Tips and Tricks

Overview

This page collects the most useful tips, hidden mechanics, and practical advice for Crimson Desert. Whether you are just starting out in Hernand or deep into the later chapters, these tips will help you fight smarter, explore more efficiently, manage your inventory, and avoid common mistakes. Many of these mechanics are never explained by the game itself, so reading through this guide before diving in can save hours of frustration and missed opportunities.

Crimson Desert is a sprawling open-world action RPG with dozens of interconnected systems that are never fully explained by the game itself. Whether you are just stepping into the continent of Pywel for the first time or already deep into the mid-game chapters, these tips and tricks will help you make the most of every mechanic at your disposal. This article complements the Beginner's Guide by focusing on specific, actionable advice rather than broad overviews.

Combat Tips

Food Is Your Only Healing

There are no healing potions in Crimson Desert. All healing comes from eating food during combat. You can eat one piece of food roughly every 2 seconds with no limit, so the difficulty of any fight depends largely on how much food you bring. For tough bosses from Chapter 5 onward, bring at least 100 pieces of Grilled Meat. You can eat while attacking with quick strikes, or dodge while recovering to full health.

The Best Healing Food

Basic Grilled Meat (1 raw meat per serving, 80 HP restored) is the most efficient healing item. With 10 raw meat you get 10 Grilled Meat for a total of 800 HP. By contrast, the more expensive Hearty Grilled Meat consumes far more raw meat for only marginally better healing per piece. Stock up on cheap "Tough Meat" from the butcher in Hernand (restocks nightly at midnight) and cook it at any campfire or cooking pot. You can also cook food on the ground using Blinding Flash's focused light ability. Simply place raw food on the ground and aim your focused light at it to cook it. Make sure to desummon your pet first, because pets will eat raw food off the ground before you get a chance to cook it.

Palmar Pills: Free Revives

If you have a Palmar Pill in your inventory when you die, it automatically triggers and revives you with 30% of your total health. The game does not notify you when one is consumed, so keep track of how many you have. Never sell or discard them. The refined version of the Palmar Pill is even more valuable: it revives you to 100% health instead of 30%. You can find refined Palmar Pills inside hidden caves behind waterfalls throughout Pywel.

Sharpen Before Boss Fights

If you spot a Grindstone near a boss arena entrance, the game is giving you a localized advantage. Always sharpen your weapon at a Grindstone and repair your armor at an Anvil before entering a boss fight. Grindstones give a temporary +5 attack boost and Anvils give a temporary +5 defense boost. These temporary buffs stack with permanent Refinement levels. Grindstones and Anvils are also found scattered throughout the open world, not just near boss arenas. Make a habit of using any you pass.

Kill One, Stun the Rest

When you kill an enemy in a group, those around the fallen enemy are briefly stunned. Be aggressive, focus one target down quickly, and the chain reaction makes mopping up the rest much easier.

Sprint Kick to Open Fights

Sprint at an enemy and press the interact button (F on keyboard, Y on Xbox, Triangle on PlayStation) to deliver a powerful kick that knocks them down. This is a great way to initiate combat against groups.

Blocking vs. Dodging

• Human bosses: parry with L1/LB to interrupt their attacks, then follow up with quick R1/RB combos.

• Shield/blocking enemies: use R2/RT heavy attacks to break their guard. Light attacks do not drain their stamina.

• Monster bosses: dodge their attacks and strike during the recovery window after their combo finishes. Most monster attacks cannot be blocked.

Blinding Flash Is a Multi-Purpose Tool

The Blinding Flash ability (Lantern button + Light Attack) does far more than just reveal hidden objects. The focused light version can set vines and wooden structures on fire, destroy flying enemies that are otherwise hard to reach, and cook food placed on the ground. When the game tells you to "light an arrow on fire" for a puzzle, you can often skip the arrow entirely and just aim your focused light at the target instead. The Blinding Flash finisher is also one of the strongest combat skills in the game: it stuns all nearby enemies, leaving them open for free follow-up damage.

Barricade Impale

Wooden barricades found throughout enemy camps are not just obstacles. If you knock or push an enemy into a barricade's spikes, they will be impaled on the wooden stakes. This counts as an instant kill regardless of the enemy's remaining health. During siege battles and camp liberation encounters, look for opportunities to kick or use Giant Swing to throw enemies directly into nearby barricades for efficient crowd control.

Giant Swing: Extended Spin

The Giant Swing ability (unlocked at Grappling Level 3) can be extended far beyond a single rotation. After grabbing an enemy with Triangle + Circle during a Pump Kick or Dropkick, hold both buttons down instead of releasing them. Kliff will continue spinning the enemy around for as long as you have stamina, dealing damage to any nearby enemies caught in the swing arc. This is especially effective when surrounded by groups, since each rotation hits every enemy in range. Release the buttons to throw the grabbed enemy when your stamina runs low.

Faster Turning Slash

Turning Slash has a long wind-up animation that leaves you vulnerable. You can skip most of that wind-up by jump-canceling: jump first, then immediately input Turning Slash while airborne. Your character skips the preparation frames and goes straight into the spinning attack. The spin portion of Turning Slash carries hyper armor, meaning you cannot be knocked out of the animation during the spin itself. By jump-canceling the wind-up, you transition into that hyper-armored phase much faster, which drastically reduces your vulnerability window in fights against multiple enemies.

Stab Attack Hold

The Stab attack (R1 + Triangle) can be charged by holding the input rather than tapping it. A held Stab extends the thrust animation and increases both the damage and the distance Kliff lunges forward. The charged version is especially useful for closing the gap against retreating enemies or for piercing through the water tension at waterfall cave entrances. Combine this with the Stab's innate bleed effect for significantly higher sustained damage against tough targets.

Secret Tackle Commands

The tackle move used to capture bounties alive has additional hidden inputs beyond the basic grab. After initiating a tackle during a roll (press Circle + Triangle together mid-roll), you can follow up with different commands depending on timing. If you press Triangle immediately after the tackle connects, Kliff performs a ground slam that deals heavy damage. Pressing Circle instead lets you hold the enemy in place longer, which is useful for carrying bounties. Pressing R1 after a successful tackle transitions directly into a Stab on the grounded enemy. These follow-ups are never explained in any tutorial but work consistently once you learn the timing.

Disarm Trick: Knock Weapons Loose

The Disarm Mechanic extends beyond the Shield Bash technique covered elsewhere. Certain heavy attacks and grappling moves can also knock weapons out of enemy hands. When you successfully disarm an enemy using any method, the dropped weapon becomes a lootable item on the ground. Your pet can pick these up automatically. This is one of the best ways to farm Abyss Gear from armed soldiers, since their swords and shields each carry separate Abyss Gear attachments. See the Disarm I through Disarm III skills for more details.

Porcupine Bleed Damage

Porcupines are one of the few wildlife creatures in Pywel that can actually inflict bleed damage on the player. If you step on or attack a porcupine at close range, its quills deal damage and apply a bleed status effect. This can catch you off guard during exploration, especially in wooded areas. Keep healing food ready when moving through forests where porcupines roam. On the other hand, you can use this to your advantage: lure enemies near porcupines and the quills will bleed them too.

Cooking Tips

• Always cook raw food before eating it. Cooked food provides significantly more healing than raw ingredients, and cooking is free.

• Merchants restock at midnight. When the in-game clock hits 0:00, vendor inventories reset. You can rest at cooking pots to advance time and restock vendors.

• Cooking buffs matter. Certain meals temporarily increase your stamina cap or speed up stamina recovery. Cook buffing food before tackling difficult encounters.

• Fish for ingredients and silver. Fishing restores Stamina and HP while providing ingredients that cook into high-value meals you can sell for a good price.

