How to Gather

Whenever you draw near an object that you can gather, you will see a prompt that allows you to interact with it.
Press the hotkey for interaction (R) to collect materials from it.
 
If you don’t see the interaction interface, it means that another Adventurer gathered it just recently. No need to fret! These are renewable resources, which means that you can start gathering materials in the same area again after a certain period of time has elapsed.

If you don’t have the necessary tools on you, the interface will let you know which tool is needed.
Depending on the gathering tool you use, the type of materials you obtain will differ, even when gathering from the same object.
From trees, you can collect items like logs or timber with a lumbering axe, or collect sap with a fluid collector. In the same way, there are gathering tools that can be used in more than one type of gatherable object. For example, the fluid collector you use on trees can also be used to gather the blood of animals you hunt.

In the case of butchering an animal, you can gather its materials via the Gathering prompt (hotkey: R) after looting all the items dropped (if any) from the animal you’ve killed or hunted.

As seen above, this way you will obtain gathering items. In this case, weasel meat from gathering a dead weasel with a butcher knife.

You can gather herbs and wild herbs with your bare hands. However, using a hoe will reward you with much better results.

Unlike other resources, water and desert sand are not gathered from a specific object, but from the environment. This means that you can keep gathering them from the appropriate terrain (water source such as a river or the sea, desert sand) without interruption.

Additionally, gathered resources are the ingredients for a variety of items you can craft as mentioned earlier. If you want to know the types of items you can craft with the gathered resources you have obtained, please refer to the Crafting Notes feature.
You can open the Crafting Notes via the main menu (hotkey: Esc) → Information → Crafting Notes, or by pressing the Crafting Notes button on the top right of this Adventurer’s Guide (hotkey: F1) or Adventurer’s Board (hotkey: F2).

 Check out the various items you can craft in the Crafting Notes!

◈ An Unexpected Gathering Resource Appeared!

When you gather, you sometimes may come across items that you didn’t expect to get. These include fairy powder that you can get from all gathering activities, traces useful for alchemists, and items usually sought after by Adventurers who want to accumulate wealth, such as Caphras stones and sharp/hard black crystal shards.
What should you do if you do get these items?

Unless you need it for one of its few uses, you can just sell the fairy powder at an NPC shop without a second thought.
Traces are rare and much sought-after ingredients for alchemy. We recommend storing them until you need to delve into synthetizing elixirs and other alchemical products yourself. Alternatively, if you’re sure you’ll never use them, you can sell them in the Central Market for a good amount of silver.

You can achieve a great profit by selling Caphras stones and sharp/hard black crystal shards in the Central Market. However, there’s a good reason for their high price. These items are materials needed by all Adventurers who own combat equipment of a certain level or higher, and are needed to improve this equipment, so there might come a time when you have to use these items yourself. As such, you need to put in some thought as to whether you’ll sell it on the Central Market, or perhaps keep them and build up a supply in preparation for later.

Life skill activities generally have 11 categories, including gathering, processing, cooking, training, alchemy, fishing, hunting, trading, farming, sailing, and bartering. All of these have levels of their own, and the higher the level, the more bonuses you can get when performing them.
 
You can check the levels of your life skills, which differ by character, via your character profile (hotkey: P).

Press the Learn More button at the bottom for more details regarding the bonuses you receive at your current level with each life skill.

When you reach a higher level in gathering, you can equip higher-grade gathering tools. High-grade gathering tools have the basic effect of reducing the gathering time you spend on each gatherable object.

Also, upon reaching a higher level, the chance for you to gather without consuming energy increases, you can obtain better and rarer items, and your mastery level goes up. This will be explained more in detail, as the mastery level is very important for gathering activities.

In order to reach a higher level in gathering, you need to earn gathering EXP through actual gathering activities. You can level up quicker if you use/consume an item that increases your gathering EXP, such as a scroll, an elixir, or a dish.

◈ Gathering Ability

Your gathering ability affects your gathering speed. You can reach up to Lv. 5 for gathering ability, and can check your current ability level from your character profile (hotkey: P).

One good way to increase your gathering ability is by eating a dish with that effect, such as a seafood cron meal. This method is efficient because it increases your gathering ability level and other stats for 2 hours at a relatively low price.

Wearing silver embroidered gatherer’s clothes can also help. Your gathering ability level increases along with the amount of gathering EXP you can obtain, depending on the enhancement level of the clothes. The effect is permanent, and equipping these clothes after enhancing them to +2 will make them quite efficient.

If after this your gathering ability level is still low, you can increase it through elixirs, like a verdure draught, or through guild skills provided by your guild.

