Cult of the Lamb: Complete Guide

How to run a thriving cult and win crusades: base-building priorities, keeping followers fed, faithful and healthy, doctrines and rituals, crusade builds, the four Bishops, post-game content, co-op, and the Woolhaven expansion.

Researched September 2026 — current as of patch 1.5.26 (26 August 2026), with the paid Woolhaven expansion (22 January 2026) and all free updates (Relics of the Old Faith, Sins of the Flesh, Unholy Alliance). Check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Your cult is half the game. Crusades give you power, but a starving, sick, faithless cult will fall apart while you are away. Balance both.
• Build a Shrine and keep followers worshipping. Worship generates Devotion, which unlocks new buildings (Divine Inspiration). This is your main progression track at home.
• Food first. Farm plots and a Cooking Fire are day-one priorities. Hungry followers lose faith fast.
• Give a sermon every day. Sermons boost faith and level up followers, and they are a key source of Doctrine progress.
• Clean up poop and vomit. Filth spreads illness. Outhouses and janitor-assigned followers keep the base clean.
• Deal with dissenters quickly. A dissenting follower spreads doubt. Re-educate them, imprison them, or (if your cult allows it) remove them.
• Recruit on crusades. Rescue captive followers in dungeons and indoctrinate them. More followers means more Devotion and more hands.
• Upgrade the Shrine and buildings early. Better shrines hold more Devotion; better farms and kitchens save you time.
• Pick up Tarot cards smartly. Each run is shaped by the cards you take; prioritise healing, damage and curse synergy.

Your First Few Days

• Day 1: follow the tutorial through Darkwood, found the cult, build the Shrine, and indoctrinate your first followers. Clear rubble and grass around camp for early wood, stone and seeds.
• Day 1-2: set up farm plots and a Cooking Fire; plant whatever seeds you have. Give your first sermon.
• Day 2-3: add beds, an Outhouse and a Lumberyard. Assign followers to worship at the Shrine and to gather wood/stone.
• Day 3 onward: alternate short crusades with home maintenance. Come back to collect Devotion, cook, clean and preach before heading out again.
• Before your first Bishop: have a stable food supply and a Healing Bay so the cult survives a longer absence.

Rhythm that works: morning sermon, collect Devotion, check food and filth, crusade, return by evening, cook and clean, sleep.

Cult Management

Needs

Need | How to meet it

Faith | Sermons, rituals, gifts, following doctrines, good living conditions

Hunger | Cooked meals; farms and a kitchen

Sleep | Beds and housing; upgrade to better housing

Cleanliness | Clean up poop and vomit; build outhouses

Health | Healing bay and clean conditions; keep sick followers apart

Age | Old followers eventually die; plan for succession and funerals

Buildings to prioritise

• Shrine — core Devotion source; upgrade as soon as possible.
• Farm plots and seeds — steady food.
• Cooking Fire / Kitchen — turns raw food into meals.
• Housing and beds — stops sleep complaints.
• Outhouses — hygiene and fertiliser.
• Lumberyard and Stone Mine — automated resources.
• Healing bay — cures illness.
• Prison and re-education tools — handle dissent.
• Temple upgrades — more Devotion and sermon bonuses.

Followers: traits, loyalty and old age

• Traits: each follower has positive and negative traits shown when you interact with them. Some doctrines give the whole cult traits that change how followers react to things like death, sacrifice or old age.
• Loyalty: blessing, inspiring, giving gifts and completing their small quests raises a follower's loyalty. When the bar fills they level up and produce more Devotion — levelled followers are also more valuable as sacrifices, so decide who is a keeper.
• Follower quests: followers regularly ask for things (a meal, a building, a task). Completing them boosts faith; ignoring them is an easy way to lose it.
• Old age: elderly followers stop working and eventually die. Bury bodies promptly — corpses left out upset the cult — and keep recruiting so the population does not age out together.

Devotion and Divine Inspiration

Devotion collected from the Shrine funds Divine Inspiration — the building tree. Unlock resource automation and food production early, then comfort and faith buildings.

Doctrines and Rituals

Doctrines are unlocked through sermons and crusade rewards, organised into categories (Work and Worship, Possessions, Sustenance, Law and Order, Afterlife, and Pleasure from Sins of the Flesh). Each doctrine choice grants a trait for your cult and often a ritual or ability.

Key rituals:

Ritual | Effect

Feast | Fills everyone's hunger

Fast | Stops hunger for a while

Ritual of Brainwashing | Temporarily turns followers into happy workers

Sacrifice | Sacrifices a follower for power

Resurrection | Brings back a dead follower

Work Through the Night | Followers work overnight

Holiday | Follower mood boost; no work

Wedding | Marry a follower

Rituals cost bones and other resources; plan them around crusades.

