Herbs & Plants
Herb guide: gathering basics, the Withering Away medicine, every crafting herb and mushroom with recipes, and the legendary Razkovniche.
Crafting is The Blood of Dawnwalker's healing system, and herbs are what crafting runs on. Every salve, tonic, paste and infusion in the game starts with plants picked off the ground of Vale Sangora — knowing which ones matter, and where a particular one grows, is the difference between a stocked quickbar and eating raw mushrooms mid-fight while your health bar refuses to move.
Gathering Herbs
Herbs and mushrooms are picked directly from the world — no tool, no mini-game, no skill. Plants sit in clearings, at the foot of trees, along trails and around settlements, and Focus Mode highlights interactable objects if you're having trouble spotting them.
The important part: gathering is free. Time in The Blood of Dawnwalker is spent on quests, dialogue choices and other actions — not on wandering, looting or picking plants. You can clean out an entire hillside of herbs without the clock advancing a single segment, so there is never a reason to walk past a useful plant.
The Withering Away Medicine
The game's first herbal task arrives early, in the prologue quest Withering Away — and it is a timed, missable quest with a life on the line. Esme, Coen's mother, is deteriorating fast, and the medicine is the only thing standing between her and a darker fate.
Getting the Herbs from Anca
Anca, the village healer, lives in a hut southwest of the starting village. When Coen arrives, nobody answers the door. The solution is Focus Mode: inspect the half-watered vegetable patch and the empty barrel outside her hut, then follow the path downhill toward the riverbank — that's where the conversation with Anca triggers and Coen receives the medicinal herbs.
The Correct Medicine
Anca's instructions are given in a cutscene and written on a note in your inventory — but the game doesn't let you re-read that note at the crafting moment, which has caught more than a few players out. The correct combination:
- Use hot water — not boiling, not cold. The middle option.
- Add three spoonfuls of herbs.
Get either wrong and the medicine fails its purpose. Get it right, and Esme survives the Blood Mass — one fewer regret on the road ahead.
Ribwort Plantain Around the Village
The medicinal herb in question is Ribwort Plantain, and five plants grow in a tight cluster around the starting village. None of them sit on the main path — every one is tucked behind a ledge, a rock wall or a tree trunk, which is why players walk straight past them:
| Plant | Where it grows |
|---|---|
| 1 & 2 | North of the village, up the rocky ledges to the left of the dirt path — both grow close together |
| 3 | Northeast of the village, at the top of a rock wall, right beside a pine tree |
| 4 | West of the village, on the ground beneath a large tree next to a wooden fence |
| 5 | Further west in dense forest, at the base of a large tree trunk |
Crafting Herbs Reference
These seven herbs feed the human-form healing line, the claw vials and the fortitude pastes. Their effects scale through the minor/base/potent tiers, so the same plant stays useful all game:
| Herb | Used in |
|---|---|
| Ribwort Plantain | Minor Mending Ointment · Minor Regenerative Salve · Minor Vitality Balm · Animal Blood Infusion · Minor Fortitude Paste |
| Comfrey | Mending Ointment · Razor Claw Vial · Venom Claws Ampoule · Minor Balm of Fortitude |
| Tansy | Potent Mending Ointment · Potent Vitality Balm · Supernatural's Blood Infusion · Potent Razor Claw Vial |
| Common Yarrow | Minor Regenerative Salve · Regenerative Salve · Minor Vitality Balm |
| St. John's Wort | Minor Regenerative Salve · Minor Razor Claw Vial |
| Yellow Sweet Clover | Regenerative Salve · Potent Regenerative Salve · Animal Blood Infusion · Mortal's Blood Infusion · Venom Claws Ampoule · Minor Balm of Fortitude |
| Perilla | Potent Regenerative Salve · Potent Fortitude Paste · Mortal's Blood Infusion · Supernatural's Blood Infusion |
Crafting Mushrooms Reference
Mushrooms are the stamina line and the crit potions — the backbone of both forms' combat upkeep:
| Mushroom | Used in |
|---|---|
| Parasol Mushroom | Minor Revitalising Tonic · Minor Vigour Infusion |
| Saffron Milk Cap | Minor Revitalising Tonic · Revitalising Tonic · Minor Vigour Infusion |
| Green-Gilled Mushroom | Revitalising Tonic · Potent Revitalising Tonic · Balm of Fortitude |
| Chanterelle | Potent Revitalising Tonic · Keen Eye Potion · Potent Balm of Fortitude |
| Slippery Jack | Vigour Infusion · Potent Vigour Infusion · Minor Keen Eye Potion |
| Cave Fungus | Potent Vigour Infusion · Potent Keen Eye Potion · Potent Balm of Fortitude |
Razkovniche — the Legendary Herb
One plant in the valley is worth planning a trip around. The side quest The Hedgehog Herb begins at a house in Oghasti, an abandoned settlement in The Silts: a dead alchemist, a seedbox, a watering can and a recipe on the wall tell the story, and Coen plants the Razkovniche Seed with a few drops of his own blood.
The plant then needs one full in-game day to grow — check back after the clock has moved, harvest the grown Razkovniche (and deal with the specter that spawns), and brew the Razkovniche Elixir: a permanent, one-time boost of +20% maximum human health, +10% maximum vampiric health, and a bonus skill point. Anca brews it for free at the Crossroads Inn, the Svartrau medic charges 100 denarii, or Coen crafts it himself if he has the Strong Ancient Reagent and Tatzelwurm Glands. The full walkthrough is on the quests page.
Where to Get More
Herbs respawn slowly in the world, but you don't have to live off foraging. The witchcraft vendors — the witches scattered around the valley — stock herbs, mushrooms and recipes alike, and their inventories are the fastest way to top up a specific plant mid-playthrough. For everything else herbs feed into, see the recipes page, and for the ingredients that don't grow in the ground, the items page.
Last updated: 2026-09-04