Top 6 Tips | How to not suck at Dead Cells | Part 1 

Me: “But I don’t suck at DEAD CELLS. I’ve played it for dozens of hours!” Also Me: “Uh, hand-of-the-who?”

Another tip: unlock the starting random weapons and shields ASAP so you don’t spend ages looking for stuff you like, and instead get a chance for it off-spawn

Here's a TL;DR for quick reference: 1) Stick to one color. 2) Learn to use shields. (Perhaps not so relevant anymore as they were heavily nerfed) 3) Keep your powers/skills/traps on cooldown. 4) Reroll affixes to create synergies once you have level IV, V or VI items. 5) Ignore the timed doors. Picking up all scrolls / chests on the level is more important. 6) Spend your money wisely. Don't forge early weapons. Don't buy stuff from the merchant in the first few levels.

Just started playing about a month ago. This is the most recent video I have found that's not full of fluff. Who has time to watch an hour and a half discussion on weapon Tiers?? This is much more to the point. I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned to my next 2BC run. Thanks for the tips, Skip.

The view count of this video does not represent the quality of it, great stuff, keep it up my man.

Another hint: Don't die

“Learn how to shield” *clicks off video*

An 11 minute guide with actual 11 minutes information? You deserve more subs and views. This helped me a lot since I'm playing this after a long time(I got the game when it was in early access)

So I took some tips to heart, and IMMEDIATELY got past the point in which I was constantly ending my runs! Thanks again, great tips and has me coming back to the game now.

Hi Skip, 5BC player here, just wanted to say this is a super well put together beginners guide for people and I'm sure it'll help a ton of people get through the early BC's, great job on the video, if it helps I'll just give a few pieces of supplementary advice to the points you made as well as a few other tips to help people struggling in the game. Point one: This is a really solid tip, however I do want to point out there are a few niche cases where you actually do want to take an off color scroll, often times in late game if you have a good number of scrolls grabbing the extra bulk after beating giant/in hpc can be really nice as the scrolls might not make a huge difference versus hand of the king due to things like damage caps, however in general yes, focus on one color per run. Point two: I'm glad you mentioned that shields aren't always needed, but to emphasize, in version 1.9/2.0 which is the current version of dead cells, shields are probably the weakest they've been in a really long time, green in particular has very few strong shield builds I feel and reds best builds don't need them a ton either, while purples strongest shield is 5BC locked so it's not always a great option, that said it is important to learn shields for sure, but just know that they aren't required people :D Point three: Nothing to add here really, great point, use skills people haha, they're there for a reason. I guess if I could say anything I'd say don't rush into a group if your skills are cooling down still, feel free to wait if you need to that way you won't just get bodied because your powerful grenade is turned off. Patience is super important in Dead Cells. Point four: one thing you didn't note here is not getting greedy with weapons/affixes in general, an item bought from Promenade with decent affixes (Bonus to poison for example) can honestly go the entire run if you want, this goes with the fact that scrolls scale way more than weapons do, with 4 scrolls being a 100% damage boost essentially, so yeah, don't get too greedy with rerolls trying to go for bonus to poison, bleed, and burning oil for example simple is better sometimes. Point five: Yes, very much, time doors are a trap after you get the blueprints for them. Going slower in general is way more important because it's way safer, you didn't point out that you're gonna also be less likely to notice secrets/challenge rifts if you're going fast, time doors are trash, only one that's worth it really is the 26 minute door in sepulcher through stilt village because it has such a generous timer. Point six: yupp yupp, preserving money is so important, buy a weapon in toxic/promenade/arboretum/prison depths/corrupted prison if you need, buy weapons if you see good synergy on them, and just go for simple combos in dead cells. Overall this was a fantastic beginners guide, if you ever want I'd be more than happy to give some more in depth super detailed posts and what not to help actually push past certain biomes/bosses/or just detailed combos with you, great presentation though!

Going buy this game looks deadly

Thank you! Straight away I went from dying in ancient sewers to dying in throne room

Tip 7: As someone who has beaten the game with 4 Boss cells (I later found out that you need to kill the giant for the 5th, woopie) food one of your most important assets. Never immediately use it unless you are below the healing threshold, but use it over your healing flask obviously. And my personal opinion is never use your flask unless there's no immediate food, and your screen is in red (I think that's about 15% health) and even then you do still have your 1-health protection, where it lets you live with 1 health if you take massive damage, and that comes back every 45 seconds.

