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Crimson Desert tips – 7 essential tricks to get started fast
Struggling to get started in Crimson Desert? These seven essential tips cover fast travel, skills, combat and inventory upgrades to help you progress faster.
100 hours of gameplay – and counting – a vast open world called Pywel, and a structure that blends MMORPG depth with a compelling single-player adventure: this action-adventure is easily one of the most ambitious games of the year. Its opening hours, however, can feel complex and overwhelming, especially as tutorials and in-game guidance are limited. In this Crimson Desert guide, we share seven essential tips you need to know when starting out.
01
How to unlock fast travel in Crimson Desert
The world of Crimson Desert is huge, and there’s a fast travel system that can save you a lot of time. No, we’re not talking about the horse you unlock early on – we mean proper fast travel. If you don’t know about it, you’ll waste a lot of time travelling on foot. And in Pywel, that can take a while.
Your first fast travel point unlocks automatically when you enter the Abyss for the first time, during the second segment of Chapter 1. From then on, you can select it as a destination from anywhere on the map.
There's a lot of ground to cover in Pywel
© Pearl Abyss
Here’s how fast travel works in Crimson Desert: open the map, switch to the Abyss view using the indicated button, then select your destination. Fast travel begins instantly, transporting you there in seconds.
Other teleportation platforms – known as Abyss Nexus points – are hidden behind the white question marks on the map. Simply visiting them once unlocks them permanently. A useful tip: by reflecting light with your sword using L1+R1 or LB+RB, you can reveal Abyss elements such as Nexus points as glowing markers in the world.
02
Expand your inventory early
What’s the most important thing in an RPG? Not skills – we’ll come back to those later. It’s your inventory. If you want to carry plenty of items (and you will), you should expand it as early as possible. In Crimson Desert, inventory space is very limited at the start. The good news is that you can increase it significantly within a few hours.
Keep an eye on the minimap as you explore Pywel
© Pearl Abyss
Most extra slots come from side quests – the usual requests for help from NPCs. These are typically quick and easy to complete. In the very first village, Hernand, you’ll find five straight away:
- Request from Rhett (blacksmith's assistant)
- Request from Renée (butcher)
- Request from Turnali (blacksmith)
- Request from Annabella (saddler)
- Request from Tina (seamstress)
Each completed quest usually rewards you with three additional inventory slots. If that’s not enough, you can also buy extra slots from merchants – including the grocer, food vendor, inn and tannery. Each shop typically offers one additional slot.
03
Add companions to your party
Companions are a key part of the experience
© Pearl Abyss
One thing Crimson Desert doesn’t clearly explain is that you can recruit companions to fight alongside you. To do this, open the character selection menu and choose another playable character.
Press the indicated button, and that character will join you as a companion, following you and assisting in combat. That said, AI-controlled allies aren’t especially effective – they tend to react slowly and deal limited damage. Still, they can provide some support when needed.
04
Skills in Crimson Desert – prioritise health and stamina
Skills are important in Crimson Desert. However, you shouldn’t rush to unlock new abilities straight away. The game already gives you plenty of tools early on, and the difficulty – especially in boss fights – can be quite high.
Focus on improving your health and stamina
© Pearl Abyss
Instead, it’s much more effective to invest your points in health and stamina first. Stamina improves mobility, helps with exploration, and allows you to block attacks if a parry fails. Health, meanwhile, gives you more margin for error in early encounters and boss fights.
Tip: keep investing in health and stamina until upgrades cost two artefacts per point. Only then should you start focusing more heavily on unlocking new skills.
05
Best early skills in Crimson Desert
While we’re on the subject of skills, which ones are worth prioritising? A few stand out early on. In group fights or against multiple enemies, you’ll want abilities that can hit several targets. One of your first upgrades should be ‘Seize’, which unlocks ‘Bodyslam’. This move deals solid damage and knocks down nearby enemies, giving you valuable breathing room.
An adventurer surveys a mysterious triangle in Pywel
© Pearl Abyss
In the weapon tree, ‘Charge’ is also highly useful, allowing you to knock down multiple enemies and follow up with ground attacks. ‘Forward Strike’ is another strong option – it deals heavy damage but consumes a lot of stamina.
Boss fights require a different approach. ‘Insight’ is particularly valuable here, as at level 3 it slows down time during parries, making them much easier to execute. ‘Keen Senses’, found in the Spirit tree, is also essential, significantly improving your dodging ability – especially against attacks that can’t be parried.
06
Keep learning new recipes and crafting options
In Crimson Desert, there’s always something new to learn – including blacksmithing and cooking recipes that you can use at campfires, provided you have the right ingredients.
Learn new recipes
© Pearl Abyss
Look out for parchment icons while exploring, as these lead to new recipes. Once collected, you’ll need to inspect them in your inventory to learn them properly.
Tip: recipes you’ve learned remain in your inventory. You can safely sell or discard duplicates.
You can also discover crafting recipes for weapons and armour. To use them, visit the following merchants in towns:
- Blacksmiths: craft items and upgrade equipment via refinement
- Equipment shop: sells weapons, armour, ammunition and materials
- Seamstress: specialises in cloth armour
- Tannery: offers leather and hides
- Contribution shop: sells high-quality regional gear based on your town reputation.
07
Master the combat system
Crimson Desert features a deep and versatile combat system that rewards timing, blocking and parrying. Button mashing won’t get you far. A perfectly timed dodge restores stamina rather than consuming it, which can be crucial in difficult fights or when facing multiple enemies. It’s worth mastering this mechanic early.
The powerful battles are impressively staged
© Pearl Abyss
Bosses have colour-coded health bars – blue, green and red – with each phase introducing more aggressive attack patterns. You should also take advantage of the destructible environment: objects such as trees, pillars and debris can be used as weapons, and enemies can be thrown into walls or off ledges to stun them.
Another important detail is that enemies can disarm you. However, you can quickly pick up weapons from the ground – including your opponent’s – and continue fighting without losing momentum.
08
What platforms is Crimson Desert available on?
Crimson Desert, developed by Pearl Abyss, is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Mac and GeForce Now.
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