Crimson Desert Mining Guide: How to Get a Pickaxe & Start Mining

Mining in Crimson Desert is one of the most important lifestyle skills you can pick up early on. It’s your main way of gathering ores used for refining your gear, which directly makes your equipment much stronger and helps you keep up as the game progresses. While it may seem like a simple activity at first, getting started with mining early will make a noticeable difference in your overall progression. Here’s a quick guide to help you get your pickaxe and start mining.

You can start mining either by buying a pickaxe and jumping right in, or by following a quest that will give you one for free early on.

If you prefer to buy a pickaxe, open your map and head to this location in the starter city of Hernand.

You’ll be looking for a vendor by the name of Alden. He sells a variety of tools, including a pickaxe, which you can purchase for 31 copper.

If you would rather get a pickaxe for free, you will need to pick up Rhett’s request.

You can start it by speaking directly with Rhett, who is located at the spot shown below within the starter city of Hernand.

Once you speak with Rhett, he will give you a pickaxe so you can mine some iron ore for him.

Go ahead and head to the closest cliffside area to you, where you can find exposed ore veins along the rock face. Make sure the ore you are gathering is iron ore, as that is specifically what Rhett is looking for for the quest.

Once there, you will need to equip your pickaxe. Once properly equipped, it will show up on your back.

I am using a PS5 controller, so those are the controls I will be referencing. Once your pickaxe is equipped from your inventory, go to your equipment wheel. Hold down the left arrow on your D-pad, and it will bring up the wheel. Using the right stick, scroll to the upper left section. Here, you can cycle through your tools using R2 and L2, including your fists, logging axe, pickaxe, and secondary weapon.

Once your pickaxe is selected, it will appear in your right hand. Get into position over iron ore and press L1. A circle will appear, if it is blue, you are in a good spot; if it is red, keep moving around until it turns blue. Once it’s blue, continue holding L1, then tap R1 to strike the ore with your pickaxe.

From there, you can hold Square to pick up any iron ore that dropped. Typically, one to two pieces will drop per node. To complete Rhett’s quest, you only need two, but feel free to keep gathering to your heart’s content - you’ll definitely need it later.

Once you are done gathering, head to this location on the map below. It’s a bit odd, but you will be delivering these to Rhett’s assistant instead of Rhett, and he is not located where you originally picked up the quest.

Once you complete the quest, you will, on top of getting to keep the free pickaxe, also receive a medium bag (which gives you three extra inventory spaces, I believe) and some stone.

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