Where to Find Desert Sage in Red Dead Redemption

The vast and brimming open world in Red Dead Redemption offers numerous secrets waiting to be discovered and challenges to pursue. When you’re not fully immersed in the main storyline, you can choose to explore and interact with the world around you through Master Hunter and Survivalist challenges, just like in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The survivalist challenges, in particular, test your scouting skills for rare and exotic plants. These challenges are categorized into ranks, with each rank tasking you to hunt for unique plants. The second rank in the survivalist challenge requires you to find and harvest six Desert Sages. These plants aren’t easily found, as they aren’t too widespread, which can make it time-consuming if you try to look for them without any help. If you wish to save some exploration time and want to know the exact few locations where Desert Sages are aplenty, the following guide should prove valuable.

Where To Find Desert Sage In Red Dead Redemption

While being a rare and exotic plant type, Desert Sages can be found in the following four regions:

• Cholla Springs
• Rio Bravo
• Gaptooth Ridge
• Diez Coronas

You can identify these plants by looking for the bright purple flowers blooming from them.

In Red Dead Redemption, plants, including Desert Sages, are challenging to spot through the naked eyes, as they are often well obscured by the surrounding foliage, and even the time of day can play tricks on you. This is why you should consider purchasing the Survivalist Maps from general stores.

Once purchased, Survivalist Maps are added to your satchel, and you can use them like any other consumable. These maps passively scan the nearby area for plants and highlight them on the mini-map. This effect lasts for 20 minutes, which should be plenty of time to gather 2 to 3 Desert Sages in a run.

Harvested plants respawn after one full, in-game day. So, you can always return to the same spot the next day to harvest the plant again.

Survivalist Challenges & Side Quests That Require Desert Sage In Red Dead Redemption

Besides the Survivalist Challenge Rank 2, you’ll also need two Desert Sages to complete the Survivalist Challenge Rank 10. Knowing the plant’s locations can help you complete the final challenge without extensive exploration.

Similarly, as you ride east of MacFarlane’s Ranch, you may run into an old man picking flowers for his wife. Interacting with him initiates the “Flowers for a Lady” stranger side quest. This quest requires you to possess or collect three Desert Sages, along with Red Sages and Wild Feverfew for the old man.

In the Undead Nightmare DLC, Desert Sages are crucial for completing the survivor mission: “A Cure For Most Of What Ails You.” Later in the DLC, these plants become an essential ingredient for crafting phosphorus bullets.

Lastly, the following achievements are associated with collecting Desert Sages, either to complete Survivalists Challenges or quests:

• Frontiersman
• Redeemed
• Judge A Man By The… (Undead Nightmare)
• Zed’s Dead, Baby (Undead Nightmare)