Cult Of The Lamb: 8 Best New Relics In The Unholy Alliance Update

Summary

• Relics are powerful tools in Cult of the Lamb, changing runs significantly by offering unique benefits and drawbacks.
• Using relics strategically, like the Fang of the Starved, can help shorten fights and mitigate risk in combat situations.
• Relics like Scales of the Anchorite may require sacrificing followers, but can be crucial for survival in challenging runs.

The Unholy Alliance update in Cult of the Lamb added quite a bit of new content, including a ton of new relics for you to collect and use throughout your runs. There are various ways to unlock these relics, and all of them have the potential to change your runs quite a bit.

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Relics in Cult of the Lamb are some of the most powerful items in the game when used properly. They can turn a room that's going badly into a room that causes no trouble at all. It can make the difference between life and death.

6 Bones Of The Fowler

Fervour, Who Needs It?

• Gain random resources, fervour is drained.

The Bones of the Fowler relic is not one that's going to really change a fight much at all (besides removing fervour), but it could change what you're able to buy, craft, or build either inside of your run or back at your cult. Sometimes, losing fervour isn't really going to be a big deal; you aren't always going to be needing to heavy attack, and maybe your curse isn't exactly changing the world.

In that case, activating your Bones of the Fowler for some resources can be a very nice convenience. There's almost always some resource that you're hurting for back home. While you can't pick the resource that you gain with this relic, it might fill the need you're looking for. And either way, they're resources that you're going to use at some point for something. This relic has an average charge time, meaning you can likely use it quite a few times throughout your run.

5 Knuckle Of The Tachach

Heavy Hitter, Slow Walker

• Weapon damage is significantly increased for five seconds, movement speed is significantly decreased for five seconds.

Knuckle of the Tachach isn't going to appeal to every player, but for the most part, its debuff is an inconvenience and not going to hurt you all that much, provided you play smart and don't get particularly unlucky. Losing out on movement speed is going to limit your options, but dodging is still going to prevent you from taking damage. Dodge well, and those five seconds won't be any more dangerous than the five seconds before.

The damage buff that the Knuckle provides is worth the speed decrease, especially if well-timed. Bosses generally telegraph their moves beforehand; time the activation of this relic well in between boss attacks, and you'll have a safe period where you can attack the boss with reckless abandon, dealing hefty amounts of damage and not having to worry much at all about being that much slower.

4 Fang Of The Starved

A Glass Cannon

• Deal 2x damage for five seconds, take 2x damage for five seconds.

The Fang of the Starved is another relic that, if you're playing smart with it, isn't going to end up causing you any harm. Taking increased damage for five seconds is, undoubtedly, a bummer. But only if you get hit. You aren't getting hit in most five-second periods in Cult of the Lamb. But, during combat, there are a lot of five-second periods where you are hitting enemies.

Buffing your damage is going to ensure that the fight ends that much quicker, so at the end of the day, you're making the fight a little bit shorter, if a little bit riskier. For anybody who's confident they can avoid the next five seconds of attacks and land some of their own, the Fang of the Starved is a no-brainer.

3 Scales Of The Anchorite

A Regrettable-But-Necessary Sacrifice

• Heal to full health, but a random follower dies.

This is a costly relic to use, but if you're in the middle of a run that you really want to see all the way through, using it might be the only thing that keeps you in it. Sometimes, it's getting down to the wire, you and your enemy are both low on health, and you aren't sure that you're going to be able to land that one hit that matters before they land one on you. Activating the Scales of the Anchorite more or less seals the deal for you.

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But that deal is sealed at the cost of the life of one of your devout. For players who get particularly attached to followers, this relic might be a categorical no. And hey, no one could blame you. But for someone willing to roll the dice that their favorite isn't going to draw the short straw (or for those who don't have a favorite and have too many mouths to feed), the Scales of the Anchorite might just be the relic for you.

2 Blessed/Damned Balm Of The Anchorite

If You're Angry Or Old, Raise Your Hand

• Blessed - Gain half a spirit heart per elderly follower.
• Damned - Gain half a spirit heart per dissenting follower.

These are two different relics, but they function in very similar ways, just differing on the pool they draw from. Either way, gaining hearts can make a huge difference on your run, allowing you to absorb more damage and stay in the fight longer.

While these two relics can be immensely useful, they are also entirely situational. You can't always control how many elderly followers, or how many dissenting followers, you have in your cult. But, if you find yourself in a situation where the relevant number is high, this relic can make a difference like no other.

1 Damned/Blessed Clauneck's Mirror

Burn The Deck

• Blessed - Destroy all active tarot cards. Each destroyed card will give you half a blue heart.
• Damned - Destroy all active tarot cards. Each destroyed card will give you half a diseased heart.

Gaining health is a serious boon, and relics that can do that for you can make a tremendous difference. Both the blessed and damned variants of Clauneck's mirror are going to come at a hefty tarot card price. But if you've got a large tarot deck built, then your health bar is going to get a lot bigger.

The right tarot card combinations can really change a build for the better, and sometimes, this tradeoff is not going to be worth it. But if you're backed into a corner and about to die, or you aren't particularly fond of the tarot cards you've collected, this play might be a hugely beneficial one. You can run out of tarot cards and still live. You can't run out of hearts.

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