Mining ore in Crimson Desert is vital as you can use the ore to improve your character’s gear. As you progress in the game and face stronger foes, you’ll need to either find new gear or upgrade the ones you have. In both cases, mining ore can be helpful. Some ores, such as iron, are required materials to upgrade pieces of equipment, but you can also sell them to vendors and make some money.
Below you find all you need to know about how to mine ore in Crimson Desert and where to find iron ore, copper ore, and diamond in the early game.
How to mine in Crimson Desert
Like many other features in Crimson Desert, unlocking mining is only a matter of acquiring the right tool. To start mining, all you’ll need is a pickaxe. You don’t have to complete a quest or any other prerequisites to start mining.
To mine ore, you need to find ore veins scattered around the map. Once you find one, equip your pickaxe and hold L1/LB on the controller or Ctrl on your keyboard to aim at the ore. If the circle becomes blue, it means that you can swing your pickaxe with R1/RB or left mouse click to destroy the ore. Each vein will yield two pieces of its respective ore, which you’ll need to pick up off the ground.
From our experience, diamonds are the only material that appear as crystals on the ground instead of veins on walls. After you’ve successfully mined the vein, a marker for that specific mining spot will appear on your map.
How to get a pickaxe in Crimson Desert
Early on in Crimson Desert, there are three ways for you to obtain a pickaxe.
The best option is by completing Rhett’s request. This is one of Hernand commissions, part of the faction quests, which you can find on the notice board in the center of the town. Rhett is responsible for Hernand’s equipment shop and their request asks you to mine two iron ores. Once you talk to them, they’ll give you a pickaxe that you can use. You don’t even have to complete the quest, but it’s worth it because it expands your inventory by one slot.
However, if you don’t want to complete the quest, you just need money to start mining. You can buy a pickaxe from the provisioner’s shop in Hernand. To purchase one, you can either talk to the seller or interact with a pickaxe display on the store. The NPC charges 31 copper coins for one pickaxe. The shop is located close to the equipment shop. If you’re lost, head east from the large tree on the map.
The third but less reliable method to obtain a pickaxe is by finding one on the map. As you explore, you will spot tools and weapons left behind by their former owners. You can simply grab and add them to your inventory. However, the amount of time you must spend to find only a pickaxe is not worthwhile.
Where to find iron ore in Crimson Desert
Iron ore nodes can be found fairly early on in Crimson Desert at the Hernand Highlands, in the Howling Hill area, which is south of the city of Hernand. These nodes are fairly close to where you start the campaign. Around the hill, you’ll find metallic dark-gray rocks, which are actually iron ore veins.
Below, we’ve marked a few locations where you can find iron ore early on in your journey:
Where to find copper ore in Crimson Desert
The best place to find copper ore in the early hours of Crimson Desert is around Howling Hill in the Hernand Highlands. The copper ore veins feature a greenish tone on their exterior. Here are some copper ore mining spots to look for:
Where to find diamond in Crimson Desert
Diamonds are a very rare material to find in Crimson Desert as they’re hidden inside caves. One location where you can find some diamonds is inside the Hernand Highlands Cavern. You enter the cave by climbing down a large opening on the southeast side of the Howling Hill. At the bottom, head southwest to find the entrance to the cavern.
Where to find gold in Crimson Desert
Although gold nodes are hidden inside deep caves, you can find them by looking for veins marked by golden dots. These will indicate that gold nodes are nearby. If you spot one, look for a cave opening nearby as it’ll lead you to more gold ore. If you want to start farming gold, the Anvil Hill cave to the east of Hernand is one of the earliest locations you’ll find.
Where to find garnet in Crimson Desert
Garnet is another valuable ore found inside caves that is required to craft and refine items. Natural of mountainous regions, this red gemstone is more difficult to spot on the outside of caves. One location you can find garnet nodes is inside the Anvil Hill Stoneback Crab cave on the east side of Hernand. The entrance is at the center of a large pit of stones with red symbols.
Just starting out in Crimson Desert? We have guides to help you learn the basics and refresh your memory on how some of its systems work. The world of Pywel is huge, so you might have a hard time deciding where to go first, but you can make your journey a little easier with the help of our interactive map. Along the way, make sure to learn a few life skills like fishing, logging, and cooking, all of which can help you make money.
We also have walkthroughs for main story quests like “Abyss Without Balance” and “Familiar Curses,” and puzzles in the Abyss like the Root’s End.