If you really are thinking about seriously diving into gathering, it’s a good idea to have a method to consistently reach gathering ability Lv. 5 through these methods.
However, it goes without saying that there is no point in consistently having gathering ability Lv. 5 if you’re taking a silver loss by doing so. It might be more profitable to spend silver on this once your gathering level is higher and allows you to more easily net a profit.

◈ Gathering Mastery

The higher your gathering mastery is, it plays an important role in gathering efficiency and thereby increases your profits.

You can check your gathering mastery level, as well as those for other life skills, at your character’s profile (hotkey: P).

The results of gathering, or the gathering resources you obtain, can be divided into basic, special, and rare gathering resources. You can make a higher profit the more frequently you can obtain special and rare gathering resources.

As your gathering mastery level goes up, the amount of basic gathering resources obtained increases, along with the chance of obtaining special and rare gathering resources.

Remember that, the higher your mastery level, the higher the chance you have at obtaining a rare item from gathering, such as the Caphras stone seen above.

There are various ways to increase your mastery level. The most basic way is increasing your gathering level. Your gathering mastery level goes up every time your gathering level goes up.

Another way is by equipping, or consuming, items that increase your mastery level. There are many items, such as equipment (gear), elixirs, and dishes, that can be obtained for this; from those you can purchase or craft at a reasonable price, to those that you have to pay a large sum of silver for, depending on their effects. Regarding this, it is recommended to carefully make these purchases after coming up with a plan, keeping your financial status in mind.

It is said that “the higher the mastery level, the better,” but if you are an Adventurer just starting to get used to gathering, it’s more important to first experience it fully even if you have simpler equipment, than to go all-out in obtaining the best possible items for it from the start.

Check the following section to see more details on gathering equipment and useful items.

◈ Hoe Gathering

Hoe all the roots and gather the herbs!
– Use W, A, S, D to move the slots and Space to use the hoe.
– Dig the same spot 3 times to fill back the hole with dirt.

After digging up all the roots, the areas without roots should be restored to their original state.

◈ Butchering

Win the mini-game 3 times by timing it right!
– Press Space to stop the gauge where the meat icon is.

◈ Tanning

Cut the leather without going beyond the guidelines!
– You can adjust the position of the falling icon by pressing Space.
– You must reach the target point without crossing the guidelines.

◈ Mining

Target the weak parts of the rock to successfully mine it!
– Use W, A, S, D to move the pickaxe and Space to use it.
– If you find a weak part on the rock, you must keep hitting it until it cracks.

◈ Lumbering

Win the mini-game 5 consecutive times by timing it right!
– Swing your axe in the specific area within the moving gauge!
– Swing your axe without going outside the gradually shrinking area.

◈ Fluid Collecting

Fill up the fluid collector with liquid!
– Hold Space to fill the gauge, and release Space when it aligns with a specific area.
– Letting go in a blue area will fill the syringe with more liquid than in a green area.

◈ Millennial Wild Ginseng

Millennial wild ginseng is an incredible item that can be obtained at a low probability through the gathering mini-games.

Above you can see the different improved gathering tools offered by a Material Vendor NPC.
 
If you are an Adventurer who wants to be more well-prepared for gathering, it is important to select the most suitable gathering equipment from the various options available, depending on your current situation and financial status.
For example, if you are a beginner to gathering, you should mostly select equipment that increases overall Life EXP or gathering EXP in order to quickly increase your character’s gathering level.
If you are already at a high level in gathering, you should increase your chance at obtaining rare gathering resources and their quantity by focusing on increasing your gathering mastery level.

Make sure to prepare yourself when you go on a gathering adventure by checking your gathering equipment and other life skills, and form an appropriate plan.

For Demihar gathering tools, you can receive one of them upon reaching the gathering apprentice level, through the Challenges (hotkey: Y) window. A 14-day expiration date will be applied right after accepting it.

For Leight’s gathering tools, you can rent them in exchange for 50 contribution points from the owner of the Northern Wheat Plantation, Norma Leight, in Calpheon.

That said, be sure to check the requirement for equipping all of these items before trying to obtain them. 

You must unequip Liana's Tool Bag and be in an idle stance to change the gathering tools in the bag.
Even if you can put any permitted tool in the bag, you cannot equip a gathering tool stored in Liana's Tool Bag without meeting its life skill level requirements.

Liana's Tool Bag cannot hold temporary or character-bound tools, and one cannot use the Item Copy function on Liana's Tool Bag. Lastly, you cannot store items rented with contribution points in Liana's Tool Bag as well.