In the world of Black Desert there are a variety of life skill activities that you can discover, relax in, and enjoy separately from the exciting combat you’ll become familiar with as soon as you create your first character.
All life skill activities are closely related, so even if you concentrate on one and challenge yourself to become a guru of it, you’ll inevitably end up naturally delving into others as soon as you explore the different options the game offers.
The Basics
You can experience life skill activities while you are leveling the characters. However, in order to receive a life skill-related quest, you must toggle the quest preference for Life and Fishing quests at the bottom of the Quests window (hotkey: O).
If you do not check these types of quests to be visible, you will not be able to receive a quest even if you talk to the correct NPC to obtain it.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (1)](https://i0.wp.com/s1.pearlcdn.com/NAEU/Upload/WIKI/eb5abb4eb2320230302143125035.png "[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (1)")
After this is done, you can summon the Black Spirit (hotkey: ,) and access the Guide option.
There you can press the [I want to learn ~] options. The navigation guide will guide you to the place where you can obtain the quest, and the text will tell you its requirements.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (2)](https://i0.wp.com/s1.pearlcdn.com/NAEU/Upload/WIKI/773727ae6e520230302143142789.png "[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (2)")
Of course, you can simply go and for example buy a gathering tool from an NPC shop and start gathering, even if you don’t do any of the life skill introductory quests.
You can start any life skill activity at any time, as long as you know how to perform it.
Life skill activities allow you to experience several aspects of the world, provide a way to earn silver, give compensation for combat and contribution EXP, and reward useful items. However, if you think you do not need help to complete the quest, you can buy your own tools and step into production.
Tip!
Life skill quests are displayed as a green box on the icon above the NPC’s head.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (3)](https://i0.wp.com/s1.pearlcdn.com/NAEU/Upload/WIKI/937be1bbeff20230302143250306.png "[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (3)")
Types of Life Skill Activities
Type | Description |
Gathering | The most basic life skill activity. Depending on the desired resource, different gathering tools need to be used. As the quality of the tool increases, the time needed for gathering is reduced. Higher levels of this activity will decrease the energy consumed when performing it. For more information, please check the [Gathering] page. |
Fishing | You can catch fish by using fishing rods. If your fishing level goes up, you can equip more kinds of fishing rods, and you can catch more types of fish. For more information, please check the [Fishing] page. |
Hunting | There are many types of wild animals one can hunt throughout Black Desert’s world. As your hunting level rises, you can equip better matchlocks for hunting. For more information, please check the [Hunting] page. |
Cooking | In order to prepare dishes, you need to install a cooking utensil in your residence. You can make a variety of dishes with ingredients and seasonings. As your cooking level increases, you can prepare a wider variety of dishes. For more information, please check the [Cooking] page. |
Alchemy | To conduct alchemy, you must install an alchemy tool in your residence. It is recommended that you try to secure enough ingredients through gathering or processing before, since alchemy is a difficult study. As your alchemy level increases, you can prepare a wider variety of elixirs. For more information, please check the [Alchemy] page. |
Processing | This activity transforms acquired items by changing their shape or properties. There are several processing options, including shaking, grinding, chopping, drying, filtering, heating, repairing, simple alchemy and cooking, imperial cuisine and alchemy, guild processing, and manufacture. Higher processing levels increase the number & type of items produced. For more information, please check the [Processing] page. |
Training | To advance in the training of mounts, you need to increase their level, train their skills, or capture wild horses. The higher level of training, the easier it is to train a mount. For more information, please check the [Training] page. |
Trading | Trading is a commercial activity that involves buying and selling goods through trade managers located at nodes and towns. Long-distance trade requires a large amount of contribution points, and the market prices are flexible, so you need a lot of preparation and investigation beforehand. The higher the trading level, the more trade goods you have access to. For more information, please check the [Trading] page. |
Farming | You can prepare a garden by setting up fences, and in it you can plant seeds and harvest crops, or improve the quality of the crops you have planted. You can also graze the cows in these gardens. Higher levels of this activity will decrease the energy consumed when performing it. For more information, please check the [Farming] page. |
Sailing | This life skill activity can be seen as your expertise when sailing the high seas with a ship. Higher levels will grant access to a wider variety of ship skills to use. For more information, please check the page. |
Bartering | This activity is the art of exchanging trade goods at sea, obtaining better quality, more expensive, goods the more you exchange them. Mainly used for profit and to obtain materials for ship upgrades. For more information, please check the page. |
Life Skills Levels
As the EXP obtained from performing life skill activities accumulates, the level of each life skill increases. For the most part, every 10 levels, the title that refers to the level changes.
For example, if you obtain additional EXP when you’ve reached the maximum EXP at
Beginner Lv. 10, you will become Apprentice Lv. 1.
The life skill titles are the following, in order: Beginner, Apprentice, Skilled, Professional, Artisan, Master, and Guru.
As you advance through the levels of each life skill, you will receive rewards through completed challenges (hotkey: Y).
When you reach certain levels for each life skill, you unlock leap quests. You can go to the next level of that life skill without the need to do these quests, but they offer a good amount of EXP as a bonus for completing.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (4)](https://i0.wp.com/s1.pearlcdn.com/NAEU/Upload/WIKI/2c1d407824f20230302144235848.png "[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (4)")
Tip!
Life Skill EXP is shared within all the characters in your account. That means that if you are Professional 5 in Fishing with your Warrior, the rest of your characters will be also Professional 5 on Fishing.
Feel free to experience the Life Skill content of the game with any class/character of your liking.
Combination of Life Skills
As mentioned previously, each life skill is related to the others. An item obtained from fishing or gathering may need to be processed before being usable. Whenever you hunt, you also gather. The crops you obtain from farming are often ingredients for cooking and alchemy. What fish you obtain, you can sell to a trade manager, and sailing and bartering go hand in hand.
In particular, gathering and processing are closely related to cooking and alchemy as well.
This is because the ingredients for both these life skills can be acquired, or made, through gathering and processing.
For example, in order to acquire high level processing items you need to obtain and process leather glaze and metal solvent, made through alchemy, together with other materials.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (5)](https://i0.wp.com/s1.pearlcdn.com/NAEU/Upload/WIKI/2bcfb68503a20230302144340013.jpg "[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (5)")
Above you can see an example of how certain items involve several steps, often via multiple life skills, to be improved. The green boxes indicate gathering, the blue ones processing, and the orange one a mix of alchemy and processing.
* The content of the game guide may differ from the actual game content, depending on the update and content changes.
![[Adventurer's Guide] Life Skill Overview | Black Desert NA/EU (2024)](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8/h8AAvMB+NzmkbcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)