Pickups are miscellaneous items which are not gear items, stat upgrade scrolls, runes, or blueprints. Pickups can be collected using the Interact key while the player is close enough to do so.
There are three main categories of pickups: gems, which give varying amounts of gold; foods, which heal the player; and keys, which allow the player to unlock specific doors.
Gems
Gems give a significant amount of gold when collected.
The table below lists all gems in order from least valuable to most valuable. Generally, gems will be more valuable when they appear in harder biomes, and their values increase multiplicatively by 40% (rounded to the nearest multiple of 5) with each loot level increment.
| Name | Image | Description | Value Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Tooth | 
|
A gold tooth worth (value) GOLD. He had it coming to him anyway... | 35-265 |
|
| Golden Arrow | 
|
A transmuted arrow worth (value) GOLD. For the aristocratic marksman. | 35-190 |
|
| Golden Cell | 
|
A nice prize worth (value) GOLD. | 20-150 |
|
| Shiny Rock | 
|
Seriously? Is this even worth picking up? | 100-540 |
|
| Malachite | 
|
Probably a fake, but you should be able to trick a poor soul into buying it for (value) GOLD. | 250-1345 |
|
| Amethyst | 
|
This purple stone is worth (value) GOLD! My precioooouuuusssss... | 500-2690 |
|
| Blue Sapphire | 
|
A magnificent jewel worth (value) GOLD! | 1000-5380 |
|
| Ruby |  *
|
A precious gem worth (value) GOLD! | 1500-8070 |
|
| Fragment of The Philosopher's Stone | 
|
You are now the richest creature on the island. This fragment of the Philosopher's stone is worth (value) GOLD! | 75000 |
|
Food
Food regenerates a fixed percentage of health when eaten. There are two different functional types of food, each with five different appearances depending on the selected diet.
Minor Foods
Minor foods, encompassing Kebabs, Carrots, Guts, Cherries, Pastries and Croissants (Carnivore, Vegetarian, Monster, Fruitarian, Castlevaniesque and Baguette, respectively), restore 15% of the player's maximum health by default (30% with the Gastronomy Mutation). Enemies and wall runes may drop them, or they might be found on the ground at the end of a branch or for sale in a food shop.
| Name | Image | Diet Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Kebab | 
|
Carnivore |
| Carrot | 
|
Vegetarian |
| Guts | 
|
Monster |
| Cherries | 
|
Fruitarian |
| Pastry | 
|
Castlevaniesque |
| "Le Croissant" | 
|
Baguette |
Major Foods
Major foods, encompassing Drumsticks, Big ol' radishes, Monster's eyes, Watermelons, Turkeys and Baguettes (Carnivore, Vegetarian, Monster, Fruitarian, Castevaniesque and Baguette, respectively), are very effective at healing the player, healing 50% of the player's maximum health by default (100% with the Gastronomy Mutation). Major foods, though they do drop rarely from enemies and wall runes, are most reliably obtained by purchasing them in food shops.
| Name | Image | Diet Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Drumstick | 
|
Carnivore |
| Big ol' radish | 
|
Vegetarian |
| Monster's Eye | 
|
Monster |
| Watermelon | 
|
Fruitarian |
| Turkey | 
|
Castlevaniesque |
| "La Baguette" | 
|
Baguette |
Cough Syrup
A item which reduces the Malaise infection levels by 30%, can be bought at Food shop.
Cells
Cells are one of the two currencies (the other being gold) in Dead Cells. Surviving to the end of a level allows one to spend cells at the Collector, while dying prior to the end of a level will result in the loss of all cells.
Cells have a chance to drop from slain enemies and looted chests. There are also chances for levels to have gold doors, which a player can spend an amount of money to open the door (or break it down at the cost of a curse) behind which is a container of cells.
Cells can be spent either on upgrades or to unlock blueprints at The Collector at the end of each level or to upgrade the chance at finding improved quality items at the Blacksmith after each boss. These upgrades are permanent and persist even after death through all subsequent playthroughs.
The door to the area after the Collector will remain locked until all cells are spent. Should one decide they do not wish to spend all their cells at the collector (for example to spend them at the Blacksmith after the next boss), the door can be broken down to proceed to the next level.
Liposuction
Liposuction is a rare pickup that grants one extra cell on every kill for 45 seconds, even if the enemy can't give any cells on its own. It is randomly dropped from enemies, though the exact drop chance is not known.
Residual Cells
This bag spawns right next to the Dead Man's Bag, but only if you defeated the Hand of the King on the previous run with some leftover cells, and it contains all of those leftover cells from the previous run for you to use on the next one. If you don't pick up this bag, though, you'll lose all cells that the bag contained.
Keys
Unlike most other pickups, keys are not used immediately when they are picked up. Instead, they are added to the player's inventory so they can be consumed later to open doors requiring them. All unused keys are dropped upon the player's death (or the occurrence of any event that returns the player to the Prisoners' Cells). Keys will remain in the player's inventory for the rest of the run if not used within the appropriate level.
Gardener's Key
Only found in The Promenade of the Condemned, three Gardener Keys are required to open doors to obtain the Explosive Crossbow blueprint. One of the keys require the Ram Rune, one needs The Spider's Rune and the third can be obtained by stomping a hidden flower in the ground three times. Once the Explosive Crossbow blueprint has been collected, there will be Malachite or Amethyst in its place on subsequent runs. In each of The Ramparts, The Graveyard and The Forgotten Sepulchre there is a small secret room with a door that requires a Gardener Key and lets you pick up a Moonflower Key.
Village Key
Only found in the Stilt Village in special key rooms, two Village Keys are used to open doors blocking further progress through the level. The mid-stage door can be bypassed if the player possesses the Spider's Rune, but the doors blocking access to the Clock Tower and The Forgotten Sepulcher cannot be bypassed. A secret area in the biome requires a Village Key to unlock access to its prize, the blueprint for the Counter Shield.
Clockmaker's Key
Only found in a specific room in the Clock Tower, the Clockmaker's Key is required to open the door blocking access to the biome's exit, a door to the Clock Room.
Bell Tower Key
Only found when the Clock Tower's bells are rung in ascending order of the pitch of their ring[1], The Bell Tower Key is required to open the door blocking access to the blueprint for Punishment.
Crypt Key
"It seems to be very old."
Only found in The Forgotten Sepulchre, four Crypt Keys are required to open several doors blocking further progress through the level. Two lie beyond teleportation tombs, and the other two are dropped by the two Elite Trackers at the end of the biome.
Graveyard Key
"Open the gates of Hell..."
Only found in the Graveyard in one of the minor tombs, the Graveyard Key is required to open the door leading down into the underground portion of the main biome.
Architect's Key
Only found in the Graveyard in a wall rune, the Architect's Key is required to open the door blocking access to the blueprints for Merchandise Categories and Parting Gift.
Moonflower Key
There are three Moonflower Keys - one in The Ramparts, one in The Graveyard and one in The Forgotten Sepulcher. Each will appear in a small secret room that can only be reached by traversing a well-hidden passage through the walls. A glimpse of the room may hint at the passage's location, which is faintly marked by vines. Inside each of these rooms will be a door requiring a Gardener Key from The Promenade of the Condemned to gain access to the Moonflower Key. Reaching all four these locations in a single run, however, requires having three active boss cells and passing through the three-cell door leading from The Ramparts to the Insufferable Crypt. If all three Moonflower Keys have been collected, they can be used to access a secret room in High Peak Castle hidden in a similar way as the rooms containing the keys. The room contains the blueprint for Acceptance.