To help you make the tough decision of where to spend your Abyss Artifacts in Crimson Desert, here are the best Skills to unlock first throughout your adventure.
In the huge open world of Crimson Desert, players aren’t given much guidance on where to go and what to do next. This extends to the type of character you want to build, and where to spend your Skill points most efficiently and effectively.
However, as you wade through the hordes of enemies thrown your way in some of Crimson Desert’s larger battles, Abyss Artifacts become quite a plentiful resource as you progress on your journey. But, with that said, it will still save you a lot of time to take the advice of someone who’s played dozens of hours of Crimson Desert and can give you a nudge in the right direction about which Skills are the strongest; so that’s just what we’ll do on this page!
Crimson Desert Best Skills
- Health and Stamina
- Armed Combat Lv 4
- Turning Slash
- Flight Lv 2
- Axiom Force Lv 3
- Grappling and Unarmed Combat
- Winch and Ambush
Health and Stamina
While it’s not very exciting, it’s very important to remember with all the other Skills on offer to upgrade your Health and Stamina periodically throughout your adventure.
It might not come back to bite you immediately, but if you neglect this in the early game then as soon as you’re thrown against one of Crimson Desert’s tougher bosses then you’re going to have a really, really bad time.
It’s also worth noting that Stamina gives you access to lots of different Skills starting from around 200 Stamina (which is 3 upgrades).
So, in the early game, put 2 or 3 levels into Health and Stamina before you really invest in anything else.
Armed Combat Level 4
The bulk of your fighting is going to be done with bladed weapons, whether that’s Sword and Board, spear or two-handed greatsword. Therefore, you want to have the most options at your disposal to handle the most amount of situations.
- Level 2 = Evasive Slash
- Level 3 = Charge
- Level 4 = Rush
Parrying is very strong and will enable you to stand up to even the strongest opponents. However, you’re also heavily rewarded for aggression and fighting on the front foot. Being able to close distance quickly and combine these styles using the Charge and Rush abilities will turn Kliff into a walking tank who’s both deadly and difficult to hit.
Turning Slash
But while it’s great to have lots of defensive options, Turning Slash is probably the best offensive Skill in the game because of its low cost and easy access to high AoE damage, which is rare in Crimson Desert.
Pumping points into Turning Slash is particularly useful in the huge scale battles where you face off against literally dozens of enemies, since it not only gives you a big finisher which links to your regular combos, but one that hits multiple enemies at the same time.
Grabbing the final level also gives you basically another cast of the Skill which links onto the end of your combo – the icing on the cake.
Flight Level 2
Traversal is tough in Crimson Desert. While you can unlock fast travel points, they’re sparsely populated and not that well positioned.
This means you really feel the benefit of the second level of the Flight Skill, which gives you a huge speed boost in the air. Yes, it drains a lot of Stamina, but this only gets better as the game progresses.
Axiom Force Level 2
In a similar vein, your limited Stamina pool can make vertical traversal and exploration a pain.
To alleviate this, the second level of Axiom Force allows you to zip wire up to high points almost instantly. Once you’ve unlocked it, this Skill becomes a vital part of your toolkit and you’ll wonder what you did without it.
Grappling and Unarmed Combat
Once you’ve got your bladed combat down, it’s time to get into the really fun stuff, as you introduce unarmed strikes and wrestling moves into your roster of destruction.
Grappling and Unarmed Combat go together, letting you chain the OP running kick ability into hilarious giant swings and lariat combos. Not only do these let you deal with mobs quickly, oftentimes throwing them straight to their doom off a high cliff, but form a defensive perimeter which stops you getting swarmed by their buddies.
These two Skills work nicely as a partner for melee armed combat because you can close the distance with kicks, then use your sword or wrestling moves to cause chaos. Start with 3 points in Grappling, before moving onto Unarmed Combat for some extra power.
Winch and Ambush
With those 3 points in Grappling and 3 in Axiom Force from earlier, you can start the real Scorpion stuff.
Winch and Ambush are the ultimate distance closers, letting you yank or leap into combat with distant enemies who would otherwise be too far away to experience your most potent fighting Skills.
With not that much investment, Kliff has gone from a great, but mortal, warrior, to a flying, teleporting, demon who can swipe 10 men at once before lifting the next over his head to send them sailing.
From this base, you can start to experiment with elemental magic, as well as Force Palm abilities to supplement your melee toolkit. Or you can just settle in and pump points into Health, Stamina and Spirit to up your resilience.
How to respec in Crimson Desert
If you ever feel like you’ve messed up and want to respec your Skills in Crimson Desert, all you need to do is use a “Faded Abyss Artifact” from your inventory. This will reset all of your Abyss Artifacts to use where you wish.
Faded Abyss Artifacts are rare, limited resources, but you’re given plenty as you progress through story quests!
For more help with Kliff epic adventure, check out our Crimson Desert Tips.