Best Core Keeper builds: Ranged, melee, mining, and more

One of Core Keepers’s biggest strengths (and weaknesses) is how little it tells the player. If you want a nudge in the right direction, let me show you the best builds in Core Keeper for melee and ranged combat, mining, and more.

How to use the best builds in Core Keeper

Core Keeper builds are unique as they depend massively on what materials you have discovered and how far you are into the game. As an end-game build will be utterly useless for new players, I will show you six loadouts to try.

Three builds are for the early game before you’ve beaten the first three bosses. The late builds assume you’ve broken through the wall with those introductory bosses defeated.

Best early-game builds in Core Keeper

During the early game, you’re extremely squishy, so I strongly recommend a ranged build over everything else. Food is a big deal in Core Keeper, so I’ll suggest some snacks to keep with you for the valuable buffs they provide.

Early-game ranged build

• Full Iron Armor Set
• Iron Bow
• Gold Crystal Ring (Gold Bar x8, Ancient Gemstone x1)
• Swift Ring (Iron Bar x12, Ancient Gemstone x3)
• Cave Guppy Necklace (Rare drop from fishing in the Undergrounds)
• Hearty Pepper Wrap (Heart Berry + Bomb Pepper)

Iron is the best armor you can make during the early game, as it offers the highest defensive values. The Iron Bow is a solid ranged weapon and deals respectable damage.

Crossbows are fun but fire slower, and an Iron counterpart doesn’t exist. The Swift Ring gives extra movement speed, and the Gold Crystal Ring grants a small bonus to Physical Ranged damage.

Wear whatever accessories you have available, but you can fish for the Cave Guppy necklace, which boosts your dodge chance.

Finally, we’re going with Hearty Pepper Wraps for food. These wraps are a staple meal in Core Keeper, boosting movement speed and granting health regeneration.

Early-game melee build

• Full Iron Armor Set
• Iron Sword
• Rusted Ring (Rare drop from fishing in Clay Caves)
• Larva Ring (Rare drop from Larva or Locked Copper Chests)
• Grub Egg Necklace (Rare drop from Caveling enemies and Larva)
• Hearty Pepper Wrap (Heart Berry + Bomb Pepper)

I recommend against melee builds during the early game because your survival options are limited and rare. That said, if you insist on smacking enemies to death, The Iron Sword and Armor are the way to go.

The Rusted Ring gives you extra armor, which can save your life if you get swarmed. The Larva Ring and Grub Egg Neckless are tough to find but grant a set bonus. If you have both, you won’t be slowed by slime on the floor, which is huge for a melee build.

Like our ranged build, we’re going with Hearty Pepper Wraps for the movement speed buff and solid health regeneration.

Early-game Mining build

• Full Iron Armor Set
• Iron Bow
• Iron Pickaxe
• Ring of Rock (Rare drop from locked Iron chests)
• Ring of Stone (Rare drop from locked Copper chests)
• Iron Chunk Necklace (Iron Bar x10)
• Hearty Pepper Wrap (Heart Berry + Bomb Pepper)

Iron gear is the best you can make during the early game, and the Iron Pickaxe cuts through most biome blocks within a couple of hits. I still recommend bringing a weapon for cave exploring, and the Iron Bow is a solid choice.

If you’re lucky enough to find the rings of Rock and Stone (yes, that’s intentional), you can enjoy an armor boost and massive buff to mining damage.

The Iron Chunk necklace provides armor in case you dig into a mob-infested cave. I recommend Hearty Pepper wraps for our combat-focused builds, and that remains unchanged here. The movement speed buff they give you allows you to outrun mobs, and health regeneration is a welcome bonus.

Best late-game builds in Core Keeper

Considering there are 8 Tiers of Workbench in Core Keeper, I cannot recommend builds that will work for every player who’s beaten the introductory bosses.

With this in mind, I recommend building the highest-tier weapons and armor you have available. For example, if you’ve just unlocked Scarlet Ore, your priority is to make a complete set of Scarlet Armor, Scarlet Sword, and Scarlet Crossbow.

These builds focus more on your accessories, food choices, and pets, as you can fill in the gaps with your favorite weapons and armor.

Late-game Ranged build

• Highest Tier Armor available
• Highest Tier ranged weapon available
• Polished Gold Crystal Ring (Gold Bar x8, Ancient Gemstone x1)
• Mold Ring (Rare drop from enemies in the Mold Dungeon)
• Mold Vein Necklace (Rare drop from enemies in the Mold Dungeon)
• Juicy Sun Curry (Pewpaya + Sunrice)
• Pheromoth Pet

The Polished Gold Crystal ring functions like the regular Gold Ring from our early-game build. The big difference is the Polish grants higher Physical Range damage. You have a chance to craft polished jewelry as you level up your Jewelry Crafter talent.

The Mold Ring and Vein Necklace further boost your Physical Ranged damage. If you have both, you also get Mold Infection immunity, which is nice, if a little niche.

Juicy Sun Curry is a fantastic food for ranged builds, offering massive ranged damage buffs. The Curry even works with magic if you use a staff.

Finally, the Pheromoth pet increases dodge chance and piles on even more ranged damage.

Late-game Melee build

• Highest Tier Armor available
• Highest Tier melee weapon available
• Bone Necklace (Digging Spots in the Desert)
• Polished Golden Spike Ring (Iron Bar x10, Gold Bar x25)
• Bone Ring (Digging Spots in the Desert)
• Crunchy Dragon Fillet (Carrock + Verdant Dragonfish)
• Owlux Pet

You have countless options as a late-game Melee player and must walk a thin line between damage bonuses and survivability.

To that end, The Bone Armor and Necklace are valuable items from the Desert biome. Both give an increased Critical Hit chance and a decent armor boost.

The Polished Golden Spike Ring offers sizeable Crit Chance and Crit Damage buffs. You also deal a small amount of Thorns damage if you get hit.

Crunchy Dragon Fillet is a luxury food, as Verdant Dragonfish are pretty rare. However, you gain a dramatic buff to your armor and Critical Hit damage, making you a force to be reckoned with if you get close.

I enjoy using Owlux when I’m rocking a melee weapon, as you get a damage buff, and the movement speed bonus helps in boss battles.

Late-game Mining build

• Highest Tier Armor available
• Highest Tier ranged weapon available
• Azeos Beak Necklace (Drop from Azeos boss battle)
• Topaz Ring (Locked Octarine Chests)
• Polished Swift Ring (Iron Bar x12, Ancient Gemstone x3)
• Filling Pepper Wrap (Bloat Oat + Bomb Pepper)
• Owlux Pet

You can play fast and loose with your gear for mining and exploring in the late game. I always rock a ranged weapon, as there are many occasions when you can’t get close to your targets.

The Azeos Beak Necklace is fantastic, as it gives a decent buff to mining damage. You also gain lifesteal, although you must use a melee weapon to get it. The Polished Swift Ring is great as it grants movement speed, and Topaz adds a ton of mining damage.

You can use any food you like, but I recommend something with Bloat Oats. This ingredient fills your stamina gauge more than any other food source in the game and is perfect for long trips into the unknown.

Owlux is the way to go to complete the build for boosted movement speed.

Your perfect builds may look entirely different if you’re lucky with drops. Core Keeper has such a large weapon and item pool that plenty of viable combinations exist.

If you’re wondering how to hatch eggs and get your hands on an Owlux of your own, you can obtain them early, but you require an Incubator.