – [Imperial Training]

Imperial Training Seals are exchanged for Magic Tanning Knife and Magic Lumbering Axe

Imperial Training Seals are acquired by doing imperial horse training. It’s not too difficult to get these, but the problem here is that you can use these seals to make other things like Black Magic Crystal – Viper. Depending on the cost of the Viper crystal or other items at the time, Imperial Training Seals can be valued differently. You might be better off getting the Viper crystal or the other rewards and then ordering a magic tool from the Marketplace.

Imperial Training Seal Exchanges:

 →  – Swaying Wind Shard

2 →  – Rumbling Earth Shard

15 →  – Registration: Deep Brown Camel

2 →  – Magic Tanning Knife

12 →  – Black Essence: Viper

6 →  – Fishing Boat Prow of Abundance

6 →  – High-Quality Merchant Wagon Wheel

2 →  – Magic Lumbering Axe

5 →  – Registration: Light Brown Camel

Shiny Golden Seal – [Imperial Conquest]

Imperial Conquest Seals are difficult to obtain quickly. You get these seals from killing bandits that roam around the map.

Image credit to Facemelt#5867

Killing bandits will give about 20 seals per hour.

To get the bandits to spawn, buy a trade item from the <Trade Manager> and put it on your horse. Look for the red bandit icons on the world map. The bandits are levels 50 to 55. They will drop 0-3 Conquest Seals.

Conquest Seals help make Black Magic Crystal – Harphia and  Awakened Spirit’s Crystal. so we can use them to help determine the value of Conquest Seals.

Imperial Conquest Exchanges:

400 →  – Black Essence: Black Spirit Crystal

200 →  – Black Essence: Harphia

200 →  – High-Quality Noble Wagon Wheel

150 →  – Light Leather Stirrups of Storm

35 →  – Magic Pickaxe

35 →  – Magic Butcher Knife

20 →  – [Guild] Special Silk from Shakatu League

It’s not recommended to go out of your way to grind for Conquest Seals, but if you’re trading anyway, try to go routes that have bandits available.

Shiny Golden Seal – [Calpheon Trade]

Calpheon trade seals are obtained via completing Calpheon trading quests. These are time consuming, so not recomended.

2 →  – [Guild] Calpheon Noble Silk

3 →  – [Guild] Calpheon Parliament Gold-Decorated Candlestick

10 →  – [Guild] Special Iron Ingot from Calpheon Workshop

230 →  – Leather Saddle of Fighting Spirit

220 →  – Fishing Boat Cargo Container of Abundance

100 →  – Magic Hoe

 Shiny Golden Seal – [Imperial Fishing]

Imperial fishing seals are easy to obtain via AFK Fishing. Selling your full inventory of fish to the Imerpial Fish Delivery NPC can give you 40+ Fishing Seals (4 Magic Fluid Collectors).

But, the ease of obtaining Fishing Seals, makes them plentiful and cheap on the Marketplace.

Fishing Seal Exchanges:

250 →  – Black Essence: Addis

250 →  – Black Essence: Carmae

250 →  – Light Leather Saddle of Storm

200 →  – Ancient Slate Ornament

10 →  – Magic Fluid Collector

Gathering Resource Loot

Gathering allows you to obtain many types of items in BDO.

Gathering Resource Categories:

• Basic Resource: white grade gathered resources like hide, timber, sap, ore, blood, etc.
• Special Resource: low drop chance items like Intact Insect Amber, Old Tree Bark, Laila’s Petal, Deep Blue Hoof Root, etc
• Rare Resource: more common enhancement materials like Ancient Spirit Dust and Black Gem Fragments
• Very Rare Resource: the rarest of enhancement materials like Caphras Stone and Hard/Sharp Shards

Gathering Rare Drops

Very Rare Resources:

• Caphras Stone – safe Enhancement to obtain TRI+ gear.
  • Best Items to Gather for Caphras Stones:
    # 1. Gathering trees via Fluid Collector for sap or with a Lumbering Axe.
    # 2. Gathering ore and herbs
• Hard Black Crystal Shard – used in higher levels of Enhancement
• Sharp Black Crystal Shard – used in higher levels of Enhancement
•   Mass of Pure Magic – used to Enhance Blackstar weapons

 Rare Resources:

• Black Gem Fragment – Enhancement of Loggia/Manos Life Mastery gear
  • Best Items to Gather for Black Gem Fragments:
    # 1. Gathering meat, blood, hide
    # 2. Gathering herbs
• Ancient Spirit Dust – used to create Caphras Stones

Best Gathering Locations

The best gathering location is usually the secret one you stumble upon and tell no one about! 🙂

However, there are gathering areas recommended just because there is a huge number of resources all packed into a small area. The advantage is you don’t waste time running around looking for resources. So less time gathering means better profits per hour.

The disadvantage is that these locations are well known and the resources could be camped or low in price. Crowding isn’t usually too much of a concern. For me, switching channels usually does the trick, if someone is gathering at my desired location.

Gathering Logs Near Trent

Logs are highly sought after and worth good silver. When you gather timber that is also high value, it makes for profitable gathering runs. For example, the Calpheon Timber Crate timbers of Birch, Fir, and Cedar.