So the times doors I use when I need cells but if I want to do a "serious run" I just look around for all the scrolls

Very, very nice. As someone who used to struggle at the game, and find videos talking about something a beginner knows. Either explicitly shown by the game or implicitly. You cut through all of the bs and get straight to the point.

Well damn, this was helpful. I've always just balanced everything and didn't go for a specific build. No wonder why I kept on getting bodied.

Man the shield tech leveled me up so much in this game, still the timing throws me off but man I'm having fun again. Thanks mang

I was struggling to beat the final boss for the first time until I realized how scrolls and the different colors of weapons actually worked. Lol, great video.

Coming back to this video to say that this was extremely helpful info. I was able to get past 1BC and 2BC realitively quickly after watching. Before I could barely beat normal mode. Great video!

Honestly the first tip helps tremendously and didn’t entirely think bout that 😅 I’d have my main power maybe 3-4 scrolls ahead but the others beefed up for health. Been having tremendous trouble getting past hand of the king. Running a heavy crossbow/sliced/heavy grenade build.

Watching for fun before jumping back into 4BC (was waiting for the ps4 performance fixes). This is an outstanding guide, keep up the great work!

Dude thank you so much. Easy to understand, well made video. I'm finally getting the hang of it and your tips helped tremendously. Stay safe brother!

I appreciate the video! I was getting frustrated, kept getting stuck at the clocktower. Watching tonight but will play tomorrow and apply these tips.

I really enjoyed this video. I started playing Dead Cells a few weeks ago and just love it. I also recognized there have to be ways to optimize things and was looking for a video just like this. Thanks!

Thanks. Just started DC after a looong Break again and this really helps getting used to it once more.

Great video! Regarding the scrolls: Prisoner's Quarters always has 2. If you do go for the first timed door, make sure you have them at the minimum.

OMFG! The yellow exclamation mark for the perfect parry! My mind is just blown after reading that! Gonna try!

This video is just great! I just got into dead cells and your videos have been super helpful

This game is so fkn addicting man. I love it. Lately my attention span has shortened so much i cant even watch a full episode of a dhow without switching it off out of boredom, so this games perfect for me

I never used shiels, and I always used brutality, tactics and survival And I used to go to the time doors. After some time playing with your tips I improved, thank you

Ok i really needed this video. I thought I knew what I was doing but I basically make all the mistakes listed in this video. Thanks for the content!

I definitely recommend using skills you like with your build, to get into using skills more. I used light speed and death orb a lot to help clear and speed thru, but keeping that mindset pushes you to think about using skills more often.

I ended up grinding out to the end of Boss Cell 1 and getting the second and I've still never tried learning parry timings. I think I should give it another go soon. Thanks for the tips!

Really good tips, I know from other games about often using low cd skills/traps and seek for synergies, but I kinda missed the parry mechanic playing the game and didn't use shields at all, so thanks for the video with all the basics so newbies like me can be sure to know all the main aspects of the game!

In such a short time and so many useful information.... man I love this vid

I am already good at the game but I had to see this ... I will take all the help I can get

Hey Skip! Thanks for your videos. I recently stumbled across your videos on Into The Breach, and yesterday I got the final achievement, pretty sure you helped a tad there! As for Dead Cells, I’ve been playing it on and off (got to the HOTK with 2 Cells equipped), so I’ll be definitely looking at your videos to see if there’s a crack that could help me going further. Anyway, just wanted to say that I appreciate your work, congrats!

Thanks for the tips man! Yeah, I was thinking of balancing three colors.. I’m gonna try stick to only one!

