Cursemark can be pretty unforgiving when you’re just starting out. The enemies themselves aren’t the only problem, because every room you clear increases your Curse Mark, making enemies and bosses stronger. If the Curse Mark gets too high, you’ll eventually die and lose the run.
The good news is that every run also gives you opportunities to become stronger permanently. You can unlock new weapons, spells, wards, and ultimates, upgrade crafting benches, find shortcuts, solve secrets, and build powerful rune combinations that can completely change how your character performs.
This Cursemark beginner guide covers your first few runs, the best early unlocks, how to prepare for the first two bosses, and several tips that will help you build stronger characters while keeping your Curse Mark under control.
Cursemark Beginner Guide – Sword Puzzle, Crafting
When you spawn at the shrine, the Shrine Maiden will ask you to speak with her. Before doing that, explore the area and collect the available Attunement Sigils.
There are three easy Sigils to collect at the beginning:
- One directly south of the shrine
- One to the east and then south near the beach
- One given to you by the Shrine Maiden
Attunement Sigils are used to unlock new weapons, spells, wards, and ultimates.
You can spend them however you like, but if you want a strong beginner-friendly setup, the following choices work well.
Recommended Early Unlocks
Ultimate: Imperium Blade
Imperium Blade is easy to use because you can activate it and immediately return to attacking while the ability handles the rest. It works particularly well with fast attacks.
Weapon: Dragon Claws
Dragon Claws are fast, deal strong damage, and apply a damage-over-time effect. Their attack speed also makes them a good partner for effects that trigger whenever you hit an enemy.
Ward: Blades of Judgment
Blades of Judgment surround your character with spinning swords that curse enemies and give you Barrier when they hit. This provides both offense and defense, making it a great choice while learning the game.
After making your choices, talk to the Cartographer. This reveals your larger objective, which eventually leads toward the Temple of Iron and its boss.
Don’t worry about reaching the final objective immediately. Your first few runs are mainly about learning the map and building up permanent progression.
Exploring the Sword Fork
Your first combat zone is the Sword Fork.
Use this area to get comfortable with your newly unlocked abilities. You can use your Ultimate and Ward here to see how they work, although the basic enemies shouldn’t require much effort.
Once you’ve cleared the enemies, explore the entire area. Look for hidden items and interactable objects before moving on.
You’ll find an Attunement Sigil in the upper-right area, as well as a locked gate leading toward the first boss, the Iron Bastard.
You can’t open that gate immediately, so you’ll need to take the longer route around.
Find the Hidden Astral Tear
There’s also a sparkling patch of ground on the left side of the area. This hides an Astral Tear.
Astral Tears are an important form of meta-progression currency. They can be used to clear corruption and upgrade crafting benches, making them extremely valuable during your early runs.
Solving the Sword Puzzle
The Sword Fork also contains an inscription:
“Smite the sword with strokes thrice and four to reveal the prize for all the world.”
The clue refers to the giant sword in the area.
Hit the giant sword:
- Three times
- Then four times
Solving these small puzzles is worth doing whenever you find them. Secrets can reward you with shortcuts, recurring treasure chests, Attunement Sigils, and other useful upgrades.
Don’t Forget Your Clues
You’ll find more inscriptions as you explore.
If you don’t immediately understand a clue, don’t worry. Press N to open your journal and review the clues you’ve discovered.
Some puzzles can only be solved after you’ve reached another area, so there’s no need to solve every inscription immediately.
Using Your Ward
Your Ward is one of your most useful tools while exploring.
It recharges whenever you enter a new area, allowing you to use it frequently during a run.
However, returning to an area you’ve already visited doesn’t recharge the Ward again. Because of this, use your Ward freely when you’re exploring new rooms, but don’t waste it assuming you’ll get another charge by simply backtracking.
Managing Corruption and Crafting Benches
As you explore, you’ll encounter corrupted crafting benches.
You can spend Astral Tears to clear the corruption and unlock the bench.
One important thing to remember is that bench upgrades are permanent. They remain available between runs even though your temporary run-specific Runes do not.
This means clearing corruption is one of the best ways to make future runs easier.
