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Vow of the Dead King - Version 19 vs Version 20
May 25, 2026, 02:58 PM
Added Database Stats section with refinement table and material costs
Jun 9, 2026, 07:20 AM
Removed duplicate in-body wikilinks
11Overview22The Vow of the Dead King is a Unique Weapon in Crimson Desert. It is a two-handed sword found inside Frostveiled Castle Ruinsa dungeon located in the Everfrost region near Pailune. Like all Unique Weaponsthe Vow of the Dead King comes pre-equipped with built-in Abyss Gear that provides percentage-based damage bonuses against different enemy types. The weapon can be upgraded through the Refining System.55Stats77The following stats are.99AttributeValueWeapon TypeTwo-Handed HalberdGradeMythic (Red)Attack Power6Attack (+0)12Attack (+10)351111Enhancement Levels1212Level+0+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10Attack12141618202224262932351414How to Obtain1515The Vow of the Dead King is found at the end of Frostveiled Castle Ruinsa dungeon filled with traps and enemies. The ruins are located in the Everfrost region, near the town of Pailune.1717To reach the weapon, follow these steps:1919Clear the entrance: Defeat the enemies guarding the ruins entrance before proceeding inside.Descend the staircase: Head down the staircase into the underground section of the ruins.Navigate spike traps: The corridor contains spike traps on the floor. Climb the walls to avoid the spikes rather than trying to run through them on the ground.Dodge the falling ceiling: A section of the dungeon has a collapsing ceiling. Time your movement to pass through without being crushed.Pass the fire traps: Fire traps line parts of the corridor. Watch the timing pattern and move through during gaps.Defeat the rock worms: Two rock worm enemies guard the final area before the treasure chest. Defeat them to clear the path.Open the chest: The treasure chest at the end of the dungeon contains the Vow of the Dead King.2121This dungeon is primarily a traversal and trap challenge rather than a combat gauntlet. The only required combat is against the enemies at the entrance and the two rock worms near the end.2323Abyss Ability Synergy2525The Vow of the Dead King is particularly well-suited for players who want to stack multiple Abyss Gear abilities that activate on the R1+R2 input. Because the weapon is two-handed with multiple Abyss Core sockets, players can load it with several R1+R2-triggered abilities and cycle through them during combat for sustained burst damage.2727Recommended R1+R2 Abilities2929The following abyss abilities all trigger on the R1+R2 input and synergize well when stacked on the Vow of the Dead King:3131Ground SurgeA shockwave ability that hits enemies in a line in front of the player. Effective against grouped enemies and bosses with large hitboxes.Wound of DarknessA dark-element strike that inflicts lingering damage. Pairs well with the weapon's percentage-based damage bonuses from its built-in Abyss Gear.Frost SpikesAn ice-element attack that can slow enemies on hit. Especially potent in the Everfrost region where some enemies already have reduced resistance to frost damage.Greysoul HowlingThe signature ability of the Fated Shadow. While it comes pre-slotted on the Fated Shadow, the core can be extracted and moved to the Vow of the Dead King for players who prefer two-handed combat.3333By equipping multiple R1+R2 abilities, each press of R1+R2 cycles to the next ability in the queue. This allows players to chain several powerful attacks in quick succession during a single opening on a boss, dealing far more damage than any single ability alone would provide. The Vow of the Dead King's high base damage amplifies the effectiveness of each ability in the rotation.3535Location Details3737The Vow of the Dead King is located in Pailune. On the map, look to the left side of the "A" in the region name to find the Frost Veiled Castle Ruins. The ruins are overrun with bandits that must be cleared before proceeding deeper.3939At the back of the ruins, a staircase leads downward into the dungeon interior. The lower corridor features spike traps on the floor; these can be bypassed by floating over them rather than trying to jump through. After clearing the spike section, a gap must be jumped across. Inside the lower chambers, worms spawn that can be killed for a Casket of Illusion. The Vow of the Dead King itself is found