Recognize Super Armor

When an enemy attack produces a blue splash effect, that means the attack has super-armor properties and cannot be interrupted by normal strikes. Counter these attacks with super armor-breaking abilities or simply dodge out of the way.

Using Focus Mode to Learn Boss Patterns

Beyond its combat applications, Focus Mode is an incredible learning tool for boss fights. Activating Focus Mode during a boss encounter slows time to a crawl, letting you read incoming attacks as if you were watching a slow-motion replay. Every wind-up, every tell, and every tracking adjustment becomes visible in a way that real-time combat obscures.

This is especially helpful against bosses with attacks that have aggressive auto-tracking. Some boss swings follow your position well past the point where a dodge should have cleared you. In Focus Mode, you can dodge during the slowdown, and the auto-tracking becomes significantly less effective. At minimum, you can use Focus Mode to slow time enough to swap to a different weapon or elemental type mid-fight without getting hit during the transition.

Exploration Tips

Use Your Lantern and Blinding Flash Constantly

Your Lantern detects nearby Memory Fragments (blue glow) and points of interest (orange glow). Blinding Flash (Lantern button + Light Attack) emits a burst of light that reveals Sealed Abyss Artifacts, fast travel points, and other secrets with blue glints in the distance.

Guiding Light Reveals Nearby Secrets

Use your sword's Guiding Light ability (L1 + R1 on PlayStation, LB + RB on Xbox, Ctrl + Left Click on PC) to mark nearby fast travel platforms and Abyss Artifacts with a blue glimmer. This is especially useful from elevated positions where you can survey a wide area.

Bell Towers Clear Map Fog

Every major city in Pywel has a Bell Tower that you can climb. Ringing the bell at the top clears the fog of war on the world map for the surrounding area and marks major locations on your map. However, hidden locations will not appear just from ringing a bell. For the best results, explore an area thoroughly on foot first, then ring the bell. That way you can compare what you have already found against the newly revealed map markers to identify anything you missed. If you prefer the completionist approach, ringing all eight Bells scattered across Pywel will remove all fog from the entire world map at once.

Fast Travel Points Are Hidden in Question Marks

The large white question mark circles on the map either hide Abyss Nexus fast travel points or puzzles that unlock Abyss Cressets. Both types serve as fast travel destinations, but Abyss Cressets also reward an Abyss Artifact when activated. Look for a circular platform carved into the ground. Stand in the center and hold your lantern to activate it.

Fast travel in Crimson Desert requires activating Abyss Nexus and Abyss Cresset points scattered across the map. The large question-mark circles on your map often hide one of these two types of fast travel locations.

Waterfall Caves

Almost every waterfall in Pywel hides a cave behind it. Look for stacked rock pillars along the edge of the waterfall, which indicate a hidden entrance. Use the Stab ability to push through the rushing water and enter the cave. These caves typically contain unique gear, refined Palmar Pills (which revive you to 100% health instead of the standard 30%), and other valuable items. Make a habit of checking every waterfall you encounter during exploration.

Skydiving for Fast Travel

Press R3 on the world map to access the sky view. From sky island fast travel points, you can dive directly down to ground locations, often faster than riding on horseback. You can also use the Abyss fast travel network to get around more efficiently. Even if you have not visited the area below a sky island, you can fast travel up to the island and jump off to reach the ground below quickly.

Activate Hernand Fast Travel Early

You will return to Hernand constantly. Make activating the town's fast travel point one of your first priorities. Before you gain access to your camp, there is a bed and private storage available in the temporary lodgings at the top of Hernand. Use this early-game storage to free up inventory space.

Smash Every Crate and Barrel

Crates and barrels can be broken throughout the world, and they almost always contain items. In the wild, this is free loot with no consequences. In towns, breaking crates counts as stealing and will affect your reputation. Your pet may automatically pick up items from broken containers, so keep your pet summoned while clearing areas.

The Abyss Is Worth Exploring Thoroughly

The Abyss sky islands above the world contain far more than just the story objectives. Stay and explore each island fully before moving on. You will find tons of Abyss Artifacts, unique equipment, and elemental attack unlocks scattered across the islands. Completing the puzzles and challenges on each island is one of the most efficient ways to power up. If you fall off an island, press the left analog stick to cling to the Abyss energy, then use the escape option to respawn on the island rather than plummeting to the ground.

Spire of Insight

The Spire of Insight functions as a viewpoint mechanic. Climbing one and activating it gives you a panoramic view of the surrounding region, which can help you plan your exploration route.

Pole Vaulting with Banner Pikes

You can pole vault by pressing the jump button twice while holding a Banner Pike. Banner pikes are found in major towns like Hernand and in hostile bandit camps. In friendly towns, you need to equip a mask and steal them. Pole vaulting launches you up and forward, making it a great way to clear gaps, jump over spiked palisades, and reach areas without spending Spirit on Force Palm. Unlike combat use, pole jumping does not consume the pike's durability, so you can keep vaulting indefinitely. It is also quieter than using magical abilities, making it useful during stealth infiltrations.

Activate Fast Travel Points While Mounted

A recent patch updated the fast travel system so you can now activate Abyss Nexus points while moving, without needing to stop and dismount first. Previously, activating a fast travel point required you to dismount your horse, walk to the platform, and hold your lantern. Now, simply riding close to an Abyss Nexus while mounted is enough to trigger the activation. This saves considerable time when exploring new areas, since you no longer have to break your momentum every time you pass a travel point.

Drink from Fountains

Fountains found in towns throughout Pywel are interactive objects that most players walk past without noticing. Approach a fountain and press the interact button to drink from it. Drinking restores a small amount of health and stamina at no cost. This is a free way to top off your resources while wandering through towns between quests, especially useful in the early game when food is scarce.

Draw Water from Wells

Wells scattered across towns and villages let you draw water for free. Walk up to a well and interact with it to pull up a bucket of water. Each pull yields 5 water, and you can repeat the process as many times as you want, though each pull takes about 10 seconds. Water is a key ingredient in alchemy recipes, particularly for crafting Palmar Pills (which require 2 water per pill). Instead of buying water from vendors, check for wells in every town you visit. There are wells in Hernand, Deinus, and most other major settlements.

Transplant Live Fish

When you catch fish through the fishing system, some species can be placed into bodies of water near your Greymane Camp. Approach a pond, pool, or water trough at the camp and use a live fish from your inventory to release it into the water. The fish will remain there permanently, adding a decorative element to your camp. This is a purely cosmetic feature but one of the many environmental details that show the level of simulation in the game.

Mud and Freezing Water Detail

The environmental simulation in Crimson Desert extends down to the smallest details. When water freezes during cold weather, you can see the ice forming outward from the edges of puddles and mud patches. Mud itself behaves realistically: characters leave footprints, and during rainfall the mud becomes visibly wetter and more reflective. These are cosmetic details, but they serve as visual indicators of temperature and weather changes that affect gameplay. Cold weather drains stamina faster, and frozen water surfaces can be walked across to access shortcuts.

The world map of Pywel starts almost entirely covered in fog of war. There are 8 Bell Towers hidden across the continent. Climbing to the top of each tower and ringing its bell triggers a panoramic camera sweep and summons a Shai child who magically clears the fog for the surrounding region. Ringing all 8 bells unfogs the entire world map automatically.

This should be one of your highest priorities whenever you enter a new region. An unfogged map reveals roads, topography, points of interest, and Mysterious Energy zones, making navigation significantly easier and preventing you from wandering into areas you are not prepared for.

Activating Fast Travel Points

• Abyss Nexus: Look for ruins that seem out of place. Step on the pressure plate on the floor and hold your position for a few seconds to activate the fast travel point.

• Abyss Cresset: These are smaller waypoints often found near roads and points of interest.

