Relentless

Overview

Relentless is a Skill Abyss Gear in Crimson Desert that increases damage with consecutive attacks. When equipped, a combo meter appears on screen tracking successive hits. Each hit in a combo chain increases weapon attack damage by approximately 1%, with near-linear scaling. At 20 consecutive hits, the player deals roughly 20% bonus damage; at 50 hits, roughly 50% bonus damage. Taking damage from enemies resets the combo counter.

Relentless is one of the few offensive abyss gears that provides weapon damage bonuses when socketed into armor slots (gloves or footwear), making it highly efficient for builds that want to maximize damage without sacrificing weapon sockets for other gears.

Effect

"Damage increases with consecutive attacks."

Relentless provides a generous combo meter with a large cooldown window that increases damage the more consecutive hits you land on an enemy. The meter gives strong visual feedback during combat, making it feel like playing a dedicated fighting game. It is widely considered one of the best abyss gears available, especially for players who invest over 200 hours into optimizing their builds.

Properties

Property	Value
Type	Skill Abyss Gear
Price	693 Silver
Scaling	Approximately 1% per consecutive hit (linear)
Reset Condition	Taking damage from enemies

Compatible Equipment Slots

Relentless can be socketed into the following equipment types:

Melee Weapons (swords, greatswords, spears, halberds, etc.)
Gloves
Footwear

Notably, when socketed into gloves or footwear, Relentless still provides its damage bonus to all weapon attacks. The Attack stat shown on gloves and boots normally only applies to unarmed combat (punches and kicks), but Relentless bypasses this limitation, making it one of the highest-value uses of an armor socket for damage-focused builds.

How to Obtain

Crafting

Relentless can be crafted at any Witch NPC through standard abyss gear crafting. The recipe requires:

Material	Quantity
Destruction I	1
Swift I	1

Pre-Socketed Equipment

Relentless comes pre-socketed on the Bringer of Balance, a two-handed weapon found in the Forebearer's Barrens region. It can be found by locating an underground trapdoor at unnamed ruins in that area. The gear can be extracted from the weapon and moved to any compatible equipment slot.

Other Sources

Sealed Abyss Artifacts can drop Relentless as a reward.
Various quest rewards throughout the game.

Build Synergies

Relentless pairs well with sustained-attack playstyles where the player can maintain long combo chains without taking damage.

Turning Slash builds: The multi-hit nature of Turning Slash quickly builds the combo meter, amplifying damage over the course of a fight.
Critical Rate builds: Combining Relentless with high critical rate multiplies the bonus damage from consecutive hits.
The Combat God's Plate Gloves (dropped by the Muskan boss) have a built-in passive that also increases damage with consecutive attacks, stacking with Relentless for even greater sustained damage.

For maximum value, socket Relentless into gloves or boots rather than a weapon, freeing weapon sockets for gears like Crow's Pursuit, Shadow Claw, or Graciel Halen.

200-Hour Optimized Greatsword Build

In a highly optimized end-game build, Relentless is best placed in the gloves slot. It pairs exceptionally well with the Darkbringer greatsword, Momentum (which adds +35% turning slash damage), Volcanic Eruption, and Flames of Judgment. Together, these form a complete offensive package: Relentless handles sustained melee pressure through the combo meter, Momentum amplifies the core greatsword skill, and the fire abilities provide burst area damage and crowd control.

Stacking Mechanics

Community testing has uncovered important rules about how Relentless stacks across different equipment slots. The stacking behavior depends entirely on where the abyss gear is placed, not simply how many copies you equip.

Weapon + gloves/boots does NOT stack: Placing Relentless in a weapon slot and also in gloves or boots results in only 1/3 stacks registering on the stat screen. The game treats these as separate categories that do not combine.
3x in weapon alone does NOT stack: Equipping three copies of Relentless in weapon slots still shows the equivalent of a single stack. Weapon slots appear to be hard-capped at one effective Relentless.
3x in gloves and boots DOES stack: Placing all three copies in armor slots (gloves and boots) registers 3/3 on the stat screen and provides a genuine increase in effect.
Diminishing returns apply: Three stacks of Relentless in gloves/boots provides roughly 50 to 100 percent more value than a single copy, not a full 3x multiplier. Each additional stack yields less incremental benefit than the last.

Recommendations

Always slot at least one Relentless in gloves or boots rather than in a weapon slot. If you are running a pure weapon-attack focused build, the second and third copies of Relentless can still be worthwhile in those armor slots, especially if you do not have better bane or critical-focused gears competing for the same slots. However, players who rely on proc effects should keep weapon slots free for those and limit Relentless to a single copy in armor.

Tips

Relentless rewards aggressive, sustained combat. Avoid trading hits and focus on dodging to maintain the combo counter.
The combo meter resets when taking damage, so builds with high evasion or that use Spirit's Judgment for de-aggro can maintain longer chains.
Relentless is especially effective against bosses with predictable attack patterns where the player can safely chain many consecutive hits.
Consider pairing with Attack Speed gears to build the combo counter faster.