Grappling

Overview

Grappling is a core unarmed combat skill in Crimson Desert, available to all three playable characters (Kliff, Damiane, and Oongka). It belongs to the Stamina (Blue) branch of the skill tree. When activated, the character grabs hold of an enemy and can follow up with a variety of wrestling-inspired techniques, from throws and slams to full-body takedowns.

The system draws heavy inspiration from professional wrestling and martial arts. Moves like the Lariat, Clothesline, Body Slam, and Scissor Takedown are all modeled after real grappling techniques, giving Crimson Desert's melee combat a visceral, physical feel that sets it apart from conventional sword-and-shield action games.

Grappling is especially effective against bosses. While bosses cannot be thrown or restrained in the traditional sense, every grapple attempt drains their stagger bar. Once the stagger bar is depleted, the boss enters a vulnerable state where they can be hit with devastating follow-up attacks. This makes Grappling a valuable investment even for players who primarily fight with weapons.

Skill Details

Skill Progression

Grappling has five levels, each unlocked by investing Abyss Artifacts. As you raise the skill level, new grapple moves become available. The full progression is outlined below.

Grapple Moves Breakdown

Throw

Throw is the most basic grapple finisher, available from Level 1. After grabbing an enemy, pressing the grapple input tosses them forward. The thrown enemy acts as a projectile: if they collide with other enemies, both take damage. Throw is fast to execute and costs minimal Stamina, making it a reliable option when surrounded by groups.

Restrain

Restrain lets you hold a grabbed enemy in place. This is useful in cooperative situations or when you need a moment to recover Stamina. The restrained enemy cannot act for several seconds. You can also use Restrain as a setup: hold the enemy, wait for your Stamina to partially regenerate, then release into a Throw or Lariat.

Lariat

Lariat becomes available at Level 2. It is a high-impact slam that drives the enemy into the ground. The shockwave from the impact staggers any nearby foes, making Lariat effective for crowd control. At Level 3, the Lariat Follow-up upgrade allows you to chain multiple slams in a row by mashing the input, turning a single grapple into a sustained damage combo.

Back Hang

Back Hang unlocks at Level 4 and lets you cling to an enemy's back while airborne. This move is particularly effective against large enemies and bosses, since it keeps you attached even through some of their animations. From the Back Hang position, you can transition into strikes or other grapple moves. Against bosses, Back Hang is one of the safest ways to deal consistent stagger damage without getting hit by frontal attacks.

Clothesline

Clothesline is a running grapple attack unlocked at Level 4. While sprinting toward an enemy, activating the grapple input delivers a devastating arm strike that knocks the target flat. Clothesline is excellent for initiating combat, since the momentum from sprinting adds extra knockback force. It works well as an opener before transitioning into ground-based follow-ups.

Body Slam

Body Slam is the ultimate grapple finisher, unlocked at Level 5. After grabbing an enemy, holding the input lifts them overhead before slamming them into the ground. Body Slam deals the highest single-hit damage of any grapple skill. The wind-up is slow, so it is best used on staggered or restrained enemies who cannot interrupt the animation.

Scissor Takedown

Scissor Takedown is technically part of the Unarmed Combat skill tree, but it synergizes closely with Grappling. The move wraps your legs around an enemy and trips them to the ground, creating an opening for an immediate grapple follow-up like Throw or Lariat.

Combat Transitions and Synergies

One of the strongest aspects of Grappling is how fluidly it integrates with other combat actions. You do not need to stop fighting with weapons to initiate a grapple; several transitions let you flow in and out of grapple state without breaking your rhythm.

• Dodge to Grapple: After a dodge roll, you can immediately input a grapple command. This is the safest transition since the dodge's invincibility frames protect you during the approach.

• Stab to Grapple: A weapon stab (particularly from one-handed swords) can cancel into a grapple. The stab's forward momentum carries you into grab range.

• Pump Kick to Giant Swing: At Level 3, landing a Pump Kick or Dropkick lets you grab the stumbling enemy and hurl them with Giant Swing.

• Back Hang from Vault: After using Vault to leap over an enemy, you can grab onto their back mid-air for a Back Hang.

• Unarmed Combo to Grapple: Stagger an enemy with unarmed strikes, then grab them for a Throw, Lariat, or Body Slam. This is the core loop of a dedicated grapple build.

Grappling also pairs well with Brass Knuckles. Since Brass Knuckles are classified as an unarmed weapon, they enhance your base strike damage while keeping you eligible for all grapple transitions. Players running a full unarmed and grapple build often prioritize Brass Knuckles as their primary gear.

Grappling Against Bosses

Against bosses, grapple moves do not trigger their normal throw or restrain animations. Instead, every successful grapple attempt drains the boss's stagger bar. The amount of stagger damage scales with the grapple move used: Throw and Restrain deal moderate stagger damage, while Lariat, Clothesline, and Body Slam deal significantly more.

The recommended strategy against tough bosses is to combine weapon attacks with periodic grapple attempts. When the boss's stagger bar is nearly depleted, switch to a high-damage grapple move like Body Slam or Lariat Follow-up to break their stance. Once staggered, the boss is vulnerable to a critical hit window where all damage is amplified.

Back Hang is especially strong against large bosses like Tarandus and Queen Stoneback Crab. Clinging to their back avoids most of their frontal attack patterns and lets you chip away at their stagger bar safely.

Level 3 Unlock: Giant Swing and Infinite Spin

Reaching level 3 of the Grappling skill unlocks Giant Swing, one of the most powerful crowd control moves in the game. After initiating a grapple with Pumpkick or Drop Kick, pressing the execution button throws the grabbed enemy in a wide arc that damages anything in its path.

