Have a Nice Death: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

I Spent My First Weekend Getting Wrecked By A Vampire Intern

Let me paint you a picture. It's 2 AM. I'm on my 12th run. My coffee is cold. My desk fan is pointed directly at my sweating face. And I just ate a scythe swing from a goth-looking boss named Frank the Intern because I forgot that his second phase explodes into homing skulls. Again.

Have a Nice Death is a game that looks like a cartoon and hits like a freight train. It's the kind of roguelike where you start a run feeling powerful, then a random Slime with a hat combo-breaks you into a corner and takes half your HP. I have over 300 hours in this thing. I've beaten every boss on Punishment Level 7. And I still die to stupid shit. That's the game. You're Death himself, running a soul-reaping megacorp, and your employees have unionized and turned into monsters. Your job is to fire them with extreme prejudice.

If you're reading this because you just bought the game and you're getting your ass handed to you by the Pumpkin Head in the first department, I see you. I was you. This guide is going to save you about 40 hours of trial and error, because I already made all the mistakes.

Why This Game Makes You Feel Dumber Than A Box Of Rocks

Let's be real: Have a Nice Death has a learning curve that's steeper than a cliff face. Here are the three specific pain points that make people quit before they ever see the final boss.

First: The game punishes you for playing "safe." In other roguelikes, you can hide behind a shield or spam ranged attacks from across the room. Not here. Every fight in this game is a DPS race. The longer a fight takes, the more patterns you have to dodge, the more likely you are to get clipped by a stray bullet or a ground-pound shockwave. I spent my first three runs trying to stack poison and play defensive. I got destroyed by the second boss EVERY TIME. Poison is a trap unless you have a very specific build.

Second: The Weapon Pairing System is deliberately confusing. You don't just pick a weapon. You pick a main hand and an off-hand. The off-hand doesn't do its full damage unless you're using it in a specific rhythm. I went 20 runs before I realized that the Sword off-hand actually has a parry window that's 3 frames longer than the main-hand sword. That's the kind of hidden knowledge the game expects you to figure out by getting slapped a thousand times.

Third: The Curse system will actively ruin your run if you don't read carefully. Curses are the game's "blessings" — stat boosts with a drawback. Some of them look amazing on paper but are secretly run-killers. I once took a Curse that gave me +50% damage but had a 20% chance to miss on every attack. That sounds fine until you're fighting the third boss and your big finisher whiffs because the game rolled a 4. You will want to throw your controller through the window.

The game is gorgeous. The art style is this beautiful, macabre Tim Burton meets corporate office satire. But it does not hold your hand. At all. Which is why you need this guide.

What I Wish Someone Told Me Before My First Shift

Here's the cold hard truth about getting started: you are going to die. A lot. That's the game. But there are things you can do right now that will make your first 10 runs actually productive instead of just frustrating.

Your first priority is the Sleeper Agent upgrade. Go to the upgrade shop (the one near the lobby, not the in-run shop) and rush the Sleeper Agent passive. It increases the amount of Mourning Dew (the game's permanent currency) you get from kills. This is your snowball. More Dew means more upgrades, which means more power, which means you actually get to see the second department. Do not waste your early currency on cosmetics or niche weapon unlocks. Get Sleeper Agent to at least level 3 before you spend a single Dew on anything else.

Learn to love the Mace. I know. It looks slow. It feels clunky. But the Mace's heavy attack has hyper armor — you can't be interrupted during the swing. This is the single most forgiving weapon for a new player. Stand still, let the enemy run at you, and bonk them on the head. The Mace does 85 base damage on a charged heavy. Most early mobs die in two hits. Your off-hand should be something fast — the Dagger works great here because you can use it to cancel out of a Mace whiff (press off-hand attack during a Mace swing to immediately dodge).

Your dash is not just for dodging. This is the biggest mechanical hurdle for new players. Your dash has I-frames (invincibility frames) but they only last for the first 12 frames of the dash. The recovery animation has zero I-frames. So you cannot spam dash. You have to dash through the attack exactly when it's about to hit you. This is a rhythm, not a panic button. I spent a whole weekend practicing this against the first boss. Now I can dash through his triple-swing without taking damage every single time.

Always pick up Health Orbs, but wait to use them. Health Orbs don't disappear when you walk over them. They go into a stash at the top of your screen. You can pop them with a button press (default F on keyboard, down on d-pad on controller). This means you can walk past a health orb, wait until you're actually about to die, then heal. Don't waste them the second you take a scratch. Save them for when an enemy is about to execute you.

