Curse of the Dead Gods: Basics Guide for New Players

User interface elements, by number:

If it goes below 1, you die and the run ends. Welcome to video games.

By default you have five pips of stamina. Certain actions deplete a pip. If your stamina runs out, you’ll be unable to perform any action that requires stamina. Stamina replenishes itself over time or under other conditions.

For every 100 corruption gained, you will become afflicted with a curse. The amount of curses you currently have is displayed in the icons above the meter. You can only have five curses at a time.

You can find gold on the ground and from killing enemies. You can offer this resource at altars for weapons, stats, and relics.

You can hold three different weapons types at once, main hand, off hand, and two-handed.

These numbers represent your bonus health, bonus damage, and bonus gold find respectively.

Indicates whether you are in the light or in the dark. Standing in darkness increases damage taken.

Theses are resources used to purchase permanent upgrades and divine favors at the hub. Enemies drop these randomly on death. You’ll get a large amount for defeating champions and bosses.

Stamina in Curse of the Dead Gods is similar to other games with stamina systems. Use it all up and you’ll be unable to do certain actions. Not taking actions for a short amount of time will regenerate stamina. Killing an enemy will restore one pip of stamina. To fully understand how stamina works, we have to discuss weapon types.

These are your main source of damage in most cases. Depending on the type of weapon, they have a different combo chain. Stamina is only consumed on the finisher for main hand weapons. This means you can spam the preceding hits in a combo without expending stamina or when you’ve used all your stamina. Bear in mind that combo finishers do significant damage, however.

Pistols: These use one pip per shot.
Daggers: These use one pip per combo, with stamina being consumed on the second hit.
Shields: The Shield combo consumes no stamina

A main hand combo can be finished with an off-hand attack, this off-hand finisher consumes one pip of stamina.

These consume one pip per hit of a combo chain. Bows use one pip per shot, similar to pistols.

Holding the attack button for any melee weapon will charge an attack which consumes one pip of stamina.

Pressing RT on controller will cause you to dodge roll and consumes one pip of stamina. Dodging grants invincibility frames and allows you to evade attacks with proper timing. A perfectly timed dodge refunds a stamina pip.

Swords: Swords have a four hit combo.
Maces: Maces have a three hit combo.
Claws: Claws have a five hit combo.

All main hand weapons have a finisher as their final combo hit. Alternatively, you can perform a finisher with an off-hand weapon by pressing the off-hand weapon button instead of the main hand button.

Pistols: Holding and releasing the button with perfect timing will execute a “perfect shot”, and deal critical damage. Off-hand finisher is a spread shot blast that pushes the target back a bit.

Daggers: A two hit combo with the default attack. The charged attack is a rush and dagger flurry that deals significant damage. Off-hand finisher is a dodge-hop backwards, this hop has invincibility frames.

Shields: A single hit combo with the default attack that pushes the enemy back a good deal. The charged attack is a shield charge. Off-hand finisher is a hit that pushes enemies back a good deal.

Spears: A three hit combo with the default attack, two swipes and a thrust finisher. Fast, moderate damage. Charge attack is a spinning attack that moves you forward slightly.

Heavy Weapons: A three hit combo with the default attack, two swings and a slam finisher. Slow, but extreme damage. Capable of interrupting enemy attacks. Also capable of breaking through secret walls. Charge attack is a leaping slam.

Bows: Similar to pistols with their “perfect shot” mechanic. Deals moderate damage and charges faster than a pistol.

Corruption is not something exclusively bad in Curse of the Dead Gods. It can be used as a resource at altars, just like gold. This allows you to purchase stats, weapons, and relics that you may otherwise not have been able to get. You will accrue 20 corruption every time you pass through a door. Using the healing well at a haven will accrue 10 corruption per use. Certain enemy attacks will cause you to accrue corruption. Certain gear modifiers will remove corruption upon meeting specific conditions.

Curses are not all exclusively bad either. Many feature a positive twist, and can benefit you if you make use of it. For instance, one curse increases the explosion radius of barrels. Bad for you if you’re caught in an explosion, but also good in that it is now easier to kill enemies with explosive barrels. This can synergize with relics that grant benefits when you get an environmental kill. Once cursed, look for ways to make the best of it on gear you find moving forward.

You can only have five curses at once, and defeating a champion will allow you to remove one curse. If you only have one curse, it will automatically be removed. If you’ve got one curse and you want to keep it, try to make sure you have another to sacrifice before reaching a champion’s chamber.

As stated above, the indicator on the bottom of the screen lets you know whether you are in the light or dark.

Pressing the “B” button on controller will draw your torch, illuminating the area around you. Pressing the button again while the torch is drawn will swing it. The torch will not ignite braziers or flammable floors unless it is swung. You can also ignite enemies with the torch by hitting them.

Under normal circumstances, you can see enemies in the dark. However, you cannot see certain traps or flammable floor surfaces in the dark. It’s important to use the torch to get your bearings before charging forward. Traps can quickly decimate your health. Use your torch to learn the layout of rooms to prevent unnecessary damage.

Greed Kills are chaining kills together within a time limit to increase the gold awarded for defeating enemies. Hitting an enemy while the greed kill counter is ticking down will refresh its duration. Failing to hit an enemy, or taking damage will reset the greed kill counter. Hitting and killing enemies summoned by other enemies (those with purple health bars) will refresh, but not increase, the counter.

Parrying is done by pressing LT on controller. If timed well, a parry will nullify an enemy attack. If it was a melee attack, the enemy will be weakened, and will take additional damage. Ranged attacks can also be parried, however the enemy will not be weakened. A successful parry will restore two pips of stamina.

Learning to parry normal enemies is a great way to keep up your “Greed Kill” counter and maximize gold gain. Learning to parry larger enemies and bosses will give you the opportunity to mount a relentless assault, and quickly take them down.