Stronghold Liberation

Overview

Stronghold liberation is the large-scale branch of Crimson Desert's liberation system. While smaller bandit camps can be cleared in minutes, strongholds are fortified military positions held by organized factions. They feature destructible facilities, dozens of defenders, and a commanding boss that must be defeated before the area is considered free. Liberating a stronghold delivers the single largest Contribution XP gain available from any non-quest activity, reshapes the surrounding world state, and feeds critical resources back to the Greymane Camp at Howling Hill.

Strongholds differ from ordinary bandit camps in three ways: they contain key structures that can be destroyed for tactical advantage, their enemy counts are significantly higher, and their bosses are tougher. Approaching a stronghold without a plan is a reliable way to burn through healing items. This guide explains how the facility destruction system works, walks through the liberation process step by step, and covers notable strongholds across the continent of Pywel.

How Stronghold Liberation Works

Strongholds appear on the world map as red building icons. Hovering over them shows the occupying faction's name and blockade status. When you enter the area, a liberation meter or objective list appears on the HUD. The general flow is the same across all strongholds:

• Scout the area. Identify destructible facilities before engaging the enemy force. Facilities are marked by banners or distinctive architecture (medical tents for infirmaries, shield racks for barracks, crane rigs for warehouses).

• Destroy facilities first. Each demolished structure applies a permanent debuff to every remaining enemy in the stronghold. Clearing facilities before fighting the bulk of the defenders gives you a significant tactical edge.

• Defeat all enemies. Work through the defenders in manageable groups. Lure small clusters away from the main force with ranged attacks to avoid being overwhelmed.

• Kill the boss. Every stronghold ends with a boss encounter. Once the boss falls, a cutscene triggers confirming the area has been liberated.

Liberation progress does not reset if you die. You can respawn and return to pick up where you left off. Once a stronghold is liberated, it stays free permanently. Enemies do not retake it.

Facility Destruction System

Patch 1.00.03 formalized the effects of destroying facilities at enemy strongholds. Before this patch, facilities could be demolished but the debuff effects were not clearly communicated. The following table lists every facility type and its destruction bonus:

All three core debuffs stack. When you destroy the Infirmary, Storage, and Barracks before engaging the boss, the remaining enemies have 10% less health, deal 5 less attack damage, and cannot recover wounded troops. This combined advantage makes the boss fight and final wave considerably more manageable.

How to Destroy Facilities

Facilities are physical structures, not enemy units. To destroy one, approach it and use heavy attacks. Turning Slash and other wide-arc heavy attacks work well against buildings. A few solid hits will bring down most facilities. You do not need a specific weapon type or skill. The structure breaks apart visually and a notification confirms the debuff has been applied.

One challenge with facility destruction is locating the buildings during active combat. Strongholds are large, and the minimap does not currently mark facility positions. As noted in community feedback, players often have to search through multi-level fortifications while under fire. Look for the visual identifiers listed in the table above: white flags for infirmaries, shield racks for barracks, and crane rigs near cliff edges for warehouses.

Step-by-Step Liberation Process

The following walkthrough uses Karin Quarry as an example, since it is one of the first major strongholds most players encounter. The same principles apply to all strongholds.

Step 1: Trigger the Quest

Most stronghold liberations are tied to faction quests. Karin Quarry is unlocked through the "Estate in Dismay" faction questline for House Roberts. Speak to House Roberts's Servant near Bluemont Manor in Hernand Town to start it. Progress through the dialogue until you receive the "Stolen Quarry" sub-quest directing you to the quarry.

Step 2: Scout and Destroy Facilities

Karin Quarry is located north of Hernand Town, beyond a river and east of Three Saint's Falls. An Abyss Nexus lies nearby to the west for equipment refinement. When you arrive, prioritize the following targets:

• Infirmary: Located at the right side of the entrance, marked by white flags. Destroy it first to prevent wounded enemies from re-entering the fight.

• Barracks: Past the Infirmary near the cliff edge, identifiable by shields mounted on the exterior. Destroying it reduces all enemy max health by 10%.

• Timber Warehouse: At the far back side near the cliffs, with an attached crane. Destroying it cuts enemy attack damage by 5.

Step 3: Clear the Defenders

With all three facilities down, the remaining Bleed Bandits are significantly weakened. Work through them in clusters. If you have a companion available, summon them by holding Up on the D-Pad and selecting from the Characters and Mounts wheel. Companions draw aggro and deal solid damage against large groups.

Step 4: Defeat the Boss

The Karin Quarry boss is Marni's Excavatron, a mechanical enemy located past a large wooden gate at the far back of the area. Players who want to skip the ground-level defenders can glide in from the nearby cliffs to reach the boss gate directly. After defeating the Excavatron, the liberation cutscene triggers and the quarry is reclaimed.

Step 5: Post-Liberation Cleanup

After clearing Karin Quarry, operate the crane controls in the control room to extract a buried relic. This reveals a hidden area containing a Palmar Pill. Any loot you missed on the battlefield is automatically sent to Private Storage (formerly the Supply Chest) at Greymane Camp, so nothing is permanently lost.

Rewards

Stronghold liberation provides overlapping rewards that feed into multiple progression systems at once.

