How to Complete All Two-Handed Weapon Challenges in Crimson Desert

TL;DR

• There are 6 Two-Handed Weapon Challenges in Crimson Desert, split into two sub-series: Overwhelming Slash I–III (Kliff with a Longsword) and Ground Shaking Impact I–III (Oongka with a Club or Axe).
• Challenges I–III require Kliff with a Longsword — buy one from any Equipment Shop or Smithy.
• Challenges IV–VI require Oongka, who only unlocks at the end of Chapter 7. You cannot complete those three until then.
• Completing all 6 unlocks the Master of Two-Handed Weapons trophy and achievement.
• Grab all 6 Sealed Abyss Artifacts as early as possible so progress counts in the background.
• For Oongka challenges, go back to Hernand — weaker enemies make the no-damage and high-hit-count challenges significantly easier.
• Spinning Slash (Kliff) and Quick Swap (Oongka) are your most useful tools across this entire challenge set.

Two-Handed Weapon Challenges in Crimson Desert are part of the Mastery — Goyen’s Advice category and cover longswords for Kliff and clubs or axes for Oongka. The split between characters is the most important thing to know upfront: you cannot complete the second half of this challenge set until Chapter 7 unlocks Oongka. This guide covers every Sealed Abyss Artifact location, the exact challenge requirements, step-by-step completion methods, all rewards, and the tips that make the harder challenges manageable.

For context on how the challenge system works overall, see our All Bow Challenges guide — the same Sealed Abyss Artifact rules apply here. Our full Crimson Desert Guide Hub has every other guide you’ll need.

How Two-Handed Weapon Challenges Work in Crimson Desert

Two-Handed Weapon Challenges are locked behind Sealed Abyss Artifacts scattered across the open world — mostly along roads and at intersections. You must physically find and pick up each artifact before challenge progress begins tracking. Actions performed before pickup do not count retroactively.

The six challenges are divided into two named sub-series:

• Overwhelming Slash I, II, III — completed by Kliff using a Longsword (two-handed greatsword). Longswords are available from Equipment Shops and Smithies early in the game.
• Ground Shaking Impact I, II, III — completed by Oongka using a two-handed Club or Axe. Oongka starts with a two-handed axe automatically, but he only becomes a playable character at the end of Chapter 7.

To claim rewards once a challenge is finished, open your inventory, stand still, sheathe your weapons, and use the Sealed Abyss Artifact. It cannot be used while moving or with a weapon drawn.

Like all challenges, pick up every artifact the moment you’re in the area — even the Oongka ones. Once you’re in Chapter 7 and playing as Oongka, progress on those artifacts will start counting immediately from that point onward. Use the fast travel system to move between regions efficiently when hunting artifacts. If the map is still fogged, our bell towers and fog of war guide will help you uncover it faster.

Before You Start — Preparation Tips

• Buy a Longsword before attempting Challenges I–III. A Longsword is a two-handed greatsword — not a one-handed sword. They’re sold at Equipment Shops and Smithies across the map. If you don’t have one, pick one up in Hernand before looking for the artifacts.
• Unlock Turning Slash Lv 3 as Kliff. Challenge III (knockback 10 enemies in 30 seconds) is dramatically easier with Turning Slash Lv 3, which ignores enemy super armor and sends them flying on impact. See best skills to level up first for the skill priority guide.
• Unlock Quick Swap as Oongka before Challenge VI. Challenge VI (knock back 5 enemies simultaneously) requires Quick Swap — a wide swing that hits enemies in front of Oongka in a broad arc. Without it, this challenge is nearly impossible to complete reliably. Quick Swap is unlocked through Oongka’s Armed Combat skill tree.
• For the no-damage challenge (Challenge V), go to Hernand. Oongka needs to defeat 10 enemies without being hit even once. Hernand’s weaker enemies give you far more margin for error than Demeniss or later areas.
• Refine your longsword and Oongka’s axe. Higher damage means faster kills and easier completion on timed or kill-count challenges. See how to reinforce equipment for the full process.

Overwhelming Slash I — Hit 3 Enemies at Once with Low Health

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Hernand, on the side of the road directly west of Drakesfall Watchtower — also described as west of Drakesfall Gorge, northeast of the “D” in “Hernand” on the map.

Challenge Requirement

Hit 3 enemies at once with a Longsword while your Health is below 50%.

How to Complete Overwhelming Slash I

This challenge has two conditions to satisfy simultaneously: you need a group of enemies and below-half health. Managing both at once sounds awkward but is actually simple in practice.

