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CM FORGE

First Hunt

Everything here is guaranteed by a trinket or bound to a weapon, so none of it depends on the Boons a Nexus Gate happens to offer.

Featured loadout · Crimson Moon Forge

Early on you have a small health bar, a thin Boon pool and no upgraded gear, and the usual advice — build around one strong effect — assumes you can find that effect reliably. You cannot yet. So this build takes what it can guarantee: a trinket that always grants a damage-over-time, a trinket that always heals on a kill, and three weapons whose Arts cover the three things a beginner keeps dying to — something out of reach, something too close, and a group.

The build

Weapons

  • Covenant Sword
  • Crimson Oath Shield
  • Crescent Moon Halberd

Armour

  • Belwayne Knight Helmet
  • Belwayne Knight Cuirass
  • Belwayne Knight Gauntlets
  • Belwayne Knight Greaves

Trinkets & quick slots

  • Sanguine Signet
  • Amulet of Reaper's Respite
  • Throwing Knife
  • Crystalized Grace

Boons — picked up at Nexus Gates, unless a trinket guarantees one

Why these choices

Effects are quoted from the database, so you can check each claim on the page it comes from.

  • Sanguine Signet guarantees Sanguine Slice: attacks apply 100 Bleed. It is a flat stated number on every attack rather than a chance or a percentage, which is the kind of effect worth leaning on while nothing else is reliable yet.
  • Amulet of Reaper's Respite guarantees Reaper's Respite: killing an enemy recovers 15 Health. With a small bar, a heal on every kill is the difference between clearing a room and retreating from it.
  • Both are guaranteed by the trinket rather than rolled at a Gate. That is the whole point of the build — see the trinkets page for the full list of which Boon each one grants.
  • Covenant Sword carries Impaling Throw: hurl the weapon at an enemy, then attack again to recall it. A ranged option on a starting sword, with no ammunition to run out of.
  • Crimson Oath Shield carries Shield Bash: blast forward and deal Crushing damage. The answer to something already on top of you.
  • Crescent Moon Halberd carries Winter Solstice: summon a wedge of ice from the ground and deal Frost. Reach and a slow, on the second weapon set you are carrying anyway.
  • Resounding Charge returns +25 Stamina on a Sprint Attack hit. Early Stamina is the tightest resource you have, and this is the only Boon here that gives it back.
  • Radiant Fortitude is +50 Max Health, and it is on the list because at this stage a flat health increase is worth more than any percentage.

Make it yours

Nothing here is fixed. There are no classes in Crimson Moon, so every slot above is a choice you can change — and half a build is decided during the hunt anyway, at the Nexus Gates. Post what you end up running.