Somethinglovely.net has an excellent tool that lets you select and view gatherable nodes:

Gathering Meat & Blood at Sheep Hill

Sheep Hill is the most famous gathering location for meat and blood, but remember to check Market prices, if you’re gathering to sell and not use! At the time of this writing. sheep products had flooded the Market and were drastically low in price.

Gathering Rough Stone at Pilgrim’s Haven

The best place to gather Rough Stone is at Pilgrim’s Haven. Mudstone nodes are heaped one on top of another and you barely have to move to gather. Just jump on top of a Mudstone tower and press the R key multiple times.

This location is in the Great Desert of Valencia, so be sure to have Purified Water and Star Anise Tea. Otherwise, it’s safe enough to take even low level characters.

Gathering Requirements for Life Skills

Gathering Life Skill is a requirement for other Life Skills and many quests. For example, in order to obtain the ability to process higher tiers, you need at least Beginner 7 Gathering.

Obtain Beginner 7 Gathering with AFK Gathering using Empty Bottles at the fountain in Heidel.

Purchase 34 Empty Bottles at the Material Vendor near the fountain. Or you can use any river/lake for gathering water. I like Heidel because the Material Vendor is only a couple steps away from the water source.

Speedy Tip: Get to Apprentice 4 Gathering to bypass 9 prerequisite Processing advancement quests. You may want to do them anyway, though, since they give you a free fence and other goodies.

Gathering level Apprentice 4 is a little more challenging to obtain. You will need about 274 Empty Bottles filled. If you do skip the prerequisite quest chain for processing, then you will miss out on the Shabby Fence and some housing furniture, as well as additional Gathering/Processing XP.

Gathering Buffs with Gear, Tools, & Items

The items below help speed up the Gathering Life Skill.

	Silver Embroidered Gatherer’s Clothes	+2 Enhancement: Movement Speed+2 Level Gathering Ability +2 Level Gathering EXP +15%
	Magic Tool	A gathering tool used to gather resources. With a luck increase when gathering. Steel: -8 seconds Shining Steel: -10 seconds Magic: -11 seconds
	Lucky Steel Tool
	Lucky Shining Steel Tool
	Shining Steel Tool	-10 seconds gathering. No luck bonus.
	Special Balenos Meal	Movement Speed Rank +2 Fishing Speed Rank +2 Gathering Speed Rank +2
	Skilled Worker’s Elixir	Gathering +3
	Hard-Boiled Shellfish Big Hard-Boiled Shellfish	Gathering +2 Underwater Breathing +10 sec. Duration: 60/75 min.
	Grain Soup Pickled Vegetables	Gathering +1 Duration: 30/60 min.

Gathering Item Drop Rate Increase

There are a few items that give an increase in the amount of items you can gather.

	Sweet Fig Pie	Gathering Item Drop Rate +3% Cooking Recipe: Fig x5 + Wheat Dough x3 + Sugar x3 + Olive Oil x2 Duration: 60/75 min.
	____ Stone of Life	Gathering Item Drop Rate up to +25% on yellow grade life stones. Create via Alchemy or dropped by certain mobs. View them on bdocodex.com

Gathering Mastery Gear

Gathering Mastery helps to determine the best tools to use.

• Use Magic or Lucky tools until you reach 600 Gathering Mastery.
• Magic & Lucky Tools remove any Gathering Mastery bonus. (Only the Magic/Lucky bonus is left.)
• Switch to a Life Mastery tool when you reach 600 Gathering Mastery.

There are many items you can obtain that will buff your Gathering Mastery or Life Mastery level. Manos gear is the best, but also extremely expensive to enhance.

• Loggia Gear  (sold by Camellia Loggia <Seed Vendor> for 1 million Silver at Loggia Farm)
• Geranoa Gear (sold by the <Material Vendor> Geranoa in Calpheon City for 10 million Silver)
• Manos Gear (Processing > Manufacture of rare ingredients.)

Pearl Shop Gathering Gear

Pearl Shop Underwater Gathering Gear:

Da-Dum Da-Dum Diving Suit Set (2200 Pearls)
Da-Dum Da-Dum Diving Suit Set Contains 2 Pieces: Set Effect: Swimming Speed +59%
	Da-Dum Da-Dum Diving Hat	Underwater Breathing +30 sec.
	Da-Dum Da-Dum Diving Suit	-Endurance while swimming, Swimming Speed +90%

• Pet Life Skill Talent: Life Skill Experience Gain 1-4%. 4% doesn’t sound like much, but with 5 pets, you could increase your Gathering experience by 20%. Most cats give Life Skill buff.

• Pet Skills: Gathering Level +1 and/or Gathering Exp +5%. Random chance to obtain by all pets. Pets have 3 Skills at Tier 4, 2 Skills at Tier 3, and 1 Skill at Tier 2.

Gathering Tips

• the best Gathering experience is obtained via wild herbs
• equip a Matchlock to avoid the cheer animation while gathering. This is especially useful during AFK water gathering with Empty Bottles. (You won’t get interrupted and stop gathering.)
• mouse movement allows you to gather from a distance. For an explanation and demonstration, view Jeffy’s video: https://clips.twitch.tv/ObedientAdorableCucumberDoggo
• You can turn in weeds to Lara <General Goods Vendor> in Heidel for gathering experience.

Sources & Additional Info

• Jeffythewise Life Mastery Google Doc