In this page we will be going over the more specific details regarding the alchemy life skill. For the basics, please check the [Alchemy] page.
Alchemy is considered by many to be the final step of life skill content. There is nothing easy about alchemy, from gathering its ingredients and keeping a stable supply of them, to figuring out the recipes. This is why many Adventurers find it hard to start dabbling in it.
As your characters’ level goes up, you will be in desperate need of elixirs, magic crystals, alchemy stones, and processing materials that are obtained through alchemy alone, and the Central Market might not have a supply of them when you need it to.
Either by selling them to the market, or packaging them for imperial delivery, many alchemists have made a fortune. Alchemy is definitely cumbersome, but it can ensure you great profit.
This page will help guide you through some of the more detailed parts of alchemy. It will focus on preparing the ingredients needed, and how to profit from the result.
If you hesitated to delve into this life skill because you thought it’s difficult, this is the chance to learn!
Alchemy is very similar to cooking. The only differences are the ingredients and resulting products. While via cooking one mainly prepares dishes or ingredients for them, alchemy offers more variety.
You have to install an alchemy tool at your residence and then put ingredients in the cauldron to perform alchemy, as explained in the Alchemy page.
Wearing alchemy-related clothes will help you be more efficient with your time spent in alchemy.
As you can see, the procedure itself is very simple, but it is not easy to prepare the ingredients used in alchemy.
You have to obtain them via farming, node production, or gathering them yourself.
Thus, in order to perform efficient, consistent alchemy, you have to secure a certain amount of contribution points and energy beforehand.
➤ You can read more about those features of the game in the [Contribution] and [Energy] pages
Must-haves for Efficient Alchemy
1. Silver Embroidered Alchemist's Clothes
Movement Speed Level +1 and AlchemyTime: -1 sec. might not be that appealing if you haven’t enhanced these clothes yet. However, the silver embroidered alchemist's clothes are worthwhile after being enhanced.
+1: Movement Speed Level +1 & Alchemy Time: -2 sec & Alchemy EXP +10%
+2: Movement Speed Level +2 & Alchemy Time: -3 sec & Alchemy EXP +15%
+3: Movement Speed Level +2 & Alchemy Time: -4 sec & Alchemy EXP +20%
+4: Movement Speed Level +3 & Alchemy Time: -5 sec & Alchemy EXP +25%
+5: Movement Speed Level +4 & Alchemy Time: -7 sec & Alchemy EXP +40%
You can earn additional alchemy EXP by enhancing the clothes, so it is better to get them to at least +1 or +2. You can craft these clothes yourself at a costume mill town workshop, or purchase them from the Central Market.
2. Alchemy Tool
While the basic alchemy tool you can purchase at an NPC will serve its purpose for a time, you will soon require tools that can last a good amount of alchemical processes. For this, you can craft intermediate alchemy tools (durability 500) at the 3rd level of tool workshops, and advanced alchemy tools (durability 900, alchemy time: -1 sec) at the 4th level of tool workshops. For this, remember that you’ll need to collect rough stones and logs by yourself, as the market tends to always be scarce of them.
Intermediate and advanced alchemy tools are usually out of stock at the Central Market.
So, if you can’t craft them yourself, purchase the normal alchemy tools (durability 100) sold in major towns.
Materials for intermediate alchemy tool:
- 40 rough stones, 25 logs, 20 melted iron shards, 10 black stone powder.
Materials for advanced alchemy tool:
- 30 polished stones, 15 usable scantlings, 24 melted iron shards, 20 black stone powder
3. Buffs
An alchemy stone of life, or certain dishes such as sute tea (Life EXP Gain +8%), teff bread (Cooking Time: -3%), and teff sandwich (Cooking Time: -5%) are useful for reducing time spent in alchemy.
Basic ingredients for alchemy include herbs, blood, special gathering ingredients, powders, traces, fruits, sap, and mushrooms.
The ingredients required will be different depending on what you are going to create through alchemy, so you should set a goal first rather than go around collecting all the possible ingredients. Refer to the list below to learn about how to obtain some of the more important baseline ingredients.
1. Herbs
You can obtain herbs through various ways. You can either gather herbs you see in the wild, or cultivate them in a garden. Some can also be obtained from node production by sending workers to collect them.
