Pom of Power

**Pom of Power** (short for Pomegranate of Power) is an Artifact that increases the level of one of your boons on acquisition. It can be recieved as a room clear reward or purchased from Charon for 100 .

When received as a reward from an Infernal Gate, Elite Temple of Styx Wing, or when purchased for 300  from Charon's Styx shop, it will increase the boon's level by two levels.

Increasing the level of a boon will boost its power, albeit the exact effects of a Pom differ between boons. Most boons will have decreasing boosts from levels when several Poms are applied on them, usually the first 2 or 3 having the greatest effect. A few however scale linearly and the boost from levels does not fall off. However, in most boons the drop off benefit has a floor as well, so even very high levelled boons will still recieve a small boost that does not fall further.

Boon rarity affects levels inconsistently. Most boons that directly relate to damage (be it % increases or flat amounts) will generally recieve greater bonuses from Poms if their rarity is higher, but levels and rarity do not seem to double up like usual with some support boons.

Not all boons can be affected by Poms. Legendary and Duo boons cannot be levelled up, and some other support boons are also ineligible. Usually, direct damage, damage reduction or % damage boosts are affected, while boons that affect the duration of other effects or that have healing effects are ineligible. This however, isn't entirely consistent either.

If you don't have any boons, or only have boons that can't be levelled up (such as Poseidon's Huge Catch), you will instead get 115  as Spare Wealth.

## Notable effects

* None of Hermes' or Chaos' boons can be levelled at all.
* For all Olympians (besides Hermes'), attack, special, cast, dash and call boons can be levelled up.
* Duo and Legendary boons cannot be levelled up.
* All of Zeus' standard boons can be levelled up, including all of his support boons.
* Almost none of Demeter's support boons are eligible for pom level up, despite the fact that many of them offer straightforward damage options.
* All of Dionysus's **hangover** damage effects scale linearly, with no fall off whatsoever, offering +1 damage per stack for each level, which means highly levelled effects for **hangover** can be extremely powerful. His other support boons do experience fall off however.
* Ares' boons generally scale poorly with levels. Both of his **Doom** and **Blade Rift** boons obtain only moderate boost from the very first level up and afterwards fall off drastically. Notably, the increase has a very low floor meaning that poms have next to no effect on high level **Doom** or **Blade Rift** boons. However, his support boons that benefit **Doom** and **Blade Rifts**, directly or indirectly, can be levelled and usually do not fall off as severely.
* Most of Athena's support boons can be levelled up. The only exception being **Sure Footing** and her **Death Defiance**–restoring boons. Her **Call** notably scales very well with levels, granting fairly long periods of invulnerability at higher levels, especially with higher rarity.
* All of Aphrodite's support damage boosting boons are eligible for Poms, as well as some of her damage protection ones. Her **Call** is affected differently, however: leveling up the boon will increase the Charm duration, but the damage it deals when fully charged is not boosted by level (nor rarity).
* All of Artemis' standard boons can be levelled up, including all of her support boons. **Pressure Points** and **Support Fire** scale linearly with no fall off, gaining +1% and +1 respectively for every level. Note that leveling up her main boons increases their damage boost, *not* their critical hit chance. Only leveling up **Pressure Points** offers a direct increase of critical hit chance. Similarly to Ares, Artemis' main boons tend to scale poorly with levels, albeit unlike him she does have a boost floor, and most of her support boons greatly benefit from higher levels.
* Almost all of Poseidon's standard boons can be levelled up, with the exceptions of **Sunken Treasure** (which is a repeatable, consumable boon) and **Ocean's Bounty.**

## Codex Entry

'*...There is not much to eat here in the Underworld, conventionally speaking. The pomegranate is a rare exception, having made its way down to these depths, perhaps alongside the Lord Hades, himself, when he first came to this realm aeons ago. Here, this blood-red fruit holds something of a terrifying power. At times it's called a window to Olympus; for in its acrid morsels we can almost see that hallowed mountaintop, and we grow closer to the gods who there reside. Supposedly it is also rich in something known as antioxidants, whatever those are, and whatever they are for. Look, I am a warrior, not a nutritionist.*'

## Pom Slice

A **Pom Slice** is similar to a Pom of Power, in that it increases the level of one of your boons on acquisition. The primary difference is that it levels up a boon at random, rather than giving up to three choices. Pom Slices can only be purchased from Charon's shop for 50 .

## Leveling Mechanics

From level 1 to 6, for most boons, strength increases with diminishing intensity, i.e. there is a more significant boost between level 1 to 2 than 2 to 3, etc. With some approximation, the rate between level 1 and 6 can be expressed as divided by 2 every 2 levels with a starting value set. For example Poseidon's Special level 2 to 6 is +28%, +20%, +14%, +10%, +7%. Past level 6, for most boons, strength will continue to increase at a small linear value; for example, Aphrodite's Strike level 5 to 6 and higher will always increase by 5% per level. Some exceptions exist, however, such as Ares's Doom-inflicting boons, that will continue to decrease until it will add 1 per level only.

Boons that have low base value (Such as Dionysus's Hangover damage, Artemis's Pressure Points, or Demeter's Glacial Glare) will increase linearly by 1 with each level from the start. A select few, such as Athena's Aid, increase less than 1 per level.

The strength increase from a level is independent of a boon's quality, and the level of a boon is preserved when its quality changes.

Increasing a boon's level also increases its value when being sold at a Pool of Purging.

## Note

* Pom of Power is a reference to the myth of Persephone, who was tricked by Hades into eating pomegranate seeds from the Underworld.