How to make gunpowder in Windrose

I looked down the barrel of my pistol, pulled the trigger, and click—silence. I knew I had plenty of Stone Bullets for my Windrose enemies, but for some reason, my gun wouldn't fire a thing. And that's when I remembered I needed one other key ingredient, gunpowder.

It was embarrassing for me, but a good time for the friends that heard the frantic click-click-click of my pistol until the roaming hordes of Drowned tore me to shreds. I've since learned how to make my own gunpowder in Windrose, and can offer a little guidance to spare you from the same ordeal.

How to make gunpowder

You'll need sulfur, ash, and a Millstone to make gunpowder

The Millstone crafting menu in Windrose showing the recipe for gunpowder, 10 sulfur and 20 ash
Making sulfur at the Millstone. Kraken Express
The Windrose
Discovering corn unlocks the Millstone Parts.Kraken Express
The
Discovering Sulfur unlocks the gunpowder recipe.Kraken Express

You make gunpowder in Windrose by combining (10) sulfur and (20) ash at a Millstone, but you won't be able to make it until you've completed the main quest Revenge is Best Served Cold. Sulfur deposits require an Iron Pickaxe to mine, and if you haven't fought the first boss, then there's quite a bit left to do in Windrose before you can make gunpowder.

What you'll need to finish to make gunpowder in Windrose:

  • Complete the main quests Rescuing the Crew and I Need a Bigger Boat
  • Kill Thomas Richards and complete Revenge is Best Served Cold
  • Travel to the Foothills and mine Foothills Iron Ore for ingots
  • Travel to the Foothills and discover corn, unlocking the Millstone recipe
  • Make an Iron Pickaxe so you can mine sulfur

Defeating Thomas Richards at the end of Revenge is Best Served Cold unlocks the Discover page for the Foothills and a ton of new resources. Without that step you can't smelt raw iron into ingots, make a Millstone, or craft the Iron Pickaxe.

If you're struggling for gunpowder and can't make it yourself, then I suggest doing the first few steps of the Revenge is Best Served Cold quest. There's plenty inside the enemy camps hiding the four Black Mark pieces.View Deal

How to get sulfur and ash in Windrose

Windrose - A sulfur deposit that looks more like regular stone than sulfur
If you're running by, this Sulfur deposit may look more like regular stone. Kraken Express
Windrose - Clumpy sulfur that's more obviously yellow
And here's sulfur when it's more obviously... well, sulfur. Kraken Express

Despite being unavailable to mine until you reach the Foothills, you can find sulfur in both the Coastal Jungle and Foothills biomes. Sometimes sulfur looks like regular stone with yellow marbling that's easy to miss—you may need to get closer and inspect the boulder. Then there's also a clumpy, more gravely version that's covered in yellow and far more obvious.

Ash is the easy part, since you should have plenty left over from burning wood at the Charcoal Kiln. You can also grind up (2) charcoal at the Millstone and turn it into (6) ash, but I'd avoid wasting that much charcoal since it's a requirement for processing ingots.

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