There’s a lot more toBlack Desert Onlinethan mass murdering the endemic fauna while griefing other players with forced PvP. The more scenic route to the arduous path of this sandbox would be life-skilling. They’re practically the sandbox activities inBlack Desert Onlineand involve mundane endeavors like fishing, hunting, etc.
Players can just pick any life skill they want in the game, but for those who want to hit two birds with one stone — the other bird being profit, then picking a profitable life skill is a must. The followinglife skills inBlack Desertwill not just provideplayers with a gameplay alternative, but they might also make them a lot of silver.
Updated on Jul 27, 2025, by Rhenn Taguiam:With Black Desert Online’s Spooky Playground marking the Halloween Season in full swing, it may be time for newcomers to the acclaimed MMO to give the game a shot to explore its offerings during events. And for players who want to enjoy the MMO’s spooky festivities, they can take a break from adventuring and focus on their Life Skills to bask in Black Desert Online’s Halloween frights even for a few days. On top of learning Life Skills that involve hunting animals and refining for better materials, players may want to learn thebest training strategies for their favorite Life Skillsto master them as soon as possible.
10Processing
Process Raw Materials To Get Various Products
Among the Life Skills available for players in the sandbox MMO part of theirBlack Desert Onlinegameplay,Processingremains one of the easiest to get into for AFK enjoyers. At its core, Processing involves combining Materials through a specific “process” in order to craft a specific byproduct. Certain Materials require specific Processes according to their nature, such as Chopping, Drying, Filtering, Grinding, Heating, Repair, Shaking, Alchemy (Simple, Imperial), Cooking (Simple, Imperial), Guild Processing, and Manufacture.
Depending on the status of the specific Process, players may get their desired byproduct (Has Succeeded), incur a failure with an automatic retry (Is Not Going As Planned), not push through due to missing requirements (Is Not Working At All), or is lacking ingredients (Insufficient Ingredients To Continue Processing). Since players simply need to have the right Recipe and Materials with them, Processing can be done automatically, making this a nifty Passive Skill to raise.
Level-Up Tips For Processing
When players level up Processing, higher skill ratings incur faster Processing speeds, more output, and higher-quality products. Due to the nature of Processing as a Passive Skill, players don’t need an intensive guide to level up this particular Life Skill. Here are some general tips:
9Hunting
Use A Gun To Hunt Various Creatures
Considered one of the trickier Life Skills in a player’sBlack Desert Onlineplaythrough,HuntingtransformsBDOinto a pseudo-Monster Hunterminigame inside its own sandbox experience. Players can start Hunting should they get a Hunting Matchlock and the Butcher Knife. Eventually, players get access to the Sniper Rifle that hits enemies at longer distances with a mini-game that targets specific parts, although this can take time to finish. When a player kills their mark, they can approach it with the Butcher Knife to collect parts.
The best part of Hunting is rare drops such as the Caphras Stone, Fire Horn, Black Crystal Shards, and Black Gems. Players may even secure a Hunting Byproduct called the Wildspark beginning at Hunting 250, which when exchanged could grant them Hunting EXP, Black Gem Fragments, and Spirit Pouches of the Ferocious Beast.
Level-Up Tips For Hunting
While players can technically just start Hunting if they have the Hunting Matchlock to kill animals and the Butcher Knife to get parts off them, it may be more practical to follow a specific progression to secure maximum gains. Here are some tips:
8Training
Tame And Train Horses For Riding
Training horses is the dark horse method (no pun intended) of earning silver inBlack Desert Online.Not many players like it or do it since it sounds tedious and has a lot of random factors involved butplayers always need good horsesin the game and even the semi-decent ones will do for trading wagons.
Catching one tends to be the most grindy part of this life skill since a lot of good horse trainers in the game can clear a spawn area fast. In some cases, there might even be somefierce PvP involvedjust to keep a horse spawn location. However, those who love to catch animals in their games and train them will find plenty to like with this life skill.
Level-Up Tips For Training
Horse Training can become a fun Life Skill to level if players enjoy the idea of acquiring, taming, and training different mounts. Similar to other skills, Training heavily encourages travel among players. Thankfully, even the mere fact of moving around can potentially level up the Training Skill. Here are some tips when leveling up Horse Training:
7Trading
Transfer Goods From City To City For Silver
Trading involves a lot of foresight and economic acumen inBlack Desert Onlinebut it’s worth it if players don’t mind leaving their computers open while their characters drive wagons or carriages around from city to city. Trading, by far, is a good way to earn a bulk of silver or resources inone big payoff.
It mostly involves selling stuff to NPCs from one city to another; thesilver earned is proportionate to the distance traveledbetween cities. It just so happens thatBlack Desert Online’s map keeps expanding, meaning this life skill just keeps getting more profitable. Granted, there’s quite a big initial capital investment for the wagons and the horses, as well as the Imperial merchandise.