Crusades

Weapons

Weapon | Style

Axe | Balanced

Dagger | Fast, low damage

Sword | Balanced

Hammer | Slow, heavy

Gauntlets | Fast combos

Blunderbuss | Ranged (Sins of the Flesh)

Curses

Curses are spells powered by fervour: fireballs, tentacles, blasts and slashes. Use them to handle crowds and ranged enemies.

Tarot cards

Tarot cards give bonuses for the current run. You draw them from Clauneck's rooms in dungeons and from card rewards. Prioritise:

• Healing (extra hearts).
• Damage and attack speed.
• Curse synergy.

Relics

Relics (added in Relics of the Old Faith) are powerful one-use or rechargeable abilities. Use them for boss fights.

Fleeces

Fleeces are run modifiers worn by the Lamb. Collect key pieces during crusades; each completed key unlocks a new fleece at the Temple. Most trade a strength for a drawback (for example more damage for less health), so swap them to suit your build and the boss.

Around the Lands of the Old Faith

Between crusades, the map has non-combat stops worth visiting:

• Ratau's home and other Knucklebones opponents (Ratau, Flinky, Klunko and Bop, Shrumy) — dice games for gold.
• Pilgrim's Passage — fishing for food.
• Spore Grotto — Sozo's mushroom quest line.
• Smuggler's Sanctuary — traders who swap resources, decorations and seeds.
• Midas Cave — Midas, who has designs on your gold.

Crusade tips

• Dodge and hit. Dodge-roll through attacks and punish.
• Clear rooms before looting.
• Buy hearts when offered.
• Return early if the cult is struggling.

The Four Bishops

Bishop | Region | Tip

Leshy | Darkwood | Watch for charge attacks; beginner-friendly

Heket | Anura | Avoid ground slams and projectile spits

Kallamar | Anchordeep | Dodge projectiles; use curses

Shamura | Silk Cradle | Patience; dodge webs and projectiles

After defeating all four, you face The One Who Waits.

Post-Game

• Relics of the Old Faith adds a post-game storyline with harder Bishop encounters, heavy attacks, photo mode and more.
• Sins of the Flesh adds Sins, doctrines, the blunderbuss and follower breeding.
• Unholy Alliance adds local two-player co-op (the Lamb and the Goat).
• Blood Moon Festival (October 2022) added the Blood Moon ritual; the Don't Starve Together crossover update (August 2023) added crossover content and Penitence Mode, a tougher survival-focused way to play.

Woolhaven (Paid Expansion)

The Lamb returns to Ewefall, the mountain ancestral home of the lambs. Yngya, a forgotten god, calls you to restore the flock — retrieving wool from devoted followers to restore them as spirits in Woolhaven. A creeping Rot spreads, and Marchosias stands against the gods. You decide whether to embrace or purge the Rot.

What it adds:

• Two new dungeons.
• Weather effects (winter conditions; plan warmth for your cult).
• Animal breeding and ranching.
• New story with its own ending.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Neglecting food. Hungry followers lose faith.
• Letting poop pile up. Illness spreads.
• Ignoring dissenters. Doubt spreads.
• Rushing crusades while your cult collapses.
• Skipping sermons. Faith and doctrine progress stall.
• Spending Devotion on cosmetics early.

Advanced Tips

• Automate early with lumberyards, stone mines and farms.
• Plan doctrines around your playstyle (sacrifice vs care).
• Use Knucklebones for extra gold.
• Upgrade the Shrine as often as possible.
• Use co-op to split home and crusade duties.
• Keep a reserve of bones for emergency rituals.

FAQ

Is Woolhaven worth it? It adds a new story, two dungeons, weather and ranching — worth it if you enjoyed the base game.

Can I play co-op? Yes, local two-player co-op since Unholy Alliance (August 2024).

How do I stop dissent? Re-educate, imprison or remove dissenters; keep faith high.

What happens if a follower dies? Hold a funeral; use Resurrection if unlocked.

Is the game still updated? Yes, patch 1.5.26 was released in August 2026.

What do I do after beating The One Who Waits? Keep playing: the Relics of the Old Faith post-game storyline, Sins of the Flesh systems, remaining quests and lore, and (if you own it) Woolhaven all continue from your save.

How do I report a bug? Use the bug icon in the pause menu, or the Steam Discussions if that fails — Massive Monster still ships fix patches.

Sources

• Cult of the Lamb on Steam
• Cult of the Lamb Steam news (patch notes 1.5.24-1.5.26, Woolhaven posts)
• Cult of the Lamb — Wikipedia
• Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven on Steam