New grinding areas, Protty Cavern and Sycraia Underwater Ruins have been added to Black Desert Online. Unique monsters, new accessory and gold making items, and a summoned boss have been added.

The new grinding areas are located in the ocean, and you can see some extraordinary underwater scenery when going to the Underwater Ruins. However, you must have a ship in order to get to the grinding areas, which some players may find very inconvenient.

(※ The names of the items and monsters are temporary translations and may be changed once the official terms are released.)

▶ RELATED: Tungrad Ring, the New Top Tier Accessory, Added to BDO KR: Better Than Ring of Crescent Guardian

◆ Protty Cavern

Protty Cavern is a grinding spot located north of Velia and south of Baremi Island. The recommended AP is 170, and you can enter the grinding area by going through the cavern entrance placed in the center of Weita island. There are NPCs inside the cavern from which you can buy potions, repair, and exchange money. If you pass the NPCs to go in further, you will be able to encounter monsters and start grinding.

There are 3 types of main monsters, Protty, Jera Protty, and Kaaz Protty in Protty Cavern. There also are objects like Protty Egg Nest or Black Crystal Seaweed, and small things called Protty Seeds from the Protty Egg Nests that can attack players.

The AP and DP of monsters in Protty Cavern are a little higher than those of the Crescent Shrine, and it is not too hard to kill them when equipped with gear above the recommended AP. However, beware of the damage when Kaaz Protty pours attacks in a pack.

Rainbow Coral Ring is dropped in Protty Cavern. You can also get Ancient Seal - Red Shard, which is sold for a high price, as well as Abyssal Essence (the material needed for the newly added Frenzy Draught), and Abyssal Shard, a new combining item. Also, Sycrid’s Song (which seems to be related to the new field boss and has yet to have its purpose revealed), Ancient Spirit Powder, and Black Stone (Weapon/Armor) are dropped as well.

Normal loot includes Protty’s Fins and Black Stone Eroded Seaweed, each of which are sold for 2,100 and 1,800 silver. Both weigh 0.30LT and Protty’s Fins have a higher drop rate.

◆ Sycraia Underwater Ruins

The recommended AP for Sycraia Underwater Ruins is 230, although you will need much higher AP for easier grinding. The monsters here are quite powerful so you will need to take care of your defense as well. The Sycraia Abyssal Ruins is placed further in Sycraia Underwater Ruins and has a higher difficulty as the recommended AP is 280. You will need an item called Deep Sea Memory in order to go to the Abyssal Ruins where Trungrad Ring and other expensive combining items are dropped.

There are a total of 4 entrances to the Sycraia Underwater Ruins, which is quite tricky to find especially for first-timers. The time it takes to get to the entrance is long, so you will need either Seal Elixir or Splat Fisher’s Clothes for longer diving time. You should also try finding the entrances during the daytime even if you prepared either one of these as it will be dark underwater.

First, try to find the biggest structure after you dive underwater near the Sycraia Underwater Ruins; the structure is shaped like a broken hexagon, from which you can deduce the location of the entrance. If you take one corner of the hexagon as an arrow, you will see the entrances located at 10 o’clock and 1 o’clock. There are two more located at 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock.

If you manage to find the entrance, you will need to go around the barrier to enter the Ruins; for your reference, you cannot enter the Ruins without entering through the entrance so even if you try to swim inside when you find the Ruins at the bottom of the sea, you will be stopped by the barrier. Once you enter the Underwater Ruins, the underwater breathing bar will disappear and you will be able to take actions like you would on land.

There is a General Goods Vendor and Blacksmith in the Underwater Ruins from which you can buy potions or repair your gear. Also, if you open your storage through the Storage Maid, your storage in Velia will appear.

There are monsters that resemble sea life in the Sycraia Underwater Ruins -- there are ray-like Damaged Rykin, shark-like Damaged Firash, and huge crab-like Damaged Kuraba. Damaged Kuraba deals powerful damage, so you may find yourself in trouble if you take its pincer attacks and your DP is low.

These monters’ AP and DP are similar to the monsters in Sherekhan’s Grave during the daytime. There are monsters spawned in a pack in certain spots of the grinding areas, but you will be able to easily grind in packs if you evade well.

The item drops include Tungrad Ring, a new accessory, which comes with 6 AP, 2 Accuracy, and Black Spirit’s Rage +10% as its item effect. It has 1 more AP compared to Ring of Crescent Guardian, a yellow accessory.

You can obtain Scale of Ancient Creature, which you can combine 5 of to summon Sycrid, the field boss. You can summon this boss only once a week via a quest and can obtain items like Tungrad Ring, Ancient Seal - Black/Red Shard, etc.

Other than these, you can also obtain Abyssal Shard, Abyssal Essence, and Sycrid’s Song. You can also obtain Black Magic Crystal - Agility, Swiftness, Memory, and Ascension. Normal item drops include Damaged Ancient Weapons Power Stone, which weighs 0.30LT and is sold for 2,350 silver.