Revision 10

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.

How it's learned

Force Palm is one of several skills in Crimson Desert that cannot be learned from Abyss Fragments alone. Instead, Kliff learns it through the game's Observation Learning system. By watching what appears to be a hologram of an individual executing the technique, Kliff picks up the ability for himself. The game displays a "learning in progress" indicator in the top-left corner of the screen during the observation. This system reflects Crimson Desert's philosophy that some skills must be personally witnessed rather than simply purchased from a menu.

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 four 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.

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.

Key details