Shrine of Life
The Shrine of Life allows you to spend Essence to increase your maximum health.
Early on, increasing your health can be more useful than taking unnecessary offensive upgrades, especially while you’re still learning enemy attack patterns.
Saving Your Ultimate for Bosses
As you progress toward the Iron Bastard, try not to waste your Ultimate on regular enemies.
You might encounter a difficult group and feel tempted to use it, but having your Ultimate fully charged when you reach a boss can make a huge difference.
If you absolutely need it to survive, use it. Otherwise, save it.
Finding Runes
Keep an eye out for pots with green symbols.
Breaking these pots can give you Runes, which are one of the main ways to customize your build.
Don’t simply equip every Rune immediately. Think about how each Rune interacts with your weapon, spell, Ward, or Ultimate.
For example, fast attacks work particularly well with effects that trigger repeatedly on hit.
Rune Breakpoints
One of the most important things to learn about Runes is that not every upgrade gives an immediate benefit.
Some Runes have specific breakpoints.
For example, a Rune might produce one projectile at lower tiers but require Tier 4 before it produces two.
If upgrading a Rune doesn’t actually change its effect, you may be better off saving the upgrade for something else.
Later, once you know the breakpoints, you’ll be able to plan your upgrades more efficiently.
Preparing for the Iron Bastard
Once you’ve reached the area before the Iron Bastard, this is a good time to prepare your build.
If you’ve taken significant damage, use a healing bottle.
You can also clear corruption and upgrade the Runic Forge.
An upgraded Runic Forge gives you additional opportunities to improve your Runes. Because the upgrade is permanent, this is a valuable investment for future runs.
A Good Early Rune Setup
Fast attacks such as Dragon Claws work particularly well with effects that stack quickly.
For example:
- Put damage-boosting effects on your Ultimate.
- Use range-related Runes on ranged abilities such as Cinder Shot.
- Use effects that benefit from frequent attacks on Dragon Claws.
- Use defensive effects alongside Blades of Judgment.
- Consider low-health damage bonuses only if you understand the risks.
Don’t feel obligated to copy one exact build. The important thing is to match your Runes to how your abilities actually work.
How to Beat the Iron Bastard
Once you’re ready, head into the Iron Bastard’s arena.
Immediately activate your Ultimate if you’re using a high-damage setup such as Imperium Blade with several projectile effects.
The Iron Bastard’s spinning attack is the main thing to watch for.
When he starts spinning, run away.
Don’t try to tank the attack unless you’re extremely confident in your build. The spinning attack can destroy your health surprisingly quickly.
A simple strategy is:
- Enter the arena with your Ultimate charged.
- Activate your Ultimate immediately.
- Continue attacking.
- Watch for the spinning attack.
- Move away as soon as he starts spinning.
- Return to attacking after the attack ends.
Once you’ve defeated him, you’ll gain access to another Talisman chest and additional progression options.
The Iron Bastard is also worth farming in future runs because his drops can provide a significant boost to your build.
Unlock the Shortcut
After defeating the Iron Bastard, exit through the southern route and activate the nearby lever.
This creates a shortcut that makes future runs much faster.
On subsequent runs, you’ll be able to reach the Iron Bastard more directly from the Sword Fork instead of repeating the entire route.
This is extremely valuable because every cleared area increases your Curse Mark.
Fewer rooms cleared = lower Curse Mark when you reach the boss.
Building Around Talismans
Talismans provide another way to strengthen your character.
If you find something like the Starlight Shard, it can work especially well with defensive setups involving Barrier.
For example, Blades of Judgment can generate Barrier while the Starlight Shard improves your ability to build up that defense.
Some combinations can get much more complicated, such as using effects that lock your health at a low value to activate low-health bonuses.
These high-risk builds can be extremely powerful, but they’re better left for experienced players.
Your Second Boss
Once you’ve progressed far enough, you’ll eventually need the Arcan Key to access the second major boss, Crusade Captain Azrik.
The Arcan Key can be found in the Salow House.
The Cartographer provides clues that help point you toward the location.
Don’t worry if you can’t reach it during your first attempt. The Curse Mark gets stronger every time you clear another area, so you may simply become too weak before reaching the destination.