Notable Strongholds by Region

Hernand Region

Pailune Region

After completing Chapter 7, Kliff unlocks the northern region of Pailune, the Greymanes' homeland. Black Bears outposts serve as staging grounds for military operations and are among the toughest liberation targets in the game.

Delesyia and Outer Regions

The outer regions feature faction-specific strongholds with unique combat challenges. Blockaded routes guarded by factions like the Wolf Trackers must be cleared before you can freely explore these areas. Liberation rewards here include some of the most valuable Contribution vendor gear in the game, such as the Dragon Flame and Sahazhad armor sets from the Delesyia/Tashkalp Contribution shop.

Using Dispatch Missions to Soften Strongholds

The Freesword Dispatch system, unlocked during Chapter 3 through the Pioneering quest, allows you to send Greymane recruits to weaken stronghold garrisons before you arrive in person.

• How it works: Speak to Luke at camp to access the dispatch screen. Assign recruits to a blockaded or hostile location. The mission runs passively in the background.

• Partial clears: Dispatch missions reduce the number of enemies at the stronghold. When you arrive to finish the job, your dispatched soldiers appear as allied NPCs fighting alongside you.

• Send extra soldiers: Always send more than the minimum number of recruits. Exceeding the minimum headcount earns bonus rewards on top of the standard mission payout.

• Food and silver cost: Soldiers demand food and money before departing. Fund operations by donating silver and unwanted gear to Carl at the quartermaster station.

Combining dispatch pre-softening with facility destruction on arrival produces the easiest possible stronghold clears. Send soldiers first, destroy facilities when you get there, then mop up the weakened remnants.

Fighting Alongside Your Greymane Comrades

Most players treat dispatch missions as purely background tasks: you send Greymane comrades to a location, a timer counts down, and rewards appear in your supply chest. The engine quietly runs a second layer on top of this that is easy to miss. When you assign comrades to a stronghold mission or a combat dispatch, they actually spawn at the assigned location in the open world, and you can physically travel there and fight alongside them.

Joining Combat Missions in Person

Once a combat or stronghold dispatch mission is running, fast travel to the target location and you will find your assigned Greymane comrades on site, engaging the enemy garrison. Join the fight and they stay in combat with you, cheering, rushing bandits, and reacting to your movements. This turns what is normally a solo stealth or assault mission into a small-scale skirmish with NPC allies, which produces a very different atmosphere than summoning Damian or Uno as a traditional companion.

Comrades at Open-World Boss Locations

For strongholds and dispatch targets that also contain an open-world boss, the comrades will participate in the boss fight if you show up while the mission is active. They are not particularly effective. Their damage output against a boss's health bar is low, and they rarely survive long if the boss targets them directly. What they do reliably is distract the boss, drawing aggro off you for short windows so you can reposition, heal, or line up counter attacks. Watching a comrade try to pick up a crate and throw it at a boss is the kind of emergent moment that defines the Crimson Desert sandbox, and the tactical benefit (however small) is a bonus on top of the atmosphere.

Finding Comrades Mid-Mission for Quest Progression

There is a practical follow-up to this system. If a quest requires you to speak with a specific Greymane who happens to be out on a dispatch mission, you do not have to cancel the mission and wait for them to return to camp, which can take a long time and wastes the dispatch progress. Instead, travel to the mission location and talk to the comrade directly while they are working. The quest dialogue fires as normal, and the dispatch mission continues uninterrupted in the background. Use this whenever you see a quest blocked by a missing comrade who is listed as 'on a mission' in the camp roster.

Combat Tips for Strongholds

• Destroy facilities before engaging the main force. The combined debuffs from clearing all three core facilities (Infirmary, Storage, Barracks) stack to make every subsequent fight easier.

• Bring cooked food. Meat Skewers (one Meat plus one Fruit or Vegetable) provide Health, Spirit, and Stamina buffs. Assign food to your radial quick-select wheel before entering.

• Summon a companion. Hold Up on the D-Pad and select a companion from the Characters and Mounts wheel. Companions draw aggro and deal damage, making large engagements far more manageable.

• Master parrying. Block right before an enemy attack lands to trigger a parry. Successful parries regenerate stamina and spirit instantly and are especially effective at depleting boss guard bars.

• Use Force Palm. This ability disrupts enemy attacks and reduces defenses, making it invaluable against tightly packed mobs.

• Fight from the edges. Lure small groups away from the main force with ranged attacks. Picking off stragglers prevents you from being surrounded.

• Exploit environmental hazards. Explosive barrels, collapsible scaffolding, and destructible walls deal area damage. Use them to soften groups before engaging directly.

• Glide in from above. At strongholds with nearby cliffs, glide in from above to bypass ground-level defenders and reach the boss gate directly.

• Wear faction disguises. The Scarlet Blades Cloth Armor or a gas mask looted from Bleed Bandit camps lets you walk past Bleed Bandits without being attacked on sight, giving time to scout facility locations.

Patch History

See Also

• Liberation System for the full mechanics overview

• Base Liberation Guide for a practical walkthrough of all liberation types

• Dispatch Missions for details on the Freesword Dispatch system

• Greymane Camp for camp upgrades, recruits, and resource management

• Faction Reputation for Contribution XP and vendor rewards

• Combat Tips for general combat strategy

• Karin Quarry for the Bleed Bandits quarry stronghold walkthrough

• Fort Perwin for the House Roberts fortress liberation