Overview
Crimson Desert is packed with hidden mechanics, secret interactions, and non-obvious shortcuts that the game never explains to the player. The community has uncovered dozens of these through experimentation and thorough exploration of Pywel. This article compiles the most useful and verified discoveries, organized by category. For lore-focused secrets such as hidden bosses, bizarre encounters, and Black Desert Online connections, see the separate Secrets & Easter Eggs article.
Exploration Secrets
Precision Jump for Stamina-Free Climbing
Precision Jump is a traversal mechanic that allows Kliff to perform static, targeted hops while climbing. Unlike regular climbing, Precision Jump does not consume stamina at all. To use it, hold L1 (PlayStation) or LB (Xbox) to aim, then press Square (PlayStation) or X (Xbox) to jump. After jumping, you must hold the left stick toward the wall, or Kliff will fall. Because this move costs zero stamina, you can climb any surface in the game from the very start without needing stamina upgrades or food.
Eat Food While Climbing, Swimming, or Gliding
Stamina food can be consumed while hanging on a cliff face, mid-swim, or mid-glide without interrupting the action. Open your consumable wheel by holding D-Pad Right (or F3 on PC) and eat any stamina-restoring food. Your stamina bar refills instantly. This effectively gives you unlimited climbing, swimming, and gliding range as long as you carry food in your inventory. Combine this with Precision Jump for truly unrestricted vertical exploration.
Waterfall Treasures and Stacked Rock Towers
If you spot a small stacked rock tower (a cairn) in front of a waterfall, it marks a hidden treasure behind the falls. Walk through the waterfall or use the Stab skill to pass through. Behind it, you will usually find a treasure chest containing unique equipment or rare ore. Always check for cairns near any waterfall you encounter.
Hidden Weapon in Death's Grip Cave
The Survivor's Solitude is a one-handed weapon hidden inside Death's Grip Cavern, located behind a waterfall northwest of Lake Kharonso. The weapon has 21 Attack, Level 1 Attack Speed, and Level 1 Critical Rate. To reach the cave, follow the riverbank north from Scholastone Village until you reach a large waterfall. Look for a stone totem pile near the base of the falls to confirm the correct location, then use the Stab skill to pass through the water.
Bell Towers Remove Fog of War
Interacting with bell towers in settlements clears large portions of the fog of war from your map in a single action. There are 8 bells total, spread across every major settlement in Pywel. Ringing all of them completes the Toll of Pywel questline tied to the Prorrin Forest Guardians faction. Prioritize finding these bells early to reveal the full map and plan your exploration routes.
Illusory Walls
Some walls in caves and ruins are illusory. If your lantern or Guiding Light highlights a wall but nothing happens when you press the interact button, try walking straight into it. The wall dissolves and reveals a hidden passage or secret room behind it. Make a habit of activating your lantern whenever you enter a new cave or ruin. If a marker appears on a wall with no interaction prompt, the wall is almost certainly an illusion.
Fast Travel Shrine Activation
If you spot an area carved into the ground that resembles a miniature model of a city with a large circle in the center, you have found an Abyss Nexus fast travel point. Stand in the circle and hold up your lantern (L1 on PlayStation, LB on Xbox, Ctrl on PC) to activate it. After activation, you can teleport back to that point at any time from the map.
The Dark Fog Lantern
The Dark Fog Lantern is a major upgrade to your standard lantern that transforms secret hunting. You obtain it by completing the Alfonso House faction quest "Transcendent Structure" in Hernand. This enhanced lantern reveals memory fragments, hidden clues, sealed Abyss Artifacts, and ghostly blue hologram scenes. Prioritize this quest line early if you want to find all hidden collectibles.
Combat Secrets
Auto-Combo by Holding the Attack Button
For combos that chain from the same input (repeated light attacks or repeated heavy attacks), you do not need to press the button multiple times. Simply hold down the attack button and Kliff will execute the full combo string automatically. This is especially useful during intense fights where precise timing on repeated presses is difficult.
The Hidden Tackle
The tackle is a hidden move that is part of Kliff's basic moveset but never explained by the game. To execute it, perform a dodge roll and then press Circle + Triangle (PlayStation) or B + Y (Xbox) together during the roll recovery. If it connects, Kliff will grab the enemy, slam them to the ground, and you can follow up with strikes or tie them up. The tackle is the same move Kliff uses to capture bounties alive, but it works on most humanoid enemies in open combat.
Turning Slash Destroys Watchtower Foundations
Turning Slash is powerful enough to knock out a watchtower's foundation in a single hit. Pressing RT + RB (Xbox) or R2 + R1 (PlayStation) together executes the move, and it works whether Kliff is holding a weapon or fighting bare-handed. This allows you to topple entire watchtowers onto enemies below, dealing massive damage and clearing fortified positions without a prolonged fight.
Cooking with Blinding Flash
Blinding Flash can cook raw food placed on the ground. Drop raw meat, fruit, or vegetables from your inventory onto the ground, then aim the focused light beam at the items and hold it for a few seconds. The raw food transforms into its grilled version (Grilled Meat, Grilled Fruit, or Grilled Vegetables), all of which restore health. This lets you cook anywhere in the world without needing a campfire or cooking station. Note: desummon your pet before placing raw food on the ground, because pets will eat it before you get a chance to cook it.
Infinite Giant Swing
After landing a Pumpkick or Drop Kick, hold the Giant Swing execution button instead of tapping it. Your character will keep spinning indefinitely, dragging enemies along and plowing through anyone in your path. The spin continues as long as you hold the button and have stamina remaining. Steer with the camera to sweep through entire camps. Use stamina-restoring drinks to extend the duration even further. This requires level 3 of the Grappling skill.
Resource Gathering Secrets
Force Palm Mining on Cliff Faces
Ore deposits on cliff faces can be broken with Force Palm while climbing. Climb up to the ore vein and use Force Palm to shatter it. However, the impact launches Kliff away from the wall, which can be fatal at great heights. To prevent this, hold the Resist/Brace button at the same time to stay attached to the cliff face. Alternatively, you can shoot a fully charged arrow at cliff-face ore from the ground below to break it without climbing at all.
Keep in mind that mining with a pickaxe yields 2 resources per node, while breaking ore with Force Palm, heavy attacks, or combat skills yields only 1 resource. Use Force Palm mining for convenience on hard-to-reach veins, and save your pickaxe for accessible deposits where the double yield matters.
Deer Hat Disguise for Easy Hunting
The Deer Hat is a helmet that disguises Kliff as a deer. It drops from Staglord bandits located in the snowy mountains west of Hernand, near the Icemoor Castle Ruins. You will naturally visit this area during a questline for House Serkis, but you can travel there earlier. The bandits wearing the Deer Hat themselves are easy to identify. While wearing the hat, deer treat Kliff as one of their own. You can walk right up to them and attack at close range instead of chasing them or wasting arrows. This makes gathering meat, hides, and horns far easier in the early game.
NPC and Social Secrets
Light Copper Pouches for Instant NPC Approval
Most vendors and NPCs in the game can be gifted a Light Copper Pouch for an instant +5 approval boost. This is the fastest and cheapest way to raise NPC trust levels, which unlocks better shop inventories, unique dialogue, and faction benefits. Stock up on Light Copper Pouches from merchants and distribute them to NPCs whose approval you want to raise. The cost is minimal compared to the rewards you unlock.
Traversal and Mount Secrets
Triple Aerial Force Palm for Vertical Launch
After unlocking Aerial Force Palm, you can use it three times in a row while airborne by jumping and pressing R3 (Mouse Wheel on PC) three times in rapid succession. Each use launches Kliff higher, allowing you to catapult yourself up walls and cliffs without climbing. This is one of the fastest ways to reach high ledges and works as a shortcut to areas that would otherwise require a long climbing route.
Heal Your Horse with Force Palm
When your horse is injured and stuck at a slow trot, you do not need mount-healing items. Switch Force Palm to healing mode by holding R3 (Mouse Wheel on PC) and then tapping L3 (Tab on PC). Then hit your horse with the Healing Force Palm to restore its health. This saves you from carrying dedicated horse recovery items and lets you heal your mount anywhere in the field.
