The Collector

The Collector
Location(s)	In his laboratory in passages, between each two biomes.

The Collector is an NPC in Dead Cells. He invites the player to give him cells and blueprints in return for experimental items and more power. Purchases from the Collector carry over through each run.

Upgrades

There are four types of upgrades: general improvements, Mutations, Weapons, and Skills. In addition to equipment, the player can also find blueprints for outfits, which will change their appearance. They can all be found at the Tailor.

Health Flask I must be unlocked before anything else. Anything other than general improvements are NOT listed here, as they can be found on their individual pages.

General improvements

Icon	Name	Description	Cell cost	Requirements	Notes
	Health Flask I	Unlocks a health potion that can be used at any time.	5	Must be unlocked first.	Heals 60% of your health over a few seconds. Each use removes 5 Malaise.
	Health Flask II	The health potion can be used 2 times.	50	Health Flask I
	Health Flask III	The health potion can be used 3 times.	150	Health Flask II, unlock 10 items
	Health Flask IV	The health potion can be used 4 times.	300	Health Flask III, unlock 25 items
	Gold Reserves I	Preserves up to 500 GOLD when you die.	5	Health Flask I
	Gold Reserves II	Preserves up to 1000 GOLD when you die.	35	Gold Reserves I
	Gold Reserves III	Preserves up to 1500 GOLD when you die.	100	Gold Reserves II, unlock 8 items
	Gold Reserves IV	Preserves up to 2000 GOLD when you die.	200	Gold Reserves III, unlock 15 items
	Gold Reserves V	Preserves up to 2500 GOLD when you die.	400	Gold Reserves IV, unlock 30 items	Only available after finding its blueprint in the secret maze room in the Ancient Sewers. Requires the Homunculus Rune to get.
	Recycling I	You can transform the items you find on the ground or in chests into gold (7% of the sale price)	25	Health Flask I
	Recycling II	You can transform the items you find on the ground or in chests into gold (15% of the sale price)	120	Recycling I
	Random Melee Weapon	The starting weapon is randomly drawn from those you have unlocked.	65	Unlock 12 items
	Random Starting Bow	The starting bow is randomly drawn from those you have unlocked.	65	Unlock 2 items
	Random Starting Shield	The starting shield is randomly drawn from those you have unlocked.	65	Unlock 2 items
	Restock	Refreshes a shop's stocks at a very reasonable price.	300	Unlock 20 items	The player can interact with a pedestal at any shop to change the items on display. Can be used 5 times per shop, with the shopkeeper's prices increasing by +40% every time it is used.
	Specialist's Showroom	Unlocks a special shop in the Prisoner's Cells. There you'll find all sorts of rare and expensive oddities for only the most experienced and discerning shoppers.	150	Unlock 20 items	Makes the Specialist's Shop spawn in Prisoners' Quarters each run, which contains a Hunter's Grenade, a Forgotten Map, and the Golden Outfit blueprint.
	Hunter's Mirror	Unlocks a mirror near the Scribe that may come in handy during your hunts.	150	Specialist's Showroom	Shows a random enemy or boss that carries a blueprint you don't have yet, Will not show any items that cannot be unlocked at that difficulty, but the mirror can show you inaccessible enemies.
	Merchandise Categories	The merchants will offer a wider range of categories.	300	Unlock 30 items	Found in the Graveyard. The Architect's key (found randomly in a wall) is needed to get it. You can now pick between 3 categories in item shops. This will force the shop to have only the items selected. (Does not affect the food shops.) Weapon and skill shop categories can be chosen between the 3 colors: Brutality, Tactics, Survival. This can be changed in Custom Mode to work as it did prior to v1.9 which allowed the choice of different weapons (Melee, Ranged, Shields) and skills (Deployable Traps, Grenades, Miscellaneous Skills)
	Advanced Forge I	You can increase the quality of an object at the forge twice instead of once.	200	Gold Reserves IV, unlock 40 items	Only accessible after defeating Conjunctivius for the sixth time.
	Recycling Tubes	Allows you to choose between a few sets of starting equipment, each containing a melee weapon, ranged weapon, shield and two skills.	150	–	Only available after you get its blueprint by defeating the Hand of the King on 1 BSC mode. Replaces your starting equipment with a large room that holds 4 sets of starting equipment. (If you do not have a Random Starting X upgrade, you still get the basic weapon).

Dialogue

First time meeting the Collector:

• "Well, look who it is..."
• "I'm the collector, and I'm about the closest thing you'll find to decent company around here."
• "Bring me the CELLS you gather from the others. In exchange, i'll procure a few useful little items for you..."
• "Should you stumble upon a BLUEPRINT, bring it to me and I will introduce you to some more... experimental items."

Notes

• According to the Blacksmith and the Tailor's quotes, the Collector appears to have connections with them.
• The Collector shares a similar leg structure with the Bomber enemy. Whether this is intentional or not is unknown.