Advanced Tricks From Someone Who's Been Fired And Rehired 300 Times

Alright. You've got 20 hours in. You can reliably beat the first department. But you're stuck on Mr. Chiffre (the accountant demon) or you keep dying in the Weapons Department. Here's what changed the game for me.

Weapon swapping is your free damage window. Most players pick their two weapons and stick with them. That's fine for clearing trash mobs. But against bosses, you need to understand the Swap Attack. When you switch weapons mid-combo (press the weapon swap button while attacking), your character does a unique animation that deals double the off-hand's normal damage. I main the Scythe (main-hand) and Throwing Knives (off-hand). My combo is: three Scythe swings, swap to Knives for the double-damage throw, swap back. That's 320 damage in about 2 seconds. If you're not using swap attacks, you're leaving half your damage on the table.

The Flamethrower is a hidden boss killer. Everyone tries to use the Flamethrower as a primary damage source. It's not. The Flamethrower does 45 base DPS but ramps to 120 DPS after 3 seconds of continuous fire. The problem is you can't move while firing. So don't use it as a primary weapon. Use it as a swap-off attack against bosses. Here's the trick: get the boss to drop into a stun state (usually after they do their big telegraphed attack), swap to the Flamethrower, hold fire for exactly 3 seconds, then swap out. You'll get the full 120 DPS window without standing there like a dummy waiting for it to ramp up.

The Curses you should always take (and the ones you should burn in hell):

• Curse of the Vampire: +15% life steal on all attacks, but -25% max HP. This is a must-take on any run, especially if you're running the Mace or Scythe. The life steal offsets the HP loss. I've won multiple Punishment Level 5 runs purely because this Curse kept me alive during boss fights.
• Curse of the Berserker: +30% attack speed, but you take 20% more damage. This is amazing with the Daggers or Fists because speed is your defense. Don't take this with the Mace or Sword — you'll just die faster.
• Curse of the Gambler: Every attack has a 50% chance to do double damage or 50% chance to do half damage. Avoid this like the plague. The damage variance is too high. There are runs where I had a perfect build and this Curse made me miss the killshot on the final boss. Not worth the dopamine.
• Curse of the Leech: +10% life steal, but enemies drop half the health orbs. This is the worst Curse in the game. Life steal is never strong enough to sustain you through a department, and the reduced orb drops mean you'll run out of healing. I'd rather take a blank Curse than this one.

Know your Department layouts. The game has three departments you have to clear before the final boss. Each department has a specific boss order that is randomized, but the types of mini-bosses are fixed per room. In the Financial Department, you always face Mr. Chiffre as the mid-boss, then Vlad the Intern as the department boss. In the Weapons Department, the mid-boss is Gerd the Giant and the boss is Frank the Intern. Learn their patterns cold. I have a rule: I don't even attempt the third department until I can beat Vlad without taking more than one hit. If you're eating three or four hits per boss, you don't have the run to go further.

Save your Scythe special for the right moment. Your Scythe has a special attack called Reap that does massive damage but has a long recovery. Most players use it the second it's off cooldown. Big mistake. Reap does 250 base damage and has a 2-second wind-up. Only use it when a boss is in a stun animation or after you've dodged their big attack. I've seen people die because they tried to Reap through a boss's combo. That's not how it works. Reap is a punish tool, not an opener.

This mechanic of punishing big attacks is similar to what you see in Hades — you're waiting for that tell, then unloading everything. The key difference here is that Have a Nice Death gives you a parry window on certain attacks that Hades doesn't. If you liked that game's flow, you'll feel at home here.

Dumb Shit That Kills Even Good Players

I have a graveyard of runs that ended because I did something stupid. Here are the mistakes I see on the subreddit every single day, and the ones I still make when I'm tired.

Mistake 1: Hoarding your Ressurection pips. The game gives you Overseer's Privileges — extra lives that let you revive mid-run. I used to save them "for the boss." This is wrong. If you die against a miniboss or even a tough Elite Mob, use your Resurrection. Why? Because if you die against a trash mob, you lose your entire run. The Ressurection is wasted. Use it the moment you realize you're going to die. I've wasted three Ressurections on the final boss in one run because I didn't use them earlier to save my momentum. Don't be like me.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the morale system. Each weapon has a Morale gauge. If you keep using the same weapon over and over, its Morale drops, and you start to deal less damage. I learned this the hard way. I used the Scythe for 12 consecutive fights and wondered why I was hitting like a wet noodle. Swap weapons occasionally to keep morale high. The game tells you this in a tooltip, but nobody reads tooltips.

