Pact of Punishment

PactCourtyard — The Pact of Punishment in the courtyard

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Infernal Contract valid for eternity in the Underworld of Hades. For official use only!

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The Pact of Punishment is a contract provided by Hades for the purpose of making Zagreus' escape attempts even more difficult while earning valuable rewards. In a regular playthrough (save file), the Pact will only appear after the Final Boss is defeated at least once, and Zagreus has claimed victory. When he inevitably returns to the House of Hades, the Pact of Punishment will block the open window in the courtyard, allowing Zagreus to customize aspects of his run before he leaves. In Hell Mode, the Pact is available from the start and in fact cannot be fully disabled.

Conditions[ | ]

The Pact of Punishment features a total of 15 (16 in Hell Mode) different conditions which can affect an escape attempt. Most of these have differing levels, allowing Zagreus to further increase how effective one condition is.

Each Condition in the Pact of Punishment is worth a certain amount of Heat. The amount of Heat displayed in the gauge on the left of the Pact's UI represents the "total difficulty" of the conditions chosen.

Choose your conditions for a run carefully. Many of the conditions can be nearly ineffective against one particular weapon build, but extremely difficult to another, yet can also run into unexpected difficulties (or lack thereof) based upon a run's Boons. The prophecy Harsh Conditions requires you to completely clear a run with each of the conditions in place, but the condition only needs a single rank active in it, and they do not need to be done all on the same weapon or within a single run.


Condition	Description	Ranks	Heat
Hard Labor	All foes deal bonus damage, +20% per rank.	5 (+100% damage)	1 per rank (Total: 5)
Lasting Consequences	Any effects restore less of your Life Total than usual, -25% per rank.	4 (-100% recovery)	1 per rank (Total: 4)
Convenience Fee	All prices are higher, +40% per rank.	2 (+80% extra cost)	1 per rank (Total: 2)
Jury Summons	Foes in standard Encounters appear in greater numbers, +20% per rank.	3 (+60% more enemies)	1 per rank (Total: 3)
Extreme Measures	Each Underworld region's Bosses gain new techniques, 1 region per rank (Tartarus first). Rank 1: Megaera / Alecto / Tisiphone Rank 2: Bone Hydra Rank 3: Theseus & Asterius Rank 4: Hades	4 (+1 Boss Change)	1 / 2 / 3 / 4 (Total: 10)
Calisthenics Program	All foes have higher Life Totals, +15% per rank.	2 (+30% )	1 per rank (Total: 2)
Benefits Package	Most Armored foes have Perks (dangerous traits that vary per Encounter), +1 per rank.	2 (+2 Perk every Elite)	2 / 3 (Total: 5)
Middle Management	Each Mini-boss Encounter contains +1 Armored foe (or some additional problem).	1 (+1 Elite or Other Problem)	2
Underworld Customs	The exit to each Underworld region requires you to purge 1 Boon to unlock it.	1 (+1 Forced Sell per Biome)	2
Forced Overtime	All foes have bonus move speed and attack speed, +20% per rank.	2 (+40% speed)	3 per rank (Total: 6)
Heightened Security	All Traps and Magma deal +400% bonus damage.	1 (+400% trap damage)	1
Routine Inspection	Your Talents from the Mirror of Night are deactivated (will affect the dark reflections prophecy), -3 per rank, (from the bottom up).	4 (-12 Talents)	2 per rank (Total: 8)
Damage Control	All foes have , making them ignore initial instances of damage, 1 hit per rank.	2 (2 )	1 per rank (Total: 2)
Approval Process	You have fewer choices when offered Boons, items or upgrades, -1 per rank.	2 (-2 Choices)	2 / 3 (Total: 5)
Tight Deadline	You get 9 Min. to clear each Underworld region (or else!), reduced by -2 Min. per rank.	3 (5:00 per biome)	1 / 2 / 3 (Total: 6)
Personal Liability	Your Auto Defense (brief invulnerability after a burst of damage) is +100% inactive.	1 (+100% inactive)	1 per rank (Total: 1)

Additional Information[ | ]

Convenience Fee[ | ]

Affects all items from Charon's Shops, Wells of Charon, with the exception of the Diamond or Titan Blood offered in the Temple of Styx.