Dying and trying again is completely normal.
Preparing for Azrik
Before taking on Azrik, there are a few things worth doing.
Buy Forge Overcharge
At the Blacksmith, you can spend Essence to purchase Forge Overcharge.
Forge Overcharge is consumed when you use a crafting bench to upgrade a Rune or Talisman.
Because it’s expensive, don’t waste it on mediocre upgrades.
As a general rule, saving one or two charges for particularly valuable upgrades is a good approach.
Unlock Fulminate
If you have another Attunement Sigil available, Fulminate is an excellent offensive option.
Fulminate deals significantly more damage at close range, making it especially useful against enemies and bosses that allow you to stay close.
It’s also a good example of why you should consider how an ability actually works before deciding which Runes to attach to it.
Fighting Azrik
Azrik behaves differently from the Iron Bastard.
Against the Iron Bastard, staying too close can be dangerous.
Against Azrik, getting closer can actually make the fight easier because some of his attacks are less threatening at close range.
If you have a strong close-range build, you can pressure him by staying close and continuously attacking.
Fulminate is particularly useful here because it deals much more damage when you’re near the target.
If you’re using a ranged build, however, don’t force yourself into melee range. Adjust your positioning based on the abilities and Runes you’re using.
After defeating Azrik, you’ll receive an Ultimate Rune slot, which is a powerful permanent upgrade.
Don’t forget to break the blue chest in the area as well, as it contains an Astral Key.
Explore the Shrine of Life Secret
One of the early secrets can be solved in the Shrine of Life.
You’ll find a tree in the area that relates to the clue:
“Thrice you run about life’s tree, a path shall rise for you to see.”
Run around the tree three times clockwise.
You don’t need to make a perfect circle. Once you’ve completed the action correctly, a secret door will open.
Secrets like this are worth hunting down because they can unlock new areas and permanent bonuses.
Permanent Rune Slots
Some objects scattered throughout the world can permanently increase your Rune capacity.
These are once-per-save-file interactions, meaning finding one permanently adds a Rune slot to the selected weapon, spell, Ward, or Ultimate for future runs.
The symbols indicate which type of ability receives the additional slot.
These upgrades are extremely valuable because extra Rune slots allow you to stack more effects and create much stronger builds.
Attunement Sigil Challenges
You’ll also encounter special challenges that reward additional Attunement Sigils.
Be careful when activating them.
Starting one can spawn several powerful enemies, including enemies you normally wouldn’t encounter until much later.
If you’re still using a weak early-game build, there’s no shame in leaving the challenge alone and returning later.
The challenge doesn’t need to be completed immediately.
Planning Your Runs
One of the biggest mistakes new players make is treating every run exactly the same.
Instead, consider splitting your runs into two categories:
Farming Runs
The goal of a farming run is to become stronger for future attempts.
During these runs, focus on:
- Exploring new areas
- Unlocking shortcuts
- Clearing corruption
- Upgrading crafting benches
- Solving puzzles
- Finding permanent upgrades
- Collecting Astral Tears
- Learning the map
You don’t necessarily need to defeat every boss.
If your Curse Mark gets too high and you eventually die, that’s fine. You still gained permanent progression.
Boss Runs
Boss runs have a different purpose.
Instead of exploring everything, focus on creating the strongest build possible while clearing as few zones as possible.
Prioritize:
- Useful Runes
- Strong Talismans
- Easy bosses
- Upgraded crafting benches
- Shortcuts
- Efficient routes
The goal is to reach the boss with a low Curse Mark and a powerful build.
Why Shortcuts Matter So Much
Every cleared area increases your Curse Mark.
That means shortcuts aren’t just convenient. They directly improve your chances of surviving later fights.
A route that originally requires five or six areas might eventually become a much shorter trip after you’ve unlocked the necessary shortcuts.
This is particularly important for areas such as the swamp and forest, where reaching certain locations can initially require passing through several zones.
During your farming runs, prioritize unlocking these shortcuts.
You’ll thank yourself later.
Look for Chain Runes
When building your character, pay close attention to Chain Runes.
