) for reference. Like in several of my other guides, I'll put a tl;dr build at the top but you really should read the whole thing because Cursed doesn't play like other melee classes.tl;dr build
This build skeleton is the minimum you should take to succeed with this class. My winner's build differed from this slightly but most of those changes are based on personal preference.
1/1/3/0 Slaughter
5/1/3/1 Endless Hunt
1/5/1/0 Strife
2/2/1/5 Gloom
5/5/1/1 Rampage
Spare class points can go in Gloom, Weakness, Surge, Repel, or any Slaughter talent except Cleave.
1/5/1/5 Ogre racials
1/3/0/2/5/0 Combat Training
1/2/1/1 Cursed Form
1/1/1/5 Cursed Aura
5/0/0/0 Psibades
Spare generic points can go wherever, Scar-Scripted Flesh, Relentless, and Combat Accuracy being some of the better options.
Use a 2h mainhand and mindstar offhand.
Stats: Str > Wil > Cun > Dex
Inscriptions: Movement, Heroism, Regeneration, Wild, and 2 flex slots (I used Wild and Healing)
Prodigies: ICCTW at 30, Superpower at 42
Races
Just go Ogre because Cursed is highly dependent on Inscriptions and also benefits from Ogrewielding. The sixth Inscription slot is especially valuable on this class as they have no good use for their last category point. Cornac Cursed is a horrible meme and I strongly advice you don't do it unless you want to suffer in the late game.
Stats
Stats: Str > Wil > Cun > Dex
Inscriptions
You can somewhat deviate from the standard setup because Cursed doesn't really need a second Movement Infusion. The essential ones are, as always, Movement, Regeneration, Wild, and Heroism leaving you with two flex slots. Keep in mind that your Inscriptions will be incredibly strong thanks to ICCTW and Ogre racials so you can hit outrageous numbers on Heroism, Wild, and Regeneration. With this in mind, a second Wild is pretty good because it gives you amazing uptime on resist all. I used a second Wild and a Healing for my flex slots but Shielding, Phase Door, Acid Wave, and Biting Gale are all fine choices as they help manage your saturations.
Prodigies
I Can Carry The World at level 30 always. Since you won't build Magic, it will be your best bump damage prodigy and bump damage is the most important thing as Cursed. At level 42, Superpower is probably the best choice because it gives lots of mindpower and some damage but Legacy of the Naloren is better for raw damage and a stun proc. Alternatively, Windblade and You Shall Be My Weapon give some disables which are greatly appreciated. I took You Shall Be My Weapon but in retrospect Superpower would have been better since I had very low mindpower by endgame.
Category points
Rampage -> Inscription -> Inscription -> Inscription. If for some reason you aren't Ogre, then put the last category point in Predator (5/1/1/0-1), Survival (1/5/1/1), or Cursed Aura if you enjoy inventory micromanagement.
Tinkers are good as always (less so if Ogre but still okay) but I don't feel like talking about them in depth.
Class Categories
Slaughter: 1/1/3/0 early and core, everything but Cleave luxury
Slash is good filler when not in Rampage but it uses standard fspeed and reduces Rampage by a turn so it's usually not worth using during Rampage aside from the last turn.
Frenzy is like Slash but with multihits.
Reckless Charge lets you hit targets up to three times if you move through three tiles they are adjacent to. This makes it a solid damage and mobility talent. 3/5 is a nice range breakpoint but more points are welcome too.
Cleave sucks don't get it.
Endless Hunt: 1/1/3/1 early, 5/1/3/1 core, Beckon and Surge luxury
Stalk makes you hit more and do more damage. It also makes hate management a nonissue.
Beckon is a nice way of moving enemies where you want them when used with Preternatural Senses. If you have the mindpower this can be potent against casters, but usually you want to be in melee range of your targets so you can hit them limiting it's combat usefulness.
Harass Prey is pretty much your only good defense talent. Use it on cooldown whenever fighting a strong foe, even during Rampage.
Surge is permanent movement speed. Normally this isn't that important but it's especially strong on this class since it's so dependent on bump attacks. Also its numbers are so high it makes stuff like Celerity look like trash in comparison.
Strife: 1/1/1/0 early, 1/5/1/0 core, everything luxury
Dominate is awesome at 1/5 as a pin and damage amplifier. If you have the mindpower to get it to stick and you aren't in Rampage, it's a direct upgrade over bump attacking so you may as well use it. Keep in mind it can be used from a short range to help pesky kiting enemies like Gunslingers.
Preternatural Senses is telepathy for everything at range 7 plus invisibility and stealth detection. It's not like you have anywhere better to spend your points so you may as well max this. It's an amazing talent but it's hard for words to do it justice when you really need to use it for yourself to fully appreciate its power.
Blindside is amazing. It goes through walls making it great with Preternatural Senses. It seems to teleport you behind your target so you can use it to jump over an enemy that's in your way. It also gives out of phase which can be nice if you have the right gear. It's a pretty great use of extra points for the lower cooldown, though the range doesn't change with points.
Repel would be really good if you didn't have Surge. You could take both and swap them as needed but I can't imagine ever willingly putting Surge on cooldown.
Gloom: 2/2/1/2 early, 2/2/1/5 core, Gloom and Weakness luxury
Gloom has a chance to stun, slow or confuse nearby enemies (if you have the mindpower for it). It's not bad but it isn't that reliable so don't depend too much on it.
Weakness is a very good debuff. Still unreliable though.
Dismay is completely useless only take 1/5 to unlock Santuary.
Sanctuary is mostly gank protection since you usually want to be in melee range. Cursed needs all the help it can gets in terms of defense talents though and the damage reduction gets pretty good (28% at 5/5) making this worthwhile.
