Crimson Desert features skills that let you slingshot yourself into the air, create a shield of spiritual energy, and just have an honest bare-handed fight.
A big part of the experience of playing Crimson Desert depends on the skills you have. Some can make the most difficult quest feel like a walk in the park. However, there are a lot of skills, and only so many abyss artifacts. There isn’t a general rule when deciding which skills you should choose, but some are too good to ignore early in the game.
Below, you find all the best skills to level up first in Crimson Desert.
Best skills to level up first in Crimson Desert
When it comes to selecting the best skills, it usually boils down to how you enjoy playing the game. Some will like ranged combat while others have a blast using elemental abilities. There are, however, skills that any build and play style can benefit from and that’s what inspired the following list:
Stamina
Stamina is not technically a skill. However, in Crimson Desert, you increase the base value of your stamina, health, and spirit by leveling them up with abyss artifacts just like other skills — and among these three, stamina is the most useful one.
From running, climbing, and flying to using Axiom Force, you will need stamina. Since exploring the map is going to be your main goal in the first hours after starting the game, stamina is crucial. Consider raising stamina to at least level four to have a good experience.
Health
While stamina is vital for skills and exploration, you should still increase your health to keep you alive. It’s not immediately necessary, but you’ll be happy that you invested in your HP when you encounter your first boss. Bosses in Crimson Desert hit like a truck, and they often skip your “turn.” Just in case you don’t have a horde of food on you, it’s a good bet to increase your base health.
Flight
The reason why you want to focus on Flight early on is simple: mobility. Because flight is more akin to gliding, you can’t reach higher heights with Flight, but you can travel long distances and safely float to the ground.
Like other skills, Flight consumes stamina, so to fully use its potential, you want to raise your character’s stamina base as well. On the other hand, you don’t need to max out Flight. It’s more than enough to have it at level two to unlock “Swift Flight,” a passive that allows you to accelerate midair.
Axiom Force
Axiom Force is Kliff’s magical grappling hook and, while it is a key tool for solving some puzzles, it also increases the character’s mobility. At level one, it doesn’t do much besides grabbing and moving things. However, at level two, it unlocks the “Aerial Maneuver” passive, which allows you to leap a great distance toward where you landed the grappling hook.
It might sound simple, but jumping further and higher in Crimson Desert feels almost broken with all the climbing, walking, and jumping involved in exploring Pywel. However, be warned, you must have at least 200 stamina (4 points into stamina) to slingshot yourself around.
Stab
Among Kliff’s fighting skills, Stab is one that offers more than just damage, and you can unlock it really early in the game. By spending 40 stamina points, you stab forward, hitting a single enemy and inflicting bleed. This is not a one-hit-kill ability, but bleed is a great source of consistent damage, especially when fighting bosses. You get them bleeding and let the damage tick while you stay away. At the same time, Stab is a great gap-closer (and a cheaper one too). There are many occasions when you have archers shooting at you from afar. Kliff is not a good runner, but he can charge toward enemies using Stab.
Keen Sense
Among the initial spirit-based skills, Keen Sense is one of the best because it increases the number of defensive moves Kliff has access to. At level one, it unlocks “Parry,” which is powerful when facing a single enemy. If you time the block correctly, you prevent incoming damage and destabilize the enemy, creating the perfect window to land some hits.
Despite how powerful it is, parry is not the easiest move to perform when surrounded by multiple enemies. It’s difficult to focus on a single enemy and correctly time their attack. That’s why you want to level Keen Sense up to level two and unlock “Dodge.” This is the classic escape skill that moves away from danger by pressing Alt on the keyboard, B (Xbox) or Circle (PlayStation) on the controller.
Just starting out in Crimson Desert? We have guides to help you learn the basics and refresh your memory on how some of its systems work. The world of Pywel is huge, so you might have a hard time deciding where to go first, but you can make your journey a little easier with the help of our interactive map. Along the way, make sure to learn a few life skills like fishing, logging, cooking, and mining, all of which can help you make money.
We also have walkthroughs for main story quests like “Abyss Without Balance” and “Familiar Curses,” and puzzles in the Abyss like the Root’s End.
