BDO Node Investment Guide | GrumpyG (2024)

Black Desert Online has a fun and rewarding world building aspect to create your own node empire. This BDO node guide will help you understand more about how node connections and investments work in game, and how you can expand your own node empire.

What are nodes in BDO?

Nodes are represented by icons on your game map (M) after you have visited a location. Nodes are useful because they allow you to invest your Contribution Points (CP) and Energy to earn special benefits like money, game items, buffs, trade routes, and amity help.

Node Types

The nodes you can invest in have two types, main and sub nodes.

• Main Nodes are easily visible on the world map.
• Sub Nodes are viewed by clicking on the main node icon.

Main Nodes

In order to see all the main nodes, you must first visit their location to remove the “fog of war”. Sometimes it can be tricky to know exactly where to step to get the icon to appear on the world map. But usually it’s near the the Node Manager. This is where a good node map website comes in handy, like bdolytics.com. Without a Value Pack, each node is controlled by its Node Manager. You can travel to a Node Manager by right clicking the node icon on your map to create an auto-path, then T to auto-travel.

Node Managers that you have already spoken to can later be auto-pathed to via the NPC button on the top right of the screen. Type “Node Management” into the search of the NPC Finder interface and it will list all the Node Managers you have already spoken to, sorted by region.

List of Main Nodes:

1. Town Nodes: Where every sprawling node empire must have its humble beginnings… Every node you purchase, must be connected to a town or city that has a Work Supervisor (most do). Town and city nodes are usually given for free and provide one free worker (free means no Contribution Point cost). Invest energy into town/city nodes to lower starting interest and favor of NPCs in that city/town. Useful for acquiring amity with those obstinate NPCs!
2. Gateway Nodes: these expensive nodes cost too much Contribution Points, but help you connect to more important nodes further away from town.
3. Connection Nodes: produce goods or sometimes just help you expand your empire and connect to other resources and cities. Purchase with Contribution Points or level them up with energy to gain an item drop buff for the enemies you kill around the node’s location.
4. Dangerous Nodes: Be careful when you visit these as they are usually smack dab in the middle of mayhem. Just like connection nodes, they can offer resources in exchange for CP and an item drop buff for your energy.
5. City Nodes: If you see one of these node icons, you’ve landed in the big time baby! Congratulations. 🙂 They are the same as towns in function, but have more lodging for your workers, which you will soon need so you can overthrow the world with your node kingdom.
6. Trading Post Nodes: very similar to connection nodes and usually have Trade Managers with a few housing and production options.

Sub-Nodes (aka Production or Secondary Nodes)

Click on a main location node and it will often have one or more subnodes you can purchase with CP. Subnodes are hidden and some are not visible until you spend energy at the Node Manager.

Sub-node List:

• Farming/Production Nodes: starting out, you will want the nodes that produce starches/grains, so you can craft beer AFK to replenish the stamina of your workers.
  • Starch/Grain Node List:
    • Corn: Toscani Farm (Velia)
    • Potato: Bartali, Finto, Loggia Farms (Velia)
    • Sweet Potato: Shuri Farm (Tarif)
    • Barely: Northern Wheat Plantation (Calpheon City)
    • Wheat: Costa Farm, Moretti Plantation (Heidel) + Northern Wheat Plantation (Calpheon City)
  • Crafting beer also provides a secondary item you can turn in for more CP! If you find you enjoy cooking, there is great opportunity to purchase more food nodes and earn silver. For example, the grape node outside of Olvia is one of the few fruit nodes. It’s the cheapest and easist. (Delmira Plantation has grapes and there are strawberries atop Valtarra Mountains. Yeowoo Pass and Hanji County in LoML have Wild Berry.) Alejandro Farm, which produces Cooking Honey, is good for Cooking as well.
• Mining Nodes: Most ores are in high demand, often have cheap CP costs, and are used in allot of crafting recipes, like the popular +AP Grunil armors. There are many cheap ore nodes around Velia that also offer a secondary item (crystals/powders) besides ore that are used in Alchemy.
• Timber Nodes: Most timber has high value even unprocessed. Some players, who have high enough processing skill, level their processing and make extra money by buying timber and ore directly from the Marketplace and processing it for resale. Timber usually has good demand at the Marketplace. Boat crafters will love you. Sailing, anyone? 🙂 Note: always check pricing before buying to resell.
• Fish Drying Yard Nodes: dried fish is great for people who enjoy cooking, but don’t like to fish! Works wonderful in making Good Feed for pets. Dried fish stack in the bank and your worker does the drying for you. Just selling the dried fish uncooked isn’t very profitable atm, so Fish Yards are only recommended for people who like to cook. Because of their long work cycles and distance, use goblin workers, who have the highest Workspeed/Movement Speed. I recommend Randis Island, just NW of Port Epheria because it yields Seafood along with fish. It costs only 3 CP for the node chain and you get a free worker.
• Excavation Nodes: these little gems are often tricky, but worthwhile to purchase. For many of them, you have to visit the Node Manager and spend Energy (-35 Energy) to open up a sometimes secret Excavation sub-node. Excavation nodes give Trace of Nature. When used in crafting recipes, Traces have a good return. Use goblins in excavation nodes because of the very long work cycles and distances.
• Investment Bank Nodes: Click on a city/town node to view available bank nodes that you can invest gold bars in and possibly earn interest from. Gold bars are purchased at the Storage Keeper for silver. But you must have a rank 1 residence and that could cost real cash. According to Balzor, a few investment banks pay 125 million silver per month, but only if you plan on spending hundreds trying to outrank the current #1 ranking resident. That means buying the newest/smallest furniture from the Pearl Shop. And newer/smaller furniture with better Interior Points are constantly being added to the shop. View Balzor’s Bank Node Guide
• Specialties Node: Like Investment Bank Nodes, these require you to purchase a residence with CP and obtain a rank 1 house where the specialty is located. Rank 1 requires filling your residence with items that have high Interior Points. (could mean buying furniture with real cash.) Takes six hours to craft one item for free that is worth 6k to 50k at the local Trade Manager.

