Overview
Mace of Ambition is a one-handed mace in Crimson Desert. It is a Legendary-grade blunt weapon with a base Attack of 11. A mace once wielded by Lucian Bastier, Grand General of the Kingdom of Demeniss. Its head bears the royal crest, and its sharp spikes are as splendid and cruel as his ambition.
With an Attack Speed bonus of 1, the Mace of Ambition swings faster than many other maces, making it suitable for players who prefer a quicker striking rhythm while still dealing solid blunt damage.
Stats
Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
Weapon Type | One-Handed Mace |
Grade | Legendary |
Attack | 11 |
1 | |
Price | 1,064 |
How to Obtain
The Mace of Ambition can be found through exploration, enemy drops, or merchant shops throughout the world of Pywel. Check with local blacksmiths and weapon merchants in settlements tied to the mace's lore. Higher-grade weapons are more likely to appear in late-game areas or as rewards from challenging encounters.
Lore
A mace once wielded by Lucian Bastier, Grand General of the Kingdom of Demeniss. Its head bears the royal crest, and its sharp spikes are as splendid and cruel as his ambition.
Lucian Bastier was the Grand General of the Kingdom of Demeniss. His ambition shaped the political landscape of the realm. The royal crest on this mace's head shows the power he wielded and the cruelty he was willing to employ.
Combat Tips
As a blunt weapon, the Mace of Ambition excels at dealing stagger damage to armored enemies. Maces are particularly effective against foes wearing heavy plate armor, where slashing weapons like swords lose some of their effectiveness.
Pair this mace with a shield for a defensive playstyle that allows you to block incoming attacks and counter with powerful overhead swings. Alternatively, dual-wielding the mace in the off-hand alongside a faster weapon in the main hand provides a balanced mix of speed and impact.
As a Legendary-grade weapon, the Mace of Ambition is well suited for mid-to-late game content. Consider investing in refinement upgrades and slotting Abyss Cores to maximize its potential against tougher foes.
Fire Affinity
The Mace of Ambition has a unique fire affinity effect that triggers on every attack. Unlike other elemental affinity weapons in Crimson Desert, this mace does not use a charge system. Every time the weapon connects with an enemy, a visual fire explosion erupts from the point of impact. This happens on every single swing, making for a consistently flashy combat experience.
Another unusual trait of the Mace of Ambition is that it has abyss gear slots, which is uncommon for unique weapons. Most unique weapons and shields sacrifice their abyss gear slots in exchange for their special effects, so the Mace of Ambition breaks that pattern by offering both the fire affinity and customizable abyss slots.
Testing Results
Testing of the fire explosion effect has revealed that the weapon may be bugged in its current state. When compared against a standard mace with identical stats, the following results were observed:
Damage: The fire explosions did not increase overall damage output compared to a normal mace with the same stat line.
Stagger: The fire effect did not increase stagger buildup against bosses.
Burn: While the explosions added fiery visual effects on animals, they did not apply a burn status effect the way that fire imbument attacks normally do.
Flinch: The fire explosions do increase the ability to flinch smaller enemies in large groups compared to a regular mace.
Based on these tests, the only confirmed statistical advantage of the Mace of Ambition over a regular mace with the same stats is the extra flinch capability against smaller enemies. The fire explosions are visually impressive, but they appear to be largely cosmetic in terms of damage and stagger. Despite some community claims that this is an extremely powerful weapon when fully refined, testing suggests it performs on par with other maces of equivalent stats, with the added bonus of extra flinches and a striking visual effect.
Detailed Location Guide
The Mace of Ambition is found at the Clockwork Spire in Eastern Demeniss. This area only becomes accessible after Chapter 8 of the main story. The weapon is located inside a secret room within the spire that has no intended entrance, leading many players to speculate that the weapon itself may be an unfinished or bugged piece of content.
Accessing the Secret Room
Progress through the Clockwork Spire as normal. Along the way to the top, you will encounter an elevator that takes you to the upper levels from the outside.
Instead of riding the elevator up to the intended destination, look at the gears along the elevator track on the left side.
Use Axiom Grapple to pull yourself onto the top of the left gear. This may take several attempts to land on the correct spot.
Once positioned on top of the center of the gear, the spinning motion will gradually clip you through the wall as the gear pushes against the gap.
After passing through the wall, move to the right until you reach the edge of the room. Make sure to land on the platform below instead of falling off.
Look above you for destructible wooden panels. Break them with charged arrow shots.
Directly above where you entered (on the western wall), there is a hole in the structure. You cannot climb through normally.
To get through, hop onto the pike positioned just below the hole. Attach your Axiom Force grapple to the wall on the other side, then use grapple hop to clip through the floor and up through the hole.
Land on the next layer to reach the secret room. Behind a large vertical metal panel stack, there is a pillar with the Mace of Ambition sitting on top.
