Overview
Learn more about Herbalism in The Sims 4, including how to unlock and level up the skill, identify rare plants, and brew all 11 herbal remedies. Whether you're camping for fun or building a survivalist Sim, this guide will help you thrive in the world of Granite Falls.
About the Herbalism skill
- The Herbalism skill comes with The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat Game Pack, and is a 10 level skill.
- Use this skill to learn how to identify wild plants and brew potent herbal remedies.
- Elder, Adult, Young Adult, and TeenSims can all build this skill.
- Sims need to master this skill to complete the Outdoor Enthusiast Aspiration.
How to build Herbalism skill
There are multiple ways for your Sim to build the Herbalism skill. Some interactions are only unlocked when your Sim reaches a certain level of skill.Gain skill by identifying plants found in the wild. To do this, travel to the world of Granite Falls and have your Sim explore near the campgrounds, where they’ll find wild plants growing. Once your Sim harvests an unidentified plant, you’ll find it in their Personal Inventory. Select the plant and choose Attempt to Identify. A pop-up will appear alerting you which plant your Sim has harvested. Sometimes your Sim will be unable to identify a plant. Improving your skill level increases the chance of identifying a plant correctly. Be careful! Some plants are toxic and can have negative effects on your Sims. Sims with a high Herbalism skill can identify toxic versus non-toxic plants. Wild plants to find in Granite Falls: Some of the harder-to-find plants can be found at the Hermit’s House in the Deep Woods. To go here, travel into the hidden world of Granite Falls.
- Chamomile
- Elderberry
- False Morel Mushroom
- Fireleaf
- Huckleberry
- Morel Mushroom
- Muckleberry
- Noxious Elderberry
- Poison Fireleaf
- Toxic Chamomile
If you own The Sims 4 Seasons Expansion Pack, it can be trickier to find some wild plants, as they won’t always be in season!
- 1Travel to Granite Falls Forest National Park in the world of Granite Falls.
- 2Explore The Brambles by finding the hidden entrance located to the left of the Lot, buried deep in the woods. Select the hidden entrance and Explore.
- 3Pop-ups will give you options for how to progress through The Brambles. The following selections will get you through to the secret world:
- Step Forward
- Find Alternate Route
- Sally Forth
- Travel Towards the Sim
- 4Finally, you’ll get a pop-up asking if you want to send your Sim into the Deep Woods.
Once your Sim has gathered some wild plants, they can use these to brew herbal remedies on the stove or an outdoor grill. Select a stove or grill and choose Brew Herbal Remedy. Herbal recipes will be grayed out unless your Sim has the correct ingredients in their Personal Inventory. Hover over the recipe name to see which ingredients your Sim needs. The higher your Sim’s skill level, the more recipes will unlock.
Reading skill books will work towards building skills, but is slower than other methods. Books will only get you as far as level 9 of a skill. To buy skill books:The skill books are:
- 1Select a bookshelf and choose Purchase Books.
- 2In the pop-up, select the drop-down at the top-left that reads Show All.
- 3Choose Skill and scroll through to find the book you want to buy. These will be added to your Sim’s bookshelf.
- Herbalism Vol 1: Let’s Get Brewing!
- Herbalism Vol 2: More to Brew!
- Herbalism Vol 3: Herbal Master
If you own The Sims 4 Discover University Expansion Pack, your Sim can attend skill-building classes. Skill-building classes are rabbit-holes, so your Sim will leave the Lot for some time and then come back when the class is over. Note: Skill Classes are only available between 9 a.m.–9 p.m.
- 1In Live Mode, select your Sim’s phone.
- 2Open the Business app (the briefcase icon).
- 3Choose Sit in on Skill Class (§250).
- 4In the pop-up menu, choose Herbalism. Your Sim will leave the Lot and gain the Herbalism skill while at the class.
If you own The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack, your Sim can learn or teach the Herbalism skill using the Sharing is Caring Whiteboard. You’ll find this in Build Mode.
Herbalism skill levels
As your Sim builds the Herbalism skill, they’ll unlock new rewards, abilities, and interactions along the way.A green progress bar will appear above your Sim’s head and gradually fill up as they’re building a skill. You can also check their progress by:- 1Entering Live Mode.
- 2Selecting the Sim Panel (bottom left).
- 3Selecting the Skills tab.
Don’t want to search for ingredients? If your Sim has a high enough gardening skill, they can take cuttings from wild plants and graft them to grow on their home Lot. For help with grafting, check out our gardening guide.
Unlocks the following recipes:
- Insect Repellant Liniment: 2 x Noxious Elderberry and 2 x Basil
- Keeps bugs away!
- Sadness Alleviation Lotion: 2 x Elderberry and 1 x Firefly
- Makes Sims feel happier.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Deodorizing Cream: needs 1 x Elderberry, 1 x Strawberry, and 2 x Parsley
- Cleans Sims without a shower.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Soothing Skin Balm: 2 x Chamomile, 2 x Basil, and 2 x Locust
- Reduces the duration of insect bites or sunburn (if you own The Sims 4 Seasons Expansion Pack).
Unlocks the following recipe:
- De-stressing Decoction: 2 x Chamomile, 2 x Muckleberry and 1 x Walking Stick
- Removes a Sim’s stress and fear moodlets.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Tummy Therapy: 2 x Huckleberry, 2 x Sage, and 1 x Termite
- Helps Sims with food poisoning and sickness.
Unlocks the following recipes:
- Clear Mind Distillation: 2 x Toxic Chamomile, 2 x Huckleberry, and 2 x Parsely
- Gives a Sim a +2 Focused Moodlet.
- Fireleaf Extract: 2 x Poison Fireleaf, 2 x Morel Mushroom, and 1 x Fire Ant
- Gives your Sim a negative Itch Moodlet, making them uncomfortable.
Unlocks the following recipes:
- Natural Herbicide Oil: 2 x Toxic Chamomile, 3 x Fireleaf, and 1 x Stink Bug
- Removes weeds and plants and prevents them from growing for a short time.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Energizer Infusion: 3 x Muckleberry, Poison Fireleaf x 2, and Dragonfly x 1
- Boost Energy Need.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Rage-Relieving Salve: 3 x Noxious Elderberry, 2 x Fireleaf, 1 x Tomato, and 1 x Rainbow Firefly
- Removes the Angry Moodlet.
Unlocks the following recipe:
- Elixir of Fertility: 4 x False Morel Mushrooms, 2 x Sage, 1 x Basil, and 1 x Will-o-the-Wisp
- Increases chance of pregnancy.
Herbalism skill cheats
When using skill cheats, type in the number of the level you want to reach. For example, putting stats.set_skill_level Major_Herbalism 7 into the cheat bar will get your Sim’s Herbalism skill up to level 7.PC and Mac
PlayStation®
Xbox
- 1Press Control + Shift + C to open the cheat dialogue box.
- 2Type testingcheats true and press Enter to turn on cheats.
- 3Type stats.set_skill_level Major_Herbalism [skill level] and press Enter.