This guide will teach you how to survive in Curse of the Dead Gods. Like what stats to prioritize, how to interrupt enemy attacks, what status effects do, and how to find secrets hidden throughout the map. I’ll cover other things like weapons in another video linked at the end.

This game is about managing 4 resources:

• Health
  
• Corruption
  
• Stamina
  
• Gold

Health needs to be conserved for obvious reasons.

Corruption is shown in the bottom right and gets applied from certain enemy attacks as well as every time you enter a new room. You can also get corrupted instead of paying for things if you choose to. Once you fill up this bar, you’ll get a random curse before you start the next room. But more on this later.
Stamina is used up when you attack or dodge (diamonds under character). Many players like to roll out of danger since it evades 99% of the attacks you’ll face. If you successfully dodge through an attack, you get refunded the stamina! However, you need to learn how to parry as well. Parrying costs no stamina and if it works you get 2 stamina back; even better, if you parried a melee attack, you weaken the enemy causing them to take an extra 50% damage for a short time! It might feel risky but it gets easier with practice and using a shield increases the timing window of a parry.
Finally, you’re trying to save up gold to buy things you need during your run. Using the Greed counter can help accumulate wealth and so does buffing your perception stat.

It’s a good idea to prioritize perception above the other stats since it increases gold and item drops.

After that, some players prefer dexterity (which increases your damage) over constitution (which increases your max health) since being able to kill the enemies faster limits how often you’re hit in theory. But if you’re having trouble staying alive, constitution will help you survive and having a larger health pool works well with many of the percentage healing buffs you’ll find!

Sometimes you’ll find weapons or accessories which help you heal or remove corruption.

There’s healing rooms as well but they aren’t always on your preferred path and they cost corruption to replenish 20% of your health.

Initially you may feel afraid of corruption but you’ll soon notice that some curses can actually feel like buffs and some synergies really well with other things you’ve got going on that run. The final curse will always cause your health to slowly drain until it reaches 1 leaving you one mistake from death. Because of this, try using corruption to get something you really want or need especially if you can’t afford the gold but don’t cross the line to the 5th curse unless you’re experienced enough to handle that.

Eventually, in the later levels, you can remove a curse for each boss you kill!

OK, when not in battle, always walk around with your torch since you take more damage in the dark and traps are invisible without the light. You may notice that mobs sit in wait until you get close enough to them.

Try lighting safe braziers with your torch and plan which mob you want to kill first before you go running into battle. Your torch can light enemies on fire but it’s not very effective in combat since you have to switch between the weapon groups. Enemies lit on fire take 5 damage a second and light up the surrounding area as well. If you’re caught on fire, dodge roll to extinguish the flames. Also, if you have a heavy weapon or bombs, you can clear out most traps which can make battles easier to manage.

Here’s some things to note about traps:
Arrow traps can't be destroyed
Poison gas can be lit causing it to explode.
And if you hit these eggs with say a fire attack, you’ll apply fire to everyone hit by it. Same goes for poison, electricity, and dark attacks.

Purple health bars are summoned mobs that don't trigger benefits from things like weapons and accessories that heal you for every kill.
Mobs with gold frames around their health will be harder and stronger. Sometimes this means they’ll have new attacks or apply corruption!

Learn how to interrupt enemies and abuse this often!
Heavy 2 handed weapons and bombs interrupt enemy attacks and you can chain these on enemies that aren’t bosses even with depleted stamina.
Other moves that interrupt are: Charged attacks from shields and whips, the pistols off-hand combo, and combo finishers from daggers and spears.

Poison applies 50% extra damage over time and if you manage to poison an enemy on fire, they’ll take even more fire damage.
If you’re poisoned, you’ll lose a bit of health and your stamina regenerates really slowly!

Lightning attacks apply the Shocked status. Some attacks like Combo Finishers generate a lightning strike on all Shocked enemies. This deals an additional 50% of the Finisher's damage, interrupts enemies hit by the lightning, and sets them on fire too.

Eventually, you’ll unlock Dark Damage by using cursed weapons. If the enemy is on fire, cursed weapons extinguish the flame and Weaken them.
If you hit an enemy that’s poisoned, it prolongs the poison damage!
If you hit a shocked enemy, it’ll trigger the lightning attack right away!
Just be aware that your cursed weapon attacks, just like the enemy corruption attacks, will remove flames from braziers and if you accidentally hit yourself with the corrupted bomb weapon, you’ll also get some of the corruption effect along with the damage. Ouch!

Here are some last tips to up your game:
Learning the maps helps you avoid dangers and find hidden areas.
Many centerpieces can block ranged attacks, be sure to abuse this!
Crossing these thresholds will normally lock the previous area but in a few rare cases the door won’t close, it’s just a bluff! This is most obvious when you’re at the last door to move on to the next area but there’s still a threshold to the side allowing you to explore before you return to the final door.
Stalagmites and crystals blocking a path can be destroyed, you don’t even need a heavy weapon.
But heavy 2 handed weapons and bombs open cracks in walls which usually reveals more treasure!

