BDO Processing Guide: Gear, Quests, & Basics (2024)

In BDO, the Processing Life Skill allows you to chop, heat, dry, filter, shake, and grind resources into processed materials. These refined items are often used in higher level crafting recipes.

Everyone is able to do even advanced T3 processing. You used to have to obtain knowledge prior to advanced processing, but this requirement was removed in patch Jan 3, 2024.

Get Started Processing!
To begin processing, press the L key. You will see all the options available. No tools are needed to process materials.

If you want to “Mass Process” more than one recipe at a time, you will need a processing stone. Read more details about Processing Mastery.

Processing Errors

It’s common to get processing errors because base processing success chance is about 70% without items to increase it.

Failing to process only slows down processing and doesn’t destroy your materials.

Processing Errors:

• Processing is not going as planned: Processing has a certain base failure rate. This is a common error that everyone gets without gear. You can reduce failure chances by wearing Silver Embroidered Craftsman Clothes or using items with the buff “Processing Success Rate +%”.
• It is not working at all: The recipe is wrong or Knowledge may be required. (Ex. Heat accessories for Yona’s Fragments.)
  
• Insufficient ingredients to continue processing: You don’t have enough materials.

Processing Tiers

There are 3 tiers of processing. The more advanced tiers are sometimes needed for advanced recipes in other Life Skills.

Processing for Money

Processed materials are usually more valuable the more you process them into higher tiers. (But this does not always mean they will sell well at the marketplace, if at all! Supply and demand, as well as developer min/max pricing, can make any processed item unprofitable for selling on the marketplace!).

Is processing any good for money making? It can be one of the most profitable AFK activities you can do in BDO. (Dependent upon your Processing Mastery level and if you already have the raw material available and marketplace pricing and demand.)

Profitable Processing Example:1 wheat is currently worth 650-1k. If you grind it, you obtain 1-4 flour, which sells for 1k each. With high Processing Mastery, you can process more in a shorter amount of time.

WARNING: But, again, I must stress that you check the Marketplace price, supply, and demand before starting any processing for money! Flax is a good example of a processed material that increases in price during processing and would be profitable, but it usually doesn’t have a high enough demand. You are lucky if it sells after a week of being on the Marketplace.

In this example, Opal seems like a very lucrative processing job!

But be sure to check the current daily volume of sales vs the quantities on the marketplace.

Processing Level Impacts Output

Processing Level is important because it determines if you can produce the maximum output of items.

• Ore → Melted Shard: get max procs at Master 1

Oddly, this low tier processing recipe requires Master 1 processing in order to obtain the maximum output of 1 to 4 Melted Shards. However, this is not the norm.

Artisan Processing is your first major milestone because it is an easier goal and covers most processing recipes.

From Beginner to Guru, there are 7 tiers of advancement. Each tier has 10 to 50 levels of progression.

Processing Levels:

1. Beginner → 10 Levels
2. Apprentice → 10 Levels
3. Skilled → 10 Levels
4. Professional → 10 Levels
5. Artisan → 10 Levels
6. Master → 30 Levels
7. Guru → 50 Levels

As you increase in Processing Levels, you will notice the colors of the grade change as shown above. As a bonus, if your characters start leveling past Skilled level, your account may start earning a daily payment, depending upon their Life Skill Levels.

Press your P key to view all of your current Processing Level. Click on the icon that looks like a pointed axe, “Life Info”. This will show all the available Life Skills that you can gain experience in and level up. The other tab labeled “Life Skill” that looks like a fish icon is used to view Processing Mastery levels.

Summer’s Proc Rate Chart

For more details on how Processing Level impacts proc rates, please visit Summer’s Processing FAQ.

Below is a dumbed down version of their helpful processing proc rate chart.

Summer’s Happening Choppin Charts! 🙂

Processing Gear

There are 5 important buffs when considering the best Processing Gear.

• Processing Success Rate – used to reduce or remove the error, “Processing is not going as planned.”
• Processing Exp – improve the speed at which you level Processing.
• Processing Mastery – process more in less time.
• Weight Limit – for longer AFK processing ability.
• Enable Storage Item Processing– Pearl Shop only costume buff that allows you to process items from your storage, placing the processed items into your inventory. Limited by character weight, but can increase processing amount by 2 to 3 times more.

