How to Change Loadout in Crimson Moon – Full Guide

How to change loadout in Crimson Moon is one of the first things new players want to know. The short answer: you do it at the loadout station inside Sanctus Clypeus before starting a mission. But there are rules around when you can access it, what you can actually change, and what happens to your gear mid-run. This guide covers all of it.

TL;DR

• Loadout changes happen at the loadout station (loadout stone) in Sanctus Clypeus.
• You must select a mission first — you cannot access the loadout station without starting a run.
• Each loadout has 9 gear slots: 4 armor pieces, weapons, a shield, and 2 trinkets.
• You also choose 1 Angel and 2 consumables before each hunt.
• You cannot swap your full loadout mid-run, but you can equip gear dropped by enemies inside a mission.
• Between chained missions, you cannot change your loadout — only a true death sends you back to Sanctus Clypeus to rebuild.
• Early on you pick from two base loadouts. Your options expand as you collect and purify more gear.

Where to Change Your Loadout in Crimson Moon

Your loadout station — sometimes called the loadout stone — sits inside Sanctus Clypeus, the cathedral hub that serves as your home base between every hunt. When you first arrive in the hub, walk the space once. You will find the loadout station, Gajov the blacksmith, Mereda the historian, Lottie the merchant, and the War Table all in the same area. Get familiar with where each one is early, because you will be visiting them every single run.

The loadout station is where you equip all nine gear slots, pick your Angel, and slot in your two consumables before heading into Gildenarch. It is the most important stop in the hub. Everything about how your run plays out starts here.

How to Access the Loadout Station — Step by Step

There is one important rule players miss early on: you cannot open the loadout station freely. You have to select a mission at the War Table first. Until you commit to a mission, the loadout stone is locked and you cannot interact with it. This is intentional — it is part of the game’s roguelite structure. The loadout is tied to the run you are about to take, not a free-standing menu you can browse whenever you like.

Here is the exact order of operations every time you want to change your loadout:

1. Return to Sanctus Clypeus after a completed or failed run.
2. Visit NPCs first — stop by Gajov to purify and upgrade gear, Mereda to trade lore scrolls for Boons, Lottie to buy consumables, and Gallant for bounty quests. Do this before you lock in your loadout.
3. Head to the War Table and select your next mission and difficulty.
4. Interact with the loadout station — it will now be active and accessible.
5. Equip your nine gear slots, pick your Angel, and slot two consumables.
6. Confirm and start the run.

That sequence is the full loop. Skip any of the NPC steps and you will miss out on upgrades that make your loadout stronger before you even enter the gate.

What You Can Equip in Your Loadout

Your loadout in Crimson Moon has 9 gear slots plus your Angel and consumable choices. Here is exactly what goes in each slot.

The 9 Gear Slots

• Helmet — One of four armor pieces. Part of your set identity.
• Chest — The most stat-heavy armor piece. Prioritize this slot when purifying.
• Gauntlets — Arm armor. Complete a matching set with your chest for full set synergy.
• Legs — The second-heaviest armor slot after chest. Upgrade this second after chest.
• 1H Weapon — A one-handed axe, hammer, or sword. Paired with your shield on the main bar.
• Shield — Equipped alongside your 1H weapon. Shields have their own Weapon Arts too.
• 2H Weapon — A polearm, halberd, or great axe on your back bar. Swap to it in combat for reach and AoE.
• Trinket 1 — A passive bonus item that complements your build identity.
• Trinket 2 — A second passive. Stack both trinkets around the same theme as your weapons and Boons.

Angel and Consumables

• Angel — Your chosen Angel defines your Angel Mode transformation. You select one per run. Different Angels suit different playstyles — one emphasizes defense and heavy parry combos, another favors mobility and ranged magic. Choose based on what your weapon and Boons support.
• Consumable 1 and 2 — Two use items from Lottie’s shop. Do not save these for emergencies. They refill during runs from enemy drops and chests. Use them and trust the replenishment.

Starting Loadouts and How Options Expand

When you first start Crimson Moon, you only have two base loadout options to choose from. The game is explicit about this — you are not choosing from 30 weapons on day one. You pick from what you have, and your collection grows as you run missions and bring gear back to purify.

Every piece of equipment you purify at Gajov’s station becomes permanently available in your loadout pool. That means early runs will feel limited by design. It is the game teaching you fundamentals before it opens the build system fully. A sword-and-shield setup is the most forgiving starting option — it gives you a parry, reliable defense, and a manageable stamina loop while you learn enemy patterns.

By the time you have cleared a few districts and purified a dozen pieces of gear, your loadout screen will look very different. You will have multiple weapon options, armor choices across different set identities, and enough trinkets to make intentional decisions about synergy rather than just equipping whatever is available.

For a full look at what gear is in the game to build toward, check our Crimson Moon list of all armor and our Crimson Moon all weapons list.

Can You Change Your Loadout Mid-Run?

This is where the system gets specific, and where a lot of players get tripped up.

You cannot open your inventory and swap your full loadout during an active mission. There is no mid-run menu that lets you change your Angel, swap in a different armor set, or pull out a weapon you left at the hub. What you went in with is what you fight with.

