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Overview

The Plate Armor of Cursed Soul set is one of the most visually striking armor collections in Crimson Desert. Once worn by Fortain, the Cursed Knight, every piece of this set carries the dark legacy of a warrior who traded his soul for power in his campaign to conquer Wells. The full collection consists of five armor pieces, a shield, and a one-handed sword spread across the Demeniss region and the southern shoreline.

What makes this set especially appealing is that six of the seven pieces can be collected through open-world exploration without fighting any bosses. Only the Shackle of Might sword requires a boss encounter during Chapter 8. Players who have unlocked the Focused Force Palm ability (obtained on the way to Chapter 4) can start collecting pieces relatively early in the game. The set can also be dyed at the Hernand dye house, making it fully customizable in appearance.

Set Pieces

The complete Cursed Soul collection includes seven pieces. Five are equipment slots (headgear, body armor, gloves, footwear, and cloak), plus a shield and a one-handed sword. The table below summarizes each piece, its location, and its key stats.

Requirements

Most of the Cursed Soul pieces are hidden behind breakable walls, rotating structures, and waterfall entrances. You will need the following abilities to collect everything:

• Focused Force Palm (unlocked on the way to Chapter 4 at a Scholar Stone): Required to break glowing walls and activate hidden mechanisms. Enter Focus Mode with R3, aim at the glowing orb until it shimmers, then release to break through.

• Stab (R1 + Triangle): Used to pass through waterfalls that conceal cave entrances. Position yourself in front of the waterfall and use the stab thrust to lunge through.

• Wall Grab (L2) + Force Punch (R3): Needed for the cloak location specifically. Grab onto a suspicious wall section, then punch while attached to rotate it.

The Shackle of Might sword is the only piece that cannot be obtained early. It drops from Fortain, the Cursed Knight, a mandatory boss during The Cursed Knight quest in Chapter 8.

Location Guide

The pieces below are ordered by proximity to each other, starting near Demeniss and moving toward the south shoreline. Following this order minimizes travel time when collecting the full set.

1. Plate Gloves of Cursed Soul

The first piece is located at Anvil Hill Cave, near Demeniss. Ride along the cliff line on the upper edge of the area and look for a crevice in the cliff face that leads to a suspicious glowing rock. Enter Focus Mode (R3), aim at the glowing orb until it shimmers, and release to perform a Focused Force Palm that shatters the breakable wall.

Head inside the cave to find a treasure chest with the Plate Gloves and a Palmar Pill sitting nearby. Grab both before leaving. The gloves come with 15 ATK, 7 DEF, a Defense +3 abyss gear core, and Fire Resist Lv. 1. They can be reinforced and upgraded at a blacksmith, making them viable into the endgame.

2. Plate Armor of Cursed Soul

Head east from the gloves location to a cemetery near Demeniss. You can see the city wall in the background and ruins in the distance. Navigate to the cemetery and look for a cluster of gravestones. Among them is one that is noticeably taller than the rest.

If you examine the tall gravestone with your lantern, you will spot a leaf symbol on its surface. This indicates it can be activated with a focused punch. Hit it to open a secret room below the gravestone. Climb down the ladder (or just drop in) to find a small underground chamber with a treasure chest containing the Plate Armor of Cursed Soul. There is also a Palmar Pill near the entrance, so pick that up as well.

The chest piece is arguably the best armor piece in the set. It comes with 8 DEF (scaling up to 41 at max refinement), Health Regeneration (+0.2 per second), Spirit Regeneration (+0.1 per second), and a Movement Speed bonus. The combination of passive healing and mobility makes it one of the most well-rounded body armor options available.

3. Plate Cloak of Cursed Soul

Still near Demeniss, look for a large ruin with a tower. From a nearby bridge you can see the gate in the background and the ruin itself. The specific building you want is the big tower with a wall section that has a slightly suspicious-looking square on it. This is one of the trickier pieces to find because the entrance mechanism is unusual.

Run up to the suspicious wall section and hold L2 to grab onto it. While holding on, press R3 to execute a Force Palm punch while attached to the wall. This causes the wall section to rotate, swinging you inside the structure. Once inside, open the treasure chest to claim the Plate Cloak of Cursed Soul.

