In Crimson Desert, players can upgrade their skills using Abyss Artifacts to aid them in their journey across Pywel. However, these artifacts are limited, and aren't always easy to come by. This might intimidate players who are unsure what they should spend their hard-earned skill points on. Therefore, we created a list of our favorite abilities to upgrade in Crimson Desert and which Skills you should invest in. Without further ado, let's dive right in.
What Skills & Abilities You Should Upgrade in Crimson Desert
Base Stats – Stamina & Health
First and foremost, we definitely recommend putting at least a few points into both Health and Stamina in Crimson Desert, especially in the early chapters.
Stamina is used for everything, from climbing, sprinting, gliding, using heavy attacks, and more. Your stamina meter also affects how much stamina your horse possesses, too. There are even sections in the main campaign where a specific stamina rating is required. It also makes climbing a lot less frustrating.
It goes without saying that increasing your Health is vital, too. Some attacks simply cannot be dodged in this game, even more-so when fighting a horde of enemies. Additionally, some boss fights are pretty unforgiving. A higher health stat may be the difference between life and death. Of course, you still need to upgrade your defenses by seeking better armor.
You may be thinking “Why not upgrade Spirit?”. Well, we do recommend upgrading Spirit, but it's not as important in the early-game as you face weaker bosses. You can still beat foes like The Reed Devil with the base spirit stat you start with. Consider upgrading it a bit later when you really start to face tougher bosses.
Of course, you still need to spend Artifacts on other skills and not just your base stats.
Best Stamina (Blue) Skills to Upgrade/Unlock in Crimson Desert
Overall, our favorite Stamina (Blue) Skills in Crimson Desert include:
Blinding Flash Finisher – Requires:
- Blinding Flash Lv. 1
- Abyss Artifact (1x)
- Cost: 5 Spirit
Perhaps the most overpowered technique in the game. Blinding Flash is already such a useful ability. It blinds enemies, helps you find Abyss Nexuses, clears secret pathways, and even cooks raw meat if you point the light at it. But unlocking the Finisher makes it even more useful.
This attack lets you rush your enemy with a flurry of strikes that deal a lot of damage. It costs 5 spirit to use, so increasing your Spirit just a bit may be useful. Personally, I love using this move on bosses. Kliff feels nearly indestructible with this move, and the damage output is more than worth it.
Forward Slash Lv. 3
Upgrading this Powerful slash move makes it deal more damage, and unlocks cool abilities along the way. Proficiency allows you to follow up each slash with a finishing attack. Sure Hit, as the name suggests, ensures that your Forward Slash can't miss.
Using your forward slash costs stamina, so make sure to increase your base stamina stat!
Armed Combat
While not as strong as the Forward Slash, Armed Combat doesn't take up any stamina, and the bonuses provide some help. If you're someone who uses the shield, there's even a couple of abilities here that improve it.
However, the main benefit from Armed Combat is the damage increase for your attacks. It definitely helps clear mobs out faster when you're better equipped to take them down.
Best Spirit (Green) Skills to Upgrade/Unlock in Crimson Desert
Double Jump – Requires:
- Abyss Artifact (1x)
- Cost: 5 Spirit
Overall, this ability makes map traversal much easier. While you still need to rely on stamina for climbing, double jump makes it easier to reach higher spaces. It does cost spirit to use, but a relatively small amount.
Force Current – Requires:
- Force Palm Lv. 2
- Axiom Force Lv. 2
- Abyss Artifact (1x)
A very useful ability that may be required to complete puzzles. Furthermore, it can be used to take down trees, destroy ores, and break other destructible environments. I don't use it for combat often, but I found myself grateful that I spent the Artifacts needed to get this ability.
Keen Senses Lv. 3
Keen Senses helps with combat in numerous ways. By leveling it up to the max, you can dodge, parry, and counter attacks. This becomes vital in some of the game's difficult boss fights, or if you find yourself in a pinch against bandits.
Evasive Roll – Requires:
- Observe OR
- Abyss Artifact (1x)
In addition to picking up Keen Senses, we also recommend getting Evasive Roll. This allows you to perform a quick evade, giving you even more protection in combat. But fortunately, this ability can also be learned for free.
Kailok the Hornsplitter uses this ability during his boss fight, which happens at the end of Chapter 2. It's worth waiting to unlock this ability for free, so you can save your skill points for something else.
Focus Lv. 3
Lastly, Focus lets you charge your Spirit. Leveling up this ability completely lets you parry incoming enemy attacks while charging. So if you're good at parries, you can maximize on your Spirit Recovery.
Recommended Health (Red) Abilities in Crimson Desert
Axiom Force Lv 2. – Requires:
- Abyss Artifact (1x)
This ability allows players to grapple onto a surface and then jump up to it. Like Double Jump, this helps immensely when scaling mountains or other high areas.
Overall, that includes all the upgrades we definitely recommend you focus on first in Crimson Desert. Fortunately, you can use a Faded Abyss Artifact to reset your skill tree if you want to re-allocate your points.
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