However, the easiest way is to purchase herbs from certain vendor NPCs, though keep in mind their cost will be high.
As for weeds, the only way to gather them is with your bare hands.
Item Name
Target of Gathering
Node Production
Farming
Shop
Notes
Gathering various plants with your bare hands
Substitute for wild grass. Purchase at Central Market is recommended.
Wild Herb, Sunrise Herb
Cron Castle Site - Gathering, Balenos Forest - Gathering
Purchase from NPC shop is recommended.
Wild herb, Silver azalea
Northern Plain of Serendia - Gathering, Lynch Farm Ruins - Gathering
Purchase from NPC shop is recommended.
Fire Flake Flower
Wild herb, Fire flake flower
Purchase from NPC shop is recommended.
Wild herb, Dry mane grass
Purchase from NPC shop is recommended.
You can use 1 weed instead of 1 wild grass when you’re crafting clear liquid reagent or pure powder reagent. However, for other elixirs that require wild grass, the ratio is 1 to 5 for wild grass and weeds.
Herb vendors, such as Calpheon City’s Nieves, will be your best friends when it comes to obtaining herbs.
You will see they offer the main types of herbs necessary for alchemy.
2. Beast Blood
You can gather beast blood with a fluid collector after hunting down a beast. Different blood from the same group have the same effect, so use the one that's easier to get.
Group 1
Deer Blood, Sheep Blood, Ox Blood, Pig Blood, Waragon Blood
Group 2
Fox Blood, Weasel Blood, Raccoon Blood
Group 3
Bear Blood, Troll Blood, Ogre Blood
Group 4
Wolf Blood, Flamingo Blood, Cheetah Dragon Blood, Rhino Blood
Group 5
Worm Blood, Kuku Bird Blood, Bat Blood, Lizard Blood
Purified Water and Distilled Water, which one is better?
Purified water and distilled water are treated as the same ingredient, so get the easier one for you to obtain.
Both can be earned by processing a bottle of river water. This one can be gathered by right-clicking an empty bottle while your feet are in the a or fountain. You can purchase empty bottles from a Material Vendor NPC.
You can make purified water by filtering (processing) a bottle of river water, and distilled water by heating (processing) the bottle. You can carry out filtering only in a windy weather, so in those situations it is better to process the bottle into distilled water, as it requires no weather condition.
3. Gathering special ingredients
You can obtain the following ingredients at a low rate while lumbering various trees. Your gathering level should be skilled 5 or higher. You can also obtain them at a low rate by sending workers to specific lumbering nodes.
But we recommend you to purchase them from the Central Market if you want to produce items that employ them at a large scale, since you may not obtain enough ingredients by gathering or through node production.
Item Name
Node Production
Bloody Tree Knot
Treant Forest, Elric Shrine, Stonetail Wasteland
Goblin Cave, Balenos Forest, Lumberjack’s Rest Area
Forest of Seclusion, Serendia Shrine, Oze Pass, Mountain Top Guard Post
Northern Plain of Serendia, Old Dandelion, Quint Hill
Mediah Northern Highlands
4. Powders
You can obtain the following powders at a low rate while mining various ores when your gathering level is skilled 5 or higher.
Additionally, you can obtain them at a low rate in specific mining nodes, and you have to send workers to several nodes in order to have sufficient supplies.
If you are still not satisfied, you can purchase them at the Central Market.
Item Name
Target of Gathering
Exploration Node Production
Powder of Flame
Copper, Tin, Mythril Ore
Imp Cave, Coastal Cave, Forest of Seclusion, Northern Heidel Quarry, Mediah Shore, Pujiya Canyon, Capotia, Crescent Shrine, Gavinya Great Crater, Gavinya Volcano Zone
Powder of Darkness
Lead, Vanadium, Mythril, Iron, Titanium Ore
Coastal Cave, Coastal Cliff, Northern Heidel Quarry, Hexe Stone Wall, Abandoned Iron Mine, Bashim Base, Pilgrim’s Haven, Crescent Mountains, Gavinya Coastal Cliff, Olun’s Valley
Powder of Rifts
Sapphire, Ruby, Topaz
Primal Giant Post, Keplan Quarry, Glutoni Cave, Omar Lava Cave, Kmach Canyon, Gavinya Volcano Zone, Roud Sulfur Works, Southern Kamasylvia
Gold, Diamond, Beryl, Platinum
Glish Swamp, Quint Hill, Omar Lava Cave, Abandoned Iron Mine, Ancient Fissure, Holo Forest
5. Traces
Traces are very scarce, since the only way to obtain them is through node production, and as a drop from certain types of monsters. Remember that you can send workers after getting permission from the NPC of the relevant node by consuming energy.
