Trophy Roadmap

Overview

This Trophy Roadmap lays out the most efficient path to earning every trophy and achievement in Crimson Desert. The game has 35 trophies on PlayStation 5 (including the Platinum) and 34 achievements on Steam and Xbox. Every single trophy is earned offline in a single playthrough, with no difficulty-related requirements. The trophy descriptions are intentionally cryptic and poetic, but the actual unlock conditions all boil down to completing story milestones and finishing challenge categories tied to Sealed Abyss Artifacts.

The wide time estimate reflects how much optional exploration you do along the way. Players who rush through the story before tackling challenges will land closer to 150 hours, while those who fully explore every corner of Pywel on a first pass may exceed 300 hours.

The Sealed Abyss Artifact Trap

Before diving into the roadmap steps, every player needs to understand the single most important mechanic for trophy hunting: the Sealed Abyss Artifact tracking system.

There are 141 Sealed Abyss Artifacts scattered across the open world of Pywel. Each artifact is tied to a specific challenge category. The game does not track your progress toward a challenge until you physically find the corresponding Sealed Abyss Artifact. This means that if you spend dozens of hours mastering the bow before finding the archery artifact, none of those bow kills will count. You must find the artifact first, and only actions performed after that point will register.

You can locate nearby artifacts by using the Guiding Light ability (L1+R1 on PlayStation, LB+RB on Xbox, Ctrl+Left Click on PC). This marks Sealed Abyss Artifacts in the vicinity with a blue glimmer. Artifacts are typically found along roads and near landmarks, so keep the Guiding Light active while traveling between locations.

Bottom line: collect all 141 Sealed Abyss Artifacts as early as possible. Do this before grinding any combat masteries, hunts, or activities. This single step will save you from losing potentially dozens of hours of wasted progress.

Step-by-Step Roadmap

Phase 1: Unfog the Map and Establish Fast Travel (2 to 4 Hours)

Your first priority is clearing the fog of war across Pywel. Locate and activate all eight Hidden Bells scattered across the map. Seven bells can be reached immediately once you have access to the open world. The eighth bell, the Pailune Bell, requires story progression through Chapter 7 before it becomes accessible.

• Activate all reachable Hidden Bells (7 of 8) to reveal the full map

• Unlock fast travel points at every location you visit

• Open your map frequently and plan efficient routes between bell locations

• Pick up any Sealed Abyss Artifacts you encounter along the way

Phase 2: Collect All Sealed Abyss Artifacts (15 to 25 Hours)

With the fog cleared, systematically sweep each region of the map to collect all 141 Sealed Abyss Artifacts. Use the Guiding Light frequently while riding your horse along roads to detect hidden artifacts. Each artifact you collect unlocks a new challenge or adds to an existing challenge category. Until you have found every artifact, your challenge tracking is incomplete.

• Work region by region, starting from Howling Hill and moving outward

• Activate Guiding Light every few seconds while riding to detect the blue glimmer

• Mark your map if you spot an artifact in a hard-to-reach area and return later

• Verify your artifact count in the Challenges menu to confirm you have all 141

Phase 3: Upgrade Gear and Handle Watchtower Challenges (5 to 10 Hours)

Before pushing deep into the story, spend some time upgrading your weapons and armor to Refinement Level 5 or 6. This makes boss fights and combat challenges significantly more manageable. More importantly, complete the two watchtower-related battle challenges as soon as possible.

Precaution: The Battle Challenge "Sinking Fort" (destroy 3 watchtowers within 20 seconds) and the cannon challenge "Barraging Cannon V" involve destroying enemy watchtowers. It is currently unconfirmed whether these remain completable after you have liberated all enemy bases during the story. To be safe, complete both challenges early while enemy camps with watchtowers are still active. Watchtowers can be destroyed by using Guiding Light to set them on fire or by shooting cannons at them.

• Upgrade gear to Refinement Level 5 or 6 through crafting and gathering

• Complete "Sinking Fort" battle challenge before liberating all enemy bases

• Complete "Barraging Cannon V" cannon challenge before liberating all enemy bases

• Experiment with all weapon types to start building mastery progress across categories

Phase 4: Play Through the Main Story (30 to 50 Hours)

Progress through all 12 chapters of the main story, plus the prologue and epilogue. Five trophies are earned through story progression alone. As you play, make a point of using different weapon types in combat to build progress toward the eight weapon mastery trophies simultaneously.

