Corruption is a unique and nifty mechanic that’s sure to add a twist to each run in Curse of the Dead Gods. That’s because you will, no doubt, suffer from random curses that the game throws your way. Here’s our Curse of the Dead Gods guide to help you manage these corruption and curses mechanics.
Note: For more information, check out our Curse of the Dead Gods guides and features hub.
Curse of the Dead Gods guide: Managing corruption and curses
Corruption, as mentioned in our Curse of the Dead Gods beginner’s guide, increases through the following means:
- Every new room you enter adds +20 corruption. This amount increases in later temple tiers/exploration difficulty modes.
- If you stumble upon an altar and you don’t have the gold for a weapon or relic, you can pay a “blood offering.” This increases your corruption’s value based on the indicated amount.
- Lastly, certain enemy attacks will add corruption. The gist is that purple means it’s bad.
Once your corruption meter reaches 100 points, you’ll suffer from a random curse. But, it doesn’t stop there. Corruption can still be increased since there will be a new threshold. If you’re not careful, you can get a second, third, and fourth curse. Here are some examples:
- Cadaverous Infestation – Regular mobs spawn additional enemies (i.e., bats) when killed.
- Dark Swiftness – Dodging makes you intangible and increases your dodging window of opportunity (extra survivability). However, perfectly dodging before getting hit no longer regenerates a stamina pip.
- Trapped Chests – Chests have a trigger mechanism and you need to parry it to unlock your reward. Chests also have a chance to drop an additional item.
- Dark Fervor – Corruption passively increases over time, but going through a door no longer adds corruption to your meter.
- Dark Mysteries – The effects of other curses that afflict you are unknown until you remove this one.
- Creeping Gloom – Taking damage extinguishes all light sources in a large zone, but you deal additional damage while in the light.
- Torch of Sorrow – Your torch can still reveal traps, but it can no longer light braziers. You don’t take increased damage while standing in darkness.
Note: There are also others that provide a detriment, as well as an extra effect that’s related to healing.
The fifth curse
The ones mentioned above, and many others, can randomly pop up as your first four curses. Now, if you already have an active fourth curse and you still reach 100 corruption, you’ll get the fifth curse.
It’s called “Xbeltz’aloc’s Truth” and it’ll consistently deplete your health until you have only 1 HP remaining. Needless to say, this will be a race against time.
How to efficiently combat (or use) corruption and curses
If you wish to remove a curse that you’ve incurred during your Curse of the Dead Gods runs, then you have to kill a boss-type enemy (i.e., champions or avatars). This is only applicable in lengthier temple explorations where multiple bosses exist.
As for countering and lowering corruption, look for weapon affixes and relics:
- Ancient Censer – Gold offerings
- Ring of Purity – Greed kills
- Weapon affixes that lower corruption after getting a kill.
Others, meanwhile, only lessen the potential amounts you obtain:
- Chimeric Shimmer – Lower corruption gains when entering new rooms
- Crystal Shards – Enemy spells deal less corruption
- Tainted Effigy – Reduces the cost of blood offerings on altars
Conversely, you could also try playing around with the mechanics. This could be done if you’re pursuing a particular build or if a weapon affix provides buffs depending on the number of curses.
Regarding the former, the “Touch of Sorrow” curse I mentioned above is actually integral if you want to focus on a build emphasizing combat while in darkness.
As for the latter, a cursed weapon might also have an affix that gives a DPS buff (i.e., +20% damage per active curse).
Naturally, these tidbits are for more advanced runs since you’ll need to juggle these mechanics effectively. If you risk too much, you could end up suffering in the end.
Curse of the Dead Gods is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