You’ve learned about the basics in my first guide and now you want to get the most out of your upgrades and weapons. You’re in the right place. Don’t forget to sub to my underrated channel to make it easier to find me again!

During your run, you’ll collect Crystal Skulls and Jade Rings. Skulls help you upgrade things like Blessings, gear quality and number of weapon pedestals, and number of Divine favours which let you shuffle options when shopping.
While Jade rings let you unlock weapons you’ve found during your runs. Note that, once you’ve bought everything, there’s nothing you can do with skulls and rings, they just keep accumulating.

Upgrading weapons with gold during your run increases the damage and if the weapon is at level 1 or 2 when you first upgrade it, it’ll add another buff. At level 3 or higher, it’ll only upgrade the damage and the cost increases with the level.

Heavy weapons and bombs can break most traps and cracks in walls and they interrupt the enemy but you can’t dodge or parry for a short time after an attack with these weapons. Most mobs can get interrupted constantly even if you’re attacking with no stamina but bosses aren’t affected in the same way. Instead, you can start attacking and use up all your stamina to get a few extra hits on bosses but back away once your stamina is depleted or when there’s other threats that might get you. Also note that bombs can ricochet off objects and hurt you so be careful!

Charged shots from the bow pierce enemies and restore 1 stamina per enemy hit.
You can also dodge right after a shot to do a special dodge that doesn’t consume stamina!

Charged attacks from the whip pulls and interrupts enemy. The offhand finisher is a good AOE attack which knocks enemies back, and attacking twice crits on the second hit!

The spear will always crit if you hit the enemy with the tip of the spear. The combo finishers also interrupt the enemy and the charged attack is a decent AOE attack.

Daggers are really powerful and one of my favourite weapons.
Attacking twice interrupts enemies, you also crit any time you hit enemies from behind, and the “Off-hand Combo” automatically dodges enemy attacks and puts space between you and your foe! The charged attack is also a great way to close the gap and slice and dice your enemies! I liked to use this to initiate an attack and continue into another combo.

Shields can be great weapons if you’re playing safe. They make the parry window slightly larger and charged attacks vault you forward ignoring most attacks and interrupting regular enemies! All shield attacks push enemies, great for knocking them into traps which activate whenever they’re pushed in range.

Waiting for the pistol aimer to flash gives you a perfect shot which deals crits and the “Off-hand Combo” interrupts regular enemies. One pistol worth unlocking is the Alchemist's Firestick which gives you 2x the gold for each kill with your gun!

Thrown Weapons are great for keeping your distance and charged attacks automatically hit multiple nearby enemies while combo finishers deal crits!

Claws were one of my favourite main weapons. The charged attack moves through enemies and crits from behind. I loved pairing the claw with the daggers or shield so that I could get in close, apply some damage, and then offhand combo the enemy away!

One-Handed Mace and Swords are pretty straight forward. The mace charged attacks deal 2x damage and the swords combo finishers deal crits.

Final note on weapons: Cursed weapons you unlock later on snuff out fires and interact with your other status effects in cool ways which I explained in my Basics video.

There’s also a handful of other weapons which destroy traps and cracks in walls so experiment with everything you find.

Now to teach you what upgrades and blessings to look for:

Starting at the end, Divine favours let you shuffle your options when buying from anything other than a weapon upgrade shrine. The first few levels are super cheap and can be very helpful.

Weapon altars are the places where you get your starter gear for a run. Unlocking more altars gets crazy expensive but it’s nice to have more options for sure. I focused on upgrading the quality of the items before I finished unlocking all the altars themselves.

Finally, blessings; loosely, the top row focuses on strength, the middle row on agility, and the bottom row on perception. Here are some upgrades I recommend, you pick the ones that match your playstyle:

T'amok's Breath costs 150 but allows any weapon which doesn’t already have a status effect like poison, electricity, or dark damage to have a 50% chance to strike with fire. Light really helps out and you won’t need to switch to your torch as often!

T'amok's Protection only costs 10 skulls and causes fire to illuminate farther and reduces all damage taken by 20% while in the light.

Favor of Sich'al only costs 10 skulls as well. It automatically gives you 1000 gold and 5 Perception at the start of your run and this helps out a lot especially in the short early levels.

Reptilian Hunger costs a monster 250 skulls but it’s worth it! You know that Greed Counter which only goes up if you attack enemies before the timer expires? This blessing causes the counter to never run out of time in between attacks or rooms and only cancels it if you get hit! It increases your damage by 1% per active Greed Kill count (up to 50%). Incredible!

