Everything you could possibly want to know about dying your equipment in Crimson Desert, including how to unlock new colors, crafting dyes, and locating dye vendors.
Use the Table of Contents, located in the left panel (top left button on the mobile menu) to navigate through this long guide more easily and quickly.
How to Dye Your Gear
You can use Dye vendors (AKA Dyehouses) to alter the hue, shade, material, and repair level of many parts of your outfit, some weapons, and your horse’s armor.
Each dyehouse can only change to different shades of a single color (hue) and has a single alternative material on hand, but Oliver the Dyer can let you change your stuff to any color, shade, or material that you’ve seen before.
Unlocking New Colors
In order to be able to change your clothes to a specific color, you need to unlock both the hue and shade. Hues are the main colors, like red, green, blue, etc. while shades (and tints) are darker (and lighter) versions of a given hue.
Unlocking Hues
Each region has ~3 dye vendors located near major population centers, and each one specializes in a different hue. For example, the dyer on the outskirts of Hernand Town can dye your clothes red, and the one in Calphade can dye your clothes yellow.
Once you finish your third upgrade to the Greymane Camp at Howling Hills and complete the subsequent quest “A Rumor at the Inksworth Bindery”, you gain access to Oliver the Dyer.
Oliver is unique from other dyers in that he can dye your clothes in any hue you’ve encountered on your travels, so like once you’ve visited the red dyer, Oliver can dye your clothes red, and once you’ve visited the yellow dyer, Oliver can dye your clothes yellow.
In essence, once you meet a dyer, you unlock a new hue that you can use with Oliver. The only reason to dye your clothes with someone other than Oliver is if you haven’t reunited with him yet, or you want to go for a monochromatic look.
Each dye is arbitrarily associated with a different faction in the game. That faction really just tells you roughly where the associated dye vendor is. Confusingly, it has absolutely nothing to do with the official colors for that faction.
You would think that the Duchy of Hernand would specialize in the Sky Blue hue because that’s the color used by their guards, but no, Hernand gives you red.
Unlocking Shades
Each hue has 10 full rows of shades. Each dye bottle you find out in the world unlocks two adjacent rows of shades, so each hue has 5 different dye bottles associated with it. They all follow the same naming scheme:
- Bright – Rows 1, 2
- Rich – Rows 3, 4
- (Regular) – Rows 5, 6
- Dark – Rows 7, 8
- Deep – Rows 9, 10
For example, if you find the Rich Red Dye and consume it, you’ll unlock the ability to dye your clothes any shade of red from rows 3 and 4 at the Hernand Town dye vendor.
Any dyes you consume will get automatically unlocked for use at the associated dye vendor, but you can’t change your clothes to that shade until you find the right dye vendor out in the world.
For example, you may find yourself with a Bright Spring Green Dye. Consuming it will unlock rows 1 and 2 in the Spring Green hue, but you won’t be able to change your clothes to that color until you meet the Spring Green dyer in Varnia, which is at the northeast corner of the map, even if you’ve unlocked Oliver.
Some of you probably noticed I left out the top row, AKA row 0. That one works a bit differently. The top left shade is always just the default undyed color that comes with the piece of clothing, but the rest of the row is shades of gray.
Rather than having a specific hue/category at a dedicated dyer for gray, each hue has a single top row of gray. Each gray dye bottle unlocks a specific gray row on a specific hue.
If you care, it’s probably because shade and tint refer to black and white. You modify the hue by adding white or black to make it darker or lighter, but without hue, you only have black, white, or the gray in between, so it doesn’t make complete sense to call gray a hue, even if it behaves like one.
Unlocking Materials
Just like hues, each dye vendor also has a unique material associated with them that you can use to change the texture and shininess of a given part of clothing. Each dye vendor only offers a single alternative material, but you can change all the ones you’ve found with Oliver the Dyer.
Obtaining Dye Bottles
You can get new dye bottles from a few different sources:
- Vendors
- Dyer NPCs
- Stealing
- Improvised Crafting
Vendors
Every main dye vendor sells one shade of their hue. In addition, some vendors, usually Provisioners, also sell specific dye bottles.
Dyer NPCs
Each NPC wandering around has a little nameplate over their head when you walk up to them. It says their actual name if they’re worthy of having one, or it might say their profession, or usually it just says Stranger. We care about the NPCs that are called Dyer or Expert Dyer.
If you manage to get their trust level up to 100, they’ll give you a random dye to say thank you.
Just spam give them a bunch of gifts like Paltry Copper Pouches or flower decorations/collectibles. Yes, other professionals will give you other random rewards related to their profession as well.