The cloak features Fire Resist Lv. 3, which provides significant protection against fire-based attacks from enemies and bosses. Its raw defense starts low but scales up to 12 at maximum refinement. The fire resistance makes it particularly useful when exploring areas with fire-dealing enemies.

4. Plate Boots of Cursed Soul

The boots are the last piece in the Demeniss area. Travel to Shadow Wolf Cave, which is marked on the map. When you arrive, look around to orient yourself: you should see a castle in the background and a double waterfall below. There is a separate waterfall higher up with a bridge, but that is not the one you want. Focus on the small double waterfall.

Position yourself on the correct side of the waterfall (the side with a small stone structure indicating this is a cave entrance). Use the Stab ability (R1 + Triangle) to lunge through the waterfall and enter the cave. Once inside, you will see a fake wall. Hit it with a Force Palm to break through and access the inner chamber.

The chest containing the Plate Boots of Cursed Soul is inside. The boots come with Defense 3 and Movement 1. But before you leave, take note that this is actually a silver cave. The walls are lined with silver ore deposits that can be mined for a substantial amount of silver. It is worth spending a few extra minutes mining everything here, as the silver yield is exceptionally high.

5. Plate Helm of Cursed Soul

From Demeniss, travel south to the shoreline near the Steel Mountains. You are looking for Windrift Cave, which is located partway down a cliff face. The area has several waterfalls, so use these landmarks to find the right one: look for a watchtower above, a giant double waterfall nearby, and then locate the smaller waterfall slightly lower on the cliff that has a stone structure beside it.

Use the Stab ability (R1 + Triangle) to plunge through the waterfall and enter Windrift Cave. Inside, you will find a couple of regular treasure chests with basic materials and a Refined Palmar Pill. The main prize is in a larger chest deeper inside: the Plate Helm of Cursed Soul.

This helm is the highest-defense headgear in the game with 8 base DEF plus a +3 Defense bonus from a preset abyss core, bringing the total to 11 before any refinement. It also grants Daze Immunity, which prevents the stun-like Daze status effect. This combination of massive defense and crowd control immunity makes it arguably the best headgear available.

6. Shield of Sacrifice

Still on the south shoreline, look for a stretch of coast with rocks jutting out into the sea and circling birds overhead. The birds are the key landmark here. Near the rocks you should also spot a small ruined cabin. The cave you are looking for is not marked on the map at all; it is a narrow crevice hidden in the rock formation along the shore.

Approach from the waterline and scan the cliff wall for the opening. Inside the cave is a chest, but an object partially blocks access to it. Use a jumping Force Palm to break the obstruction, then hold Square to open the chest and claim the Shield of Sacrifice.

This is a tanky shield with 6 base DEF, a preset Defense +3 core (bringing the effective total to 9), and Guard Stamina Cost Reduction of 3.0%. The reduced stamina drain on blocks lets you sustain a defensive posture for longer during drawn-out boss fights. It has no movement speed bonus, so it is best suited for players who prefer to stand their ground rather than dodge.

7. Shackle of Might

The Shackle of Might is the only piece that requires a boss fight. It drops from Fortain, the Cursed Knight, a mandatory encounter during The Cursed Knight main quest in Chapter 8: Blood Coronation. Fortain is located at Thornbriar Fortress in the Hernand region. You cannot access this fight early or skip ahead to it.

Fortain is a challenging opponent who wields a massive shield with two spectral beings (a melee spirit with an axe and a ranged spirit with a crossbow) that attack independently. The arena also has musket soldiers firing from the battlements, so you need to manage threats from multiple directions at once. Use Force Palm to stagger him through his shield, and bring plenty of Palmar Pills for the fight.

After defeating Fortain, you receive the Shackle of Might sword and an Abyss Artifact. The sword carries a Spirit's Judgment abyss core and has 19 ATK with Critical Rate Lv. 2 and three core slots, making it one of the strongest one-handed swords in the mid-to-late game.

Dye Customization

One of the biggest draws of the Cursed Soul set is how good it looks when dyed. By default, the armor has a red and gold color scheme that matches Fortain's visual identity. Players can fully customize this at the Dye System vendor in Hernand.