Both the gear-clipping and the grapple-hop steps may require multiple attempts. The method was first discovered by a community member on Reddit and remains the only known way to consistently access this room.
See Also
One-Handed Weapons | Maces | Shields | Refining System | Abyss Cores
Prerequisites and Required Items
Reaching the Mace of Ambition is not possible during normal exploration. The weapon sits inside a hidden room at the top of the Spire of Clockwork that has no intended doorway, window, or lever. The only consistent way to retrieve it is to combine story progress, a specific consumable, and a gear-clipping glitch on the exterior of the Spire. Before attempting the run, make sure all three of the following prerequisites are met.
Chapter 8 completion: Finish A Fleeting Dream, the final main quest of Chapter 8: Blood Coronation. Defeating Lucian Bastier at the end of that quest rewards the Spire of Clockwork Key, which is the only item that opens the Spire's main gate and starts its mechanisms spinning. Without the key, the exterior cogs do not rotate and the glitch cannot be triggered.
Explosive arrows: Carry at least two Explosive Arrows. They are needed to blow out weakened wall panels and ceiling sections between the clip point and the hidden room. Players running an Infinite Arrows abyss gear setup can complete the run with a single Explosive Arrow because the arrow is not consumed on each shot.
Patience: The core glitch depends on timing, input delay, and the gear's rotation speed. Expect multiple attempts on the lift step and the grapple-hop step. Save before you begin so you can reload if you fall into an unreachable area.
Glitch Walkthrough
The route below is based on the community-documented method shown by content creator DP on YouTube. Every step assumes the Spire's mechanisms are already active after inserting the clockwork key at the front door.
Enter and activate the Spire. Use the Spire of Clockwork Key on the front gate. Once inside, jump up and pull the first lever at ground level to set the lower gears spinning.
Climb to the second lever. Jump onto the stationary cog above you, then cross to the second platform and pull the second lever. Keep an eye on the ceiling before each jump; banging your head on the structure above cancels the double jump and drops you back down.
Reach the upper platform. Continue climbing, walk the loop to reach the next platform, then use the climbable pipe to pull yourself higher. From the top of the pipe, jump out onto the small exterior walkway that only spawns when the Spire is fully operational.
Use the left-hand lift. Two lifts run along the outer face of the Spire. Take the left lift upward. You cannot pause the lift, so you need to commit to stepping off in the next step before it returns to the bottom.
Step off onto the pipe. Just before the lift reaches its top, step (or jump) off onto the pipe running beside the lift shaft. Missing this ledge is the most common failure point. Stand flush against the wall once you land.
Drop onto the spinning cog. Crouch and drop down onto the large rotating cog directly below the pipe. Do not wander; the cog is the glitch surface.
Clip through the wall. Stand with your back pressed against the wall and let the cog's rotation push you into it. You do not need to hold forward. After a few rotations the collision resolves and Kliff slides through into the hollow interior behind the wall.
Descend to the wooden platform. After clipping through, crouch and drop onto the wooden flooring below. If you fall past it you land back in an earlier chamber; climb back up and retry the drop.
Break the pipe with an explosive arrow. Head deeper into this hidden area until you reach a section of pipes blocking the passage. Fire a single Explosive Arrow at the correct pipe segment to open a vertical gap. Watch for small enemies in this room; they can interrupt the shot.
Grapple-hop through the gap. Leap onto the remaining pipe, aim Axiom Force at the wall through the newly opened gap, and double-tap jump to sling yourself through. The geometry is visibly deformed here; this is expected.
Climb into the hidden chamber. Scale the final wall. The Abyss is audible above you at the top. The mace sits on a pedestal in a small candlelit room. Interact with it to add the Mace of Ambition to your inventory.
The candles and pedestal strongly imply that an intended entrance exists somewhere, but as of the current build no lever, hidden wall, or scripted trigger has been found that opens a normal path into this room. Treat the glitch method as the only reliable way to collect the weapon.
Weapon Stats Summary
The Mace of Ambition combines trait and grade profiles that normally do not appear on the same weapon, which is part of why the community suspects it is unfinished or held back for a later DLC release.
Weapon class: One-handed mace. Can be dual-wielded or paired with a shield.
Attack: Roughly 19 at base and approximately 33 after refinement, on par with other top one-handed weapons like the Acria Sword.
Attack speed: Attack Speed Level 2 (a +1 speed bonus over most maces).
Affinity: Permanent fire affinity that triggers a small fiery explosion on every hit. The effect is not consumable and does not rely on a charge bar.
Durability: None. The mace cannot break and does not need repairs, which is unusual for a Legendary-tier weapon with an elemental effect.
Abyss gear slots: Three. Most unique or affinity-bearing weapons trade abyss slots for their special effects; the Mace of Ambition keeps both.
The combination of fire affinity, no durability, three gear slots, and the hidden, glitch-only placement is why many players consider the Mace of Ambition either a forgotten cut piece of content or a DLC weapon that shipped on disc ahead of schedule.