If you’re just getting started with Crimson Moon, there’s a lot to learn before you can comfortably take on the tougher districts and bosses. The game mixes fast-paced third-person combat with roguelike progression, gear building, temporary upgrades, and plenty of different weapons and abilities.
In this Crimson Moon beginner’s guide, I’ll walk you through the important gameplay systems you should understand early on. We’ll cover combat, weapon swapping, Angelic Transformation, gear and builds, Boons, currencies, consumables, co-op, and some useful tips that can help you survive your first runs.
Whether you’re playing solo or jumping into Gilden Arc with a friend, these tips should give you a much better idea of how the game works and what you should focus on during your first few hours.
How Crimson Moon Works
Crimson Moon is a third-person 3D action roguelike set in the dark fantasy world of Gilden Arc. You play as a Nephilim, a half-human and half-angel warrior, and your job is to push through different districts while fighting demons, vampires, undead enemies, and other infernal creatures.
The main progression is built around replayable runs. You start missions from your central hub and then enter different wards and districts where you fight enemies, complete objectives, collect equipment, and find temporary upgrades.
If you die during a run, you return to the hub. However, the game still gives you permanent progression, so each attempt can help you become stronger. Gear you successfully extract, permanent upgrades, new equipment options, and higher difficulties all help you make progress even when a particular run doesn’t go your way.
This makes Crimson Moon feel like a roguelike without making every failed run feel completely wasted.
Learn the Combat System
The combat in Crimson Moon has some weight behind it, but don’t go into the game expecting a slow Soulslike experience. The game is much more fast-paced and gives you plenty of freedom to combine different attacks and abilities.
You have access to light and heavy attacks, charge attacks, dodge and sprint attacks, blocking, and timing-based parries. Learning when to use each of these is important, especially once stronger enemies start appearing.
I recommend spending some time getting comfortable with the basic attack chains before worrying too much about advanced builds. Once you understand your basic attacks, you’ll have a much easier time incorporating weapon abilities into your combos.
Use Dodges and Parries
Don’t simply mash your attacks whenever an enemy gets close. Stronger enemies can punish you heavily if you ignore their attack patterns.
Instead, watch their animations and learn their attack windups. Once you recognize when an enemy is about to strike, you can dodge, block, or parry at the right moment.
Most enemies don’t have extremely complicated movesets. Many of them rely on one or two recognizable attacks, which means learning their patterns can make them much easier to deal with.
Take Advantage of Weapon Swapping
One of the most important parts of Crimson Moon’s combat is the ability to carry two different weapon sets.
You could, for example, use a sword and shield for one setup and a powerful two-handed weapon for the other. This lets you change your approach depending on the enemies you’re fighting.
Weapons also have their own special abilities, known as weapon arts. These can include attacks such as ranged weapon throws, whirlwind attacks, or homing magical projectiles.
Using weapon arts consumes mana, so you don’t want to throw them out randomly. Instead, try to mix your normal attacks with weapon abilities so you can deal heavy damage while keeping your resources under control.
When you’re surrounded by several enemies, weapon swapping can also help you control the battlefield and deal with different threats more effectively.
Save Your Angelic Transformation
Your Angelic Transformation is one of the strongest tools available to you, so don’t waste it whenever your meter becomes available.
You build your divine charge by fighting and defeating enemies throughout a mission. Once the meter is full, you can activate your angelic form.
During the playtime covered in the guide, there were two different angelic forms available: Aegis and Sunder.
Aegis focuses more heavily on melee combat, while Sunder provides some ranged options alongside its powerful holy attacks. Both forms temporarily give you major advantages, including increased power, improved stats, health regeneration, and greater attack range.
When Should You Use Angel Mode?
I recommend saving your transformation for situations where it can make a real difference.
Regular enemies usually aren’t worth spending your full divine charge on unless you’re trapped or completely overwhelmed. Instead, try to save it for difficult elites or bosses.
For example, activating Angelic Transformation during a dangerous boss phase can give you the extra damage and survivability you need to turn the fight around.
The transformation also provides a short window of invincibility, making it especially useful when you need to survive a dangerous situation.
