There’s one final rune you can unlock in Dead Cells, and getting it gives you access to a super secret blueprint in the spawn room. The Homunculus Rune is unlocked in a pretty straightforward way — you just need to defeat the Hand of the King and complete the game. This gives you the ability to detach your head and crawl around freely. Your head-plant-thing can crawl through tiny passages that your full-body can’t squeeze through.
And even knowing that much doesn’t really help you get the useful Disengagement Mutation blueprint. It’s one of the last secrets you’ll find right at the start, and it’s totally impossible to collect until you’ve earn the Homunculus Rune.
Learn how to get the Disengagement Mutation Blueprint in the quick guide below, along with a few more details on the sometimes-powerful Homunculus Rune.
More Dead Cells guides on Gameranx:
- Dead Cells: 10 Tips To Help You Beat The Game | Completion Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Find Keys & Cash In The Promenade | Secrets Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Get The Vine, Teleportation, Ram & Spider Runes | Locations Guide
- Dead Cells: Want To Make Easy Progress? Equip Double Turrets | Powerful Build Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Access Every Area | Hidden & Optional Areas Guide
- Dead Cells: All Secret Key & Blueprint Locations | Gardener’s Keys, Architect’s Key & More
- Dead Cells: How To Beat The Hand Of The King | Last Boss Guide
How To Get The Homunculus Rune & A Secret Spawn Blueprint | Disengagement Guide
The Homunculus Rune is unlocked when you defeat the Hand of the King, then kill the king himself. Once the credits roll, you’ll respawn in the starting room as if nothing happened — but, you’ll gain a Stem Cell (or Boss Cell) that you can use to go up one difficulty level.
- Homunculus Rune: Unlocked after completing the game once. Press [R3 / V] to launch your head. It can stick to walls, crawl through narrow spaces, and stuns enemies it attaches to. You can move freely even with the head detached and continue to attack after it latches onto an enemy. The head is attached by a vine, and it will return to your body if the vine is stretched too far.
The Homunculus Rune isn’t just a useful tool for fighting enemies. You can also use it to access previously unreachable secret areas — including the Disengagement Mutation Blueprint. To unlock this secret blueprint, follow the steps below.
- Disengagement Mutation Blueprint:
- Restart from the spawn room and stick to the left wall (Spider Rune required), then jump to the right wall. If you stick to the right wall, you’ll be able to see the Disengagement Rune in a hidden alcove.
- To reach it, launch your Homunculus Rune head into the wall just as you jump. While you’re stuck to the right wall, you’ll have just enough time to navigate the secret passage with your head. When your body slips off the wall and falls, the vine tether will pull the head back to the body.
- Mid-jump, launch your head into the wall then hold down-right until you enter the secret tunnel. Go right, then up, then right, and down to reach the blueprint.
If you can stick the vine-head into the blueprint alcove before your body falls to the ground, you’ll be able to bring the item back. Tap [R3 / V] to re-summon your head, and you’ll collect the blueprint. It’s just that simple, but only eagle-eyed players will ever even spot this thing.
The Disengagement Rune gives you a 6 second invincibility shield after your health drops below 20% — this is insanely useful. You can use that invulnerability time to attack opponents or just heal from a position of total safety. It’s really good, especially for high-difficulty runs.
