Windrose hands you a gun almost immediately, then makes you work for the ammunition. Homemade Gunpowder is the resource that fuels every Pistol, Musket, and Blunderbuss in the game, but you can't actually produce it yourself until you've progressed well past the opening islands. Until then, you're scavenging — and scavenging smartly matters.
Quick answer: Craft Homemade Gunpowder at a Millstone using 25 Ash and 25 Sulfur. You need an Iron Pickaxe to mine Sulfur, which means reaching the Foothills biome after clearing the Coastal Jungle.
Why You Can't Craft Gunpowder Right Away
The crafting recipe for Homemade Gunpowder is visible early on, but two hard gates block you from using it. First, Sulfur nodes require an Iron Pickaxe to break. Iron Ore only spawns in the Foothills, a region that doesn't open until you defeat the major threat (boss) of the Coastal Jungle. Second, you need a Millstone workstation, and the parts for that also require Iron. Copper tools — the only ones available on the starting islands — simply can't interact with Sulfur deposits.
Homemade Gunpowder Crafting Recipe and Workstation
Once you reach the Foothills and smelt some Iron Ore, you can build a Millstone and start producing Gunpowder on demand. Here's the full chain of what you need.
| Item | Recipe / Source |
|---|---|
| Iron Ore | Mined in the Foothills biome |
| Iron Pickaxe | Crafted from Iron Ore (smelted into ingots) |
| Millstone Parts | 15 Stone at the Workbench (unlocked by obtaining Corn from one of the islands) |
| Millstone (placed in Build Mode) | 1 Millstone Parts + 15 Wood |
| Ash | Byproduct of burning Wood in a Charcoal Kiln |
| Sulfur | Mined from Sulfur nodes with an Iron Pickaxe |
| Homemade Gunpowder | 25 Ash + 25 Sulfur at the Millstone |
Getting Gunpowder Before You Can Craft It
Several hours of gameplay separate you from the Millstone. During that stretch, looting is your only option. Loot tables in the Early Access build are randomized, so no single chest guarantees Gunpowder — but certain activities are far more reliable than others.
Blackbeard Pirate Camps are the most consistent source. You'll encounter these camps on the second and third islands as part of the crew-rescue questline. Every pirate you kill has a chance to drop Homemade Gunpowder. More importantly, look for Old Packages inside the camps — large, square bundles that sparkle like resource nodes. Each one typically yields a solid amount of Gunpowder. The camps and their enemies respawn periodically, so you can revisit them to restock.
Beyond pirate camps, explore every Point of Interest on the first island during the tutorial. Chests, crates, and containers scattered across ruins and caves can contain small amounts of Gunpowder, though the drop rate is lower and less predictable. Treat this as supplemental rather than a primary farm.
Progression Path to Unlocking the Recipe
The unlock sequence is linear and tied to biome progression. Here's the order of milestones you need to hit.
Step 1: Complete the tutorial on the first island. Loot every container you find to build an initial Gunpowder reserve.
Step 2: Sail to the second and third islands to rescue your crew. Clear the Blackbeard Pirate Camps on both islands and collect Gunpowder from enemy drops and Old Packages.
Step 3: Progress through the Coastal Jungle biome and defeat its major threat (boss). This opens access to the Foothills.
Step 4: Mine Iron Ore in the Foothills and craft an Iron Pickaxe. Use it to harvest Sulfur from the yellow-tinted mineral nodes in the region.
Step 5: Build a Millstone at your camp (1 Millstone Parts + 15 Wood). Load 25 Ash and 25 Sulfur into it to produce Homemade Gunpowder.
Conserving Gunpowder in the Early Game
Because Gunpowder is scarce before the Foothills, melee combat is the practical default for the first chunk of the game. Save your Gunpowder for situations where ranged damage makes a real difference — clearing pirate camps, for instance, or dealing with dangerous enemies like the Drowned. Boars and other wildlife are generally easier to handle with melee weapons and dodging or parrying, which costs you nothing.
Once you have a Millstone running, the bottleneck shifts to Sulfur supply rather than Gunpowder itself. Ash accumulates naturally from Charcoal production, so keeping your Kiln active ensures you always have half the recipe ready to go. Focus your mining trips on Sulfur nodes whenever you're in the Foothills, and you should have more than enough Gunpowder to go guns blazing from that point forward.