The world of Crimson Desert is vast and you’re bound to encounter countless dangers. To give yourself an advantage while out in the wilds, you'll need to bring ideal armaments and gear pieces, as well as a lot of food to replenish your health.

Our Crimson Desert crafting and cooking guide contains all the tips you need to prepare for this adventure of a lifetime. We discuss everything from learning recipes to acquiring resources, below.

 

How to learn crafting recipes

The vast majority of Crimson Desert crafting recipes are learned by reading books and scrolls. Once you find such an item, bring it out and shine your lantern on it. The recipe will get added to your Knowledge menu. You may then discard or sell these books and scrolls.

 

Buying and crafting gear pieces

If you want to buy or craft weapons and armor in Crimson Desert, then you should check out the following vendors in towns:

• Smithy: Allows you to craft items based on the recipes you’ve learned. You may also choose the refinement option to upgrade gear pieces and boost their stats.

• Equipment Shop: Sells weapons, armor, ammo, stones, and ores.

• Tailor Shop: Sells cloth armor.

• Tannery: Sells various types of leather and hides.

• Contribution Shop: Sells high-end regional armor depending on the contributions you’ve made to benefit the city.

Note that higher-tier gear upgrades require not just regular resources, but also Abyss Artifacts—the same material you need to unlock skills.

Some vendors also sell items known as Small Bags for 50x Copper. These add +1 inventory slot, which is great for keeping extra loot.

 

Buying ingredients and cooking meals

For your cooking needs, you’ll want to take a look at a handful of vendors. Most are self-explanatory, but here's an overview:

• Butchery: Sells meat.

• Grocer: Sells fruits, vegetables, and cooking ingredients.

• Fishing Shop: Sells fish.

• Street Shops and Wandering Merchants: These NPCs sell assorted goods.

Keep in mind that vendor wares restock after roughly 24 hours in-game. You can do a “shopping run” by fast traveling to various towns and buying items. Next, just rest on a bed and do a couple of quests. The next day, fast travel back to those towns and purchase more goods.

Once you have your ingredients, you have to find a cooking pot or a campfire. From there, you can select a type of meal that you want to make. Cooked meals can have different variants or qualities, including Modest, Filling, Satisfying, and Hearty prefixes, with better variants offering increased restorative properties.

Feeling creative? You can improvise and try substituting ingredients. For instance, instead of using Lean Meat, you can choose Tender Meat or Marbled Meat. As for Lentils, you can pick other types of grain like Oats, Barley, or Wheat. Just be careful since improvisation can potentially yield a lesser meal.

 

Gathering resources via tools

If you want to start crafting and cooking in Crimson Desert, then you’re going to need some tools. While these items are scattered all over the game world, they can still be purchased in Provisioner Shops in towns. Purchase the ones below and equip them via your inventory:

• Fishing Rod: Required to fish. You can also catch fish by hand if you’re standing close to the water.

• Pickaxe: Used to mine rock nodes and ore deposits.

• Logging Axe: Used to chop down trees.

Note that ranged weapons, such as Kliff’s bow and Damiane’s guns, should be used when hunting wildlife. Shoot wild animals from a distance, then skin them to obtain meat and hides.

 

Gathering resources via Force Current

If you don’t want to use tools, then you can utilize Force Current instead. This ability can be found in the green Spirit branch of the skill tree. It requires Axiom Force Level 2 and Force Palm Level 2, as well as 1x Abyss Artifact.

Once unlocked, you can use your Axiom Force ('Tab') to target trees and mineral deposits. Then, do a heavy attack (press and hold the right mouse button) to charge up the Force Current. The resulting explosion should destroy the object, allowing you to pick up the resources with ease.

 

Gathering resources from your camp

Your Greymane camp in Howling Hill plays a huge role in your Crimson Desert crafting and cooking needs. There, you can access dispatch missions that allow you to send your Greymane comrades to various settlements. Some of these expeditions reward you with hundreds of ingredients and materials, such as Wheat, Apples, Grapes, Wine, Eggs, and more.

These resources can be found in the Supply Box, so be sure to grab them if you’re short on materials. And, yes, you can even build a farm and a ranch down the line. You should check our Crimson Desert Greymane camp management guide if you’re interested in learning more about these features.

