Overview
The Dark Marksman Plate Set is a four-piece armor set in Crimson Desert. Every piece was once worn by Samara, the Sandwatcher, an optional boss found in a fortress in the northern Golden Plains. The set is scattered across ruins, caves, and fortresses in the northeastern portion of the Demeniss region. Unlike many other armor sets, collecting these pieces does not require defeating a boss; each piece is found in a treasure chest hidden behind environmental puzzles or secret entrances.
The set has a distinctive full-black color scheme and a menacing, armored silhouette. Its most notable visual feature is that it does not include a separate helmet. Instead, the Plate Cloak has a built-in hood and plate mask that overrides the visual of whatever headgear the player has equipped. This gives the set a unified, imposing look without requiring a dedicated headgear slot. The hood can be toggled on or off depending on player preference.
Set Pieces
The Dark Marksman Plate Set consists of four pieces. All are found in the northeastern Demeniss region:
Piece | Slot | Earlier acquired DEF; not a uniform +0 baseline | Refinement | Special Effects | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 3 | See article | Forgotten Watchtower ruins, underground room | ||
3 | 3 | See article | Forgotten Watchtower ruins, upper floor | ||
Cloak | 3 | 3 | Fire Resistance Lv.3, built-in hood/mask | Warrior's Soul Cave (behind waterfall), NE Demeniss | |
Chest Armor | 10 | 3 | Castle south of Valley of the Moon, NE Demeniss |
The earlier table assumes refinement 3 for every pickup, but the separate guide and raw curves have differing displays. Compare the actual refinement and installed gears. Each matched record includes +10 at a Blacksmith using the appropriate refinement materials. This makes the set viable well into the endgame when fully refined.
How to Collect the Set
For the chest, the guide names Fort Musket: approach the hole on its southern side from the right to avoid soldier fire, crouch through the wooden door and continue to the chest. For gloves, use Force Palm on the Forgotten Watchtower trapdoor or unlock the door with a Key. For the cloak, use Stab at the Warrior's Soul Cave waterfall. The guide displays chest Defense 9, gloves Attack 12/Defense 5/Movement 1, boots Attack 14/Defense 4/Movement 1 and cloak Defense 3/Fire Resistance 3; these differ from the older table and should not be normalized by blindly adding installed core values.
1. Plate Boots: Forgotten Watchtower Ruins
The Dark Marksman's Plate Boots are found at Forgotten Watchtower, east of Golden Plains and southeast of the Spire of Clockwork. Take the outside stairs to the basement, watch the red warning for falling debris, then use Force Palm on the wall with the square figure to reach the chest. This documents the action more precisely than the older generic punch-button instruction.
2. Plate Gloves: Forgotten Watchtower Ruins (Upper Floor)
The Dark Marksman's Plate Gloves are also located in the Forgotten Watchtower ruins, but on the upper floor rather than the underground level. Climb to the upper floor and look for a suspicious floor panel. Crouch down and use Force Palm on the panel to break through it, revealing the treasure chest containing the gloves below.
3. Plate Cloak: Warrior's Soul Cave
The Dark Marksman's Plate Cloak is found inside Warrior's Soul Cave, a hidden cavern behind a waterfall in northeastern Demeniss. The cave is along the Denn River in Drywind Valley. Players must use the Stab ability (R1 + Triangle / RB + Y) to thrust through the waterfall and enter the cave. The cloak is inside the main treasure chest at the end of the cavern. See the full Dark Marksman's Plate Cloak article for detailed directions.
4. Plate Armor: Castle South of Valley of the Moon
The Dark Marksman's Plate Armor (chest piece) is located in a castle south of the Valley of the Moon in northeastern Demeniss. The castle has a concealed side entrance: a small doorway in the wall that requires crouching to pass through. Once inside, navigate the interior to find the treasure chest containing the chest armor.
No Helmet Piece
Unlike most armor sets in Crimson Desert, the Dark Marksman set does not include a separate helmet piece. This is because Samara does not wear a helmet in her boss encounter. Instead, the Plate Cloak comes with a built-in hood and plate mask that visually overrides whatever Headgear the player has equipped. The headgear's stats remain active, but the visual is replaced by the Dark Marksman hood. Players can toggle the hood on or off depending on their cosmetic preference.
Refinement and Endgame Viability
The raw records give chest Defense 4 to 41; gloves Attack 10 to 34 and Defense 4 to 21; boots Attack 12 to 36 and Defense 0 to 17; cloak Defense 0 to 12 with Fire Resistance Lv.3 and Stamina Cost -8%. The occupied gear lists are chest Fortification I/Vitality I/Composure I, gloves Haste I/Shockward I and boots Haste I/Fortification I. Vex is a named seller for all four, and each has a Smith recipe with three eligible sealed Power Cores total plus 30/20/10/30 Abyss Cells for chest/gloves/boots/cloak respectively. Those routes do not establish first-stock gates or make the older pickup display a current +0 baseline. Hood behavior, dye results, precise timings and old name aliases remain separate inherited observations.
Keep earlier acquired displays separate from raw stat progression. Through the refinement system, each piece can be upgraded to Refinement 10, significantly increasing its defensive stats. A fully refined Dark Marksman set provides competitive defense values for endgame content. The chest piece in particular scales well, going from 10 DEF at Refinement 3 up to 41 DEF at maximum refinement.
Because the pieces are found scattered in the open world rather than locked behind boss drops or quest completions, players can start collecting the set relatively early. The Forgotten Watchtower ruins and the Warrior's Soul Cave are all accessible once the player reaches the Demeniss region, making this a strong early-to-mid-game set that remains relevant through refinement.
Dye Compatibility
The Dark Marksman set works well with the dye system. While the default color is pitch black, the set's material properties respond cleanly to dye application, making it one of the more versatile sets for fashion-focused players. Each piece can be dyed independently, allowing for mix-and-match color schemes.
Connection to Samara
Every piece of the Dark Marksman set includes a lore description referencing Samara, the Sandwatcher. The cloak, for example, reads: "A plate cloak once worn by Samara, the Sandwatcher. The fabric is heavily permeated with the stench of gunpowder." Samara herself can be fought as an optional boss at a fortress in the northern Golden Plains. Defeating her yields the Gustav Musket and Shadow Contract, but the armor set itself is collected separately from the world.
Notes
All four pieces are found in the northeastern portion of the Demeniss region. Players can collect the entire set in a single exploration sweep of the area.
The boots and gloves are both located in the same ruin (Forgotten Watchtower), making them easy to grab in one visit.
Some community sources refer to this as the "Dusk Marksman" set. Both names refer to the same armor.
Defeating Samara is not required to collect any of the armor pieces.
The set can be mixed with other armor pieces. The cloak's hood override works regardless of what other set pieces are equipped.