Crimson Desert – 15 Things I Wish I Knew Before Diving In

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With the release of Crimson Desert just around the corner, players are still uncovering a lot of hidden features and helpful tips. These discoveries can greatly enhance your gameplay, even if you’ve already spent many hours playing, and some are truly powerful, particularly when facing challenging bosses. Let’s jump right in, starting with a simple trick to make collecting items much easier…

Seamless Looting

Something that really bothered me while playing Crimson Desert was collecting items. Having to look at and pick up each one, especially after big battles, felt tedious. Luckily, there’s a much easier way! Just hold down the Square button on PS5 while you move, and your character, Kliff, will automatically gather all the loot.

Seamless Rescue

The ‘loot’ button does more than just collect items. Need to quickly free hostages, like the refugees you find in bandit camps? Instead of untying them one by one, simply hold down the Square button and walk into them. They’ll be freed instantly, even while you’re running!

Focus Flying

Focus isn’t just for restoring energy or powering up abilities like Nature’s Snare – it can also help with gliding. If you activate Focus right as you start to glide, Kliff will maintain his height much better. This is especially helpful after using Force Palm to launch upwards. While Aerial Roll makes you descend faster, you can use Unleash at any point for a quick speed boost.

The Importance of Grindstones and Anvils

Now that grindstones and anvils are much easier to find on the minimap, there’s really no reason not to use them. Whether you’re tackling liberation missions, fighting bosses, or even just dealing with small skirmishes, the temporary weapon and defense boosts they offer can be incredibly powerful.

Turning Slash to Destroy Archer Towers

Tired of archers constantly shooting at you while you’re trying to take out enemies in forts or quarries? Instead of climbing ladders to deal with them, try using Turning Slash. It’s great for destroying the towers archers stand on, bringing them down to fight up close (if they survive the fall!), and discouraging others from taking position up high.

Save Duplicate Weapons

Okay, so here’s a tip I learned that still comes in handy. Whenever I hit a new area and see a bunch of enemies using the same weapon, I grab all of them. They might seem useless individually, but at the blacksmith, I can actually eat the duplicates to upgrade one without spending extra resources! It was a lifesaver when the game was really strict about materials and upgrading felt like a grind. They’ve made some changes to make things easier now, but if you’re trying to save up those Refinement Tokens, this is still a really good way to do it. And it works with Abyss Gear too, which is super important if you’re aiming for one of the best Cores in the game!

Vaulting With Banner Pikes

Banner pikes might look like fancy spears meant to be sold after a battle, but they actually have a hidden use: they let Kliff pole vault! When you have one equipped, just double-tap the jump button to launch him into the air. It’s a reliable way to get height and doesn’t even use any Spirit energy – it’s actually more consistent than a regular double jump.

Force Palm for Mobility

When climbing in the Abyss, particularly after a close call, you might find Kliff unable to pull himself up over certain ledges. Don’t waste his stamina trying to do so! Instead, use Force Palm to push him backwards. You can then use it two more times in a row to launch him upwards and glide across. This technique also works for regular climbing when you need a little extra height.

Memories of Abundance

I finally found the Dragon’s Stone Chamber near Howling Hill Camp, and honestly, figuring out the murals was a bit of a chore – you have to visit three different spots to get them all lined up right. It didn’t give me a new weapon like I was hoping, but it was totally worth it! Instead, I got Memories of Abundance, and when you use those, they reveal hidden locations all over Hernand. Basically, it’s a treasure hunter’s dream – now I can go explore and find all sorts of secret goodies and powerful loot!

Let There Be Light

Dealing with most enemies during the witch-related Sanctum quests is simple. The biggest problem is the magic users, as they stay out of reach. Don’t bother trying to shoot them down with arrows – Blinding Flash and Focused Light will instantly defeat them.

Infinite Arrows

A really effective strategy right now is to use Infinite Arrow Cores on your bow. These cores give you a chance to fire arrows without actually using them up, letting you rapidly fire Explosive Arrows at bosses for massive damage. You can combine multiple cores to guarantee you never run out of arrows. The best way to get these cores is through Abyss Gear Fusion at the witches, and Tier 2 cores are the most valuable. If you’re having bad luck, restarting your save until you get the cores you want is a good idea. However, be careful with the Greater Infinite Arrows Core, as it will eventually break and need to be farmed again. It’s better to reach 100% chance to avoid using arrows by combining different Tier 2 Abyss Gears instead.

Fast Forward Through Conversations

You can skip cutscenes, but you can’t normally fast forward through conversations. However, pressing both L3 and R3 buttons on your DualSense controller activates a ‘Focus’ mode that speeds up dialogue considerably, letting you get through lengthy chats more quickly. This trick only works during conversations and might be fixed in a future update, but it’s a really useful feature right now.

Hollow Visage

Instead of spending time battling enemies to upgrade a simple weapon, you can find one of the best early-game swords: the Hollow Visage. It’s located west of Vellua in Hernand, hidden behind a waterfall. Most Stab attacks will break through the waterfall, revealing Dawn Cave and a chest containing the sword. The Hollow Visage already has three useful upgrades – a boost to Critical Rate, Attack power, and Attack Speed – giving you a solid head start against the first bosses.

Refinement Information

Ever found yourself running back and forth to the Blacksmith, trying to figure out what materials you need to upgrade your gear? Or just hoping you collected enough while exploring? There’s a much simpler way! Instead of going to the Blacksmith, just open your inventory and select ‘Details’ on the gear or weapon you want to upgrade. You’ll see its stats and any skills it has, but more importantly, the ‘Refinement Information’ will show you exactly what materials are needed for each upgrade stage.

Cancel Freesword Missions Anywhere

You’ve probably noticed your Freeswords automatically restarting missions. Instead of going all the way back to camp to stop them, there’s a simple solution, especially with the latest update. Just go to the Notifications tab in your Journal and click on the mission completion pop-up. This will take you directly to the mission location where you can select “Cancel Mission.” While you could cancel missions from the map before, this new method in the Notifications menu is much quicker and easier.

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2026-04-03 16:43