Roguelite action platformer Dead Cells has a new update coming up, which has gone from alpha to beta stage. In its updated patch notes, Evil Empire and Motion Twin have revealed changes for the new Tombstone weapon and the No Mercy mutation. Foes killed by the third hit of the Tombstone’s combo will cause nearby foes to be “doomed.”
This will spawn tombstones above them and deal damage. Enemies dying from this effect will add an additional tombstone to already doomed foes, though these deal reduced damage. Of course, only foes that are in visible range will be doomed. The total amount of doom damage is also capped at three waves.
As for the No Mercy mutation, it still instantly kills regular foes that are under 15 percent health. However, the effect is halved for bosses, which means they need to have 7.5 percent health remaining. It should still make for a good clear skill, especially when paired with weapons like Hokuto’s Bow. For more details on the changes, check out the patch notes here.
Dead Cells is available for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. It’s sold over five million units till date and received another paid DLC, Fatal Falls, in January.
Whack-a-mole Update
Balancing
Nerfed and clarified the effect of the Tombstone:
- A third hit kill now doom mobs only in a (visible) circular range.
- Only mobs caught in the initial range are susceptible to subsequent waves of doom. An icon denotes doomed mobs.
- Mobs can suffer at most 3 wave of decreasing damage of doom.
The No Mercy mutation now works for a non-scaling 15% of mobs life. Effect is halved (so 7.5%) for bosses.
Graphics & UI
- The Collector’s Intern UI is no longer titled “The Collector”.
- Renamed the wooden club from Cudgel to Toothpick. The Cudgel is already the name of a shield.
- Renamed the heavy axe from Guardian’s Axe to Oven Axe. Much more coherent that way.
Quality of life
- Reduced the slow-mo effect of the Tombstone to more bearable levels.
- Added a visible countdown for the Broken Toothpick regrow.
- Added an option to chain dodge rolls when holding the button. This doesn’t bypass the cooldown.