on the right side of the final chamber, sitting on the ground ready to be picked up.4141Critical Rate Build Path4343The Vow of the Dead King has a base Critical Rate of 4. With one Critical Rate Abyss Core socketed, the effective crit rate increases to 7 (the display may show a slightly higher number, but the actual applied value is 7). Combined with the Set Necklace (+4 crit), total crit rate reaches 11. The remaining 4 points needed to hit the cap of 15 can come from multiple sources:4545Kuku Flame-Resistant Armor+3 crit rate, plus one additional Critical Rate core for the final point.A Bow swap for the remaining crit, letting you cap while keeping other gear slots flexible.4747Tanky Crit Alternative4949If you are comfortable sitting at 14 crit rate instead of capping at 15, you can free up your chest slot for a heavier defensive option. The Plate Armor of Shadows can be socketed with three Damage Reduction 3.0 cores, providing 9 out of 15 possible damage reduction while the weapon and necklace handle the bulk of your crit needs. This approach sacrifices one point of crit for substantially more survivability.5151Early Pickup Route From Pailune5353The Vow of the Dead King can be picked up extremely early in a run, long before the chapter where most players first visit the Everfrost region. Because the dungeon is primarily a traversal and trap challenge, a speed runner with flight unlocked can grab the halberd within the first few hours of a new save. Community guides point out that it scales all the way up to 4 Critical Rate and 35 Attack, so the weapon never needs to be replaced and every refinement artifact spent on it pays off for the rest of the play through.5555The route starts around the town of Pailune. Ride the roads north and stop at the Snowgrot horse area, which sits below the P of Pailune on the world map. It is strongly recommended to activate the two teleportation points in this stretch on the way in, because the road passes through a field of black bears that can drag an under-leveled Kliff off the horse. A second teleporter sits to the left of the A of Pailune and makes the return trip trivial.5757From the Snowgrot horse area, follow the road upward until you arrive at the Frostveil Castle Ruins. The ruins have a teleportation point on top of the castle. Activating this teleporter is important: it lets you drop back into the dungeon directly on later runs and skips the entire bandit patrol at the entrance.5959Dungeon Descent Without Combat6161Looking down from the teleporter, you can see the stone floors of the ruins below. You are aiming for a specific staircase that leads down into the dungeon interior. You do not have to fight a single bandit to reach it. Simply soar past the patrols using flight and land on the stairs.6363Once inside the trap section:6565Use a single flight pump in the middle of the first drop to avoid the fire jets, then another flight pump to clear the next hazard without being smashed by the rolling debris.Jump across the gap that follows.Spam roll forward through the flame corridor so the fire does not burn you to a crisp.Two ground worms spawn in the final chamber. Stick to the left side of the room. The worms cannot reach you from that angle, so no combat is needed.Activate the fire trap lever, then walk to the pickup spot and collect the Vow of the Dead King.6767The dungeon contains no mandatory boss fight and no chapter-gated quest trigger. As long as you have flight unlocked (available immediately after the first Abyss Nexus above Hernand), you can clear the trap gauntlet and walk out with one of the strongest halberd spears in the game on day seven of a new save.6969After grabbing the weapon, teleport out from the Frostveil teleportation point and hop back to the Abyss island network. From there, the same run can continue on to the Plate Helm of Cursed Soul pickup near Thornbriar without ever returning to a town.7171Why It's a Top Boss-Slayer Pick7373Vow of the Dead King has become one of the most recommended two-handed weapons for boss-slayer builds, often replacing Frozen Anguish in the top slot once players get their hands on it. Two things drive the switch, and both are worth understanding before you commit the grind.7575Reach and Built-In Crit7777The first advantage is reach. Vow of the Dead King has noticeably more reach than most other two-handed weapons, and on moving boss fights that extra reach turns missed