Visit the dye house in Hernand and purchase dye from the vendor. Within the dye menu, you can recolor each piece individually. A popular approach is to change all of the red tones to the darkest available black (the darkest shade in the red dye category works as a near-black if you have not yet obtained a true black dye). You can also change the material properties of certain elements to make them shinier.

With these tweaks, the set can be transformed into a striking gold-and-black theme that looks dramatically different from the default red. Experiment with different dye combinations to find a look that suits your playstyle. The dye changes are purely cosmetic and do not affect any stats.

Collection Strategy

Since six of the seven pieces are in the open world with no boss gates, you can collect most of the set in a single session once you have the Focused Force Palm. Here is an efficient route:

• Start near Demeniss: Pick up the Plate Gloves from Anvil Hill Cave, then head east to the cemetery for the Plate Armor, and then visit the ruin tower for the Plate Cloak.

• Shadow Wolf Cave: Travel to Shadow Wolf Cave for the Plate Boots. Mine all the silver while you are inside.

• South shoreline: Head to the coast near the Steel Mountains. Enter Windrift Cave for the Plate Helm, then follow the shoreline to the unmarked cave with circling birds for the Shield of Sacrifice.

• Chapter 8: The Shackle of Might sword comes from the Fortain boss fight during the main story. You will reach this naturally by playing through the campaign.

Lore

Every piece of the Cursed Soul set carries a description referencing Fortain's ambition and downfall. Fortain was a knight who sought to overthrow or conquer Wells by embracing "unfathomable power" at the cost of his soul. The in-game descriptions paint a picture of a warrior consumed by his desire for strength: the gloves "hold his desire to seize power," the boots echo with "the footsteps of a wraith," and the helm hides his face so he can "turn away from the truth" of what he has become.

Fortain's story concludes during the Chapter 8 boss encounter, where the spectral beings bound within his Shield of Sacrifice ultimately turn on him after his defeat. The scattering of his armor pieces across the world suggests that his cursed equipment was either hidden deliberately or dispersed after his original downfall, long before Kliff encounters him.

Tips

• Bring the Focused Force Palm. Almost every piece in this set requires breaking a wall or activating a mechanism with Force Palm. Without it, you cannot access the majority of the locations.

• Use your lantern. Several hidden entrances (like the cemetery gravestone) have symbols that only become visible when illuminated by the lantern. Get in the habit of checking suspicious objects with it.

• Mine the silver cave. The cave behind Shadow Wolf Cave's waterfall is packed with silver ore. Spending a few minutes mining here can provide a significant resource boost.

• Look for circling birds. The Shield of Sacrifice's cave is completely unmarked on the map. The circling birds above the rock formation are the only visual clue that something is hidden below.

• All pieces support full refinement. Every armor piece, the shield, and the sword can be refined up to 10 levels at a blacksmith. This means the entire set remains competitive through endgame content.

• Dye it. Visit the Hernand dye house after collecting the set. The gold-and-black dye scheme is widely considered one of the best looks in the game.

• Pair the sword and shield together. The Shackle of Might's high crit rate synergizes well with the Shield of Sacrifice's defensive stats, creating a balanced offense-defense loadout for one-handed sword builds.

• Prepare for Fortain. If you want the full set including the sword, stock up on Palmar Pills and equip at least Tier 4 or 5 gear before the Chapter 8 boss fight. Fortain hits hard and summons spectral allies.

See Also

• Fortain, the Cursed Knight - The boss who wields this armor set

• Shackle of Might - The Cursed Soul sword (detailed stats and boss fight guide)

• Shield of Sacrifice - The Cursed Soul shield (detailed stats and comparison)

• Plate Helm of Cursed Soul - Highest-defense headgear with Daze Immunity

• Dye System - How to recolor equipment

• Equipment - Overview of all equipment types

• Armor - All body armor in Crimson Desert

• Focused Force Palm - Required ability for accessing most Cursed Soul locations

• Blackwing Armor Set - Another collectible armor set

• Grey Wolf Leather Armor Set - Another collectible armor set