Crimson Desert: Mid-Game Build – Claw & Crow Mashup

Welcome to the Crimson Desert Kliff Build for Mid-Game with focus on Shadow Claw and Crow’s Pursuit. This is a powerful mid-game spec that deals massive single-target damage and keeps enemies around you at bay.

Powerful Mid-Game Kliff Build with a focus on Dual Wield with Shadow Claw and Crow’s Pursuit Abyss Gear.

Table of Contents:

1. Kliff Mid-Game Build Overview
2. Equipment
3. Weapons
4. Abyss Gear Upgrades
5. Skills
6. Best Combos
7. Food
8. Basic Mechanics Explained
9. Mistakes to avoid

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Mid-Game Kliff Build:

Kliff Mid-Game Build Overview – Claw & Crow Combo

This Mid-Game Kliff Build is optimized for Crimson Desert’s mid-game. You must have completed Chapter 5 to get all the required items for this build.

With this build, you deal massive Single-Target damage and AoE splash damage while keeping enemies at bay, so you won’t get overwhelmed by them.

Playstyle

Dual Wield with Forward Slash spam to proc Shadow Claw and  Crow’s Pursuit Abyss Gear.

• Shadow Claw: Unleashes three swipes forward, dealing damage and staggering enemies.
• Crow’s Pursuit: Summons crows that attack nearby enemies and scare them.

More Info About The Build

• Equipment: Most of the gear is found in Hernand even during early game and uses plenty of what the Crimson Desert Beginner Build uses. However, for example, the Crow’s Pursuit can only be obtained once you clear Chapter V.
  • Gear Scaling: Most gear has the same stats; the uniqueness comes through Abyss Gear Buffs and Refinement (Leveling it up).
• Weapons: The main weapons we use are the Sword of the Wolf (Base sword) & Tauria Curved Sword.
• Skills: We only use a few specialized move sets, so the build doesn’t get too complex, so you can focus on resource management!
  • Leveling up Stamina to at least 300 is necessary. Otherwise, you might run out of Stamina during combat easily!
• Combos: We only use a few key combos with this build, so it won’t get too complex.
• Food: Generally, use whatever you find and cook it if it provides HP. I do recommend anything that provides over 200 HP and also adds some Spirit.

Video Showcase

Here is a quick showcase of the build in action. You can see how the crows and claws repeatedly activate whenever you use Forward Slash.

Equipment for the Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build

The Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build for Kliff still uses plenty of items that we used in our Crimson Desert Beginner Build. So you won’t have to change all gear if you used the beginner spec already.

• Gear Scaling: Most gear has the same stats; the uniqueness comes through Abyss Gear Buffs.
• Leveling Up Equipment: I recommend leveling up your items to at least level 5 or 6 (Refinement).
  • Materials: By now, you should have found all the materials you need to craft up to level 6.
• Abyss Gear: Please view the Abyss Gear section.

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Slot	Name	Refinement
Head	Blackwing Mask	Level 6
Armor	Icewing Plate Armor	Level 6
Cloak	Bear Hide Cloak	Level 6
Gloves	Ator’s Will Leather Gloves	Level 6
Foot	Frostcursed Plate Boots	Level 6
Necklace	Finely Crafted Gold Necklace	Level 5
Earring 1	Oath of Darkness Earring	Level 5
Earring 2	Engraved Gold Earring	Level 5
Ring 1	Tarnished Ring	Level 5
Ring 2	Worn Ring	Level 5

Where to get the Equipment:

• Blackwing Mask: Reward for defeating Crowcaller at the end of Chapter V.
• Icewing Plate Armor: Reward for defeating Gwen Kraber in the Eldertree quest.
• Bear Hide Cloak: Any bear has a 10% chance to drop this.
• Ator’s Will Leather Gloves: Craftable via Leathers Vol II or Defeat Archon of Antumbra Boss.
• Frostcursed Plate Boots: Treasure Chest inside the Well of Tragedy Grotto cave.
• Finely Crafted Gold Necklace: Looted inside Bluemont Manor at the Wheel puzzle Storage box.
• Oath of Darkness: Looted inside Bluemont Manor Owl Storage Box puzzle.
• Engraved Gold Earring: Looted inside Lioncrest Manor, top floor, right.
• Tarnished Ring: Drops from early Hernand territory Bleed Bandits (low chance).
• Worn Ring: Can be looted inside huts (2x location).

Weapons for the Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build

With this Mid-Game Build for Crimson Desert, we are mainly using Dual Wield to deal massive damage and proc Shadow Claw and  Crow’s Pursuit. Of course we will also have additional Abyss Gear but these are the most important ones.

• Weapons: We are using two Swords with this setup. You can use any sword; they all have the same stats. Don’t use Dagger or Maces; otherwise, your Attack value will drop too much.
• Abyss Gear: Please view the Abyss Gear section.

Slot	Name	Refinement
DW Weapon 1	Sword of the Wolf	Lv 6
DW Weapon 2	Tauria Curved Sword	Lv 6
Primary 2H	Hwando Two-Hander	Lv 6
Primary Bow	Grey Wolf Bow	Lv 4

Where to get the Weapons:

• Hwando Two-Hander: Inside Lioncrest Manor in a treasure chest.
• Sword of the Wolf: Already equipped at the beginning of the game.
• Tauria Curvced Sword: Reward for defeating Crowcaller at the end of Chapter V.
• Grey Wolf Bow: Already equipped at the beginning of the game.

Grindstone

Next to the Smithy there is a grindstone, make sure to use it because it boosts the damage of your weapons! You only have to use the grindstone once to enhance all your weapons.