• Novice Adventurer (Bronze): unlocks after completing Chapter 1

• Master Camper (Bronze): unlocks after activating the camp at Howling Hill

• Protector of Pailune (Silver): unlocks after completing Chapter 7

• Proud Returnee (Silver): unlocks after completing Chapter 7 and the Reconstructing Pailune faction quests

• Expert Storyteller (Gold): unlocks after completing all main quests through the epilogue

Rotate through swords, shields, bows, spears, two-handed weapons, artillery, rapiers, and firearms during regular combat encounters. Each weapon type has its own challenge track, and spreading your usage across all eight categories from the start prevents a massive grind later.

Phase 5: Complete All Challenge Categories (80 to 200+ Hours)

With the story finished and all artifacts collected, work through every remaining challenge category. Each category corresponds to at least one trophy. Open the Challenges menu to track your progress and see exactly what remains. The challenge categories map directly to trophies as follows.

Weapon Mastery Challenges: Complete all challenges for each weapon type. This earns you the eight weapon-specific Bronze trophies plus the Gold Unvanquished Strategist trophy for completing all mastery challenges.

Exploration Challenges: Complete all mazes, spires, constellations, secret places, puzzles, sanctums, and abysses. Completing all nine exploration subcategories earns the Gold Expert Explorer trophy.

Activity Challenges: Complete training, battle, operation, trade, hunting, life, horse, minigame, New Power, Above the Law, and Challenges and Changes categories. These span a wide range of gameplay activities from hunting to trading to horse taming.

• Check the Challenges menu regularly to identify which categories are close to completion

• Tackle the hardest challenges first (boss fights, puzzles) while your skills are sharp from the story

• Use fast travel liberally to move between challenge locations

• Some challenges require specific weather conditions or times of day, so plan accordingly

Phase 6: Clean Up and Platinum

After completing all challenge categories and finishing the story, the Platinum trophy (Pywel Legend) will unlock automatically. Check your trophy list for any stragglers. Common ones that players miss include:

• Natural Collector (Silver): requires completing all 12 life challenges, including gathering, cooking, and herbalism tasks

• True Gamer (Silver): requires winning across five minigame categories; check that you have completed every minigame type

• Lord of Honor (Bronze): requires completing all 9 "Challenges and Changes" tasks, which involve reputation and honor activities

• Shadowlord (Bronze): requires completing all 10 "Above the Law" challenges related to criminal activities

Potentially Missable Trophies

While no trophies have been confirmed as permanently missable, there are two challenges that warrant extra caution. Both are tied to enemy watchtowers, and there are unconfirmed reports that watchtowers may despawn after you liberate all enemy bases during the story.

If you miss these challenges before clearing all enemy bases, it is possible that a future patch from Pearl Abyss could address this. However, until confirmed, treat them as your highest priority after collecting the relevant Sealed Abyss Artifacts.

Complete Trophy List

The following table lists every trophy in Crimson Desert. On PlayStation 5 there are 35 trophies. On Steam and Xbox there are 34 achievements (the Platinum is PS5-exclusive). The "Missable?" column flags any trophies that may require attention due to the watchtower precaution described above.

Platinum

Gold Trophies

Silver Trophies

Bronze Trophies

* Caution indicates that a specific challenge within this category (Sinking Fort for Battlefield Conqueror; Barraging Cannon V for Master of Artillery) may become unavailable after all enemy bases are liberated. Complete these challenges early to be safe.

Trophy Categories Explained

Story Trophies (5 Trophies)

Five trophies unlock automatically through story progression. The main story spans a prologue, 12 chapters, and an epilogue. You cannot miss these trophies. Novice Adventurer and Master Camper unlock in the early chapters, while Protector of Pailune and Proud Returnee unlock in Chapter 7. Expert Storyteller unlocks after finishing every main quest.

