No classes / permanent kit / run adaptation
Your equipment is the class. The hunt rewrites it.
Crimson Moon does not use traditional character classes. A build starts with permanent equipment and Weapon Arts, then changes through temporary choices made inside the run.
System map
A build has five connected layers
- 01
Permanent loadout
Nine equipped pieces form the starting frame: four armor pieces, two trinkets, a one-handed weapon and shield, plus a two-handed weapon.
- 02
Weapon Arts
Weapons bring active combat options. Changing weapons changes more than raw statistics.
- 03
Temporary Boons
Nexus Gates present run-only choices that remain active for the rest of that hunt.
- 04
Angels
Angel choices add another build axis during the hunt; final balance and best combinations need launch evidence.
- 05
Future option pool
Lore Scrolls returned to Mereda unlock more Boons for later hunts, widening future choices without making the current Boon permanent.
Starting frame
The nine equipment pieces
Nine pieces does not mean nine fixed archetypes. The developer frames equipment and its interactions as the build language.
Run adaptation
Nexus Gates add temporary power
A Nexus Gate presents Boon choices. The selected Boon remains active for the rest of the current hunt, letting the run lean into synergies or compensate for gaps in the starting loadout.
Permanent versus available: a Lore Scroll can unlock a Boon as a future option. That does not make a selected run-only Boon permanently active.
Safe pre-launch advice
Build around interactions, not a tier list
Before launch, the durable advice is structural: choose weapons for the combat actions you can execute reliably, use permanent equipment to define the starting plan, and take Boons that reinforce the plan your current run can actually support.
A named “best build” would require final item values, drop access, encounter data and patch context. None of those are stable enough in the checked pre-release evidence to justify a ranking.
Launch research queue
What a real build database still needs
- Final item names, affix pools, rarity values and drop locations.
- Complete Weapon Art, Boon and Angel descriptions.
- Interaction testing, damage formulas and difficulty context.
- Patch version, acquisition path and reproducible gameplay evidence.
Evidence register
Sources behind this answer
- How Builds Work in Crimson MoonDeveloper explanation of classless builds, equipment, Nexus Gates, Boons, Angels and Lore Scrolls.
- Loot & Progression in Crimson MoonPermanent equipment, Purification and the Loadout Station.
- Official gameplay overviewPre-release visual context for combat and build decisions; not used as a final tier list.