Skill Points

Overview

In Crimson Desert, skill points take the form of Abyss Artifacts. There is no traditional experience-based leveling system. Every ability unlock, stat upgrade, and high-level equipment refinement costs Abyss Artifacts. The rate at which you collect them determines how quickly your characters grow, and since there is no hard cap on how many you can earn, efficient farming makes a massive difference in late-game power.

This guide covers every major method for earning skill points, ranked by efficiency and accessibility. Whether you are still in the early chapters or have already reached the endgame, these strategies will help you stockpile enough Abyss Artifacts to unlock everything you want on the skill tree, max out your core stats, and still have surplus for refinement.

How Skill Points Work

Abyss Artifacts serve as universal skill points in Crimson Desert. They are spent across three systems: unlocking and upgrading nodes on each character's skill tree (Kliff, Damiane, Oongka); raising core stats (Health, Stamina, Spirit); and crafting materials for gear refinement past +5. Because a single currency fuels all three systems, knowing how to earn Artifacts efficiently is critical.

A player who completes the main story, most side content, and does moderate farming can realistically accumulate well over 100 Abyss Artifacts. One experienced player reported having 116 spent and 30 more banked, giving access to essentially every skill and stat they wanted across the tree.

Skill Point Farming Methods at a Glance

Sealed Challenges (Abyss Cubes)

There are 141 Sealed Abyss Artifacts scattered across the continent of Pywel. Each one sits on a roadside altar or cairn, usually at a crossroad along a main road. Picking one up does not grant an Abyss Artifact immediately. Instead, it unlocks a specific challenge you must complete first.

How to Find Sealed Artifacts Efficiently

The fastest collection method is simple: follow every main road from end to end. Sealed challenges are placed at or near crossroads almost without exception. When you approach one, a purple cube icon appears on your minimap. You can also spot them from a distance by activating Guiding Light (L1+R1 on PlayStation, LB+RB on Xbox, Ctrl+Left Click on PC), which causes nearby Abyss collectibles to emit a blue glimmer visible through walls and terrain. Alternatively, raise your lantern while riding to see Sealed Artifacts glow with a white ring of light.

Easiest Regions for Sealed Challenges

Not all sealed challenges are equal in difficulty. The easiest ones are concentrated around Hernand, Pailune, and Demeniss. Hernand is particularly good for sword and spear challenges, which tend to be straightforward kill or combo tasks. Demeniss is the go-to area for bow challenges. As you push into the Crimson Desert region and beyond, the challenges become more niche and time-consuming.

Challenge Categories

Tips for Completing Sealed Challenges Quickly

• Use Rocker's Hill for kill challenges. Northeast of Hernand City, roughly around Rocker's Hill, there is a nest of very weak birds that count as enemies rather than prey. You can one-shot them, making them perfect for challenges that require killing blows with a specific weapon or technique. Packs of weak bleed bandits in the same area serve as an alternative.

• Swap characters for weapon-specific challenges. Damiane has access to rapier, two-handed sword, and gun. Oongka uses two-handed axe and cannon. When you find challenges tied to those weapon types, swap to the appropriate character instead of trying to force it on Kliff.

• Use Clothesline for training/subdue challenges. Clothesline is an observation skill learned from Black Bear enemy units in Pailune. It instantly subdues opponents, making training-type challenges trivial.

• Use stamina food for swimming challenges. The 'swim 100m without resting' challenge is easy if you eat stamina-boosting food before jumping in the water.

• Batch similar challenges. Collect a large number of sealed artifacts first, then check your Journal's Challenges tab. Sort by challenge type and complete groups of similar tasks together in one session. This is far more efficient than doing them one at a time as you find them.

Crescent Challenges (Abyss Cressets)

There are 60 Abyss Cressets hidden across Pywel, each one granting a single Abyss Artifact plus unlocking that location as a fast travel point. These are sometimes called crescent challenges and fall into two categories: exploration cressets and puzzle cressets.

