How to Get a Castle in Crimson Desert Charting the Unknown

Castles in Crimson Desert Charting the Unknown let you restore a stronghold, decorate its courtyard and interiors, and bring merchants together in a layout of your choosing.

Unlocking one requires story progress and relevant quests, followed by a construction mission that commits Greymane members and camp resources.

Drakesfall Castle and Flame Knight’s Castle offer different layouts, with plenty of space for furniture, facilities and castle decorations. They are substantial projects, so it helps to understand the requirements before committing your workforce and supplies.

For more of the expansion’s systems, explore our Crimson Desert Charting the Unknown guides.

Castles are existing strongholds that you claim and restore at specific locations. Their main structures are fixed, but you can decorate the courtyards and furnish the rooms inside.

This makes them different from free construction housing. You have a much larger property to personalise, but you cannot freely redesign its walls and structural layout.

Once claimed, your castle remains yours. It is not part of the blockade system that requires you to repeatedly reclaim a location from enemies.

The main reasons to invest in a castle are:

• A large courtyard and interior rooms to decorate.
• Space to arrange merchants close together for convenient shopping.
• Castle-specific furnishings and structures.
• A long-term building project for your accumulated resources.

Castle ownership comes later in your progression. If you still have campaign objectives to finish, our Charting the Unknown preparation guide covers the story progress and supplies worth preparing.

Drakesfall Castle is located in Hernand. Complete the main story quest Journey’s End and liberate the stronghold to meet its ownership requirements.

To follow the castle questline, open your Journal and navigate to:

Faction Quests > Greymanes > Charting the Unknown > Shield of Hernand

Start with Guardian of Peace and follow the objectives to receive the castle. It initially remains in a ruined state, so claiming it is only the first step.

Before claiming the location, check the tower at the back if you want to collect the large Bismuth deposit there.

To begin restoration:

1. Select Drakesfall Castle on the world map.
2. Open Missions.
3. Select the castle construction mission.
4. Assign the required members and supply the requested resources.

Prepare 20 members, 30,000 Camp Funds and 15 in-game days for the construction mission. Check the mission panel for its complete requirements before starting.

Those 20 members will be occupied throughout construction, so plan around any other dispatch missions you want to run. As the work progresses, you can visit the site to see your members rebuilding the castle in stages.

Flame Knight’s Castle is located in Demeniss and is tied to Damiane’s storyline. Its confirmed ownership requirements are completing her quest Politician and liberating the stronghold.

After finishing the base game’s main story, look under Main Quests for Damiane’s From the Ashes storyline. Follow its objectives through to the castle reward.

If you have completed the story requirements but cannot claim the castle, check whether the stronghold still needs to be liberated.

Restoring Flame Knight’s Castle also requires 20 members and 15 in-game days, alongside a considerably larger investment in camp funding and resources than Drakesfall. Review the full mission cost before assigning your workforce.

The castle has a different structural layout, so consider which property you would prefer to decorate before committing to another lengthy construction project.

Its facilities merchant also offers a different selection of decorations, including candles and crystal lighting suited to the castle.

Once restoration is complete, open castle customisation and use Switch Area to move between the courtyard, interior and available floors.

Decoration uses a grid system similar to advanced housing. You can place furniture, facilities and decorative objects throughout the available spaces, although the castle’s main walls and structures remain fixed.

Your placement options depend on what you have unlocked through:

• Story and side quests.
• Furniture shops and other merchants.
• Blueprints and decoration recipes.
• Castle-specific unlocks.

Start by deciding how you want to use each area. The courtyard can hold your merchants and outdoor decorations, while the interior rooms provide space for dining areas, bedrooms or a throne room.

Leave large decorative projects until you have settled on the layout. Covering a courtyard with paths can consume a considerable amount of resources, especially when you are still experimenting with where everything belongs.

The Facilities options in castle customisation let you place stations that bring vendors into the castle. Adding them also helps populate the grounds with NPCs.

A useful starting point is to group your merchants in one convenient area. This makes it easier to visit several shops without travelling between their usual locations.

A castle merchant sells recipes for special decorations, including Greymane tents and flags. Check this stock when setting up your courtyard, then visit regular furniture merchants for additional pieces to furnish the interior.

Castle shops offer broad inventories, but their practical value is the convenience of bringing vendors together. Do not assume that every item they stock is exclusive to castle ownership.

These merchant stations are separate from the businesses you manage elsewhere in Pywel. For operating sawmills and other businesses, see our Crimson Desert facilities guide.

A third castle was mentioned in the official pre-launch overview, but the launch patch notes identify only Drakesfall Castle and Flame Knight’s Castle, with confirmed requirements for each.

The third castle’s location and unlock method have not yet been verified. There is not enough verified information to give a reliable quest route or construction checklist.

For now, focus on the two confirmed castles rather than clearing desert fortresses specifically to unlock a third property.

A castle is worth considering if you enjoy decorating large spaces or want a convenient collection of merchants arranged around your own base.

The main commitment is the construction time and workforce, followed by the resources needed to furnish such a large property. You do not need to finish decorating everything immediately.

A practical order is to:

1. Restore the castle whose layout you prefer.
2. Place the merchant facilities you expect to use most.
3. Buy the decoration recipes you want.
4. Furnish the rooms and courtyard gradually.
5. Add extensive paths once you are happy with the placement.

If your main interest is designing a building’s shape and changing its walls, free construction housing offers more structural freedom. Castles are better suited to furnishing and organising a large, established stronghold.