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Overview

Abyss Gears are special modifiers that can be socketed into weapons and armor to add elemental effects and powerful follow-up attacks. Every attack type in the game (turning slash, sprinting attack, heavy attack, combo strike, finisher, etc.) can be augmented with specific abyss gears that trigger additional effects when that attack lands. Choosing the right combination of abyss gears is central to optimizing any builds in Crimson Desert, but stacking too many brings diminishing returns due to increased resource costs.

This guide provides a comprehensive ranking of every abyss gear in the game, organized by attack type. Each gear was tested under controlled conditions to produce accurate, comparable results. For more background on the abyss system itself, including how to acquire and socket gears, see the Best Abyss Gears Guide and Abyss Farming articles.

Testing Methodology

All abyss gears in this guide were tested under identical conditions to ensure fair, repeatable comparisons:

• Weapon: War Spike Spears (13 Attack, no refinement applied, fully maxed skill tree).

• Target enemies: Wolf Trackers faction enemies, which provide a consistent health pool for measuring damage output.

• Measurement tool: A Health Detection Device was used to monitor precise enemy health bar changes after each attack.

• Damage values: All percentage values (e.g., "~75% HP") refer to the fraction of a Wolf Tracker's total health removed by a single use of the abyss gear effect.

Because the test weapon had no Gear Refinement applied, the raw numbers represent baseline performance. Players with refined weapons will see proportionally higher damage. The relative rankings between gears remain the same regardless of refinement level.

Key Mechanics: Resource Cost Trade-off

One of the most important things to understand before slotting abyss gears is that they are not a free upgrade. Adding abyss gears to any attack increases that attack's resource cost. Turning Slash uses extra Spirit for each abyss gear stacked on the weapon. Heavy attacks burn more Stamina with each additional abyss gear equipped. This means there is a real trade-off between raw power and sustainability.

In practice, most players find that 2 to 3 offensive abyss gears per weapon provides the best balance between damage output and resource consumption. Stacking four or more offensive gears on a single weapon often leads to running out of Spirit or Stamina mid-fight, which can leave you unable to dodge or continue attacking. Passive modifiers and utility gears do not increase resource costs, so those are always safe to slot.

Keep this trade-off in mind when reading the rankings below. A gear rated "Excellent" for raw damage might not be worth equipping if you already have two other strong gears on the same weapon and cannot sustain the Spirit or Stamina drain.

Turning Slash Abyss Gears

Turning Slash (Right Bumper) is one of the most frequently used offensive abilities for spear and sword users. These abyss gears trigger an additional effect whenever you land a Turning Slash. Because Turning Slash already costs Spirit, stacking multiple abyss gears here can drain your Spirit bar very quickly.

Grace Soul Howling is the clear winner here. The soul entity it spawns effectively doubles your Turning Slash by delivering a second hit in a wide area. Frost Spike is a strong runner-up with consistent AoE damage. Ground Surge (also known as Firewave) deals respectable damage but falls short of the ice option. Wound of Darkness is not recommended for Turning Slash builds because its damage output is far too low compared to the alternatives.

Sprinting Light Attack Abyss Gears

Sprinting light attacks are your main gap-closing tool in combat. These abyss gears activate when you land an attack while sprinting, adding follow-up effects that can hit groups of enemies.

Hound's Claws is the only sprinting light attack gear worth using. It produces a large arcing wave that hits hard and staggers groups of enemies, making it excellent for clearing packs while on the move. Dark Crescent looks visually similar but deals almost no damage. Ancient Retribution provides some crowd control through its pillars but the damage is too low to justify a socket.

Sprinting Heavy Attack Abyss Gears

Sprinting heavy attacks (Right Click while sprinting) are slower but hit harder than their light counterparts. These gears add effects to the charged attack that plays when you hold the heavy attack button during a sprint.

None of the sprinting heavy attack gears are standout performers. Queen's Fangs is the best of the three thanks to its tick damage, but the sprinting heavy attack itself is a relatively slow move that leaves you vulnerable. Piercing Bloom has niche value as a setup tool since its long stun lets you follow up with a full combo. Crow's Storm is generally not worth the charge time.

Parry-Based Abyss Gears

Parry-based abyss gears trigger their effects when you successfully parry an enemy attack. Because parries are reactive and depend on timing, these gears reward skilled defensive play with powerful counterattacks.