Extreme Measures[ | ]

Affects one boss for each level. At Level 1, it only affects the Furies. At Level 2, it also affects the Bone Hydra. At Level 3, it also affects Theseus and Asterius, including Asterius's solo appearance as a mini-boss. At Level 4, also affects the Final Boss. See the appropriate pages for details.

If Zagreus has not encountered all three of the Furies, Extreme Measures is hidden and cannot be selected. Extreme Measures Level 4 (Extremer Measures) can only be purchased from the House Contractor after the main game is completed and the Final Boss is fought an additional time.

Benefits Package[ | ]

Affects armored enemies, granting them one additional perk up to a max of 2 per level. The perks are:

Shifter (green ghost) - The enemy will teleport randomly.
Bruiser (helm) - The enemy has greatly increased health and size.
Slugger (sword) - The enemy deals more damage, like the Hard Labor punishment. (Stacks with other pacts of punishment).
Puller (purple disk) - The enemy has a small 'gravitational' field around them that can not be escaped by walking. Usually takes several dashes to break free.
Savior (blue shield) - The enemy will periodically give other nearby enemies 1 shielded health, up to a max of 5.
Speeder (boots) - The enemy attacks and moves faster, like the Forced Overtime punishment. (Stacks with other pacts of punishment).
Linker (pink ray) - A laser is created from the enemy to another nearby enemy. Prioritizes linking with armored foes, but can link to normal enemies.
Cloner (skulls) - Tartarus only. Fake clones of the enemy will constantly spawn, up to a cap. Each clone has 1 hp (armor and regular each). All clones die when the original dies.
Burner (fire) - Asphodel only. The enemy will constantly create fire traps.
Seeker (green star) - Projectiles fired by this enemy will home in on you.
Popper (warrior soul) - Exalts in Elysium only. In addition to the real soul, the Exalt will drop several fake souls that explode upon death or after a few seconds.

Middle Management[ | ]

Adds a unique effect to each and every mini-boss Encounter.

The Wretched Sneak in Tartarus summons Wringers.
The Doomstone has a new arena featuring Chimera traps on several islands.
The mini-boss room in Tartarus has increased numbers (4 enemies instead of 2) and the chosen enemies are a random mix of Slam Dancers, Inferno Bombers, Burn Flingers, and Wave Makers, instead of 2 of the same enemy.
The Barge of Death Encounter in Asphodel summons a Dire Voidstone (with increased health) alongside a horde of enemies. There is only one wave of enemies.
The Witches Circle encounter in Asphodel gives its Dire Spreaders a new attack: firing four shielded orbs in a cross that cannot be destroyed by Zagreus's attacks.
The Megagorgon and Elite Skull-Crusher Encounter in Asphodel gives both enemies new abilities. The Megagorgon gains the ability to frequently teleport around the room, and the Skull-Crusher's landing creates a shockwave that travels across the entire room, and must be dashed through to avoid.
The Elite Soul Catcher Encounter in Elysium gains the ability to dash elsewhere in the room at regular intervals.
The solo Asterius encounter in Elysium is unaffected by Middle Management. Instead, he is affected by Extreme Measures if it is enabled at Level 3.
The final rooms of Elite wings in the Temple of Styx will have 2 different Dire enemies in the room, instead of 1.

Mini-bosses summoned by the Final Boss during his boss fight also receive the extra abilities mentioned above.

Underworld Customs[ | ]

Zagreus must use the Pool of Purging provided in the staircase room between region to purge at least one Boon. He still receives the normal amount of Obols in exchange.

If Zagreus does not have any Boons, he can proceed anyway.

Tight Deadline[ | ]

After the time runs out, Zagreus takes 5 damage every second while the timer is running. That damage cannot be reduced in any way, not even by invulnerability. When Zagreus enters a new biome, Tight Deadline will add the stipulated duration to the timer.

