TL;DR
- Health and Stamina should be your very first upgrades — alternate between them early on.
- Armed Combat is the core damage skill for sword-and-shield players.
- Clothesline clears groups fast; perfect for horde fights.
- Forward Slash + Nature’s Echo = a deadly combo, especially against bosses.
- Keen Senses is required before you can unlock Nature’s Echo — and now has a new upgrade: Enraged Parry.
- Evasive Roll can be earned for free during the Kailok the Hornsplitter boss fight — don’t waste Abyss Artifacts on it.
- Skills are unlocked using Abyss Artifacts. As of Patch 2.00.00, spending Artifacts on Kliff now also grants Abyss Links to Damiane and Oongka — so your Artifacts go further than before.
- Returning players: Patch 2.00.00 reset all skill progression on first login and refunded every spent Artifact. You’re starting fresh — use this guide to rebuild efficiently.
Last updated for Patch 2.02.00 (September 11, 2026).
Crimson Desert throws you into Pywel with almost no hand-holding. The enemies hit hard, the bosses hit even harder, and every Abyss Artifact you spend matters. Spend them wrong and you’ll feel it immediately.
The good news? A few smart early upgrades can turn things around fast. Whether you want Kliff to last longer in a fight, deal more damage, or move better across the map, this guide covers the best skills to level up first in Crimson Desert — and why each one earns its spot.
Want a full breakdown of the game first? Check out our Crimson Desert review.
How Skills Work in Crimson Desert (Updated for Patch 2.00.00)
Before diving into the list, it helps to understand how the skill system works. Crimson Desert does not use a traditional XP system. Instead, you collect Abyss Artifacts — the game’s version of skill points. You earn them by defeating enemies, completing quests, solving puzzles, and exploring the open world.
The skill tree is split into three color-coded branches. The Red tree covers stamina and flight abilities. The Blue tree handles health and unarmed combat. The Green tree focuses on spirit-based skills.
Some skills must be purchased with Abyss Artifacts. Others can be learned for free through the “watch and learn” mechanic — when Kliff observes an enemy using a technique, time slows down and he can absorb that skill at no cost. This matters a lot when planning where to spend your artifacts.
New in Patch 2.00.00 — Abyss Links: The skill economy has changed significantly. When you spend Abyss Artifacts to unlock a skill for Kliff, the game now automatically grants an equivalent number of Abyss Links to Damiane and Oongka. Those other characters use their Abyss Links to learn their own skills — so you no longer need to farm separate resources for each playable character. In practice, this means your Artifacts go roughly three times as far across the full roster, and you won’t need to strip Kliff’s build to cover other characters during their story segments.
Returning players — forced reset: The first time you launched the game after Patch 2.00.00, all skill progression was automatically reset for every character and every spent resource was refunded to your inventory. If you haven’t played since before August 25, 2026, your old build is gone — but your Artifacts are back in your pocket. Use this guide to reinvest them efficiently. Note that respeccing one character no longer resets the others; each character’s progression is now managed independently.
Need help opening hidden areas and earning more resources? See our guide on how to open sealed Abyss Artifacts in Crimson Desert.
Best Skills To Level Up First In Crimson Desert
Here are the top skills to prioritize early in Crimson Desert:
- Health
- Stamina
- Armed Combat
- Clothesline
- Forward Slash
- Keen Senses
- Nature’s Echo
- Evasive Roll
These skills cover defense, offense, and mobility — the three pillars of surviving Crimson Desert’s early game. Let’s go through each one.
1. Health
Health is the single most important stat to invest in when you start. Kliff begins the game with very little HP. Early bosses like the Reed Devil deal enormous damage with just a few swings, and without enough health, you’ll constantly get one-shotted before you even learn their patterns.
A good target early on is around 10 out of 18 points in the Health skill. This gives you enough room to survive mistakes — and you will make mistakes — while you figure out how combat works.
As you push deeper into the game, enemies hit harder and bosses get more aggressive. Health never stops being worth upgrading, even when it gets expensive. Think of each Health upgrade as buying yourself one more chance to respond in a tough fight.
To keep Kliff alive between fights, learn how to cook the best healing food in Crimson Desert — it pairs perfectly with your Health upgrades.
2. Stamina
Stamina connects to almost everything Kliff does. Sprinting, attacking, dodging, blocking, climbing, and even staying airborne all pull from the same stamina pool. When it runs low, you’re stuck. When it’s healthy, combat flows much better.
A smart early strategy is to alternate between Health and Stamina. Upgrade one, then the other. Keep going until both are around level 10. This balance keeps you alive while also letting you fight actively without running out of energy mid-combo.
Stamina also unlocks the potential of other skills. For example, certain traversal abilities like Aerial Maneuver require a minimum of 200 Stamina before they even work. Getting Stamina up early opens doors you didn’t know were there yet. This is also relevant if you’re working toward the new Enhanced Flight skill added in Patch 2.00.00 — a Stamina-tree upgrade to Kliff’s flight ability that becomes available after a certain point in the main story.