 

Recipe locations in towns and settlements

Kliff learns how to cook grilled food early in the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to acquire even more recipes. The ones we listed below are found in various towns and settlements, as well as areas that you visit as you progress through the story. There are many more that you can discover as you continue to do quests and explore Crimson Desert's massive open world.

Hernand

• Fish Porridge: Learned from Renee, the Butchery vendor, as part of her side quest.

• Pickled Vegetable, Braised Fish, and Pan-Fried Rice Cakes: Purchased from the Inn.

• Battered Meat and Fish: Behind the Hernand innkeeper.

• Chewy Rice Cakes: Inside the Grocer’s house.

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 1: Right beside the Tailor Shop vendor.

• Wine and Haiden’s Lesser Elixir: Inside the Alchemist’s house.

• Fishball Soup: On a table at the Guard Station.

• Meat and Vegetable Porridge: Inside the kitchen in Hernand Castle.

• Braised Ribs: On the floor in Hernand Castle’s banquet hall.

• Fine Fishing Rod and Poison Arrows: Purchase from the Back Alley Shop south of the town proper.

Howling Hill Greymane Camp

• Clear Soup: Obtained upon establishing your camp at Howling Hill.

• Vegetable and Seafood Porridge, Meat and Vegetable Porridge, and Steamed Fish: Upgrade your Greymane camp until you’re able to recruit Ronnie. He’ll become the camp’s cook.

• One-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 1: On a crate in Goldleaf Guildhouse due southeast of your camp.

Calphade

• Shields of the World Vol. 1: Purchased from the Equipment Shop.

• Shields of the World Vol. 3: On a shelf in Stefan Lanford’s office.

• Pan-Fried Marinated Meat: Check the Inn.

Pailune

• Meat Stew, Bird Soup, and Grilled Meat and Fish: Check the Inn.

• Shields of the World Vol. 1: Inside a barn near the Inn.

• Two-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 1: Purchased from the Equipment Shop.

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 1: Found in the Tailor Shop.

• Braised Fish: Inside a building south of the Tailor Shop.

Pailune - Beighen

• Boiled Meat: Purchase from the Inn.

• Two-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 1: On a table in the Smithy.

Demeniss

• Leather Armors of the World Vol. 1: Inside Azerian Manor in Demeniss.

• One-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 1: Inside Windmere Manor in Demeniss.

• Leather Armors of the World Vol. 2: On the second floor of the Tannery

• Coral Mushroom Tea: On the second floor of a house near the Tannery.

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 2: On the second floor of the Tailor Shop.

• Salt-Roasted Bird Meat, Seafood Soup, Assorted Braised Fish: Check the Inn.

Delesyia

• Harvest Roll, Battered Harvest Roll, Pan-Fried Marinated Fish: Check the Inn.

• Plate Armors of the World Vol. 1: Purchased from the Equipment Shop.

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 2: On a table in the Smithy building’s interior.

Delesyia - Other locations

• Ranged Weapons of the World: Guns Vol. 1: On a shelf in Marni’s Museum. Another copy of the book can be found in Valvegard Garrison.

• Plate Armors of the World Vol. 3: On a table near Valgash’s position in Gorthak Ironworks.

Crimson Desert - Tomasso

• Grilled Meat Steak: Inside a building near the Bank.

• Grilled Meat Steak, Salt-Roasted Bird Meat, Meat and Fish Skewers: Check the Inn.

• One-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 2: Check the Equipment Shop

• Two-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 2: On the second floor of the town's bell tower.

• Ranged Weapons of the World: Guns Vol. 4: Purchase from the Back Alley Shop.

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 3: Placed on a shelf in the Dyehouse.

Crimson Desert - Varnia

• Cloth Armors of the World Vol. 3: Purchase from the Tailor Shop.

• Marinated Meat, Steamed Seafood: Check the Inn.

Crimson Desert - Other locations

• Shields of the World Vol. 2: On a shelf near the dinosaur’s skull in Urdavah.

• One-Handed Weapons of the World Vol. 3: On a table in the Cloister of Enlightenment.

That does it for our Crimson Desert crafting and cooking guide. Be sure to explore the lands of Pywel to discover more blueprints and valuable resources.

Crimson Desert is available now on the Epic Games Store—and you might want to check out the Crimson Desert Deluxe Edition, too. It grants you goodies such as the Kairos armor set for your character and the Exclaire set for your horse mount.