Giant Swing also has a hidden infinite spinning technique. Instead of tapping the execution button, hold it down. While holding, steer with the camera and your character will keep spinning through enemies indefinitely, as long as you have stamina. Consume stamina-restoring drinks to extend the duration. This technique can clear out entire enemy camps in a single prolonged spin. See the Giant Swing article for full details on this technique.

Hidden Grapple Combos

Crimson Desert does not surface these techniques in its skill descriptions or tutorials. They are discovered through experimentation and work across all three characters. Each one chains into the existing grapple system, so mastering them greatly expands your combo vocabulary.

Punch to Grapple (Boss Technique)

Pressing the unarmed attack button (Y/Triangle on controller, F on keyboard) throws a quick punch, even when a weapon is equipped. If the punch connects, press the jump input to grab the enemy and grapple them to the ground. What makes this special is that it works on bosses that are normally too large for Kliff to grapple through conventional means. Instead of flipping them, the technique uses their own weight against them to force them down.

Once the enemy hits the ground, you can press the Lariat grapple input to perform an elbow drop. This creates a triple combo: punch, grapple throw, then elbow drop. The elbow drop adds significant damage and extra stagger buildup. Alternatively, since your weapon stays equipped throughout, you can skip the elbow drop and follow with a weapon attack instead. Both paths deal strong damage and let you chain back into your normal combat flow.

Vault Follow-Up Attacks

The Vault skill lets you hop over an enemy's head, repositioning behind them. Two hidden follow-ups exist that the game never explains.

• Light attack on landing: Hold the light attack button while vaulting. Your character strikes the moment they touch down behind the enemy.

• Kick on landing: Hold the unarmed button while vaulting. This delivers a kick as you land, which transitions naturally into grapple attempts or additional unarmed strikes.

Both follow-ups are fast enough that the enemy rarely has time to turn around and block. They pair well with Back Hang, since the vault already puts you in the right position to latch onto a target's back.

Running Clothesline Extended Spin

The standard Clothesline is a sprinting grapple that knocks enemies flat. After connecting, pressing the lariat input again picks the enemy up and throws them in a spinning arc. However, if you press the other grapple input and hold it, your character keeps spinning the enemy indefinitely. You will continue the spin as long as you hold the button, draining Stamina the entire time. When you release or run out of Stamina, your character throws the enemy away.

This extended spin functions similarly to the Giant Swing infinite technique, but it starts from a Clothesline opener rather than a Pump Kick. The spinning body damages any enemy it contacts, making this effective for clearing groups. Stamina-restoring consumables let you sustain the spin for longer periods.

Slide Leg Sweep

While sliding (crouch while sprinting), holding the unarmed button triggers a leg sweep takedown grapple. Your character sweeps the enemy's legs using their own momentum, throwing the target to the ground with a unique animation. This is one of the few grapple initiators that starts from a crouched position, making it useful for catching enemies off guard when approaching from below or through tight spaces.

The leg sweep counts as a grapple, so you can follow it up with any ground-based grapple move. Lariat Follow-Up is particularly effective here because the enemy is already on the ground when the slam connects.

Winch Combo (Axiom Force Pull)

Throws, grapple throws, and kicks often knock enemies backward or launch them into the air, breaking your combo chain. The winch combo fixes this. During the animation of any move that sends an enemy away, hold the kick button and the Axiom Force button simultaneously. Your character shoots a tendril of Axiom Force at the enemy, pulls them back in, and slams them into the ground.

This turns knockback moves into combo extenders instead of combo enders. You can chain grapples and kicks into much longer sequences than the game's move list suggests. For example, a Throw that would normally send the enemy flying can be winched back into a Lariat, then followed by another grapple or weapon attack. The winch costs Axiom Force energy to perform, so resource management matters when chaining multiple pulls in a row.

Kick Combos from Bow Stance

Holding the bow aim trigger opens up an entirely different set of unarmed attacks that are not available from a neutral stance. Pressing the unarmed attack button while aiming the bow performs a three-hit kick combo. This combo can be repeated continuously for sustained kick pressure, serving as an alternative to the standard all-punch light attack chain.

Holding the unarmed button while aiming the bow performs a bicycle kick that launches enemies vertically into the air. Launched enemies can be juggled with follow-up attacks or grabbed for an aerial grapple transition. This is one of the few reliable launchers in the unarmed moveset.

You can also press the bow aim input during regular unarmed hits to seamlessly switch into kicks. This lets you chain kicks, punches, and grapples in any order. The flexibility is significant for players who invest in both the Stamina skill tree and ranged combat, since the bow stance combos leverage positioning skills from both playstyles.

Tips

• Invest in Grappling early. The Level 2 Lariat alone is worth the Abyss Artifact cost, and the Lariat Follow-up at Level 3 turns it into a high-damage combo.

• Keep an eye on your Stamina bar when using grapple moves repeatedly. Running out of Stamina mid-combo leaves you unable to dodge, making you vulnerable to counterattacks.

• Use Throw in group fights to create space. The thrown enemy damages anything it hits, so you can thin out clusters of foes efficiently.

• Clothesline is the best opening move for fights. Sprint toward a group, Clothesline the nearest enemy, then follow up with Lariat on the downed target.

• Against bosses, do not rely solely on grappling. Mix weapon combos with grapple attempts to keep the boss's stagger bar under pressure without draining all your Stamina at once.

• Scissor Takedown from the Unarmed Combat tree sets up free grapple follow-ups. Consider investing in both skill lines for maximum effectiveness.

See Also

• Unarmed Combat

• Kliff Skills

• Damiane Skills

• Oongka Skills

• Skills

• Best Skills to Get First

• Combat System

• Brass Knuckles

• Stagger

• Skill Tree Guide