Lightning God's Affliction is the best parry gear by a wide margin. The raw damage is high, the knockback is massive, and you get bonus damage when enemies collide with the environment. Howling of Chaos does not deal much damage on its own, but its extended stun duration and wide AoE make it an excellent utility pick for crowd control. Pairing both on the same weapon gives you a devastating parry that both damages and controls groups. Earth Rending Strike is outclassed in every way.

Finisher Abyss Gears

Finisher gears activate when you press light attack on a weakened or staggered enemy. These are execution-style moves that are meant to deal high burst damage to finish off targets.

Warden of Darkness is the only finisher gear worth equipping. At roughly 70% of a Wolf Tracker's health bar from a single activation, it hits nearly four times harder than Order from Above. Arrow Rain is particularly disappointing because the arrows can actually miss, making it the least reliable option in the category.

Combo Attack Abyss Gears

Combo attack gears trigger during your normal attack chains. They are among the most flexible gears because combo attacks are used constantly in regular combat. The "Moon Slash" family of gears (Full Moon, Crescent Moon, and Half Moon) has a special synergy when all three are equipped on the same weapon.

Moon Slash Elemental Synergy

Full Moon Slash, Crescent Moon Slash, and Half Moon Slash can be stacked together on the same weapon for an elemental crossover effect. When all three are equipped, combo attacks shoot ice, fire, and electric projectiles simultaneously. This combination is particularly effective for triggering multiple Elemental Effects at once, which can interact with rune bonuses and elemental weakness systems. Keep in mind that stacking all three will noticeably increase the Stamina cost of your combo attacks.

Heavy Attack Abyss Gears

Heavy attack gears trigger on your standard heavy attacks (not sprinting). These are core damage tools for many builds, and the Stamina cost increase from stacking multiple heavy attack gears can become a serious issue.

Shadow Claw is the clear best-in-class heavy attack gear, but it is locked behind a longer quest line so you will not have access to it early. Until then, both Tor's Orb and Crow's Pursuit are serviceable options. Tor's Orb is better for close-range pressure due to its speed, while Crow's Pursuit has an edge at range thanks to its homing projectiles.

Warning: Combining all three heavy attack gears on one weapon causes Stamina issues very quickly. The cost increase from stacking three gears makes it difficult to sustain a heavy attack rotation without running dry. Most players are better off picking one or two and saving the remaining sockets for utility or passive gears.

Dodge Attack Abyss Gears

Dodge attack gears trigger when you attack immediately after a dodge roll. These are some of the strongest offensive gears in the game because dodge attacks are already a core part of aggressive play.

The dodge attack category contains some of the most powerful gears in the entire game. Spirit's Judgment and Judgment of the Soul both deal devastating damage. Spirit's Judgment is more consistent because its large AoE hits reliably, while Judgment of the Soul has higher potential damage but requires good positioning to get the most out of its linear charge. Ancient Wrath is the most forgiving option since its fireballs track enemies automatically, making it a great choice for players who prefer reliability over maximum burst.

Armor Abyss Gears (Boots)

Armor abyss gears are socketed into your boots rather than your weapon. These trigger based on defensive actions rather than attacks.

Parting Gift is one of the most powerful individual gears in the entire game. Its trigger condition (dodging after taking a hit) is easy to meet in any combat encounter, and the three bombs it spawns deal enough damage to one-shot most regular enemies. Slashing Greeds deals so little damage in comparison that it is effectively a wasted socket.

Unarmed and Glove Abyss Gears

Unarmed Combat gears trigger during grapple attacks. One critical advantage of grapple-based gears is that grapple attacks bypass enemy shields entirely, which makes these gears especially valuable against shielded enemies that are difficult to damage with standard weapon attacks.

Both Putrid Touch and Unarmed Efficite are top-tier picks. Putrid Touch is the safer choice because it delivers consistently high damage on every grapple, while Unarmed Efficite has the potential to nearly one-shot enemies but is slightly less reliable in its activation. Showstopper earns a solid third place thanks to its AoE burst and knockback. Since all grapple attacks bypass shields, these gears are some of the best tools for dealing with defensive enemies.

Elemental Abilities (Keyboard 1-4)

Elemental abilities are activated using the number keys (1 through 4) and consume ability charges. Unlike weapon-based abyss gears, these are standalone attacks that can be used independently of your weapon combos.

