How to get the Crimson Desert diving suit through Charting the Unknown, what each piece does, and why underwater traversal gear matters as machine boss chatter grows.
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Store links: Crimson Desert Enhanced on Steam
The diving suit is Crimson Desert’s new pressure point
Crimson Desert’s Charting the Unknown DLC has turned the ocean from scenery into playable territory, and that makes the diving suit one of the expansion’s most important pieces of traversal gear. According to Gamepur, the paid add-on opened up sailing, diving, and sunken ruin exploration, with the DLC listed at $24.99 on Steam and launched on October 29, 2026. Before players can meaningfully work the ocean floor, they need gear that stretches their breath gauge and makes long swims less punishing.
That gear is arriving at a noisy moment for Pearl Abyss’ open-world action RPG. HappyGamer reported that fans are circulating clips and claims of Horizon Zero Dawn-style machine bosses appearing in Crimson Desert, but the outlet also makes the key caveat clear: Pearl Abyss has not confirmed those machine bosses in the material provided, and the claim rests on a post from the X account @TheRealZephryss and its attached clip. Treat that as community chatter, not an official feature announcement.
Even so, the timing gives this Crimson Desert diving suit guide a sharper edge. If Charting the Unknown is asking players to read the world vertically, from open water to buried ruins, then the diving suit is the tool that keeps exploration from becoming a frantic timer check. In a game already being discussed for spectacle, boss scale, and rapid content updates, traversal gear is where the adventure’s pacing is won or lost.
Before you dive, you need the DLC and the right quest path
The first confirmed gate is ownership of Charting the Unknown. Gamepur describes diving as part of that paid DLC rather than a free update, and ties it to the Steam listing price of $24.99. The same guide says players must finish the main story mission Howling Hill, expand the Greymane camp above a certain level, and then begin the A Wider World quest before diving becomes available.
That structure matters because the diving suit is not simply a cosmetic outfit you throw on from the main menu and immediately use anywhere. It sits inside the DLC’s wider progression loop. Charting the Unknown adds the ocean space, and the game then asks you to reach the right point in the campaign and camp development before that space fully opens.
For players coming back after time away, the practical order is straightforward: confirm you own Charting the Unknown, push the main story through Howling Hill if you have not already, upgrade Greymane camp until the DLC quest appears, and look for A Wider World. Only then does the diving suit become part of a working exploration kit rather than a reward sitting in a menu.
How to get the pre-order diving suit in Crimson Desert
If you pre-ordered Charting the Unknown, multiple guides agree on the basic claim path. GameRant, Games.gg, IGN, Sportskeeda, and Beebom all say the Charter’s Diving Set is accessed through the pause menu by opening Others, then Add-ons, then the pre-order bonus section. Gamepur adds that if the set does not appear there, players should check Receivable Items.
The exact naming varies slightly across guides, but the core reward is the Charter’s Diving gear. GameRant identifies it as a Pre-order Exclusive Bonus containing the Charter’s Diving Outfit for Kliff and Damiane. IGN says the Charter’s Diving Set and Charter’s Light Diving Set are pre-order bonuses for Charting the Unknown and can only be obtained if the DLC was purchased before release. Beebom and Sportskeeda add that the sets include character-specific variants, with Beebom saying Kliff and Oongka use the Charter’s Diving Set while Damiane uses the Charter’s Light Diving Set.
Because those character details are not perfectly consistent across outlets, the safest reader guidance is this: if you pre-ordered, claim every listed Charting the Unknown pre-order diving item from Add-ons and then check each character’s equipment screen. Do not assume the first suit you see covers every playable character variant.
How to get a diving suit if you missed the pre-order window
Players who did not pre-order are not completely locked out of underwater exploration gear, according to several guides, but they should expect a weaker or more resource-driven path. GameRant says players can purchase a Diving Suit for Ancient Relics from Sulivan at Demeniss Port, and it also notes that a Diving Suit Blueprint can be purchased from Reyard at Auronui Island. Gamepur similarly points players to Sulivan, the Relic Exchange NPC in Demeniss, saying he sells diving sets for Ancient Relics found in seafloor wrecks and sunken ruins.
IGN and Beebom give a more specific version of that non-preorder path. IGN says the Marine Charter’s Diving Suit is sold by the newly added Relic Exchange vendor at Demeniss Port and costs 22 Shattered Ancient Relics. Beebom also says the Marine Charter’s Diving Set and Marine Charter’s Light Diving Set can be bought from Sulivan’s Relic Exchange shop using Shattered Ancient Relics.
