Crimson Desert Contribution explained

Crimson Desert Contribution - Kliff giving money to a beggar — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

It's a little unclear what Contribution is at first in Crimson Desert—you do a good deed and suddenly you're earning points that appear in a little bar on the screen. At first it looks like some kind of karma or faction rep system, and while the latter is kind of true, it doesn't properly reflect what you can do with Contribution.

Below I'll explain what you can use Contribution for, where to find the shop that'll let you do that, plus the various ways you can either gain or lose this currency.

How to earn and spend Contribution in Crimson Desert

Crimson Desert Contribution shop location — You can find the Contribution Shop in Hernand Castle (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

When you first arrive in Hernand, you'll likely notice that certain actions, such as giving money to a beggar, reward you with Hernandian Contribution and fill a progress bar. While this might look like faction rep at first, Contribution is actually a currency you can spend to get special items at the Contribution Shop.

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Each region has its own progress bar and shop, but in this case, it's located in Hernand Castle, just through the door down and to the right of the interior gate that leads to the main keep. Each time you fill the Contribution meter all the way, you'll get one point—you can see your overall points by looking at the top right corner of the map.

Crimson Desert Contribution shop menu — You can spend the Contribution you earn through quests, requests, and good deeds to buy new gear (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

So how do you earn Contribution? There are a variety of methods:

Completing requests from the notice board, such as Turnali's Request or Rhett's Request
Completing any of the Bounties that unlock in Chapter 2
Giving money to beggars
Completing certain main quests
Freeing Pailunese refugees from bandits
Liberating bandit hideouts and strongholds

And you can lose Contribution by:

Committing crimes—stealing items in particular will always decrease your Contribution whether you're caught or not.

Generally, the most time-effective ways to get Contribution are completing Requests and Bounties if they happen to be near where you're already going.

It's worth noting that you can also sell any Contribution items you've purchased to get the exact same amount back at the Contribution Shop, letting you recombine your overall point value to buy whatever armour or items you want.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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