Crimson Desert players must invest in 1 stat before anything else

Players who jump head first into Crimson Desert is advised to spend the majority of his Abyss Artifacts on Stamina stat upgrades over anything else. This might not sound like good advice in a game with as many flashy skills as Crimson Desertbut Stamina effectively underpins how enjoyable the experience is. Pearl Abyss' flagship single-player RPG is nothing if not complex and layered, and basic character stats are just the start of it.

Crimson Desert is a largely excellent RPG with some major issues bubbling underneath, but its release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S devices has mostly been met with excitement and hype. It handles many of its progression and gameplay mechanics in a non-standard way, for one, and character leveling is one of those items. Instead of hoarding XP for discrete level-ups, players must hunt down Abyss Artifacts to spend on stats and abilities. The base stats are Health, Spirit and Endurance, with the latter in particular being extremely important.

Crimson Desert will not have difficulty options or be easy, its developers say.

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Crimson Desert's stamina stat is critical to gameplay enjoyment and playthrough

According to content creator WolfheartFPS advice on Twitter, Stamina is easily the most important early game investment for Crimson Desert player. In a balancing act that reflects what the players experienced in Breath of the Wild, Crimson Desert's walkthrough effectively depends on having a solid stamina pool for characters to draw on. It affects both running and flying, and WolfheartFPS claims this makes traversing much more difficult early on. Then Crimson Desert isn't afraid to break gaming conventions in ways that may seem illogical at first, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the game can gently nudge players towards early game investment over opting for flashy combat skills.

WolfheartFPS says that 200 Stamina should be the baseline minimum to aim for, and that's because a pool of that size provides tons of ongoing resources. On top of that, 200 Stamina is also the minimum requirement for skills like Aerial Swing (under the Axiom Force skill tree), giving even more options in both movement and combat. Health is the second most important base stat to level after Stamina, with Spirit being by far the least urgent of the three. Having a decent stamina and health pool helps a lot in early game development Crimson Desertwhile Spirit passively regenerates on its own making it less punishing to ignore.

Crucially, stat upgrades apply to all playable characters at the same time, meaning that Abyss Artifacts invested in Kliff's Stamina also transfer to Oongka and Damiane when they become available. This makes early stat investing even more impactful than it might initially appear, with dividends compounding over time. Since many Abyss Artifacts are hidden behind walk-through puzzles, 200 stamina will make it easier to find more to boot.

Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)

While Crimson Desert is definitely an interesting deconstruction of many genre tropes, it's not as big a hit as some might have expected. With “Mixed” reviews on Steam due to its complexity, mediocre story, and choppy pacing, there's a bit of a cloud hanging over it right now. Pearl Abyss stock fell further by almost 30% after the initial reviews crystallized. While Crimson Desert isn't a bad game by any meaningful measure, the incredible amount of pre-release hype it had may have affected player expectations and, in turn, possibly helped lower its review score.