Blinding Flash Utility
Scouting From High Ground
When using Blinding Flash to scan for hidden collectibles and points of interest, always get to high ground first. At ground level, terrain and vegetation block your sightlines and the light glints are easy to miss. A cliff edge, rooftop, or hilltop dramatically increases how many points of interest you can spot in a single sweep. This technique is especially effective when searching for Abyss Cressets and Sealed Abyss Artifacts.
Equipment Secrets
Reinforce Before Every Boss Fight
Weapon reinforcement (Grindstone) and armor reinforcement (Anvil) provide temporary stat boosts that deplete as you deal and take damage in combat, not over time. The boosts are free and take under a minute to apply. Always reinforce at a Grindstone and Anvil right before a difficult encounter. Do not reinforce at the start of a long journey, because the buff will wear off during minor fights along the way. Save it for the moment before you need it most.
Anvils reinforce all equipped armor pieces at once, making them extremely efficient. The defense boost can be as large as +10 on key pieces, which noticeably reduces incoming damage. Food buffs from cooked meals stack with reinforcement bonuses, so eat an attack-boosting meal on top of a Grindstone sharpen for maximum damage output.
Advanced Traversal Secrets
Reverse Slide
While sprinting, press L3 (the left stick button) to begin a normal slide. During the slide animation, press L3 again to flip your character around and slide in reverse. This reverse slide requires a slight downward slope or elevation change to trigger; it does not work on perfectly flat ground. The reverse slide is mostly a stylistic trick, but it can be useful for repositioning during combat while maintaining forward momentum away from enemies.
Abyss Fall Recovery
If you fall from the Abyss (or any lethal fall), you can recover before dying. Quickly use Axiom Force to tether to the sky, anchoring your character in midair. Then press the menu button (Options on PlayStation, Start on Xbox) to open the game menu, which teleports you back to the position where you fell from. This technique saves you from losing progress or having to respawn at a distant checkpoint. The timing is tight, so activate Axiom Force as soon as you realize you are falling.
Horse Jump Tech
Sprint your horse toward a cliff edge and jump. While airborne, dismount by pressing the dismount button in midair. From this dismounted midair position, you have two options. First, you can activate crow form to glide a massive horizontal distance, far beyond what a normal crow form launch from the ground would achieve. Second, you can use three consecutive downward Force Palm strikes to gain significant vertical height, launching yourself upward to reach otherwise inaccessible ledges or platforms. The horse takes no fall damage from the jump, so you can recall it afterward without penalty.
Quick Reference Table
The table below summarizes each hidden secret and where or how to use it.
Secret | How to Use | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
L1/LB to aim, Square/X to jump while climbing | Climb any surface without spending stamina | |
Eat While Climbing | D-Pad Right (F3 on PC) to open consumable wheel mid-climb | Infinite climbing range with food supply |
Climb to ore, Force Palm + hold Brace button | Mine cliff-face ore without a flat surface | |
Shoot fully charged arrow at cliff ore from below | Break ore without climbing at all | |
Auto-Combo | Hold attack button instead of pressing repeatedly | Full combo string with a single held input |
Hidden Tackle | Dodge roll then Circle + Triangle (B + Y) | Ground slam and tie-up on humanoid enemies |
Turning Slash on Watchtowers | R2 + R1 (RT + RB) near tower base | Collapse the tower in one hit |
Cook with Blinding Flash | Drop raw food, aim focused light at it | Cook anywhere without a campfire |
Equip Deer Hat from Staglord bandits | Walk up to deer for easy melee hunting | |
Gift a pouch to any vendor or NPC | +5 NPC approval per pouch | |
Ring bells in each of the 8 settlements | Clear fog of war and reveal full map | |
Illusory Walls | Lantern highlights wall, walk straight through | Reveal hidden rooms and passages |
Jump then R3 three times in the air | Launch yourself up high walls without climbing | |
Heal Horse with Force Palm | Hold R3 then tap L3 to switch to heal mode | Heal your horse without consumable items |
Blinding Flash from High Ground | Use Blinding Flash from a cliff edge or rooftop | Spot far more collectibles in a single sweep |
Use Grindstone and Anvil right before the fight | Free temporary attack and defense boost |