If you want to survive and actually enjoy everything Crimson Desert throws at you, adopting a few smart habits can make a big difference. Our Crimson Desert tips and tricks will help you explore better, fight smarter, and avoid some frustrating early mistakes.
Table of Contents
Starting Tips
One of the first things you should watch out for in Crimson Desert are Bell Towers. These usually appear as bell icons on your mini map, and activating them is always worth it. Once you ring one, a Shai appears and clears a large part of the surrounding map for you. That means you’ll see roads, vendors, and important locations much earlier.
Still, Bell Towers don’t reveal everything. If you want to find hidden collectibles, ore veins, or smaller shops, you still need to explore thoroughly on foot or horseback.
What you should do early on:
- Ring every Bell Tower you find
- Take on side quests in the first region to get extra inventory space
- Check every merchant you come across – some sell extra storage upgrades
- Visit the blacksmith as soon as possible
- Use grindstones and anvils whenever you find them
Stopping at the blacksmith and the nearby trader in the first town gets you your first gathering quests and even provides you with an axe and pickaxe for free, so there’s no reason to waste money buying them.
If money gets tight in Crimson Desert, go for activities that give quick returns.
- Play minigames you’re good at
- Pick up bounty quests from blackboards
- Sell useful loot instead of hoarding everything
- Use rest spots to move time forward when needed
Finally, pay attention when NPCs approach you and the focus prompt appears. They might give useful hints about mechanics, secrets, or nearby points of interest. The same applies to your map. It often resets to quest tracking, so if you suddenly can’t find a vendor, switch tabs and check if the display has changed.
Horses and Other Animals
Once you finish the tutorial opening and your first visit to the Abyss, Crimson Desert quickly provides you with your first horse. From that point on, traveling across the world becomes much simpler, as you can summon your mount almost anywhere with just a press of a button.
The more you ride in Crimson Desert, the more your horse grows with you. It gains experience, levels up, and unlocks new abilities that enhance both mobility and handling. Some mounts learn useful tricks, such as a quick start, more powerful movement options, or even combat skills. Just remember that each new mount must be trained separately, so swapping horses isn’t always an instant upgrade.
A nice bonus is that your horse is very hard to put out of action. You can be surprisingly reckless with it, and it will usually survive. Even better, if it does get hurt, you don’t always need to spend items or visit the stable. Force Palm can heal your horse, which is both weird and incredibly useful.
Animals in Crimson Desert also deserve your attention. Dogs, cats, and other tame creatures can become companions if you earn their trust. You build that trust by petting them regularly or dropping meat nearby. Once an animal’s trust reaches 100, it can follow you as a pet.
Pets are more useful than they seem at first because they automatically gather loot from defeated enemies and nearby drops. The downside is that they can quickly fill your inventory with junk, so you need to sell or make room more often.
Best ways to build trust faster:
- Pet the animal whenever you see it
- Feed it meat for bigger trust gains
- Come back on the next in-game day if needed
- Claim it once the trust meter is full
You can also get a new horse in Crimson Desert without paying for one. Wild horses can be tamed in the open world if you’re quick enough to catch them. Once you climb on, a mini game begins where you need to balance properly while the horse tries to throw you off. If you hold on long enough, you can register it and add it to your collection.
Wild horse taming is worth it when:
- You want to save money early
- You enjoy hunting for better stats
- You want backup mounts in the stable
- You prefer exploring over buying gear immediately
Inventory Management and Resources
Inventory space fills up quickly in Crimson Desert, so it’s best to start expanding it early instead of waiting until your bag is cluttered. To keep it manageable, sell anything you don’t need. Books, letters, and documents you’ve already read usually don’t need to stay in your bag. Just check if a merchant will buy them first. Early crafting books and recipes can also be surprisingly good sources of cash.
A few smart habits make a big difference:
- Do early side quests for inventory upgrades
- Check all merchants for extra storage
- Open copper pouches immediately so they stop wasting space
- Sell low-value junk regularly instead of hoarding it
Resource use in Crimson Desert is just as important as storage. Some rare materials have very long respawn times, so you can’t assume you’ll be able to farm more quickly later. That makes early decisions more critical than they seem.
Try to be careful with:
- Rare ore and valuable crafting materials
- Upgrades you’re unsure about
- Throwing uncommon resources into temporary gear
Exploration Tips
Exploration in Crimson Desert becomes much easier once you know which discoveries are truly worth pursuing first. The top priority should be anything that enhances mobility across the map, particularly Abyss Nexus points, Abyss Cressets, and other fast travel options. These are often hidden inside large question mark circles that appear when you get close, so whenever one appears, it’s usually worth taking a detour.
From high ground, try using your weapon’s reflection or your lantern glow to scan the distance. Important locations such as fast travel points, Abyss boundary stones, or sealed Abyss Artifacts often shine with a bright aura. It’s one of the easiest ways to spot useful objectives before you waste time wandering in the wrong direction.
Once you unlock gliding in Crimson Desert, exploring vertically becomes much safer. It’s best used like a parachute, not actual flying. You can descend slowly without using stamina, but moving through the air consumes it quickly, so always watch your bar before committing to a long drop.