Will of Sich'al costs 45 skulls and increases your Corruption bar from 100 to 120. This basically gives you an entire extra corruption bar before you reach the 5th curse allowing you to choose corruption while saving cash more often.

Serpent's Bounty costs 90 skulls and causes all Non-optional Champions and Bosses, found at the breaks between areas, to drop 5 pieces of gear (instead of 2). Even if you can’t use all the drops, you can just offer them to the Gods and keep improving! Don’t forget that if you equip gear or accessories, you can’t offer them to the Gods anymore.

Thanks for subbing and sharing my underrated channel. Click here to learn how to defeat all the bosses and how to make it through the final trial as well!

In general, all bosses will make an attack which needs to be dodged or parried, then it’s your turn to strike. You may only get a few hits in at first but eventually you’ll learn how to maximize these windows and clear out bosses fast.

Also, when using heavy 2 handed weapons and bombs you can keep interrupting regular enemies even with a depleted stamina bar but this doesn’t work with bosses. However, you can keep changing your attacks until your stamina runs out and then back away but don’t do this if there are other sources of damage ready to get you.

The first Jaguar boss (0:36) has 2 moves: One summons a jaguar. Don’t stand in this purple summoning circle when it goes off. It also throws either 1 or 2 spears. This can be dodged or parried. If the jaguar numbers get too high, you might need to thin them out, otherwise, focus on the boss!

The second Jaguar boss (0:53) has 2 forms: The Sun sister swipes twice with a large AOE attack that you either dodge or parry. If you get hit, you’ll be on fire and need to dodge to remove the flames. Also, these fire jewels fall all over the place. They can be destroyed with your attacks but if the boss hits them, they’ll explode like barrels.
After removing enough health, the boss will switch to the Night sister; stay out of range of any explosions during this transition. The night sister phases in and out of battle, can not be lit on fire, and applies corruption. She only has 2 attacks, one dashes at you while the other lunges forward attacking several times followed by a delayed final slice. I dodge everything except this final slice, if you can parry it, it’ll open up a window to attack the weakened boss. She’ll then alternate between these forms until you kill her.

The final Jaguar boss (1:36) starts with a jumping slam attack, dodge it! He also lights himself on fire meaning dark attacks from chaos weapons will apply the Weaken effect! I rarely parry attacks from this boss instead opting to dodge through the huge AOE attacks and getting some hits on his back. Also, note that the fireballs, AOE fire explosion, and the jump and slam attack cannot be parried so make sure your dodge roll game is on point. He swipes with his claws once or twice; try to notice his movements to determine when you can start attacking. The floor can also turn on fire so avoid those areas and take your time. At half health, he does a small screaming explosion and adds another furious swiping attack where he barrels forward in a straight line. Just dodge out of the way and follow him for free back attacks!

The first Eagle boss (2:18) does 4 things and if you’re hit by any lightning you’ll have to dodge to remove the fire effect. First it summons an orb that floats around the map. This thing’s only dangerous after it grows and charges up an electric attack. Second is a constant electric stream which you can avoid by dodging to the side and staying close to the boss so it’s easier to walk around it as it tries to find you. Third is a bunch of electric ranged attacks that grow in number as the boss gets closer to death. Simply get some distance and dodge through when the attacks target and pick up speed towards you. Finally, the boss phases out of the battle and reposition itself. Note that it still takes damage from fire or poison while like this.

The second Eagle boss (2:54) has a few different moves to look out for. It often starts the fight with a dash forward and can use this dash later in the fight as well but it normally likes to dash close to the center and not necessarily toward you so plan your dodge accordingly to keep close and attack after each of its moves. If you’re not fast enough, sometimes it’ll start a second attack quickly! It also has large area attacks that should obviously be dodged. Then there’s a couple other quick attacks like a close range spin and a sudden punch through portals which can be hard to notice since the portals won’t be on the ground. Finally, it has another attack where it spawns 4 small portals on the ground over a short time and you’ll want to have enough dodge stamina to stay safe.

The final Eagle boss (3:31) can be tricky but more manageable if you practice your parry timing. First thing to note is that it usually starts with a direct dash attack, be ready to move! Sometimes, it’ll hunker down into this shielded stance and slowly heal while doing this. Try to hit it by any means possible to reduce the amount it heals but note that it’ll eventually release this stance on its own. Also, if you hit it during this shield stance, it’ll counter with a variety of moves. These can be dodged or parried to open up an attack window for you! After some damage, the boss will summon these storms on the field, during this animation you can get some free hits in. The white ring around them means a wave attack will travel along the ground and it’s best to dodge through them. Eventually there are up to 3 storms on the field and each will periodically summon the waves creating a chaotic and dangerous situation especially since the boss will be active at the same time. Note that you don’t want to enter any of the storms since they hurt you. This means that if the boss wanders through the storm, you might not be able to touch it unless you have a ranged weapon or a death wish.

