Combat

2:49 Combat in Crimson Desert is real-time melee fighting in which Kliff mixes weapon skills with bare-hand strikes, kicks and grapples, dodges, guards and parries, elemental enhancements and Abyss skills such as Force Palm and Blinding Flash, against anything from a single duelist to a camp full of enemies or a boss the size of a building. Pearl Abyss's "50 Minutes of Early Gameplay" (Sep 12, 2024, a pre-release build) opens on that mix: at night in a burning camp, Kliff cuts through a crowd of attackers with sword and shield, the screen edges turn red as his health drops, and at about 4:08 he locks an enemy in a grapple. The fights are the part of the game reviewers praised most often, alongside the open world, according to Kotaku's review round-up of Mar 18, 2026.

Quick facts

How Pearl Abyss describes it

The Steam store page sums the system up in its own words: weapon skills "paired with hard-hitting bare-hand hits and kicks, as well as a wide range of grapples", swords, spears, greatswords, axes, dual wields and ranged weapons, elemental enhancements, and "slides, dodges, counters". Pearl Abyss's second Features Overview video (Feb 5, 2026) covered the same ground: weapons, chaining skills, unlocking skills and upgrading equipment.

1:00 Digital Foundry's PS5 Pro deep dive of Mar 12, 2026 puts it more loosely. Listing what surprised him, its reviewer names dragons to fly, giant bosses "like Shadow of the Colossus", swinging "like Spider-Man", and combat that "makes you feel like a medieval John Wick".

4:01 Alec Newman, Kliff's English voice, says the same in Pearl Abyss's "Meet the Cast" video (Feb 25, 2026): the combat is "absolutely astonishing, I've never seen anything like it", and having done some combat with broadswords and other weapons that appear in the game gave him a way into the character.

Weapons, guard and parry

Kliff fights with swords and shields, spears, halberds, maces, bows, dual wields and, since 1.08.00 (May 22, 2026), muskets and shotguns; Damiane uses rapiers and guns and Oongka great axes and arm cannons (Game Rant's character guide, Mar 19, 2026). The full list, refinement and Abyss Gear sockets are on Weapons and Gear.

Guarding and parrying matter more than rolling. According to Game Rant's Josh Cotts (Mar 21, 2026), dodges do not make Kliff invincible, so spamming them is the wrong habit; a successful parry briefly stuns enemies, bosses included, and parrying is not limited to shields. Pearl Abyss's own notes back this up: 1.00.03 increased how much a successful parry fills a boss's stun gauge and reduced the stamina cost of blocking, and 1.04.00 fixed parries that did not trigger after guarding when a non-sword weapon was the main weapon. On Easy the parry and dodge windows are wider, and on Hard they are tighter and the roll's invincibility is shorter (notice 84).

Kicks, grapples and throws

20:46 Kliff does not only swing a sword. Digital Foundry's reviewer angers a group of guards, climbs onto a roof, and finds that the guards climb after him; on the slope he tries "to kick them off, knock them down the slope", until they overwhelm him. TheGamer's review notes that a dropkick can knock enemies off cliffs, and that grapples and wrestling throws are part of the moveset. Some fights are built around them: TheGamer's guide to the early boss Kailok the Hornsplitter tells players to grab and throw him.

Bare-hand fighting grew after launch. 1.00.02 added a finishing blow to Kliff's Flurry of Blows, 1.06.00 gave Oongka unarmed skills, and 1.07.00 (May 15, 2026) gave Damiane hers and Kliff a Blinding Flash Finisher for unarmed combat.

Force Palm, Blinding Flash and the Abyss skills

The skills Kliff gains in the Abyss work in fights and in puzzles alike. Force Palm pushes and staggers enemies and moves objects; it has Focused, Aerial, Descending and Pulse forms in the official notes, and since 1.04.00 Force Palm Pulse charges in up to three stages for more damage. Axiom Force grabs and pulls; Nature's Snare holds a target; Blinding Flash is a beam of light that stuns certain enemies, grills food and lights the way to hidden fast travel points. TheGamer's beginner tips call Force Palm the most versatile skill and recommend Nature's Snare against bosses with frequent projectile attacks. How each is unlocked is on Skills and Abyss Artifacts.