Mistake 3: Not checking your Curse synergy before the final boss. Look at your Curse list before you enter the last fight. Do you have Curse of the Firestarter (burn damage) but no fire weapon? That's a dead Curse. You should have swapped it out at the Altar of Change (the statue in each department that lets you trade one Curse for a random new one). I always keep a Reserved Curse slot open — meaning I never fill all three Curse slots unless the third one is absolutely perfect. That way, when the Altar of Change appears, I can take a risk without losing a good Curse.

Mistake 4: Attacking shield enemies from the front. There are enemies with Blue Shields or Gold Shields. Blue Shields break after one hit from a heavy attack. Gold Shields need multiple heavy hits. But you can also parry their attack and they'll drop the shield for 3 seconds. I used to just wail on them and take chip damage. Now I bait their attack, parry, then burst them down. Saves me about 30% of my HP per department.

Mistake 5: Forgetting to use your Consumable items. I cannot tell you how many runs I've ended with a full inventory of Healing Potions and Damage Buffs. You can hold up to 3 consumables at once. Use them. Pop a Strength Tonic before a boss fight. Use a Healing Orb at 50% HP, not 10%. The game gives you a generous inventory, and the consumables are often stronger than picking up a random Curse from a chest.

Common Questions From Players Who Just Want To Git Gud

Q: Which starter weapon is best?

A: The Scythe is the best all-rounder. It has good range, decent speed, and a reliable heavy attack. The Sword is faster but shorter range. The Mace is slower but hits harder. If you're struggling, switch to the Scythe and learn its moveset. I beat my first run with the Scythe and a Shield off-hand.

Q: Should I rush the final boss or clear all departments?

A: Always clear all three departments. Each department gives you a Permanent Upgrade Token that you cash in at the end of the run. These tokens unlock New Game+ features and better loot pools. If you skip departments, you're missing out on the best gear. The final boss is easier with a full build anyway.

Q: The game is too hard. Is there a "easy mode"?

A: There's no easy mode, but there is Assist Mode in the options menu. It lets you adjust damage taken, enemy HP, and more. Don't feel bad about using it. I used it for my first 10 hours and then turned it off when I got comfortable. The game doesn't judge you.

Q: How do I unlock more weapons?

A: You unlock weapons by beating each Department Boss for the first time. Each boss drops a blueprint. There are 8 base weapons and 4 off-hand weapons. You can also find Weapon Blueprints as random drops from Elite Mobs. I got my Flamethrower from a random Slime King kill. It's all RNG.

Q: What's the best off-hand for a beginner?

A: The Shield. No contest. It gives you a block that can tank three hits before breaking. It also has a bash attack that stuns small enemies. I used the Shield for my first 50 runs. It's not the highest damage, but it keeps you alive while you learn the boss patterns. Once you're confident, switch to Throwing Knives or Dagger for the swap attack burst.

Q: I keep dying to the train boss in the Transportation Department.

A: That's Gerd the Giant. His train attack has a tell: he honks twice before charging. Dash just before the honk ends. The hitbox is wider than it looks. If you're having trouble, stand closer to him. His charge has a dead zone right next to him. I beat him by literally standing under his feet and spam attacking.

Q: Is there a point of no return in a run?

A: No. You can always backtrack between departments until you enter the final boss arena. But once you go through the golden door at the end of the third department, that's it. Make sure you've used all your consumables and swapped any bad Curses before entering.

Q: Should I buy the DLC?

A: There's no paid DLC. The base game has all content. The Punishment System is the endgame. It's like Dead Cells' Boss Cells — you take on modifiers that make the game harder for better rewards. If you're struggling, ignore it until you've beaten the final boss at least once.

Q: The game feels random and unfair. What am I missing?

A: You're missing pattern recognition. Every attack in this game is telegraphed. The Slimes have a 0.5-second wind-up before they jump. The Skeletons have a tell where they raise their sword over their head before swinging. The game is not random — it's information overload. You need to slow down and watch the enemy's animations. I promise you, once you learn the tells, the game becomes almost rhythmic. Similar to Hades' approach, the challenge is learning to read the screen. It takes time.

That's it. That's everything I wish I'd known. Go die a few more times, but die smarter. See you in the lobby, dead guy.