Witches are one of the factions in Crimson Desert, and they’re vital to your strength. They’re knowledgeable about the mysteries of the abyss and capable of manipulating powerful artifacts called abyss gears. Crafting new gear and unlocking stronger skills are important for making your character more powerful, but you can take it to the next level and truly customize your abilities with abyss gears. The only problem is, witches are pretty difficult to find and get in contact with.
Here’s where to find a witch in Crimson Desert, how to interact with them, and how to use abyss gears.
Witch locations in Crimson Desert
There are a total of five witches in Crimson Desert. Below, we’ve listed where to find two of the five witches.
The Hermit Witch location in Crimson Desert
You can find your first witch in Crimson Desert through “The Hermit Witch” faction quest. After you complete “A Woman in White” in Chapter 1 and gain Flight, a white crow will eventually give you a letter that is also from someone named the White Crow. Getting the white crow to spawn is a little finicky and it may take a while for it to appear, but we recommend continuing to play and explore the world until it approaches you.
The letter will tell you about someone who can teach you about abyss gears, and you’ll receive a mission that leads you to their hidden cave northwest of Hernand.
To get there, follow the road north of Hernand and, before you reach the river, head northwest. From the riverbank, hug the rock walls until you find a narrow opening leading to the Shadow’s Whisper Cave. Inside, talk to the Hermit Witch, who we now know as Sylvia to complete the quest. Before you teleport away, make sure to grab the palmar pill recipe inside and interact with the abyss nexus outside to unlock a fast-travel location.
While you can simply go to the Shadow’s Whisper Cave, you won’t be able to interact with them until you receive the letter from the White Crow
The Witch of Wisdom location in Crimson Desert
Similar to the Hermit Witch, you cannot interact with the Witch of Wisdom until you complete the “Demenissian Delegation” quest in Chapter 5 and another white crow appears with a letter. However, this time, the crow will come immediately after the quest ends. In the letter, the White Crow will direct you to another witch, but to gain their favor, you’ll need to help them out first.
Head to the Meshley Trapsmith, which is west of your camp toward the Witchwoods. Once you get there, you’ll find that there are a few bandits loitering about outside. Before you recklessly get into a fight, it’s important to note that there are a bunch of traps scattered around the area. Avoid the traps on the floor, defeat the bandits, and head inside the eastern house. Untie the woman inside to find out that she is actually the witch you’ve been looking for. She’ll invite you to her house and poof away.
Luckily, the Witch’s House is just north of the trapsmith. Follow the path up and interact with Elowen, the Witch of Wisdom. Elowen is fairly similar to Sylvia, but you’ll be able to buy items from her shop, sell items, and craft abyss gears.
How to use abyss gears in Crimson Desert
Abyss gears are special items that you can use to modify your equipment, adding effects and attributes. There are many different types of abyss gear for weapons and armor, and you can only equip them by talking to a witch.
To equip an abyss gear, use the “Embed Abyss Gear” option at a Witch’s Lair — it is completely free. However, make sure that your gear has at least one open socket. You can unlock one by using the “Create Socket” option when talking to a witch. Opening a socket will vary depending on your equipment. The cost will start at 2 silver for armor and 5 silver for weapons, with it becoming exponentially more expensive depending on how many sockets you’re creating.
You can verify if a piece of equipment has locked or unlocked slots by selecting it in the inventory. When they feature abyss gear slots, a certain number of circles appear below the item’s description.
In addition to opening and slotting abyss gears, you can also retrieve them from your equipment. Select the “Extract Abyss Gear” menu option, then choose a piece of gear that has one or more abyss gears slotted. There is no limit of how many you can extract, and, regardless of the number, this service is also free.
Once you’ve unlocked Elowen in Chapter 5, you can craft your own abyss gears, using gear blueprints you’ve found or you can attempt a special synthesis, which will combine two of your abyss gears to make a new one. This will not combine the stats of the two abyss gear, but gives you an entirely different one, so only use this with abyss gears that you know you won’t use.
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.
