Beachcombing

Beachcombing walks the tideline for wrack, the driftwood, rope ends, sailcloth, tar and iron the water gives up on its own schedule. It is the gathering trade that rewards rhythm rather than session length. Every beach quietly banks what washes in while you are away, so the player who checks a shore every morning finds more there than the player who grinds it for an hour and leaves.

How Beachcombing works

Seven shores open in order as your level climbs: Sandflat Cove (1), Wreckmark Strand (15), Gullscream Shingle (30), Tidewrack Reach (45), The Bonefield (60), Stormglass Beach (75) and the Drowned Market (90). A few more appear only at times: The Far Flats with the equinox tides, The Beached Hull after a storm, and Moonwake Shallows once a true chart of the Leviathan Trench reveals it. Each shore sits in a region of the tide almanac, and the published tide for that region colours what it is holding when you arrive.

The part that makes Beachcombing different from every other gathering trade is the wrackline. A beach piles up what washes in while you are not there, up to a cap, and hands the banked haul over on your next visit. Combing the same shore twice in a row pays the ordinary rate. Rotating between shores, or simply coming back tomorrow, pays the banked one. Nothing is missable and nothing expires, but the trade is built to reward looking in on the coast rather than parking on it.

A combing rake speeds every round: Forging makes them in Bronze, Silvern and Runesteel, and the Almanac's plates lift the one you hold. Beachcombing has its own mastery pool and a Toolbelt slot, with the Shell Fork and the Tide Sieve as two ways of working the shore.

Tips for training Beachcombing

1. Rotate shores instead of repeating one. The wrackline banks per beach, so four beaches on a rotation pay more than one beach four times.
2. Beachcombing is the supply line for Shipwrighting. If the Slipway is waiting on rope or sailcloth, this is the trade that unblocks it.
3. Check the tide for a shore's region before you walk it. The Storm Glass shows the days ahead, so a rich tide can be planned for rather than stumbled on.
4. It is a legitimate first trade for a new keeper. Beachcombing and Shipwrighting both come with the free game, so the whole wrack-to-hull loop is open before you spend anything.

Skills that pair with Beachcombing

The 28 trades aren't isolated. Beachcombing works best alongside these:

Frequently asked about Beachcombing

Do I lose wrack if I do not visit a beach?

No. A shore banks what washes in up to a cap and hands it over when you next arrive. Nothing is missable, and nothing is on a timer you have to beat.

Is Beachcombing part of the paid unlock?

No. Beachcombing is free, and so is Shipwrighting, the trade most of its wrack feeds. Scrimshaw and Chartwork are part of the one-time $9.99 unlock.

What is wrack actually for?

Mostly Shipwrighting, which turns rope ends, sailcloth shreds, tar clumps and iron fittings into the parts of your vessel. Scrimshaw carves the Tide Shell, Whalebone and Ambergris, Chartwork plots the Chart Fragments, and Bowcraft twists Rope Ends into bowstrings.