Curse of the Dead Gods recently left early access with a bunch of new features that encourage the player to experiment with their builds on each different temple run. Because it’s a roguelike, you won’t always get exactly what you want, but it’s worth knowing what works best.
Whether it’s poison, critical damage, or a tanky build that eats boss attacks for breakfast, there are lots of different ways to customize your build. Relics, weapons, and even some curses can have some bizarre benefits. Here are some builds to try out in Curse of the Dead Gods.
5 Poison Build
This build is all about stacking as much poison damage as you possibly can. Poison has a very satisfying feel to it in Curse of the Dead Gods, as the ticking damage will make your enemies explode into a cloud of green haze. The game is all about synergy, so if you want to go for a poison build you should keep a lookout for items that work together.
There are some key poison weapons, like the Serpent Blade, Venomous Fangs, and the Serpent Bow, that all deal poison damage. The game doesn’t exactly tell you how poison damage is actually dealt to your opponent, but it deals a percentage of your overall attack damage and more damage is always better.
The poison build obviously relies on you being offered poison weapons early on. If you prioritize weapon upgrade rooms on your temple run you might be able to pick up some useful perks regardless, including a +30 percent damage to poisoned enemies, and increased critical damage for those extra hard-hitting poison swings. The Snake Fang relic is your best bet as it boosts poison damage by 40 percent.
4 Critical Damage Heal Build
This build is arguably one of the best ways to speedrun Curse of the Dead Gods. Stack critical hit modifiers wherever and whenever you can and watch your enemies explode. There are a bunch of different weapons, like the Sacrificial Macana (perfect for taking down bosses) which are kitted out for a crit run.
A great early game crit build is to pair the Forge Hammer, which deals critical damage against burning enemies, with the Blazing Shield, which sets enemies on fire. This basic synergy is the foundation of a crit build that can be used well into the later stages of Curse of the Dead Gods. It’s simple, but it works.
If you want to build a Crit Damage build that isn’t just about pure damage, you should pick up the Eagle’s Eye relic where possible. Its stat line is a simple one: five percent of critical damage dealt also heals you. You can see where this is going. This crit build provides huge damage and sustainability. Perfect.
3 Pure Gold Build
Even though gold is lost from run-to-run, stacking a huge gold build means you can continuously upgrade your weapons, relics, and statistics without costing yourself corruption or HP. This is a fun way to get max stats and damage.
There is one key weapon to keep in mind for a gold build: the Alchemist’s Firestick, which causes killed enemies to drop twice the amount of gold. However, this weapon on its own does not make a gold build, and at the same time, you can build a gold run without the Firestick.
The build is based on the Relics more than anything. The Golden Hourglass increases the Greed Kill time limit, perfect for stacking huge combos, whereas the Jewel of Transmutation can transform that critical damage and healing build we just mentioned into a gold production powerhouse.
2 Darkness Build
Although we mentioned in our Curse of the Dead Gods tips guide that you want to keep the light on at all times, sometimes you can shape a build that is based on the complete opposite. This build relies heavily on the Mark of the Damned relic, which increases damage in darkness.
Likewise, you need the Torch of Sorrow. This is actually a curse and as such, you can’t choose it, so this is a bit more hit-and-miss. The Torch of Sorrow makes it so you can longer light braziers, but you don’t take extra damage in the dark. A combination of the relic and this curse mean you deal extra damage while taking less, and you don’t even have to bother with keeping everything lit up. Nice.
1 Fire Build
The fire build is a classic Curse of the Dead Gods build and a good place to start for new players. We’ve already mentioned the Blazing Shield, but we’ll mention it again. This off-hand weapon deals fire damage and assists with Curse of the Dead God’s tricky parry system. Pair that shield with the Jaguar Claw relic, which boosts fire damage by a set percentage, and you have a strong build.
Another interesting weapon to pick up, if you come across it on your run, is the Cataclysm. This fire whip deals fire damage but also has a 50 percent chance to summon a fire jewel that will attack enemies for you. There are a lot of options for fire damage in the game. Keep in mind that fire will set your enemies alight and create fire on the ground. This can damage you as well but will remove the Darkness debuffs.
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