How to use the Face Flask in Dead Cells

Face Flask is a power in Dead Cells, introduced in volume one (Vol. I) of the Everybody is Here update as a representative of the indie Metroidvania Blasphemous. At first glance, it sounds useless: the Face Flask deals five damage to you, with no other effects. As with many items in Dead Cells, however, the Face Flask becomes truly powerful once you know how to both use it and combine it with the right synergistic tools.

This guide will teach you how to do just that. Read on to learn how to take the Face Flask’s pain and turn it upon your enemies tenfold.

How to take advantage of Dead Cells’ Face Flask

Unlocking the Face Flask

Before you can make use of the Face Flask, you’ll first need to unlock it. Thankfully, this is a very straightforward process. Simply head to the game’s first biome, the Prisoners’ Quarters, and explore until you find a golden altar, as pictured below. The extra content added in the Everybody is Here update seems to unlock sequentially, so if you don’t see this altar, try interacting with other objects in the Prisoners’ Quarters first, then restart your run.

Interact with this altar, and the Face Flask will drop next to it. Pick it up, and the power will be unlocked for use in all of your future runs. Since this power isn’t unlocked via blueprint, there’s no need for you to spend any Cells with the Collector in order to unlock it. It’s a Brutality-aligned power, so keep that in mind when searching for it at shops during your runs.

Synergy 1 – The Vengeance Mutation

Now that you have Dead Cells’ Face Flask unlocked, how can you make good use of it? The answer to this question lies in two specific synergies, the first of which is the Vengeance Mutation. This is a Brutality-aligned Mutation, and is available right from the start of the game, with no unlock required. It grants you a significant damage increase for eight seconds, as well as an incoming damage reduction for three seconds, after you take damage.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Normally this is a decent Mutation, but nothing spectacular, since ideally you’ll be avoiding damage most of the time in your Dead Cells runs. With the Face Flask, however, it becomes extremely powerful, since the five damage the power deals to you will trigger Vengeance’s effects. This gives you access to two powerful combat buffs on demand, letting you grab a quick boost before rushing into a room full of enemies to clear them out with ease.

Synergy 2 – The Spite Sword

The other notable synergy for the Face Flask comes in the form of the Spite Sword, a Brutality-aligned melee weapon. The Blueprint for this weapon is dropped extremely rarely by the flying red Buzzcutter enemies found in the Ramparts biome, so we’d recommend you use the Hunter’s Grenade to guarantee it drops. Once you have the Blueprint, the sword itself can be unlocked via the Collector for just 30 Cells.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

This is a fairly standard melee weapon, with the ability to deal critical hits for eight seconds after you take damage, or while you’re cursed. This, like the Vengeance Mutation, is triggered by the five damage the Face Flask deals to you. It also neatly lines up with Vengeance time-wise, giving you eight seconds of increased damage and critical hits after each use. While you can use either of these synergies alone in a run, bringing all three items together is really the best way to use the Face Flask in Dead Cells.

Final Notes

That concludes the list of notable synergies for the Face Flask, but there are some additional mechanical details that are worth bearing in mind if you plan on using it in your runs. First of all, while the damage it deals to you counts for the purposes of the Spite Sword and Vengeance, it doesn’t count in terms of your no-hit killstreak for a biome, nor will it kill you instantly if you’re cursed. This means you can enjoy all the positive aspects of taking damage without the majority of the usual downsides.

In addition, the Face Flask can also be used to unlock a new Outfit. If you reduce yourself to one HP with the Flask, (it doesn’t need to be exactly one, your health will be set to one the first time it would hit zero in a run) you’ll unlock the Penitent’s Outfit, the other addition to the game from the world of Blasphemous. This can easily be achieved by finding a safe spot and using the Face Flask over and over until your HP hits one, though we wouldn’t recommend this in a run that’s going well.

And that’s all she wrote on how to use the Face Flask in Dead Cells. Once you get past its poor first impression, and get a dedicated build set up around it, you’ll find it to be a powerful addition to your arsenal for Brutality runs.