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Flight Skill Guide
April 19, 2026 at 09:27 AM
Fixed typos: Paloon → Pailune (×1)
The Flight skill in Crimson Desert gives Kliff the ability to glide through the air using a pair of crow wings. Once unlocked, Flight completely transforms exploration across the continent of Pywel by letting you soar over terrain, cross valleys, and reach otherwise inaccessible areas. It is located in the Red (Health) section of the skill tree and is one of the most impactful quality-of-life upgrades in the game.
Flight is not unlocked through the skill tree menu directly. Instead, it is obtained by completing two main story quests in sequence:
Abyss Without Balance: This is the 12th main quest in the story. It involves navigating the Abyss islands and solving the Polar Opposites puzzle at the Axiom Archive. Completing this quest introduces the Axiom Force mechanic.
Woman in White: This quest follows directly after Abyss Without Balance and takes place in the Hernand region. It focuses on investigation and environmental puzzles rather than combat.
After completing the Woman in White quest, the game leads you to an NPC called White Crow the Witch. Speak with her and wait for the dialogue to finish. She will gift Kliff a pair of crow wings, permanently unlocking the Flight skill on the Red skill tree.
Flight in Crimson Desert is technically a glide mechanic. You cannot take off from the ground or gain altitude while in the air. To use the skill, you must first get airborne by jumping off a cliff, ledge, rooftop, or any elevated surface. Once you are in midair, activating Flight causes Kliff to spread the crow wings and begin gliding.
While gliding, you can steer freely in any direction. You will slowly lose altitude over time, but horizontal distance is excellent. A single launch from a tall cliff can carry you across large stretches of terrain.
Platform | Activate Flight | Notes |
|---|---|---|
PlayStation | Square (while airborne) | Jump off a ledge first, then press Square to deploy wings. Left stick controls direction. |
Xbox | X (while airborne) | Same as PlayStation. Jump first, then press X to glide. |
PC (Keyboard) | C (while airborne) | Jump from an elevated position and press C to begin gliding. |
You cannot activate Flight from the ground. You must be in a midair state after jumping from an elevated position. The wings deploy automatically when you press the button, and Kliff will continue gliding until stamina runs out or you press the button again to stop.
Gliding consumes stamina continuously while active. When your stamina bar is fully depleted, the wings retract and Kliff drops straight down. Falling from a great height after running out of stamina can result in significant fall damage or death.
To extend your flight range, consider these strategies:
Invest in the Stamina skill. The Stamina skill in the Blue tree can be upgraded many times (up to level 16). Each level increases your total stamina pool, which directly extends how far you can glide.
Launch from the highest point possible. Since you cannot gain altitude while gliding, starting from a higher elevation means you can cover more horizontal distance before needing to land.
Watch your stamina bar. Always keep an eye on remaining stamina while gliding. Land on solid ground before it runs out to avoid taking fall damage.
Use intermediate landing spots. When crossing large distances, look for cliffs, rooftops, or elevated terrain where you can land, recover stamina, and launch again.
Equip movement speed gear. Movement speed affects glide speed directly. With 15 ranks in movement speed, gliding is roughly 22% faster than at 0 ranks, which translates to significantly more distance before stamina runs out.
After unlocking the base Flight skill, you can enhance it to Swift Flight (Level 2) by spending an Abyss Artifact in the skill tree menu. Swift Flight significantly increases your glide speed, letting you cover much more ground in the same amount of time.
The tradeoff is that Swift Flight consumes stamina faster than normal Flight. However, the speed boost is substantial and makes long-distance travel far more practical. Most players consider Swift Flight an exceptional quality-of-life investment that is well worth the extra stamina cost.
Pairing Swift Flight with a high Stamina skill level gives you both speed and range, making aerial traversal the fastest way to move across Pywel. Note, however, that the Focus Gliding technique (described below) actually exceeds Swift Flight's speed, so players who plan to use Focus Gliding for long-distance travel may prefer to save the Abyss Artifact for other upgrades.
At Level 2 of the Health tree skills, Kliff also gains access to a Double Jump ability. This pairs naturally with Flight because a double jump gives you extra height before you deploy the wings, extending your total glide distance. Note that the double jump occasionally triggers the glide animation instead; if this happens, simply cancel the glide and jump again.
Beyond the basic glide and Swift Flight upgrade, several advanced techniques allow experienced players to cover extraordinary distances. These methods combine Flight with other game mechanics to push aerial traversal far beyond what the base skill offers.
