Boons

**Boons** are upgrades given by the gods to help Zagreus in his attempts to escape the underworld. They can be obtained as rewards for clearing a room marked with the respective god's symbol or purchased for 150  from Charon's shop. Boons only last for the duration of a run; they disappear when Zagreus dies and is sent back to the House of Hades.

## Gods

* Aphrodite gives boons that inflict Weak and Charmed on opponents, as well as improve survivability.
* Ares gives boons that inflict Doom, create Blade Rifts, or increase the damage of your attacks.
* Artemis gives boons that grant Critical hits and improve Cast abilities.
* Athena gives boons that allow abilities to Deflect projectiles and improve Calls and defensive options.
* Chaos gives boons that grant a variety of bonuses after inflicting a debuff for multiple encounters.
* Demeter gives boons that add Chill to abilities, improve healing, and various debuffs.
* Dionysus gives boons that inflict Hangover, create Festive Fog, and improve survivability.
* Hermes gives boons that increase your mobility, ability speed, evasion and dash capability.
* Poseidon gives boons that add Knockback to abilities and improve room rewards.
* Zeus gives boons that add chain lightning to abilities, or cause lightning to strike nearby enemies.

*More information on specific boons from each god can be found on their respective pages.*

Equipping a keepsake given by one of the gods (except Hermes or Chaos) ensures that the next time a boon is offered, it will be from that specific god. It does *not* guarantee that the very next reward will be a god boon - only that, the first time one appears, it will be from that god. Chaos and Hermes boons can appear before any other god boon regardless of the keepsake you are using.

## Slots

Zagreus' **Attack**, **Special**, **Cast**, **Dash**, and **Call** abilities have one boon slot, and cannot hold multiple ability boons.

For example, you cannot have both Aphrodite's cast boon Crush Shot and Dionysus's cast boon Trippy Shot. However, a god may offer to replace another god's ability slot Boon with their own. Exchanges increase rarity of the boon by one, keeping the level the same. In the above example, Dionysus may offer to replace your Epic Crush Shot (Rank 2) with Heroic Trippy Shot (Rank 2).

There are no other limits to how many other boons Zagreus can have.

## Boon Rarity

There are four 'standard' rarities of boon available, each more powerful than the last:

* **Common**
* Rare
* Epic
* Heroic

"More powerful" has a similar meaning as leveling the boon up (i.e. the same numbers get bigger), but +1 rarity and +1 level will have different results. The exact formula is currently unsolved.

Heroic rarity is available through exchanging an Epic-rarity boon, choosing Ambrosia Delight from Eurydice, or from cultivating boons with Rare Crop from Demeter. Note that the Yarn of Ariadne from the Well of Charon, and the Refreshing Nectar from Eurydice, *cannot* offer a heroic boon, even with the Exclusive Access duo boon from Poseidon and Dionysus, which makes every future boon to be at least an Epic-rarity boon.

Boons that are rewarded from Erebus encounters, mini-boss encounters (both types are denoted with a small skull on the chamber preview) or bought at a higher price from Charon in the Temple of Styx are more likely to have higher rarities.

## Special Boons

There are four types of special boons that are only offered after meeting certain requirements:

* Duo
* Legendary
* **Chaos**
* **Bouldy**

Special boon requirements include clearing a curse or acquiring specific standard boons. Special boons cannot be upgraded with Pom of Power.

* Duo Boons combine the powers of a pair of gods, and require Zagreus possess certain boons from both gods. They can be offered by either god, and trigger dialogue between the pair when obtained. These cannot be obtained in a Trial of the Gods room, even if the requirements have been met, though one god may offer to exchange already obtained boons from the other god.
* Legendary Boons are top-tier blessings offering unique skills, and require Zagreus possess certain boons from one god. Each god has at least one.
* Chaos Boons require the player enter a Chaos Gate and overcome a curse before the boon activates. Unlike other boons, Chaos blessings can be taken more than once in a run, and effects stack. Chaos boons cannot be sold.
* Bouldy Boons require the player to converse with Sisyphus a number of times until he can 'speak' with Bouldy and gift him Nectar. Bouldy boons cannot be sold.

## Notes

* Before Patch 037, the price for a boon in Charon's shop was 200 .