How Does Node Investment Work?

Node investment occurs at a Node Management NPC, unless you have a Value Pack. If you have a Value Pack buff, you can more conveniently purchase nodes from a distance via the map, but it will cost 10 energy for each investment. Also, you must have visited the node previously. (With no unexplored fog over the map.)

To purchase and invest in a node, you will need 1 to 5 Contribution Points. If that node has any subnodes you want to buy, you will need more CP. Contribution Points are obtained by questing, cooking, and alchemy.

Node Managers have the <Node Management> title above their name. Talk to them (R) and select the Node Management button to activate nodes. (35 energy is sometimes required). This will automatically open a world map. If you do this and haven’t connected the right previous node required, long thin beams of light will shoot down from the sky on your world map showing the closest Node Manager locations that you haven’t connected yet (even if there is still a fog over the area because you haven’t visited).

Node Connections

After you have discovered an area and removed the fog over the map, node connections show as thin white lines that curve between the map icons. If you own that connection, it becomes a possible trade route and turns yellow. All your invested node icons are highlighted in yellow as well.

Nodes have to be connected to each other in a chain from a city or town that has a Work Supervisor.

Usually, the CP cost of nodes increases as you move into higher level territories, but you will also obtain new resources, which are used in higher tier recipes.

If you are investing in a node to collect its resources, you will need 1 lodging per worker and enough storage space for the main resource, but also it’s secondary resources. For example, timber often has a smaller yield of an alchemy ingredient along with the timber.

Contribution Withdrawal (Disconnecting Nodes)

Contribution Points are never spent and lost forever. You can withdraw invested CP by using the world map interface, but withdraw in the reverse order that you invested in. For example, you can not pull CP from a node in the middle of a chain, if it breaks another node’s connection to a Work Supervisor leaving it stranded. Also, subnodes have to be uninvested before the main node’s CP is withdrawn. A Contribution Withdrawal button will appear in the Node Information box, after you click on a node and when there is no worker currently working there.

Contribution Withdrawal Errors Much?
“You Cannot retrieve Contributions Points from the Node while the Worker is working”: These types of errors are common, even though you can see that no worker is currently working on the node you want to withdraw Contribution from! Follow your node network from the node you want to uninvest to see if you are trying to disconnect a node that would leave a currently working worker stranded from his Work Supervisor. One strategy that might help is to filter your worker list by City and see which worker is working on which nodes.

Node Investment for Item Drop Rate

You can invest energy into a node to increase the item drop rate of rare items from bosses and monsters that are associated with that node.

How to Invest Energy in a Node

Open the world map (M) and LMB a node. Click “Invest Energy” button.

Item Drop Rate from Energy Investment of Nodes:

• Item Drop Rate increases by 0.5% x the investment level.
• Item Drop Rate increases to 5% at Lv.10.
• Item Drop Rate increases to 10% at Lv.20.

Is Energy Lost When Withdrawing Contribution?

Energy invested in nodes is NOT lost when you withdraw Contribution.

However, nodes that have their CP withdrawn will NOT give the item drop rate buff.

• You must purchase the node again with CP, in order to have your previous item drop rate buff.
• The energy invested will still be the same as when you withdrew your CP from the node.

Which Node Do I Invest Energy In?

Some grinding spots have multiple nodes. However, only one node needs to be invested in for each grinding spot.

Source: https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/News/Detail?groupContentNo=4827

Connecting Nodes for Trade Routes

When you connect one node to another node, you have created a trade route.

This allows you to make distance bonus profits from transporting trade goods you have created with workers and processed goods.

The longer the distance you transport trade goods, the bigger your distance bonus.

One fun and profitable way to level up your trade skill, is to fish and sell the fresh fish.

Guide on Trading

Trading Rework: Trade Manager items can no longer be purchased from Trade Managers and trading is currently being reworked. (Source.)

How Do I Move Trade Goods?

Trade items are heavy. Place the trade items on a Mule, Horse, Wagon, or Elephant nearby to transport the trade goods.

You can also transport Trade Goods via the Storage Manager’s Transport function. Make sure “Trade Wagon” is selected under “Transportation.” This will cost silver, depending on the distance.

Connected trade routes also make transporting bank items via the Storage Keeper from city to city cheaper.

Cooking Nodes

Beginner Friendly Nodes:

I recommend the following nodes for those just starting to Cook. These locations are easy to get to on a low level character and will allow you to cook some basic dishes that will level your cooking and feed your workers.

Cooking Node List

The cooking nodes below are listed by highest silver value per CP. I only included a few important fish nodes. There are many fish nodes in the islands surrounding the mainland.

Node Investment for Alchemy

Herbs, mushrooms, and traces can be obtained by investing Contribution Points in worker nodes.

TIP: To begin, prioritize Alchemy nodes that give Sunrise Herb and Silver Azalea in Balenos and Serendia.

Alchemy Node	Ingredient
Gavinya Coastal Cliff, Valencia Gervish Mountains, Drieghan Cron Castle Site, Balenos Balenos Forest, Balenos	Sunrise Herb
Lynch Farm Ruins, Serendia Northern Plain of Serendia, Serendia	Silver Azalea
Karanda Ridge, Calpheon Longleaf Tree Sentry Post, Calpheon Ancient Fissure, Mediah	Silk Honey Grass
Tshira Ruins, Drieghan	Dry Mane Grass
Ehwaz Hill, Balenos Coastal Cliff, Balenos	Fortune Teller Mushroom
Elric Shrine, Mediah Epheria Valley, Calpheon	Sky Mushroom
Glish Swamp, Serendia Southern Cienaga, Serendia	Cloud Mushroom
Glutoni Cave, Calpheon	Emperor Mushroom
Ivero Cliff, Valencia (T1 to T3) Forest Of Plunder, Balenos	Arrow Mushroom
Kamasilve Temple, Mediah Bree Tree Ruins, Calpheon	Tiger Mushroom
Marie Cave, Calpheon	Ghost Mushroom
Northern Cienaga, Serendia	Dwarf Mushroom
Polly’s Forest, Kamasylvia	Blue Umbrella Mushroom
Rhua Tree Stub, Calpheon	Emperor Mushroom
Weenie Cabin, Kamasylvia	Volcanic Umbrella Mushroom

Excavation Nodes for Trace of Nature

Excavation nodes are important, if you enjoy crafting and like to maximize your income potential by creating stuff with workers or your own skills. Excavation nodes produce a bottleneck item for many recipes, which is called Trace of Nature. If you do not plan to craft, then you might want to avoid excavations, as their node chains can be expensive and the work cycles are too long to make good money. However, if you do craft, you can at least double the Trace’s value, if not more. Be sure to check Marketplace prices before attempting any crafting! Game updates and supply/demand can change a recipe’s value.

Many Excavation nodes are hidden and have to be purchased in person at their Node Manager, even with a Value Pack buff on. This often requires you to purchase the main node first with CP, then you will see an option to spend Energy at an NPC. Energy cost is usually 35… don’t be surprised if you pass out from utter exhaustion for speaking so effusively to your sneaky Node Manager. 😉

IMPORTANT: Be sure you have plenty of space in your worker’s storage location! Many Excavation nodes take up to 5 slots because they produce at least two vendor sell items along with Trace of Nature.

The excavation nodes below are listed by best silver value per day at the top, taking their CP chain cost into account.