swings into connecting hits. Over the course of a 30-second boss erasure, those extra connections stack up to a meaningful total damage gain.7979The second and more important advantage is the built-in crit stat. Vow of the Dead King already carries crit on it, and the weapon caps out at 4 crit. Because the boss-slayer crit ceiling is 4, having the cap baked into the weapon means you do not need to waste sockets on your necklace and ring setup (or on the weapon itself) purely to reach the crit cap. Those freed sockets can be spent on +10 attack, classifier damage against Mighty Foes, Abyssal Creatures, or Humanoids, or utility stats that matter more for endgame fights.8181Pair with a Large Shield8383Because Vow of the Dead King is a two-handed weapon, your shield's defense value becomes active again. Pair it with a large shield for the raw defense tiers: large shields roll to 31, 29, or 27 defense at max refinement, significantly higher than any round shield. Focus every shield socket on defense only; under a two-handed weapon, shield sockets do not appear to function for any other stat type. The two raw-stat picks are North Wind Shield (west of Pailune) and Shield of Sacrifice (south of the map), with Shield of Conviction and Shield of Betrayal as the cosmetic-friendly alternatives.8585Socket Savings Example8787On a weapon without built-in crit, a crit-maxed archer-hybrid build has to burn at least 2 sockets to reach the crit 4 cap. Vow of the Dead King skips that step entirely. In practice this is the equivalent of a free +10 attack socket plus a free classifier damage socket, which is a meaningful damage uplift against the hardest bosses in the game. If you are running a crit-focused necklace and ring setup, the gain compounds further because your other accessories can also spend their slots on damage rather than chasing the crit cap.8989Tips9191The spike trap section is the trickiest part of the dungeon. Climbing the walls is the safest way to bypass the spikes entirely.The Vow of the Dead King is a strong option for players who enjoy two-handed combat. Its built-in Abyss Gear bonuses provide consistent damage increases without needing to find separate cores.Unlike the Plate Helm of the Shadows which requires a difficult boss fight, this weapon only requires navigating dungeon traps. It is accessible to players of any combat level as long as they can handle the platforming.The ruins are located near Pailuneso consider visiting the town for supplies before entering.Consider stacking multiple R1+R2 abyss abilities on this weapon. Its generous socket count and high base damage make it one of the best platforms for an ability-stacking build. Ground Surge, Wound of Darkness, Frost Spikes, and Greysoul Howling all work well together.9393Trap Dungeon Pickup9595The Vow of the Dead King, sometimes circulated in community guides as the Valor of the Dead King, sits behind a short series of traps rather than a tough fight. The path requires wall climbing and jumping over a spike strip. None of the traps are challenging once you spot them. Work through the corridor, clear the final platform section, and the weapon is waiting in the open.9797Best Pick for the Turning Slash Nuke Build9999Vow of the Dead King is a halberd, so it uses the spear move set and carries the longest Turning Slash reach in the game. At max refinement it rolls four innate crit, the highest crit tier any spear-move-set weapon can reach. For a Turning Slash Nuke Buildit is the weapon to aim for if you value crit over raw attack. The tradeoff against the Gamma Barrel Cannon is four attack for one extra crit, and that single crit makes hitting the 15-crit cap significantly smoother across the rest of your gear.101101Four Crit Halberd Alternatives103103If you prefer a different aesthetic, the other four-crit halberds that share the spear move set are the Marauders Halbert, the Lambert Halbert, and the Albaster Halbert. All three match Vow of the Dead King on stats (39 attack, four crit at max refinement) and differ only in look. There is no cannon or spear with four innate crit, so if you want four crit and the spear move set, a halberd is the only path.105105Database Stats107107Grade: T5 · Type: HALBERD · Max Refinement: +10 · Max Attack: 35 · Max Critical Rate: SOCKETS (3)109109Refinement Levels111111LevelAttackAttack SpeedCritical RatePrice (Silver)Materials+012Lv 33,180-None113113Crafted at: Smith.