• Make sure you’re playing as Kliff with a Longsword equipped in both hands. One-handed swords do not count.
• Get your Health below 50% before engaging a group. The easiest methods are letting enemies hit you a few times, or using Jump + Triple Force Palm to take fall damage on purpose. If you use the fall damage method, confirm your armor is sturdy enough that you don’t drop too low and risk dying.
• Once injured, find 3 or more enemies grouped together and use Spinning Slash (R1+X / RB+A). This swings in a wide 180-degree cone and reliably hits multiple enemies at once — it’s the most consistent multi-target hit available with the longsword.
• Sanctums, enemy camps, and blockaded outposts in Hernand all have tight enemy clusters. Pick any group of 3+ and trigger the Spinning Slash into them while below 50% health.
• You only need to hit them — they don’t all need to die from the same swing.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

Overwhelming Slash II — Defeat 3 Enemies with Longsword Finishers Without Taking Damage

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Demeniss, at the intersection southwest of Golden Gallop Racecourse.

Challenge Requirement

Defeat 3 enemies with a Longsword Finisher without taking damage.

How to Complete Overwhelming Slash II

A Finisher is the execution move that triggers when an enemy’s health drops low enough and you continue pressing the light attack button (R1 / RB). It is a specific animation — it does not trigger from Heavy Attacks or Turning Slash, only from sustained R1 / RB light attack pressure.

• Stay as Kliff with the Longsword equipped.
• There is no time limit, so approach this one enemy at a time. Fighting one enemy solo is the safest way to avoid taking chip damage from nearby enemies.
• Whittle the enemy’s health down using light attack chains (R1 / RB). When health gets low enough, the Finisher animation will trigger automatically as you press R1 again.
• Do not use Turning Slash to kill enemies — that’s a different attack type. Stick exclusively to R1 / RB light attacks and parries to trigger the Finisher properly.
• Parrying enemy attacks is a safe way to create openings for your light attack chain without taking damage. See our parry and counter guide for timing tips.
• If you accidentally take a hit, don’t panic — the challenge doesn’t fail immediately, but the “without taking damage” condition resets your counter. Heal up with food, clear the fight, and start again. See how to cook the best healing food to keep your supply topped up.
• Weak isolated bandits in Hernand are ideal targets — they have low health and rarely hit you before a Finisher triggers.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

Overwhelming Slash III — Knock Back 10 Enemies in 30 Seconds with a Longsword

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Hernand, on the road south of Hernandian Ruins, between the first “N” and “A” in “HERNAND” on the map text — also described as on the western side of Haunted Hill, south of the western lake.

Challenge Requirement

Knock back 10 enemies within 30 seconds using a Longsword.

How to Complete Overwhelming Slash III

This is the most demanding Kliff challenge in the set — 10 knockbacks in 30 seconds requires a dense group of enemies and the right skill. Fortunately, Turning Slash makes this straightforward once you have it levelled.

• Make sure you have Turning Slash Lv 3 from Kliff’s blue skill tree. At Lv 3, Turning Slash ignores enemy super armor, meaning even shielded or armored enemies will get knocked back by it. This is the single best tool for this challenge. See our guide on Sword Mastery Challenges for reference on how Turning Slash is used across challenges.
• Find a location with a dense group of enemies — liberation camps, sanctums, and blockaded outposts all work well. The goal is 10+ enemies nearby so you can keep spamming Turning Slash into the crowd.
• Use Turning Slash (R1+R2 / RB+RT) repeatedly. Each cast knocks back the enemies it hits, and in a packed group, one cast can knock back 2–4 enemies at once. Repeat rapidly until you hit 10 total knockbacks within the 30-second window.
• You don’t need 10 different enemies — the same enemies can be knocked back multiple times and each knockback counts toward the total.
• Sanctums filled with waves of enemies are ideal because they respawn quickly, keeping a steady supply of knockback targets in a tight area.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

Ground Shaking Impact I — Land 30 Hits in 30 Seconds with a Club or Axe

Important: Challenges IV, V, and VI can only be completed as Oongka. Oongka becomes playable at the end of Chapter 7 of the main story. If you haven’t reached Chapter 7 yet, pick up the artifacts but come back when Oongka is available. See the full Main Story Quests and Chapters guide to track where you are in the story.

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Hernand, on the side of the road southeast of Fort Perwin, in the Precipice of Echoes area in the far south of Hernand near the “A” in “HERNAND”.

Challenge Requirement

Land 30 hits on enemies within 30 seconds using a two-handed Club or Axe.

How to Complete Ground Shaking Impact I

This is more approachable than it sounds. You don’t need to kill 30 enemies — you just need to land 30 individual hits total, which means the same enemies can absorb multiple strikes.