There is a small but useful sourcing wrinkle here. Some guides refer broadly to Ancient Relics, while IGN and Beebom specify Shattered Ancient Relics for the Marine set. IGN further says Shattered Ancient Relics can be found while exploring the Great Ocean of Pywel, converted at a Smithy into completed Ancient Relics at a two-to-one rate, or earned through Charting the Unknown exploration challenges. Until Pearl Abyss’ own item wording is in front of you, check Sulivan’s shop requirement directly before farming, because the sources do not use the relic terminology identically.
What the diving suit actually does underwater
Across the available guides, the diving suit’s role is consistent: it extends breath time and slightly improves swim speed. GameRant lists four Charter’s Diving pieces: helm, suit, gloves, and boots. The helm increases max breathing by 120, the suit increases max breathing by 120, the gloves add a 2% swim speed multiplier, and the boots add another 2% swim speed multiplier. Games.gg reports the same split, emphasizing that the helm and chest armor are the priority if the goal is staying underwater longer.
The time estimates differ. GameRant and Games.gg say equipping both breath pieces lets players remain underwater for almost five minutes. Sportskeeda says the combined +240 Max Breathing gives about four minutes underwater, while Beebom also describes the pre-order set as enabling roughly four straight minutes of underwater exploration. IGN phrases the bonus as 120 seconds each for the helmet and chest piece, which would imply a clearer seconds-based reading than some other guides provide. Gamepur avoids a precise dive duration and instead describes the stat as Max Breath, noting that higher breath capacity means longer dives.
The practical takeaway is still reliable: prioritize the helm and chest piece first. The gloves and boots help you move faster, but the breath pieces determine whether you can finish a ruin route, search a wreck, or turn back before the oxygen gauge becomes the real boss. Gamepur also notes that the suit can be refined to improve its bonuses further, and says food items can temporarily restore some breath.
Pre-order gear versus Marine gear changes your route planning
The strongest suit appears to be the pre-order Charter’s gear. IGN says the Marine Charter’s Diving Suit increases max breathing by 60, compared with 120 on the Charter’s Diving Suit. Beebom makes the same distinction, saying the Marine version raises max breathing by +60 and lasts around two minutes underwater, while the Charter version reaches roughly four minutes when the main breathing pieces are equipped.
That difference changes how you should plan dives. With the pre-order set, you can afford to push deeper into a wreck or spend extra time reading the route through a submerged ruin. With the Marine set, you should treat each descent like a tighter combat encounter: know your entry point, identify the next pocket of safety, and do not waste time drifting across empty seabed.
This is where traversal gear intersects with Crimson Desert’s broader action design. A large boss fight can sell scale in a trailer, but exploration gear determines how much of the world the player can safely touch between those set pieces. If the current fan excitement around machine bosses turns into confirmed content later, underwater and ocean traversal will still be the connective tissue around the spectacle. The fight is the climax; the gear controls the approach.
Should you chase the diving suit now or wait?
If you own Charting the Unknown, you should get a diving suit as soon as the DLC systems allow it. For pre-order players, that means claiming the Charter’s gear through Others, Add-ons, and the pre-order bonus menu before starting serious underwater exploration. For everyone else, the most consistently reported in-game route is Sulivan’s Relic Exchange at Demeniss Port, with IGN and Beebom specifically pointing to Shattered Ancient Relics for the Marine set.
If you are still deciding whether to buy the DLC, the reported facts point to a traversal-focused expansion rather than a simple equipment drop. Gamepur says Charting the Unknown is paid, costs $24.99 on Steam, and adds sailing, diving, and sunken ruins. That makes the diving suit central to the DLC’s value proposition. If ocean exploration is what you want, the suit is the first major tool to pursue. If your interest is mainly the rumored machine boss chatter, wait for Pearl Abyss confirmation before buying on that expectation.
For now, the confirmed Crimson Desert guide answer is clear: pre-order players claim the Charter’s Diving Set from the Add-ons menu, non-preorder players should work toward the Marine set through Demeniss Port’s Relic Exchange, and every diver should equip the helm and chest before worrying about swim-speed pieces. The ocean is slower and more dangerous without them, and Charting the Unknown seems designed around that pressure.