primal wolf
Hey guys so I stopped playing for like 2+ years but am back now and wondering what should do next. I recently just got the sov weapon and working on getting ator.shoes through the leveling aid quest. And just need a little more caphras before I'll have the dahns. But other than that. What can I do next ? Where is best to grind for maximum money. Please and thankyou also sorry pic isn't the best
versed fossil
Hey guys so I stopped playing for like 2+ years but am back now and wondering wh...
Progression has been largely streamlined in the past year.
It can seem rather boring to returning players who for years were conditioned into crafting our own things to save silver.
PA has made early and mid game progression the opposite of what it was, where the most efficient path towards getting 800+GS is to buy all gains you can on CM from higher GS players. This is by design and was done to help both low and high GS prosper together.
So will run through a list of most efficient things you can do. Whether or not you choose to do them will be on you, as there is never only one way to go about things:
Do not craft any level of Slumbering Origin armor until you already have 4x IV Slumbering. Instead, buy them on CM. They are cheaper to buy than to craft at any level and no matter which slot (Fallen God / Ator's / Labreska / Dahn's). If and when you buy, it's best to buy at III+ if possible, but any are better than throwing away Caphras and Failstacks you will need for other things
Speaking of which, you need 2x VBS OH & 20k Caphras for cheapest path to craft Sovereign Offhand. This will only get cheaper when VBS crashes even harder soon, making the other methods of crafting Sovereign Offhand make zero sense. It's why I mentioned not wasting those Caphras on crafting any Slumbering Origin armor, which combined with their super low prices on CM adds up to regret for anyone who finds out too late. Don't take my word for it tho. Average enhancement costs for Slumbering can be found at https://bdoworkshop.com/enhancement/3 and easily compared with the much cheaper CM alternative
For all 6 of your accessories, best and fastest and cheapest method for all players is now to buy 6x IV Debo => Do not exchange to Kharazad at all => Use those until you can afford to BUY (not enhance, talking about buying from CM for ~100-150b) V Debo, selling the IV Debo you were using to recoup costs => Exchange the final V Debo you are now wearing for IX Kharazad. Again, BDOWorkshop shows average Kharazad enhancement costs. OCT to NOV alone can be more than V Debo costs now. That is how cheap V Debo has gotten, and why anything else makes zero sense as their prices will only continue to go lower over time vs Kharazad's which will stay pretty much the same: https://bdoworkshop.com/enhancement/2
I would personally put off making your 2 missing Sovereign weapons until after we get Olvia Academy. This will not only give you 2x VBS as part of completing the Olvia Academy combat courses, but will also allow you the option to buy VBS at ridiculously low prices should you feel the need to do that instead. You won't have to tho since you already have 1x VBS in those slots, just mentioning it anyway
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versed fossil
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versed fossil
As for where to grind, that's gonna change depending on your total AP. 2025 Damage Reworks have made it so that having AP over softcap is not nearly as meaningful as it was before.
Can utilize Garmoth's Best Grind Spots section for average silver per hour on spots you are geared enough to do. Being able to do Elvia Hexe will be the biggest jump in guaranteed silver per hour, at least at this point in writing. And after that, Tungrad Ruins will be the next big jump. Those are two huge milestones to meet, especially while BMCs are at max PO for us on NA Console:
If unable to do either of those, you have many options, including Dehkia spots now. I do not recommend new or returning players spend much if any time doing Dehkia, as it leaves them likely to gamba gains away while they are making fuel for themselves. Instead, I will always recommend knocking out
as basic post-Season grind progression
After Ulukita, Dehkia 2 and other things are well worth doing. And after maintenance, you and many will be able to do Dehkia Trees & Dehkia Gyfins. All of this is a little ahead of where your current gear is tho, so until then, getting to where you can meet Hexe softcap and enjoy making 2b+ per hour there would be on my short list of GS goals
Above is all "short term" goals. Can be achieved within 3-6 months of every day play. I only give out short term advice because by the time you finish half of this, the game will have changed. So if you plan on taking another break, please do ask for progression advice when you return. Game changes all the time, and whatever answers I gave just a month or two ago are completely different from the ones I'm giving to you today, as the idea is for you to progress efficiently, not just progress.
primal wolf
Above is all "short term" goals. Can be achieved within 3-6 months of every day ...
