Details of the update for the Global Lab BDO test server, which was released on Friday, October 30, 2026.
Please note that Black Desert test server update information applies specifically to the test server itself and is subject to change when the official servers are updated.
Character Switching Optimization
| Every character in your Family has a role to play in your adventures across the world of Black Desert. Now, switching between those characters is about to get easier. We’ve shared occasional updates on this feature at past Balls, and we’re excited to finally bring it to you. You can now switch to a tagged character instantly, without a loading screen. You can also see your other Family characters at their respective locations throughout the world and switch to them on the spot without a loading screen. We’ve also optimized loading when switching to a character in another location. When loading is required, you’ll be able to see the two characters interact during the switch instead of watching the usual loading screen. Once loading is complete, you can end the scene immediately. We’ll keep working to make your adventures more convenient. This update also lays the groundwork for the Family Dispatch system, which we hope to share more about soon. Thank you. |
Instant transition to a transferred character
Improvements have been made so that when switching between characters – provided they are not currently performing any individual actions – the active character changes immediately via the character-switching UI.
- An “instant switch” can only be performed if the character possesses an available emergency evasion skill. Consequently, once an instant switch is executed, the emergency evasion skill will be placed on cooldown.
- The instant switch feature is now restricted to “transferred” (linked) characters that have reached level 20 or higher.
- If a character is currently performing an action, the switch will be processed via a character-change animation.
- Please note that an instant switch is not possible while participating in certain types of content. In such cases, attempting to switch via the character-selection UI will instead trigger the standard character-change animation.
- The behavior of the instant switch feature varies based on the current action state of the transferred character, as detailed below:
| Before change | Before change | After change | After change | |
| When going around together | In the case of individual action | When going around together | In the case of individual action | |
| Character Switching UI | Transition occurs via a loading screen after transforming into the Black Spirit. | Transition occurs via a loading screen after transforming into the Black Spirit. | Immediate transition | Transition via the character-swapping sequence screen |
| Switch to the character selection screen | Transition occurs via a loading screen after transforming into the Black Spirit. | Transition occurs via a loading screen after transforming into the Black Spirit. | Transition via the character-swapping sequence screen | Transition via the character-swapping sequence screen |
- Changes have been made to allow switching to a tagged character via the ESC menu even in the following situations:
- During Node/Conquest Wars or the War of the Roses
- While in the Great Ocean or the desert
Show other characters in the Family and switch characters instantly
- You can now see other characters within your Family that are active in the world of Black Desert.
- These characters are visible only to you; other adventurers cannot see them.
- Only characters within your Family that have reached level 20 or higher will be displayed.
- You can instantly switch to another character within your Family by approaching them and interacting with them.
- In the case of a “transferred” character—a character linked to another so they can travel together—the character will appear as the one from whom the transfer originated; you can select which character to switch to while interacting with them.
- You cannot perform an instant switch if your currently active character is mounted on a vehicle or mount.
- To perform an instant switch to another character in your Family, the conditions must allow for a character change. In other words, if a character change is currently restricted- for example, because a character is in the middle of using a skill or performing another action—an instant switch is not possible.
- When a character enters combat—for instance, by taking or dealing damage—all other characters within the same Family will transform into a “Black Spirit” state, rendering them unable to interact with anything. Once 20 seconds have passed without the character taking or dealing any damage, they will revert to their original form, and interactions will once again become possible.
Optimize character change speed and add animation
- The following improvements have been made when changing characters through the ESC menu.
- Character change speed has been optimized.
- Directions have been added when changing characters.
- Depending on the relationship between the character being connected and the character being changed, a special appearance may be displayed when changing the character.
- During the character-switching animation, if the message “Press ESC to skip animation once loading is complete” appears in the bottom-right corner, you can press the ESC key to switch characters immediately.
Class Fixes and Changes
- [Shai] Fixed an issue where animations appeared abnormal when affected by Stiffness, Knockback, or Guard Crush status effects.
- [Shai] Fixed an issue where Stamina would recover while under the Stiffness status effect.
