I’ve been playing Black Desert Online on and off for almost 7 years now, and I’ve seen how fast the meta shifts every few updates. Right now, one weapon that’s been popping up in every melee player’s wishlist left and right is black desert crimson glaives. A lot of players see clips of streamers melting Elvia grind spots or shredding small raid bosses with it and immediately run to the central market to grab one, without stopping to check if it actually fits their playstyle or main class. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to avoid that expensive mistake, and help you decide if it’s worth the silver and grind for you.
What Makes Black Desert Crimson Glaives Stand Out From Other Melee Weapons
First off, let’s get the basics out of the way. The crimson glaives are a legendary-grade melee weapon with a base AP of 291 at TET enhancement, with a base accuracy bonus of 12% that’s higher than most other non-world boss weapons at the same enhancement level. 30% extra damage against elite and boss enemies is its biggest selling point for PvE players, and that bonus stacks with other class passives and food buffs to push your damage output way higher than you’d get with a standard Kzarka or Offin weapon.
It also comes with a stackable 5% bleed effect that lasts 8 seconds per hit, so each time you land a skill on an enemy, you’re adding consistent damage over time that doesn’t require you to keep recasting abilities. I tested it on my main Drakania when it first dropped, and I noticed my clear speed at Blood Wolf Mountain went from 7,200 trash loot per hour to just over 8,800, which is a 22% jump with no other changes to my build or buffs. That’s a massive difference for players who grind for hours every week to stack up silver for other upgrades.
It does have downsides, though. Its base DP is 15 points lower than the Offin TET glaive, so you’ll take a bit more damage if you don’t adjust your other gear pieces to make up for it. If you’re running low-DP builds for Elvia spots, you might need to swap out a damage accessory for a DP one to avoid getting one-shot by elite mobs.
Best Classes to Pair With Crimson Glaives
This weapon isn’t made for every class, and you’ll only see the best results if you’re playing a melee class that relies on fast, consecutive hits to stack that bleed effect. I’ve tested it on four different classes over the past three months, and these are the three that get the most value out of it:
- Drakania Awakening: The glaive’s bleed effect stacks perfectly with her passive burn damage, letting you melt boss HP bars 15% faster than standard BiS glaives for PvE. You also get extra attack speed bonuses that sync with her long, sweeping skill animations to cut down on animation lock time.
- Lahn Succession: Its high base attack speed pairs with her mobility to clear open-world grind spots with minimal downtime between skill rotations. The bleed effect also makes up for her slightly lower single-target damage, so you don’t have to spend extra time finishing off elite mobs.
- Corsair Awakening: The extra elite damage gives you an edge in party raid runs where you’re focused on taking down mini-bosses quickly. It also works well with her wave-based skills that hit multiple enemies at once, spreading the bleed effect across entire packs of mobs.
If you main a ranged class like Witch, or a melee class that relies on burst damage rather than consistent hits, like Warrior Awakening, you won’t get enough value out of the crimson glaives to justify the cost. Stick to your current BiS weapon instead of wasting silver on something that doesn’t fit your skill kit.
How to Get and Upgrade Your Crimson Glaives Efficiently
There are three main ways to get your hands on a crimson glaive right now. The first is grinding Elvia Calpheon’s Blood Wolf Mountain grind spot, where elite mobs have a 0.02% drop chance per kill. That sounds super low, but if you’re already grinding there for accessories or other materials, you might get lucky and drop one while you’re at it. The second is buying it from the central market, though prices hover around 18 billion silver for a base unenhanced copy right now. The third is getting it as a rare reward from limited-time events, so keep an eye on the event page every time a new update drops.
Once you have one, upgrading it works a bit differently than other legendary weapons. You’ll need Crimson Flame Shards to enhance it past PRI level, which you can get from the same Blood Wolf Mountain grind spot or from events. don’t waste Caphras stones on it until you’ve hit PEN enhancement level first, I made that mistake when I got my first copy, I spent 12 billion silver on Caphras stones to get it to level 10 Caphras, then I failed three PEN enhancement attempts and lost all that progress. That’s a mistake most players can’t afford to make, so hold off on Caphras until you’ve hit your target enhancement level.
You’ll also want to make sure you have enough fail stacks built up before you try to enhance past TET to PEN, aim for at least 180 fail stacks to give you the best chance of success without wasting too many materials. If you don’t have the silver to buy a pre-enhanced TET copy from the market, that’s usually the better option for newer players who don’t have a lot of enhancement materials saved up. You’ll pay a bit more upfront, but you won’t have to deal with the frustration of failed enhancement attempts eating through your silver reserves.
Crimson Glaives PvE vs PvP Performance Breakdown
A lot of players ask if the crimson glaives are good for both PvE and PvP, and the answer depends entirely on what kind of PvP you play most often. For PvE, it’s easily one of the best melee weapons in the game right now. The elite damage and bleed effect make it perfect for grinding Elvia spots, doing world boss runs, and clearing party raids. I use mine for 90% of my PvE content now, and I haven’t touched my old Offin glaive in months.
For PvP, it’s a bit more situational. In small-scale PvP (3v3 to 5v5), the bleed effect can turn tight team fights in your favor, because enemies can’t outheal the combined bleed and burn damage if you’re stacking it with your team’s other damage over time effects. It works especially well if you’re playing a frontline role in these small fights, where you can hit multiple enemies at once to spread the bleed across the whole enemy team.
For large-scale siege PvP, you’re better off sticking to a higher AP weapon with crowd control bonuses. The bleed effect doesn’t do as much in large fights where there are dozens of players on each side, and the lower base DP will make you a much easier target for enemy ranged players to one-shot you from far away. I tried using mine in my last node war, and I died almost three times as often as I did with my usual PvP weapon, so I swapped back halfway through the fight.
If you split your time evenly between PvE and small-scale PvP, the crimson glaives are a great all-around option. If you mostly play large-scale siege or node wars, it’s not worth investing in unless you have extra silver lying around to have a separate weapon for each game mode.
If you’ve been on the fence about investing in black desert crimson glaives after reading this guide, you should have a clear idea of whether it fits your playstyle and main class. Take the time to test a friend’s duplicate first if you can, before dumping silver into grinding or buying your own. It’s not a one-size-fits-all weapon, but for the right player, it’s easily one of the most satisfying melee weapons released in recent updates. I’ve gotten more use out of mine than almost any other gear upgrade I’ve bought in the past year, and it’s paid for itself multiple times over in faster grind speeds and better raid loot. Happy grinding, and may your enhancement clicks all land on PEN on the first try.