Abyss Gear Upgrades Kliff Mid-Game Build

This Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build uses some specific Abyss Gear that you must get in order for the spec to work. The Witch Elowen in the Witchwoods in Hernand can extract and embed Abyss Gear. You must complete her quest first to unlock her though.

You can use whatever you want for most of your Abyss gear. However, here are the must-haves:

• Shadow Claw: Unleashes three swipes forward, dealing additional damage.
  • Location: Quest Howls from the North Gate
• Crow’s Pursuit: Summons a murder of crows to viciously attack nearby enemies.
  • Location: Embedded in the Tauria Curved Sword that you get after defeating Crowcaller at the end of Chapter V.
• Momentum: 35% Turning Slash Damage.
  • Location: Sanctum of Benediction treasure chest, embedded in the Leather Helm of the Fallen Kingdom.
• Parting Gift: Leaves behind explosives that detonate after a short delay, dealing damage.
  • Reward for “Name Written in Blood” quest, defeat Walter Lanford. Embedded in the Rhonda Leather Boots.

Skills for the Crimson Desert Beginner Build

Here are the most important Skills that you have to focus on first for the Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build for Kliff.

I will only show you the must-have skills for this build. If you have any other non-essential skills keep using them!

• Priority 1: Blue Skill Tree
• Priority 2: Red Skill Tree
• Priority 3: Green Skill Tree

Note: You also learn skills by observing enemies sometimes, so you won’t have to spend a skill point! The tooltip of the skill will mention this.

Blue Tree Allocation (Priority)

1. Stamina to level 10: This is crucial to not run out of stamina mid-combat.
   1. This must be high, because both  Shadow Claw and  Crow’s Pursuit drain additional Stamina!
2. Forward Slash to level 3: Deal damage with a powerful slash. Procs both Shadow Claw and  Crow’s Pursuit Abyss Gear.
3. Turning Slash to level 3: Spinning overhead strike that sends enemies flying and deals massive damage. 35% more damage with Momentum Abyss Gear.

Red Tree Allocation

1. Health to level 6. This will make it easier to stay alive and absorb some attacks.

Green Tree Allocation

1. Spirit to level 5: This will make it easier to manage Spirit-based skills.
2. Evasive Roll: This allows us to proc Parting Gift Abyss Gear. 

Combos for the Crimson Desert Beginner Build

Because this is a mid-game Build for Crimson Desert, we won’t get into too difficult combos.

• Light & Heavy Attack: Used against all types of enemies.
• Dodge: Dodging attacks can be very useful; you just need to make sure to have enough spirit.
• Block: Only block if necessary.
• Forward Slash: Delivers powerful slashes that hit multiple enemies. Activates both Shadow Claw and  Crow’s Pursuit Abyss Gear.
• Turning Slash: Spinning overhead strike that sends enemies flying and deals massive damage. 35% more damage with Momentum Abyss Gear.

Food for the Crimson Desert Mid-Game Build

Always buy food from the vendors. If you don’t have enough silver, please read our How to Farm Gold Bars (500 Silver each) in Crimson Desert.

Easy To Cook

1. Buy food from the vendors.
2. Hunt down animals for meat and cook them.
3. These provide decent HP but are often lackluster during boss fights.

Advanced Food

Braised Ribs: 320 HP, 24 Spirit

Cooking the Braised Ribs is not that difficult, but you will need some ingredients.

• 4x Meat
• 2x Vegetable
• 2x Fruit
• 3x Water

Best Food

Bird Soup: 460 HP, 38 Spirit, No Stamina Cost 4s

Cooking the Bird Soup is not easy, but it’s worth it, especially during boss fights, so you can keep spamming your combo due to no stamina cost!

The main problem here is getting enough Wild Ginseng, which can be a challenge.

• 2x Bird Meat
• 2x Vegetable
• 1x Wild Ginseng
• 1x Salt
• 3x Water

Basic Mechanics Explained

In this section, I will explain a few basic mechanics you might have missed during the tutorial or should know.

Stamina

1. Sprinting and performing certain actions consume Stamina.
2. You cannot use skills if you do not have enough stamina.
3. Defending against enemy attacks also consumes Stamina.
4. Blocking heavy attacks results in higher Stamina consumption; if your Stamina is fully depleted while guarding, your defense will break, and you will take damage.
5. Certain equipment effects can reduce the Stamina consumed by defending.
6. Stamina is gradually restored once you stop attacking.
7. Stamina will slowly recover while walking or blocking, but recovers fastest when standing still.
8. Leveling up the Wolf Sign in the blue skill tree (Stamina) increases the amount of Stamina you have.

Power Scaling

Power scaling comes from increasing your equipment level and adding Abyss Gear in Crimson Desert. Leveling up skills won’t increase your power. This is often overlooked.

Players often just get some gear but don’t refine it (level up). That means you will run around with more or less base stats, which can be tricky in the later parts of the game.

To increase the power of your character:

• Refine equipment
• Add Abyss Gear to your equipment

Mistakes to Avoid with the Kliff Mid-Game Build

Here are the most important things to remember for the Kliff Mid-Game Build for Crimson Desert:

1. Don’t forget to level up your equipment, it will make you way more powerful!
2. Make sure to never run out of food! You can spam food to constantly heal.
   1. More expensive food is especially worth it during boss fights. The Bird Soup will give us infinite stamina against a tough boss.
3. Make sure to have at least level 10 Stamina. Otherwise, you run out of it too fast during fights when you don’t use the Bird Soup.
4. Visit the Witch and embed Abyss Gear in your gear to further enhance it!

Related Guides:

Visit our Crimson Desert Database overview page for more builds and guides.