Stamina also affects how well you can dodge and block. Many enemies throw out multi-hit combos that force constant evasion — and if your stamina bar can’t keep up, you’ll eat every hit. Investing here early pays off in every fight going forward.
3. Armed Combat
Once your survival stats are in a decent place, Armed Combat is where your offense really takes shape. This is the core melee skill for players using Kliff’s sword and shield. Leveling it up increases raw damage across all melee attacks and unlocks useful follow-up moves like Evasive Slash, Rush, and Charge.
Since almost every fight in Crimson Desert involves melee combat, Armed Combat gives you value on every single hit Kliff lands. There’s no fight where higher melee damage doesn’t help.
Later levels of Armed Combat also unlock Stab with Rend Armor, a sub-skill that ignores the super armor of elite enemies and bosses. That makes tough fights significantly easier by letting Kliff’s attacks land without getting blocked or shrugged off.
New in Patch 2.00.00: Armed Combat now has an additional upgrade called Finishing Rush (Spirit tree), which unlocks after a certain point in the main story. It’s a quality-of-life improvement to your melee follow-up game rather than a dramatic damage spike, but worth picking up once your core priorities are covered.
You can also pair these combat upgrades with better gear. Read our guide on how to upgrade weapons and armor in Crimson Desert to get even more out of your melee builds.
4. Clothesline
Kliff spends a lot of time surrounded by enemies. Groups of normal enemies can overwhelm you fast if you don’t have a way to scatter them. Clothesline solves that problem.
When you use Clothesline, Kliff grabs an enemy, slams them to the ground, and triggers an AoE attack that pushes surrounding enemies away. It works as a crowd-control reset. When you’re getting swarmed, just run at one enemy, trigger Clothesline, and create breathing room instantly.
It’s not just for defense either. Clothesline interrupts enemies mid-attack and repositions fights in your favor. If you tend to get cornered easily, this skill changes the flow of combat significantly.
5. Forward Slash
Forward Slash is Kliff’s heavy attack. On its own, it’s solid. But when you level it up to Level 3, it becomes one of the most reliable damage tools in the game.
At Level 3, Forward Slash always connects and gains an extra hit that deals major damage and builds enemy stun. This makes it much more consistent in combat, especially in fights where timing matters.
The real value comes when you combine it with Nature’s Echo (covered next). The two skills feed into each other and create one of the best damage combos available to Kliff early on. Think of Forward Slash as the first half of a two-part upgrade — get it to Level 3, then build toward Nature’s Echo.
6. Keen Senses
Keen Senses improves Kliff’s defensive toolkit. It makes parrying, dodging, and countering more effective and opens up better response windows against enemy combos.
More importantly, you must level Keen Senses to Level 3 before you can access Nature’s Echo. That alone makes it a required stop on the upgrade path. But even without that requirement, Keen Senses is worth getting early. Better parry windows and counter opportunities mean less damage taken across the board.
If Abyss Artifacts are tight, keeping Keen Senses at Level 2 temporarily is okay — but make it to Level 3 as soon as possible.
New in Patch 2.00.00: Keen Senses received a new upgrade branch called Enraged Parry (Spirit tree), which becomes available after a certain story milestone. It enhances Kliff’s parry response when he’s taken recent damage — a strong addition for players who already prioritize defensive play. It’s not an early-game priority, but keep it in mind as you build out this branch.
For more on reading and reacting in combat, see how to handle tricky boss fights like our guide on how to beat Kailok the Hornsplitter in Crimson Desert.
7. Nature’s Echo
Nature’s Echo is one of the most enjoyable combat skills in the game. At just Level 1, it activates the Echoing Forward Slash — Kliff creates an illusion that mirrors his attack and hits the same target again. Every Forward Slash becomes two instances of damage without any extra stamina cost.
Against bosses that give you longer windows to attack, this combo is extremely effective. Every time Kliff lands a Forward Slash, the illusion follows up immediately. Stack enough attacks in a boss’s open window and the damage adds up fast.
You only need the first level of Nature’s Echo to unlock this effect. One upgrade, big payoff.
Before unlocking this combo, make sure you understand Kliff’s full kit. Our Crimson Desert all characters and companions guide can help you get the most out of every character you unlock.
8. Evasive Roll
Evasive Roll is essential for combat survival. When Kliff takes a hit, this skill lets him immediately dodge and recover a portion of his stamina. That stamina refund is the key part — it lets you keep evading without fully depleting your bar.
Against bosses and enemies with multi-hit combos, Evasive Roll turns near-death moments into controlled recoveries. If you react fast enough, Kliff can chain dodges through an entire combo with minimal damage taken.
Here’s the most important thing: do not spend Abyss Artifacts on Evasive Roll. You can learn it for free during the Kailok the Hornsplitter boss fight through the watch and learn mechanic. Save your artifacts for other skills and let this one come naturally. This remains true as of Patch 2.02.00 — the free acquisition method has not changed.