However, you can pick up and equip gear that drops from enemies and chests during the run. If an elite drops a better sword than what you are carrying, you can take it and equip it immediately. This counts as an in-run gear swap. It is not the same as accessing your full collection — you can only equip what physically dropped in that mission — but it does let you upgrade your kit on the fly if luck gives you something better mid-hunt.

The distinction matters. Your build can shift during a run based on what drops. But you cannot retroactively go back and grab a weapon you left at home. Plan your starting loadout carefully because it is the foundation you work from, not something you can fully overhaul once the gate opens.

Can You Change Loadout Between Chained Missions?

Here is another important wrinkle: when you successfully complete a mission and chain into the next one, you get a brief stop at the hub — but you cannot change your loadout during that stop. The loadout station is locked. You cannot swap your Angel, change armor, or adjust your weapons. You are committed to the same loadout for the next mission in the chain.

The only time you get full access to the loadout station again is when you are sent all the way back to the beginning — either because you ran out of lives (a true death) or because you extracted and completed a full run sequence. That is when the loop resets and you can rebuild from scratch.

This is one of the most divisive design decisions in the game. Several reviewers flagged it as a frustration — the inability to swap gear during the brief mid-chain hub stop feels limiting, especially when you just found a great new weapon during the last mission and want to build around it. It is worth knowing going in so it does not catch you off guard.

How to Build a Better Loadout — Key Tips

Knowing how to change your loadout is only half the job. Knowing what to put in it is what actually wins hunts.

Lead With Your Weapon Art

Do not build around raw damage. Build around your Weapon Art. If your sword’s art drops bleed caltrops, your Boons should stack bleed. If your polearm spins in a wide arc, your Boons should feed stamina and art cooldown. The Weapon Art is the active identity of the build — everything else amplifies it.

Match Armor to Your Playstyle

Armor is not just stats. Each set aligns with a specific kind of fight. Heavy defensive sets like Crimson Oath reward shield use and surviving parry mistakes. More aggressive sets reward pressure and staying offensive. Mix-and-matching unrelated sets wastes the synergies the game is built around. Pick four pieces that argue the same point as your weapon.

Stack Your Trinkets With Purpose

Both trinket slots should push the same direction as your weapon and armor. If your weapon applies frost, a trinket that amplifies frost buildup is far more valuable than a raw damage trinket that does nothing for your status effect. Trinkets are the finishing adjectives of your build — they sharpen the sentence your weapon and armor already wrote.

Choose Your Angel Last

The Angel is the last decision you make at the loadout station, but it should not be an afterthought. Your Angel determines what Angel Mode does when you activate it. Match your Angel to what the run demands — a defensive Angel for tight, aggressive encounters; a mobility Angel for open arenas and boss phases that require repositioning. The wrong Angel in the wrong situation means burning your transformation at the worst moment.

Upgrade Before You Lock In

Never commit to your loadout before visiting Gajov. If you just purified gear from the last run, Gajov can upgrade its rarity before you take it into the next hunt. Higher-rarity gear feeds your Angel Mode more effectively. A Rare piece you upgraded beats a freshly purified Common piece of the same item every time. Do the hub rounds before you touch the loadout station.

What Happens to Your Loadout After a Failed Run?

If you run out of lives during a mission — a true death — you are sent back to Sanctus Clypeus and get full access to everything again. The War Table resets, the loadout station unlocks, and you can rebuild from whatever your purified collection contains.

Importantly, gear you did not purify from a failed run is lost. Anything you collected during that run but did not bring back and sanctify at Gajov disappears. Your purified collection stays intact. Permanent upgrades stay. Boons from the run are gone. The loop continues with what you permanently own.

That means a failed run is never a full reset. You keep everything you built up across previous runs. The only thing that resets is the run itself.

For a deeper look at what carries over and what resets in Crimson Moon, our Crimson Moon beginner’s guide breaks down the full loop. And to understand how long building out your loadout collection takes in total, see our Crimson Moon how long to beat guide.

Loadout Tips for Co-Op

Playing in two-player co-op changes a few things about how you should think about your loadout. Both players share a life pool, which means one player dying costs everyone. Your loadouts should complement each other rather than double up on the same job.

• Do not both go glass cannon. If neither player has a shield or defensive armor, the shared life pool drains fast whenever the boss has a grab or a slam that punishes aggression.
• Coordinate your Weapon Art elements. If one player runs frost and the other runs fire, you are splitting your Boon synergies in half. Pick a shared element or split clearly into one offensive and one control-focused set.
• Stagger your Angel Mode usage. Both players have their own Angel gauge. Do not both transform at the same time — save one for the boss’s second phase if the first player’s transformation runs out.
• Loot is not instanced. If an enemy drops three items, you and your partner decide who takes what on the spot. If both of you want the same weapon, talk about it before someone grabs it. The loadout planning conversation starts before the run, not during it.

For everything you need to know about playing with a partner, our Crimson Moon multiplayer guide has full details on shared lives, revives, and how scaling works. And for info on all the trophies tied to loadout completion and gear collection, check our Crimson Moon trophies and achievements list.

Where to Get Crimson Moon

Crimson Moon is available now on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Store for $19.99. If you are deciding between editions before your first run, our Standard vs Deluxe edition guide explains what the extra $10 gets you. And if you are playing on PC, check our Crimson Moon PC requirements before you start.

Frequently Asked Questions