Darksiders Genesiswas a welcome entry to THQ Nordic’s spectacular action-adventure franchise about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Despite makingthe series timeline even more convoluted,Genesissuccessfully adaptsDarksidersinto a top-down, isometric, hack and slash game without losing the puzzle design and visceral combat that fans have come to expect.
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Genesis introduces RPG mechanics that take the form of a skill tree, which can be filled out with creature cores. These cores can be acquired by killing monsters and enemies, or purchased from the in-game shop with souls. Often to get the best abilities, players will need to harvest multiple cores from the same enemy, and some are more worth the effort than others.
Updated by Beau Low on June 02, 2025:THQ Nordic iscelebrating its 10th anniversary, with a special sale. As well as the newSpongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated,fans can also pick up the 4th installment in theDarksidersfranchise, Darksiders: Genesis.Players can control either War or his brother Strife as they journey through mythical realms on a mission from Lucifer himself. Both Strife and War can acquire new buffs and power-ups by killing enemies and collecting their creature cores. To help players out, this article has been updated with more information on how to make the most of the best creatures cores inDarksiders Genesis.
How To Use Creature Cores In Darksiders Genesis
Creature cores come in three different types:Wrath, Attack, and Health.To equip cores, players must place in an open slot in their skill tree. The ability will only take effect if it can be connected back to the Key Core in the middle of the top row.
Players will want to consider where they place their cores as well as which ones they wish to use. Each slot in the skill tree corresponds to a specific type of core.Placing the right ability in its corresponding slot will offer an additional matching bonusas well as the original buff. All creature cores have three levels, which players can access by killing the same creature to collect a set number of cores.
15Spectral Angel – More Bullets For Strife
Both War and Strife have their own unique attacks and special abilities. Strife, for instance, can wield a gun that fires magical bullets. These projectiles can be very useful for thinning the ranks of enemies before they can overwhelm the player.
The Spectral Angel coreincreases the damage of War’s tremor gauntlet as well as increasing the number of bullets Strife can carry.Given how much he relies on his gun, this core is essential for anyone controlling Strife. It can be commonly found in chapters 11 and 12.
14Nephilim Brute – Trade Health For Stronger Attacks
Often in games with fast-paced, hack and slash combat, it is sensible to prioritize aggression over defense.Darksiders Genesisis no exception, and it is often far better to focus on removing threats rather than trying to avoid them.
Players will start collecting Nephilim Brute cores around chapters 10-11. At level 3, this core willboost the player’s attack damage by 15% in exchange for a 2.5% decrease in health.This trade-off is less favorable at lower levels, so it is worth grinding the necessary 10 cores to get the maximum benefit from this core.
13Slag Flea — Ignore Explosions
Flea-type enemies are often encountered in the earlier chapters. Slag fleas and Acid fleas are some of the most dangerous due to their explosions which not only cause damage but can briefly stun the player providing an opportunity for other enemies to pile in and attack.
When fully leveled up, the Slag Flea core willprevent explosions from interrupting the players as well as offering a 20% reduction in damagefrom Fleamag explosions. While this core is useless on any level without Fleamag enemies, it can be invaluable for anyone who is struggling to get through the first few levels.
12Blight Cannon & Legion Siegemaster – Strong Cores That Only Work On One Character
Players can choose to play as either War or Strife inDarksiders Genesis,and the game hasan optional co-op modein which each player takes on one of the characters. These two cores share joint 10th place as they are incredibly powerful, but each only works for one of the playable characters.
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TheBlight Cannon core increases War’s parry windowwhich when combined with the Angelic Beast core, allows players to chain parry enemies with ease. Meanwhile, theLegion Siegemaster core makes the caltrops dropped by Strife reduce enemy movement speed, allowing Strife to decimate enemy hordes before they can reach him. Both these cores are essential for their respective characters but are useless when applied to the other.
11Fallen Hound – Deal More Damage Per Attack
The best stat players can boost is their attack damage. With so many enemies on screen, being able to tank damage is far less important than avoiding it altogether.
With the Fallen Hound core, the player canincrease their attack by as much as 10%when upgraded to level three. To do this players will only need tocollect ten cores. While this buff may seem insignificant, it is well worth the grind as it improves one of the most important stats in the game.
10Void Magus – An Early Farming Core
At first glance, many players might be unwilling to use any core thatreduces their health by 20%. The Void Magus core is a rare drop, but it is worth farming as it is useful for quickly leveling up in the early game.
This core removes a fifth of the player’s health, but in return,increases the number of souls gained from enemies and chests.This may sound like an unfavorable trade, but the extra souls will enable players to buy other creature cores from Vulgrim. Once players have five of these cores, the health reduction is lowered to 5%. Players can use their excess souls to buy health shards if they need to.
9Inferno Angel — The Perfect Creature Core For Co-op
Darksiders Genesis can be played alone or with friends. In order to play split-screen with another person, players must find a summoning stone in the lower right-hand corner of the void.
Inferno Angel is an amazing core that allows both War and Strife to work better as a team. This creature corea 20% chance for Strife to gain ammo whenever damage is dealt with a melee attackat level 3. With this core, the player controlling War can wade into the hordes of enemies and provide plentiful amounts of ammo for their friend in the process.
8Flea Hulk – Boosting The Chaos/ Anarchy Skill
Darksiders Genesisis a reasonably long gamewith new abilities and features unlocked throughout its 16 chapters.In Chapter 5, the player unlocks the chaos form for war or the anarchy form for Strife, both of which completely regenerate a character’s health and transform them into a giant monster.
The chaos/anarchy skill is great for helping players escape difficult situations and any creature core that improves these abilities is worth using. The Flea Hulk coreextends the length of both these abilities,which makes them even more useful for players who are about to be overwhelmed.
7Phantom Guard – Ricocheting Bullets And Spinning Blades
Wrath abilities are some of the player’s best attacks and creature cores that improve them are worth seeking out. Since Strife and War have different wrath abilities, creature cores such as Phantom Guard will have different effects depending on which character equips them.
For Strife, this core will makebullets fired by shadow clones ricochet off walls and, at later levels, pierce through enemies. On the other hand, War can equip this core toincrease the radius of his blade geyser attackmaking it even more devastating than it already was.
6Nephilim Vindicator — Cascading Void Explosions
Abilities and buffs gained from creature cores can stack allowing players to create incredibly powerful builds by experimenting with different combinations. The Nephilim Vindicator core grantsa small chance for each hit against an enemy to create a void explosion.
While this power is useful for both characters, it is especially effective with Strife, whose static shot ability hits constantly and can arc to damage multiple enemies. The sheer number of hits generated by this attack will trigger explosions very often especially when this core is upgraded to level 3. This core is especially useful fordefeating bosses like Stormcaller,who summon mobs of regular enemies to overwhelm the player.
