Equipment

Dead Cells provides players with multiple options of style defining Gear in the form of various Weapons, which have limited but different movesets, Skills, which cause a variety of effects but must cool down between uses, and Talismans, passive items which can grant powerful offensive or defensive benefits.

Gear items, like Pickups, are not automatically collected - they must be picked up using the Interact key. Alternately, in most cases, these items can be recycled into gold instead if the appropriate upgrades have been unlocked.

Most pieces of gear appear with one or more Affixes which add effects or grant situational benefits. Only non-starter level-one gear items and unique talismans lack affixes of any kind (starter gear items always generate with the affix "Can not be sold.").

Weapons
Only two weapons can be carried at a time. Attempting to pick up a third weapon will summon a prompt which compares all three weapons and asks the player to choose whether to discard a carried weapon in order to pick up the new weapon.

The following is a list of weapons in the game Dead Cells. Damage output of non-shield weapons is increased based on the player's Brutality Stat, though some weapons can instead scale with either Tactics (some ranged weapons) or Survival (some slow, heavy-hitting weapons).

Shields
Shields are a special sub-class of weapons which focuses on protecting the player from damage rather than killing enemies.

Carrying a shield causes a force field to be granted for 0.5 seconds whenever the player takes damage. This barrier absorbs most types of damage while active (the exception is damage-over-time from status effects such as poison and darkness).

Holding a shield's assigned button deploys it in front of the player. Attacks originating from in front of the shield which hit the player are reduced by the percentage specified on the shield (usually 75%), and block damage is dealt to enemies using melee attacks.

Tapping a shield's assigned button instead causes the player to attempt a parry. If no attacks arrive within the parry window, the player loses the ability to block or parry again for 0.6 seconds. However, if a non-shockwave attack or a bomb comes into contact with the shield during the parry window, any damage is nullified completely, the player is healed for 4% of maximum health, and additional effects occur depending on the nature of the attack: Block and parry damage outputs of shields are usually increased based on the player's Survival stat. The absorbed percentage of damage while blocking, however, can only be increased by the presence of a particular affix (7% extra absorbed damage while held up).
 * Melee attackers take parry damage (indicated on the shield as a critical damage value).
 * Ranged attacks are absorbed, then shot out as a forward arrow (like those produced by relevant affixes) which deals 80 base damage.
 * Bombs are thrown forward at great speed, exploding for 90 base damage.
 * Explosions are absorbed without producing any retaliatory attacks.

Skills
Skills are secondary abilities in Dead Cells that can be used in combat. The player must find skills throughout the run, as they will never start with them. Skill damage and cooldown are improved based on the player's Tactics stat, though some skills can instead scale their effects (but not their cooldowns) with Brutality or Survival.

The player has two skill slots. Upon picking up a third skill, a menu which compares all three will appear, allowing the player to choose which of the three skills to discard.

Equipped skills can be swapped with each other in the pause menu, using the Interact key.

Talismans
Talismans are passive equipment items. Most talismans do not have innate benefits - their utility comes from the affixes on them.

Only one talisman can be carried at a time. Upon picking up another talisman, a menu will appear, allowing the player to choose which of the two to keep.

Talismans can be sorted into two categories: amulets (generated talismans) and unique talismans.

Amulets
You may only equip one amulet at a time, but their effects are powerful... "A fine object, adroitly hidden under your clothes to make less work for the artists." Generated talismans, called amulets, come in ruby, golden, ice, sapphire and moonstone varieties and are most frequently acquired by defeating Elite enemies. They have no innate qualities, but always have one or two passive affixes in addition to one or two stat-upgrading affixes (+X Brutality/Tactics/Survival).

As amulets are leveled items, the weapon levels of Biomes impact the quantity and quality of the affixes on amulets found within them, especially stat-upgrading ones.

Minor Affixes
Minor affixes are written in green text.
 * Damage taken reduced by 10%/15%/30%
 * Each amulet can only have a single damage reduction affix.
 * Damage from projectiles reduced by 75%
 * Each amulet can only have a single damage reduction affix.
 * Collect cells and gold without needing to be in range.
 * Poison enemies that hurt you. / You release a toxic cloud when you take damage.
 * You can jump three times in the air. / You get 2 bonus jump in the air.
 * Drops a bomb (XX damage) when you roll.
 * Damage begins at 25 and scales based on the player's Strength stat in the same manner as conventional weapon damage.


 * You get gold when you get a Dead Cell from an enemy.
 * A golden cell drops whenever a Dead Cell drops.
 * Long dive attacks cause the ground to ignite.
 * All diving attacks leave flammable oil on the ground.

Major Affixes
Major affixes grant powerful effects. A single amulet may only have one major affix. They are written in green-yellow text.
 * Make you invisible after 5 without attacking. Your next strike while still being invisible inflicts +150% damage.
 * Attacks of all kinds and actions that trigger cutscenes (entering doors, grabbing scrolls, opening chests, etc.) will end invisibility.
 * Poison no longer affects you. Sewers, here we come... / Poison heals you rather than hurting you.
 * Poison status effects still occur, but the damage over time is nullified (or turned into healing over time).
 * Any enemy that touches you is frozen.
 * Freezes enemies that hit the player with melee attacks, regardless of whether the attacks were parried.
 * Rolling ignites the ground for 3 seconds.
 * Every step you take burns the ground for 3 seconds.
 * All the damage you take is also dealt to nearby enemies.
 * You leave behind a cloud of toxic gas when you roll.
 * Super Mario Mode: Jumping on an enemy's head stuns it.
 * Reveals secret passages.

Unique Amulets
There are currently only two unique talismans, neither of which can possess affixes of any kind.

Prisoner's Collar
"'Nothing worth mentioning, except maybe a vague whiff of dead rat...'" The player starts every run with the Prisoner's Collar equipped. It gives no benefits of any kind.

"Ygdar Orus Li Ox!"
'''Saves your life ONCE. Does NOT work against Curses.''' "Who says you can't cheat Death?" The Ygdar Orus Li Ox (abbreviated as YOLO) will revive the player and freeze nearby enemies for several seconds if the player would otherwise be desecrated, barring curses. Curses will desecrate the player regardless.

Ygdar Orus Li Ox can only be found in certain zones, behind gold doors.