Rise of the Giant includes a wealth of new content. Some of it is unlocked after beating the game at least once, but the rest of it, including new skins, skills weapons, and enemies, is meant for players of all skill levels and experience with the game.
That being said, there is a brand-new level, boss, and ending added for the most advanced players that completely changes the story’s trajectory.
Custom mode can now be accessed after a few runs through the game, but without players having to defeat the final boss. Of particular note is the fact that a large percentage of the changes to the game’s balance, design, and interface have come from community suggestions.
This is Dead Cells’ first major update, and it appears Motion Twin is following in Respawn Entertainment’s footsteps with its update philosophy: implementing fewer updates with more content based heavily on user feedback.
The full patch notes are truly massive and can be found below via Motion Twin.
Balancing
Necromancy mutation now reduces Malaise infection when killing elites and bosses. Version 1. 2. 4. (Community suggestion) Bleed, poison and fire DoTs can no longer interrupt enemy attacks. Version 1. 2. 4. (Community suggestion) Death Orb now inflicts enough total damage to kill multiple enemies in most levels. Version 1. 2. 4. New rare weapon affix: “the victim emits a toxic cloud on every hits”. Version 1. 2. 4. (Community suggestion) BossCell 0: balanced all enemy tiers (the beginning of most levels should be slightly easier, but the ending remains the same). Version 1. 2. 4. (Community suggestion) BossCell 1-2: enemy tiers before Black Bridge are lower, while the ones after and before Castle are slightly higher. Fixed insane Cavern difficulty. Version 1. 2. 4. (Community suggestion) BossCell 3-5: decreased many level enemy tiers, especially before Black Bridge. Fixed insane Cavern difficulty. Version 1. 2. 4. New item: remedy that reduces Malaise level (it can be bought in food shops). Version 1. 2. 5. Tainted flask mutation now refills 1 flask unit if it’s empty and you kill X elite enemies. This X scales down with your Brutality. Version 1. 2. 5. Soldier Resistance mutation now limit your Malaise increments to 1 unit every 1. 2s (instead of the default “1 unit every 0. 35s”). Version 1. 2. 5 You can’t received more than 1 Malaise infection marker every 0. 35 sec (used to be capped at 0. 2 sec). Version 1. 2. 5. (Community suggestion) Decreased What doesn’t kill me heal values. Version 1. 2. 5. Some very specific weapons are no longer affected by the Ammo x2 mutation (like Boomerang, Frost blast, etc. ) Version 1. 2. 5. Extended Healing now heals 85% HP in 15 sec, it adds extra dmg during that duration. It gives a chance to drop a small Malaise remedy when killing Elites. Version 1. 2. 5. Parry and Punishment are no longer Tactic shields. Version 1. 2. 5 Updated the Hayabusa Gauntlets: they now inflict critical hits if the target has 40% HP or less. Version 1. 2. 5.
(Community suggestion) Balanced Blade will now have increasing damage (up to +100%) as long you continuously hit something. It deals Critical hits after 10 hits. Version 1. 2. 5. (Community suggestion) Meat Skewer now performs 3 dashes in a row that pierces enemies in front of you. Version 1. 2. 5. (Community suggestion) Bosses & Elites will now get more life in higher difficulties. Version 1. 2. 5. (Community suggestion) Poison, bleed and fire no longer trigger the free shield related force-field. Version 1. 2. 6. (Community suggestion) Rapier now inflicts critical hits after a shield parry. Version 1. 2. 6. (Community suggestion) Added random items as rewards for some puzzle rooms containing blueprints you already have. Version 1. 2. 6. (Community suggestion) Enemies protected by shields can’t teleport. Version 1. 2. 7. Balanced Pyrotechnics damage. Version 1. 2. 7. (Community suggestion) Hayabusa boots will now inflict extra damage to enemies pushed against a wall. The bump effect on last hit is also slightly more powerful. Version 1. 2. 7. Greed Shield now drops higher rewards if you own less than X gold. This number scales with your stats. Version 1. 2. 7. Hokuto Bow can no longer be affected by the Ammo x2 mutation. Version 1. 2. 8. (Community suggestion) Ammo stuck on Conjonctivius will now drop during its invincibility phases. Version 1. 2. 8. Fixed some incompatible shield affixes (ie. freeze + poison) Version 1. 2. 8 Shield bearer enemy is no longer stopped by cute worms or turrets when charging. Version 1. 2. 8. (Community suggestion) Explosive Crossbow is now about twice faster but has limited ammo (which auto-refills). Its damage & stun ability were balanced accordingly. Version 1. 2. 8. Heavy Crossbow now has a mini-hook when starting to charge that pulls any nearby enemy. Version 1. 2. 9. Added a short “soft interrupt” effect to the Hook skill (temporarily suspends enemy attack charging). This should prevent immediate enemy attacks after hooking. Version 1. 2. 9.
Level Design
Graphics and UI
Whether taking advantage of the game’s Steam sale and getting into Dead Cells for the first time or coming back as a seasoned expert, our Dead Cells guide portal has everything players need to stay alive as long as possible.
