In Crimson Desert you do not earn experience points or level-ups. Instead, you invest artifacts into up to three talent trees per character to unlock new abilities and upgrades. MeinMMO reveals which talents have proven to be effective at the start.
How does character development work in Crimson Desert? Main character Kliff and the other two playable characters (Damiane and Oongka) increase their power primarily through better equipment, upgrading existing equipment, socketed Abyss gear, and unlocking talents.
Each of the 3 characters has their own talent trees. These are divided into the colors blue, red, and green:
- In the blue tree, you will find primarily weapon and combat abilities; here you can also increase your stamina.
- In the red tree, you improve your grappling hook, your gliding and flying skills, and your health pool. Additionally, you will find special elemental attacks here.
- In the green tree, you optimize your spirit value (resource for executing special actions and skills) and energy skills like “Power Fist” and “Focus.” You can also find skills like double jump or “Tumble” that enhance your mobility.
Note: For various talents, you must meet specific requirements to learn them. Often, these are linked to progress in the main story. Abilities like “Stomp” can alternatively be learned by observing in combat.
Which talents are particularly good for the start?
- Invest artifacts promptly to improve your stamina and health – even the first points have a noticeable effect on your health buffer, sprint phases, or the number of possible dodge movements.
- One point in “Double Jump” immediately improves any situation where you … well … need to jump.
- With “Sharp Senses” and the associated upgrades “Lightning Counter” and “Quick Dodge,” you will find it significantly easier to avoid enemy attacks.
- Improve “The Power of Axioms” promptly with “Aerial Maneuvers” and “Aerial Swing.” With the upgraded grappling hook, you will find it significantly easier to overcome obstacles or climb heights.
- Using “Power Fist” consecutively can disrupt even strong opponents, weaken their defense, and subsequently allow high damage spikes – here too, we recommend investing points.
- In the blue tree, upgrading “Weapon” is a no-brainer.
- Then, focus first on a special maneuver that you fully develop, such as “Push,” “Forward Strike,” or “Spin Strike.” We cannot recommend a completely unarmed playstyle or a pure focus on ranged combat for beginners – only invest points there once you have learned all the important talents.
Not only your talents consume Abyss artifacts. At a certain point, you will also have to use Abyss artifacts for upgrading armor and weapons – in addition to other resources.
How do I obtain the artifacts? For the talents, you need Abyss artifacts, which you can earn through the following content:
- Complete main story quests
- Defeat bosses
- Complete Abyss puzzles in the world
- Master the tasks of Sealed Abyss artifacts, which you can find all over the world
- Fill the yellow bar next to the minimap by defeating enemies
The positions of Abyss puzzles and Sealed Abyss artifacts can be found relatively easily: Stand with Kliff on an elevated position and reflect the sunlight with your weapon (on the controller with the two front shoulder buttons).
All undiscovered fast travel points, Abyss puzzles, and Sealed Abyss artifacts in sight will be highlighted by the reflection with a light blue glow.
The tasks for the Sealed artifacts vary widely: sometimes you have to eliminate 3 enemies without spilling blood, sometimes perform a specified number of attacks with a spear within a certain timeframe or slide back 50 meters. To earn all artifacts, you must familiarize yourself with Kliff’s very different skills.
Attention: The completed challenges of the Sealed Dice do not automatically reward you with the corresponding artifact. So do not forget to stop by your inventory and use the respective now pulsating die – only then will you receive the point for your talent area.
If you have more tips and tricks to make the start in Crimson Desert easier, feel free to comment! If you have specific questions about the game, you can ask them during our Q&A session about the release in this article: MMORPG veterans with over 100 hours in Crimson Desert will answer your questions about the action-adventure
