Crimson Desert best skills

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff shouting with his shield and sword out to the side after attacking an enemy off-screen in a grassy environment. — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Crimson Desert's skill tree is much bigger than it looks at first glance, as most nodes break out into clusters that give existing moves new effects and unlock brand new attacks that you can chain into even more combos. You can even upgrade your magic powers and traversal abilities. It's pretty in-depth, so picking the best skills to prioritise early on after Kliff's resurrection isn't straightforward.

This isn't helped by the fact that you need to find or earn Abyss Artifacts to purchase upgrades in the skill tree; it's not always as simple as just levelling up and spending a point. While I recommend using your first few Abyss Artifacts on increasing your stamina and health, you'll soon want to start unlocking powerful new combos. Remember that you can also 'observe skills' to get them for free, including some of the early ones. It's also worth mentioning that Kliff is just the first of multiple playable characters you can unlock later on, and each one has different skills.

The best skills in Crimson Desert

I recommend unlocking the following skills first in Crimson Desert:

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Crimson Desert skills: Kliff screaming with his eyes closed after doing a slicing dodge attack in a grassy environment.

Evasive Slash (Armed Combat Lv. 2)

While this dodging attack doesn't do tons of damage, it's great for eeking out extra damage when you're avoiding an enemy's attack.

Crimson Desert best skills: Kliff preparing to stab an enemy bandit, holding his sword above his shield.

Stab

Lunge at an enemy and inflict bleed, which is great against tougher enemies like bosses. The Swift Stab follow-up attack upgrade is great, and you can get it for free by beating Reed Devil.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff fighting a group of bandits in a grassy environment.

Spinning Slash

Lunge at an enemy and slash in a circle, which is great when you're surrounded by enemies and need some AoE damage. Also get the following upgrade:

Proficiency (Spinning Slash Lv. 2): Upgrade the skill to perform the attack consecutively, cleaving away at enemies.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff performing a slash attack against bandits in a grassy environment.

Forward Slash

Lunge forward with a heavy attack to deal big damage. Also get the following upgrade:

Proficiency (Forward Slash Lv. 2): An upgrade to allow a follow-up attack for bonus damage.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff with his shield raised after a deadly slice against an enemy in the right corner.

Turning Slash

A spinning overhead heavy attack that sends the enemy flying. Also get the following upgrade:

Proficiency (Turning Slash Lv. 2): Allows you to activate Turning Slash while using another skill for more seamless combos, finishing with this heavy strike.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff performing a Force Palm attack against a bandit in a grassy environment.

Force Palm

You'll unlock Force Palm during an early main story mission, and it lets you power up a punch attack that reduces enemy defences. It deals a massive amount of stun buildup on bosses, and is key to easily defeating some of them, like Marnie's Excavatron. Get the following upgrades:

Proficiency (Force Palm Lv. 2): This upgrade lets you use Force Punch in combat much more effectively by performing two strikes in quick succession.
Expertise (Force Palm Lv. 3): Perform up to three strikes in quick succession.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff dodging a bandit who's attacking him in a grassy environment.

Keen Senses

Get the following upgrades for this base skill:

Dodge (Keen Senses Lv. 2): Dodge just before being hit to avoid taking damage. It helps make you much more agile and less reliant on blocking in combat.
Counter (Keen Senses Lv. 3): Attack right before being hit to interrupt an enemy attack, perfect for countering an enemy by accident when you don't have time to raise your shield.

Crimson Desert skills: Kliff doing a slice attack with various copies of the attack in the background in a dark, grassy environment.

Nature's Echo

Creates an illusion that replicates your attacks for bonus damage. Upgrading this skill lets the illusion copy your Forward Slash, Spinning Slash, and Stab attacks. It's free damage on top of combos you're already doing, and what's not to love about that?

You'll notice that I'm not the biggest fan of bows in Crimson Desert. While you have a little leeway in how he plays, Kliff is first and foremost a melee fighter. Early on, ranged weapons just don't deal that much damage or feel nearly as good as melee combat. However, there are certainly good ranged options using Marksmanship, Multishot, Evasive Shot, and Charged Shot.

Likewise, you can also do a bare-handed build if you'd rather put your sword to one side. Upgrade Unarmed Combat and you'll be able to leap around the battlefield and slam enemies into the ground like you're an anime character—it really is that over the top. You can also pick up Clothesline, Dropkick, and Pump Kick, though these aren't restricted to bare-handed combat. The good news is you can learn all three of these from enemies and bosses.

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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