With the release of New World last month, we will now bring you an in-depth harvesting guide so that you don’t waste your precious time harvesting in an insufficient way. Carry on reading so you too can harvest while gaming like a pro!
Harvesting – Covering the basics
Before you can start your journey to becoming a pro harvester, you will need a sickle. You can craft a sickle at any campfire or in a settlement. To craft a Flint Sickle, you will need:
- x1 Flint – You can find flint almost anywhere, just look for things that look like brown rocks lying around.
- x1 Green Wood – Green Wood can be acquired by gathering bushes OR if you have a logging axe, you can chop down young trees.
A Flint Sickle is only the beginning of your harvesting adventure, as there are 5 tiers of sickles in New World. With each upgrade of the sickle, your base gathering speed increases. Harvesting can be a lot of fun and will allow you to craft various things in New World! Keep in mind: The higher your harvesting level, the more plants become unlocked and eventually you will have the ability to track certain plants.
Don’t fancy a Flint Sickle? Try an iron one instead!
The base Flint Sickle that you craft has a base gathering speed of 100%. This might sound like a lot, but its not. The 100% amounts to the same value of 1. The Steel Harvesting Sickle’s base gather speed is 250%. This is essentially x2.5 times faster than the Flint Sickle. However, starting out this won’t be a viable option for you as the crafting requirements won’t be easily obtainable. An easier to obtain, Iron Sickle, has a harvesting speed of about 125%-138% depending on the roll you get. There are currently x2 ways to acquire an iron sickle.
- Buy one with gold at a Trading Post. (Just go to SSEGold.com, it is very convenient, quick, and safe.)
- You can craft one, as you did with the Flint Sickle, however you will need:
- x1 Leather (any type is acceptable)
- x2 Timber/Refined Wood
- x7 Iron Ingots
Since an Iron Sickle isn’t too difficult to acquire, and, is better than a Flint one, you’ll want to get your hands on one as soon as possible to benefit from the slightly faster harvesting speed. Time is of the essence!
Pictured above is the Tier 5 Orichalcum Sickle with a base gathering speed of 625%!
If you’re like me and want the best, here is table detailing the resources need to craft the other sickles.
| Name of sickle | Tier | Base Gather Speed | Craft Requirements |
| Flint Harvesting Sickle | 1 | 100% | x1 Flint
x1 Green Wood |
| Iron Harvesting Sickle | 2 | 125% | x2 Timber
x1 Leather x7 Iron Ingot |
| Steel Harvesting Sickle | 3 | 250% | x8 Steel Ingot
x2 Ingot x1 Coarse Leather |
| Starmetal Harvesting Sickle | 4 | 400% | x9 Starmetal Ingot
x2 Timber x1 Coarse Leather |
| Orichalcum Harvesting Sickle | 5 | 625% | x10 Orichalcum Ingot
x2 Timber x1 Coarse Leather |
Harvest more efficiently with these tips!
Skills
When leveling up your proficiency skills, there are certain skills that you can focus on spending proficiency points on. They will increase your overall harvesting abilities.
Sickle slot skills
- Harvesting Luck
While harvesting, +2.0%-9.3% increased chance at finding rare items.
- Harvesting Yield
+10.0%-19.0% more resource yield
- Horticulture Discipline
+3.0%-9.4% more harvesting XP
Armor slot skills
- Reinforced Harvesting Luck
While harvesting, +2.0%-5.0% increased chance at finding rare items.
- Adored Harvesting Luck
While harvesting, +5.0%-9.5% increased chance at finding rare items.
Food
As with most games, eating food provides you with some sort of buff. (Looking at you Zelda…)
The same goes for New World. You can eat certain foods to improve your Luck rating for finding more rare resources while harvesting.
- Cooked Corn
+1000 Luck rating
Lasts 20 minutes
0 level requirement
Can be made by cooking 1x Butter and x1 Corn.
- Cornbread
+1400 Luck rating
Lasts 25 minutes
Level requirement: 5
Can be made by cooking x1 Butter, x1 Seasoning Blend, x1 Corn.
- Herb-Crusted Corn on the Cob
+1700 Luck rating
Lasts 30 minutes
Level requirement: 20
Can be made by cooking x1 Milk, x1 Nut, x1 Seasoning Blend and x1 Corn.