• Guiding Light: Your sword's Guiding Light ability (L1+R1 on controller) marks nearby fast travel points with blue glints, making them easier to spot in the field.

Fast Travel Tips

• Dismount before teleporting. You cannot fast travel while mounted. Get off your horse first.

• Activate the Hernand fast travel point immediately. The Abyss Nexus north of Hernand is a location you will return to constantly. Activate it as soon as possible.

• Activate the Greymane Camp waypoint. After Chapter 4, when you obtain Focus Force Palm, head to Karin Quarry to grab the Transporter and activate the fast travel point near your camp.

• Use the sky map. Press R3 to access the sky map and skydive between locations. This is sometimes faster than traditional fast travel for nearby destinations.

The lantern is a simple tool that many players overlook, but it has several important uses beyond lighting dark areas. Hold the lantern button to pull it out, and it will highlight interactive objects in your environment, including collectibles, hidden items, and lootable containers that you might otherwise walk past.

• Spotting steal targets: While holding the lantern, characters carrying valuables will have their purses glow gold, letting you identify worthwhile pickpocket targets.

• Finding hidden loot: The lantern reveals chest and shelf interaction prompts that are not visible without it. If you see a container in a building, hold out the lantern to check if you can loot it.

• Abyss discovery: The lantern can highlight certain Abyss-related objects and environmental clues that are otherwise invisible.

Do Not Over-Explore Too Early

Many important mechanics and traversal abilities, including Focus Palm Force and Flight, are only unlocked by progressing through the main story. If you branch off to explore side content too early, you will run into areas and puzzles you simply cannot complete yet. The recommended point to start exploring freely is after finishing Chapter 3, when the foundations of the Greymane Camp are established and your core abilities are available.

Watch Your Fall Damage

Gravity in Crimson Desert is realistic and lethal. Always reserve some stamina for gliding before hitting the ground. If you are free-falling, dip in and out of your glide by canceling it briefly to let stamina regenerate, then resuming the glide before impact. As a backup, horses ignore fall damage entirely, so mounting up before a big drop can save your life.

Loot the Witch of Wisdom Sanctums Early

Three Witch of Wisdom Sanctums in the Hernand area contain chests with high-quality Abyss Gear. The enemies inside these sanctums only spawn once their respective questline is active, so you can loot the chests safely by visiting before you start the questline.

Sanctum Puzzle Dials

At the end of each Sanctum, after clearing the main challenge, there is an additional secret puzzle involving a rotating dial. To activate it, use the Sword Glint ability (your sword's light beam) on the dial's main mechanism. The puzzle works like a timing game: a small indicator moves around the dial's circumference, passing through gems and gaps. You need to hold the light beam steady when the indicator crosses a gem and cut the beam off when it passes through a gap between them. Think of it as a rhythm or Morse code sequence: light on for gems, light off for gaps.

Successfully completing the full rotation (360 degrees) unlocks a secret reward, typically a new recipe for the Kilden Shop. These recipes let you craft unique items like the various cuckoo packs. If you have been skipping these dials, go back and complete them since the rewards include some of the game's most useful craftable tools.

Visit the Hernand Highlands Cavern

Located southeast of Greymane Camp in the Howling Hill area, this cavern allows you to mine diamonds from the very start of the game. Diamonds are a key material for crafting Abyss Gear, making this an extremely valuable early stop.

Do not limit yourself to the main chambers when running Abyss content. The side areas, fractured platforms, and floating islands adjacent to each Abyss region frequently hide unmarked secrets. Small islands and cracked platforms may conceal hidden passageways beneath them. Some of these passages require power cores obtained from Abyss puzzle completions to open. If you have a spare power core in your cuckoo pot, try carrying it to suspicious-looking locations near the Abyss periphery. Many players have found Tier 3 Abyss Gears and other high-value loot hidden behind these secret doors in both early and late game areas.

Equipment and Economy Tips

Hidden Shop Items: Examine Objects

When browsing shops, use Ctrl (PC) or LB (Xbox) / L1 (PlayStation) to examine objects on shelves and tables. Some items are not listed in the vendor's regular inventory and can only be purchased this way. Hold the button long enough for the game to register the inspection.

Rob the Bank for Early Silver

Buy a Mask from any Back Alley Shop (10 Bronze) and a Key from the masked merchant near the windmill outside Hernand (30 Copper). Equip the mask, walk into the bank, turn left, and approach the locked side door. The key is consumed automatically. Inside you will find chests and strongboxes loaded with silver. Each stolen item is worth 40+ silver. Your Contribution Rank with Hernand drops slightly for each theft, but this is easily recovered by completing requests and defeating enemies.

Keep Boss Weapons

Unique weapons dropped by bosses have special effects. Do not sell them. Notable examples include the Sword of the Lord (Boss #2) for quick strikes and the Tauria Curved Sword (Boss #6) for heavy attacks and crowd control.

Buy Inventory Bags Early

Many merchants in Hernand sell Small Bags for 50 Copper each. These expand your inventory capacity. Pick them up early since inventory space fills up fast once you start gathering materials, food, and loot.

Merchants Restock at Midnight

Vendor inventories reset every in-game day at midnight (0:00). If a shop is sold out of something you need, rest at a nearby cooking pot or campfire to skip time.

Recipes and Letters Can Be Sold After Reading

Once you read a recipe or letter, it is permanently learned. The physical item is no longer needed and can be sold for a small amount of silver.

Fast Money Methods

• Mining high-priced ores: sell Iron and Copper Ore to merchants for steady income.

• Archery Contest: located at Lioncrest Manor (House Alfonso). Each round pays 80 coins and can be repeated as often as you like.

• Bounty missions: collect notices from House Celeste, track targets, subdue them, and return to the Guard Station for silver rewards.

• Flower picking: flowers sell for decent prices and grow everywhere. Pick hundreds during exploration for passive income.

• Gambling: gambling minigames in towns can yield quick silver if you understand the mechanics, though the risk of loss is real.

High-Altitude Ore Extraction

Some of the most valuable ores in Pywel are embedded in cliff faces and rock walls, well out of melee reach. You have two options for harvesting them. The first is to use Charged Shot (hold the ranged attack button to charge, then release) to shoot the ore node from the ground. The projectile impact dislodges the materials and they drop to your feet. The second option is to climb the wall using the Force Palm triple-jump technique (see the Movement Tips section below), position yourself next to the ore deposit, and mine it directly. Both approaches work, but Charged Shot is faster and does not cost Spirit. Keep an eye out for glowing ore veins on canyon walls and mountain sides; these high-altitude deposits often contain rarer minerals that ground-level nodes do not.

Steal from the Fireplace at Lioncrest Manor

Inside Lioncrest Manor, head to the ground floor and approach the fireplace. Equip a mask first, then hold out your lantern. You will see a steal prompt appear near the fireplace. Interact with it to pull out a hidden Gold Bar worth 500 silver when exchanged at a bank. The gold bar respawns every three in-game days, making this a renewable source of income. Visit during daytime when fewer guards patrol the interior. To enter the manor, climb the back wall and open a window on the upper floor.

Backpack Steal and Pickpocketing Nobles

Beyond standard pickpocketing, you can steal from nobles who carry gold bars by bumping into them with the steal button held down. The best farming location is the Demeniss Wildlife Park, south of Demeniss City. The park is filled with noblemen wearing distinctive bunny hats, and because there are no guards patrolling the area, any alert from a failed steal dissipates quickly. Before attempting to pickpocket, hold out your lantern to scan nearby NPCs and see what they carry. Most visitors carry ordinary goods bags, but some carry gold bars. Only target NPCs whose pockets show the outline of a Gold Bar.

