Curse

Curse is a mechanic in Dead Cells where the Beheaded is punished for angering the gods. Curses cause any amount of damage to one-hit kill the player, and they must kill enemies in order to lift it. Curses function as a risk-reward mechanic that can greatly benefit the player with rewards such as Scrolls, Gems and healing.

Mechanics
Nearly all sources of damage kill the player while cursed, regardless of their current health or any damage-reducing abilities they may have.
 * Curses work off of a point-based system, where killing enemies reduces your total points by one. Each time you get cursed, another set of points is added to the total amount of curse points you have.
 * Curses have synergies with certain Gear and Mutations.

The following damage sources instantly kill the player while Cursed:
 * Any enemy hit that deals at least 1 damage, even while blocking with a shield.
 * Any trap hit.
 * Jumping into a bottomless pit.
 * Damage-over-time due to.
 * Self-damage from using continuously for too long.

While most sources of damage kill the player in a single hit while cursed, there are a few exceptions:
 * Darkness in the Forgotten Sepulcher.

While cursed, the player can not use the Homunculus Rune.
 * However, the player can still use the Homunculus Rune if the only source of curse is the Cursed Sword.

Synergies

 * While cursed, the does  hits.
 * makes it so decreasing the curse counter restores 5% HP but increases the number of enemies required to lift the curse by 50%.
 * reduces gained curse counter from sources by half, but consuming food curses you.
 * Having both alienation and acceptance will reduce curse gain by 25%, rounded up.

Trivia

 * Curses are the only mention of gods in the entire game.