Learn the Enemies in Each District
Each district in Gilden Arc has its own collection of threats. One area may be filled with fast vampires, while another could focus on undead enemies, hellgrowth creatures, or heavily armored demons.
Because enemies generally have recognizable attack patterns, your first few runs through a new district are a good opportunity to learn what you’re dealing with.
Don’t worry about perfectly clearing everything on your first attempt. Instead, pay attention to enemy animations and figure out which attacks you need to dodge, block, or parry.
Once you’ve learned an enemy’s rhythm, you’ll be able to deal with it much more consistently.
Use Finisher Attacks on Elite Enemies
When you manage to break an elite enemy’s guard, don’t just continue attacking normally.
Make sure you use the available R1 finisher when the opportunity appears. Your Nephilim performs a brutal execution that can finish the enemy off in a very satisfying way.
These finishers aren’t just visually impressive. They also give you a useful way to capitalize on an enemy after you’ve successfully broken its guard.
Build Around Gear Synergy
Crimson Moon doesn’t use traditional character classes. Instead, your equipment effectively determines what kind of build you are playing.
There are more than 80 unique weapons and pieces of armor, and you can upgrade your equipment to make it more powerful.
Because of this, don’t automatically equip something just because it has a higher number.
The better approach is to look at the effects on your equipment and find combinations that work together.
For example, you might find a helmet that improves fire damage, a sword with a fire-based weapon art, and a ring that gives you a chance to knock enemies down while they’re burning.
Those three pieces naturally work together and can form the foundation of a fire-focused build.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
During your first 10 to 15 hours, you’ll likely discover plenty of different weapons and effects.
I wouldn’t recommend locking yourself into one playstyle immediately. If you find a green or blue item with an interesting effect, try building around it for a few runs.
You may discover that an item with a lower rarity is actually much more useful for your particular build because its effect creates a strong combination with your other equipment.
Extract Gear to Build Your Permanent Catalog
Gear that you successfully extract from Gilden Arc is added to your permanent gear catalog.
This catalog becomes increasingly important as you progress. Early in the game, your starting options may be fairly limited, but the catalog grows as you discover more equipment.
Eventually, you’ll be able to start a run with a much more customized loadout instead of relying entirely on whatever you happen to find during the mission.
This is one of the reasons it’s worth paying attention to equipment even when you don’t immediately want to equip it.
Understand Boons
Your permanent equipment isn’t the only thing that determines how strong you become during a run.
As you clear objectives and progress through a district, you’ll encounter Nexus Gates that provide Boons.
Boons are temporary upgrades that last for the duration of your current run. When you receive one, you generally choose between three randomized buffs.
These upgrades can stack as you continue progressing through the district.
Some Boons provide simple damage increases, while others can completely change how your build works. You might find effects that restore health when you’re attacking at low health, increase attack speed after a successful parry, or add elemental effects to your attacks.
Choose Boons Based on Your Build
When you’re offered a Boon, you generally have two approaches.
You can double down on the strengths of your current build, or you can adapt to something useful you’ve found during that particular run.
For example, if your equipment already focuses on fire damage, picking Boons that strengthen fire-related effects can make that build much stronger.
At the same time, you shouldn’t ignore a powerful Boon just because it doesn’t perfectly match your starting setup. Part of the fun is adapting your build as the run develops.
Manage Your Health and Mana
Health and mana flasks are extremely important during longer runs.
Your health flask keeps you alive, while your mana flask allows you to continue using your weapon arts. Because weapon abilities can be a major part of your damage output, running out of mana at the wrong time can make difficult encounters much harder.
You also have access to a dedicated buff potion slot. These potions can provide temporary bonuses such as increased heavy attack damage.
There is also a throwable slot. You start with basic throwing knives, but you can eventually gain access to explosives and other utility items.
Look for Flask Refills
Keep an eye out for flask refills after defeating enemies.
Picking these up can keep your health and mana topped up, allowing you to continue using your abilities without having to enter the next encounter already running low on resources.
You can also visit the shopkeeper in the hub to purchase additional consumables and throwables using gold.
These purchases permanently expand your available options for future runs, which becomes more useful as you start tackling tougher districts.
Know the Difference Between Souls and Gold
Crimson Moon has two important currencies, and understanding the difference between them will save you from wasting resources.
