Irradiated Valakkar Pearl (Grade AA)
Harvesting
- Category
- Animal
- Sub-type
- pearl
- Source
- Valakkar
Required by contracts(3)
- Rayari Inc · Contractorcollect 5
- Rayari Inc · Sr. Contractorcollect 10
- Wikelocollect 12
AI Overview
Compiled by AI from community sources — may be incomplete or inaccurate; verify before relying on it.
A high-grade, radiation-altered pearl harvested from the hide of a Valakkar sandworm — one of the most valuable handheld harvestables in the game, traded for millions of aUEC and used as a turn-in item for Wikelo Emporium ship contracts.
What it is
The Irradiated Valakkar Pearl is an organic, gem-like nodule that forms inside a Valakkar's body. As the giant sandworm burrows through rock and grit, sharp debris occasionally penetrates its thick hide. When the creature cannot expel the irritant, its skin grows around it, coating the foreign object in successive layers of organic matter to isolate it from the vulnerable dermis and prevent infection — the same biological process that produces a real-world pearl. Over time these nodules can grow substantial in size. The "Irradiated" variant comes from a Valakkar that was exposed to radiation over a long period, which the in-game description says gave the pearl "unusual properties." Physically it is a roughly spherical carryable object about 0.17 m across, weighing around 12 kg, classified as a size-1 miscellaneous/harvestable item. It must be carried with two hands and is stackable in the player's Personal Universe inventory.
Sources:starcitizen.toolsfinder.cstone.spaceapi.star-citizen.wiki
Gameplay use
The pearl is primarily a high-value turn-in and trade commodity rather than a consumable or craftable. Its main use is as a collection-contract item for Wikelo, the Banu trader who runs the Wikelo Emporium network. Players accept a specific collection contract at an Emporium station, deliver the exact required materials through the station's freight elevator, and receive a reward (ships, vehicles, weapons, or armor) in that station's local inventory. Valakkar pearls and fangs are among the rarer items Wikelo's contracts demand — for example, one chain toward the Starlancer MAX is reported to require Grade AAA Valakkar Pearls alongside other rare goods. Outside of Wikelo turn-ins, pearls are actively bought and sold on the player marketplace as a trade good.
Value & where to sell
These pearls are among the most expensive handheld items in the game, but prices are entirely player-driven and extremely volatile. There is no fixed vendor base price; the item is not sold by any in-game shop. On player marketplaces (UEX corp, sc-market, cstone), grade-AA listings have appeared as high as ~10M aUEC per unit, while grade-AAA "Want to Buy" listings have sat around 800K aUEC and higher-end asks for top grades have reached into the millions and beyond. Generic (ungraded) Valakkar pearls have traded around 200K–500K aUEC. Because supply depends on difficult Apex Valakkar kills, prices swing widely between patches and between buyers. Treat any figure as a rough, time-sensitive snapshot — verify current listings before trading.
Sources:uexcorp.spaceuexcorp.spaceuexcorp.spacesc-market.space
Where to harvest
Pearls come from killing and looting Valakkar sandworms, so harvesting means hunting the creature in the desert and volcanic biomes it inhabits. Valakkar are found on bodies such as Pyro I, Daymar, Leir III, and Monox (Pyro), living near mineral deposits and just beneath the planet surface. The irradiated, highest-grade pearls specifically come from the Apex Irradiated Valakkar, which must be summoned: players harvest a Valakkar egg, use the death cries of its larvae (via an Altar) to lure the apex creature, then kill the roughly 300 m beast. Looting the defeated Apex Valakkar's chiton/skin yields the pearls (and fangs). This is endgame-tier combat content tied to Pyro and missions like Storm Breaker.
Sources:theimpound.comrobertsspaceindustries.commmopixel.com
Source
The pearl is a body part of the Valakkar, a species of gigantic sandworm (commonly called the "sandworm") native to Leir III in the Leir system, which has since become an invasive species on Monox in the Pyro system. Valakkar have armor-plated bodies, a three-lobed mouth, and spit projectile sand and rock at aggressors. They progress through three life stages: juveniles (~5 m, territorial), mature adults (~15 m, actively predatory), and apex adults (up to ~300 m, ecosystem-dominating). The irradiated pearls in particular are sourced from the Apex Irradiated Valakkar.
Sources:robertsspaceindustries.comtheimpound.comstarcitizen.tools
Grades & variants
Valakkar pearls are sorted by quality into multiple grades that became visually distinguishable in the 4.2.x Wikelo update. The Irradiated line spans (from lowest to highest) Grade C, Grade B, Grade A, Grade AA, and Grade AAA, with AAA being the rarest and most valuable tier. Grade AA sits just below the top: it is a premium, high-quality pearl worth far more than the common grades but a step under the apex AAA pearls that the toughest Wikelo contracts demand. The grade reflects the size/quality of the encased nodule, which in turn scales with the maturity and condition of the Valakkar it came from. Related Valakkar harvestables in the same family include Irradiated Valakkar Fangs, Hide, and Eggs.
Effects
No consumable, medical, or buff effects are documented. The pearl is an inert trade/turn-in object — the "unusual properties" referenced in its description are flavor lore (the result of long radiation exposure) rather than a gameplay buff. It is not eaten, applied, or used as a medical item.
Lore & trivia
The pearl's lore mirrors real-world pearl formation: an irritant trapped in living tissue, slowly encased in protective organic layers. The "irradiated" framing ties the Valakkar to Pyro's harsh, radiation-soaked environment, where the species became invasive after spreading from its native Leir III. The Valakkar is widely nicknamed the "sandworm" by the community, an obvious nod to Dune, and the Apex hunt — summoning a 300 m monster by luring it with the death cries of its own larvae — is one of the game's marquee creature-hunting set pieces, introduced/expanded in the Alpha 4.2 era. The item's internal class name is `Carryable_2H_FL_Vlk_Pearl_Irradiated_High_02`.
Sources:theimpound.comapi.star-citizen.wikirobertsspaceindustries.com
Some data from starcitizen.tools (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).