How to Get Gunpowder in Windrose
Gunpowder is the bottleneck for every gun build in Windrose: you need it loaded alongside bullets or your musket simply won't fire. There are two ways to get it — looting (available from the start) and crafting at a Millstone (mid-game, after reaching the Foothills). Here's both, with the exact numbers.
Fastest early game: loot it
- Blackbeard pirate camps are the reliable source — pirates there drop Homemade Gunpowder when killed, and camp chests and supply caches carry it too. Camp map icons show a chest counter (e.g. 0/3) so you know when a camp is cleared.
- Old Packages (large square bundles that sparkle like resources, sometimes called cloth bales) found in camps give 9–15 gunpowder each — always grab them; they don't count toward the chest counter.
- Chest loot is randomized in Early Access, so there's no fixed farm spot — clear every point of interest on the tutorial islands and you'll bank a healthy reserve.
Crafting recipe: 25 Ash + 25 Sulfur at a Millstone
Crafting unlocks well into the game. The full chain, in order:
- 1. Reach the Foothills — clear the Coastal Jungle first. Sulfur and iron only exist there.
- 2. Discover Corn (grows wild, also at Ancient Farms in the Foothills) — this unlocks the Millstone Parts and Millstone recipes.
- 3. Build the Millstone from Millstone Parts + Wood.
- 4. Get an Iron Pickaxe (5x Foothills Iron Ingot + 5x Wood at a Level 2 Workbench) — needed to mine Sulfur.
- 5. Make Ash by burning Wood in a Kiln.
- 6. Combine 25 Ash + 25 Sulfur at the Millstone to craft Homemade Gunpowder.
Why guides disagree on the numbers: published ratios for this recipe are all over the place — you'll see 20 Ash + 10 Sulfur, 10 Ash + 20 Sulfur, and 25 + 25 depending on which site you land on, and the two 20/10 variants are simply mirror images of each other, which is what copying between guides looks like. We list 25 Ash + 25 Sulfur because that's what in-game reports since launch consistently show, and we keep re-checking it weekly. Cost per craft also depends on how many units a batch makes, which several guides never state — another reason the numbers look inconsistent.
Alchemy Bench method (unconfirmed): some recent guides mention crafting gunpowder from 2 Sulfur + 1 Charcoal at an Alchemy Bench as an alternative to the Millstone. We haven't been able to confirm this against a dated, first-hand source, so treat it as unverified — if it works in your build, tell us and we'll add it properly. Either way it doesn't replace the Millstone chain above.
If a patch changes any of this, tell us and we'll update the page. Last checked: August 13, 2026.
Why won't my gun fire?
"No bullets or gunpowder" means exactly that — you need both in your ammo slots. Bullets are the cheap half: Stone Bullets (3x Stone), Copper Bullets (1x Copper Ingot), or Iron Bullets (1x Foothills Iron Ingot) at the Workbench — see the full crafting database. Higher ballistic tiers hit harder.
Can't find corn?
Corn is the recipe key for the whole gunpowder chain. It grows wild in the Foothills and appears at Ancient Farms — if you're not finding it, you're likely still in the Coastal Jungle biome. Push the main story forward first.