Controls and User Interface — Dead Cells Guide
Pickups are items that are not gear or runes. They are collected by interacting with them or, for gems, by walking or rolling over them. Pickups include healing items, Scrolls for stat upgrades, currency like cells and gold, special items, and keys for unlocking doors.
All main categories of pickups are:
- Healing pickups that restore the player's health or reduce Malaise.
- Scrolls to upgrade player stats.
- Currency pickups, which award varying amounts of cells or gold.
- Special pickups serving miscellaneous functions.
- Keys, which let the player unlock doors.
Blueprints are items that unlock new Gear, Mutations, upgrades, and outfits. They can be found by killing enemies or in secret areas, which may be hidden, blocked by keys, rune requirements, puzzles, or timed doors. Some are limited by Boss Stem Cells. When a blueprint is found, the player must talk to the Collector in any biome transition to deliver and unlock it by paying cells. Once unlocked, the item can be found throughout the game, selected from the Tailor, or bought from Guillain. A blueprint is lost for the run if the player dies before delivering it to the Collector.