If you’re just getting started in Crimson Moon, having the right combination of weapons, armor, trinkets, and Boons can make your early hunts much easier. You don’t have access to the strongest equipment immediately, so it’s better to build around items that give you a good mix of damage, defense, stamina, and utility.
In this post, we’ll go over a strong early-game build that you can use while progressing through Gildenarch. The setup focuses mainly on a sword and shield, with a two-handed weapon available when you need better crowd control.
I’ll also cover the recommended armor, trinkets, Boons, and Angel so you know exactly what to look for while you’re building your character.
Best Early Game Build in Crimson Moon
Here’s the recommended setup:
| Category | Recommended Item |
|---|---|
| One-Handed Weapon | Covenant Sword |
| Shield | Crimson Oath Shield |
| Two-Handed Weapon | Crescent Moon Halberd |
| Armor | Belwayne Knight Armor Set |
| Trinket 1 | Sanguine Signet |
| Trinket 2 | Amulet of Reaper’s Respite |
| Boons | Sanguine Slice, Resounding Charge, Reaper’s Respite, Radiant Fortune |
| Angel | Aegis |
This setup gives you a balanced playstyle. You have strong melee damage, a reliable defensive option, ranged utility from your weapon art, crowd control, extra stamina, and ways to recover health during a run.
Best Weapons for the Early Game
Covenant Sword
The Covenant Sword is the main weapon I recommend using with this build.
It has a base attack of 33 and works particularly well with the Crimson Oath Shield because you can attack while still having a strong defensive option available.
Its Weapon Art is Impaling Throw, which gives the sword some much-needed ranged utility.
You can throw the sword at an enemy and then attack again to recall it. The thrown sword can hit the targeted enemy twice, making this a surprisingly useful attack when you don’t want to stand directly next to an enemy.
This is one of the reasons I like using the sword and shield setup early on. You’re not completely dependent on close-range attacks.
Crimson Oath Shield
Pair the Covenant Sword with the Crimson Oath Shield.
The shield has a 90% Block Amount, giving you a strong way to defend yourself against incoming attacks.
Its Weapon Art, Shield Bash, lets you charge forward with the shield and deal Crushing damage.
The really useful part is that Shield Bash can even stun bosses during their attacks. When you learn the timing, you can use this to interrupt enemies and create an opening for your next attack.
Crescent Moon Halberd
The second weapon for this build is the Crescent Moon Halberd, which has a base attack of 55.
I wouldn’t necessarily use it as your main weapon for every situation. Instead, keep it available for its Weapon Art, Winter Solstice.
Winter Solstice summons a wedge of ice from the ground and deals Frost damage.
The main reason I like having this weapon equipped is crowd control. If you’re surrounded by multiple enemies, freezing them can give you enough time to reposition yourself or unload your main attacks.
It can also be particularly useful against groups where using the sword and shield alone would take longer.
Best Early Game Armor
Belwayne Knight Armor Set
For armor, the Belwayne Knight Armor Set is one of the best choices during the early game.
You can obtain the set after reaching Level 3 and returning to the hub.
The set provides strong Physical Defense, which is especially useful because many of the attacks you’ll deal with early on are physical.
| Armor Piece | Physical DEF | Magic DEF | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belwayne Knight Helmet | 13 | 5 | +3 Max Stamina |
| Belwayne Knight Cuirass | 17 | 9 | +7 Max Stamina |
| Belwayne Knight Gauntlets | 12 | 3 | +7 Max Stamina |
| Belwayne Knight Greaves | 14 | 6 | +3 Max Stamina |
The biggest thing I like about this set is the extra Max Stamina on every piece.
Stamina is extremely important early on because you’ll constantly use it for sprinting, dodging, and attacking. Having more of it means you can stay mobile for longer without completely emptying your stamina gauge.
Best Trinkets
Sanguine Signet
The first recommended trinket is the Sanguine Signet.
It provides:
- +2 Max Stamina
- +2 Max Mana
Its associated effect, Sanguine Slice, causes your attacks to apply 100 Bleed.
This is especially useful against enemies with larger health pools. Instead of relying entirely on your direct attacks, you can apply Bleed and let the damage-over-time effect continue working.
I would prioritize this trinket if you want to improve your damage output against tougher enemies and bosses.
Amulet of Reaper’s Respite
The second trinket is the Amulet of Reaper’s Respite.