Fire Abilities

Ice Abilities

Lightning Abilities

Wind Abilities

Shattering Frost stands out as the best elemental ability by a significant margin. Its combination of high damage, large AoE, freeze effect, and damage over time makes it useful in virtually every combat scenario. Volcanic Eruption is the second-best choice thanks to its reliable AoE. The lightning abilities are both disappointing, and the wind abilities serve niche purposes at best.

Top Recommendations by Category

The following table summarizes the single best abyss gear in each attack category based on the testing results above. These are the gears you should prioritize acquiring and socketing first.

General Tips

• Prioritize refinement over stacking. Abyss gear damage scales with your weapon's Gear Refinement level. A refined weapon with two gears will often outperform an unrefined weapon with four gears because the base damage multiplier is higher and the resource cost is lower.

• Mix offense and utility. Instead of filling every socket with damage gears, consider mixing in utility options like Howling of Chaos (crowd control) or Piercing Bloom (stun setup). The Spirit and Stamina savings let you sustain combat longer.

• Test gears against your target content. These rankings are based on testing against Wolf Tracker enemies. Boss fights, elite enemies, and PvP encounters may shift the value of certain gears. Stun-heavy gears become more valuable against bosses that have vulnerability windows.

• Do not sleep on grapple gears. Putrid Touch and Unarmed Efficite bypass shields entirely through grapple attacks. Against shielded enemies that block most weapon attacks, switching to Unarmed Combat with these gears equipped can be the fastest way to deal damage.

• Parting Gift is a must-have. Because it sockets into boots rather than your weapon, Parting Gift does not compete with your weapon gears for slots. Its one-shot damage potential with an easy trigger condition makes it essentially free power.

• Moon Slash stacking is a style choice. Equipping Full Moon, Crescent Moon, and Half Moon Slash together creates flashy multi-element projectiles, but the combined Stamina cost is steep. For raw efficiency, a single Wind Slash or Abyssal Rays will often do more per resource point spent.

Unlocking All Abyss Gear Recipes

Crafting and upgrading the full roster of abyss gear gems (including the boss-exclusive gems and the passive-bonus ones people build around) requires more recipes than a single vendor line provides. Sources split into two groups: witch vendors and exploration dispatches.

Basic Recipes: The Five Witches

The first and most basic tier of recipes is sold directly by the five witches of Pywel. One of these witches is guaranteed by the main story; the other four are unlocked through the Witches of Pywel side-quest chain. Clearing all five witches gives you the foundation recipes that every build needs before reaching out for the rarer drops.

Advanced Recipes: Six Exploration Dispatch Sites

Additional recipes (including boss-ability gems) come from six exploration dispatch sites, marked on the map with the diamond-and-circle icon. You must send an explorer-tagged companion to each site, and drops are RNG-based. The catch: you only have five explorer companions available, and there are six sites total, so you have to rotate which one you pause while running the others.

• King's Shield Dig Site — unlocked through a Demeniss side-quest chain. Drops lean heavily toward boss ability gems.

• Varheim Ruins — located in Palune (near Odealo). Unlock seems tied to Palune quest progression, though in some cases you can simply walk in. Mostly weapon ability gems.

• Bordig Ruins — out in the Crimson Desert itself. Unlocked by completing the Tash Kelp outlaw-warlord chain (defeating each of the desert outlaw leaders). Rewards emphasise gathering-focused gems like Blessings of Beast, Earth, and Forest. Does not appear to be gated by main-story progress.

• Time-Worn Ruins — north of Bordig, southwest of the desert fast travel marked under the 'R' in 'Desert' on the map. Usually unlocked just by visiting. Notable drops include Infinite Arrows and Legion Main, plus it is the renewable source for Abyss Artifacts.

• Breachwood Ruins — not visited directly. Unlock it by researching the Breachwood Ruins Dispatch Plan at Perorin Village. Drops are again mostly boss ability gems.

• Serpent Shrine — quest-locked behind the shrine's dragon encounter. Mix of main gear pieces and some boss abilities.

Because you can only staff five of the six sites at once, pick based on what your build still needs: if you are chasing boss abilities, pause Bordig; if you are gathering-focused, keep Bordig active and pause one of the boss-ability sites. A full gear set requires on the order of 72 Abyss Artifacts to max, so most players end up cycling all six sites over the course of the run.