Crimson Desert weapons

Weapons in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

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Sword and Shield
Spears
Greatswords
Axes
Dual Blades
Bows and Arrows
Musket Rifles
Unarmed and grapples

Crimson Desert weapons are a huge part of the game from what we've seen, with the characters using swords, guns, shields, axes, spears, bows and even unarmed combat to defeat their enemies and bosses alike. We've already seen a lot about Crimson Desert revealed so far, so I've aggregated all the knowledge about weapons here so you know what's coming in the full game.

All Crimson Desert weapons

Below are all the weapon types listed officially as being within Crimson Desert, primarily during the Features Overview #2 video, which focuses on combat, and also what we've seen elsewhere.

Sword and Shield

Sword and Shields appear to be the default option in Crimson Desert – the protagonist is shown in most promotional material using "sword and board" – and they appear to be suited in combat for counters, parries and ripostes, at least from what we've seen.

Spears

A Spear in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Spears utilise rapid, distant thrusting attacks, suited for keeping singular enemies at bay. We also see pitchforks using a similar combat style, implying that polearms generally fall under this bracket.

Greatswords

A greatsword in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Greatswords are shown off very briefly, but they seem to use slow, concentrated strikes that hit singular targets, or focus on lines ahead of the player, rather than broader AOE attacks.

Axes

An axe in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

As shown in a combat encounter in an ice fortress, Axes are slow, heavy weapons with wide arcs that can slice through crowds with a single swing.

Dual Blades

Though they aren't called out explicitly by the narration, we do see the protagonist dual-wielding short blades or daggers more than once. They seem to be focused on rapid, whirling attacks, with an emphasis on speed and evasion.

Bows and Arrows

A player readies a bow and arrow in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Bows and Arrows appear to be the fastest ranged option that we've seen, with the player diving around and using bullet-time-slow-mo to land precision headshots, or triggering skills that launch multiple arrows at once.

Musket Rifles

A musket rifle attack is charged up in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Also referred to as hand cannons, there appears to be a very long reload on these ranged Musket Rifles, and it's not even clear if the player can move while aiming them! Still, they appear to be incredibly damaging, which would make sense with those kinds of penalties. A charged shot ability is shown at one point, ending an enemy instantly.

Unarmed and grapples

An unarmed attack is readied in Crimson Desert — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Unarmed brawling and the ability to throw enemies around seems like it's focused on quick strikes, combos and battlefield control, and is apparently meant to be pretty seamlessly integrated into the rest of combat. What we've seen so far seems fairly similar to the unarmed fighting in God of War 2018.

Of course, there may be plenty more weapon types coming to the full game – right now these are just the ones we've seen. We have seen rapiers and two-handed hammers/mauls shown briefly, but it's unclear right now if those are their own unique weapon types, or just reskins of existing ones.

Whatever the case, if more are uncovered prior to release we'll be adding them to this page, so you're ready for Crimson Desert's release, and of course we'll add all the information you'll need right here once the game is released.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.

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