Moss crusts are an important ground cover in rocky desertification ecosystems, but its roles in soil nutrient accumulation and element cycles are still unclear. In this paper, the effects of moss crusts on soil nutrients and ecological stoichiometry characteristics were studied in different degrees of rocky desertification on both sides of Huajiang gorge, a typical karst plateau gorge in Guizhou Province. The results showed that: (1) the soil nutrient content in moss crust layer were significantly higher than those in subsoil. The mean contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK), alkali-hydrolysis nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) in moss crusts were 25.95, 3.05, 1.00, 5.10 g/kg and 189.61, 1.59, 275.10 mg/kg, which were 46.08%, 26.50%, 53.62%, 20.25%, 25.24%, 110.47% and 83.76% higher than those in bare soil, respectively. (2) Decreased with the increase of soil depth, C/N, C/K and P/K in moss crusts were significantly higher than those in bare soil. N/P in moss crusts was significantly lower than that in bare soil, while increased with the increase of soil depth. (3) The nutrient restoration index of moss crusts ranged from 33.16% to 72.48%, and showed a trend of increase with the ecological deterioration. The nutrient restoration index in moderate and severe rocky desertification stages was 83.26% and 118.58% higher than that in none rocky desertification stage. Our results demonstrated that moss crusts could effectively promote soil nutrient accumulation and accelerate soil nutrient restoration process, and could be involved as a supplementary method in promoting ecological restoration and reconstruction in karst rocky desertification regions.