Rot Essence items in Sekiro are Key items that you can acquire in the game, and there’s a special mechanic involved with them. Unlike most items, Sekiro Rot Essence are things you really don’t want to have. They impact the gameplay negatively. And, the concept of the Sekiro Rot Essence items has been confusing some people, as to how exactly the whole thing functions. With that in mind, here’s our Sekiro Rot Essence Items Mechanic Explained – How Does it Work guide to help you understand what these items do, and what you can do about them.

What do Rot Essence Items Do in Sekiro?

The Rot Essence items in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are kind of like a counter as to which NPCs have been stricken by dragonrot. In case you’re not familiar with the dragonrot mechanic somehow, allow me to refer you to our Dragonrot & Resurrection Mechanic Explained article. Here’s a quick refresher, though: basically, the more you die, the more the mysterious illness called dragonrot spreads. Slowly, NPC are going to contract the sickness, and that slowly erodes your Unseen Aid.

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And so, that brings us to the Rot Essence items. Their names come in the format of Rot Essence: NPC name. This means that the NPC in question is now sick with dragonrot. In our example above, it’s the Sculptor. For every Rot Essence that you “acquire”, your Unseen Aid percentage goes down. As far as we know, this is the only major effect that these items have on the gameplay. While it might seem like nothing major, you definitely want to get rid of dragonrot as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Yes, there is a way to cure dragonrot, not entirely unlike how you can turn from Hollow in Dark Souls. Take a gander at our How to Cure Dragonrot guide for instructions on how to do that. Long story short; you need a specific item that you take to Emma the Physician. She then gives you the items needed to cure dragonrot.