Curses

Curse node marker

Curses are deals with the devil. Stop at a Curse node on the Monolith, the game prompts you to "Choose a curse," and you pick one nasty downside. In exchange, the node pays out more Coins than a normal stop. The in-game node text says it plainly: "Curse, but more coins."

A Curse never helps you directly. It hurts you a little (or a lot), and you get paid for the pain. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on what the Curse breaks and how your run is doing right now.

Quick facts

What it is: A reward node where you accept a permanent or temporary downside for extra Coins.
In-game prompt: "Choose a curse" · node label: "Curse, but more coins."
How many: 12 selectable Curses (each with its own icon).
Tutorial line: "These have negative effects, but give more [Coins]."
Cost: Always free to take — the "cost" is the downside itself.
Duration varies: some are one-time hits, one lasts 3 Waves (Slime), most last the rest of the run.
Related node: Elite Waves ("Harder, but more coins") trade extra Coins for a tougher fight instead of a handicap.
Origin: Added in the 0.9.8 update as "Hacks with some nasty affects, to be avoided or twisted to your benefit!"

Tip: Take a Curse early-to-mid run, when you can absorb the setback and the bonus Coins have time to compound into a stronger build. Late in a run, when one bad Wave can end you, skipping the Curse branch entirely is often the safer play.

How Curse nodes work

A Curse node is marked on the path with the Curse symbol. When you arrive:

The game shows "Choose a curse" — usually a small set of options, and you pick the one that hurts your run the least.
The Curse applies right away. Some are one-time hits (lose a life, destroy a Mod), one wears off after a few Waves (Slime), and the rest stick for the rest of the run.
You collect the bonus Coins the node offered. They go straight into your wallet for the next Shop. (Worth noting: this extra-Coin payout is exactly what the Curses Trial strips away — its rules state "Curse Waves don't give extra coins," confirming that normal Curse nodes do.)

The key insight: not every Curse costs you the same amount. A Curse that drops your COIN Mods a level is brutal for a coin-farming build but a shrug for a pure-multiplier build. You're choosing the cheapest pain, then cashing the cheque.

Every Curse

There are 12 Curses you'll run into. Names are deliberately cheeky — a lost life is "Cupid," fake gold is "Fool's Gold," a destroyed Mod is "Ka-Boom!" The table below lists every one with its exact in-game effect and a hurt rating. Names and effect text are pulled straight from the game's data (build 1.0.1).

Curse	Exact effect (in-game)	Duration	Hurt rating
Cupid	Lose a ❤.	Permanent	Severe
Ka-Boom!	Destroy a random Mod.	Permanent	Severe (random)
Socket Punch	Remove 2 levels from a random Socket.	Permanent	High if Socket-built
Fool's Gold	All your COIN Mods have -1 level.	Permanent	High for coin builds
Withered Feather	All your ADD Mods have -1 level.	Permanent	High for ADD builds
Broken Button	All your MULTIPLY Mods have -1 level.	Permanent	High for MULTIPLY builds
Cracked Marble	All your UTILITY Mods have -1 level.	Permanent	High for UTILITY builds
After Hours	You can't buy anything in the next Shop.	One Shop	Medium
Heatwave	You can no longer freeze items in the Shop.	Permanent	Medium / Low
Dead Seconds	Waves are 2 seconds shorter.	Permanent	Medium
Slime	Adds Slime to a random Mod. Lasts 3 Waves.	3 Waves	Low–Medium
Dung Beetle	Get an unsellable Dung Beetle Mod.	Permanent	Low

Every effect above is the exact in-game description. No effect kills or clears Targets, freezes Waves, or touches your score directly — Curses only weaken what you've already built or shave a resource.

The Curse breakdown — which to take, which to dodge

Take these gladly (near-free Coins)

These barely touch a well-built run. If one's on offer, you're essentially being handed Coins.

Dung Beetle — "Get an unsellable Dung Beetle Mod." You're forced to keep a Mod you can't sell — but Dung Beetle isn't junk. In the game it "Adds [points] to targets. Likes to be boosted," so it's a genuine ADD Mod: every point it adds gets multiplied like any other, and it scales when you boost it. The only real cost is the slot it occupies. For most builds this is one of the cheapest Curses going.

Slime Slime — "Adds Slime to a random Mod. Lasts 3 Waves." Slime gunks up one random Mod, but it's the only Curse with a built-in expiry — it wears off after exactly 3 Waves. Annoying if it lands on your carry Mod, trivial if it hits a filler one. Worst case you ride out three Waves and you're back to normal with the bonus Coins banked.

Heatwave — "You can no longer freeze items in the Shop." Freezing holds a Shop item so you can buy it next visit. If you rarely freeze (plenty of players don't), this Curse costs you basically nothing — free Coins.