Item
Imperial Delivery Seal Improvements
| The exchange options and required amounts for the Golden Seals, obtained through Imperial Delivery, have remained unchanged for a long time. As the game has evolved through continued updates, so has the value of the exchange items, leaving few worthwhile choices beyond a handful of higher-value items. To give Adventurers more useful options, we’ve prepared a new Imperial Delivery Seal. We’ve removed exchange items that no longer suit the current state of the game and adjusted the required amounts for the remaining items to better reflect their value. We’ll continue reviewing Imperial Delivery to ensure it remains rewarding for Adventurers who enjoy Life Skill content. Thank you. |
- The Imperial Court has begun issuing new seals to adventurers who deliver tribute.
 Splendid Golden Seal – [Imperial Cuisine] | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| new | Imperfect Lightstone of Flora х1 | – | 150 |
| Saved | Supreme Cooking Utensil х1 | 500 | 500 |
| Black Essence: Cobelinus х1 | 400 | 75 | |
| Sunset Dyed Wool х1 | 100 | 100 | |
| Milk х50 | 50 | 25 | |
| Egg х100 | 50 | 25 | |
| Deleted | Manos Cook’s Clothes х1 | 10000 | – |
| Manos Tanning Knife х1 | 10000 | – | |
| Manos Butcher Knife х1 | 10000 | – | |
| Spellbound Tool Box х1 | 200 | – | |
 Splendid Golden Seal – [Imperial Fishing] | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| new | Imperfect Lightstone of Flora х1 | – | 15 |
| Saved | Black Essence: Carmae х1 | 250 | 10 |
| Black Essence: Addis х1 | 250 | 10 | |
| Gold Key х1 | 70 | 35 | |
| Breezy Conch Seaweed х1 | 25 | 3 | |
| Deleted | Manos Fisher’s Clothes х1 | 50 | – |
| Epheria Frigate: Light Plating | 50 | – | |
| Epheria Frigate: Lillia Cannon | 50 | – | |
| Epheria Frigate: Red Breeze Sail | 50 | – | |
| Epheria Sailboat: Brass Figurehead | 40 | – | |
| Epheria Sailboat: Enhanced Plating | 40 | – | |
| Epheria Sailboat: Julia Cannon | 40 | – | |
| Epheria Sailboat: High Winds Sail | 40 | – | |
 Splendid Golden Seal – [Imperial Conquest] | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| Saved | Ancient Artifact Pot х1 | 100 | 30 |
| Ancient Slate Ornament х1 | 100 | 50 | |
| Ancient Artifact China х1 | 100 | 50 | |
| Black Essence: Hystria х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Black Essence: Cobelinus х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Black Essence: Addis х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Black Essence: Carmae х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Black Essence: Viper х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Black Essence: Harphia х1 | 80 | 20 | |
| Ancient Kamel Statue х1 | 50 | 30 | |
| Black Essence: Black Spirit Crystal х1 | 20 | 20 | |
| Deleted | Spellbound Tool Box х1 | 50 | – |
| Splendid Golden Seal – [Imperial Training] | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| new | Rare Courser Training Box | – | 30 |
| Saved | Swaying Wind Shard | 1 | 1 |
| Rumbling Earth Shard | 1 | 1 | |
| Powder of Ascension | 12 | 10 | |
| Black Essence: Viper | 12 | 3 | |
| Stonetail Wind’s Meal | 40 | 25 | |
| Stonetail Tonic | 40 | 25 | |
| Registration: Light Brown Camel | 5 | 1 | |
| Registration: Deep Brown Camel | 15 | 1 | |
| Deleted | Grand Prix Vera’s Scroll | 100 | – |
| Storm Horse Gear Box | 2 | – | |
| Courser Training Reward Box | 2 | – | |
| Granverre Feather Champron | 50 | – | |
| Granverre Leather Barding | 50 | – | |
| Granverre Leather Saddle | 50 | – | |
| Granverre Metal Horseshoe | 50 | – | |
| Granverre Leather Stirrups | 50 | – | |
| Manos Trainer’s Clothes | 100 | – | |
| Manos Riding Crop | 100 | – | |
- The “Rare Courser Training Box” is a new item that, when opened, grants 20 units of one of the following items: Stonetail Fodder, Pure Forest Breath, Rainbow Gem Fruit, Breezy Conch Seaweed, or Deep Blue Hoof Root.