Exploration Cressets

These are found in hard-to-reach locations, typically on cliff edges, mountain summits, hidden caves, or the tops of structures. No puzzle is involved. You just need to physically get there using climbing, gliding, or traversal abilities. About 23 of the 60 cressets are pure exploration finds.

Puzzle Cressets (Ancient Ruins)

The remaining 37 are located inside or near Ancient Ruins. These require solving a puzzle before the cresset can be activated. Puzzle types include mural interpretation, pillar height alignment, stone color grids, disc rotation, totem shooting, and Force Palm plate sequences. For full puzzle solutions, see the Ancient Ruins Solutions page.

Using Map Genie for Cresset Hunting

Map Genie's interactive Crimson Desert map is one of the best tools for tracking down all 60 cressets efficiently. While the map is not 100% complete, it covers the majority of known locations. To use it effectively:

• Open Map Genie and hide all filters to start with a clean view.

• Enable the "Abyss Cressets" filter to see all known cresset locations marked on the map.

• Optionally enable "Abyss Nexus" to see fast travel points, which helps you plan efficient routes between cressets.

• Work region by region, traveling to each marked location along the way.

• You can skip puzzle cressets initially and come back to them later if you prefer pure exploration first.

This method is extremely productive. One player reported earning 30 to 40 skill points in just a couple of hours by systematically visiting cresset locations with this map open.

Artifact Gauge Farming (Infinite XP Grinding)

The Artifact Gauge is the gold/yellow bar that appears to the left of your minimap. This is the game's XP bar. Every enemy you kill fills the gauge, and when it is completely full, you earn one Abyss Artifact. The bar then resets and the cycle repeats with no cap whatsoever. This is the only truly unlimited, repeatable source of skill points in the game.

Boosting Artifact Gauge Gain

You can increase the rate at which the gauge fills by equipping Abyss Gear that provides percentage-based skill XP bonuses. Multiple pieces with this stat stack, and you can slot them into your chest piece and other equipment slots. With a full set of XP-boosting gear, each kill contributes noticeably more to the gauge.

Recommended AoE Build for Farming

Efficient gauge farming requires killing large groups of enemies as fast as possible. The best approach is a strong AoE (area-of-effect) build. Two effective options:

One of the story bosses drops a halberd that comes with a "Recover Resources on Kill" Abyss Gear slot. Equip this as your weapon when farming so that every kill restores Spirit, letting you continuously use AoE abilities without running dry. This creates a self-sustaining loop: AoE kills restore spirit, which funds more AoE, which generates more gauge progress.

Best Farming Locations

The key to fast gauge farming is finding locations with dense, infinitely respawning groups of enemies. Several options exist depending on your story progress:

Farming Rotation Strategy

At your chosen location, follow this loop for maximum efficiency:

• Enter the area and use your AoE build to clear groups of enemies in a circuit around the location.

• Watch the Artifact Gauge fill as you chain kills.

• When only a few stragglers remain, do not waste time chasing them down. Leave the area immediately.

• Fast travel to a nearby waypoint or simply walk far enough away to trigger a zone reload.

• Return and repeat. Enemies respawn fully each time you reload the area.

This approach is best done as a late-game activity once you have a thoroughly strong AoE setup. Players who still need to progress the story, do side quests, and complete other content will naturally accumulate most of their skill points through those activities first.

Liberation Points as a Farming Method

The Liberation System offers a way to combine artifact gauge farming with meaningful map progression. Enemy camps and blockaded areas on the world map are marked as red buildings. These locations pack dense groups of enemies that are perfect for AoE farming.

The advantage of using liberation points over pure farming loops is that you get multiple benefits simultaneously:

• Artifact Gauge progress from all the enemy kills.

• Map unlocks, including new fast travel points, faction quests, and side content.

• Chest rewards back at the Greymane Camp. As you liberate locations, a reward chest at camp fills with valuable items you can use, sell, or donate to the contribution guide to build up your stocks.

