Dead Cells – Beginners Guide

This guide will explain the utmost basics of Dead Cells. It will explain to you how to die at least a little bit less (and also some nifty details).

Guide for New Players

Please note: all credit goes to The Nut!

Part 1: Movement

So, you booted up the game, entered the game and might be wondering to yourself: “How the ♥♥♥ do I do what?!”

Well, let’s start there.

To start with, choose your preferred control option (Keyboard or Controller. It says that it is recommended to use a controller, but not needed).

  • Since I am a complete ♥♥♥ idiot, I chose to go with keyboard.
  • To start with, this is a 2D game, so your movement is WASD/Arrow keys for Keyboard and Left Joystick/D-Pad for Controller. Simple enough.
  • Jumping is on Spacebar (and I don’t use a controller, so i’m guessing A/X for jump there). Again, what you’d expect.
  • Now, your weapons to fight the bad guys. X/Square for Primary Weapon, Y/Triangle for Secondary (on Switch it’s swapped, but this is on Steam, so we’ll be fine).
  • Your skills are conveniently mapped to LT/RT on Xbox and Switch, but for PS, it’s L1/R1. Change to your liking.
  • Healing is Left Bumper on Xbox/Switch and L2 for PS. This is needed for later, trust me.
  • Using, Interacting and Emptying Backpack (much later) is mapped to Right Bumper or R2. Very needed.
  • Lastly, Pausing is on your normal pause button, and viewing the map is on the button next to it. Simple.

Part 2: Weapons/Attacking

So, you’ve found your controls and decide it’s time to play the game you bought. To start your run, you get three options for your two slots.

  • A melee weapon (Brutality).
  • A bow (Tactics).
  • And a shield (Survival).

Experiment with what suits you best, but usually you want to have a melee weapon and either a bow for long range attacks, or a shield for blocking (and parrying if you can time it).

In the start, you don’t have much to choose from when it comes to your arsenal. To increase that, we want to get cells from dead enemies (roll credits). Sometimes when you stab something to death, they might drop either these blue orbs (cells) or a blueprint (rarer, but needed). Blueprints can be brought to the end of the level for the Collector, an NPC that will NOT kill you (hopefully). These blueprints can then make weapons available if you pay a price in cells.

Weapons that are unlocked via cells for the first time will instantly be given to you, to try it out (how nice).

The more weapons you unlock, the more variety, so go unlock them.

You may also find costume blueprints. These do nothing for the gameplay, but they look snazzy and really, who doesn’t want to leave a cool corpse.

Lastly, skills/traps

You can also find these lying around and they are mapped to your bumpers (PS) or triggers (Xbox/Switch). Once used, they do what the description says. Read before you use them, and find your favorite. These can also be unlocked via Blueprints and Cells.

Part 3: Areas

So, you’ve found a door in the prison? Nice! Head right through and this is your rest point. If you get 30 kills without taking a hit (or 60 in all later areas), you get 20 free cells, some cash and some cool weapons, skills/traps or amulets. Beating some levels fast (2 min for prison, for example) also gives you the same things.

Once you’ve mulled over getting exactly 29 kills and couldn’t find a last enemy, head forward and give your cells to the collector. Or don’t. If you die with cells on you, those cells are lost. No pressure.

Reforge your weapons with your hard earned cash (and cry when the reforges suck) and get a mutation. These benefit you in various ways. Find which ones you like the most!

Lastly, if you took damage or are low on healing flasks, go and take a swig of that healing station. Then head to the next area.

From the prison, you can either go to The Promenade of the Condemned or Dracula’s Castle (DLC) to start with. Start by going to the promenade, since you’ll find a permanent upgrade in there.

Once you make it through a bit of the promenade, you’ll find a weird room with a LOT of enemies and a door that closes behind you. Go in there and beat everything up (you can do it). Once you’re done murdering, you’ll get a funny rune. Let’s go over it (and the later ones)!

Part 4: Runes

So you picked up that Vine Rune? Good! Now when you see some weird green spots on the ground (it looks like a vine, i think?), you can press your interact button, and a vine will grow out, allowing you to climb it!

This unlocks the rest of the promenade as well as the Toxic Sewers in the prison!

There, you’ll find a new rune, the Teleportation Rune. While running around, you might have seen these weird statues. Now with this rune, you can teleport while next to one! This allows you into the Ossuary, where you’ll find another rune (allowing you to smash floors with a yellow rune-sign on them) which allows you to get into the Slumbering Sanctuary, where you’ll find the final movement rune. From here, you’ll have some new abilities (and optional modes). Have fun!

Side Note: I believe you can still beat the game without any of the runes, if you have the castlevania DLC and go to the castle, beat all that up, go to clock tower, etc. but it’s stupid to do and isn’t worth much.

Last note: when you beat the game (for the first time), you get another rune. I won’t talk about it because spoilers.

Part 5: Bosses

You stumbled past the Ramparts into the Black Bridge, didn’t you?

Well, there awaits you a boss! The Concierge. He is slow, but he has some screenwide attacks and a ♥♥♥ fighting game superjump, but he’s rather weak to range. He also has a barrier-type attack that shreds your health if you get caught in it (don’t do that).

Beat him up and get your rewards. Some cash, maybe a blueprint, some cells and some weapons!

Then you move on and if you got it done without taking damage, you get a free legendary weapon. Anyway, moving on. Once you can beat The Concierge fairly consistently, you are now a full-fledged beginner.

Ending Words

So, you’re now a full-fledged beginner. You’ve beat some bosses, got some upgrades, died a lot. Well, once you beat the final boss, who will go unnamed for now, you can play on harder difficulties.

Each difficulty increase does something new.

  • Normal: what you’re used to.
  • Hard: More Enemies, They hit harder, They die slower, and some guy smashed some health fountains.
  • Very Hard: Oh great, he broke the rest of them! Now there’s only 1 flask charge.
  • Expert: These bosses hit different and the guy took some of the flasks too!
  • Nightmare: Why is everything teleporting to my location! Why are the flasks gone too?!
  • Hell: So who decided to make me deal with what I just had to go through, but on a ♥♥♥ timer!

And remember! Everything is pain.

Egor Opleuha
About Egor Opleuha 8075 Articles
Egor Opleuha, also known as Juzzzie, is the Editor-in-Chief of Gameplay Tips. He is a writer with more than 12 years of experience in writing and editing online content. His favorite game was and still is the third part of the legendary Heroes of Might and Magic saga. He prefers to spend all his free time playing retro games and new indie games.

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