Luckily, poison isn’t too hard to remove. First, let’s go into how poison works before touching on how to remove this pesky status effect.
What Poison Does in Spelunky 2
Once you’re poisoned, you will take one heart of damage every 30 seconds. If you’re at four hearts, that means you’ve got two minutes to remove poison. Chances are you have less than four hearts when you get poisoned, though, meaning you’ll have even less time to cleanse yourself.
How to Cure Poison in Spelunky 2
There’s nothing like the love of a dog… or whatever else you have your maiden set to.
To cleanse yourself of the health-draining poison, you’ll need to escort the maiden to the exit of the floor alive, just as you normally do when trying to get your HP up, and leave.
This can be a stressful endeavor when you’re already poisoned and have no idea where the maiden might be on the floor. You’ll have to search for it fast and make a dash for the exit once you have it in your grasp. Chances are you won’t be able to find it on the next floor if you’re already poisoned and low on health.
Go through the exit and the maiden’s usual healing kiss (licks) will free you from your poisonous shackles and you can continue on with your run as normal. Albeit with lower health than before you were poisoned, probably.
Poison is only one of the many surprises Spelunky 2 has in store for classic and Spelunky HD players, and luckily it’s one of the easier ones to handle.