• Boss encounters. Some liberation points are guarded by optional bosses, which themselves drop Abyss Artifacts directly.

The downside is that some liberation points have relatively few enemies, so the gauge progress per location varies. Hyperfilled camps are great; small outposts are less efficient purely for farming. Still, the combined benefits make liberation a worthwhile activity alongside dedicated grinding.

Saving Skill Points with Observation Learning

One of the most overlooked ways to stretch your skill points further is the Observation Learning system (also called Watch and Learn). Many skills in the game can be learned for free by observing NPCs, enemies, or bosses performing them. When you see someone doing something, hold the observation button (L1 on PlayStation, LB on Xbox, Ctrl on PC) to watch. If the action is learnable, a progress bar appears showing how many observations are needed.

Every skill you learn through observation is a skill point you do not have to spend. If you have already spent a point on a skill you later observe, you can respec to reclaim that point. For a complete list of observable skills and their locations, see the All Observation Skill Locations page.

Key Observation Locations

The further you progress through the story, the more observation opportunities you unlock. Periodically respeccing to reclaim points spent on skills you have since observed is a valid strategy for maximizing your available Artifacts.

Stat Cap Unlocks Through Research Institutes

Each of the three core stats has a soft cap that prevents further upgrades until you complete specific Research Institute projects. These caps and the resources needed to break them are:

How Research Unlocks Work

At each Research Institute, you fund research projects using Silver. Progress takes in-game time. Partway through the research, you will be given a faction quest to resolve a problem (usually gathering a specific material). Complete the quest, continue funding, and eventually the stat cap unlock becomes available. The unlock itself costs additional Abyss Artifacts plus the special material listed above.

Getting the Required Materials

• Wild Ginseng (for Spirit): Complete the Pororin faction quest to find a ginseng source southeast of Porro Rin, where 6 to 7 can be gathered. A wandering merchant near the Greymane Camp sometimes sells 2, though he appears infrequently (most active at night along the road to Hernand City). You can also plant ginseng at the farm in the Greymane Camp and potentially harvest more than you planted through research bonuses from Horin.

• Abyss Cells (for Health): Dropped by Abyss-type enemies like living bushes and minable Bismouth Rocks. A reliable source is Drake's Fall Castle, located north of Hernand City past Rocker's Hill and Hills of No Return. The castle is filled with Bismouth Rock enemies that drop Abyss Cells. To create an infinite spawn, kill some of the small ones but leave others alive so they keep respawning.

• Red Seaweed (for Stamina): Found on the coasts of Delesyia. Easy locations include the coast near Dewhaven (there is a waypoint nearby) and further south by the shipwreck. Two gathering nodes provide more than the 10 required.

Respec Warning for Stat Cap Upgrades

Once you break through a stat cap and spend the special materials (Wild Ginseng, Abyss Cells, or Red Seaweed), those materials are consumed permanently. If you later respec your skill tree, you will need to pay those materials again when you reach the cap threshold a second time. Since these resources are rare and slow to re-acquire, avoid respeccing after you have invested in stat cap upgrades unless absolutely necessary.

Respeccing costs a Faded Abyss Artifact, which is itself a rare resource. Plan your build carefully before committing to stat cap investments. Lock in your core stat upgrades only when you are confident in your overall build direction.

Skill Point Spending Priorities

Given that Abyss Artifacts fuel skills, stats, and refinement, how you spend them matters. Here is a general priority order for most players:

• 1. Health and Stamina stat upgrades first. These provide the biggest survivability gains. Many combat skills can be learned for free through Observation Learning, but stat upgrades cannot. Prioritize raising Health and Stamina to their soft caps early.

• 2. Essential combat skills. Unlock the core abilities you need for your build. Check the Watch and Learn Skill Locations page first to see if any skills on your wish list are available through observation, which saves you the initial unlock cost.

