A lot has changed with gathering in TWW – make sure you read the Gathering guide first!
Knowledge Treasures (24 pts)
- /way #2339 60.7, 29.0 Dornogal Gardening Scythe (Herbalism)
- /way #2248 57.5, 61.4 Ancient Flower (Herbalism)
- /way #2214 48.2, 35.0 Earthen Digging Fork (Herbalism)
- /way #2214 52.8, 65.8 Fungarian Slicer’s Knife (Herbalism)
- /way #2215 47.7, 63.3 Arathi Garden Trowel (Herbalism)
- /way #2215 36.0, 55.0 Arathi Herb Pruner (Herbalism)
- /way #2213 46.6, 15.9 Tunneler’s Shovel (Herbalism)
- /way #2216 54.6, 20.9 Web-Entangled Lotus (Herbalism)
Tools of the Trade
- Specialty Bag: Gardener’s Seed Satchel – The cooldown of Overload Empowered Herb is reduced by an additional 1% when gathering herbs in Khaz Algar.
- BiS Accessories:
- Artisan Gardening Hat (tailor made, +11 skill)
- Stonebound Herbalist’s Pack (lw made, +11 skill)
- BiS Tool: Artisan Sickle (bs made, +18 skill, customizable secondary stat, can be enchanted)
- Phial of Truesight: gives a bonus to Perception & lets you see camouflaged herbs
Herbs, and where to find them
| Habitat | Isle of Dorn | Ringing Deeps | Hallowfell | Azj-Kahet | |
| Mycobloom | Anywhere, very common | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Blessing Blossom | Out in the open, sometimes up high | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Arathor’s Spear | Bright outdoor locations | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Luredrop | Underground, more common in high level zones | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Orbinid | Underground, more common in high level zones | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Null Lotus | Rare drop from any herb type | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Herbalism Specializations (3)
1. Bountiful Harvest
AKA the skill specialization – get higher quality herbs.
The base node improves your skill at gathering by 1 point for every point invested. It also gives you a tiny bit of perception/deftness/finesse. You’ll also learn to refine herbs here.
The secondary nodes improve your skill for gathering a specific type of herb by 1 for each point invested. There is one node for each type of herb in TWW (Mycobloom, Blessing Blossom, Arathor’s Spear, Lurebind, and Orbinid). You can also find a smattering of perception/deftness/finesse here, which is also specific to the herb type. Maxing out the secondary nodes increases your chance to gather Null Lotus, which is a rare reagent.
2. Botany
AKA the mounted gathering specialization – gather faster/better & while mounted
The base node boosts finesse, and its capstone ability is mounted gathering. Unlocking it lets you recharge vigor from gathering herbs.
The secondary nodes
- Cultivation: increases perception and the ability to find seeds. Any herbalist can find the basic verdant seeds, but investing in this node will let you find them more often, and also let you find seeds when gathering from crystalline, irradiated, and sporefused herbs. Those seeds will drop the corresponding rare reagent when planted and gathered. You can plant any of the seeds at Beledar’s Bounty in Hallowfall.
- Mulching: increases deftness and skill for picking lush herbs &, and allows you to make mulch, which increases the yield of your next gather. It also gives you the “Green Thumb” ability which lets you increase the yield of your next gather (1hr CD).
3. Overloading the Underground
AKA the overload specializtion – get valuable rare reagents from special herb nodes.
The base node gives you the ability to Overload empowered herbs/deposits and gives you +1 skill per point invested to harvest these special types. Investing in it also reduces the CD of the overload ability.
The 4 secondary nodes improve your abilities (primarily skill) when gathering the specific empowered type, and makes gathering from that type reduce the CD of Overload. Unlocking the node lessens any harmful effects from gathering that type of herb.
The table below tries to sum up the key points about the empowered herbs, the bad thing that happens if you try to gather it, the overload effect, and what reagents you can get from them. We’ll update it as we learn more. Crystallized nodes seem to be the most common. Altered nodes seem to be by far the rarest, and only appear in Azj-Kahet and Hallowfall.
| Prefix | Reagent | Gathering Effect | Overload Effect | Secondary Capstone Ability |
| Crystallized | Crystalline Powder | Gives you a 3% secondary stat buff and protects against the negative effects of altered and weeping nodes (2 min, extendable) | Portal to another herb node (one way unless you unlock the Crystallized secondary node) | Get more reagent |
| Altered (very rare) | Writhing Sample | Poison | Summons creature | Get more reagent from summoned creature |
| Sporefused | Viridescent Spores | Hallucinations – green glowy orbs | Creates additional nodes- some are illusions, which disorient you if you try to pick them, some are real. | See camouflaged herbs |
| Irradiated | Leyline Residue | Knockback | Replaces your overload button with “Arcane Duplication” which lets you copy a non-empowered herb (usable once). | Improves your Arcane Duplication ability – you get 3 instead of 2 |
Things to Note
- Seeds: There’s a place in Hallowfall (
/way #2215 47.47, 64.05 Beledar's Bounty) where you can plant your seeds – you don’t need to stumble around looking for random patches of rich soil anymore. It’s just southeast of Mereldar.
Suggestions
Getting Started:
There are 2 competing top priorities- mounted gathering vs. universal skill – so it’s going to come down to your personal preferences.
Mounted Gathering
Mounted gathering is a huge quality of life improvement, and makes gathering go faster. Remember, “Time is money, friends”.
If you’re on an undergeared alt, or just don’t like getting into combat when you gather, flying lets you avoid a lot of unpleasant situations.
If you start with this spec, you also get vigor from picking herbs right from the start, which makes life better.
Specialization to start with: Botany
Universal Skill
Quality 2-3 mats are going to be hugely valuable given the nerfs in their drop rate for TWW, and you’re not going to get any with a low skill.
If you have another way of gathering while mounted, like being a druid or having the Sky Golem mount, you should pursue this first. Note: the the Sky Golem animation is annoying, so make sure you can live with it before committing to this route.
Specialization to start with: Bountiful Harvest
As you skill up:
You get to open new specializations at 50 and 75 skill. Simply unlocking any spec gives you a worthwhile bonus (esp. Botany – the recharging vigor from picking herbs is a nice quality of life improvement) – so remember to open them, even if you’re not putting points into them yet.
Later On:
Work on filling up the base nodes of Bountiful Harvest and Botany. After that, I’d recommend either:
- Botany→Cultivation for a direct perception bonus and fun with more & better seeds. Perception helps you gather more rare reagents and the weeky knowledge points drops.
- Bountiful Harvest secondary nodes could be good. Unlike null stones, null lotuses don’t seem to be in high demand, or hard to come by, so no rush to get to the end of any specific secondary node, but the 20 point increased yield ability in those subtrees looks pretty tasty though.