The “best scroll” question in Dead Cells is really a question of which color to stack. Every scroll adds to one of three stats — Brutality (red), Tactics (purple), or Survival (green) — and the wiki’s own scaling math shows that concentrating scrolls on one color beats spreading them. This guide explains the real numbers behind that rule and how to pick your color.
All values below come from the Dead Cells wiki’s Pickups and Stats pages (retrieved 2026-10-28). Read weapon scaling explained for how colors attach to gear.
The scroll types you will see
There are six scroll variants. The first four are the ones you collect on a normal run:
| Scroll | Effect | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Scroll of Power | +1 to one of the three stats (you choose) | Scroll vats, enemy drops, cursed chest, Challenge Rift chest |
| Assassin’s Scroll | +1 to Brutality or Tactics | Scroll vats, enemy drops |
| Minotaur’s Scroll | +1 to Brutality or Survival | Scroll vats, enemy drops |
| Guardian’s Scroll | +1 to Tactics or Survival | Scroll vats, enemy drops |
| Epic Scrolls of Power | +1 to all three stats | Scroll vats in Daily Run only |
| Scroll Fragment | Every 4th fragment grants a Scroll of Power | Fragment pedestals, enemy drops, bosses (3+ Boss Stem Cells only) |
The dual-stat scrolls (Assassin’s, Minotaur’s, Guardian’s) are weighted toward your two lowest stats, which the wiki notes is a built-in safety net so your health does not collapse. That bias is why a pure-red build still picks up some green and purple along the way.
The math: why you stack one color
Damage scaling is exponential, not additive. Per the Stats page:
- Picking a stat raises the DPS of items scaling with that color by +15% per point.
- The formula is BaseDPS × 1.15^(stat − 1).
- Because of that exponent, DPS roughly doubles every +5 scrolls of a color.
The wiki illustrates this with a worked example: going from 2 to 3 stats adds about 70 DPS, but going from 19 to 20 stats adds about 646 DPS. At high scroll counts, one or two extra scrolls is the difference between a one-shot and a two-shot kill. Spreading those scrolls across two colors throws away that compounding.
Health is a quadratic, not a straight line
Scrolls also raise your health pool. Base health is 100, multiplied by a separate factor for each color:
- Survival gives the largest health bonus, Tactics the smallest.
- Each factor follows a curve
f(s) = 1 + a·s − b·s²that flattens as the stat climbs (e.g. Brutality: y1 = 1.65 at stat 1, capped at 12.375 at stat 34).
The practical read: early Survival points buy a lot of health, but the return shrinks fast. A few green scrolls keep you alive early; piling green late is wasteful compared to piling red or purple for damage.
Which color to pick
The wiki is explicit: allocate all possible scrolls to one stat, and that stat should be the color your gear already scales with.
- Your highest stat should match the most common color among your weapons and skills. Items scale off their larger stat, so a red-heavy kit wants red scrolls.
- Colorless items and dive attacks always scale off your largest stat (Brutality first, then Tactics, then Survival on ties).
- Mutations also scale off stats, so a focused color amplifies both your weapon output and your mutation effects.
Scroll value by build color
- Brutality (red) — fast one-handed melee and offensive skills, often with bleed or burn. Best when your kit is aggressive and up close. Red scrolls directly boost the weapons you are already using.
- Tactics (purple) — ranged weapons, traps, and turrets, plus many movement tools. Best for kiting and crowd control. Note Tactics gives the smallest health factor, so you lean on damage and spacing instead of bulk.
- Survival (green) — high base health and tanky shields (most shields scale with Survival). Best when you want to trade damage ceiling for survivability, or when your shield is your main defensive tool.
For a deeper read on how the three colors shape a run, see Brutality vs Tactics vs Survival and the build tier list.
Common scroll mistakes
- Splitting evenly. Two colors at 10 each deal far less than one color at 20, because of the 1.15 exponent.
- Chasing health late. Survival past the early game returns little health per scroll; that scroll is worth more as damage.
- Ignoring your gear color. Scrolling red while your weapons are purple wastes the multiplier. Check the icon color before you pick.
- Skipping fragments on high Boss Stem Cells. From 3 BSC, Scroll Fragments spawn and every 4 grant a free Power scroll — a meaningful late-run stat bump.
Turning this into a run
Decide your color from your starting weapon, then pour every compatible scroll into it. Use Assassin’s/Minotaur’s/Guardian’s picks to top up your two lowest stats just enough to stay alive, but never let those overtake your main. Re-check your color after each blueprint drop, because a new weapon can change which stat you should be stacking.
For the wider plan, read build tier list and mutations guide.