Weapon Mastery Trophies (9 Trophies)

Eight Bronze trophies are earned by completing all challenges for a specific weapon type: swords (6 challenges), shields (6 challenges), bows (6 challenges), spears (5 challenges), two-handed weapons (6 challenges), cannons (5 challenges), rapiers (5 challenges), and firearms (5 challenges). The Gold Unvanquished Strategist trophy unlocks when all ten mastery subcategories are complete, which includes mounted combat mastery in addition to the eight weapon types.

Start diversifying your weapon usage early in the playthrough. Do not commit to a single weapon for the entire story. Each weapon type requires sustained, effective use across many combat encounters rather than casual experimentation. A short trial run is not enough to complete mastery challenges.

Exploration Trophies (8 Trophies)

Seven Bronze and Silver trophies correspond to specific exploration challenge subcategories: Maze Pathfinder (mazes), Conqueror of Spires (spires), Navigator of the Stars (constellations), Pilgrim of Wonders (secret places), Puzzle Solver (puzzles and ancient ruins), Lightbringer (sanctums), and Conqueror of the Abysses (abysses). The Gold Expert Explorer trophy unlocks when all nine exploration subcategories are complete.

Exploration trophies are best tackled region by region. When visiting a new area, aim to complete it fully before moving on. This avoids unnecessary backtracking across the large map of Pywel. Use the constellation challenges as waypoints since they require visiting specific star-gazing spots scattered across the world.

Activity and Lifestyle Trophies (12 Trophies)

The remaining trophies cover a wide range of gameplay activities. These include Relentless Warrior (10 training challenges), Battlefield Conqueror (10 battle challenges), Brilliant Tactician (10 operation challenges), The Golden Merchant (5 trade challenges), Beast Slayer (New Power challenges), Shadowlord (10 Above the Law challenges), Lord of Honor (9 Challenges and Changes tasks), Tamer of Legends (10 horse challenges), True Gamer (5 minigame categories), Ultimate Hunter (11 hunting challenges), Natural Collector (12 life challenges), and Grand Collector of Arms (10 special weapon challenges).

These trophies cover everything from horseback riding and trading to criminal activities and wildlife hunting. The "Above the Law" challenges for Shadowlord involve activities like theft and smuggling, so players going for a clean playthrough may want to tackle these last. The "Natural Collector" life challenges include gathering, cooking, and herbalism tasks that require visiting many different biomes across Pywel.

Tips for Efficient Completion

1. Find all 141 Sealed Abyss Artifacts before anything else. This is the single most impactful step you can take. Without the artifacts, your challenge progress simply does not count.

2. Activate all Hidden Bells first. Clearing the fog of war reveals the full map, making artifact and challenge hunting far more efficient.

3. Complete watchtower challenges early. Handle the Sinking Fort battle challenge and Barraging Cannon V cannon challenge before liberating all enemy bases to avoid a potential softlock.

4. Rotate weapons during the story. Do not stick with one weapon type for the entire campaign. Switch between all eight weapon categories during normal combat to spread your mastery progress.

5. Clear each region fully on your first visit. Backtracking across Pywel is time-consuming. Complete spires, mazes, constellations, and secret places in a region before moving on.

6. Upgrade gear to Refinement Level 5 or 6 early. Stronger gear makes combat challenges and boss fights considerably less frustrating.

7. Use fast travel liberally. Unlock every fast travel point as you explore. The time savings add up significantly over a 150+ hour playthrough.

8. Check the Challenges menu regularly. The in-game menu shows exactly how many challenges remain in each category. Use it to identify which trophies you are closest to completing and prioritize those.

9. Save minigames and lifestyle activities for last. The minigame and life challenges are generally low-difficulty and serve as a relaxing change of pace after the more demanding combat and exploration trophies.

10. Do not rush the story. Explore and complete challenges alongside main quests rather than blitzing through the narrative. Doing everything in parallel is more efficient than two separate passes.

Hardest Trophies

While no individual trophy is exceptionally difficult in terms of mechanical skill, several require significant time investment and thorough exploration.

See Also

• Trophies (complete trophy list with cryptic descriptions)

• All Challenges

• Sealed Abyss Artifacts

• Main Quests

• Hidden Bells

• Bosses

• Fast Travel

• Minigames