• 3. Spirit stat upgrades. Spirit reaches its soft cap earlier (level 8 out of 14) and requires research at Pororin to unlock further. Worth doing once you have access.

• 4. Equipment refinement past +5. Only invest in refinement for your endgame gear. Spending Artifacts on temporary weapons or armor you plan to replace is one of the most common early-game mistakes.

• 5. Secondary character skill trees. Damiane and Oongka each have their own skill trees. Core stat upgrades carry over between characters, but combat skills do not. Invest in secondary characters only after your main (Kliff) is well-established.

Recommended Earning Strategy by Game Phase

Early Game (Acts 1 to 4)

• Collect every Sealed Artifact you encounter along main roads. Do not go out of your way yet; just grab them as you travel between story objectives.

• Visit the training yard northwest of Hernand City to observe free skills immediately.

• Complete side quests and Greymane Commissions for guaranteed Artifact rewards.

• During main quest battles, clear every enemy wave before completing objectives. Story battles can fill the Artifact Gauge multiple times.

• Start the Spirit cap research at Pororin as soon as you gain access in Act 2.

Mid Game (Acts 5 to 7)

• Systematically follow every main road in Hernand, Pailune, and Demeniss to collect all Sealed Artifacts in those regions.

• Before clearing the Demeniss and Pailune story arcs, take advantage of the infinite enemy spawns in those regions for some Artifact Gauge farming.

• Hunt the Crimson Warden for Evade Shot and Volley Shot observations.

• Complete the Hernand faction quests to fight Sir Catfish and observe Body Slam.

• Open Map Genie and do a dedicated Abyss Cresset hunting session. This alone can yield 30 to 40 Artifacts in a couple hours.

Late Game (Acts 8+)

• Complete the Stamina cap research at Urdavah (Great Gate of Erdvar) once Chapter 9 is done.

• Farm Dewhaven Keep in Delesyia using your AoE build for infinite Artifact Gauge grinding.

• Work through remaining liberation points for combined farming and map completion.

• Respec to reclaim any points spent on skills you have since learned through observation.

• Push equipment refinement past +5 on your endgame loadout using surplus Artifacts.

Tips

• Do not sell Abyss Artifacts for Silver. Silver can be earned through repeatable activities like bounties, trading, and the Archery Contest. Abyss Artifacts are always in demand.

• Keep your lantern raised while riding. Sealed Artifacts on roadside shrines glow brightly under lantern light, letting you spot them from horseback without dismounting.

• Unfog the map by ringing all 8 hidden bells before doing a full Sealed Artifact sweep. Seeing road outlines on the world map makes systematic collection much easier.

• Equipment with % skill XP abyss gears stacks. Slot multiple XP-boosting gears across your armor set when doing Artifact Gauge farming to significantly speed up the grind.

• The Artifact Gauge persists between encounters. Partial progress is never lost, so every kill counts even if you do not fill the bar in a single fight.

• Some Sealed Artifact challenges reward Faded Abyss Artifacts or Abyss Gear instead of regular Artifacts. Since Faded Artifacts are extremely rare, completing every sealed challenge is one of the best ways to stockpile respec currency.

See Also

• Abyss Artifact - Full item reference and overview

• Abyss Artifacts Farming Guide - Detailed farming routes and methods

• How Many Skill Points Can You Get - Total skill point calculation and limits

• Skill Tree Guide - Full skill tree breakdown and recommended paths

• All Sealed Abyss Artifact Locations - Map and directions for all 141 sealed collectibles

• Abyss Cresset Locations - All 60 cresset locations and puzzles

• Yellow Bar Explained - What the Artifact Gauge is and how it works

• Observation Learning - How to learn skills for free

• Research Institutes - All research projects and stat cap unlocks

• How to Respec Skills - Respeccing costs and strategy

• Faded Abyss Artifact - How to obtain the rare respec currency

• Liberation System - Camp liberation mechanics and rewards