Steal Gold Bars and Artifacts Efficiently

Gold bars are hidden throughout the world in places you might not expect. Check fireplaces, locked cabinets, and noble residences. Every gold bar you find should be deposited at a bank for 500 silver rather than sold to a merchant for only 190 silver. Beyond gold bars, certain rare artifacts can be stolen from display cases and shelves in wealthy homes. Use your lantern to highlight stealable objects in any building you enter. Always equip a mask before attempting theft to protect your reputation. See the Stealing and Theft Guide and All Gold Bar Locations for full details.

• Vendors restock at midnight. When the in-game clock reaches 0:00, all merchant inventories reset. Rest at a cooking pot to skip time quickly.

• Collect bounties for silver. Apprehending bounty targets marked on your map is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to earn silver.

• Buy ore from weapon merchants. If you need copper or iron ore for refinements, weapon merchants in Hernand sell both at reasonable prices.

• Check the supply chest at camp. Items you miss during exploration are automatically sent to the supply chest at Greymane Camp. Check it periodically to avoid losing loot.

Inventory and Storage Tips

Private Storage: Your Supply Chest

Your Supply Chest functions as private storage with 230 slots. A recent patch updated the Supply Chest to allow both withdrawals and deposits, so you can freely move items in and out. Store weapons and Abyss gear that you want to keep but do not need to carry. Crafting materials need to stay in your personal inventory for crafting, but everything else can go into the chest. Check your Supply Chest regularly after clearing encounters, because items your pet does not pick up are automatically sent there.

Use the Inventory Group Function

Open your inventory and use the group function to sort like items together. You can group food, elixirs, insects, crafting materials, and other categories into organized clusters. This makes it much easier to find what you need in the heat of combat. A recent patch also removed key item status from certain items, freeing up additional inventory slots that were previously locked.

Box and Storage: Key Details

Your Supply Chest storage capacity was expanded significantly in a recent patch, growing from 230 slots to up to 1,000 slots as you upgrade your Greymane Camp. Each camp expansion tier adds more storage slots. Make upgrading your camp a priority, since additional storage space lets you hoard crafting materials, rare items, and excess gear without worrying about bag space. Note that a separate trick lets you remotely stash items by dropping them near a bed and sleeping: when you wake, the dropped items are automatically transferred to your Supply Chest.

The Recurring Inventory Bag

On the road between Hernand and Deinus, there is a broken cart with a large bag sitting on one of its wheels. Picking up this bag instantly grants you +10 inventory slots. The bag respawns every seven in-game days, which means you can return to the same spot repeatedly and keep collecting +10 slots each time. This works until you reach the cap of 240 total inventory slots. After that, the bag instead drops crafting materials (roughly 15 flawless stone per visit), which makes it a decent late-game farming spot for materials even after you have maxed out your storage.

Progression Tips

Focus Upgrades on Kliff

Concentrate your resources and upgrades on Kliff since he is the character you control for the vast majority of the story. The other playable characters (Damiane and Oongka) have their own separate progression but limited playtime.

Priority Stats

There is no level system in Crimson Desert. Your stats come entirely from gear upgrades and spending Abyss Artifacts on passive bonuses. Prioritize Health Level 4 and Stamina Level 4 first. Stamina determines your ability to block, attack, and sprint, while health keeps you alive through unavoidable damage.

Recommended Early Skill: Nature's Echo

Unlock Nature's Echo from the green (Spirit) skill tree to duplicate your heavy attacks. This synergizes powerfully with the Tauria Curved Sword (dropped by Boss #6). To reach it, you need to purchase three Forward Slash skills (blue) and three Keen Senses skills (green) first.

Permanent Buff Items

Some inventory items grant permanent stat boosts when consumed rather than temporary effects. These are easy to overlook because they look similar to regular consumables. Notable examples include "Fighting Spirit" which grants +20 max spirit permanently, and "Dark Red Goblet" which grants +40 max stamina permanently. Check your inventory regularly for any items with permanent buff descriptions and use them immediately. There is no reason to save them.

Sealed Abyss Artifact Challenges

Collecting Sealed Abyss Artifacts unlocks challenges that grant additional skill points. Important: progress toward these challenges only counts after you collect the artifact. Prior kills, discoveries, or actions do not count retroactively for most challenges.

Resetting Skills

Skills can be reset at any time using Faded Abyss Artifacts. This lets you experiment freely with different builds without permanent consequences.

Get Your Gathering Tools

Purchase a pickaxe and logging axe from the Provisioner's Shop in Hernand. Equip them via D-pad Left to mine ore deposits and fell trees for crafting materials. Alternatively, you can use Force Palm (R3) to destroy ore deposits or Turning Slash (R1+R2) to fell trees if you do not have the tools handy.

Complete the Mining Knuckledrill Quest

Complete House Roberts's questline, starting with the "Troubled Count" quest, to earn the Mining Knuckledrill. This tool is required for extracting ore from deposits. Without it, you cannot mine the materials needed for weapon and armor refinements.

Mounts and Traversal Tips

Sheathe Your Weapon

Tap Left on the D-Pad (T on keyboard) to sheathe your weapon. Many actions (interacting, mounting, talking) require your weapon to be put away. If an NPC is not responding or you cannot mount your horse, check that your weapon is sheathed.

Pet Your Horse

Hold L1/LB while approaching your horse to pet it. This builds trust over time and eventually unlocks special mounted moves like drifting.

Exotic Mounts: Bears, Lions, and More

Beyond regular horses, you can ride exotic mounts including bears, lions, and other animals. Bears spawn near Greymane Camp (south of the camp). To tame a bear, attack it until it becomes stunned and a ride prompt appears. While riding a bear, you can attack enemies with its claws. Lions are available at the circus in Demisin Castle. All exotic mounts are temporary: you cannot summon them like your regular horse. Once you dismount, they leave. You can also knock enemies off their mounts during combat and take those mounts for yourself.

Bounty Transport on Horseback

When carrying a bounty target back to the Guard Station, you do not have to carry them on foot the entire way. Press L1 (the lantern button) to load the bounty onto your horse, then travel at your own pace. One important caveat: do not summon your horse from too far away while holding a bounty. If the horse has to travel a long distance to reach you, the bounty can be lost during the process. Call your horse when it is nearby.

Force Palm Wall Climbing

Use Force Palm (R3 / Mouse Wheel) three consecutive times mid-air to gain significant height and scale walls that seem impossible to climb. Combine with Double Jump for even more height. If you run out of Spirit, press L3 + R3 (X on keyboard) to instantly recharge. This costs Spirit itself, so make sure you time your recharges between wall-climbing bursts.

Axiom Force for Vertical Movement

Once you unlock the third level of Axiom Force, you gain the ability to vault up cliffs and ledges that would otherwise be unreachable. This costs 200 stamina per use. For massive height without spending stamina, use the jump + Force Palm down technique three times in succession. This launches you high into the air, after which you can glide or attach to a cliff face. This combination makes nearly every surface in the game climbable.

Horse Healing

Transform Healing Palm into a horse-targeted heal by holding R3 and then pressing L3 while near your horse. This restores your mount's health. You can check your horse's health in the inventory screen when standing nearby.

Fast Flight Trick (Focus-Boost)

The fastest way to cross Pywel through the air uses a combination of three skills: Aerial Roll (from the red/Health skill tree), Focus (unlocked early in the story), and Focused Insight (unlocked at Focus Level 3). To perform it: launch into the air and activate Flight. Press R1 + L1 to activate Focus. While time is slowed, press Circle to trigger an Aerial Roll. As the roll animation ends, press R1 to activate Insight. This sequence catapults your character forward at roughly double the standard glide speed, covering enormous distances on a single stamina bar. The community calls this the "Focus-Boost" technique, and while Pearl Abyss may not have intended it, it has not been patched out as of the latest version.

