There are a lot of plants in Red Dead Online, each with their own uses that make them worth collecting when you get the chance, but the Harrietum Officinalis is unlike anything else in the game. If you want to experience the transformative properties of this rare herb, you'll want to follow our guide.
Most plants and herbs in Red Dead Online do simple things, such as restore health, and many can be crafted into various medicines or used as ingredients for poisons. With the latest update to the game, a new and unique herb has been added to the world that does something unlike anything else: transform you into an animal.
While many speculated that this would be included in a Halloween update, it is now confirmed to be real through the new herb called Harrietum Officinalis, obviously named by the new NPC added with the Naturalist update. This little herb isn't easy to come by unless you know just where to look, so we'll show you the best locations to find it so you can let out your wild side.
Where To Find Harrietum Officinalis In Red Dead Online
In order to actually use Harrietum Officinalis to turn into an animal, temporarily of course, you will actually need to track down and collect five samples of the rare herb and go to a specific spot on the map to transform. First speak to Harriet herself to learn about her special concoction she's working on and get the pamphlet from her. Make sure you pick up as much as you can when you do find some since you will use them up fast.
Best Spots To Get Harrietum Officinalis
Harrietum Officinalis is found all over New Hanover, West Elizabeth, and Ambarino. You might find a few on the Northern edges of New Austin, but you have much better odds staying North of Hennigan's Stead. They seem to stop once you head all the way up by the Grizzlies, so keep below the mountain range as well.
Despite the name, there won't be any Harrietum Officinalis anywhere around Harriet's camp as an easy place to grab some. Your best best at finding the herb is to look around the Kamassa River near the Roanoke Ridge area of New Hanover. While you can certainly find them in other spots, they tend to grow in clusters in this area making it easy to gather them up. The downside is that this spot is a good distance away from where you need to take them in order to actually transform into an animal, so you'll have to weigh that cost yourself.
Another spot that's easier to reach is in the Big Valley and Tall Trees areas of West Elizabeth. The plants here are much more spread out, though, so you'll have to cover more ground looking to get enough.
Regardless of where you find them, you can only collect Harrietum Officinalis from a location once per day before they respawn. Quitting out or changing servers will not reset them.
How To Transform Into An Animal
In order to turn yourself into a wild buck, the only animal you can turn into, you will need to take your collection of five or more Harrietum Officinalis to Little Creek River. Once there, you need to interact with a golden scent found on a tree you can see on the pamphlet Harriet gave to you. Once you do, you will take control of a buck to do whatever you like until you're forced back into your human form.
At the moment you can only transform into a single animal, the buck, for five minutes, but odds are more animal options will become available in the future.