Curse in Enter the Gungeon
Understanding how curse works is vital to getting better at Enter the Gungeon. Having some curse may be good, but having too much is always bad.
In this guide, I am going to explain how the curse system works so you can decide to use it or maybe avoid it.
What Is Curse in Enter the Gungeon?
Curse is an invisible stat that the game tracks for your character each run. You gain and lose curse by doing certain actions while playing the game. You start to notice these effects when you have more curse.
What Gives Curse in Enter the Gungeon?
Acquiring Certain Guns and Items
The Gungeon rejects things that are not projectile-based. But is It is somewhat complicated. A banana or a camera does not give curse because they look like guns. But the Fightsabre, an actual gun, gives curse because you can swing it to deflect bullets. Weapons that are sword-shaped tend to give curse.
Some passive items, like cursed bullets, give you curse. Certain active items also give curse. For example, the knife shield gives curse.
When uncertain, I recommend checking the wiki. It has every gun and item in the game listed and explains how they work.
Buying Things from Cursula Gives Curse
Buying items from Cursula always gives curse. She is an NPC that sells you things after you find and free her.
Cursed Pots
Standing near a cursed pot for so long gives curse. You can shoot them to stop this from happening.
Mirrors
If you interact with a mirror, you will get curse for either opening the chest you see or shooting the mirror.
Stealing Items
If you manage to steal an item from a shop, your curse will go up.
Shrines
- Ammo Shrine
- Angel Shrine
- Dice Shrine
Note that the dice shrine only has a chance to give curse. As it does many things.
How Does Curse Affect You in Enter the Gungeon?
You may wonder what curse does. Curse has many effects.
- Chests are mimics more often.
- Enemies drop more money and fewer items when clearing rooms.
- Jammed enemies and bosses start to appear.
- You get a higher chance of finding ammo after clearing rooms.
- You get fewer rewards for clearing rooms.
There Are Some Positive Changes from Having Curse
I Think Curse Is Helpful
Having more curse is a good thing. I would rather get more currency and ammo than whatever you get from clearing rooms. I find that having ammo for guns I like to use is very helpful.
Mimics Are a Way to Get Items Without Keys
At first, mimics are very annoying. But once you understand that mimics are a way to get free chest items without keys, they become a good thing. You don’t need to use a key to shoot up a living chest. Fighting mimics lets you save keys and use them for something else.
Cursed Bullets Is Amazing!
Cursed bullets is one of the best items in the game! With cursed bullets, you gain 10% damage for every point of curse you gain.
Ideally, you would get to eight or nine points of curse and stop there for the biggest damage gains. You cannot gain damage over a 100% bonus with ten curse. You do not want to have ten points of curse. Trust me. I will explain this in a bit.
What Are Jammed Enemies and Bosses?
Jammed Enemies Have Better Stats
Jammed enemies have more health, move and shoot faster, and now always deal one heart of damage. The extra health is the most annoying part.
Early in the game, these jammed enemies can be very tanky or some gamers call them bullet sponges.
I try to target jammed enemies last, if possible. I have found clearing out the other enemies and then focusing on the jammed enemies is what works best.
About Jammed Bosses
Jammed bosses inflict double damage and have more health. This forces you to be even more careful in boss fights to avoid taking damage. If you struggle to fight a certain boss, hopefully you don’t fight the jammed version, as it won’t be easy.
What Is the the Lord of the Jammed?
How the Lord of the Jammed Appears and What It Does
Never have more than nine curse! If you have ten curse, the Lord of the Jammed appears.
The only way to avoid the Lord of the Jammed showing up is to keep track of your curse. But since the game doesn’t show you this anywhere, you have to keep track curse of yourself. As a rule of thumb, most things give one or two curse.
To be sure if an item gives curse, I would check the wiki and read more there.
- You can’t defeat The Lord of the Jammed, and it chases you endlessly no matter what you are doing.
- You need to be fast to avoid getting shot by its constant attacks.
- You can’t warp to avoid it. It will try to attack you when talking to NPCs and interacting with things.
- It will be there, attacking you after winning a boss fight, and will try to stop you from leaving the floor.
The shopkeeper also shuts down the store when he sees the Lord of the Jammed. You can no longer purchase any items unless you buy something very fast when the Lord of the Jammed is not there.
How to Deal With the Lord of the Jammed
If you are unfortunate enough to have over ten curse, the only thing to do is keep dodging. You can walk through the Lord of the Jammed without taking damage, and this helps a little.
I would recommend trying to get to the next floor as fast as you can. If you manage to lower your curse back to nine, the Lord of the Jammed will be gone on the next floor.
What Are Cleanse Shrines?
Cleanse shrines help remove curse. It costs currency to remove your curse. What it says about you also tells you how much curse you have.
If you already have ten curse, curse shrines won’t do anything for you. You cannot use the shrine to make the Lord of the Jammed go away. But you can use the shrine to keep your curse lower, to begin with.
My Strategy to Using Curse
My strategy to using curse is to get about five or six. Then I start to be careful about getting more.
I usually buy some things from Cursula. Her store has useful items for cheap. I feel like I can deal with the extra jammed enemies and occasional jammed boss. I also like fighting mimics to avoid using keys.
You Can Avoid Getting Curse if You Want
I think curse is helpful. But you can avoid curse altogether if you want. Avoid picking up anything that gives it. Avoid doing any action that gives it. You will have a much safer game.
The Hero Shrine
Do you want to start with a lot curse and likely summon the Lord of the Jammed? Once you kill a character’s past, interact with the Hero Shrine. The Hero Shrine is in the room you fall in when you start running. Using the shrine will make your curse nine.
The game will be very hard if you use the Hero Shrine. If you get one point of curse, the Lord of the Jammed shows up. There will be many jammed enemies, and most bosses will be jammed as well.