The Taming Minigame

When you mount a wild horse, a taming minigame begins. The horse will buck and spin, and you must counter its movements by pulling the left stick in the opposite direction. If the horse pulls forward, you pull back; if it pulls left, you pull right. A yellow circle gradually fills as you maintain control. When the circle fills completely, the horse is tamed. The catch is that you must succeed before your stamina runs out, because getting bucked off means you failed. You cannot eat food while taming a horse, so stamina-boosting meals need to be consumed beforehand.

Companion and Reputation Tips

Pet Animals for Combat Companions

Reach 100 Trust with an animal and it will follow you around, automatically looting defeated enemies. Pet animals you find in towns for trust (5 trust per interaction, capping at roughly 25 per in-game day). You can also drop food near animals for extra trust points. You need to befriend 30 unique pets to complete a Life Challenge. Your pet will pick up items as you explore, and anything they do not grab goes into your Supply Chest automatically. You can dress up your pets at the pet vendor in Poran Village.

The Party System

The party system lets you team up with companions for certain quests and activities. Building relationships with party members through gifts, conversations, and shared combat experiences improves their effectiveness. Pay attention to each companion's preferences when choosing gifts.

NPC Trust and Reputation

Your trust with NPCs and towns affects shop prices, available quests, and NPC behavior. Completing requests, defeating nearby enemies, and positive interactions all build trust. Stealing, breaking town property, and getting caught pickpocketing reduce trust. Each town tracks its own reputation independently.

Hidden Mechanics

The Artifact Gauge

The yellow bar to the left of the minimap fills as you defeat enemies. Once full, it awards 1 free Abyss Artifact. This can be farmed infinitely by fighting enemies repeatedly, giving you a renewable source of skill points. Clearing sanctums is especially efficient for filling this gauge. Every sanctum also contains a hidden chest somewhere inside it, so explore thoroughly before leaving.

Keys Open Doors Automatically

If you have a key in your inventory and walk near a locked door, your character will automatically use the key. Be careful around locked doors if you are saving a key for a specific location.

Pickpocketing and Stealth

You can pickpocket NPCs by approaching them from behind when undetected. This can yield small amounts of silver and occasionally useful items. Be careful in towns, as getting caught will damage your reputation.

Nature's Snare Draws Smoke

Nature's Snare (unlocked from the Spirit skill tree) creates a wind barrier that blocks projectiles. A lesser-known secondary effect is that the swirling vortex also pulls nearby smoke, fog, and airborne particles toward your character. In encounters where enemies use smoke bombs or where environmental fog obscures your vision, activating Nature's Snare draws the smoke into the vortex and clears the area around you. This makes it a surprisingly effective utility skill outside of its primary defensive purpose.

Nature's Snare Direction

The direction you input while activating Nature's Snare changes its behavior. Rotating the right stick clockwise creates a standard barrier that blocks incoming projectiles. Rotating counterclockwise instead causes the vortex to push outward, deflecting projectiles away and knocking back nearby enemies. The outward variant is useful for creating breathing room when surrounded, while the inward variant is better for holding a position against ranged attackers. Experiment with both to find the right approach for each combat situation. See also Nature's Retribution and Nature's Veil for the upgraded versions of this skill.

Commission Building Process

When you accept Hernand Commissions that involve constructing or repairing structures, the NPCs you recruit actually build the structures in real time. You can stand back and watch your camp workers hammer away at buildings from dawn until dusk, after which they take a break at night and resume in the morning. The construction process is not instant; it takes several in-game days depending on the project. During this time, you can speed things up by donating additional materials to Carl at the Greymane Camp. Completed commissions reward inventory slots, camp upgrades, and sometimes unique items.

NPC Item Pickup Preferences

When you drop items on the ground near NPCs, they will pick them up, and different NPCs have different preferences for which items they take. Food items left near hungry NPCs will be eaten. Valuable items dropped in crowded areas may be scooped up by passersby. This applies to your pet as well: your companion animal will eat raw food off the ground before you get a chance to cook it, so always desummon your pet before attempting to cook food on the ground using Blinding Flash. When looting, be aware that NPCs walking over dropped loot may take items before you pick them up.

Limping NPCs

NPCs in Crimson Desert display dynamic physical states based on their condition. Injured NPCs will visibly limp, hunch over, or favor one side as they walk. This is not just a visual detail; it is a contextual cue. Limping NPCs near battlefields may offer quests related to the conflict, or they may be bounty targets who have been weakened and are easier to capture. Pay attention to how NPCs move, because their physical condition can reveal quest opportunities and world events that are otherwise easy to miss.

Shadowleaf Disguise Changes Your Profile

The Shadowleaf Outfit (crafted from the Shadowleaf Disguise Blueprint) does more than just change your appearance. When wearing the full set, your silhouette transforms to resemble a tree or bush, and wildlife no longer flees from you on approach. This is valuable for hunting animals that normally run the moment they spot you. The set bonus "Wildlife Disguise" reduces the detection range of animals significantly, making it far easier to approach deer, boars, and other skittish creatures. Craft the set by researching the "Getting Closer to Nature" node at the Pororin research institute.

Portrait Eyes Follow You

In certain buildings and manors throughout Pywel, painted portraits on the walls have eyes that track your character's position as you move through the room. This is a subtle environmental detail that most players miss on their first visit. While purely cosmetic, it contributes to the atmosphere of specific locations and may hint at the presence of hidden rooms or secret passages nearby. If you notice a portrait watching you, search the area thoroughly for interactable objects, hidden doors, or Blinding Flash-revealable secrets.

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details

Star Wars Reference

A Star Wars reference has been discovered hidden in the game world. While exploring certain locations in Pywel, players have found environmental details that pay homage to the iconic film franchise. This joins other confirmed easter eggs in the game including the Elden Ring "Let Me Solo Her" bounty poster in Hernand and the Squid Game "Red Light, Green Light" statue puzzle in the Drakesfall Gorge Ruins. Check the Easter Eggs and Secrets article for the full list of references found so far.

Training Dummy Location

A training dummy is hidden at the Greymane Camp in Howling Hill, but it only appears after your fourth camp upgrade (roughly when you unlock the Ranch and Farm). The training yard is located just behind the Ranch, in a fenced area with a wooden dummy standing in the center. The dummy has unlimited health, so you can spend all day practicing combos, testing weapon movesets, and experimenting with ability chains without any risk. If you knock the dummy out of the yard, it teleports back to the center instantly. This makes it perfect for testing new builds after resetting your skills with Faded Abyss Artifacts. Note that Axiom Force has no effect on the training dummy.

Master Du's Circlet: Hidden Potential

Master Du's Circlet is a special headpiece obtained after defeating Master Du at the Cloister of Enlightenment. The circlet contains the inner power Master Du accumulated through long years of ascetic training. Most players equip it without realizing it has an active ability. To use it, open the Function Wheel (D-pad Right), navigate to the special equipment tab, and select Kliff Glasses. A button prompt (L2 + R2 or LT + RT) appears on screen. Pressing and releasing these buttons fires a burst of concentrated light that incinerates everything in front of you. After a recent patch, the circlet's ability can be triggered immediately with the item use prompt keys once equipped, without needing the Function Wheel. The damage output is surprisingly high, making it one of the strongest special equipment abilities in the game.

Multiple Ways to Destroy Siege Towers

During the Rebel Suppression quest and similar siege battles, you need to destroy wooden siege towers. The game gives you several options. First, you can dip arrows in brazier flames to create fire arrows, then shoot the wooden supports to set them ablaze. Second, you can use stationary cannons positioned on castle walls to bombard the towers with cannonballs. Third, and least obvious, you can use your Blinding Flash ability with Focus Light (L1 hold) to aim a sustained beam of concentrated light at the wooden tower. The beam sets the wood on fire, and the burning status effect gradually destroys the structure. Each method works, but the Blinding Flash approach lets you destroy towers from a safe distance without needing to find braziers or cannons.

