Karl is one of the starting characters in Absolum and is a great choice for beginners due to his easy-to-master moveset. His strong punches and heavy slam move, which easily block attacks, making him one of the best characters in the game.
However, just like all other characters in Absolum, Karl is only as good as the build you create while on a run. Creating a strong build for Karl boils down to choosing the best Arcane skill, trinkets, and Rituals.
This guide has everything you need to know about creating the best Karl build in Absolum, so you can make it as far as possible on each run.
Best Arcana Skill for Karl
The best Arcana skill for Karl is Rifle Bullet, which allows him to fire multiple fast bullets in a straight line. Rifle Bullet can be unlocked at the Sanctuary by speaking to Ederig the Stalwart and purchasing it from Karl’s skill tree.
Out of all Karl’s Arcana skills in Absolum, Rifle Bullet offers the most benefits. It’s extremely quick to use, deals high damage from close and long range, and can also hit multiple targets to help with crowd control.
Best Trinkets for Karl
When it comes to choosing Trinkets during your run with Karl, you want to choose ones that increase your Critical Hit and Punish damage, as well as those that decrease the amount of damage you receive.
Below are the Trinkets you should look out for when playing with Karl:
- Tongue Charm: Punish deals +20% damage.
- Shield: Damage received -10% (max -90%).
- Whetstone: Critical hits deal +25% damage.
Karl is at his best when played aggressively and constantly attacking, so you want Trinkets that can help you kill enemies as fast as possible through sheer damage output.
Considering Karl is great at landing Critical Hits, and his heavy attacks almost always lead to punishes, the Tongue Charm and Whetstone will significantly increase his overall potential. Shields are a nice touch since it’s always nice to take less damage.
Keep in mind that Trinkets stack, so if you manage to find multiple Tongue Charms, Shields, or Whetstones, then make sure to pick them up.
Best Inspirations for Karl
Inspirations are items that you acquire after defeating a main boss in Absolum, and they add another attack pattern to your moveset. The two Inspirations you should acquire each run, as long as they drop from the boss, are Ironhead Rush and Infused Shells.
Ironhead Rush is my personal favorite as it adds a new move where Karl can perform a powerful headbutt that lunges him forward, dealing damage and knocking down all enemies in his path. This is extremely helpful in rooms with tons of enemies.
On the other hand, the Infused Shells Inspiration makes it so the shells produced by Arcana skills will damage enemies and auto-target them. In other words, this Inspiration allows you to deal additional damage to all enemies whenever you use an Arcana skill.
Best Rituals for Karl
When picking up Rituals during your run, you should aim to acquire ones that deal additional damage when dodging, deflecting, finishing, and using basic attacks. Check out my recommendations below for the best Rituals for Karl.
- Burning Strike: Strikes inflict Burn.
- Blazing Dash: Dash creates a Blazing Trail.
- Burning Deflect: Inflict Burn when you Deflect an enemy hit.
- Thorn Finisher: Finishers spawn 2 Thorn Daggers.
As you can see, each of these Rituals aims to deal additional damage through every action done by Karl. This makes it so you don’t have to constantly rely on heavy and standard attacks to do all the work, and instead, you apply a ton of passive damage.
Keep in mind that there’s no chance you’ll get all these Rituals on every single run. However, there are other Rituals of different types (Lightning, Water, Wind, etc.) that also offer abilities that deal damage through the actions mentioned.
As long as you understand the idea of dealing as much passive damage as possible, through dashing, finishers, and deflecting, you will be able to create a powerful Karl build.
Remember, you can upgrade the Rituals that appear on your runs by speaking to Vikhanna the Joyful at the Sanctuary. She requires Imbued Fruits to upgrade Rituals, which is acquired by earning points during each run.
- Released
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October 9, 2025
- Publisher(s)
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Dotemu, Gamera Games
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Number of Players
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1-2 players