Effects such as the Rune of Winds can trigger chain attacks that become incredibly powerful when combined with fast weapons.
The general idea is simple:
More attacks = more chances to trigger effects.
Fast weapons are therefore excellent for builds that rely on status effects, chain attacks, or repeated triggers.
Some Ultimates can also work well with these effects because they have multiple spawn points or hit enemies repeatedly.
Don’t Waste Rune Upgrades
Not every Rune upgrade is worth taking immediately.
If you’re currently using a weak Rune that you expect to replace soon, upgrading it may be a waste of resources.
Instead, save your upgrade until you find something that you know you’ll keep.
A good rule is:
If you have a great Rune or Talisman, upgrade it immediately. Otherwise, save your resources until you actually need the power.
This gives you a way to scale your character later in the run when the Curse Mark becomes much more dangerous.
Use the Runic Smelter
The Runic Smelter is one of the most interesting crafting options in the game.
It allows you to combine the effects of two Runes into one.
This is different from simply fusing Runes to clean up your inventory.
The Smelter can let you combine effects that work well together and free up additional Rune slots.
For example, combining an electrified effect with a chain fire effect can give a fast weapon multiple sources of damage at once.
You can then use the freed-up slot on another powerful Rune.
This is one of the main ways you can eventually create extremely powerful builds.
Save Your Crafting Resources
It’s tempting to use every crafting bench as soon as you find it.
Try not to.
If your current Runes are mediocre and you’re already killing regular enemies comfortably, there’s little reason to spend a valuable upgrade on something you’ll replace shortly afterward.
Instead, save the resource.
After defeating a boss and obtaining stronger Runes, you can return to the bench and invest your resources into something that will remain useful.
The best time to spend resources is usually when:
- You have a strong Rune
- You have a strong Talisman
- You’re starting to struggle
- You’re preparing for a boss
- The upgrade reaches an important breakpoint
Pay Attention to Boss Positioning
Bosses don’t all behave the same way.
Your distance from a boss can change which attacks they use.
Iron Bastard
Stay at a comfortable medium distance and be ready to run when the spinning attack begins.
Azrik
Close-range combat can actually be safer because some of his more dangerous attacks are easier to avoid or don’t work as effectively up close.
Experiment with different distances when learning bosses.
If your ranged build isn’t working, try getting closer. If you’re constantly taking damage in melee, increase your range and focus on attacking from a safer distance.
Don’t Ignore Knockback
Knockback can be surprisingly powerful against bosses.
It can interrupt attacks, disrupt enemy positioning, and sometimes prevent bosses from completing their attack patterns.
This may change during Early Access if the developers rebalance it, but for now, knockback can be a very useful stat.
It’s also helpful against regular enemies, so it isn’t only valuable for boss fights.
Healing Bottle Tip
When you find one of the red flasks that provides a healing bottle, be careful about when you pick it up.
If you break the flask and leave the bottle sitting on the ground, you’ll need to pick it up before leaving the area or it can be lost.
If you leave the flask intact, you can return to it later and effectively treat it as a spare healing charge.
This can be particularly useful when you’re preparing for a difficult fight.
Temple of Iron Tip
Eventually, you’ll be able to reach the Temple of Iron.
If you’re entering the Temple of Iron for the first time, try using the right-side entrance. This unlocks a gate that provides additional bonuses.
On later attempts, use the left-side entrance because the route is slightly shorter.
Again, the goal is to minimize the number of zones you have to clear before reaching a boss.
Cursemark becomes much easier once you stop thinking of every run as a race to the end. Early runs are just as much about learning the world and unlocking permanent upgrades as they are about defeating bosses.
Focus on finding shortcuts, clearing corruption, upgrading useful crafting benches, and learning which Rune combinations work with your abilities. Once you have stronger permanent progression, you can take shorter routes and reach bosses with a much lower Curse Mark.
Most importantly, don’t get discouraged when a run ends early. Death is part of the progression loop. Learn something from each attempt, improve your route, and come back with a stronger build.
Once you start combining fast attacks with Chain Runes, useful Talismans, and carefully chosen upgrades, you’ll find that even the toughest bosses can go down surprisingly quickly.