Gear that Increases Processing Success Rate

Base Processing success rate is about 70%, but you can reach 100% with gear.

Example 100% Processing Success Rate:

• Pearl Shop Costume: Karki (male) or Venecil (female) → +3%
• +3 Silver Embroidered Craftsman’s Clothes → +22% (+4 is 28%)
• Sethra’s Artifact – Processing Success Rate → +5%

Processing Artifacts

There are 5 different Artifacts you can equip to improve Processing. These Artifacts can be obtained rarely while doing Imperial turn-ins for Training, Fishing, Cooking, and Alchemy. You can obtain them as loot from the Gathering and Hunting Life Skills, and from Special Barter and sea monster hunting.

General Life Skill Artifacts:

• Sethra’s Artifact – Life EXP → Life EXP +3%
• Sethra’s Artifact – Life Skill Mastery → Life Skill Mastery +7

Processing Artifacts:

• Sethra’s Artifact – Processing Mastery → Processing Mastery +10
• Sethra’s Artifact – Processing EXP → Processing EXP +5%
• Sethra’s Artifact – Processing Success Rate → Processing Success Rate +5%

Specialize Processing Artifacts are obtained from Imperial Cooking and Imperial Alchemy box turn-ins.

Processing Lightstones

Lightstones can be infused into Artifacts to improve Processing.

Processing Lightstone Combos

Certain Lightstone Combinations can be infused into Artifacts to create additional buffs.

The most famous Lightstone Combo for Processing is Clang Clang because it has a set of useful buffs.

Lightstone Combo: [Clang! Clang!]

• Processing Success Rate +20%
• Processing EXP +10%
• Processing Mastery +20
• Weight Limit +30LT

[Clang! Clang!] Requirements:

Lightstone of Wind: Feather
Lightstone of Flora: Deft
Lightstone of Flora: Tool
Iridescent Lightstone

All Processing Lightstone Combos

Note: Lightstone Effects are added to the Combo effect in the list below.

Gear to Quickly Level Processing

There are many items that will increase the speed at which you gain Processing levels.

All of the items that buff Life Exp will help.

For example, the beginner friendly Loggia Accesory set and Life Exp consumables.

Mastery Accessories like Loggia Accessories are nice because they boost all Life Mastery and help all Life Skills. (Unlike mastery clothing or tools that target one specific Life Skill.)

Loggia Accessories also contain individual Life Skill Experience buffs, except the belt, which has LT. (All Loggia Accessores have a very nice set bonus.)

Set Effect: For every 2 Loggia Accessories equipped, you gainLife EXP +2%

How to Obtain Life Mastery Gear:

Loggia life mastery accessories can be purchased from Camellia Loggia <Seed Vendor> at Loggia Farm west of Veila for 1m silver or from Zaaira <Material Vendor> in Veila for 1.5m silver.

Blue grade life mastery accessories, Geranoa, can be purchased from Geranoa <Material Vendor> in Calpheon City for 10m silver or from Zaaira <Material Vendor> in Veila for 15m silver.

• Life Mastery Jewelry Accessories:
  • Loggia: +21% Life EXP, +208 Life Mastery (full set of 6 TET) Loggia Gear Guide
  • Geranoa: +35.5% Life EXP, +350 Life Mastery (full set of 6 TET)
  • Manos: +65% Life EXP, +570 Life Mastery (full set of 6 TET) Manos Accessories Guide

Life Mastery Jewelry Enhancement

• Green grade Life Mastery jewelry (Loggia) is enhanced using Black Gems.
• Blue grade and higher require Concentrated Magical Black Gems.
• When an accessory fails enhancement, it is destroyed.

Processing Mastery Gear

Processing Mastery can also be found on Craftsman’s Clothes and Processing Stones.