You are super helpful! Thankyou very much 😄
primal wolf
Above is all "short term" goals. Can be achieved within 3-6 months of every day ...
Okay so after reading this properly in full I have a couple questions.
One, are caphras even necessary if we will get Olvia academy soon which will give me the required black stars for the sov weapons ?
Secondly if I'm buying everything else. I really need to focus on grinding what is softcap hexe elvia?
primal wolf
If unable to do either of those, you have many options, including Dehkia spots n...
Also. I think every book is done unless any more has come out in the last year or so.
Potions are done.
But what crystals do you refer to from the lotml quest?
versed fossil
Okay so after reading this properly in full I have a couple questions.
One, ar...
Yes, because even with those, you still need 20k Caphras + 2x VBS OH to craft Sov OH. Sovereign Offhand requires that extra 20k Caphras, unlike Sov MH & Sov Awk which do not. There are other ways to craft it, but neither are as cheap or quick as the 2x VBS + 20k Caphras option:
https://www.blackdesertfoundry.com/sovereign-weapons-guide/#Sub-weapons
The Gem of Twilight is what you'll need 20k Caphras for.
versed fossil
Also. I think every book is done unless any more has come out in the last year ...
Oh and was hoping I could leave that untouched, that's my bad for skipping a word:
Was talking about 2x Crystal Slots, which everyone gets for finishing LOTML MSQ. If you've unlocked those already, no need to repeat the questline.
https://www.blackdesertfoundry.com/land-of-the-morning-light-patch-guide/#New_Crystals
The bottom left and right slots. Doing the LOTML1 MSQ on any of your characters unlocks them for your entire family. Just mentioning that in case we got that while you were on Break, as we've had LOTML since Summer 2023 so around as long as you said you'd been gone
versed fossil
As for softcaps, can find a list of these on Garmoth. For Hexe, it is 1130 total AP
https://garmoth.com/grind-tracker/monster-ap-caps
Things changed massively last year when PA changed how Damage works over softcap. When you left, almost all zones except Elvia Zones had a 70% softcap with Species damage largely ignoring softcap. All of this has gone away. Now all zones have a 5% softcap like Elvia used to, making AP over softcap largely irrelevant (still important for min/maxing, but trying my best not to make this read like a book 
)
For a better overview of 2025 Damage Reworks, I often link to the below video. Even this is a TLDR version compared to what we all had to learn and what most are still getting used to when PA dropped these changes on us last year:
Certain Elite mobs will now have 50% softcap. For Calpheon Elvia, where Elvia Hexe is, this will include any of the bosses that spawn. It's for this reason that going over cap is still important, just not nearly as important as it used to be. The bigger deal now in making decent silver per hour is meeting softcap for wherever you are grinding. And unlike old days, if you are far below softcap, this will be felt a whole lot more and hurt your silver per hour compared to going somewhere else where you hit softcap.
So for you, you'll be gearing to go to Hexe and sitting at 1130+ total AP for a bit. Then while at Hexe you'll be buying most of your non-Sov upgrades until you reach ~1395 Total AP to go to Tungrad Ruins, the next biggest boost in silver per hour after Elvia Hexe without including spots which rely heavily on RNG. Then while at Tungrad Ruins, you'll eventually get 1490 Total AP so you can move on to Darkseekers Retreat (DSR), both in Ulukita.You can go to zones before softcap, just keep in mind your silver per hour will suffer compared to whatever Garmoth says the average silver per hour in that spot should be.