You’re most likely to find a few dyers near each dye shop, but you can also run into them elsewhere, going about their business. They aren’t like teachers, who, as we all know, just stop existing once you’ve left the classroom.
Stealing
There are dye bottles scattered throughout Pywel, usually in NPC houses. If you want them, your only recourse is to steal them.
Sometimes you’ll also find them for sale on the table in a random shop, as in, you can buy it by walking up and taking the item. These usually aren’t listed in the interface, so you can choose to buy them or steal them.
Improvised Crafting
You can craft all possible dyes using the Cauldron and pressing Y/△/F to Improvise, assuming you can come up with the recipe, and you’ll need to.
It’s confusing, but the recipes you have for dyes at the cauldron represents the dyes you’ve already unlocked, so there is no point in crafting a dye if you have the recipe. Really, these recipes just tell you the recipe formula and help you to see at a glance which ones you’re missing.
Each dye recipe has 3-4 materials that get combined in the following way:
- 1 pigment Herb + 1 beetle or 2 pigment Herbs
- 0-3 Longhorn Beetles + 0-3 Stag Beetles in opposing or equal amounts
In more words, each recipe always requires either 1 pigment Herb + 1 beetle or 2 pigment Herbs. These specify the hue and their quantities are constant for all dyes of that hue.
For example, the Bright, Rich, Regular, Dark, and Deep Red dyes all require 10 pink medicinal herbs and 3 Rhinoceros Beetles, whereas all the Blue dyes each require 15 Blue Lavender and 5 regular Lavender.
From there, you modulate the shade with a ratio of Longhorn Beetles and Stag Beetles. Adding Stags make the resulting dye darker. Adding Longhorns makes the resulting dye lighter.
| This Shade | unlocks row numbers | and requires this many Longhorn Beetles | and this many Stag Beetles. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bright | 1 & 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Rich | 3 & 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Regular | 5 & 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Dark | 7 & 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Deep | 9 & 10 | 0 | 3 |
Again, you mix those Stag Beetles and Longhorn Beetles together with your pigment herbs, which are usually either a species of Lavender or a medicinal herb of a relevant, specific color, sometimes both. If it’s not both, the second “pigment” will always be a specific beetle.
You can find all beetles clinging to trees at about shoulder-level. They fly away if you get too close, but they’re much slower than birds, so you can still catch them.
The only non-Essential Material you can ever modify with these recipes is the pigment Medicinal Herb, which is the non-Lavender plant.
Dyes for different shades of the same hue will always require the same pigments and beetles, just in varying ratios.
| This dye hue | always requires this many of this material | and this many of this material. |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 | Rhinoceros Beetle x3 |
| Violet | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 | Lavender x10 |
| Purple | Lavender x15 | Blue Lavender x10 |
| Blue | Blue Lavender x15 | Lavender x5 |
| Sky Blue | White Medicinal Herb x15 | Blue Lavender x10 |
| Teal | Lavender x10 | Shrubby Sophora x10 |
| Green | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 | Beetle x5 |
| Spring Green | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Beetle x3 |
| Yellow | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 | Beetle x3 |
| Orange | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 | Rhinoceros Beetle x3 |
For example, you’ll always need 10 of any white Medicinal Herb and 3 regular Beetles to make any Spring Green dye. Don’t forget you have to combine that with the desired ratio of Longhorn Beetles and Stag Beetles!
Unfortunately, concocting a brand-new dye isn’t enough. You still won’t be able to change your clothes to these colors until you meet the associated dye vendor out in the world.
All Dye Recipes Cookbook
If you don’t care about understanding how to make dyes, we made a table with the recipes for each and every dye shade. Remember, if you can see the recipe in your crafting menu, you’ve already unlocked it.