- Breakfast Bread
+1900 Luck rating
Lasts 35 minutes
Level requirement: 40
Can be made by cooking x1 Tomato, x1 Honey, x1 Nut, x1 Seasoning Blend, x1 Egg and x1 Corn.
- Spicy Steak Pie
+2000 Luck rating
Lasts 40 minutes.
Level requirement: 60
Can be made by cooking x1 String Bean, x1 Carrot, x1 Butter, x1 Peppercorn, x1 Seasoning Blend, x1 Red Meat and x1 Corn.
Territory Standing Reputation
Now that we’ve gone over the bonuses from food, let’s take a look at the harvesting bonuses from TSR.
When you gain Territory Standing in a region (by capturing Control Points/Forts etc.) you are allowed to choose 1 of 3 upgrades. As long as your faction has control over the region, you will receive this buff. When available to be chosen, you can choose the “Increase Gathering Speed by 3%” buff. This might seem small but can stack with other buffs, food and items to significantly increase your harvesting effectiveness.
Charms
The charms you want to look out for, which provides some sort of harvesting buff, are:
| 1) Steel Botanist’s Charm | +3% – 9% more harvesting XP |
| 2) Starmetal Botanist’s Charm | +2% – 9% increased chance for rare items |
| 3) Orichalcum Botanist’s Charm | +10% – 20% increase yield |
Charms can be found by looting chests and killing enemies.
Potions
Like food, potions can also provide a buff to harvesting. Food increases Luck, while potions will increase yield. The following potions can be crafted to provide the following yield bonuses:
| Name of potion | Tier | Increase in Yield | Duration | Level Req: | Ingredients |
| Weak Proficiency Booster | 2 | 5% | 10 min | 5 | X1 water
X1 Soul Mote X1 Air Mote |
| Common Proficiency Booster | 3 | 7% | 15 min | 20 | X1 Water
X1 Soul Wisp X1 Air Wisp |
| Strong Proficiency Booster | 4 | 10% | 20 min | 40 | X1 Water
X1 Soul Essence X1 Air Essence |
| Powerful Proficiency Booster | 5 | 15% | 30 min | 60 | X1 Soul Quintessence
X1 Air Quintessence |
Trophies
If you own a house, there are 3 trophies you can make to store in your house, which will increase your harvesting Luck.
- Minor Harvesting Trophy
+500 Luck
Items required: x25 Lumber, x20 steel ingot, x1 Maple Stain, x25 Air Mote
- Basic Harvesting Trophy
+1000 Luck
Items required: x25 Wyrdwood Planks, x20 Starmetal ingot, x1 Oak Stain, x1 Journal of Aeternum Flora
- Major Harvesting Trophy
+1500 Luck
Items required: x25 Ironwood Planks, x20 Orichalcum ingots, x1 Mahogany Stain, x1 Mercurial Token
There are also armor sets which, when equipped, will provide added bonuses to your harvesting skill. These armor sets, as well as other armor sets will be covered in another guide.
Some of these bonuses might seem inconsequential but let’s take a look at the following scenario:
- You are wearing an Orichalcum Botanist’s Charm
- You have a Major Harvesting Trophy in your house
- You have taken a Powerful Proficiency Booster potion
- You have eaten a Spicy Steak Pie
- You’ve unlocked the Harvesting Yield bonus skill
Just with the above (which is not even including all possible bonuses from Territory Standing, Armor Sets or even owning the Orichalcum Sickle) you will have the following:
- A total of 35% – 39% increased yield
- A total of +3500 Luck rating
Sure, these figures will go down once the food and potion effects wear off, but they last around 20-40 minutes depending on the potion/food you consume. So, for those 40 odd minutes, you will be a mean, lean, harvesting machine!
To sum up
Harvesting is essential to your New World journey as it will provide you with the necessary resources to cook dishes and brew certain potions. Depending on the rarity of the resource you’ve harvested, you can also sell the resources for quick coins.
You also can easily visit SSEGold and buy New World Coins to help you out. Consider buying some coins so you can buy an Iron Sickle at the Trading Post (for that extra 20%-30% gathering speed), then work your way from there.
Soon, you’ll be harvesting like a pro!
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