Health

Health is Zagreus's Life Total. By default, he has 50 . If it reaches 0, he will die and revive in the House of Hades. You start each run with full health, and it is reduced by being hit by enemy attacks or traps, triggering relevant Chaos curses, entering a Chaos Gate without the Cosmic Egg equipped, running out of time with the Tight Deadline Pact of Punishment modifier on, or inflicting self-damage with the Adamant Rail's Hazard Bomb upgrade.

When unlocked from the Mirror of Night, Zagreus can get Death Defiances. Instead of dying after receiving lethal damage which reduces his health to 0, Zagreus instead loses one Death Defiance charge, briefly becomes invulnerable, and restores 50% for a second chance. Alternatively, Stubborn Defiance will restore 30% and work once per chamber.

Increasing Max Health

• Centaur Heart is an artifact that grants 25 for the run, or 50 if found in an Erebus encounter or Elite Temple of Styx wing.
  • Aphrodite's boon Life Affirmation enhances these Centaur Heart rewards, excluding Thanatos rewards.
• Old Spiked Collar, Cerberus' keepsake, can be equipped to increase your by 25, 38, or 50.
• Darkness from room rewards can give 5 for the run after being upgraded by the House Contractor.
• Dionysus' boon Premium Vintage lets pickups increase your when they are obtained in that run, as well as giving you a .
• Chaos' blessing Soul adds some amount of for that run.
• The Well of Charon sometimes sells Centaur Souls, which give 25 without restoring .
• Thick Skin upgrade from the Mirror of Night adds 5 per rank permanently as long as Darkness is invested in the upgrade, up to a maximum of 50.
• The Aspect of Arthur for the Stygian Blade adds 50 when being used.

Regaining health

• Charon sometimes sells food that will provide .
• Well of Charon sometimes sells Life Essence (restores a varying amount of ); Eye of Lamia (gives slain foes a 15% chance to drop healing food); or HydraLite (restores 10% when entering a chamber. Lasts 3 chambers)
• After vanquishing the boss of each biome (except for the Temple of Styx), the next chamber has a Healing Fountain that restores a portion of health.
• In the Temple of Styx, the chamber with the Satyr Sack and room reward will have a Healing Fountain that restores significantly more health than other fountains.
• After being unlocked from the House Contractor, you have a chance to enter a Fountain Chamber in the first three biomes. These have no enemies, but contain the room reward and a Healing Fountain.
• Chthonic Vitality upgrade from the Mirror of Night lets you restore 1 per rank when entering a chamber, up to a maximum of +3.
  • Alternatively, the Dark Regeneration upgrade restores by 30% of any  you collect per rank, up to a maximum of 60%.
• Sisyphus will offer to restore a portion of your as one of his options.
• Patroclus will offer HydraLite Gold as one of his options, which restores 30% when entering a chamber. Lasts 5 chambers.
• Harpy Feather Duster, a keepsake from Dusa, grants a 3, 5, or 6% chance that destroyed urns will contain healing food which restores 10.
• Athena's boon Last Stand can increase the amount of restored by Death Defiance.
• Dionysus's boon After Party restores to a certain threshold, if your health is low after an encounter.
• Hermes's boon Quick Recovery lets you recover some % of lost after taking damage by dashing immediately afterwards.
• Demeter's boon Nourished Soul restores a portion of and increases the potency of any further in the run.
• Poseidon's boon Sunken Treasure drops some healing food . This boon can be obtained multiple times in a run.
• Demeter and Athena's Duo boon Stubborn Roots will regenerate slowly while you have no Death/Stubborn Defiance.
• Using Companion Shady will drop a few healing food items , each use can restore 10 .
• Some Weapon Aspects and Daedalus Hammers give Life-stealing abilities to weapons, but usually come with penalties to max health.
• It is possible to acquire food as a chamber reward. This can only occur in the first run of a save file, in a 3 exit room with blue laurel rewards. Which also means it can only occur in asphodel because it is the only level of the underworld which has 3 exit rooms. This reward acts identically to the food from Charon's shops.^[1]

Penalties to Health

• Chaos's curse Atrophic temporarily reduces Life Total by some amount for a few encounters, after which it turns into a Chaos blessing.
• The Pact Condition Lasting Consequences makes any source of less effective by 25/50/75/100% when it is active.
• A Daedalus upgrade for the Stygian Blade, Cursed Slash, lets Attack that hit enemies restore 2 , but you have -60% (also applies to any increases to max health in that run).
• The Aspect of Guan Yu for the Eternal Spear has a Life-stealing Spin Attack, but max and are reduced (also applies to any increases to max health in that run).