Stats

Stats are a mechanic in Dead Cells which modifies the player's damage output and health pool, as well as properties of many mutations based on their level during a run. There are three different stats: Brutality, Tactics, and Survival. All stats are set to 1 at the start of every new run and can be increased through specific actions.

Many Weapons and Skills have the option of scaling their damage off of either of two stats - for these items, the larger of the two stats is used as the damage scaling stat (this is indicated by the larger stat's color dominating the item's icon; if both stats are equal, the icon is split equally into the two stats' colors). Colorless items and dive attacks always scale off of the largest stat.

The various stats serve as broad outlines for playstyles, and have a number of themes associated with each. For example, Brutality items are often quick, one-handed melee weapons and offensive skills. Many of these items inflict bleed or burn, and lack defensive or ranged capabilities. Its mutations expand on this by enhancing the power of rapid melee attacks, inflicting bleed with said attacks, or reducing skill cooldowns when slaying foes with melee attacks.

Damage scaling
When the player picks a stat, the damage of items scaling with this stat is increased by +15% (provided it is the highest value stat for dual-color items). The scaling formula is identical for all colors: if one picks a Brutality stat, the DPS of Brutality-scaling items will increase by 15%; if one picks a Tactics or Survival stat, the DPS of Tactics and Survival-scaling items will increase by 15%.

In the table below, you will find the cumulative multiplier applied to an item's base DPS as the player's stat number increases. In this example, it shows the cumulative multiplier and resulting increase in DPS for the Assassin's Dagger I, a Brutality-scaling sword, until 20 Brutality levels. The formula used is the same for all colors, i.e. [Base DPS] × 1.15(Stats - 1). In this example, the Stats value corresponds to the player's Brutality level.

As you can see from this table, the exponential nature of the scaling formula means that at high Stat levels, each additional stat grants significant increases in DPS. While the % increase itself does not change (15%), the absolute DPS increase becomes more and more important. For example, going from 2 to 3 stats only grants an additional 70 DPS, which may not feel like a big upgrade when fighting enemies, but going from 19 to 20 stats results in a 646 DPS increase. Thus, in late biomes where the player has high stats, taking one or two additional scrolls can often be the difference between killing enemies with only one versus 2+ attacks. A general rule of thumb is that the DPS is doubled with every +5 stats.

Health scaling
To determine the player's max health, the player's base health (100) is multiplied by 3 separate values, which rely on the current level of Brutality, Tactics, and Survival that the player currently has. Each color grants a different relative percentage of health increase, with Survival giving the highest upgrade and Tactics the lowest. For each additional stat, the relative health increase becomes lower (e.g. going from 2 to 3 Survival stats will grant a 41% total health increase, but going from 9 to 10 Survival will only grant a 12% increase).


 * Dual-stat scrolls have a higher chance of generating with the player's lowest stats. For example, if the player has 10 Brutality, 1 Tactics, and 1 Survival, then the likelihood of a Guardian's scroll (Tactics/Survival) is likelier than a scroll capable of boosting the player's "main" stat. Exact percentages are unknown.

Brutality
The Brutality stat gives a slightly weaker health increase than Survival (65% for second Brutality level) up until 35 Brutality levels.

Brutality can be increased during a run by using Epic Scrolls of Power, selecting the Brutality +1 option while using Assassin's (Brutality/Tactics) or Minotaur's (Brutality/Survival) scrolls, Scrolls of Power, or equipping an amulet with Brutality on it (+1 to +4).

The table below shows values for health increase as you get more Brutality levels up to 30 Brutality level (assume that Survival and Tactics are kept at 1 while Brutality is increased).

Tactics
The Tactics stat gives the weakest health increase (50% for second Tactics level) up until 25 Tactics levels.

Tactics can be increased during a run by using Epic Scrolls of Power, selecting the Tactics +1 option while using Assassin's (Brutality/Tactics) or Guardian's (Tactics/Survival) scrolls, Scrolls of Power, or equipping an amulet with Tactics on it (+1 to +4).

The table below shows values for health increase as you get more Tactics levels (assume that Survival and Brutality are kept at 1 while Tactics is increased).

Survival
The Survival stat is the largest factor in determining the size of the player's health pool (gives 70% extra health for second Survival level).

Survival can be increased during a run by using Epic Scrolls of Power, selecting the Survival +1 option while using a Guardian's (Tactics/Survival) or Minotaur's (Brutality/Survival) scroll, a Scroll of Power, or equipping an amulet with Survival on it (+1 to +4).

The table below shows values for health increase as you get more Survival levels up to 30th Survival level (assume that Brutality and Tactics are kept at 1 while Survival is increased):

Scroll Fragments

 * Scroll fragments were added in the Corrupted Update. Upon collecting four scroll fragments, you can upgrade one of your three stats. A fixed number of fragments spawn in the various biomes of the game on Boss Cell 3 and above, with additional fragments spawning on Boss Cell 4/5. A table displaying each biome’s number of fragments can be viewed below.

Random Fragments

 * Three separately generated fragments are randomly placed throughout the biomes. Their locations are determined at the beginning of a run, so it is possible to miss out on these extra fragments if you choose a biome that they did not spawn on. They can spawn on any level, with the exception of boss biomes. Only one can spawn per biome. They can also spawn on the optional biomes (Prison Depths and Corrupted Prison) as well as being a rare drop from starred enemies in any biome. The only way to know which levels they spawned on ahead of time is by using a fixed seed.

Stat Playstyles
Each stat does not strictly enforce a playstyle, but many items and mutations belonging to them will reward players who adhere to them. There is no punishment for failing to do so, however, so mixed color items and mutations will function as expected.

Brutality

 * Pro: Quick melee weapons, quick offensive spells.
 * Theme: Bleed and Fire.
 * Con: No access to defensive abilities, few ranged.

Tactics

 * Pro: Ranged weapons, Turrets.
 * Theme: Electricity, Poison, Knockback.
 * Con: Few melee weapons, low HP pool.

Survival

 * Pro: Best shields, bigger health pool, defensive skills.
 * Theme: Freeze, Root.
 * Con: No access to quick melee weapons, 1h range weapons or quick offensive skills.

Stat management/strategy
Generally, it is best to allocate all possible scrolls to one stat. This is because with each scroll your damage will increase exponentially. Meanwhile, you receive diminishing returns if you focus solely on increasing your health. It is also worth noting that dual-stat scrolls are more likely to select your two lowest stats in order to prevent the player's health from becoming too low.

Your highest stat should be the most common one between your items. If most of your items scale with Brutality, focus only on Brutality scrolls in order to maximize your damage output. But if your build has a larger amount of Survival scaling items, pick Survival instead.

Mutations also have effects that scale based on player stats. For more details, see the main article dedicated to mutation effect scaling. With mutations, analyze your stats to choose your mutations, since they strengthen with your stats as well.

That said, wait for filling the other non-focused stats when reaching the end of the run, so it increases your HP for important boss battles or elite battles.

This also works great for Colorless/Legendary items, since they will scale with your highest stat, even if the item originally didn't scale with that specific stat at all.

Overall, the best strategy is picking your most common stat and using that for picking your scrolls, then selecting your mutations based off your highest stats.