Focus Gliding is the single fastest aerial traversal technique available to Kliff. It requires Flight (base level) and the Aerial Roll ability. The method works by entering Focus Mode while gliding and using the evade button to perform forward rolls. In Focus Mode, speed does not decrease over time, so each roll's acceleration becomes permanent. Repeated rolls stack speed boosts until stamina runs out or Focus Mode is cancelled.
From a sufficiently high starting point, Focus Gliding can cover over 3 km in a single flight. The second point in Flight (Swift Flight) is not required and is actually slower than Focus Gliding, making this technique the superior option for long-distance travel.
For a detailed breakdown of the technique, see the Focus Gliding section on the Gliding article.
The 3rd upgrade of the stab skill unlocks Aerial Stab. Performing a double jump and then using the stab while aiming upward launches Kliff to a massive height at the cost of stamina. Although this was nerfed in a recent patch, it still provides enough altitude to initiate Focus Gliding from ground level. This makes it a valuable tool in flat terrain where cliffs and high points are scarce.
The Pillar of Wind Abyss Gear creates a wind funnel when wind-imbued attacks trigger it. Walking into the funnel and activating gliding launches Kliff straight up. At the apex, the player can cancel gliding, perform up to 3 Force Palm jumps, and then either Aerial Stab for more height or enter Focus Gliding. This combo works from completely flat ground and has been tested to cover 626 meters without any natural elevation advantage.
When initiated from a high starting point with movement speed gear equipped, the full combo can reach nearly 4 km in a single flight, covering roughly 30 to 35% of the entire map. The Pillar of Wind Abyss Gear is obtained from the Queen of the Skies faction quest in the Pailune Militia questline, available after Chapter 7.
The movement speed stat affects glide speed directly. At 15 ranks, movement speed provides roughly a 22% increase over 0 ranks. For maximum travel efficiency, players can keep a dedicated set of helmet, gloves, and boots with movement speed stats and Abyss Gears. Before launching into a long glide, swap to the movement speed set from the inventory. After landing, swap back to your combat gear. This hot-swap approach costs nothing and makes a meaningful difference in total flight distance.
Players can also keep the Pillar of Wind socketed in an armor piece they do not normally wear. Swap to it when you need the wind funnel combo, then swap back to your regular gear after taking flight.
Technique | Requirements | Approximate Range | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|
Standard Glide | Flight skill | ~500 m | General traversal from elevation |
Flight + 1 Abyss Artifact | ~800 m | Faster general traversal | |
Focus Glide | Flight + Aerial Roll + Focus Mode | 3+ km (from height) | Long-distance travel from high points |
Aerial Stab Launch | Stab skill (3rd upgrade) + Double Jump | Varies (height gain) | Gaining altitude from flat ground |
Pillar of Wind Combo | Wind imbument + Pillar of Wind gear | 626 m (flat), ~4 km (elevated) | Maximum distance from any terrain |
The Flight skill is not the only way to take to the skies in Crimson Desert. Several other methods of aerial travel become available as you progress:
Method | Availability | Description |
|---|---|---|
Mid-to-late game | A flying mount that allows full aerial combat, including fire breath and sweeping dive attacks. The most powerful aerial option but available later in the story. | |
Dwarven Mech | Mid game | A mechanical suit with thrusters that allow brief bursts of flight. Also equipped with projectile weapons for ranged combat. |
Mid-to-late game | A personal flight device that provides sustained vertical lift. Less agile than the crow wings but can gain altitude. | |
Various locations | Environmental vehicles found at specific points on the map. Useful for reaching high areas but not player-controlled in terms of direction. |
Use Flight to bypass difficult terrain, skip enemy encounters, and reach treasure chests on high ledges.
Flight is extremely useful for approaching Waterside Caves along cliffsides that are hard to reach on foot.
In combat, you can use elevation and the Flight skill to set up aerial attacks on enemies below.
Fast travel points are spread across the map, but Flight often provides a faster route for medium distances between waypoints.
Focus Gliding is faster than Swift Flight. If you plan to use Focus Gliding regularly, you can save the Abyss Artifact that would go toward Swift Flight for another skill.
Hot-swap to movement speed gear (helmet, gloves, boots) before any long flight. The 22% speed boost at max ranks significantly extends your total distance.
Keep the Pillar of Wind Abyss Gear on a secondary armor piece. Swap to it when you need to launch from flat ground, then swap back after takeoff.
Skills for the full skill tree overview.
Gliding for additional details on the glide mechanic, including Focus Gliding.
Exploration and Traversal for all movement and traversal mechanics.
Mounts for ground and aerial mount options.
Pillar of Wind for the Abyss Gear used in the wind funnel combo.
Elements for wind imbument and other elemental mechanics.