Read the room (depends on your build)

These hit one specific system. Devastating if that system is your build, harmless if it isn't. This is where smart curse-picking earns its keep.

Fool's Gold / Withered Feather / Broken Button / Cracked Marble — these are the four category curses, and each knocks -1 level off an entire Mod category: COIN, ADD, MULTIPLY, and UTILITY respectively. The rule is simple: take the one for the category you've invested in the least. Running a pure multiplier-stacking build with no coin engine? Fool's Gold costs you nothing. Leaning hard on raw +points? Dodge Withered Feather. Light on utility Mods? Cracked Marble is a freebie. Because Mods score as base + ADDs, then ×MULTIPLY, a level lost to Broken Button usually stings the most for high-score builds — guard your blues.

Socket Punch — "Remove 2 levels from a random Socket." If you've been building around Sockets (including Super Sockets), losing 2 levels off one hurts. If you've barely touched Sockets this run, it's a near-freebie. Check your Socket investment before you commit.

After Hours — "You can't buy anything in the next Shop." You skip exactly one round of buying. Cheap when you're broke anyway and your build already hums; expensive when you're sitting on a pile of Coins itching to spend. Time it for a weak upcoming Shop or when you have little to buy.

Dead Seconds — "Waves are 2 seconds shorter." This shaves 2 seconds off every Wave for the rest of the run, so it scales with how comfortably you clear. Blowing past Target scores with seconds to spare? 2 seconds is nothing. Already clearing on a knife's edge? This is a slow strangle — and remember, failing a Wave costs you a heart. Take it only when you have time to burn.

Only if you're desperate (usually skip)

These cause real, often random damage. Take them only when the Coin bonus is huge and you can absorb the hit.

Cupid Cupid — "Lose a ❤." Hearts are your lives — failing a Wave costs a heart (and grants +10 seconds), so spending one to a Curse means one fewer Wave you're allowed to flunk. Trading a life for Coins rarely pays off unless you're early, cruising, and certain you won't need the cushion. Late run, this is how good runs die.

Ka-Boom! — "Destroy a random Mod." The scariest Curse, because it's random — it might delete a filler Mod, or vaporize your run-defining carry. You can't aim it. Only take Ka-Boom! very early, when your Mods are cheap and interchangeable and losing one barely registers. Once you've got a key Mod you can't replace, never risk it.

When Curses accelerate a build

Used well, Curses aren't just survivable — they're fuel. Here's how a strong player turns a downside into an advantage:

Snowball early. Coins compound. A Curse's bonus Coins in Wave 3 buy Mods that win Wave 10. The earlier you take a cheap Curse, the more its payout snowballs — the same "small decisions snowball into massive score explosions" idea the whole game is built on.
Find your blind spot. The four category Curses (Fool's Gold / Withered Feather / Broken Button / Cracked Marble) are nearly free if you've specialized. A focused MULTIPLY build laughs off Fool's Gold, Withered Feather, and Cracked Marble alike. Specializing makes Curses cheaper — another reason tight builds outscore scattered ones.
Embrace the forced Mod. Dung Beetle hands you a real ADD Mod for free. Boost it and it pulls its weight while you pocket the Coins.
Spend the slack you don't need. Over-stocked on hearts, time, or unspendable Coins? That surplus is exactly what a Curse "spends." Cupid when a Heart Glitch gave you a spare life, After Hours when the Shop is weak, Dead Seconds when you clear with time to spare — you're selling slack for Coins.

Tip: Treat each Curse as one question — "What does this break, and do I even use it?" If the answer is "nothing I care about," take it every time. If it's "my entire run," walk away; there's almost always a safer branch on the Monolith.

Curses as a whole run — the Curses Trial

If one Curse isn't enough punishment, the Curses Trial (one of the game's challenge modes) leans all the way in. Its rules: "You will be cursed 3 times" over the run, and "Curse Waves don't give extra coins." It's the same pool of 12 Curses, but forced on you three times with no Coin reward to soften the blow — a pure test of whether you can build around debuffs. (See The Monolith for how Trials and node types fit together.)

Curses vs. the rest of the Monolith

Curse nodes sit alongside the other choices on your climb:

Curse — accept a downside for more Coins. (This page.)
Elite — "Harder, but more coins." A tougher Wave that pays out if you clear it.
Augment, Super Socket, Hack — reward nodes that add power rather than cost you.

For the full map of node types and how to route the tower, see The Monolith.

Curses ​

Quick facts ​

How Curse nodes work ​

Every Curse ​

The Curse breakdown — which to take, which to dodge ​

Take these gladly (near-free Coins) ​

Read the room (depends on your build) ​

Only if you're desperate (usually skip) ​

When Curses accelerate a build ​

Curses as a whole run — the Curses Trial ​

Curses vs. the rest of the Monolith ​

See also ​