Skills cost Spirit. Focus mode slows time and restores Spirit, and the Keen Senses skill gives an audio cue before incoming attacks; Game Rant says parrying needs Keen Senses, and an upgraded version allows a timed dodge just before a hit.

Elements and ranged weapons

Fire, ice and lightning come from Abyss puzzles and are applied with Imbue Element (Game Rant, Mar 25, 2026); since 1.04.00 a "Using Skill: Element" option can put each element on its own input. Elements hurt: 1.04.00 increased the damage of elemental status ailments, and Pearl Abyss's 1.13.00 recipes add Lightning Bolt, Scorchflame and Frostcursed plate armor. Fire on an enemy's fur is one of the guides' tips for White Horn.

Bows, guns and thrown weapons cover range. Kliff has Charged Shot, Evasive Shot and their Focused versions in the official notes; Weapon Throw (1.04.00) throws a dual-wielded weapon, which returns at the same button. Digital Foundry notes that beaten bandits may break and run, and "you can, of course, take them out with an arrow if you're a good shot".

Bosses

4:28 Boss fights are where the systems meet. Pearl Abyss's White Horn video (Aug 19, 2024, the gamescom 2024 demo build) shows Kliff against a huge white, antlered beast in a snowstorm: he climbs onto its back and drives his sword in, then opens the inventory mid-fight, picks the Explosive Arrow and fires it. TheGamer's reviewer, who counted 76 bosses, found many "unfair" rather than hard; Pearl Abyss lowered early boss health in 1.00.03, ended bosses' immunity during powerful attacks in 1.04.00, and added a Hard mode with extra boss patterns. Every boss is on Bosses, and Boss Rematch covers fighting them again.

6:21 Some bosses need more than a sword. In IGN First's Golden Star quest video (Oct 13, 2025, a pre-release build) Kliff fights a golden mechanical dragon across a ruined fort, working a large mounted machine against it as it breathes fire. According to the guides, the released fight is won by throwing the Marni Spears to fill its stun gauge; since 2.00.00 (Aug 25, 2026) the battle is split into phases with attacks of their own. See Golden Star.

Large battles and re-blockades

3:00 Some missions put Kliff in a war. IGN's "13 Minutes of Gameplay" (Aug 15, 2025, a pre-release build) is a siege: a commander tells him the enemy has built watchtowers, "you'll need to use the cannons to clear your path", and Kliff joins the artillery as a gunner calls "Aim for those smoking watchtowers and fire." Strongholds can be weakened before the assault: since 1.00.03, destroying an enemy infirmary stops wounded enemies returning, storage facilities cut enemy health by 10%, and barracks cut enemy attack by 5 (notice 73).

22:31 Enemies react to how a fight goes. Digital Foundry describes bandits who "freak out and just attempt to run away" once most of their group is dead. To keep fights coming after regions are freed, 1.05.00 (May 2, 2026) added Re-blockade, which lets enemies retake ground in three states (Stable, Conflict and War), and 1.10.00 added Re-Blockade Battle and Reconstruct stages.

Lock-on and camera

Lock-on works on most enemies; 1.03.00 kept the hard lock on bosses from further away and turned it off for certain larger bosses. Since 1.18.00 (Aug 15, 2026) the Lock-on Camera Rotation setting under Input has three choices: Manual (rotate the camera freely while locked on), Semi-auto (rotate within a limited range) and Auto (no rotation). Since 1.13.00 Axiom Force used during soft lock-on goes straight to the target.

Damiane and Oongka

Damiane and Oongka fight differently from Kliff. Game Rant describes Damiane as light and agile with rapiers and guns, and Oongka as a slow, destructive tank with great axes and arm cannons. At launch both lacked Kliff's Abyss tools; Pearl Abyss said in its Apr 10, 2026 Dev Update that players wanted them to have skills like Force Palm and Axiom Force, and from 1.03.00 (Apr 11) gave them Axiom Force, Nature's Snare, Shield Toss and Scatter Shot (which work like Force Palm), then unarmed skills, Reckoning and Devastation (1.09.00). Companions do not join boss fights (Game Rant). See Damiane and Oongka.

