Blessings are one of the best ways to improve your chances for a successful run in Curse of the Dead Gods. Before beginning a playthrough, you can choose up to three blessings to make things easier. It’s only two at the beginning of the game, but you’ll be able to add a third before long with an upgrade.
Most blessings are unlocked by spending crystal skulls, though a select few require you to spend blood emblems. Every blessing can be useful in the right build or with the right playstyle, so experimentation is key for synergy. This guide highlights a few of the overall best options, so read on if you want to master those late runs in Curse of the Dead Gods.
Curse of the Dead Gods Blood Emblem Blessings
Let’s start with the three blessings you can unlock with blood emblems. This currency is much rarer than crystal skulls, so it’s fitting that these three blessings add a little more power than many of the others.
T’amok’s Breath
Your physical attacks (non-elemental) have a 50% chance to turn into fire attacks. This is probably the weakest of the three, only because it’s so easily replaced.
You’ll find several weapons throughout your journey with elemental attacks, making this a wasted spot. It is an extremely powerful effect if you’re using non-elemental weapons, but you’re probably better off filling your blessing spots with other things.
Grace of the Tempest
This one allows you to gain +1 Dexterity each time you complete a room without taking damage. It’s a monster and overall, probably the best blessing in the game.
Every point of Dexterity in Curse of the Dead Gods increases your damage by 2%, so longer runs will give you plenty of opportunities to raise your base stats significantly and turn into a DPS machine. Once you unlock this blessing, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that is more effective.
Reptilian Hunger
Your Greed Kill counter never runs out when you are out of combat. Neither does it reset between rooms. Your damage increases by 1% per active Greed Kill Count (up to 50%).
Not only is this effect incredibly powerful, but it works extremely well in conjunction with the Grace of the Tempest blessing. If you can reach a boss with a full Greed Kill counter and get some licks in before you lose it, you’ll get a huge damage boost.
Curse of the Dead Gods Crystal Skull Blessings
There are a few really strong blessings in Curse of the Dead Gods that can only be unlocked with crystal skulls. We’ll start by naming a few strong, early options that only cost a few skulls to unlock and will help you progress quickly when you’re first starting out.
Furious Skin
Furious Skin grants you a short-term damage boost after you take damage. This will probably help you squeak by tough fights in the early game, but you’ll likely want to focus on not getting hit in later runs, making Furious Skin obsolete.
Favor of Sich’al
Favor of Sich’al gives you 1,000 gold and 5 Perception (increasing your ability to find rewards) at the start of each run. This is huge in short runs, as you often won’t have long enough to see benefits from some of the other blessings. This one doesn’t scale as well for longer runs, however.
There are also a few other extremely strong blessings, which scale later into the game.
Gust of Agility
Gust of Agility gives you 5 Dexterity and 5-seconds of increased movement speed after a perfect dodge. This is a very strong blessing that gives you more damage in the early game without sacrificing late-game utility. The movement speed bonus is excellent, especially since perfect dodges are so key to successful late runs.
Storm’s Focus
Storm’s Focus fully restores your stamina after a successful parry. Even parrying experts can mess up the timing, which can reset a lot of other bonuses. That makes this a risky pick. If your parrying is spot on, though, you’ll essentially be able to forget about managing stamina.
Unquenchable Thirst
Unquenchable Thirst restores an extra stamina point after a greed kill. This blessing pairs perfectly with Reptilian Hunger, giving you much better stamina recovery. This gives you more options in combat and is one of the strongest and most universal picks in the game.
Serpent’s Bounty
Serpent’s Bounty makes bosses and champions drop 5 pieces of gear instead of 2 on defeat. This is a boon in long runs, as you’ll encounter many of these foes and want weapons with synergistic abilities when you hit the final few rooms. You can always sacrifice the extra gear to the gods, granting you small health, corruption, or stat boosts.
Skillful Adaptation
Skillful Adaptation gives your two-handed weapon a damage boost after defeating an enemy with either your main or secondary weapon, and vice versa. This blessing can be extremely powerful if you find the right gear, but it can also be underwhelming if you aren’t skilled at switching between weapons in the middle of a fight or if you can’t find strong weapons. It’s temperamental but can be devastating in the right build.
The Best Blessing Combination
When it’s all said and done, picking your blessings in Curse of the Dead Gods comes down to personal preference, either to accent your strengths or plug holes in your game. The three I find myself using most often are Grace of the Tempest, Reptilian Hunger, and Unquenchable Thirst.
This gives enough of a damage boost (if you can avoid taking hits) to ease the difficulty of later fights, while also providing a little extra help managing stamina in chaotic brawls.
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What’s your favorite Curse of the Dead Gods blessing combination? Let us know in the comments below, and consider check out our game page for more on Curse of the Dead Gods.