A little note for something that as a player of dead cells who’s reached 5 cell I’ve learned, explore and experiment, basically this means to try and take new routes in the game so you can find new runes and blueprints for new weapons, which leads me to my next point experiment with new weapons learn what you’re good at and try and use that rather than going the same route with the same weapons over and over

For the scroll tip, you forgot to hammer home why focusing on one stat is so important: damage doubles every 5 scrolls. 6 scrolls is 2x, 11 scrolls is 4x, 16 scrolls is 8x. Those are huge gains. You are much more likely to survive if you are killing enemies in 1-2 hits vs 8-16 hits or more. Timed doors are worth going for at some points in the game if you can consistently beat the first boss. If you rush for timed doors (using dodge-jump-dodge-jump to avoid enemies), you can skip turning in cells and quickly farm up the Forge or a particular blueprint. Just don't overdo it. Overall though, you are right that kill doors are the better target. And, regarding gold, if a player can't consistently reach the final boss on their current BC, then spending gold early on weapons or affixes is fine. Saving gold for later biomes only applies if you are consistently making it to those later biomes on every run. The core advice is fine, but a little too strict. It should be "make sure you have enough money for later biome gear and rerolls by not overspending early".

Thanks, I started playing Dead Cells recently on my phone and the information you gave was helpful.

Mobile Dead Cell player here, this guide is super helpful for us! I really appreciate it!

Just picked up Dead Cells, great video with very helpful tips. Thanks ! :D

I would just like to say that I have only watched three of the four videos in this series, and in only a couple of days, I managed to beat the Hand of the King with two boss cells activated. (I had been on two boss cells before watching these videos.) What astounds me is that I beat it with relative ease, too. In case you’re curious, I had a legendary nutcracker, a party shield, a crusher, and a legendary knife dance, with the mutations “What Doesn’t Kill Me,” “Extended Healing,” and “Blind Faith.” I focused greatly on survival. I don’t say that to tell you all to copy me (although if that works for you, go for it!), but just to say that these videos are really amazing!

Thanks for this! Might go melee, looks fun and brutal!

Great content. Very helpful. Liked and subbed, thanks.

Wow, great commentary, and awesome vid, subbed for sure

There's so much to this game. I love it!

The effort for this video compared to the views/likes is underrated, just bought the game and it's so fun

This video made me realize i made a mistake the why i always gets beaten by the boss is because im rushing and not thinking wisely your tips of taking my time really helps me thank you

Thanks, was looking for a gameplay video to figure out if I wanted to buy this one or not and you've sold me :)

Something that really helps out with optimization is pathfinding through areas, I never really saw anything related to how large of an advantage going through a path such as prison depth to ossuary. Or going through slumbering Sanctuary all the way to the giant, and skipping the castle. Discovering this on the deadcells wiki was really what helped going from 1 cell mode all the way to beating the ""super secret boss fight""

Very good advice. I already knew all of this, so the advice wasn't super useful to me in particular, but it was great advice regardless. Especially great for newer players, great job

i always felt like i’m doing something wrong because i never got those timed doors i was like: „they are in the game and it’s usually not good to ignore parts of the game and expect to still be very good“ but apparently i did nothing wrong :)

Started playing a few days ago, this is my new favourite game of all time.

I just started playing Dead Cell and I’m going for the timed doors just to farm cells. I think it’s the best way to get them quickly in the early game

Another brilliant video

I love this and appreciate this as a new player :) thank you

so i wouldve written the exact same guide and im stuck at one boss cell. really looking forward to the next videos

Thanks to Your Tips I Finally Finished Dead Cells today... THX MATE c:

I'm gonna make an arcade cabinet for this. A game this good deserves it's own cabinet.

OMG, I suck so bad at this game (suck more only in Hades) but I found those tips very helpful. Subbed!

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for knowing some of this stuff already but great video regardless!

7:58 I like that one. Until 2 BSC I always tried going for both doors in PQ while getting all the scrolls, but the priority was still taking no damage and getting the scrolls, which can be done if you find the scrolls fast or by getting cursed in the specialist room to reveal the map, and my position was "If I'm getting cursed anyways I might as well grab the cursed sword so I can do PQ with it". Since it's the first level you can retry it really fast until you get a consistent way to keep doing that. With 3BSC I stopped going for 2 minute door because there is this guy that chases after you and that freaks me out lol. Instead I started to try and kill everything as safely as possible and recycling everything I don't need to get more money. It seems that's what I'll keep doing in 4 BSC but I dunno because I just got it yesterday lol. The remaining levels, yeah, better get everything. I remember there was a time in which the timed doors were in the levels and had scrolls in them, but that's not the case anymore.