| Splendid Golden Seal – [Work Supervisor] ※ The acquisition quantity for [Work Supervisor] — an item used for the Golden Seal exchange — has been adjusted to align with the required amount for the unified currency exchange. | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| new (Weekly Exchange) | [Velia] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | 70 |
| [Heidel] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Calpheon] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Altinova] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Grána] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [O’draxxia] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Duvencrune] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Eilton] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Valencia] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Yukjo Street] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Moodle] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Muzgar] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Hakinza Sanctuary] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Angavu Outpost] Professional Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| New (Always Exchange) | [Velia] Worker Contract Box | – | 100 |
| [Heidel] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Calpheon] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Altinova] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Grána] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [O’draxxia] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Duvencrune] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Eilton] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Valencia] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Yukjo Street] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Moodle] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Muzgar] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Hakinza Sanctuary] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| [Angavu Outpost] Worker Contract Box | – | ||
| Saved | Imperfect Lightstone of Flora | 10000 | 500 |
| Deleted | [Velia] Worker Contract Box I | 5000 | – |
| [Heidel] Worker Contract Box I | 5000 | – | |
| [Calpheon] Worker Contract Box I | 5000 | – | |
| [Altinova] Worker Contract Box I | 5000 | – | |
| [Velia] Worker Contract Box II | 10000 | – | |
| [Heidel] Worker Contract Box II | 10000 | – | |
| [Calpheon] Worker Contract Box II | 10000 | – | |
| [Altinova] Worker Contract Box II | 10000 | – | |
| Splendid Golden Seal – [Imperial Alchemy] | |||
| Classification (Changes relative to Golden Seal) | Items for exchange | Required number of seals before change | Required number of seals after the change |
| new | Imperfect Lightstone of Flora х1 | – | 35 |
| Trace of Nature х1 | – | 1 | |
| Saved | Magical Shard | 40 | 20 |
| Supreme Alchemy Tool | 100 | 100 | |
| Black Essence: Hystria | 250 | 150 | |
| Deleted | Imperial Trace Box | 50 | |
| Spellbound Tool Box | 80 | ||
| Scorched Fragment | 100 | ||
| Manos Alchemist’s Clothes | 5000 | ||
| Manos Fluid Collector | 5000 | ||
| Manos Hoe | 5000 | ||
| Notice Regarding the Removal of ‘Golden Seals’ With the introduction of the new Imperial Delivery seal, ‘Imperial Seals’ the existing ‘Golden Seals’ will be converted into ‘Reward Seal’ according to the schedule below: Korea: During the scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, December 2, 2026 Global: During the scheduled maintenance on Thursday, December 3, 2026 ※ Details regarding the exchange rates for converting each type of ‘Golden Seal’ into ”Reward Seal ‘ will be provided at a later date. |
Monsters
Inner Edania: Improvements to Khalk Hunting
- Inner Edania: The display radius for messages that appear during combat with Khalks has been increased by 150%.
- To address issues where shots from a matchlock would be blocked by thorn bushes, the starting position for Khalks in combat has been adjusted to a higher elevation.
Inner Edania: Hunting Improvements
- The “Energy of Edania” buff, which can be obtained by defeating monsters in the areas outside Edania, has been improved.
- If you possess this buff and defeat any of the following monsters within a certain distance before the buff’s duration expires, the buff’s remaining time will be refreshed:
- Cliffside Mountain
- Golden Leaf Snake
- Rock Elephant
- Coral Stoneback Crab
- If you possess this buff and defeat any of the following monsters within a certain distance before the buff’s duration expires, the buff’s remaining time will be refreshed:
- In the battle against the boss Aal – encountered during an Edania quest – the encounter has been improved so that characters will no longer die if they fail a specific mechanic during the second phase.