The timer will pause:

After a region's boss has been defeated, as well as in the transition staircase rooms between biomes.
In the first empty room of a region (with the exception of the first room in Tartarus).
During all Thanatos encounters.
While in a non-combat chamber with Sisyphus, Eurydice, or Patroclus.
While fishing.
While choosing a boon or upgrade.
While the codex is open (the timer will not pause until the text has loaded, however).
During cutscenes.
While the game is paused.

Chambers where Zagreus must survive for a set duration against continually spawning enemies will not appear while Tight Deadline is active.

Routine Inspection[ | ]

Zagreus does not start with any uses of Fated Authority or Fated Persuasion, though if he gains dice through Chthonic Keys with the Fated Keys work order, the talent selected by the Mirror still determines which one he can use.

If the Mirror of Night has not been fully unlocked, Routine Inspection is hidden and cannot be selected.

Personal Liability[ | ]

Only available on a Hell Mode file.

Rewards[ | ]

Defeating the Final Boss at certain Heat thresholds (8, 16, and 32) unlocks special rewards - though much to the disappointment of Zagreus (and perhaps also the player), these "rewards" are merely cosmetic statues of Skelly to display in the House of Hades courtyard.

In addition, powering the Pact up to 5, 10, and 15 Heat will allow Zagreus to access the Infernal Gates that lead to Erebus in Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium, respectively.

Bounties[ | ]

In addition to the rewards above, completing the game with active Heat will award Zagreus with bounties. Each boss slain at (or above) a Target Heat value will drop a Diamond, an Ambrosia or Titan Blood which Zagreus can spend back in the House of Hades. After defeating the Final Boss and achieving victory at the target Heat value, the target will be raised for future bounties.

Bounties and Target Heat are tracked independently per weapon.

The limit for bounties is 20 Heat, with 21 completed runs that need to be completed to collect all bounties. In Hell Mode, bounties start at 5 heat, and the limit is increased to 25 Heat.

Bounties can only be collected once per weapon, per boss, per Heat level. So for example, once a player has defeated the Furies on 3 Heat with the Sword, they will no longer be able to collect a Bounty from defeating them with the Sword until they also defeat the Final Boss. However, the player can still collect a Bounty for defeating the Furies with a different weapon.

You can only claim rewards for the lowest Heat you have not yet completed, even if you defeat a boss at a higher heat (e.g If you have not yet beaten the Final Boss on 2 Heat for the Rail, then you go through and defeat them using 5 Heat, you will claim the remaining rewards for 2 Heat, and your Target Heat for the Rail will go up to 3). The Bounties for 0 Heat are tracked separately, and cannot be claimed by clearing on a higher heat.

Notes[ | ]

While most of the text on the courtyard scroll is composed of Lorem Ipsum, the top of the Pact reads: Together with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon and his sisters Hera, Demeter and Hestia, he rid the land of the Infernal Titans, who defied the very principles of Life and Reason, and lie entrapped forever now in deepest Tartarus.
A fully empowered Pact of Punishment has a total of 63 Heat, 64 when using Hell Mode. Prior to the Superstar Update, it required a total of 200 Heat as well as 80 Skeleton Keys to unlock all conditions. Keys are no longer required to unlock conditions, and Heat does not have to be collected to use the Pact.
The pact received several reworks in the Superstar Update. Prior to this update:
- Every point of Heat invested in the pact gave +2% collected during escape attempts.
- Bounties did not exist prior to the update.
- The required Heat to unlock each of the "rewards" was 15, 60, and 120, respectively.
- The required Heat to access Infernal Gates was 25, 50, and 75.
Prior to the 1.0 update, completing a region with Tight Deadline would reset the timer instead of adding more time.
The Pact of Punishment could be considered the equivalent to the difficulty functions in earlier Supergiant games - Bastion's shrines, Transistor's limiters, and Pyre's Titan Stars.
When initially introduced, there were no rewards (aside from bragging rights) for completing a run with the Pact enabled.