The first Serpent boss (4:30) generates mines all around it even when it’s being hit. Attacking the mines can help thin them out and ranged weapons can help you avoid getting too close. Its attacks consist of summoning mines around you or shooting skulls out in various formations. All these attacks hurt and apply corruption so focus on perfect dodges and don’t bother trying to parry since it’s hard to do and not worth the risk until you’re a pro. Stay mobile and keep clearing mines by walking near them.

The second Serpent boss (4:55) is a quick and lethal bugger! I preferred to dodge roll over parrying since many attacks are fast but if you’re determined, try parrying the melee attacks to weaken it. Watch out for this spinning attack which I always dodged away from and eventually, it does this exploding poison move which causes its attacks to apply poison for a while.

The final serpent boss (5:13) only has 3 moves and hits like a truck. It starts with this giant summon circle which you need to avoid. It always summons 3 of these spear serpent mobs and 1 or more can be elite! These mobs act as normal and should be cleared out as soon as you can. If you have large swinging attacks, it can be helpful to clear out the mobs and even damage the boss at the same time. If you fail to kill any of the mobs before the boss starts the next summon circle, it’ll regenerate health based on how many mobs remain. However, if you manage to kill all three, it gives you a small window where the boss is weakened! Try to keep just out of range of the boss while you fight since its other two attacks always start in the same way. It’ll strike with its snake arm at a decent range and from here one of three things can happen. If you’re hit, you’re poisoned and the boss will just retract its arm. If you are inside of the range of its arm either because you dodged or parried, it’ll make a huge swinging arch with its arm. Lastly, and my preferred option, if you are outside the range of the arm, it’ll lunge forward with a devastating slam attack. Note that this lung can damage the mobs on the battlefield as well, thus I tended to bait this attack from the boss and rush to an enemy in hopes of dodging the slam and getting help clearing the mobs! If you can stay just out of range of the initial strike and constantly bait the lunge, it sets up an easy dodge followed by a great opportunity to counter attack.

Once you reach the top temple challenge and after defeating all three areas (which is no small feat), you enter a final area with three offering stones. You’ll need to offer gold and if you can’t afford the cost, you’ll have to settle for a penalty! Luckily, the cost is always the same. Each offering asks for 5,000 gold for the max perk. You may not need to buy the max version for all three depending on your gear and skill level but this game’s so tough that you might need to arrive here with 15,000 gold just to stay competitive with this wicked final boss.

T’amok
Free - Damage 25% HP
2500 gold - Heal or Damage 10% of HP
5000 gold - Heal 100% of HP

Yaatz
Free - Weapons lose 1 level
2500 gold - Highest level weapon loses 1 level, lowest level weapon gains 1 level
5000 gold - Weapons gain 1 level

Sich’al
Free - Destroy 2 highest level relics
2500 gold - Destroy highest level relic, 3 others gain one level
5000 gold - All relics gain 1 level

After you’ve made your offering, the battle begins and here’s what to look out for:
Avoid these area damage circles that spawn on the ground. They appear quickly and in great numbers. It’s easiest to dodge these if you aren’t stuck against the edge of the arena. Another attack is a huge beam forward that can be dodged in the same way as the lightning beam from the first Eagle boss; however, this final boss tends to search and spin a little faster, forcing you to be a bit more cautious. Next, you’ll notice your corruption bar will get a fiery glow and a red dagger looking thing will appear above your head. Wait until the final strike to dodge. If hit by this attack, not only will you take damage but one of your curses will be removed and by now you’ve probably learned how to curate and fight with your curses so this can mess up your game.

After some damage, the boss will summon mobs to fight. Luckily these mobs have red health bars so any life steal on kill buff you got will work on these.

If you manage to defeat this boss, you’ll then face the second form which has a host of new moves. The Corruption bar and falling dagger attack remains but the boss itself will now switch between a few weapon load outs with various attacks.

If it has a sword and gun, it can do a 5 attack melee combo which you can try to parry so that you get a weakened boss opening. It can also shoot consecutively with the gun, if you're far away, use this opportunity to dash towards the boss during the shots to refund the stamina cost and close the gap.

If it equips a bow, it can charge a homing shot which will swoop around and keep attacking you. It also shoots a volley of smaller arrows in a spreading formation which are easier to deal with at a distance since it’ll keep aiming towards you up close.

When it equips a giant two handed axe, it can do a huge spinning attack which goes really far forcing you to keep moving! Or it can lunge forward with a devastating slam attack.

And finally, if it equips a claw and dagger, it’ll do another 5 attack melee combo while moving forward just like with the sword; again, parry if you can time it right. It can also do a dash one or more times in a row.

Finally, don’t be greedy against this boss when you’re just learning the moves. You want to save your stamina so that you can dodge out of the many attacks you’ll face.