- The HP of monster groups – specifically “Golden Pigs” and “Bandits” – that appear in daily quests in the Morning Light has been reduced by approximately 67%.
Quest, Knowledge
- All legacy main quests in the Mediah region – with the exception of the currently available main quest, “[Mediah] Dark Energy that Looms Over Mediah” – have been removed.
- Consequently, for any character currently in the midst of these legacy Mediah main quests, the progression has been reset; regardless of their previous status, these characters can now begin the questline anew, starting from the first quest: “[Mediah] Dark Energy that Looms Over Mediah.”
Revisions and Changes
- Fixed an issue where the cooldown for Moodle Gukbap, Byeot County Gukbap, Dalbeol Gukbap appeared to reset when switching a character to Succession state
- Improved the combat behavior of Basam and Urku during the ‘Great Strides’ step of the ‘[Aresion] Recurring Trials’ questline.
- Fixed an issue where an error message would appear when attempting to equip a previously expired, time-limited title after re-obtaining it and logging back into the game.
- Corrected the descriptions that appear when hovering the mouse over the following category in the Hyper Boost UI:
- [Armor] Defeat Black Shrine bosses to obtain Primal-grade armor.
- Fixed an issue where the durability notification UI – displayed in the top-left corner of the minimap – would sometimes remain visible even after repairs had been performed.
- Corrected awkward phrasing in the knowledge entry for ‘Black Shadow.’
- The quest description for “Clean Water for Clean Beer” has been updated, changing “a bottle filled with murky water” to “a bottle filled with river water.”
- An issue where players could not interact with the “Mysterious Pumpkin” during the “Mysterious Pumpkin Growth Spurt Potion” quest has been fixed.
- References to the “Light Orb” have been removed from the descriptions of the following quests:
- “[Daily] The Geuseunsae Rain on Your Ritual,” “[Daily] Suspicious Bandits” and ” [Daily] Golden Pigs, the Gold Mine Robbers”
- An issue where the frame rate would drop when enabling pathfinding for the quest ” [Daily] Hampering Monsters in the Sea” has been fixed.
- An issue where the movement of certain gates at Hermesia Castle appeared unnatural has been fixed.
- An issue where certain attack animations of the Priest of the End appeared unnatural has been fixed.
- An issue where the sea level displayed on the minimap would constantly fluctuate in certain locations has been fixed.
- An issue where bushes near the Marni Cave path in Calpheon were floating in mid-air has been fixed.
- An issue where the “In Progress” or “Completed” status indicators were missing from the headers of certain quests in the Quest UI has been fixed.
- An issue where the mount inventory would not appear in the Storage UI, even when a mount was nearby, has been fixed.
- An issue where damage was not applied correctly when a character was launched into the air by an attack from the “Deposed Crown Prince” during combat has been fixed.
- An issue where the reward icon for the “[Weekly] Obtain Rawr-Rawr’s Loot” quest appeared incorrectly on the World Map (M) has been fixed.
- An issue where Rawr-Rawr’s would occasionally appear with an unnatural visual glitch has been fixed.
- Fixed an issue where a character would continue to receive experience points after reaching the maximum level when completing certain main quests.
- An issue where a “Processing…” pop-up window would appear when exiting the Altar of Blood has been fixed.
- An issue where certain terrain areas within the outer regions of Edania allowed for unnatural movement has been fixed.
- An issue where awkward terrain features were visible at specific locations on the Asula Highlands has been fixed.
- An issue that prevented the placement of the “[Manor] Caphras Tree” and “[Manor] Divine Tree of Crimsonroot” – both of which are furniture items for the Manor – outside the Manor has been fixed.
- An issue where the game could occasionally freeze when left idle for an extended period without any key inputs has been fixed.
- [Gamepad Mode] An issue where the UI focus (snapping) could move beyond the boundaries of the Adventure Log interface has been fixed.