It provides:
- +5 Max Health
- +2 Max Mana
Its effect is Reaper’s Respite, which restores 10 Health whenever you kill an enemy.
This can be extremely helpful during early runs because healing resources aren’t always easy to find.
Rather than spending a Potion every time you take a small amount of damage, you can recover health naturally by defeating enemies.
Best Boons
The recommended Boons for this early-game build are:
- Sanguine Slice
- Resounding Charge
- Reaper’s Respite
- Radiant Fortune
You can obtain Boons through Nexus Gates, so keep an eye out for these options during your runs.
Sanguine Slice
Sanguine Slice makes your attacks apply 100 Bleed.
This is one of the better offensive Boons for the build because the Bleed effect adds damage over time.
It becomes particularly useful against elites and enemies with large health pools. You can apply the effect and continue attacking while the additional damage builds up.
Resounding Charge
Resounding Charge gives you +25 Stamina when you hit an enemy with a Sprint Attack.
This works nicely with the stamina-heavy Belwayne Knight setup.
Sprint attacks are also fairly easy to land, so you can repeatedly recover stamina while staying aggressive instead of constantly waiting for your stamina bar to refill.
Reaper’s Respite
Reaper’s Respite restores 10 Health when you kill an enemy.
This is one of my favorite defensive options for the early game because it gives you a reliable source of healing while you’re clearing groups of enemies.
When you’re dealing with several weaker enemies, you can recover health from kills and save your Potions for situations where you really need them.
Radiant Fortune
Radiant Fortune gives you +50 Max Health.
That is a significant amount of additional health early in the game, especially when your available lives and Potion stock are still limited.
If you’re struggling to survive, this is one of the Boons I’d prioritize.
Trinkets and Boons Can Stack
One important thing to remember is that Trinket effects can stack with the same Boons equipped at Nexus Gates.
For example, if you have the Sanguine effect from your trinket and also pick up Sanguine Slice as a Boon, you can stack those effects together.
This gives you more room to strengthen the bonuses that already fit your build instead of spreading your setup across completely unrelated effects.
Best Angel: Aegis
Aegis
For the Angel slot, I recommend Aegis.
Aegis is the first Angel you can equip, but it’s already very strong for this type of build.
Its biggest advantage comes from the defensive power it provides during Angel Ascension.
You get significant damage reduction, allowing you to take much less damage from enemy attacks. You also gain stun immunity, which means you can continue attacking without being interrupted as easily.
This is particularly useful when fighting bosses.
Instead of constantly backing away from attacks, you can activate Angel Ascension and use the increased protection to stay aggressive and unleash your strongest combos.
How to Play This Early Game Build
The basic strategy is pretty straightforward.
Use the Covenant Sword and Crimson Oath Shield as your main setup. Block or dodge incoming attacks, then punish enemies when you see an opening.
Use Impaling Throw when you need to deal damage from a distance, and don’t forget about Shield Bash. The stun can give you a valuable opening against stronger enemies and even bosses.
When you’re dealing with groups, switch to the Crescent Moon Halberd and use Winter Solstice to freeze enemies. Once they’re under control, you can switch back to the sword and shield and start clearing them safely.
Your Boons and trinkets then fill in the gaps. Sanguine Slice increases your damage through Bleed, Resounding Charge helps keep your stamina topped up, while Reaper’s Respite and Radiant Fortune make the build much more forgiving.
For difficult fights, save your Aegis Angel Ascension for the moments when you need to survive a boss’s attacks while continuing your combo.
Overall, this setup is a good choice if you’re still progressing through the early parts of Crimson Moon and don’t have access to the game’s stronger late-game equipment.
The Covenant Sword and Crimson Oath Shield give you a dependable offense-and-defense combination, while the Crescent Moon Halberd adds Frost-based crowd control. The Belwayne Knight Armor Set provides plenty of Physical Defense and extra Stamina, and the two recommended trinkets give you both Bleed damage and additional healing.
Then, with Sanguine Slice, Resounding Charge, Reaper’s Respite, Radiant Fortune, and Aegis, you have a build that can deal good damage while still giving you plenty of survivability.
As you progress further into Crimson Moon and start finding stronger equipment and better stats, you can gradually replace these early-game pieces. For now, though, this is a solid setup to carry you through your early hunts in Gildenarch.