Even though some monsters may drop traces at a very low rate, you cannot rely on it as a source of ingredients. Therefore, you need to produce it with your workers for a steady supply and get the rest from the Central Market.
Item Name
Exploration Node Production
Trace of Nature
Ancient Stone Chamber, Sherekhan Iron Mine
Lynch Farm Ruins
Ancient Stone Chamber, Ancient Ruins Excavation Site
Glish Ruins, Fountain of Origin
6. Fruit
You can obtain fruit at a low rate while gathering grass, crops, mushrooms, flowers, and more that you can gather using your hoe.
You can obtain fruit at a high rate while breeding the crops in your garden. However, farming takes a long time, so we recommend you to buy them at the Central Market unless you want to start farming.
Item Name
Breeding Crops
Fruit of Nature
Pepper, Garlic, Hot Pepper, Pumpkin, Olive, Chanterelle Hypha
Onion, Grape, Strawberry, Sunflower
Carrot, Sweet Potato, Potato, Barley, Fig, Star Anise, Nutmeg, Freekeh, Teff, Acacia, Nolina, and many more.
Wheat, Tomato, Paprika, Corn, Delotia, Citron
Fire Flake Flower, Silk Honey Grass, Dry Mane Grass, Silver Azalea, Sunrise Herb, Flax
Hump Mushroom, Emperor Mushroom, Tiger Mushroom, Fortune Teller Mushroom, Dictyophora Hypha
Fog Mushroom, Arrow Mushroom, Cloud Mushroom, Bluffer Mushroom
Sky Mushroom, Dwarf Mushroom, Ancient Mushroom, Ghost Mushroom, Amanita Mushroom, Red-spotted Amanita
➤ You can read more about farming and gardens in the [Farming] page.
7. Sap
You can obtain sap by using a fluid collector tool on trees, or through node production.
We recommend that you gather it yourself because you can obtain a large amount of it, and they are easy to find. Node production is not the best way since it has low rates of earning sap, and it takes a long time.
Item Name
Node Production
Bree Tree Ruins, Khimut Lumber Camp
Castle Ruins, Mediah Northern Highlands
Marie Cave, Khimut Lumber Camp
Mansha Forest, Phoniel’s Cabin, Dormann Lumber Camp
8. Mushroom
You can obtain mushrooms in forests and humid places, or you can grow them yourself in a fenced garden. You can also obtain them through node production. However, the easiest way is to purchase them from a mushroom vendor. One such a vendor can be found in the room to the right of Calpheon’s storage keeper.
Item Name
Exploration Node Production
Glish Swamp, Southern Swamp
Fortune Teller Mushroom
Ehwaz Hill, Coastal Cliff
Forest of Plunder, Ivero Cliff
Remember to check the supply and price in the Central Market before making a purchase at the NPC.
9. Other Ingredients
These are other materials that are used as ingredients.
Item Name
Acquisition Method
Black Stone Powder
You can obtain it by grinding (processing) various magic crystals or black stones. You can also make it out of rough stones in a town workshop. Obtaining this powder from magical crystals is the most economic and efficient method.
Melted Lead Shard
You can obtain it by heating (processing) lead ore.
Melted Copper Shard
You can obtain it by heating (processing) copper ore.
Some ingredients that will be useful
These are the main ingredients created through alchemy that you will need for the elixirs you will be creating. We recommend you to prepare them beforehand in big quantities.
Primary ingredients: Pure powder reagent, Clear liquid reagent
Secondary ingredients: Sinner's blood, Legendary beast's blood, Wise man's blood
If you are done preparing the ingredients, now is the time to get down to alchemy.
You should start with clear liquid reagent and pure powder reagent, which are the basics of alchemy. Increase your alchemy level and prepare for higher level ingredients by making these.
