Hey you, pssst, adventurer. Do you want to make a whole load of Skeyt in no time at all? Well, we've got news for you. In Avowed’s Living Lands, you can't. Sorry. The world is going through a blight of the body and soul, you see, and the hard-struck citizens of Paradis, Fior Mes Iverno, and all the other urban strongholds of this afflicted land aren't just going to throw their money at your feet.
Yep, if you want to make it in the beautiful yet dangerous world of Avowed, you're going to have to explore, fight, and bounty hunt your way from (relative) rags to riches. There are no haggling or charisma checks here to get you mates' rates with merchants either, so you're going to need to graft like everyone else. Lucky for you, I’ve put every money-making trick to the test to help get you financially on your feet in Avowed.
Best ways to make money in Avowed
The best ways to make money in Avowed are by:
- Completing bounties
- Completing quests
- Selling unique gear
For the most part, these are things you’re likely to be doing throughout your adventure, though if you’re in need of a quick buck, there are certainly some things you should prioritise. Likewise, there’s also a few tricks to make life easier that you’ve likely overlooked.
Bounties and side quests
Completing main quests will get you a bit of income, but you can bolster that by picking up side quests wherever you go. If you're intent on making money, there's nothing to lose in going to every exclamation mark on your minimap and picking up every side quest possible.
Most of all though, you’ll want to pick up the five bounties available on the bounty boards of every major settlement. Then, when you're out in the wilderness, you can just check your map to see if you happen to be near the location of a side quest or bounty to make a quick buck.
In Dawnshore, completing a bounty will get you 500 Skeyt. This scales up to 750 in Emerald Stair, and increases even further in each subsequent zone. Given that many bounties tend to pit you against special enemies or bosses, you're also bound to get some nice loot from each of these hunts. Side quests, meanwhile, often take you to various sub-areas and dungeons, which tend to have better loot than the overworld.
Marius' money-making hack
Early in the game, dwarven hunter Marius will join your burgeoning party, and he comes with an ability that's probably your most consistent money-making tool in the whole game: Hunter's Sense. This ability has only 10 seconds of cooldown, so you can basically spam it to highlight chests, lockboxes, and other lootable containers in a wide circle around you.
The ability even sees through walls, showing loot as glowing purple orbs, so you can easily track down your plunder. Assign Hunter's Sense to a hotkey, and you've basically got an instantaneous loot-tracker wherever you go. This look can include small amounts of money, resources, and even items that you can sell. Each individual item might not be worth tons but it adds up in no time.
Sell unique equipment
If you're regularly using Hunter's Sense, then you’ll come across heaps of unique gear, which generally fetches a high price. As with most weapons and armour, you can choose to sell or break the gear down into components, but I suggest you sell unique gear rather than break it down. The Pauper's Plate Unique armour, for instance, is worth 1050 gold, and breaks down into 1 Adra, 2 Hylea's Talon, and 2 Tanned Hide.
Now, these ingredients would cost more if you were to buy them individually, but most of them are very common drops in the wilderness, so in practice, you're better off cashing in on unique gear rather than breaking it down, especially if you need the money more than the resources.
Hang tight until Emerald Stair
In Avowed's first region of Dawnshore, making money ain't easy. Yes, you'll get a decent 500 Skeyt for completing bounties and the occasional piece of shiny unique gear, but that's not going to help you afford those exquisite-quality weapons you see in merchants' inventories any time soon (and no, you can't steal them). By all means, explore the world and don't rush things, but don't sweat over making money in Dawnshore either.
Once you get to the game's second region of Emerald Stair, your income can increase exponentially, because suddenly the standard weapon drops from enemies become fine-quality weapons rather than common-quality weapons. While this is only one tier up from common (with another two tiers still available), merchants pay much more for this fine-quality gear—around 600-700 Skeyt apiece. This continues as you progress through into later areas, with ever-increasing loot quality and value to boot.
You won't find too many of these weapons dropping in the overworld, as that's mainly populated by bears and mushroom-folk. To get these drops, you'll want to fight kith (humanoid), undead, and Xaurip enemies, which tend to hang out in the caves and mines dotted around the map. Side-quests and bounties often lead you to these locations, so pick them up where available so that these areas become highlighted on your map (unless, of course, you prefer to explore more organically, which is a big part of the fun in Avowed's lovely world).
