Force Palm

Overview

Force Palm is a special energy ability available to Kliff in Crimson Desert. It fires energy waves from Kliff's hands, serving dual purposes as both an offensive combat tool and a traversal aid. The ability can shove enemies back, knock items in the environment around, and launch Kliff into the air when fired at the ground. Force Palm is governed by the Spirit meter, which depletes with use and regenerates over time.

Skill Ranks and Sub-Abilities

Force Palm has 5 ranks in the Abyss Tree, each unlocking additional capabilities. Several related skills branch off from the main Force Palm node.

Combat use

In combat, Force Palm fires energy blasts at medium range that deal damage and push enemies back. The ability integrates naturally into Crimson Desert's combo system, slotting between weapon strikes to extend attack chains, create distance when surrounded, or interrupt enemy attacks. Players can chain a three-strike heavy attack into a palm strike that keeps foes stun-locked, or transition from Force Palm into a knee strike, thrust kick, and then toss an enemy off a building edge.

Force Palm proved particularly effective against fast, agile bosses. During hands-on previews, players used Force Palm as a blast attack to stun the Reed Devil, catching the quick opponent off-guard. The ability's knockback also synergizes with Crimson Desert's environmental combat philosophy: knocking enemies into walls, off ledges, or into hazards deals bonus damage and can instantly eliminate weaker foes.

Environmental interaction

Force Palm can interact with the environment beyond just pushing enemies. Objects in the world can be knocked back or moved with the blast, opening up creative combat approaches. Kicking enemies off ledges and throwing objects are part of the same environmental combat philosophy that Force Palm supports.

Beyond the palm blast itself, Kliff's supernatural abilities include the power to lift objects psychically, which is useful for puzzle-solving and environmental interaction throughout the open world. These telekinetic powers are part of the broader mysterious power framework connected to the Abyss and Kliff's dark psychic abilities. On the Abyss floating islands, this object manipulation tool has been compared to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Ultrahand for aligning fragments and solving environmental puzzles.

Elemental infusion

Through the Axiom Bracelet's selection wheel, Force Palm can be infused with elemental effects. The bracelet provides three primary elemental options that change how the ability behaves.

Players must strategically select which element to use against different enemy types. Elemental infusion applies to other combat abilities as well, but Force Palm's ranged nature makes it one of the most versatile delivery methods for elemental effects.

Traversal use

Beyond combat, Force Palm provides significant vertical mobility. When aimed at the ground, the blast propels Kliff upward into the air. Firing it at the ground multiple times in succession launches him progressively higher, creating options for reaching elevated platforms, gaining altitude before deploying the Crow's Wing glider, or accessing areas that standard jumping cannot reach.

Combining a Force Palm launch into Precision Focus allows hitting multiple ground enemies with slow-motion archery before landing. The ground launch also works as a recovery tool in combat, creating space and airtime to plan the next move or build into a meteoric strike back toward the ground.

One of Force Palm's most useful traversal applications is stamina-free vertical climbing. By jumping near a wall and firing Force Palm up to three times in succession while midair, Kliff catapults himself upward without consuming any Stamina. This makes it far faster than standard wall climbing for scaling tall cliffs and buildings.

Water Exit Technique

Force Palm also works while swimming, and using it in water is often far more efficient than swimming normally. Firing Force Palm while in the water launches Kliff upward and out of the surface, at which point he can immediately deploy the Crow's Wing glider to cover distance through the air. Since gliding drains Stamina more slowly than swimming (and free-falling replenishes Stamina quickly), this water exit into glide technique lets players cross bodies of water that would otherwise exhaust their Stamina bar.

Wall Climbing Enhancement

While climbing a wall, Kliff can use Force Palm to blast himself away from the surface. From there, he can fire Force Palm a second time to hook back onto the wall at a higher point, effectively bypassing ledge obstacles or overhangs that would otherwise block upward progress. This technique is particularly useful in areas where protruding geometry interrupts the normal climbing path. The recoil from the first blast sends Kliff backward, so players should be ready to re-engage the wall quickly using a follow-up Force Palm or the Crow's Wing glider.

Sprint Cancel into Force Palm

During a full sprint, double-tapping L3 (on PlayStation) triggers a forward lunge animation sometimes called the superhero landing. This animation can be canceled directly into Force Palm, launching Kliff into the air from a sprint. The result is instant aerial superiority without needing to stop, jump, and then palm. This technique is useful for quickly transitioning from ground traversal into a glide or for initiating an aerial attack run against enemies.

Spirit meter

The Spirit meter governs Force Palm usage. Repeated use drains the meter, and overuse leaves the player unable to activate the ability until it regenerates. The meter refills gradually over time and can also be restored through consumables. Managing Spirit consumption is an important aspect of combat rhythm, as players must balance offensive Force Palm use with the need to keep a reserve for traversal or emergency situations.

Falling Palm

Falling Palm is a high-impact skill that sits at the convergence of all three branches of the Abyss Skill Tree. It unlocks after fully completing the skill category of any one branch (Health, Stamina, or Spirit). When Kliff is falling at maximum speed, pressing R3 (PlayStation), RS (Xbox), or V (PC) channels all remaining Stamina into a devastating ground slam. The skill drains Stamina at a rate of 100 per second and converts the total Stamina spent into damage on impact.

Damage Scaling and Height

Because the damage scales directly with your Stamina pool, investing Abyss Artifacts into Stamina nodes before unlocking Falling Palm makes the ability significantly more powerful. A player with 300 Stamina will deal roughly triple the damage of one with 100 Stamina. To set up a Falling Palm, gain height using Force Palm aerial boosts, Axiom Force grapple launches, or by jumping from elevated terrain, then let Kliff reach max fall speed before triggering the slam.

Falling Palm is distinct from Light Falling Palm, which is a smaller ground slam performed while swinging via Axiom Force. Light Falling Palm is available in the Green Branch and can be used without reaching max fall speed, but it deals less damage and does not drain the full Stamina bar.

Advanced Techniques and Tips

Ice Block Creation

Using ice-infused attacks on a body of water creates a floating ice block, similar to the ice platform mechanic in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The ice block is small and not very stable, but it can serve as a temporary platform to stand on. Players who fall into deep ocean water can use this trick in combination with Force Palm: launch out of the water with Force Palm, fire an ice arrow downward to create an ice platform, then land on the block and teleport to safety. Without this technique, falling into the open ocean with low Stamina can be a death sentence, since the game does not allow teleporting while swimming.

Ice Block as a Raft

While standing on an ice block, players can use Focused Repulsion at the edge of the platform to push it across the water's surface. This turns the ice block into a crude, slow raft. It is not a practical method for long-distance travel, but it can get the job done for short water crossings when no other option is available. The block eventually melts, so players need to reach solid ground before it disappears.

Related Skills

Force Palm connects to several other skills in the Abyss Tree: