What is Brutality?

Brutality is one of three stat colors in Dead Cells, which applies to any red colored items you come across or red mutations you choose in between levels. You can improve your stats with Scrolls of Power, which give you points to put into the stat color of your choice, and it’s recommended that you put all of your points into the same color. Most Brutality weapons are melee weapons with fast attack speed, your mutations are centered around offense, and the status effects you’re most likely to come across are bleed and fire. Brutality is all about getting in as much damage as possible as fast as possible, so if you need some more raw power to get your next Boss Cell try out some of these weapons in your next run

5. Face Flask

“Face Flask? That useless item that does nothing but hurt you?”, yes. Technically you’re right, all it does is deal 5 damage to yourself, and on its own it would be pretty useless, but with the Vengeance mutation you'll deal extra damage and get some resistance for 3 seconds after getting hurt. The best way to use this mutation is with Face Flask, it doesn’t just hurt you, it’s a short offensive and defensive buff, and will you really miss that 5 HP that much?

Why the Face Flask is great for Brutality

• The Spite Sword is another item that deals critical hits after taking damage, and you can use the Face Flask to safely activate this weapon as well
• Weapon modifiers can make or break the Face Flask. There’s a good chance your Face Flask will also inflict status effects onto nearby enemies, giving you more opportunities to synergize your build
• The Face Flask’s self damage will activate Vengeance and the Spite Sword, but it won’t reset your killstreak or cause a curse to kill you 

Face Flask stats

• Deals 5 damage to yourself
• When used with Vengeance, briefly buffs your damage and resistance

4. Hattori’s Katana

Previously I made another list of the best melee weapons in the game and ranked Hattori’s Katana at number one. I still stand by my opinion that this is the best melee weapon in Dead Cells, but I’ve already gone into detail as to why it’s so good so I’ll just do a quick recap and give the spotlight to some other weapons. Hattori’s Katana has two attacks, a fast 3 hit combo and a dash attack that does critical damage, both of these moves are powerful on their own but they come together to make a very responsive and well rounded weapon

Why Hattori’s Katana is great for Brutality

• When you’re playing Brutality, being able to deal damage fast is just as important as the damage itself, and Hattori’s Katana has some really impressive attack speed! It only takes 0.2 seconds to land each hit in its combo, and the dash attack takes about as long to charge up!
• The dash attack has a generous vertical range, being able to take out flying mobs above and below you that would otherwise be well outside your effective range
• The Combo mutation works well with your fast attack speed, and Predator can be fun to use with your dash attack

Hattori’s Katana stats

• Regular attack: 3 hit combo that lasts 0.9 seconds and has 187 base DPS
• Charged attack: Dash past enemies and deal a critical strike of 179 base damage

3. Bloodthirsty Shield

When it comes to Brutality builds, using a melee weapon and a shield is your bread and butter, but there’s only 3 shields in the game that scale with Brutality, and out of all of them the Bloodthirsty Shield is your best bet. The Bloodthirsty Shield causes every enemy in its area of effect to start bleeding every time you parry, blocking ranged attacks causes enemies to bleed as well, and every parry applies a new stack of bleed damage. For an item that’s supposed to help you defend yourself, it has a lot of offensive power!

Why the Bloodthirsty Shield is great for Brutality

• The bleed effect is applied in a massive AoE that extends to just about half your screen and even goes past walls, just by parrying once you can take out a lot of weaker mobs and soften up the tougher ones, and you’ll be parrying way more than just one time
• The downside of the Bloodthirsty Shield is that it deals less damage directly to the target you just parried. However, with more scrolls your overall damage increases exponentially, and after getting enough points it can easily outperform any other non-Brutality shield
• Many other shields in the game have their own unique effects, but the Bloodthirsty Shield is the only one that activates every time you parry a projectile instead of only when you parry melee attacks

Bloodthirsty Shield stats

• Blocked attacks cause enemies to bleed
• Parried attacks cause all enemies in an area of effect to bleed

2. Pyrotechnics

There aren’t many ranged Brutality weapons, and most of them work better as part of a Tactics build instead. However, if you were to choose one of them to use with Brutality I would recommend Pyrotechnics. Pyrotechnics is a ranged weapon that essentially works as a fireball attack, and in the context of a brutality build you have ample opportunity to set up synergies with fire, whether it be with an affix that deals extra damage to burning targets or another item that applies oil. Overall, Pyrotechnics is a powerful weapon that’s uniquely set up to work with a ranged Brutality build

Why Pyrotechnics is great for Brutality

• Raw power is the name of the game for Brutality, and Pyrotechnics has that in spades! The fire DPS will be enough to take care of most enemies, and your last projectile in the combo is an extra powerful fireball
• Pyrotechnics doesn’t have any ammo that can run out, meaning you have an endless stream of fireballs at your disposal
• When using Pyrotechnics with Brutality you have several great options for your build that would be impossible with Tactics! Pyrotechnics as a ranged off hand, Pyrotechnics with a shield, Pyrotechnics and Combo, get creative with it!

Pyrotechnics Stats

• 4 hit combo every 1.35 seconds for 139 base damage
• Attacks inflict fire damage over time
• Deals critical hits to enemies covered in oil

1. Assassin’s Dagger

Not all critical hits are equal in Dead Cells, some weapons deal more damage than others when they crit, and the Assassin’s Dagger has one of the highest multipliers. The Assassin’s Dagger deals critical hits when you attack an enemy from behind, but where most weapon’s crits deal about roughly twice as much damage, the Assassin’s Dagger’s crits triple your damage output! You’ll see some insanely high numbers while using this weapon, especially with the help of a certain build, making this weapon the best in terms of raw damage potential, and at the end of the day isn’t that what Brutality is all about?

Why the Assassin’s Dagger is great for Brutality

• Phaser is a skill that teleports you behind an enemy, and Scheme is a mutation that adds extra damage to your next attack after using a skill. When you use these with the Assassin’s Dagger you have a dangerous combo that can one shot enemies and melt bosses with minimal effort
• The Assassin’s Dagger is particularly great against bosses, in most fights you should already be trying to stay behind the boss and you have the damage potential to take chunks out of their healthbar at a time
• Your base damage for a critical hit is 402, which places the Assassin’s Dagger in an exclusive club of items that have more than 400 base damage, and out of all of them the Assassin’s Dagger has the most reliable crit condition

Assassin’s Dagger stats

• Deals critical damage when attacking an enemy in the back
• 134 base DPS, 402 base critical DPS

You may also be interested in

• Dead Cells Rune Guide: Everything You Need to Know
• Top 15 Dead Cells Best Mutations and Why They're Good
• Top 10 Dead Cells Best Melee Weapons