Rampage (locked): Unlock at level 10, 5/5/1/1 early and core, nothing luxury
Rampage makes you attack fast and move very fast. This along with Surge are why I don't take multiple Movement Infusions on this class. Sadly the attack speed bonus does not work on any of your attack talents (unless you get Disarm from a Loremaster escort) so don't use attack talents other than Harass Prey except to finish enemies off or apply a debuff unless it's the last turn of Rampage.
Brutality increases physical damage. Pretty boring but pretty good. Not much to say here.
Tenacity is a joke but at least it gives an extra turn of Rampage.
Slam sucks but it's your only stun so it's actually worth 1/5. It's the worst stun in the game but Cursed will take what it can get in terms of reliable disables.
Predator (locked): Don't unlock unless not Ogre, 5/1/1/0-1 luxury
More damage yay. Useful in the Prides and useful against the final bosses if you mark a Shalore before entering High Peak. Only the first talent is particularly good but the rest are probably worth 1/5.
Fears (locked): Don't unlock unless not Ogre, 5/0/0/0 luxury
Instill Fear is really good but you probably won't have the mindpower for it to be reliable. Heighten Fear and Tyrant make your Fears worse on average and Panic does the opposite of what you want as Cursed so 5/0/0/0 would be the best point distribution if you choose to take this.
Generic Talents.
Cursed Form: 1/2/1/1 core, 5/5 Relentless luxury
Unnatural Body makes you worse! Too bad you can't refund it haha. Leave at 1/5.
Relentless gives you 28% resistances at 2/5 which is great and 50% at 5/5 which is okay. 2/5 is a nice breakpoint but more points here are still helpful.
Seethe is a decent damage boost in long fights but it doesn't get much better past 1/5. If you really have a bunch of spare points (maybe because you picked Cornac against my advice) then you could put some in here if you want.
Grim Resolves gives a bit Str and Wil and (more importantly) a chance to remove a disease or poison each turn. It's not awful but it's certainly not worth more than 1/5.
Cursed Aura: 1/1/1/5 early and core, 5/5/1-5/5 and a category point luxury if you're a masochist
Defiling Touch and Dark Gifts are good if somehow all your items have Curse of Nightmares or Shrouds. Go big or go home.
Unlike with Doomed you are not taking Spine of the World and you are not Shalore (well you could go Shalore and take Spine of the World but I advise against it) so this isn't that great. It's a decent if for some reason you aren't bump attacking this turn and you're in danger.
Cursed Sentry does great damage, especially if you give it a good bow or sling. Bows are usually better since arrows hit harder than shots. Also procs on-hit effects from the weapons. This also can block hallways and otherwise tank for you. You can switch places with it so it can help you get away from melee enemies that are already adjacent to you. Treat this like a tankier, immobile Ritch Flamespitter summon that can hit you with its projectiles. If you find Storm Fury it is pretty much the best possible Cursed Sentry from my experience.
Survival (locked): Don't unlock unless not Ogre, 1/5/1/1 luxury
Heightened Senses is redundant since you have Preternatural Senses which is way better.
5/5 Device Mastery is great if you know how to use it.
I don't think I need to explain why Track is great.
Danger Sense sucks but 1/5 gives a small chance to resist debuffs.
Combat Training: 0/3/0/2/5/0 early, 1/3/0/2/5 core, Thick Skin, Armour Training, and Combat Accuracy luxury.
Self-explanatory. You may want 5/5 Combat Accuracy since Ogrewielding reduces accuracy and you don't have Perfect Strike.
Psiblades: 5/0/0/0 whenever you find a good mindstar for your offhand
Buy this from Zigur for 500g and then spend 750g to boost it. Ideally buy it after betraying a Alchemist escort to give an additional 0.1 mastery.
Yay damage and mindpower. Too bad we can't use Leaves' Tide with only one Psiblade
Ogre Racials: 1/5/1/5 core, Scar-Scripted Flesh luxury
Self-explanatory. Scar-Scripted Flesh is one of the better luxury generic options on this class.
Tinkers (from escort): If not Ogre, unlock at level 36 and take 5/5 Therapeutics plus whatever it takes for Razor Edge, Grounding Strap, Kinetic Stabilizer, Iron Grip, Fungal Web, and Ablative Armour.
Tinkers are good as always (less so if Ogre but still okay) but I don't feel like talking about them in depth. These are the standard good Tinkers but you can mix it up if you want. This is the best use of your spare category point if not Ogre.
Strategy
This class loves to bump attack, not button mash. Movement is almost free when in Rampage since between it and Surge you should have over +350% movement speed so get used to moving around a lot (without talents like Rush). Weaving in and out of combat is the most important skill to learn as Cursed does a lot of damage while also having incredibly poor defenses (probably the worst defense out of any melee class).
If you're Shalore, Doomelf, or Ogre, unlearn your first racial and replace your Runes with Infusions to be able to betray escorts. You really want talents like Nature's Touch, Track, and Dream Walk and also getting Psiblades before buying it from Zigur gives you an additional 0.1 mastery.
Miscellaneous
Antimagic sucks because you already destroy casters and melee opponents pose a much bigger threat. Also, while you have a fair amount of spare generic points, you don't have quite enough to make good use of Antimagic and Fungus. Also it locks you out of Writ Large which is really bad.
Always get the Cold Iron Acorn (evil version) from the Keepsake quest. Movement speed and physical damage are way better than mindpower and some pathetic defense stats.
Commentated Gameplay Recordings
All of these were using the character I linked above. I misplayed a lot in some of these recordings but I tried my best to point out what went wrong in each of these cases. I'll upload Highpeak 6-10 and the final battle soon and link them here when I do.
Dreadfell 9
High Peak 1
High Peak 2
High Peak 3
High Peak 4-5