Is it a Soulslike?

Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure, not a Soulslike, though its bosses punish careless play. Game Rant's Josh Cotts argues it "isn't a Soulslike" but feels like one to players who treat it that way, and that it is hardest for those who take on main story bosses too early. Difficulty is a setting (Easy, Normal or Hard) since 1.04.00, explained on Difficulty and Accessibility.

Frequently asked questions

Is Crimson Desert a Soulslike? No: Crimson Desert is a single-player open-world action-adventure with real-time combat, though its bosses can feel punishing. Game Rant argues it "isn't a Soulslike", and since update 1.04.00 (Apr 23, 2026) players can choose Easy, Normal or Hard.

Can you parry in Crimson Desert? Yes. Crimson Desert lets Kliff guard and parry, and a successful parry briefly stuns enemies, including bosses, and fills a boss's stun gauge; Game Rant says the Keen Senses skill is needed to parry.

Is there lock-on in Crimson Desert? Yes. Crimson Desert has a soft and a hard lock-on, and since patch 1.18.00 (Aug 15, 2026) the Lock-on Camera Rotation setting offers Manual, Semi-auto and Auto.

How do you grapple in Crimson Desert? Crimson Desert gives Kliff a range of grapples, throws and kicks alongside his weapons, which Pearl Abyss's Steam page calls "a wide range of grapples". Guides use them against bosses such as Kailok the Hornsplitter, who can be grabbed and thrown.

What is Force Palm in Crimson Desert? Force Palm is one of Kliff's Abyss skills in Crimson Desert: a palm strike that pushes and staggers enemies and moves objects in puzzles. It has Focused, Aerial, Descending and Pulse forms, and Pulse charges in up to three stages since 1.04.00.

Does Crimson Desert have dodge invincibility? Crimson Desert's roll has an invincibility window, but Game Rant notes that dodges do not make Kliff fully invincible, and on Hard difficulty the roll's invincibility is shorter.

Sources

• Crimson Desert, Steam store, Pearl Abyss, read Oct 21, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.00.02, Pearl Abyss, Mar 19, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.00.03, Pearl Abyss, Mar 23, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.03.00, Pearl Abyss, Apr 11, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.04.00, Pearl Abyss, Apr 23, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.05.00, Pearl Abyss, May 2, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.07.00, Pearl Abyss, May 15, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.09.00, Pearl Abyss, May 29, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.13.00, Pearl Abyss, Jul 3, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 1.18.00, Pearl Abyss, Aug 15, 2026
• Patch Notes Version 2.00.00, Pearl Abyss, Aug 25, 2026
• Dev Update, Pearl Abyss (Steam news), Apr 10, 2026
• Crimson Desert isn't a Soulslike, Game Rant, Mar 21, 2026
• All playable characters and companions, Game Rant, Mar 19, 2026
• All boss fights and locations, Game Rant, Apr 1, 2026
• Crimson Desert review, TheGamer, Mar 18, 2026
• Hornsplitter boss guide, TheGamer, Mar 19, 2026
• Crimson Desert: Best Pro Tips, TheGamer, Apr 2, 2026
• Crimson Desert Metacritic scores review roundup, Kotaku, Mar 18, 2026
• 50 Minutes of Early Gameplay, Crimson Desert, Sep 12, 2024 (video)
• Crimson Desert on PlayStation 5 Pro - The Digital Foundry Deep Dive, Digital Foundry, Mar 12, 2026 (video)
• Meet the Cast: Kliff, Oongka, and Damiane, Crimson Desert, Feb 25, 2026 (video)
• White Horn Boss Battle Gameplay, gamescom 2024, Crimson Desert, Aug 19, 2024 (video)
• Crimson Desert: Golden Star Quest Gameplay - IGN First, IGN, Oct 13, 2025 (video)
• Crimson Desert - 13 Minutes of Gameplay, IGN, Aug 15, 2025 (video)