Overview
If you’re already good at the game and are looking for a challenge other than high cell modes, then you may be ready to start the insanity produced by DarkVexon on the Steam Workshop.
The Mods
Dead Cells Doubled: [link]
Description: Doubles the number of enemies, cell pods and gold pods in the game, as well as doubling the value of the loot in each level, meaning VERY high quality gear. Effects aren’t very noticable until you get very deep. Ossuary will have lots and lots of cells.
Dead Cells Tripled: [link]
Description: Boy, you guys are gluttons for punishment. I doubled the number of enemies, gold packs, cell packs, and value of loot, but you wanted more. More baddies, I was told! More challenge! And thus, here you are! TRIPLE the enemies. TRIPLE the gold and cell packs (there’s absolute TONS in Ossuary now.) TRIPLE the loot value, so your swords, shields n’ shooters are stronger than ever. TRIPLE IT ALL!! Have fun, yall!
Quadruple Cells: [link]
Description: You asked for it. I delivered. Four times the enemies, and they scale twice as fast. Bosses are twice as strong. Weapons are four times the quality. You get double the scrolls in each level. Ossuary should literally max out your forge in a few runs.
Dead Cells X5 – EXTREME: [link]
Description: Dead Cells multiplied by 5, because some absolute madman (Punt on Steam) managed to finish Quadruple Cells.
This mode has the most work so far, and in my experience the most difficult as well.
Features:
-ALL enemies now spawn in ALL regions, asides from Fogger, Shielder, Spike Shroom, and Golem.
-UNUSED ENEMIES are also included in that “ALL ENEMIES” dealeo. Watch out for flying threats and more!
-FIVE TIMES the number of enemies. Note that due to the way the game works, the more ‘big’, ‘lategame’ enemies you get, the less enemies there are in general. Swarm levels may not be as high as Quadruple Cells in places.
-FIVE TIMES the strength of your equipment. Your starting weapons will be level five and will get absolutely crazy strong quickly.
-DOUBLE the number of stat upgrades. It won’t be enough, but it’ll hold off the horde a solid bit.
-FIVE TIMES the number of Cell Pods and Gold Pods. In addition, Cell Pods and Gold Pods now have a base chance to spawn everywhere, and you’ll get slightly more Cells and Gold generally too.
-A SECRET LEVEL replaces the Slumbering Sanctuary. I’m warning you, it’s a hell of an ambush. And your abilities may not be very useful…
Prerequisites
This section covers what you should have already accomplished before attempting a given difficulty. Each difficulty level assumes you already have all of the prerequisites of the easier difficulty levels. This guide assumes that you will be playing the mods on 0 cell difficulty.
Dead Cells Doubled:
- Beaten the final boss at least twice on 0 cell difficulty
- Have all four charges of your health flask unlocked
- Have the random starting bow, shield, and weapons unlocked
Dead Cells Tripled:
- Beaten one cell difficulty
- Maxed out the first level of the blacksmith
- Have all of the runes, including the Spider rune and Ram rune
- (Recommended) Completed Dead Cells Doubled
Quadruple Cells:
- Beaten two cell difficulty
- Can reliably beat 1 cell difficulty normally
- Maxed out the second level of the blacksmith
- (Recommended) Completed Dead Cells Tripled
Dead Cells X5 – EXTREME:
- Unlocked most of the items in the game
- Capable of adapting to any build
- Maxed out the blacksmith completely
- Completed Quadruple Cells (Intentionally not listed as recommended)
Any future levels:
- Cleared the previous level
Bugfixing
Sometimes this mod will crash when you try to start a run. Just restart your run and it should work.
If the crash doesn’t let you close it and you are on Windows 10, use Win+Tab and drag Dead Cells to another desktop (top left), then open Task Manager (accessed via Ctrl+Alt+Del) and close Dead Cells then launch it again. Make sure to hit Restart and not Continue after a crash, otherwise it will crash again.
How to Survive
All difficulties:
- Ignore most of the enemies, especially on high difficulties. (At least until you pass the Stilt Village (formerly Fog Fjord) because it holds the last timed door.
- Run through the entire level and grab every scroll you can find. Use your map to track down any starred enemies and kill them.
- Be prepared to cheese everything in the later levels (ex: Using Barnacles (formerly Ceiling Turrets) works well for clearing out rooms in the clock tower.)
- Be extremely careful of using weapons that increase the damage you take.
- For mutations, take cooldown reduction and survivability mutations. Damage increases aren’t as useful at high scroll levels.
Less than Dead Cells X5:
- Always wield a weapon and a shield.
- Allocate stats so that you will have high damage and health. (Survival builds work well as long as you can fight bosses with slower weapons)
- Get every bit of damage resistance* you can find. I recommend using the Rampart (formerly Force Shield) because of its high damage resistance bonus for wielding and for the ability to gain invincibility off of a quick parry)
Dead Cells X5 and beyond:
- Never stop moving
- Learn to navigate using your minimap. Often when you are moving vertically you will be moving too quickly for the camera to show you what’s above or below you and getting caught in a dead end will almost certainly kill you.
*I’ve heard that damage resistance caps at 75%, but I am unsure if this is up-to-date information. If it is, then you can probably use whatever gear you want by the end of the run because endgame necklaces in the higher difficulty levels give 90% damage reduction.
Suggested Builds
Hyper Tank:
Hokuto’s Bow, Bulwark, Grenades. (All of these give damage resistance) If possible, use Survival scaling grenades so you can get extreme amounts of health. This build is most useful at Dead Cells X4 and below.
Dedicated Cheese:
Tactics scaling weapon, Bulwark, Turrets. (Barnacles, Double Crossbow-matic, and Heavy Turret are most useful) Use the Heavy Turret if you use your weapon frequently, otherwise the other options are safer. Barnacles are the most generally useful, but they can’t block ranged attacks for you.
Speedy Boi:
Swift Sword, Bulwark, Corrupted Power, Phaser. (Also use the longer speed buff mutation) This build is probably the riskiest, but is great for confident players at X4 and below.
Bragging
The most important part of clearing this mod is bragging. If you are the first to clear a difficulty level, make sure to take screenshots as proof and inform the mod creator (DarkVexon).