So helpful!! Thank you

Man noice vid I play dead cells from so long and i cant beat the 5 cells mode brhu but I came here to check and I learn som things Thanks alot

Gonna follow this. I love the game, but I'm crap at it, I did manage to get a lot unlocked, and I have managed to get to the Hand of the King, but I still have a lot I need to practice on.

Thank you for the tips! Especially the how to shield 3:41

Great video thanks man

Thanks man, I was pretty clueless until I found ya

Good video. This game is kicking my ass!

thanks so much, subbed and watching your playlist now

A couple more tips: 1) Use Custom Game Mode. As you continue to unlock weapons, traps and skills you're going to find ones that you absolutely hate. Using custom game mode you can stop those items from appearing in the game (outside of legendary altars iirc). A good use of this is to, once you find a particular build you like, lock out most items that don't scale with that build. Just keep in mind that unless you have 20 items at minimum unlocked, you won't be able to receive achievements if that's something you're interested in. Note, mutations don't count towards this 20 item count but you should keep all of those unlocked at all times anyways since you get to choose those yourself. 2) Unlock permanent upgrades (Healing flask upgrade, Weapon tubes, gold bag increases etc.) followed by mutations first. Once you have those done, start on weapons/traps/skills. Save costumes for last.

Also something i learned recently, use your homunculus rune like crazy, it roots at random times, and its free dps.

as a new player i just speedrunning the first stage under 2 minutes,the room gave you 20 cells and that's really helpful for unlocking the things.

Here’s another tip. You have 5 weapons, because you should remember the amulet. It can have some really powerful affixes that combo well with your other weapons. An example that comes to mind is when I got an ++ amulet that created burning oil on the floor.

My favorite weapon combo is frozen shard and big hammer. It's pretty good.

*I got this video notification before I starting to play but then I ignored this but now here I am😂*

I love your guide! Youre also the only one ive seen who actually OPENS doors and not smashes through them lol

Dude, I'm at boss cell 2 and Imy builds have pretty much been, "which color gets me the most health" I'm amazed I got here lol

Sh*t... how did youtube know i needed this

me: *sees that this guy's playing on Xbox* "ahh, a man of culture" also me: *sees that he has his left ability set to B instead of LT* "this hurts me physically to look at"

Thanks! So useful

This all makes sense thank you

Alright, I'm coming back to this video to say thank you, for the longest time I could barely ever make it to the Hand of the king, and now I've beaten all the bosses at least once on normal mode, managed to get 2 Boss Stem Cells, and even unlocked the gold Concierge outfit. I even just beat the queen and her servants. I went from passively liking this game, to outright loving it.

Great video!

I actually think the time keeper is easier with tank weapons like flint or nutcracker

Meta Tip: Check the date of whatever tip you read because things change a lot over time , for example at release (when I started playing) a very easy way to win was just taking items that reduced damage even if they don't synergise with your build and you could get to like 50% damage reduction basically braking the game lol

I am loving this game. I am still very novice but these are some great tips.

"Learn to love shields" Me: NEVER *proceed to roll violently*

well i heard about a set with the spite sword (i think this is how it is called baiscaly the sword that makes you do crits if you took damage or cursed) and baiscally you should hold up your shield to take damage in it and maybe then parry so yeah

You want to pick up colourless weapons and shield, I think they improve whichever upgrades you choose from scrolls. I had colourless boomerang with one extra ammo and by the time I was near the end the dps was over 3000 and it was burning down all the enemies quickly. Just before the final boss though I picked up colourless glyph and used that cos of the over shield. The best tip I think though is to do with what you unlock, don't unlock weapons, powers and traps that you're unlikely to use.

I just started playing Dead Cells on mobile few days ago. I struggle with many buttons to press with my right thumb. So I switched to auto-hit mode. Currently at 1BC. I'm still getting learning the timing to parry .

I just played today and it is a port from my mobile phone. It's a really great game but I'm just not used to some of the terms like BC, the biomes, and other stuff. So thank you for this guide!

Quality content my friend :)

Thanks I'll give your tips a go. I'm not enjoying the game so far so will try this then probably shelve it.

Even tho I'm unable to play this game still liking this vdo and also some of the tips are similar to other rpg games 👍

Dude ty for this video

This game is extremely fun

I managed to get all the scrolls and get to the next bio with 1:59 and its not as difficult as it seems just learn to parry alot and you'll be fine great vid btw keep up the good work