| Hue | Icon | Shade | Pigments | Beetle Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red |  | Bright | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Red |  | Rich | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Red |  | Regular | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Red |  | Dark | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Red |  | Deep | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Violet |  | Bright | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Lavender x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Violet |  | Rich | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Lavender x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x2 |
| Violet |  | Regular | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Lavender x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 |
| Violet |  | Dark | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Lavender x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 |
| Violet |  | Deep | Pink Medicinal Herb x10 Lavender x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | |
| Purple |  | Bright | Lavender x15 Blue Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Purple |  | Rich | Lavender x15 Blue Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Purple |  | Regular | Lavender x15 Blue Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Purple |  | Dark | Lavender x15 Blue Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Purple |  | Deep | Lavender x15 Blue Lavender x5 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Blue |  | Bright | Blue Lavender x15 Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Blue |  | Rich | Blue Lavender x15 Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Blue |  | Regular | Blue Lavender x15 Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Blue |  | Dark | Blue Lavender x15 Lavender x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Blue |  | Deep | Blue Lavender x15 Lavender x5 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Sky Blue |  | Bright | White Medicinal Herb x10 Blue Lavender x10 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Sky Blue |  | Rich | White Medicinal Herb x10 Blue Lavender x10 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Sky Blue |  | Regular | White Medicinal Herb x10 Blue Lavender x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Sky Blue |  | Dark | White Medicinal Herb x10 Blue Lavender x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Sky Blue |  | Deep | White Medicinal Herb x10 Blue Lavender x10 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Teal |  | Bright | Lavender x10 Shrubby Sophora x10 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Teal |  | Rich | Lavender x10 Shrubby Sophora x10 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Teal |  | Regular | Lavender x10 Shrubby Sophora x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Teal |  | Dark | Lavender x10 Shrubby Sophora x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Teal |  | Deep | Lavender x10 Shrubby Sophora x10 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Green |  | Bright | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 Beetle x5 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Green |  | Rich | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 Beetle x5 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Green |  | Regular | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Green |  | Dark | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Green |  | Deep | Yellow Medicinal Herb x5 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Spring Green |  | Bright | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Spring Green |  | Rich | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Spring Green |  | Regular | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Spring Green |  | Dark | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Spring Green |  | Deep | White Medicinal Herb x10 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Yellow |  | Bright | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Yellow |  | Rich | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Yellow |  | Regular | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Yellow |  | Dark | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Yellow |  | Deep | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Beetle x3 | Stag Beetle x3 |
| Orange |  | Bright | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x3 |
| Orange |  | Rich | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x2 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Orange |  | Regular | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x1 |
| Orange |  | Dark | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Longhorn Beetle x1 Stag Beetle x2 |
| Orange |  | Deep | Yellow Medicinal Herb x10 Rhinoceros Beetle x3 | Stag Beetle x3 |
Dye Vendor Locations
Each dye vendor is associated with a specific hue (main color) and sells a shade of it. Visiting them unlocks access to the color with Oliver the Dyer at Howling Hill. You can find 2-3 dye vendors in each region of Pywel, typically on the outskirts of major cities.
Red Dye Vendor (Hernandian)
You can find the Red dye vendor along the Nas River southwest of Hernand Town in central Hernand.
Violet Dye Vendor
You can find the Violet dye vendor in House Marshell’s lands somewhere in Demeniss.
Purple Dye Vendor
You can find the standard Purple dye vendor in House Elmore’s lands somewhere in Demeniss.
Blue Dye Vendor
You can find the standard Blue dye vendor at Ashergold Dyehouse on the western outskirts of the Demenissian capital on the Azerian Estate. The region is blockaded until Chapter VIII, so you can’t interact with dye vendor until you deal with that.
Sky Blue Dye Vendor
You can find the Sky Blue dye vendor somewhere in Delesyia, the southeasternmost country in Pywel.
Teal Dye Vendor (Pailunese)
You can find the Teal dye vendor right next to the southern gate in Pailune city. It is not accessible until you complete Chapter VII: Homecoming.
Green Dye Vendor (Calphadean)
You can find the Green dye vendor in southern Calphade, west of Deepfog Basin in northern Hernand. You must complete Chapter VI: Cracks in the Shield before you can access them.
Spring Green Dye Vendor
The Spring Green Dye Vendor is located somewhere in Varnia, the northeast corner of the map in the Crimson Desert.
Yellow Dye Vendor (Pororin)
You can find the Yellow dye vendor at the magical village of Pororin in southeastern Hernand. Poroin is not accessible until you complete the quest Trembling Woods.
Orange Dye Vendor
You can find the orange dye vendor somewhere in Tomasso, a region I haven’t even heard of and can’t find on the map.
Grey Dye Locations
Rather than having their own swatch like the hues do, each gray dye occupies row zero on another hue’s swatch. Each grey dye only unlocks a single row in the swatch and has a different naming scheme. They don’t appear to be craftable, so you may only be able to find them out in the world. There are 10 in total, and we’ve found 3 so far.
Medium Grey
You can purchase the Medium Grey Dye from the Provisioner’s Shop at St. Halssius’s House of Healing, east of Anvil Hill in Hernand.
Shadow Grey
You can purchase a bottle of Shadow Grey dye from the Provisioner’s Shop at Senia in Hernand, south of Hernand Highlands and The Witchwoods.
Deep Grey
You can purchase a bottle of Deep Grey dye from the Back Alley Shop at the Communal Training Grounds southwest of Hernand Town in Hernand.
So, you’ve got your coloring sorted. What’s next? Maybe obtain a legendary horse? We have a guide detailing the locations of all Legendary Horses in Crimson Desert!
