There's a lot to love Crimson Desert's world, but the character customization system is one of its best-kept secrets. Unlike most open-world RPGs, you won't find a character creator at the start of the game. Instead, the entire system is locked behind a surprisingly deep quest chain, and the game doesn't do an amazing job of not telling you it exists at all.
However, once you've unlocked it, you'll have access to a barbershop that lets you style your characters' hair, beards, eyebrows and tattoos, plus a dye shop where you can repaint every piece of armor and weaponry you own, including your horse and warbot gear. This Crimson Desert guide will walk you through exactly how to unlock the barber and use it to customize your character.
How to unlock character customization
Requires unlocking character customization in Crimson Desert recruiting Eric, the Greymans' former barber, to Howling Hill Camp.
That happens via the 'A Rumor at the Inksworth Bindery' quest in the Solid Foundation faction quest linebut you won't see this task for a long time. First, there are a few necessary steps to take.
Step 1: Complete the Gathered Will quest line
The Solid Foundation questline, which houses the Eric the Barber recruitment quest, will only be available after you complete the 'Gathered Will' series (quest chain under Grounds of the Sunrise faction quests).
To complete Gathered Will you will need to build a farm and ranch in the camp, then complete Kamu's Request and Ben's Requestwhich will teach you the basics of controlling both devices.
Once you've done that, send your buddies on a mission to Howling Hill via the 'Expanding the Camp' quest to expand the Greymane base. This third camp expansion is a key milestone in this case, with the Solid Foundation questline only unlocking upon completion.
Step Two: Start Questline Solid Foundation
As the camp expands, Marius informs you of the whereabouts of several missing Greymane comrades.
Go through the following quests in order: “Rumors of Comrades”, Cabin “Greymanes” and “New Information”. Only after completing all three will the A Rumor at the Inksworth Bindery quest appear in your journal.
Step Three: Complete the Reputation at the Inksworth Bindery
This quest sends you on the trail of three old friends: Connor, Oliver and Eric. They each return to camp with their own stall instead of joining as workers: Connor runs a lapidary, Oliver sets up a dye shop, and Eric opens his barber shop.
Once the quest is complete and you are back at camp, Eric's barbershop can be found next to the general store, east of the ranch and farm. It is marked on the map with a comb and scissors icon.
Oliver's dye shop is too located south of the barbershop in Greymane Campso you can fully customize your entire look without having to go back and forth between them a lot.
Be aware that accomplishing this task is no small task. In order to both progress far enough into their respective questlines and complete a few camp upgrades, it may take you 25-50 hours to unlock a customization in Crimson Desertdepending on your speed in accordance with the survey and other objectives.
Crimson Desert: Achievement/Trophy Guide
Including the platinum trophy and if any achievements are unmissable, here's how to get everything in the Crimson Desert trophies and achievements list.
All character customization options
Once Eric is in camp, you'll finally unlock the Crimson Desert character customization system to use however you see fit; go to it and select 'Barber' and then 'Customize'. When you're happy with the changes, press 'Apply' and you'll be prompted to pay a small fee of 1 silver.
The system covers five different categories, each with style and color options. Customization is handled by character; so if you want to change the appearance of Oongka or Damian, you have to switch to them first and visit Eric again.
Hair
Eric offers six hairstyles for each characterfrom short stylish cuts to longer, curled options. Each hairstyle comes with a huge range of color options (over 170 shades) as well as sliders to adjust the length and fullness.
The color palette is wide enough to cover natural tones as well as bolder and brighter options.
Beard
The two male characters, Kliff and Oongko, can also have their beards modified. There are six beard styles on offercovering everything from a clean mustache to a full, bushy beard. As with the hair, you'll have access to over 170 colors and can adjust the length to your preference.
Eyebrow
Eyebrow editing is a bit more limited compared to hair and beards; his primarily just a color variant rather than lots of different styles.
Still, a well-matched eyebrow color can make a surprising difference in the character's overall appearanceand the change is reflected in all facial expressions in cutscenes.
Face tattoo
They exist 12 face tattoo designs to choose fromfrom small, single symbols placed near the eye or cheeks, to dramatic signs on half the face.
Every design can also be customized with over 170 colorsand you can also adjust the coverages to make them more subtle or more noticeable depending on your preference.
Body tattoos
Body tattoos offer the widest selection of five categories, with 27 designs available. These range from small, subtle pieces to large, eye-catching patterns that cover the torso and legs. Like face tattoos, every body tattoo supports color customization and coverage adjustments.
Oongka, whose armor usually reveals more skin than Kliff or Damian, it is especially suitable for showing off larger pieces of the body.
Coloring your armor and gear
While Eric handles everything above the neck and below the hairline, Oliver's Dyehouse does where you go to change the colors of your gear in Crimson Desert.
This includes your character's armor and weapons, your mount's armor, and even the color of your warbot.
However, coloring isn't as simple as going to Oliver and choosing a color. First you will need to get the dye and any dye you can get it must be used from your inventory before it becomes available as an option in the dye shop; think of it like learning a recipe.
If the color still does not appear after use, it may be because Oliver only stocks certain regional dye ranges. They exist 10 colors and 110 shades in total, but each color dealer in Pywel specializes in a different set — so you may need to find the right supplier for the color you're looking for.
How to get dye
To get dye, you have three main options in Crimson Desert; it's the first one you can buy it directly from Oliver or other paint retailers in Pywel by selecting 'buy' rather than 'dye'.
You can too make it in the cauldron using flowers and insects; a cauldron is not a cooking pot, so make sure you're on the right station.
Picking pink herbs like peony for reds, yellow herbs like Dunbaria for yellows and lavender for purples the fastest way to build up a supply of dye.
Or you can find dye bottles around the world in homes and settlementseven if you have to equip the mask and make sure no NPCs are watching before you pocket them.
If you do not have a specific recipe, selecting 'Improvise' at the cauldron allows you to experiment with your materials and discover new shades.
A general rule to keep in mind is ten flowers of one color in combination with a mix of Beetles will usually create a working dye.
With Eric and Oliver running their stalls in Howling Hill, you'll have everything you need to make each of Crimson Desert's three playable characters look just the way you want them, with all their armor to match.
We've all been using the Crimson Desert double jump the wrong way
A bad translation in the English instructions caused us all to use the double jump the wrong way.
