All Abilities in Crimson Desert, Explained

Crimson Desert is a massive game that gives you a lot to do. It is difficult to decide where you want to start, and figuring out some of the controls can be a bit tedious. It's good to know what skills you should start out with.

Along with your skills, you are given various abilities to aid your character during the game. These consist of spirit abilities that allow you to fly, knock back foes, and lift massive objects.

Let's break down all the major abilities in Crimson Desert so you know how to use them when the time is right.

Axiom Force, Explained

Axiom Force is one of the main abilities you will use to help you solve many of the puzzles in Crimson Desert. The basic variation of this ability allows you to pick up objects and move them around, but it can be upgraded to help you traverse the world more easily as well.

To use Axiom Force, hold in the left stick on the controller or the TAB key on PC. While being held in, your character will prepare the Axiom Force ability. From there, you will see a marker appear. Whenever this marker is blue, you will attach the Axiom Force ability to the object or piece of landscape you are targeting.

When you let go, you will see a hand come out and grip where you targeted. If you have not selected a target or the marker is red, Axiom Force will not grip onto anything.

The standard way of using Axiom Force is to grapple an object and move it around. This will allow you to place the object in different locations. However, this can be changed as you upgrade the skill.

The first upgrade for Axiom Force is called Aerial Maneuver. This allows you to grasp onto buildings, cliffs, and other pieces of the environment and then launch yourself into the air.

When you have a piece of the environment grappled with Axiom Force, press the jump button twice to launch yourself into the air and up to where you grabbed the environment. This is a useful tool for when you want to reach the tops of cliffs faster or jump over walls.

The second upgrade for Axiom Force is called Aerial Swing. Similar to Aerial Maneuver, you will grapple onto a piece of the environment. From there, you will jump and use either the right stick or your mouse to swing your character. This gives you more momentum and is great for launching your character.

Force Palm, Explained

Force Palm is a battle technique that also has major uses for completing puzzles in Crimson Desert. To use this ability, you will press the right stick or the scroll wheel on your mouse. This will cause your character to release a powerful strike with their palm.

You can use this ability in combat to lower an enemy's defenses, and it can also be used in puzzles to slot items into place. This is very useful for puzzles like rebuilding the kiln.

The first upgrade for Force Palm unlocks the Aerial Force Palm and Healing Force Palm abilities. First, Aerial Force Palm allows you to jump, aim downward, and use Force Palm to propel yourself upward. This can be used to slow your descent when jumping from a high-up area.

Other uses for Aerial Force Palm are to push items down to complete puzzles or push enemies into the ground in combat. Healing Force Palm allows you to change the energy of Force Palm to heal the target. While holding the button for Force Palm, press the left stick to make it heal the target instead. This ability can be used to aid allies or even heal your horse if it gets damaged in combat.

The other standard upgrades for Force Palm allow you to perform multiple strikes with it during combat, with your character being able to use it three times in a row when fully upgraded.

Later in the story, when you are completing the Forbidden Knowledge quest, you will also unlock Focused Force Palm. This is a separate ability that allows you to use your focus ability combined with Force Palm to shatter stones by targeting the core within the stone.

Nature's Grasp, Explained

Nature's Grasp is one of the simpler abilities that you get. It allows you to lift and move heavy objects such as rocks, gates, pillars, etc. It is useful for opening large doors that block pathways in puzzles or opening gates leading into forts.

To use this ability, you need to either press circle and triangle on PlayStation, Y and B on Xbox, or F and the left mouse button on PC. Doing this will allow you to lift the object in front of you.

It is important to note that most objects cannot be lifted like this, and most will be lifted using Axiom Force. While an object is being lifted with Nature's Grasp, you can speed the interaction up by holding the run button.

Focus, Explained

Some of your abilities require the use of Spirit, which regenerates on its own, but you can hasten this effect by using the Focus ability. By pressing the X key on PC or both of the joysticks on controller, you will enter Focus mode.

Entering Focus mode slows down time and regenerates your Spirit. This effect ends when you end the Focus ability. Upgrading this ability once gives you the Focused Repulsion ability, allowing you to repel enemies by pressing the attack button while in Focus mode. This automatically ends Focus.

The second upgrade for Focus is Focused Insight. This ability allows you to automatically target enemies attacking you while in Focus. You can then use your shield to block or repel incoming attacks while also ending Focus.

Flight, Explained

The ability you will use the most for traversal is probably Flight. True to the name, this ability allows you to fly across the sky for limited amounts of time.

While you are in the air, press the jump button to shroud yourself in a mysterious cloak, allowing you to glide through the air. This ability is limited by the amount of stamina you have, so it is a good idea to increase your stamina if you want to fly farther.

There is one upgrade for the Flight ability, and it allows you to glide faster by holding down the sprint button. Of course, nothing beats getting a jetpack later on.