TL;DR
- Comrades are Greymane members you recruit through Faction Quests in your Journal
- Look for quests that start with “A Rumor…” inside the Grounds of the Sunrise tab
- You cannot recruit random freeswords — only Greymanes can join your camp
- Talk to Ross at Howling Hill to manage comrades and send them on Dispatch missions
- Matching comrades to the right mission skill type gives bonus rewards
Building up your Greymane camp in Crimson Desert is one of the most rewarding parts of the game. But your camp is only as strong as the people in it. Comrades are the workers behind everything — from gathering food to building wagons. This guide covers exactly how to get comrades, where to find them, and how to use them well.
If you haven’t checked out our full Crimson Desert review, that’s a great place to start before diving deeper into camp management.
How To Get Comrades In Crimson Desert
To get comrades in Crimson Desert, you need to progress through the Greymanes Faction Quests. Open your Journal, go to Faction Quests, then select the Greymanes tab. Recruitment missions typically begin with “A Rumor…” and lead you to a location where old comrades are hiding or working.
Although there are many random freeswords in the world, these are not recruitable, and you’re restricted to your Greymane comrades. So don’t waste time trying to convince strangers in taverns — it won’t work.
The Greymane Faction Quests are split into three tabs:
- Scattered Embers — Side quests from NPCs like Naira, Yann, and Oongka
- Grounds of the Sunrise — Where most of the recruitment quests live
- Greymane Commissions — Requests from comrades already at your camp
The Grounds of the Sunrise tab is where most recruitment missions appear. This is where you’ll spend most of your time hunting down old Greymane members.
Where To Find Comrades In Crimson Desert
Once you’re inside the Grounds of the Sunrise tab, look for missions that start with “A Rumor…” These are your recruitment quests. Each one sends you to a specific location in the world to track down a former Greymane member.
Each recruit brings unique skills that affect dispatch mission performance and may also unlock new camp facilities or services.
For example, completing “A Rumor at Goldleaf Trading Post” brings six people back to camp. They don’t all become workers — some fill other roles like running new shops, a ranch, and a farm. If you want to unlock the ranch and farm, that quest is a priority.
One of the most important early recruits comes from “A Rumor at Glenbright Farm.” Recruiting Brice unlocks the Cook, Quartermaster, and eventually the trading wagon. These are among the most useful camp services and should be obtained as early as possible.
New recruitment rumors tend to surface after major chapter transitions. Return to camp and speak with Marius regularly. He’s your main contact for keeping up with who else might be out there.
How To Use Comrades In Crimson Desert
Talk To Ross
Once you have comrades, head to Howling Hill camp and find Ross. His icon on the map is a helmet, so he’s easy to spot. When talking to Ross, you can either see all the comrades that you have or start a Mission Dispatch.
Once you have upgraded your camp to level 2 and recruited Ross, he will open a location at the camp called the Dispatch Coordinator. After that, you can send comrades out on missions from anywhere in the world using the map. To learn more about how to dispatch the Howling Hill expansion mission, we have a full guide for that too.
How Mission Dispatch Works
Mission Dispatch lets you send comrades out to gather resources passively while you keep exploring or fighting. You could send the Greymanes to collect food, stones, or even fish. The mission will automatically restart once it ends, so you must cancel the mission manually if you want to change the task.
Dispatch missions become available as you discover more locations. Perhaps you ride past a farm one day or you stumble on a meadow filled with wild flowers. Any location in the game that has a map icon on the main map has the potential to be a Dispatch location.
To check if a location has dispatch missions available, hover over it on the map and press Inspect (Triangle on PlayStation, Y on Xbox, left-click on PC). If missions are available, they’ll show up there.
All collected resources end up in the Supply Chest behind Carl at your camp. Items collected in the mission will be available in the Supply Chest, along with things like loot that disappeared after a camp liberation scene.
Matching Skills To Missions
This is where things get interesting. Every Dispatch Mission in the game has a type, and that type is represented by an icon. For example, farming Dispatch Missions have an icon with a bit of corn. You need at least one Comrade with the required skill to actually dispatch on a mission.
Some missions are locked behind specific skills. For example, if you wish to make a wagon in Crimson Desert, you need to have at least one Engineer. Make sure you check the skill requirement before trying to send anyone out.
For missions that anyone can do, sending the right comrade still pays off. You will get more food from a food-related mission if you assign someone with the Farmer skill. Additionally, putting more people will boost the rewards as it unlocks the “Comrade” buff.
Here’s how skill level bonuses break down:
Level 1 is a 10% increase, level 2 is a 30% increase, and a level 3 skill is a 60% increase. If a Comrade has all 3 levels of 1 skill, they provide a 100% Skill Bonus.
So the sooner you upgrade comrade skills, the better your passive income gets.
How To Upgrade Comrade Skills
When you upgrade Howling Hill as a Dispatch Mission, it increases the level of all skills for every Comrade, or unlocks the next skill they have available. This means camp expansion and skill upgrades are directly tied together — growing your camp makes your whole crew stronger at the same time.
For help with how to increase your attack level and defense level alongside camp progression, we’ve got guides for those too.
Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Your Comrades
- Recruit as early as possible. More recruits means more dispatch missions can run simultaneously, and several camp expansions have a minimum recruit count before they can be dispatched.
- Always keep missions running. Deploy freeswords on missions whenever you leave camp. This is the best passive resource accumulation method in the game.
- Prioritize the Glenbright Farm rumor. Getting the Cook and Quartermaster early opens up a lot of camp features fast.
- Send more than the minimum. Always assign extra comrades when you can — the Comrade buff boosts rewards with every extra person you add.
- Check for new rumors after story chapters. Recruitment rumors unlock as you progress the main story, so revisit your faction quests regularly.
Looking for more ways to strengthen Kliff? Check out our guides on the best early build, how to get better equipment, and how to make money fast to keep your camp and character growing together.
Where To Play Crimson Desert
Crimson Desert is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