When you have reached beginner 10 for alchemy, you can take an alchemy advancement quest from Olvia. Also, complete the enhancement quests through black spirit.
The following are the main alchemical ingredients you can make via alchemy. Refer to recommended elixirs and prepare the ingredients in advance.
First alchemy ingredient: Alchemy beginner 1 or higher
Item Name
Ingredient
Clear Liquid Reagent
[Golden Ratio] 1 Purified Water (Distilled Water), 1 Salt, 1 Sunrise Herb, 1 Wild Grass (Weed)
Pure Powder Reagent
[Golden Ratio] 1 Purified Water (Distilled Water), 1 Sugar, 1 Silver Azalea, 1 Wild Grass (Weed)
Secondary alchemy ingredient: Alchemy apprentice 1 or higher
Item Name
Ingredient
[Golden Ratio] 1 Clear Liquid Reagent, 2 Pig Blood, 1 Powder of Flame, 1 Bloody Tree Knot
[Golden Ratio] 1 Clear Liquid Reagent, 2 Wolf Blood, 1 Powder of Flame, 1 Bloody Tree Knot
Wise Man's Blood
[Golden Ratio] 1 Clear Liquid Reagent, 2 Fox Blood, 1 Trace of Nature, 1 Monk's Branch
[Golden Ratio] 1 Pure Powder Reagent, 2 Fox Blood, 1 Trace of Nature, 1 Monk's Branch
Legendary Beast's Blood
[Golden Ratio] 1 Pure Powder Reagent, 2 Lizard Blood, 1 Trace of Nature, 1 Spirit's Leaf
Tertiary alchemy ingredient: Alchemy apprentice 1 or higher
Item Name
Ingredient
Oil of Regeneration
[Golden Ratio] 1 Legendary Beast's Blood, 1 Fruit of Nature, 1 Powder of Rifts, 1 Red Tree Lump
[Golden Ratio] 1 Tyrant's Blood, 1 Fruit of Nature, 1 Powder of Time, 1 Old Tree Bark
Oil of Fortitude
[Golden Ratio] 1 Clown's Blood, 1 Fruit of Nature, 1 Powder of Flame, 1 Monk's Branch
Oil of Corruption
[Golden Ratio] 1 Sinner's Blood, 1 Fruit of Nature, 1 Powder of Darkness, 1 Spirit's Leaf
Oil of Tranquility
[Golden Ratio] 1 Wise Man's Blood, 1 Fruit of Nature, 1 Powder of Earth, 1 Bloody Tree Knot
Essences: Alchemy apprentice 1 or higher
Item Name
Ingredient
[Golden Ratio] 2 Fruit of Nature, 4 Maple Sap, 2 Trace of Nature, 3 Fortune Teller Mushroom
Daily Alchemy Quest from the Town of Olvia
You can receive repeatable quests from the town of Olvia when your alchemy level reaches beginner 10. They are convenient since you can prepare all ingredients beforehand and complete the quests all at once. Also, since you can receive contribution and alchemy EXP and recover energy as a reward, it is the perfect way to level up your alchemy.
Alchemy mastery mainly increases the max number of products crafted from alchemy.
It also affects the amount of extra products you can receive from the process, as well as the profit from turning in alchemy boxes at the Imperial Crafting Delivery NPCs.
If you only want the increase in profit when turning in boxes of packed alchemy elixirs, we recommend you swap your equipment for the pieces that increase alchemy mastery only for the time you spend turning in the boxes.
One can accept alchemy-related quests from a variety of NPCs in the world of Black Desert.
First, we recommend that you proceed with the alchemy quests you can find in Balenos, the first territory most Adventurers explore. In particular, in the town of Olvia as explained above.
It requires some time and effort to complete these quests, but for rewards, you can obtain contribution EXP, alchemy EXP, as well as rare items like sharp black crystal shards.
We also recommend that you proceed with advancement quests, called leap quests, to help you reach a higher alchemy level quicker.
You can accept the first leap quest once you reach the alchemy level beginner 10.
Once you’re at this alchemy level, summon the Black Spirit and check its guide menu, where you can find the available leap quests for all life skills. You can be guided to the NPC you can receive the quests from more easily by simply pressing them from the list.
* The content of the game guide may differ from the actual game content, depending on the update and content changes.
