The Mirror of Night in Zagreus's room.
"The Only Certainty Is Death."
The Mirror of Night, located in Zagreus's room, was a gift from Nyx to Zagreus to aid him in his attempts to escape the underworld. It is one of the main meta progression systems in Hades.
Reflecting at the Mirror gives Zagreus the ability to spend Darkness gathered from the Underworld to improve his own abilities. However, many of the abilities are locked at first, each requiring a varying number of Chthonic Keys to unlock. After several escape attempts, the ability to refund spent Darkness for use on other abilities is unlocked. Refunding Darkness costs one Chthonic Key and refunds all Darkness spent in the Mirror of Night.
Each ability from the Mirror has two versions (one colored red and one colored green) that need to be invested in separately. For example, spending Darkness on Shadow Presence does not upgrade Fiery Presence. Only one version of each ability can be active at a time and they can be switched between freely while reflecting at the Mirror.
Talents
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost | Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost | Unlock Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Presence | Each rank gives you +10% damage when you strike foes from behind. | 5 (+50% damage) |
10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (Total: 100) |
Fiery Presence | Each rank makes you deal 10% damage when you strike undamaged foes. | 5 (+50% damage) |
10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (Total: 100) |
|
| Chthonic Vitality | Each rank restores 1  when you enter each chamber.
|
3 (+3 per chamber)
|
10 / 20 / 40 (Total: 70) |
Dark Regeneration | Each rank makes +30% of any  you collect restore your by that much.
|
2 (+60% restored) |
30 / 60 (Total: 90) |
|
| Death Defiance | Each rank restores you for 50% 1 time when your Life Total is depleted.
|
3 (3 extra chances) |
30 / 500 / 1000 (Total: 1530) |
Stubborn Defiance | This restores you to 30% 1 time per chamber when your Life Total is depleted.
|
1 | 600 | |
| Greater Reflex | Each rank lets you chain +1 Dash before briefly recovering. | 1 (+1 dashes) |
50 (Total: 50) |
Ruthless Reflex | If you Dash just before getting hit, gain +50% damage and dodge chance for 2 Sec. | 1 | 75 | |
| Boiling Blood | Each rank gives you +10% Attack & Special damage to foes with  in them.
|
5 (+50% damage) |
10 / 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 (Total: 250) |
Abyssal Blood | Each rank reduces foes' speed and damage by -5% while they have in them.
|
5 (-25% speed and damage) |
20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (Total: 300) |
5 Chthonic Key |
| Infernal Soul | Each rank gives you +1 for your Cast.
|
2 (+2 )
|
20 / 80 (Total: 100) |
Stygian Soul | Your regenerates, but no longer drops. Each rank makes this 1 Sec. faster.
|
5 / 4 / 3 Sec. | 0 / 60 / 120 / (Total: 180) |
5 Chthonic Key |
| Deep Pockets | Each rank grants you 10  at the start of each escape from the House of Hades.
|
10 (+100 )
|
30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 (Total: 525) |
Golden Touch | Each rank grants you +5% of your total each time you clear an Underworld region.
|
3 (+15% )
|
70 / 90 / 110 (Total: 270) |
10 Chthonic Key |
| Thick Skin | Each rank adds +5 to your Life Total.
|
10 (+50 )
|
40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 (Total: 625) |
High Confidence | Each rank gives you +5% damage, while you have 80% or greater.
|
5 (+25% damage) |
50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (Total: 750) |
10 Chthonic Key |
| Privileged Status | Each rank gives you +20% damage vs. foes afflicted by at least two Status Curse effects. | 2 (+40% vs  )
|
50 / 100 (Total: 150) |
Family Favorite | Each rank gives you +2.5% damage for each different Olympian whose Boons you have. | 2 (+5% damage per Olympian) |
50 / 150 (Total: 200) |
20 Chthonic Key |
| Olympian Favor | Each rank adds a 1% bonus chance for a Boon to have Rare effects. | 40 (+40% chance) |
50 per rank (Total: 2000) |
Dark Foresight | Each rank gives you +1% greater chance for Gold Laurel rewards (Boons, Hammers, and Poms). | 10 (+10% chance) |
250 per rank (Total: 2500) |
20 Chthonic Key |
| God's Pride | Each rank adds a 1% bonus chance for a Boon to have Epic effects. | 20 (+20% chance) |
100 per rank (Total: 2000) |
God's Legacy | Each rank gives you +1% greater chance for a Boon to be Legendary or a Duo (if possible). | 10 (+10% chance) |
150 per rank (Total: 1500) |
30 Chthonic Key |
| Fated Authority | Each rank gives you 1 die, used to randomly alter the reward for the next chamber. | 10 (10 rerolls) |
500 / 1k / 2k / 3k / 4k / 5k / 10k / 20k / 30k / 40k (Total: 115,500) |
Fated Persuasion | Each rank gives you 1 die, used to randomly alter Boon and Well of Charon choices. | 4 (4 rerolls) |
1k / 5k / 10k / 25k (Total: 41,000) |
30 Chthonic Key |
The Mirror of Night's interface, seen when interacting with it. No Darkness has been invested in any abilities, but all abilities have been unlocked.
Totals
It takes a total of 65 Cthonic Keys to unlock all upgrades on the Mirror.
To unlock all non-Boon, non-Fated Authority upgrades requires 5965 Darkness; including the Boon upgrades takes this total to 13965 Darkness. Including Fated Authority and Fated Persuasion, the current total required to max out the Mirror is 170,465 Darkness as of the Blood Price update.
Fated Authority
One point of Fated Authority can be used to change a room's reward into any other item from its pool. Room rewards belong in two distinct item pools.
One pool consists of permanent resources, indicated by a blue laurel wreath on the door, including:
- Chthonic Keys
- Gemstones
- Darkness
- Nectar
The other consists of temporary (run-specific) resources, indicated by a golden laurel wreath around the door. These items include:
- All Boons
- Daedalus Hammers
- Charon's Obol
- Centaur Hearts
- Poms of Power
Some rooms cannot be altered, nor can they be acquired through Fated Authority. These include Charon's shops, friendly NPC encounters with Sisyphus, Eurydice and Patroclus, passageways through Underworld areas and boss rooms. Infernal Gate rewards can be changed, though.
The encounter itself is not altered, so you cannot use Fated Authority to change a miniboss room with a skull marker into a regular room.
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