Settings and Performance Tips

Camera Acceleration

In Settings > Input, you will find a Camera Acceleration slider. The default value is 70. Setting this to 100 makes the camera feel significantly snappier and more responsive. Values near zero feel sluggish and can actually cause motion sickness during fast combat. Experiment with values between 80 and 100 to find what feels best for your play style.

Save Management

The game uses three autosave slots that rotate automatically. When saving manually, scroll down past the three autosaves to an open save slot. This ensures you always have recent autosaves and a separate manual save to fall back on. Save before attempting difficult boss fights, risky thefts, or when you are about to enter a new chapter.

Equipment Refinement

Crimson Desert has no traditional character leveling system. Your combat stats are determined almost entirely by the upgrade level of your gear and by spending Abyss Artifacts on passive stats. This means that if you are struggling with a boss or a region of enemies, the single most impactful thing you can do is visit the blacksmith and refine your equipment.

How Refinement Works

At the blacksmith in Hernand Town (or any other major settlement), select an equipped weapon or armor piece and choose to refine it. Each refinement level increases the item's Attack or Defense stat. Early refinement levels cost only copper ore and iron ore, both of which are abundant across the Hernand region. Higher levels also require bones, hides, and rarer materials.

Crime System

Crimson Desert has a detailed crime and bounty system that punishes theft, assault, and murder. Understanding how it works can save you from serious setbacks.

How Crime Works

When you commit a crime, you immediately lose Contribution points for that region, regardless of whether anyone sees you. A red zone also appears around your character. If any NPC spots you within that red zone, your crime is reported and you receive a bounty. More severe crimes generate higher bounties.

Bounties and Jail

If your bounty climbs high enough, guards will actively pursue you. If a guard tackles you to the ground, a quick-time event triggers where you must time button presses precisely to break free. Failing the QTE results in Kliff being knocked unconscious and thrown in jail. Upon release, your bounty is forcibly deducted from your wallet, and you suffer a significant overall penalty.

Staying out of Trouble

• Avoid crime in regions where you are building Contribution. The Contribution loss from criminal activity directly reduces the points you can spend at the Contribution Shop.

• Wear a mask before stealing. Masks conceal your identity and prevent your reputation from being permanently damaged. You can obtain masks from bandits or black market vendors.

• Do not commit crime early. Getting jailed in the early game is devastating because you likely lack the silver to cover the fines, and the Contribution loss is hard to recover.

Contribution Shop

The Contribution Shop is a special vendor found in Hernand Castle and other major settlements. It sells exclusive gear and items that can only be purchased with Contribution points, not silver or copper.

Earning Contribution

You earn Contribution by doing good deeds and completing tasks for the community in each region. This includes finishing quests and bounties, fulfilling request board commissions, and performing small acts of kindness like giving money to beggars. Almost everything you do that helps a community raises your Contribution for that area.

Spending Contribution

The Contribution Shop stocks armor, accessories, and other useful items that are often better than what regular merchants offer at the same stage of the game. Check the shop's inventory whenever your Contribution rank increases, as new items unlock at higher ranks. Prioritize spending on gear upgrades that complement your current build.

Character Switching: Damiane and Oongka

Crimson Desert has three playable characters: Kliff (your main protagonist), Damiane (unlocked in Chapter 3), and Oongka (unlocked after Chapter 7). Each character has their own combat style, skill tree, and set of abilities.

How to Switch

Press F1 on keyboard or hold Up on the D-pad to open the character wheel. Move the cursor to the character you want and select them. The camera zooms out and swaps to the chosen character at their current location, similar to how character switching works in GTA V.

Unlock Details

Switching Tips

• Focus upgrades on Kliff first. He is your primary character for most of the game. Other characters become more important later.

• Experiment with different playstyles. Each character handles differently. Switching mid-exploration lets you approach combat encounters from a fresh angle.

• Check quest availability. Some quests and interactions are character-specific. Switching characters in a town may reveal new dialogue options or side quests.

Efficient Timber Collection

Timber is a resource you will burn through quickly, especially if you are running a bow build or doing a lot of crafting. The default approach of chopping a tree three times and then picking up the logs is slow. There are faster methods for both early and late game.

Early Game (Axe Method)

When using an axe, hit the tree twice to cut it down. As the tree starts falling, immediately land a third hit even though the targeting marker turns red. This third hit transforms the falling trunk into three smaller logs. Because the logs are still in mid-air from the fall, gravity slams them into the ground with enough force to shatter on impact, yielding their timber instantly. Not every log will shatter on every attempt (sometimes only one or two break on impact), but it still saves significant time compared to manually chopping each piece.

Late Game (Force Palm and Chainsaw)

Once you have access to Force Palm, you can knock down trees in a single hit. The most efficient method is to line up five to ten trees, use Force Palm to topple all of them at once, and then continue using Force Palm to break them into the three smaller logs. Once everything is reduced to small logs, switch to your chainsaw and one-tap each log. The chainsaw automatically collects the timber into your inventory without requiring you to pick anything up from the ground manually. All harvesting bonuses still apply because the small logs are what actually yield the timber resource.

Loot Goblins

Scattered across Pywel you may encounter small goblin-like creatures wandering along roads and through forests with oversized chests strapped to their backs. These are loot goblins, and every single one carries at least one gold bar. To collect the loot, simply attack or kick the chest off the goblin's back and pick up what falls out.

Loot goblins are rare spawns. You will most commonly find them on main roads and occasionally in forested or secluded areas. They do not fight back and the interaction takes only a few seconds, so there is no reason to pass one up when you spot it. Since gold bars are one of the most valuable currency items in the game, a single goblin encounter can be worth more than many bounty completions. Keep your eyes open during regular travel; they are easy to miss if you are sprinting past at full speed.

Holographic Vendor

Late in the game, you can craft a portable holographic vendor that you summon anywhere in the open world to buy supplies, sell loot, and free up bag space without returning to town. Setting this up requires several steps across different game systems.

Prerequisites

Crafting and Using the Vendor

Once you have all the materials, craft the cuckoo pack at the Kilden Shop. After crafting, you must physically equip the pack in your inventory via the quick menu screen (it does not activate automatically). With the pack equipped, press L2 + R2 to summon the holographic vendor. The vendor sells food, basic materials, and general supplies. More importantly, you can sell your excess loot to it on the spot, which is a lifesaver during long exploration runs when your inventory is full and the nearest town is far away.

Finding Sanctum Locations

If you do not know where a particular Sanctum is, visit any Witch merchant. Discovering a Witch automatically unlocks the knowledge of all Sanctum locations in your menu. Open the Knowledge section in the pause menu, scroll to the Sanctums tab, and press Triangle (or your platform's equivalent) to open the map at the exact Sanctum location. This saves you from having to search the world blindly.

Lesser-Known Tips

These tips cover hidden mechanics and quality-of-life tricks that most players overlook. Each one can save significant time or provide a meaningful advantage.

• Infinite seed extraction: You can extract seeds from any crop material via the inventory menu. Hold X (or A on Xbox), then select "Obtain Seeds." This works on any harvested crop, giving you an infinite supply of seeds for farming without ever needing to buy them from vendors.

• Destroy archer towers with Charged Shot: Use a Charged Shot to one-shot archer towers from a safe distance before attacking enemy camps. This removes the most annoying source of ranged harassment during camp assaults and makes the ground fight significantly easier.

• Blinding Flash reveals NPC pockets: Use Blinding Flash near any NPC to see what they are carrying. This is extremely useful for pickpocketing, as you can identify which NPCs have valuable items before equipping the thieving mask and committing to the theft.