I'll be honest, I hated the idea of these changes until playing them. Biggest thing PA did with this is kinda force players to move on to higher zones as they progress in gear. For the longest time, I and many were able to make "endgame" silver in mid-game zones. This is still possible with min/maxing in some cases, but for all that effort and learning it is now better to move on to better spots as soon as able. And for anyone who plays a lot like me, these changes were needed, so I've grown to accept and enjoy them. Gone are the days where players can look forward to grinding in the same spots for years even when new spots are released. You still can, it's just extremely unlikely they will remain the 'best' spots indefinitely like back when we could break the spot mechanics with extreme overgearing.
You'll notice a trend in the spots I am recommending to you. These are pretty damn safe, guaranteed silver per hour spots. Unlike Dehkia 1 spots which CAN be good or better, but which depends on the player taking advantage of market timing and knowing what to do with rare drops.
PA has changed early and mid game progression so that you don't even have to deal with RNG until 800+GS. All of your gains can be bought.
Save the RNG for late game. The gamba is still there waiting for you when you start dealing with X Kharazad taps (after you get full V Debo => IX Kharazad), Edana Armor (after you get full IV Slumbering) and VI+ Sovereign. Until then, I cannot stress how great it is for new and returning players enough to get your guaranteed gains so that you can start seeing how easy and quick all of this is. The closer you get to 800+GS, the faster you will be making silver and the less time any of this will take to knock out. You can and will be making 2b+ per hour soon, not 500m-1b. This turns into 3b+ later on. Then 4b+. You'll never see this tho unless keeping on with constant, guaranteed progression, which is why I recommend paths which avoid RNG and avoid the chance of a "bad luck" day. There is no bad luck in Hexe, Tungrad, DSR. I am a gambler so I know how to gamba. But I also know it causes most players to ragequit when things don't go as planned, and tbh it is not even needed in BDO anymore to get solid gains -- unlike old days.
primal wolf
Okay makes sense. Jeez I'm not even used to "total ap" I remember the days of 245k or 301k. Now it's all changed but I'll check garmoth to see the recommendations
primal wolf
Oh one last thing. What crystals are good now? Or easily obtainable for me right now? And artifacts and light stones. What are good for pve?
versed fossil
Oh one last thing. What crystals are good now? Or easily obtainable for me right...
For crystals, there is no longer a single "Best in Slot" build after 2025 Damage Reworks
Same for Artifacts
Because what is best will change according to how good your gear is relative to where you are grinding. Unlike old days, simply slapping on more AP is one of the worst things you can do in a zone.
Instead, what you and most players will want to prioritize is:
Trying to explain all of this in as simple terms as possible so that we don't end up talking about 10 different crystal builds. And to be honest, it really doesn't matter too much what you use in early and mid game grind, because anything you can buy on CM is not BiS anyway. Most of those you will need to grind or make yourself, such as Ultimate Macalod, Void Crystals, Amplified Lightstones, Dehkia Artifacts and Herald's Crystal upgrades for those artifacts if you ever plan to PVX or PVP, etc.
All of the above is why I and many vets don't just send you a pic of a crystal build to copy. That's not how crystal/lightstone builds work anymore. It's not rocket science, but there's no one build anymore. You'll be changing it as you get more geared and depending on where you are grinding.
This is an old screenshot I used to share long ago.
Pasting this as a quick example of something you can use, but like I said, as long as you're following the above "hit softcap, do not use accuracy, etc" concepts for your build it's kinda hard to go wrong.
What's in the screenshot is no longer absolute "Best in Slot" like it was for years, but all of these are easily obtainable and none are a waste of your silver. The main issues it has now is you will eventually replace that Red Fang Valor with a similar PVE-only crystal, but even Red Fang Valor is still BiS if you plan to PVX (on Arsha, or if your guild has a dec) since it gives true AP not only Monster AP along with the +Crit
Oh, and can replace the 2x Darkness with 2x Corrupted. Corrupted are better than Darkness for 99% of the playerbase who will not be staying behind mobs enough to maximize Back Attack anyway.
Similarly, those 2x Glorious Olucas do you no good if you are under cap and need more AP. If you do, you'll replace those with 2x AP crystals.