Souls
Souls are your run-based currency.
You earn them by defeating enemies and can spend them during your current run at merchants and the blacksmith.
They can be used to purchase temporary rings, amulets, weapons, armor, and other upgrades that help you become stronger during that specific attempt.
However, Souls are not permanent. When the run ends or you die, your temporary purchases and any unspent Souls are lost.
Because of this, don’t be afraid to spend Souls during a difficult run. Holding onto them forever doesn’t help if you end up dying with them.
Gold
Gold is the permanent progression currency.
Unlike Souls, Gold remains with you after a run and can be spent at the hub.
One of the most important uses for Gold is upgrading equipment that you’ve already recovered and added to your permanent catalog.
Upgrading equipment can increase its rarity tier, such as taking a Common item toward Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and higher tiers.
Higher-rarity catalog items come with better base stats and stronger passive effects.
For long-term progression, spending your Gold wisely at the hub is one of the best ways to make every future run stronger.
Pick Up Bounties Before Every Mission
Before heading into Gilden Arc, make sure you visit Golan Alexander, the knight commander of the order.
You can find him near the war table in the hub.
Talk to him before missions to pick up available bounties and quests. These objectives often line up naturally with things you’re already doing, such as defeating enemies or clearing districts.
Completing them gives you additional XP and Gold, so there’s little reason to ignore them.
Try Two-Player Co-op
Crimson Moon can be played solo, but co-op gives you another way to approach the game’s combat and builds.
The game supports two-player co-op, allowing you and a friend to work through districts together.
The difficulty scales when playing with another player, so bosses and other encounters can still put up a fight.
Loot is shared between players, which means you’ll need to communicate and decide how to distribute useful equipment between your builds.
Create Complementary Builds
Co-op becomes especially interesting when both players build around different roles.
For example, one player can use a sword and shield setup to draw enemy attention and stay durable, while the other focuses on ranged damage or elemental effects.
You can also support each other when things get chaotic. The number of revives is shared between both players, allowing you to bring each other back into the fight when necessary.
Use Reserve Slots for Extra Gear
One easy mistake to make during a run is ignoring your reserve slots.
You can place equipment into reserve so that you can bring it back to your camp and unlock it in your permanent gear catalog without actually equipping it.
This is particularly useful when you find an item that doesn’t fit your current build but could be valuable for a future setup.
However, pay attention to how your equipped and reserved items are handled. Your currently equipped items take priority, so check your inventory carefully before storing something you actually wanted to use.
Complete Objectives Before Exploring Everything
Many Crimson Moon mission objectives involve filling a meter by defeating enemies in a particular district.
You’ll often find more enemies in the area than you actually need to defeat to complete the objective.
Once the meter reaches 100%, the remaining regular enemies in that immediate area are purged.
This is a great opportunity to explore safely.
Instead of immediately running around while enemies are still attacking you, finish the objective first and then take some time to search the area.
Search for Chests and Lore
Once the enemies have been cleared, look around for treasure chests, equipment, and lore items you may have missed.
This is much safer than trying to search every corner while a group of enemies is still chasing you.
Taking a little extra time after completing an objective can also help you avoid leaving useful gear behind.
Don’t Force One Build Too Early
One of my biggest tips for new players is to experiment during the early game.
You don’t need to decide immediately whether you’re going to be a melee-focused, ranged, elemental, defensive, or damage-heavy player.
The game is designed around finding different equipment and discovering synergies.
If you find an interesting weapon or armor effect, give it a chance. Try using it alongside your Boons and other equipment for a few runs.
You may end up discovering a combination that is much stronger and more enjoyable than the build you originally planned.
Crimson Moon has quite a few systems working together, but once you understand how runs, gear, Boons, currencies, and permanent progression fit together, the game becomes much easier to approach.
For your first few runs, I would focus less on creating the perfect build and more on learning the combat and experimenting with whatever equipment you find. Pay attention to enemy attack patterns, practice your parries and dodges, and don’t waste your strongest abilities on enemies you can comfortably handle without them.
As your gear catalog grows and you start finding stronger synergies, you’ll have much more freedom to create a build that matches your preferred playstyle. The important thing is to keep experimenting and use each run to learn something new.