• Start research in Chapter 4: Research projects unlock health and stamina upgrades that are not available any other way. Projects take real in-game time to complete, so starting in Chapter 4 (the earliest possible chapter) prevents your character from falling behind. Many players do not discover research until Chapter 8 or 9 and miss out on hours of passive progress.

• Extra Large Bag for +10 slots: The Extra Large Bag southeast of Hills of No Return grants +10 inventory slots and respawns every 7 in-game days. Keep returning until you reach the maximum of 240 slots.

• Sanctum puzzles at night: When doing the hidden dial puzzle at sanctums, wait until nighttime. The unlit notches on the dial are far more visible in darkness, making the timing much easier to read. See Sanctum Secret Puzzles for the full walkthrough.

• Abyss fall safety net: If you fall from the Abyss, use Axiom Force to tether yourself to the sky, then press the menu button (Start / Options) to teleport back to where you fell from. This hidden feature has no in-game tutorial but saves you from having to redo fast travel or quest lines.

• Sheathe your weapon to interact. Many actions require you to have your weapon put away. Press D-pad Left (T on PC) to sheathe or unsheathe your weapon.

• Enemies can disarm you. If an enemy knocks your weapon out of your hands, you can pick it back up mid-fight. Do not panic.

• Use the Knowledge System menu. This menu tracks everything you have observed, including people, territories, creatures, and lore. Check it regularly to monitor your progress.

• Talk to tavern NPCs for rumors. Some rumors lead to valuable side quests, hidden locations, and unique rewards.

• Grab every quest from job boards. When you enter a new region, visit the local job board immediately and accept every faction quest and request available. The game rewards this MMO-style approach to questing.

• There is no difficulty setting. If a boss is too hard, leave and explore elsewhere to collect more Abyss Artifacts and refine your gear, then return later.

• Use targeted aiming (LB) in crowds. Pressing the left bumper locks your focus onto a specific NPC, item, or enemy. This prevents accidentally stealing from a merchant or targeting the wrong foe in a crowded fight.

• Equipment has no weight penalty. Heavy plate armor does not slow you down. Always equip the highest-defense gear you have available without worrying about weight.

Inventory Management

Prior to Patch 1.00.03, there were no storage boxes or banks for general items in Crimson Desert. Everything you pick up has to be carried on your person, which means your limited starting inventory fills up fast. Managing that space is one of the most important habits you can build early on.

Note: As of Patch 1.00.03, Private Storage with 240 slots was added at the Greymane Camp and Hernand lodgings. Use this to offload items you want to keep but do not need to carry.

Expanding Your Inventory

You gain permanent inventory slots by completing certain quests, particularly Hernand Commission quests. Each completed commission typically rewards a few extra slots. You can also buy individual inventory slots from vendors for 50 copper each. Medium Bag quest rewards are especially valuable, so prioritize quests that offer bag upgrades whenever they appear on a job board.

Keeping Your Bags Clean

• Sell read documents and books. Once you have read a document, it no longer serves any gameplay purpose. Selling it frees up a slot and earns you a little copper.

• Open currency pouches immediately. Pouches of copper you pick up in the world do not automatically add coins to your wallet. You need to go into your inventory and "use" them. Doing so adds the coins and frees the inventory slot.

• Use the sort feature. Pressing the sort button in your inventory groups items by type, making it much easier to spot duplicates and junk you can safely sell.

• Sell recipe scrolls after reading. Recipes are permanently learned once read. The scroll itself can then be sold for extra silver.

Refinement Tips

• Refine your default weapons first. Your starting weapons cannot be sold and are always available, so upgrading them early is never a waste.

• Use grindstones and anvils before boss fights. Interacting with these environmental objects maximizes the "Reinforcement" stat on your currently equipped items, giving you a temporary edge in Attack and Defense.

• Keep unique boss weapons. Drops from major bosses often have unique movesets. For example, the Sword of the Lord from Kailok is excellent for fast attacks, while the Tauria Curved Sword from the Crowcaller shines in heavy attacks and crowd control.

Skill Tree and Abyss Artifacts

Abyss Artifacts serve as the game's skill points. You earn them by defeating enemies (filling the yellow Artifact Gauge on your HUD), completing quests, winning boss battles, and discovering hidden locations. Because the Artifact Gauge can be filled infinitely by fighting enemies, you are never permanently locked out of any skill.

Early Priorities

• Raise Health and Stamina to level 4 or 5 first. Higher Health helps you survive heavy boss hits, while higher Stamina gives you more dodges, swings, and exploration actions like gliding, swimming, and climbing.

• Invest in Kliff. Kliff is your primary character for the vast majority of the game. Focus all skill points and upgrades on him before branching out to Damiane or Oongka.

• Unlock core combat skills early. Basic dodge upgrades and your primary weapon's combo extensions should take priority over flashy abilities.

• Save some Artifacts in reserve. Certain skills require you to observe an NPC performing the technique before the skill can be unlocked. You cannot brute-force a skill you have not observed, so keep a few Artifacts aside for newly discovered moves.

Supersonic Gliding With Focus Mode

The fastest way to cross Pywel on foot does not involve a horse at all. By combining Focus Mode with the aerial roll ability during a glide, you can reach speeds that make every other traversal method look sluggish. Here is how to pull it off:

• Get your character airborne by any method (double jump, force palm launch, jumping off a cliff).

• Deploy your glider.

• Immediately press R3 + L3 (or your Focus Mode keybind) to enter Focus Mode while gliding.

• While Focus Mode is active, perform an aerial roll. You need this ability unlocked in your skill tree.

• The aerial roll grants a massive speed boost without draining extra stamina beyond the normal glide cost.

• After a couple of seconds, press the Unleash button to exit Focus Mode. Your character returns to real-time speed but retains the momentum, launching you forward at near-supersonic velocity.

This technique covers enormous distances on a single stamina bar, especially after the energy level buffs. You can chain it with a Meteor Kick at the end to slam back down to ground level quickly instead of slowly drifting downward. The combination of supersonic gliding into a Meteor Kick is one of the most efficient ways to move between distant objectives without a fast travel point.

Force Palm Water Escape

If you land in a body of water with zero stamina and start drowning, you are not out of options. Use Force Palm to launch yourself out of the water even with an empty stamina bar. Force Palm acts as a pseudo-jump that propels you above the surface. From there, immediately charge up a Meteor Kick (Triangle on controller) and aim it toward any nearby solid ground. This requires having Meteor Kick unlocked in your blue scale line, but it will save you from drowning in situations that would otherwise mean reloading a save. It is particularly useful after a supersonic glide landing goes wrong and dumps you into the ocean or a deep lake.

Food and Cooking

There are no traditional healing potions in Crimson Desert. Food is your primary means of restoring health, and you can eat during combat. Hold D-pad Right (or F3 on keyboard) to open the consumable wheel and tap it to eat the selected food. This means carrying a large stock of cooked meals is essential for surviving boss fights and dungeon runs.

Best Early Food

The most cost-effective early food is Hearty Grilled Meat. To make it, buy Tough Meat from the butcher in Hernand (it is very cheap), then use any Bonfire and Cooking Pot to cook it. Hearty Grilled Meat restores over 200 health per serving and costs almost nothing to produce in bulk. Aim to carry at least 100 portions before any major boss encounter.

Lantern Usage

• Finding hidden loot: The lantern reveals chest and shelf interaction prompts that are not visible without it. If you see a container in a building, hold out the lantern to check if you can loot it.

Pet System

Stray dogs and cats found throughout Pywel can be tamed as pets. Once tamed, a pet follows you everywhere, including into battle, and automatically loots defeated enemies on your behalf. This saves a significant amount of time when clearing bandit camps and enemy encounters.

