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Charms
September 23, 2026 at 09:30 AM
Initial version (2026-09-23)
Charms are bonuses a hero collects during a Tears of Metal campaign, stacking with Emblems and equipment to shape a build. The Early Access build has more than 30 of them, unlocked by completing in-game challenges. See Gameplay for how Charms fit into a run.
The first open beta in April 2025 offered 20 Charms. By the demo in October 2025, more than 30 could be unlocked through challenges. Since the second open beta, Charms have been purchased rather than handed out as objective rewards, a change Paper Cult made alongside making them more impactful. Challenge rewards currently consist of Charms and Threat reduction, and the studio said in September 2026 that it plans to add other kinds of Challenge reward.
Inside a run, Charms come from several places. Treasure chests sell Charms and other loot for coins at a price that rises through the Acts. Dragonstone treasure chests cost one Dragonstone and guarantee a high-tier Charm. The Cursed Spealbone grants a Charm in exchange for health, a cost that was reduced on August 1, 2026.
Coins are meant to force a choice between healing and getting stronger through Charms. That was the reason Paper Cult gave on August 13, 2026 for moving co-op revives from a coin cost to a health cost: the old system pushed players to hoard coins instead of buying Charms. See Co-Op.
Charms are sorted into rarity tiers, and Common is one of the named tiers. On August 1, 2026 Paper Cult reclassified several Charms between tiers, rebalanced Charms relative to their rarity and changed how some of them work, with the stated aim of making the tiers meaningfully different and preparing for more powerful Charms in later updates.
Paper Cult has not published a full Charm list. These are the Charms named in official posts so far.
Charm | Rarity | What Is Known |
|---|---|---|
Cutthroat's Blade | Common | +10% critical hit chance on Finishers. Added on July 24, 2026 |
Heart of Wood | Not stated | Consumed to revive the player. Since September 8, 2026 it visibly disappears once used |
Large Reliquary | Not stated | Could grant another copy of itself until a fix on July 24, 2026 |
Tithing Box | Not stated | Could not be unlocked at launch; fixed on July 24, 2026 |
Sacred Heart | Not stated | Named in the September 8, 2026 patch notes, which added its Russian translation; effect not published |
One further Charm is unlocked by keeping a Combo Chain going for 20 seconds. It could not be unlocked at all until a fix on July 24, 2026.
Castle Records lists the Charms a player has unlocked. It needed fixes on July 31, August 1 and September 8, 2026 before it reliably stopped showing unlocked Charms as locked. Charm stack counts also failed to update when certain Charms were picked up until July 28, 2026. Since August 13, 2026, Charms that trigger above or below a health threshold check the condition at the start of a level rather than only after the player takes damage.
Charms fall under the build crafting part of the rework Paper Cult announced in August 2026, which aims to give players more control over their builds across Emblems, Charms and allies. In September 2026 the studio said it would start showing a Charm's description before it is picked up, and before an interactable is used, so players can plan a build without memorising every Charm. New Charms are on the list of content planned for Early Access. See Update History.