• Switch to Oongka and confirm his two-handed axe is equipped. He comes with one automatically — no setup needed.
• Find a sanctum or dense enemy camp with multiple targets standing close together. Sanctums across the map reliably have waves of enemies in tight spaces.
• Spam Oongka’s light and heavy attack chains (R1 / RB and R2 / RT) as fast as possible into the group. Each individual hit counts — area swings that contact multiple enemies simultaneously register as multiple hits.
• Oongka’s axe has wide sweeping attacks that naturally hit several enemies per swing. Getting 30 hits in 30 seconds is very achievable in any moderately populated area without needing special skills.
• No skill investment in Oongka is required to complete this challenge — just use his default axe attacks.
• If you’re failing the timer, move to a denser group of enemies or a sanctum room where enemies pack together tightly.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

Ground Shaking Impact II — Defeat 10 Enemies Without Getting Hit

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Hernand, on the side of the road southeast of Fort Perwin — in the same general area as the Ground Shaking Impact I artifact. Check both sides of the road if you find one and not the other.

Challenge Requirement

Defeat 10 enemies without getting hit using a two-handed Club or Axe as Oongka.

How to Complete Ground Shaking Impact II

This is the most difficult Oongka challenge in the set. Any single hit resets your kill counter, so patience and careful play matter more than speed.

• Stay as Oongka with his two-handed axe equipped.
• Return to Hernand for this challenge. Hernand enemies are the weakest in the game and have simpler, more predictable attack patterns — giving you far more room to dodge and parry without being caught off-guard.
• Find a liberation camp with Bleed Bandits or a similar low-difficulty enemy group. Engage enemies one at a time. Do not let multiple enemies pile on you — isolate each target, defeat it cleanly, then move to the next.
• Use dodges and parries to avoid taking damage, not blocks. Blocking with a two-handed weapon can still result in chip damage. Dodging cleanly or parrying at the right moment creates a damage window without risk. Our parry, counter, and dodge guide covers the exact timing.
• There is no time limit on this challenge. Take as long as you need. Kill one enemy slowly and safely, let the area reset slightly, then engage the next. Rushing causes mistakes.
• If you get hit, don’t panic — simply reset the run by finding a new group of 10 enemies and starting the count over from zero. With Hernand’s low-difficulty enemies, it’s faster to restart than to stress about each individual fight.
• Carry food for healing between fights so you don’t have dangerously low health going into each kill. See how to cook the best healing food to stock up before heading out.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

Ground Shaking Impact III — Knock Back 5 Enemies Simultaneously with a Club or Axe

Sealed Abyss Artifact Location

Found in Hernand, southwest of Torvak Camp, directly north of the second “N” in “HERNAND” on the map, near the lake that leads toward Pailune.

Challenge Requirement

Knock back 5 enemies flying simultaneously with a two-handed Club or Axe as Oongka.

How to Complete Ground Shaking Impact III

This is the trickiest of the Oongka challenges. The requirement is 5 enemies knocked back at the same time — not 5 separate knockbacks in a row. All five must be airborne or launching simultaneously from one attack.

• Stay as Oongka with his two-handed axe equipped.
• Unlock Quick Swap from Oongka’s Armed Combat skill tree before attempting this. Quick Swap (L1+L2 / LB+LT) is a wide sweeping attack that knocks back enemies in a broad arc in front of Oongka. Without it, hitting 5 enemies simultaneously with the standard axe swing is extremely difficult.
• Head to a Demeniss enemy camp or any high-density area before Chapter 9. Demeniss camps have clusters of enemies that group up naturally and are close enough to catch in a single wide swing. The enemies here are harder than Hernand, but for this challenge you don’t need to survive unscathed — just hit 5 at once.
• Group the enemies up by letting them surround you, then use Quick Swap (L1+L2 / LB+LT) into the crowd. If 5 or more enemies are in the swing’s arc, the knockback registers for all of them simultaneously and the challenge completes.
• If you’ve already unlocked the Wind element, using a Wind-imbued attack with Oongka before Quick Swap can add extra knockback force and make it easier to launch 5 enemies cleanly. An early version without Wind still works — Quick Swap alone is sufficient.
• This challenge may require a few attempts to get the positioning right. Keep repositioning until you have 5 enemies packed tightly in front of Oongka, then fire Quick Swap into the center of the group.

Reward

• x1 Abyss Artifact
• x1 Faded Abyss Artifact

All Two-Handed Weapon Challenge Rewards Summary

• Overwhelming Slash I: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Overwhelming Slash II: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Overwhelming Slash III: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Ground Shaking Impact I: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Ground Shaking Impact II: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Ground Shaking Impact III: x1 Abyss Artifact, x1 Faded Abyss Artifact
• Master of Two-Handed Weapons trophy/achievement — unlocked on completing all 6

Abyss Artifacts are used to unlock and upgrade skills in your skill tree. Faded Abyss Artifacts are used to respec — resetting skill investments so you can try a different build. Both are directly useful at any stage of the game. See how to get skill points and how to respec in Crimson Desert to make the most of these rewards.