How to Tame a Pet

• Build trust by petting. Approach a stray animal and pet it. Each interaction grants 25 trust points per in-game day.

• Reach 100 trust to tame. Once you hit 100 trust with an animal, it becomes your companion and starts following you.

• Pet daily. Return to the same animal each in-game day to keep building trust. It takes a minimum of four in-game days to fully tame one animal.

There is a challenge that requires collecting 30 unique pets, so consider taming animals whenever you encounter them during your travels.

Horse Catching and Taming

Your first horse is obtained through the story when you visit Deepfog Basin early in the game. After that, you can catch and tame wild horses found running through open fields and riverbanks, particularly east and south of Hernand.

Horse Taming Tips

• Keep your camera behind the horse. Keeping the camera locked onto the horse's tail makes it easier to read its movements and react quickly.

• Have at least Stamina level 6 for legendary horses. Legendary horses buck harder and drain your stamina much faster than regular wild horses. High stamina is essential.

• Wear heat-resistant clothes for Camora. The red legendary horse Camora is found in a hot region. Heat-resistant gear reduces stamina drain from the environment, giving you more stamina to spend on the taming minigame itself.

• Heal your horse with Healing Palm. Convert Force Palm into Healing Palm by holding R3 then pressing L3 (Tab on PC). You can monitor your horse's health from the inventory screen.

Loading Bounties Onto Your Horse

When you arrest a bounty target and need to transport them, you do not have to carry them on your back the entire way. Call your horse, then instead of climbing on, hold L1 and focus on the horse. A context menu appears with two options, one of which is Load. Selecting Load places the arrested bounty on the horse's back, freeing up your own carry slot. This means you can technically arrest a second bounty target and carry it yourself while the horse carries the first one. For completionists hunting multiple bounties in the same region, this doubles your transport efficiency and cuts the number of trips to the police station in half.

Healing Your Horse

You do not need to visit a stable every time your horse takes damage. There are two field methods for healing mounts:

• Feed it directly. If you have food items like carrots in your inventory, you can place them on the ground near your horse. The horse will walk over and eat, recovering health from the food. Be aware that your pet may also try to eat the food, so place it close enough to the horse that it eats first.

• Use Healing Force Palm. Charge up a regular Force Palm (R3 on controller) and then press L3 to convert it into a Healing Force Palm. Stand close to your horse and release it. Each palm hit restores approximately 100 to 150 HP. This works on all mounts, including legendary horses and bears. It is the most reliable method since it costs nothing and can be repeated as many times as needed.

Master Perfect Parry and Dodge

Button mashing does not work in Crimson Desert. Enemies have shields, super-armor attacks, and unblockable moves. Learning the timing for perfect parries and perfect dodges is mandatory. A perfect dodge, timed at the exact moment an attack lands, actually restores a small amount of stamina instead of consuming it. A successful parry negates all damage and staggers the enemy, opening them to a counterattack.

Use Bleed and Stabs Early

Stab attacks inflict bleed damage, which is one of the most effective damage-over-time strategies in the early game. Incorporate stabs into your combos to steadily chip away at enemy health pools.

Palmar Pills for Tough Bosses

Craft Palmar Pills from basic alchemy materials (2 Water and 15 of any single herb variety, such as Rosemary, Lavender, or Peony). When consumed during a fight, a Palmar Pill allows you to revive with 30% of your HP if you are knocked out, preventing you from having to restart a multi-phase boss encounter from the beginning. The recipe is found at Shadow's Whisper Cave in northern Hernand.

Turning Slash Jump Cancel

Turning Slash is one of the most powerful AoE abilities in the game, but its wind-up animation is long enough that enemies can interrupt you before the spin begins. You can skip most of that wind-up by jump-canceling: simply jump first (or begin the input during a fall), then immediately trigger Turning Slash while airborne.

This is not just a speed trick. The spin portion of Turning Slash is the part that carries hyper armor, meaning you cannot be knocked out of the animation during the spin itself. By jump-canceling the wind-up, you transition into the hyper-armored phase much faster, which drastically reduces your vulnerability window. In fights where multiple ranged enemies are firing at you simultaneously, this technique can be the difference between landing your full combo and getting staggered out of it.

Shield Bash Disarm

One of the most overlooked mechanics in combat is the Shield Bash disarm. When you block an incoming melee attack with your shield and then immediately retaliate with a Shield Bash (L1 + R2 on controller), you knock whatever the enemy is holding straight out of their hands. Swords, shields, flamethrowers, bolt splitters: all of them clatter to the ground as lootable items. Your pet can pick them up automatically, which makes the whole process seamless.

The key requirement is that you must block a melee hit first, then follow up with the Shield Bash. If you use Shield Bash without blocking an attack, the disarm will not trigger and no items will drop. The Shield Bash can hit multiple enemies at once, so a single well-timed bash after a block can disarm an entire group. For flamethrower enemies specifically, you need a regular melee enemy to hit your shield first, and then your retaliatory Shield Bash must connect with the flamethrower wielder to knock their weapon loose.

Abyss Gear Farming With Shield Bash Disarm

The Shield Bash disarm technique becomes a top-tier Abyss Gear farming method in the late game. High-level enemies carrying swords and shields each have different Abyss Gears socketed into their equipment. When you disarm them, both the sword and the shield drop separately, each with its own Abyss Gear attached. A single group of these enemies can yield 20 or more Abyss Gears from just a few disarm rotations.

The real power of this method comes from a respawn trick: you do not need to kill the enemies. If you leave them alive after disarming them and then teleport to a nearby fast travel point, they respawn with new weapons and shields. You can return to the same encampment and disarm them again, repeating the loop as many times as you want. The enemies only stop respawning their loot once the camp is fully cleared, so keeping them alive for as long as possible maximizes your yield.

Once you have a stockpile of disarmed Abyss Gears, bring them to any Witch to perform synthesis. Because the swords and shields carry different gear types, you have both sides of the synthesis recipe covered. You can fuse from Tier 1 all the way to Tier 3 in a single session. Players have reported getting powerful endgame effects like Infinite Arrows Level 2 and Level 3 from a single farming run, which completely eliminates arrow consumption for bow builds.

Collect Sealed Abyss Artifacts Early

Sealed Abyss Artifacts are collectibles found along roads and near points of interest. Your sword's Guiding Light ability marks them with a blue glint. Collecting these artifacts unlocks challenges and grants skill points. The critical detail is that challenge progress only counts after you have collected the corresponding Sealed Abyss Artifact. Progress does not count retroactively, so pick them up as soon as you find them.

Merchant and Economy Tips

• Vendors restock at midnight. When the in-game clock reaches 0:00, all merchant inventories reset. Rest at a cooking pot to skip time quickly.

• Check the supply chest at camp. Items you miss during exploration are automatically sent to the supply chest at Greymane Camp. Check it periodically to avoid losing loot.

Miscellaneous Quick Tips

• Sheathe your weapon to interact. Many actions require you to have your weapon put away. Press D-pad Left (T on PC) to sheathe or unsheathe your weapon.

• Use the Knowledge System menu. This menu tracks everything you have observed, including people, territories, creatures, and lore. Check it regularly to monitor your progress.

• Talk to tavern NPCs for rumors. Some rumors lead to valuable side quests, hidden locations, and unique rewards.

• Grab every quest from job boards. When you enter a new region, visit the local job board immediately and accept every faction quest and request available. The game rewards this MMO-style approach to questing.

• Use targeted aiming (LB) in crowds. Pressing the left bumper locks your focus onto a specific NPC, item, or enemy. This prevents accidentally stealing from a merchant or targeting the wrong foe in a crowded fight.

• Equipment has no weight penalty. Heavy plate armor does not slow you down. Always equip the highest-defense gear you have available without worrying about weight.