Exploration habits that pay off early:
- Scout from cliffs and rooftops before moving on
- Prioritize map markers that improve fast travel
- Save stamina for climbing back out, not just getting in
- Check unusual fog circles even in mostly cleared regions
Some fast travel points in Crimson Desert are straightforward and activate as soon as you step on the correct stone plate. Others require more effort. You might need to solve a puzzle, repair a damaged part, or find a missing part before they become usable. That extra effort is usually worthwhile because these spots often reward you with Abyss Artifacts as well.
Blocked routes are rarely dead ends. If thorn bushes block a path, burn them with reflected light or a fire arrow. This reveals hidden routes that are easy to overlook if you think the game is just closing you off.
If you encounter enemy camps while exploring, clear them out when possible. This makes roads safer, eliminates patrols, and can even lead to new allies or quest givers appearing in the area later.
Combat and Skills
If a fight in Crimson Desert keeps defeating you, the easiest solution is usually more healing items, better gear, or simply walking away for a while and coming back stronger. There is no traditional level system here, so your strength mainly depends on equipment, Abyss Artifacts, and talent choices.
Abyss Artifacts are crucial resources in Crimson Desert. You earn them by completing main quests, defeating bosses, solving Abyss puzzles, challenging sealed artifacts, and progressing through regular combat. Since the skill trees are fairly open, you don’t have to follow a strict order. This allows you to focus on the most helpful skills early on.
For the early game, these are especially strong:
- Health
- Stamina
- Double Jump
- Force Palm upgrades
- Extra uses for Force Palm in a row
Stamina is especially important because it influences your ability to block, sprint, and keep attacking under pressure. Health is also important, but stamina often determines whether a boss fight feels manageable or miserable.
Force Palm is one of the best skills to get early in Crimson Desert. It can interrupt attacks, weaken enemy defenses, hit multiple targets, and with upgrades, it becomes even more powerful. Kicks are also much better than they initially seem because they can knock enemies down or create the breathing room you need when a fight gets chaotic.
A few combat habits help a lot:
- Don’t charge straight at entire enemy groups
- Pull enemies out with ranged attacks
- Stay mobile when more foes close in
- Use kicks and Force Palm to break momentum
- Upgrade your gear at the blacksmith regularly
You can also learn some blocked skills by watching enemies or bosses use them, which is a great way to unlock new options without wasting points. And if you regret your build later, Faded Abyss Artifacts allow you to respec and redistribute your points.
Once more playable characters are added, you can switch between them and have the others accompany you in battle. They won’t fight on their own, but they can still ease pressure during tougher encounters. Overall, the best strategy is to focus on what feels useful now, not what looks flashy later.
Food
Food is crucial in Crimson Desert, so never go out empty-handed. The game can throw you into boss fights or large battles unexpectedly, and food is your best way to stay alive. A good rule is to always carry a solid stack of healing meals, not just a few scraps you hope will last.
The easiest option is buying ready-made food from merchants or inns, but hunting is often the better long-term solution. If you keep meat and fish on hand, you can cook them over campfires into meals that heal much more than the raw ingredients ever could. In general, cooked food is always the smarter choice.
A few simple food habits help a lot:
- Always carry enough healing meals before starting quests
- Cook meat and fish instead of eating them raw
- Equip food on the quick-use wheel for fast healing
- Keep at least one strong meal stack for boss fights
One key inventory tip is to avoid spreading your ingredients across too many different meal types. Since there are many variations of meat, fish, and dishes, it’s easy to clutter your bag with unfinished food stacks. It’s usually smarter to focus on one reliable healing dish and prepare it in bulk.
If you want stronger recipes in Crimson Desert, you can also experiment with meals even without having the recipe first. Once you make the same dish a few times, the recipe becomes permanently learned. That makes cooking fun to try new things, but for everyday needs, simple grilled meals are more than enough.
Crimes
Crime in Crimson Desert can be useful, but it’s rarely something you should overdo. First, you need a mask before Kliff can steal or commit other crimes at all. You can get one from shady vendors, certain quests, or as loot from bandits. Just remember that once the mask is equipped, the game becomes much less forgiving. Even small accidents can suddenly count as crimes. That’s why it’s smart to only wear the mask when you actually plan to steal.
A few rules make crime much safer:
- Steal in moderation
- Unequip your mask when you’re done
- Wait until the crime alert fades before entering public spaces
- Avoid violent crimes unless you really want the trouble
The key point is that theft always reduces your Contribution in Crimson Desert, even if you’re not caught. This creates a tradeoff with stealing. In the early game, the loss is usually manageable because quests and normal progress can easily compensate for it. However, Contribution remains valuable for faction rewards and shop unlocks later, so stealing randomly isn’t completely without cost.
The best targets are usually valuable items in quiet places, not chaotic crimes in crowded areas. Theft is profitable. Murder is messy. If guards catch you, reloading a recent save is often less painful than dealing with the arrest or bounty process.
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Happy Gaming!
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