Overview
Crimson Desert does not use traditional health potions. Instead, healing comes from eating food, using the Healing Force Palm skill, crafting Palmar Pills, or sleeping at a bed. Boss fights in particular turn into wars of attrition where you will take damage no matter how well you dodge. Keeping a large stock of food is the single most important thing you can do to stay alive.
Food Healing (Primary Method)
Eating food is your main source of HP recovery during combat and exploration. You can consume food every 2 seconds, even while performing attack animations, which makes it possible to sustain yourself through long fights as long as your supply holds out.
How to Use Food
Open the quick menu by holding Right D-Pad on controller (or the corresponding key on PC).
Select a food item to equip it to your quick slot. The equipped food appears near your mini-map.
Press Right D-Pad (or the quick-use key) to consume the food and restore HP.
You can eat raw food without any debuff, but cooked food restores significantly more HP per serving. Always cook your ingredients when possible.
Food Items and HP Values
Item | HP Restored | Ingredients | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Grilled Meat | 80 HP | 1 Raw Meat | Best efficiency. 10 meat = 800 total HP across 10 servings |
Hearty Grilled Meat | 220 HP | 10 Raw Meat | Less efficient per unit of meat than standard Grilled Meat |
Stew | 120 HP | Varies by recipe | +10 Spirit, fire resistance for 30 seconds |
Jerky | 60 HP | Dried meat | Portable, no cooking required |
Bread | 40 HP | Flour-based | Can be purchased from merchants |
Raw Meat (uncooked) | 40 HP | N/A | Half the healing of Grilled Meat; cook it whenever possible |
Standard Grilled Meat is the best all-around healing item. Ten raw meat cooked into ten Grilled Meat portions gives you 800 total HP, while the same ten meat turned into one Hearty Grilled Meat gives only 220 HP. Always choose quantity over quality unless you specifically need the single-slot convenience.
Where to Get Meat
Meat vendor in Hernand: A goblin merchant on the southwest edge of Hernand town sells several types of raw meat. There is a cooking pot directly to her right, so you can buy and cook in one stop. The vendor restocks overnight at 0:00 in-game time. Sleep for 12 hours at a nearby bed to accelerate the restock.
Hunting animals: Ride through forested areas and attack groups of deer or other wildlife. A group of five deer typically yields 3 to 4 meat each, giving you around 15 to 20 meat per encounter.
Enemy drops: Some enemies drop raw meat or other food ingredients when defeated.
Fruit from trees: Felling certain trees drops fruit that can be eaten for small HP recovery.
Pailune vendor: A secondary meat vendor becomes available in Pailune during Chapter 7.
Cooking Basics
You can cook at campfires and cooking cauldrons found throughout settlements and the open world. Approach a cooking station, open the cooking menu, select a recipe, and choose the quantity. More complex dishes provide better benefits, but for raw healing throughput, standard Grilled Meat is hard to beat.
Recipes appear as small scroll icons on the map and can also be purchased from merchants or found on shelves in buildings. Collecting recipes early gives you more cooking options as you progress.
Healing Force Palm
Healing Force Palm is a skill in Kliff's Spirit Skill Tree that converts the standard Force Palm attack into a healing ability.
How to Unlock
Upgrade the base Force Palm skill to Level 1. Doing so automatically unlocks Healing Force Palm. The skill costs 1 Abyss Artifact to acquire and 5 Spirit to use.
How to Use
Press and hold R3 / Right Stick (or Mouse Wheel on PC) to charge Force Palm.
While charging, press L3 / Left Stick (or Tab on PC) to switch to Healing Force Palm.
Aim at the target you want to heal and release to deliver the healing energy.
This skill can heal both Kliff and his horse. It is the most reliable way to restore your mount's health during long rides or after combat encounters without needing to carry hay or visit a stablehand.
Force Palm Skill Progression
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Base | Force Palm | Launches a palm strike that deals Spirit damage |
Level 1 | Healing Force Palm | Converts Force Palm charge into healing energy |
Level 1 | Aerial Force Palm | Enables Force Palm use in midair; can chain 3 times for vertical traversal |
Level 2 | Force Palm Proficiency | Increases Force Palm damage and efficiency |
Level 3 | Force Palm Expertise | Further upgrades to Force Palm power and range |
Palmar Pills (Revive Item)
Palmar Pills function as an automatic revive. When Kliff's HP drops to zero, a Palmar Pill activates and restores 30% of maximum HP, letting you continue the fight without reloading a save.
How to Craft Palmar Pills
Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
Water | 2 |
Medicinal Herbs | 15 |
The Palmar Pill recipe is found inside Shadow's Whisper Cave, located on the western shoreline of Three Saints Falls, below the bridge leading from Hernand. Medicinal Herbs are common wild plants and flowers that can be picked throughout the open world.
Sleeping
Sleeping at a bed fully restores Kliff's HP. You only need to sleep for 3 in-game hours to heal completely, making this the most time-efficient recovery method when you are near a bed.
Bed Locations
Royal Trading Post: North of Hernand City. Kliff's tent contains a usable bed.
Greymane Camp: Southeast of the starting area. Beds are available in both a tent and Kliff's home within the camp.
Additional beds become available in inns and safe houses as you progress through the story.
Horse Healing
Your mount has its own HP bar that depletes when hit during mounted combat or environmental hazards. There are three ways to heal your horse:
Healing Force Palm: The most convenient method. Aim the healing variant of Force Palm at your horse to restore its health. See the Force Palm section above for controls.
Feeding hay: Carry hay in your inventory and use it while riding to restore horse HP.
Stablehand: Visit a stablehand NPC who can fully heal your horse, though this may cost trade goods.
Combat Healing Tips
Carry at least 100 Grilled Meat before any boss fight. For the hardest encounters in Chapter 5 and beyond, bring 200 or more.
Since you can eat every 2 seconds during combat, Grilled Meat (80 HP each) provides 40 HP per second of sustained healing. That adds up fast over a long fight.
You can eat food during attack animations. There is no need to stop fighting to heal.
Cook your food before fights. Raw meat restores only 40 HP compared to 80 HP for Grilled Meat.
Always carry a few Palmar Pills as insurance. The 30% max HP revive can save a 10-minute boss attempt.
Between fights, sleep at the nearest bed instead of eating through your food supply. Sleeping costs nothing and heals to full in 3 hours.
Pick up every Medicinal Herb you pass in the open world. You will want a steady supply for Palmar Pill crafting.