Speaking of saving resources — check out how to use Contribution Points in Crimson Desert to maximize all your early-game investments.
Bonus Skills Worth Knowing About
The eight skills above are the best place to start. But a few other skills deserve a mention once your core build is in shape.
Focus / Focused Insight — Level Focus to Level 3 to unlock Focused Insight, which lets Kliff parry incoming melee attacks while in Focus mode. This turns a passive ability into an active defensive counter that works great against bosses. The new Serenity upgrade (added in Patch 2.00.00) builds on Focus further and becomes available later in the story.
Stab — One of the highest single-target damage skills in the game. Its Rend Armor upgrade ignores boss super armor, making it exceptional for tough encounters. Invest here once your core stats are solid.
Spinning Slash — A lunge-and-slash attack that hits nearby enemies in a circle. Great for situations where Clothesline isn’t available or you need quicker AoE damage. The Level 2 upgrade lets you perform it consecutively.
Grappling / Lariat Follow-Up — Maxing Grappling at Level 5 unlocks a finishing move that sends enemies flying. It’s fun and works well against groups, though it’s better as a late pickup after your core priorities.
Axiom Force / Force Current — This skill lets you send a charge along your grapple to cause an explosion. It’s useful for breaking ore deposits and moving objects during puzzles, cutting down time on gathering and exploration tasks.
Force Palm upgrades (new in Patch 2.00.00) — Three new Force Palm variants were added: Flowing Force Palm, Ascending Force Palm, and Descending Force Palm. These are story-gated upgrades to the existing Force Palm ability. None of them are early-game priorities, but if you use Force Palm regularly, they’re worth investing in once your core build is complete.
Double Jump / Water Slide (new in Patch 2.00.00) — The Double Jump skill received a new upgrade called Water Slide, which allows Kliff to run across water surfaces. It’s a fun traversal ability and genuinely useful for exploration, but not a combat priority.
Want to explore more of what Crimson Desert has to offer? Check our guides on how to fish in Crimson Desert, the Crimson Desert horse guide, and how to get a dragon in Crimson Desert.
Skill Upgrade Priority Order (Quick Reference)
| Priority | Skill | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health | Survive early bosses and mistakes |
| 2 | Stamina | Enables dodging, blocking, and traversal skills |
| 3 | Armed Combat | Core melee damage and combo unlocks; Finishing Rush upgrade added in 2.00.00 |
| 4 | Clothesline | Crowd control for group fights |
| 5 | Forward Slash (Lv. 3) | Sets up the Echo combo with Nature’s Echo |
| 6 | Keen Senses (Lv. 3) | Required for Nature’s Echo; improves parry/dodge; Enraged Parry upgrade added in 2.00.00 |
| 7 | Nature’s Echo (Lv. 1) | Doubles Forward Slash damage with one upgrade |
| 8 | Evasive Roll | Get it FREE from Kailok boss — don’t spend artifacts (unchanged in 2.00.00) |
Tips for Getting More Abyss Artifacts
Abyss Artifacts are always in short supply early on — though the new Abyss Link system in Patch 2.00.00 means you need fewer of them overall for a full three-character build. Here are a few ways to find more without going out of your way:
- Complete side quests in every town you pass through. Many give artifacts as rewards.
- Solve environmental puzzles — like the Abyss Without Balance puzzle — which reward artifacts directly.
- Defeat elite enemies and mini-bosses in the open world.
- Explore dungeon areas thoroughly before moving on. Hidden artifacts are scattered throughout.
- Check the Dragon Stone Chamber puzzle solution for another early artifact opportunity.
- New as of Patch 2.00.00: After completing all main story quests, you can carry Abyss Links and other currencies into a new game. If you’re on a second playthrough, your stockpile from the first run carries over.
Also keep an eye on your respec options in Crimson Desert in case you want to reallocate points after trying different builds. As of Patch 2.00.00, you can now respec each character individually — resetting Kliff no longer wipes Damiane or Oongka’s skills.
Where to Get Crimson Desert
Ready to start building Kliff’s skill tree? Crimson Desert is available on:
Visit the official Crimson Desert website for the latest news and updates from Pearl Abyss.
Don’t Waste Your Abyss Artifacts
Build survival before power. Health and Stamina first. Then Armed Combat. Then work toward the Clothesline, Forward Slash, Keen Senses, and Nature’s Echo chain. And never spend artifacts on Evasive Roll — the Kailok fight gives it to you for free.
Every artifact you spend in the right place early makes the rest of the game easier. Get the foundation wrong and you’ll feel it all the way through Act 2. The Abyss Link system introduced in Patch 2.00.00 makes your spending go further than ever — but the priority order in this guide still holds. Efficient early investment beats catching up later.
For more help navigating Pywel, explore our other guides:
