Windrose Guide: How to Get Gunpowder

Windrose hands you a gun right at the start, which feels great until you realize you have almost no gunpowder to use it. That early shortage is intentional, and getting past it requires knowing exactly where to look and what to build. This guide covers every method for getting gunpowder in Windrose, from looting your first pirate camp to running a self-sufficient crafting setup in the Foothills.

How do you find gunpowder early in Windrose?

Before crafting becomes an option, exploration is your only reliable source. The first island has enough Points of Interest (POIs) to give you a small starting supply if you loot every chest, container, and crate you find while working through the tutorial quest. According to IGN's Windrose wiki, loot is randomized in the current Early Access build, so there is no fixed farming spot you can revisit.

The best guaranteed source early on is Blackbeard Pirate Camps. These camps appear on the two islands you visit during the "Rescuing Your Crew" quest, and they are worth prioritizing for two reasons. First, every pirate you kill has a chance to drop Homemade Gunpowder. Second, the camps contain storage items like chests and sacks that regularly hold gunpowder supplies.

Blackbeard Camp loot chest

Caves and ruins scattered across all three islands also contain chests with gunpowder, though the drop chance is lower than what you get from the pirate camps. Treat these as a bonus rather than a primary source.

What are all the ways to get gunpowder in Windrose?

Here is a quick breakdown of every source documented across the available guides:

Ship battles are also worth mentioning. Once you have cannons running, PCGamesN notes that sea combat and random sea loot can supplement your supply while you sail between islands.

Ruins chest gunpowder drop

How do you craft gunpowder in Windrose?

Crafting your own gunpowder is a mid-game unlock that requires working through the Coastal Jungle region first. The full chain looks like this:

Step 1: Unlock the Millstones workstation

According to Method.gg's beginner guide, you trigger the Millstones recipe by picking up Corn from one of the islands. Once you have Corn in your inventory, the Millstone Parts recipe unlocks at the Workbench, costing 15 Stone. You then build the Millstones itself in Build Mode using:

• 1 Millstone Parts
• 15 Wood

Step 2: Gather Ash

Ash comes from burning Wood in a Charcoal Kiln. It is a byproduct of making Charcoal, so you will accumulate it naturally as long as you are running the kiln regularly.

Step 3: Mine Sulfur

Sulfur is the harder ingredient to get. Mining it requires an Iron Pickaxe, and Iron Ore only appears in the Foothills region, which you cannot access until after clearing the Coastal Jungle. Sulfur nodes spawn randomly in the coastal jungles according to Method.gg, but you need the iron tool to actually collect them.

Iron Ore also goes into crafting Millstone Parts, so both the workstation and the crafting ingredient share the same gating requirement.

Step 4: Craft at the Millstones

Once you have everything ready, the recipe at the Millstones is:

• Homemade Gunpowder: 25 Ash + 25 Sulfur

How do you use gunpowder in Windrose?

Gunpowder works alongside bullets to fire ranged weapons like Pistols and Blunderbusses. When you pick up gunpowder, it automatically slots into the Ammo slot in your inventory next to your bullets. Method.gg recommends turning on auto-refill so your weapon reloads mid-combat without manual input.

Pearls found along the beach can substitute for bullets in a pinch, according to PCGamesN, so keep an eye out for those while you are low on crafted ammunition.

Millstones crafting station setup

Gunpowder farming tips for early access

Since loot is randomized in the current Early Access build, there are no fixed chest locations worth memorizing. The most efficient early-game loop is:

• Clear every POI on the starter island during the tutorial for a base supply
• Prioritize the Blackbeard Camps on islands two and three during the crew rescue quest
• Kill every pirate in each camp before looting, since pirate drops add up
• Collect every Old Package you spot, as these consistently contain gunpowder
• Start building toward the Millstones setup as soon as you reach the Foothills

For more Windrose walkthroughs and survival game coverage, browse the latest guides on GAMES.GG.