Discover everything you need to know about the 10 best Skills to get first in Crimson Desert, including how to use them.
Skills in Crimson Desert are a core part of how your character becomes more powerful while progressing. Your power comes from unlocking abilities and boosting stats through skill progression. There is no XP bar or character level, so you don’t automatically unlock abilities by killing enemies.
Choosing the best early skills is essential to becoming powerful early on to dominate the enemies in combat. Each playable character has a branching skill tree where you can spend Abyss Artifacts to get new active skills, passive stat boosts, and an upgraded version of existing skills.
Table of contents
1. How To Get Skill Points
Skill Points are mainly Abyss Artifacts used in the skill tree in Crimson Desert. It allows you to unlock new abilities, upgrade skills, and boost stats like health and stamina. The game lacks a traditional leveling system, so the progression is entirely based on these items.
- Completing the story missions and side quests often rewards artifacts.
- Killing strong enemies and bosses gives artifacts, and boss fights are especially valuable.
- You can find artifacts hidden in ruins, inside caves, on high cliffs, and in the Abyss.
- Some artifacts are tied to hidden areas or ancient structures, so explore the world and solve puzzles.
- Fighting enemies gradually fills a hidden progress bar. When full, you gain an Abyss Artifact.
- Some skills are learned by observing others, letting you unlock abilities without spending points.
- You can respec skills easily, so don’t worry about wasting points.
2. Skill Menu Mechanics
In Crimson Desert, the skill menu is not a simple list of abilities. It’s a branching Abyss Skill Tree system powered by items called Abyss Artifacts. There’s no XP and levels, but all things happen inside the Skill Menu.
Better weapons, armor, equipment, and artifacts define your power as much as skill points do. Skills like Double Jump, Vault, or Glide change how you move around the world. Every skill, whether combat or movement, becomes part of how you play your character.
- When you open the skill menu, you see a central core node.
- From it, multiple branches spread outward, and each one represents stats, combat skills, and unique abilities.
- Each node is equal to 1 upgrade or skill, and each node costs Abyss Artifacts.
- The artifact-based skills unlock directly using skill points. The observed skills cannot be unlocked immediately. Make sure to watch NPCs or enemies use the move, and then it appears in the skill menu.
- Many nodes have multiple levels, and you can upgrade damage, improve effects, and add new effects.
- Reset your entire skill tree by using the Faded Abyss Artifact. Inside the skill menu, you can hold the reset button and refund points.
3. Best Skills to Unlock First
Below are the best early skills to invest your skill points in for the early game in Crimson Desert.
3.1 Stamina
Stamina is the best early skill to unlock in Crimson Desert because it controls your energy for actions. This skill directly affects movement, combat abilities, and exploration. The game uses stamina as a resource meter for actions like sprinting, dodging, and blocking.
Inside the Abyss Skill Tree, stamina appears as a main upgrade branch. Investing Abyss Artifacts allows you to improve stamina, stamina regen speed, and access to more stamina-based abilities. Dodging, blocking, heavy attacks, climbing, sprinting, and gliding rely on stamina, especially in the early game.
You can’t dodge properly, block long, or climb and escape without stamina.
3.2 Health
The Health skill is a core stat branch in the Abyss Skill Tree that increases your character’s maximum HP and survivability. More health means you can take more damage before dying in Crimson Desert. Health is one of the main upgradable stats that define your power.
Each node you unlock increases HP and unlocks elemental or defensive skills. Health increases maximum HP and lets you survive more hits. Increased health directly affects tanking enemy attacks and surviving boss fights.
Your character is weak at the start, so upgrading health greatly improves survivability.
3.3 Flight
Flight in Crimson Desert is not free flying like a superhero, but focuses more on gliding and aerial traversal abilities. This skill allows you to glide through the air, travel long distances, and survive big falls. You don’t gain height freely, but you slow your fall and move forward.
Your cloak transforms into wing-like structures, allowing you to glide through the air like a bird. Using this ability lets you cross large distances and descend safely from high places. Gliding consumes stamina continuously, so when stamina runs out, you fall.
Launch yourself upward and glide to create long-distance travel and fast movement.
3.4 Double Jump
The Double Jump skill is a movement ability in the skill tree that lets your character gain extra height or momentum during mid-air. You usually cannot jump again at peak height, so it works when you are close to the ground or landing.
Gain a small upward boost to reach ledges, clear obstacles, and improve traversal. If you press jump too high in the air, the gliding may trigger instead of a double jump. You get it through the skill menu and spend Abyss Artifacts.
Press jump and hit the jump again quickly when you come close to the ground.
3.5 Armed Combat
Armed Combat skill in Crimson Desert unlocks new weapon combos, increases weapon damage, and adds special attacks. The combat feels like a fighting game system with combos and timing.
Perform a basic attack with your melee weapon. Further investment in Armed Combat increases the damage of your melee weapon attacks. Get access to more weapon combos and increase weapon damage by using Armed Combat.
These are different from unarmed skills like Kicks or Grapples and passive skills like Health and Stamina.
3.6 Swift Stab
Swift Stab is an advanced follow-up attack to the basic Stab skill in the game’s Armed Combat tree. This skill is a faster, second-hit combo that triggers after your normal stab attack.
A follow-up upgrade to “Stab” that enhances your combo potential. Go to the Stab skill branch in the Abyss Tree and upgrade Stab to unlock Swift Stab. The base Stab skill already deals serious damage and bleed, making this upgrade even stronger.
Swift Stab works well with bleed damage and close-range combat, making it perfect against bosses.
3.7 Clothesline
Clothesline is a close-range assault skill that works similarly to grappler or wrestling‑style attacks in Crimson Desert. Place the Clothesline in a hotbar skill slot after learning to build up movement momentum. Once activated, the enemies are knocked down, allowing you to follow up with the quick slashes and grapple finish.
Clothesline is a combat skill that lets you slam enemies with a powerful momentum‑based strike. The skill works like a running strike or physical sweep that intercepts enemies in your path and knocks them off their feet. Clothesline can be learned by observing Black Bear enemy use it in combat.
When you witness it enough times in battle, the game will teach you the skill. Clothesline knocks enemies to the ground and affects surrounding enemies if timed during a sprint‑attack flow.
3.8 Vault
Vault is a movement skill you can unlock in the skill tree, allowing you to quickly leap over obstacles during exploration in Crimson Desert. Vault is found in the Abyss skill tree as part of the mobility upgrades. It costs 1 Abyss Artifact when you reach the appropriate node in the tree.
Use the Vault skill to move fluidly over objects like low walls, barriers, or terrain. I recommend combining with other mobility skills to keep momentum.
Unlike some skills that require observation of enemies, Vault is unlocked directly with a skill point. Vault helps you get around Pywel without constantly climbing, making it crucial for exploration and staying mobile.
3.9 Blinding Flash Finisher
Blinding Flash Finisher in Crimson Desert can also be unlocked by spending 1 Abyss Artifact via Kliff’s skill tree menu. This is a powerful, high-damage combat ability that lets Kliff follow up the basic “Blinding Flash” stun with a rapid, 3-second flurry of strikes.
While enemies are blinded by Blinding Flash, rush in and deliver a rapid flurry of strikes. Perform a Blinding Flash to stun enemies, then immediately press the heavy attack button to trigger the finisher.
You can use it for crowd control by stunning the enemies, letting you follow up with a barrage of strikes.
3.10 Aerial Force Palm
Aerial Force Palm in Crimson Desert is not a completely separate skill from the regular Force Palm. This is the same Force Palm action performed while airborne.
While in mid-air, aim the energy of your Force Palm downward and launch yourself even higher. It works as a mid‑air downward smash or plunge‑attack that launches you toward the ground. If you respec and remove Force Palm, you won’t be able to do the aerial version.
Jump or use movement abilities to get airborne to use the Aerial Force Palm.