Tips for Completing All Two-Handed Weapon Challenges Efficiently

• Pick up all 6 artifacts as early as you can. Progress starts counting the moment you pick up the artifact. Even the Oongka ones — grab them early, and the moment Chapter 7 ends and Oongka is playable, your progress will begin tracking immediately without any extra travel.
• Do Overwhelming Slash I–III back to back in Hernand. All three Kliff artifacts are in Hernand. Gather them in one pass through the region, then complete all three challenges in the same session before moving on.
• Don’t attempt Ground Shaking Impact challenges in strong regions. All three Oongka challenges are easiest in Hernand. For Ground Shaking Impact I and II especially, Hernand’s weak enemies let you land 30 hits and kill 10 without damage far more comfortably than anywhere else.
• Keep a Longsword in your inventory even after completing Kliff’s challenges. The longsword is only needed for Challenges I–III. Once those are done, you can sell or store it freely.
• Oongka’s axe is ready immediately at Chapter 7. You don’t need to buy, find, or craft anything. He unlocks with a two-handed axe already equipped. Jump straight into the Oongka challenges the moment Chapter 7 ends.
• For Ground Shaking Impact III, enemy density is everything. The 5-simultaneous-knockback requirement needs a packed crowd. Don’t attempt it in sparse patrol areas — go to a camp or sanctum where enemies cluster together tightly.
• Use Hernand for both timed and no-damage challenges. Hernand enemies die fast and attack predictably. If you ever find yourself stuck on a time-limited or no-damage requirement in Demeniss, immediately go back to Hernand and retry there.

Master of Two-Handed Weapons Trophy and Achievement

Completing all 6 Two-Handed Weapon Challenges unlocks the Master of Two-Handed Weapons trophy on PlayStation and the equivalent achievement on PC and Xbox. Because half the challenges are gated behind Chapter 7 and Oongka’s unlock, this is naturally a mid-to-late game completion rather than an early one — plan accordingly and don’t stress about finishing it until you’re past Chapter 7.

This challenge set also contributes toward the larger Unvanquished Strategist gold trophy, which requires completing all 10 mastery subcategories across all weapon types and horse challenges. For the full roadmap, see our Crimson Desert Trophy List and All Achievements guide.

Two-Handed Weapons in Combat — What They’re Good For

If these challenges have you spending time with a longsword or Oongka’s axe and enjoying the playstyle, it’s worth knowing what two-handed weapons are best at. Longswords and great axes hit harder per swing than one-handed swords, cover a wider area, and build stagger meter faster on bosses. They carry 5 Abyss Gear sockets — one more than a one-handed weapon and shield combo — making them excellent for stacking triggered attack effects.

The trade-off versus dual-wielding is speed. Two-handed weapons swing slower, which reduces how often your Abyss Gears trigger per second compared to a fast dual-wield setup. That said, if you’re interested in running a pure two-handed weapon build, see our Best Weapon Abyss Gears guide for the top picks to socket into a two-handed weapon — Groundsurge, Greysoul Howling, Insight III, Volcanic Eruption, and Malicebane are all strong fits. The full comparison versus a dual-wield approach is covered in our Best Dual-Wield Swords Build guide.

For specific great weapons worth using beyond the challenges, see our guides on the Kylu’s Greataxe, the Double-Headed Axe of Greed, the Vow of the Dead King Halberd, and the Parvel Greatsword (LOTR Aragorn’s Sword).

Where to Get Crimson Desert

Available on all major platforms:

• Steam (PC)
• Epic Games Store (PC)
• PlayStation Store (PS5)
• Xbox Store (Xbox Series X|S)

Final Thoughts

The Two-Handed Weapon Challenges are split neatly in two — three manageable Kliff challenges using a longsword, and three Oongka challenges that gate behind Chapter 7. The Kliff side is done quickly if you have Turning Slash levelled and a longsword in your kit. The Oongka side requires patience on the no-damage challenge and smart positioning on the simultaneous-knockback one.

The biggest mistake players make is attempting the harder challenges in high-difficulty zones. Every challenge in this set — whether timed, streak-based, or no-damage — becomes noticeably easier when fought against Hernand’s weaker enemies. Go back there, take your time, and work through them methodically. By the time you claim that sixth reward, you’ll have a solid foundation of Abyss Artifacts and Faded Artifacts to invest directly into your build.

For more on the challenge system, see our All Bosses and Locations guide, the All Power Challenges guide, and our Advanced Combat Guide to sharpen the skills that carry you through every challenge category.