• Loggia Craftsman’s Clothes Mastery +200 (TET) Loggia Gear Guide
• Carta Craftsman’s Clothes Mastery +250 (TET)
• Manos Craftsman’s Clothes Mastery +300 (TET)

Processing Stones

Processing Stones give the same amount of Processing Mastery as clothes for each level of enhancement.

Processing Stones can be used at any level and allow Mass Processing of multiple recipes at once.

• Loggia Processing Stone Mastery +200 (TET) Loggia Gear Guide
• Techthon Processing Stone Mastery +250 (TET)
• Manos Processing Stone Mastery +300 (TET)

Processing Pets

There are many pets that have the Life Skill talent.

Some have a higher chance than others to learn the skill Processing EXP +5%.

For example, the Pheoniel Squirrel, which is available in the Pearl Shop and as a Season Seal of Journey reward.

Special: Finds Resources
Talent: Life EXP +1% per tier
Type: Classic

Phoniel Squirrel‘s Top Skill Learn Chances

Skill	Chance
Fishing EXP +5%	15%
Cooking EXP +5%	15%
Alchemy EXP +5%	15%
Processing EXP +5%	15%
Farming EXP +5%	15%
Karma Recovery +5%	12%
Gathering EXP +5%	3%

Pets with Life Skill Exp Talents:

Choppy, Hedgehog, Penguin, Marmot, Shadow Wolf, Little Lamb, Otter, Ferret, Flondor Duck, Panda (not red), Jojo, Newborn Crimson Dragon, Newborn Golden Dragon, most cat pets, etc (900+ Pearls)

• 1% Life EXP per Tier (up to +20% for 5 pets)
• all pets have RNG chance to learn +5% Hunting EXP (up to +25% for 5 pets)

Most Classic Cat Skill Learning Chances:

1. Processing EXP →43.79%
2. Alchemy EXP → 42.76%
3. Karma Recovery → 40.39%
4. Cooking EXP → 38.42%
5. Fishing EXP → 38.29%
6. Farming EXP → 38.29%

Beginner Processing Questline

The quests below used to be required in order to do advanced processing recipes.

However, this was removed and now these quests are optional for us questy adventurers. <3

To begin, you must be level 20+ and have your Gathering Skill leveled up to Beginner 7. This is easily done via Empty Bottle gathering at the fountain in Heidel. Purchase 34 Empty Bottles at the Material Vendor near the fountain. Or you can use any river/lake for gathering water. I like Heidel because the Material Vendor is only a couple steps away from the water source.

If your Gathering skill is at at Apprentice 4+, you can skip the Prerequisite Questline and talk to Ficy in the Heidel Workshop. She will offer the quest “[Processing] Practice Makes Perfect”.

Important Note:

Be sure Life Quests are turned on in your Quest Log. Open Quest Log by hitting your O key. At the bottom of the window, next to Quest Type, hit the first button which turns on all quests.

Optional Processing Leap Quests:

As you are doing the begginer processing questline, you can follow along with the Processing Leap questline after you obtain Processing level of Beginner 10. These will help you level Processing.

View Processing Leap Questline: O key → [Life] [Leap] Processing Guru

The Quest Chain to Learn Processing

Requirements:

• Level 20+
• Turn on All Quests (O key)
• Beginner 7 Gathering – gather water with 34 Empty Bottles at the fountain in Heidel.

	Processing Quest Giver	Location	Processing Quest	Processing Quest Requirements	Processing Quest Receiver	Processing Quest Rewards
1	Jemkas Wyrmsbane <Node Management>	Northern Guard Camp	Because I Like You	Give 3 Iron Ore to Jemkas Requirement: Beginner 7 Gathering Important: If Gathering Skill is Apprentice 4+ (274 Empty Bottles filled) you can skip to #10 highlighted below, “Practice Makes Perfect”	Jemkas Wyrmsbane	110 Contribution GatheringExp 10 Energy Shabby Fence Pickaxe
2	Jemkas Wyrmsbane <Node Management>	Northern Guard Camp	Nothing Our Friendship Can’t Do	Make 1 Polished Stone by Process Grinding 10 Rough Stone Give Polished Stone to Jemkas	Jemkas Wyrmsbane	150 Contribution Processing Exp 3 Energy Greasy Seed Gold Bar 1G
3	Jemkas Wyrmsbane <Node Management>	Northern Guard Camp	Settling Down in Heidel	Meet Luciano Pietro in Heidel <Guild Manager>	Luciano Pietro	50 Contribution Heidelian Bed Plate of Assorted Fruits
4	Luciano Pietro <Guild Manager>	Heidel	Storage Keeper Amerigo	Meet Amerigo <Storage Keeper>	Amerigo	50 Contribution Plate of Turkey
5	Amerigo <Storage Keeper>	Heidel	Bustling Alejandro Farm	Meet Amadeo Alejandro <Node Management> at Alejandro Farm	Amadeo Alejandro	50 Contribution
6	Amadeo Alejandro <Node Management>	Alejandro Farm	Helping With the Pumpkin Harvest	Give Amadeo 5 pumpkins	Amadeo Alejandro	100 Contiribution Gathering Exp 3 Energy
7	Amadeo Alejandro <Node Management>	Alejandro Farm	A Threatening Scarecrow!	Give 1 Melted Iron Shard to Amadeo (Process by Heating 5 Iron Ore to Make 1 Shard)	Amadeo Alejandro <Node Management>	100 Contiribution Processing Exp 3 Energy Contract: Naive Worker
8	Amadeo Alejandro <Node Management>	Alejandro Farm	A Meat Dish for the Workers	Give 5 Kuku Bird Meat to Gurceau (cannot substitute chicken meat) at Alejandro Farm	Gurceau	120 Contribution Gathering Exp 3 Energy 5 Wheat 2 Gold Bar 1G
9	Gurceau	Alejandro Farm	In Search of Higher Processing Knowledge…	Give 3 pumpkins to Ficy in Heidel	Ficy	130 Contribution Gathering Exp 3 Energy
10	Ficy <Workshop Manager>	Heidel	Practice Makes Perfect	Requirement: Gathering Apprentice4 or Completion of Preceeding Quest <In Search of Higher Processing Knowledge>Learn Beginner Grinding From Ornella Learn Beginner Chopping From Lebyos Learn Beginner Heating From Flaviano	Ficy	300 Contribution Gathering Exp 3 Energy 3 Black Stone Powder
11	Lebyos <Furniture Dealer>	Heidel	Working the Ash Tree	Make 3 Ash Planks by Process Chopping Give 3 Ash Planks to Lebyos	Lebyos	120 Contiribution Processing Exp 10 Energy Chopping: Beginner 2 Gold Bar 1G
12	Ornella <Arms Dealer>	Heidel	Materials for Equipment Repair	Make 2 Polished Stone by Process Grinding Give 2 Polished Stone to Ornella	Ornella	110 Contiribution Processing Exp 10 Energy Grinding: Beginner 2 Gold Bar 1G
13	Flaviano <Material Vendor>	Heidel	Pure Water for an Experiment	Make 10 Distilled Water by Process Heating Give 10 Distilled Water to Flaviano	Flaviano	120 Contiribution Processing Exp 10 Energy Heating: Beginner 2 Gold Bar 1G
14	Lara <General Goods Vendor>	Heidel	Toys (?) for Kids	Give 5 Wheat Dough to Lara	Lara	110 Contiribution Processing Exp 3 Energy Shaking: Beginner Gold Bar 1G
15	Techthon <Blacksmith>	Heidel	Need Soft Hides!	Give 3 Soft Hides to Techthon	Techthon	110 Contiribution Processing Exp 10 Energy Drying: Beginner Gold Bar 1G
16	Dora Fonti <Jeweler>	Heidel	Filtering Feathers	Give 3 Lightweight Plumes to Dora	Dora Fonti	110 Contiribution Processing Exp 10 Energy Filtering: Beginner Gold Bar 1G

Beginner Processing Questline Walkthrough

This is an optional questline that will help you learn more about Processing and other Life Skills.

1. Because I Like You

Give Jemkas Wyrmsbane, Node Manager of Northern Heidel Quarry, 3 Iron Ore. If you did not bring the Iron Ore with you, gather them from rocks nearby using a Mining Pick tool. Tools can be purchased from a Material Vendor or the Marketplace, or crafted at a Tool Workshop house in major cities. If you did not bring 10 Rough Stone with you, be sure to mine enough rocks for that also as you will need them for the next quest.

2. Nothing Our Friendship Can’t Do

Open the Process Window (L key) and use Grinding to process 1 Polished Stone by grinding 10 Rough Stone. Give Polished Stone to Jemkas.

3. Settling Down In Heidel

Meet Luciano Pietro in Heidel , located near the Heidel docks.

4. Storage Keeper Amerigo

Meet Amerigo

5. Bustling Alejandro Farm

Meet Amadeo Alejandro . Follow the road west of Northern Guard Camp to reach Alejandro Farm.

6. Helping With the Pumpkin Harvest

Give Amadeo 5 pumpkins. If you did not bring the pumpkins with you, they can be gathered in the farms nearby or by killing Pumpkin Ghosts randomly. Using a hoe to gather the pumpkins works better than bare handed gathering.

7. A Threatening Scarecrow!

Give 1 Melted Iron Shard to Amadeo. (Processing is not necessary for this quest) If you did not bring the Melted Iron Shard with you, use Heating in the Process Window (L key) to heat 5 Iron Ore.

8. A Meat Dish For the Workers

Give 5 Kuku Bird Meat to Gurceau at Alejandro Farm.(cannot substitute chicken meat). If you did not bring the meat with you, you can find Kuku Birds north of the main road near the hills. Use a Butchering Knife to gather meat from the Kuku Birds.

9. In Search of Higher Processing Knowledge

Give 3 pumpkins to Ficy in Heidel. If you do not already have 3 pumpkins in your inventory, be sure to gather them at Alejandro Farm before you leave.

[Life] Training Paradigm

This questline is no longer required to obtain the 2nd tier of processing, but still fun and rewarding to do for the avid quester like you!

Questline Requirements:

Gathering Apprentice 4+
OR
Completion of Beginner Processing Prerequisite Questline (written about above)

Certificate [Training Paradigm] Walkthrough

1. Practice Makes Perfect

Learn Beginner Grinding From Ornella, learn Beginner Chopping From Lebyos, and learn Beginner Heating From Flaviano. These 3 quests can be done in any order.

This quest auto-completes if it has already been done once by another character in your family. Skip to quests 5-7 which can be done in any order.

1a. Materials For Equipment Repair
(Grinding Beginner)

Process 2 Polished Stone by Grinding Rough Stone. Give 2 Polished Stone to Ornella. Rocks can be found around Heidel, especially north of Heidel in the quarry area. It takes 10 Rough Stone per batch.

1b. Working the Ash Tree
(Chopping Beginner)

Process 3 Ash Planks by Chopping Ash Timber. Give 3 Ash Planks to Lebyos. Ash trees can be found around Heidel. It takes 5 Ash Timber per batch.

1c. Pure Water For An Experiment
(Heating Beginner)

Process 10 Distilled Water by Heating Bottles of River Water. Give 10 Distilled Water to Flaviano.

2. Filtering Feathers
(Filtering Beginner)

Give 3 Lightweight Plumes to Dora. (Processing is not necessary for this quest) Use Filtering in the Processing window (L) to process Lightweight Plumes from Soft Kuku Bird Plume OR Soft Ferri Feather. It takes 5 soft animal feathers per batch.

3. Need Soft Hides
(Dryng Beginner)

Give 3 Soft Hides to Techthon. If you did not bring the Soft Hides with you, use Drying in the Processing window (L) to process Soft Hides from Deer Hide, Sheep Hide, Fox Hide, Black Leopard Hide, OR Gazelle Hide. It takes 5 animal hides per batch.

4. Toys (?) For Kids
(Shaking Beginner)

Give 5 Wheat Dough to Lara. If you did not bring the Wheat Dough with you, then use Shaking in the Processing window (L) to process Wheat Dough by shaking wheat flour with mineral water purchased from Constante, Golden Toad Inn Manager, located in the inn behind Lara.

Tier 3 Skilled Processing Knowledge

View Quest Progress: O key → [Life] Skilled Paradigm

This questline used to be required in order to be able to perform the final 3rd tier of processing, Skilled Processing.

Requirements:

Processing Professional 5+
Gathering Skilled 10+
Have knowledge on Shaking: Beginner
Have knowledge on Drying: Beginner
Have knowledge on Filtering: Beginner
Have knowledge on Grinding: Beginner
Have knowledge on Heating: Beginner
Have knowledge on Chopping: Beginner

Requirements to finish the quest ‘The Best Hide’ and continue forward with the Skilled Processing questline:

Processing Artisan 1+
Shaking Skilled is collected through the Challenge Reward Window after reaching Artisan Processing. (See pic above)

These quests must be done in order from ‘Excellent Magnate’ to ‘Hunting to Extinction’.

1. Excellent Magnate

Open your Quest Log (O), Suggested Tab, and find the Certificate [Skilled Paradigm] questline. Go to Keplan and speak with a villager who directs you to Vatudun in the mines beneath Keplan.

2. A Man Better Than Coal (Heating Skilled)

Process 2 Processed Coalwith Heating, then give to Vatudun.

3. Vatudun’s Request

Process 3 iron ingotswith Heating. You can bring the iron ore/melted shards with you, but process the ingots for the quest.

4. Pure Iron Crystal

Process Pure Iron Crystal by Heating the Metal Solvent that was given to you by Vatudun with the 3 Iron Ingots.

5. Looking For a Woodcutting Expert

Vatudun directs you to visit his buddy, Murghed, in Trent to learn Skilled Chopping.

6. Amazing Tree Art (Chopping Skilled)

Give Murghed 1 cedar plywood, 1 fir plywood, and 1 pine plywood. You can bring them with you, you don’t have to craft them for the quest.

7. Processing Wood With Fire

Process 1 Sturdy Cedar Plywood by Heating 10 Cedar Plywood with the Plywood Hardener that Murghed gave you. If Murghed does not give you a quest to continue onto Behr, open your Quest Log (O), Suggested Tab, and find the Certificate [Skilled Paradigm] questline and autopath to Likke Behr.

8. Pride of Behr (Drying Skilled)

Process 1 Find Soft Hide by Drying 10 Soft Hides. If you did not bring Soft Hides with you to Behr, gather hide from the deer just off the road heading south from Behr. Process Soft Hides by Drying 5 Deer Hide.

9. The Best Hide

After collecting the Artisan Processing Challenge Reward (Y) and obtaining the Shaking (Skilled), craft 1 Supreme Soft Hide for Behr by Shaking 3 Fine Soft Hide with the 5 Leather Glaze he gave you.

10. Geranoa’s Proposal (Grinding Skilled)

Give 1 Topaz to Geranoa, the Material Vendor in Calpheon. You don’t need to craft the Topaz for the quest. To craft Topaz, Process (Grind) 5 Rough Topaz.

11. Gemstone Value

Process 1 Resplendent Topaz by Grinding 5 Topaz.If this is your first time crafting Resplendent Topaz, you will earn the title “Topaz Demon”.

12. The Best Jewel

Process 1 Gold Topaz by Shaking 7 Resplendent Topaz with 3 Gem Polisher given by Geranoa. If this is your first time crafting Gold Topaz, you will earn the title “Bringer of Hope”.

13. Troubled Oberen Farm (Thinning Skilled)

Visit Matheo Oberen at Oberen Farm

14. Gotta Pluck Them All

Gather 5 Soft Kuku Bird Plumes with a tanning knife.

15. Useable Feathers

Process 1 Lightweight Plume by Filtering 5 Soft Kuku Bird Plumes.

16. Need More Feathers

Process1 Fine Lightweight Plume by Filtering 10 Lightweight Plumes.

17. Hunting to Extinction

Process 1 Supreme Lightweight Plume by Shaking 3 Fine Lightweight Plumes and the 5 Leather Glaze given by Oberen. Earn the title “Firm Machinist”.