Level-Up Tips For Trading
Compared to professions in other MMOs, Trading inBlack Desert Onlineis leveled up through the buying and selling of items across different locations. This simulates trading in medieval times, where merchants traveled by wagon and transported their wares from one city to the next. To level up Trading quickly, players need to follow these tips:
6Sailing
Travel The Seas For Gold And Glory
Sailing inBlack Desert Onlineis essentially the maritime version of Trading. Likewise, it involves a lot of capital upfront since players need sturdy ships that can stock up a considerable amount of weight. Ports will readily contract players to deliver some goods orbarterin other faraway ports.
That’s just one method of earning silver through Sailing. Players can also go the more active route and participate insea monster huntingthrough aguild. Regardless, players will need to explore and uncover the secrets of the wide oceans inBlack Desertwhich can be an exciting venture, especially withthe threat of dyingor getting stranded.
Level-Up Tips For Sailing
Despite the complexity of Sailing as a Life Skill inBDO, players should invest in their Sailing Mastery if they want to boost their ship’s overall stats. Players may be able to maximize their time at sea if they take into account specific tips. Here are some things players can follow to improve their Sailing game:
5Farming
Cultivate Plots Of Land For A Steady Stream Of Raw Materials
For players looking for something more relaxed or less dangerous, then Farming is the way to go — literal farming, not killing mobs. Players can do this easily by purchasing seeds or crops from the NPCs and farming nurseries. They can then establish their mini-farm just about anywhere as long as there’s enough fertility and a nearby water source.
It’s semi-AFK since players will need to weed out the plants, water them, and kill the insects. But every now and then, players might snag some Sharp or HardBlack Crystal Shardswhile harvesting the crops and these sell for millions on the market. The crops are just minuscule bonuses at that point. It’s one of the most low-effort ways to get Shards.
Level-Up Tips For Farming
As Farming transformsBlack Desert Onlineinto a farming management sim, players can increase this Life Skill based on how often they harvest crops and depending on which crops they choose to cultivate. Additional tips include:
4Alchemy
Create Various Consumables For Buffs, Silver
There are many ways to turn Alchemy into a profitinBlack Desert Online. Players can makepotionsthat everyoneuses in combator evenElixirsthat sell for quite a bit, especially in bulk. If not, players can also dabble in Imperial Alchemy and combine their Alchemy with Trading in order to make one big payout of silver.
Sadly, Alchemy requires quite a risky investment since players might need to purchase the base ingredients for potions and Elixirs in the market and these prices fluctuate all the time.Alchemy Stonesare also a decent option when it comes to earning profit or min-maxing characters, but these also require some heavy capital.
Level-Up Tips For Alchemy
Players who want to level up their Alchemy quickly should stockpile ingredients for higher-level outputs they have recipes for. Other than this, players can follow specific tips to ensure their character can power-level Alchemy as quickly as possible:
3Fishing
Secure Fish From Hotspots All Around The World
Speaking of capital, Fishing is one of the few life skills inBlack Desert Onlinethat offer thelowest amount of effortfor the silver gained. It’s literally an AFK activity. Players just get a good rod whether by making it or by buying one off the market. After that, they just need tofind a spotwith a high fishing yield.
Depending on how lucky players are, they could snag some tokens that sell for half a million,Ancient Relic Crystal Shards, and other stuff that might fetch a price. But since it’s so low-investment and low-effort, there’s no shortage of AFK fishers in the game, so the most accessible waters are crowded.
Level-Up Tips For Fishing
While a Fishing Rod is all that players need to start Fishing, the Life Skill being dependent on both the quantity and the quality of the catch means players need to spend time securing the best Fish from Hotspots across the world. Other tips include:
2Gathering
Find Different Raw Materials For Other Life Skills
Gathering isone of the most active life skillsin the game but players might find it preferable to fishing especially if they’re looking forBlack Crystal Shards. Because it can be more lucrative than farming when it comes to getting lucky with those Shards. Of course, there’s also the fact that players can gather items that sell well in bulk on the marketplace.
For this to be profitable, players will need to do a bit of research in the in-game marketplace as to which raw resources fetch a good price. They can then combine this life skill with something like Trading, Alchemy, or even Cooking to make their silver gain exponential.
Level-Up Tips For Gathering
Similar to Hunting and Fishing, Gathering is an action-based Life Skill that levels up based on how often players do the action and the kind of materials they obtain. In turn, one of the best ways of leveling up Gathering is to consistently grind in spots with high-level materials, as well as doing the following tips:
1Cooking
Cooking Consumables For Buffs, Silver
Speaking ofCooking, it’s as valuable a life skill inBlack Desert Onlineas it is in real life. The most apparent way for players to earn a lot of silver through cooking is by fulfillingImperial Cooking orders. This method isn’t volatile since there’s no competition with other players.
Or, if players want, they could justsell their foodsince those are also in demand for the buffs they grant during combat or other life skill activities. If paired with life skills such as Trading or Gathering, Cooking can even become self-sustaining; it also helps that it can be quite relaxing and low-effort.
Level-Up Tips For Cooking
Since Cooking relies heavily on the kind of output players create, it can also become quite the profitable AFK Life Skill. In turn, players may simply need a Cooking Utensil in their house as well as the right number of ingredients to speedrun their way to Cooking Mastery. Other tips include:
