Heat and Bounties

How the Pact of Punishment, Heat, and Bounties work, and the farming loop of raising Heat to claim a reward then lowering it again.

At a glance


Unlocks	After your first successful escape (beating Hades once).
What Heat is	A difficulty number. You add it by toggling Pact conditions on.
Why raise it	Higher Heat unlocks better rewards and one-time Bounties.
The loop	Raise Heat to claim a Bounty, then lower it again for an easier run.

The Pact of Punishment

The Pact is a set of difficulty modifiers (“conditions”) you toggle before a run. Each condition adds Heat, and many have multiple ranks that add more. There are 15 conditions (16 in Hell Mode). Your total Heat is the sum of everything you switch on.

Bounties

Bounties are one-time clear rewards tracked per boss, per weapon, per Heat level. Each boss slain at or above your current target Heat for that weapon drops a bounty (a Diamond, Ambrosia, or Titan Blood), and you can only claim the lowest Heat target you have not yet cleared, which then raises the target. Once claimed, that Bounty is done. This is the main way to keep earning Titan Blood after your first escapes.

Gentle vs harsh conditions

You choose which conditions to stack, so reach a Heat target with the conditions that hurt your build least. Verify exact Heat values per condition and rank in-game, as they vary.

Tend to be gentle	What they do
Convenience Fee	Raises Charon’s shop prices. Annoying, rarely lethal.
Extra enemy health or damage at low rank	A flat scaling bump you can usually out-build.

Tend to be harsh	What they do
Forced Overtime / Tight Deadline	Puts a timer on each chamber, with damage if it runs out.
Extreme Measures	Gives region bosses extra phases and new attack patterns.
Conditions that force a Pool of Purging boon sacrifice	Cost you a boon mid-run.

The right mix is build-dependent, so pick the conditions your current build shrugs off.

The farming loop

Beat Hades once to unlock the Pact.
Check which Bounty you want next (a Heat target for a boss and weapon).
Toggle on enough conditions to reach that Heat, favoring the gentle ones for your build.
Clear the run to claim the Bounty reward.
Lower the Heat again for your next run if you just want a relaxed clear or a different reward.

Heat is a dial you turn both ways. It is not a one-way climb.

Tied to completion

The Harsh Conditions prophecy on the Fated List asks you to clear a run with each condition active at least once. A single rank in a condition counts, it is once per condition across any weapons, not all conditions at once, so you can knock them out over many runs while chasing Bounties.

Watch out for

Cranking Heat before your build basics are solid. Learn to win at low Heat first.
Stacking harsh conditions (timers plus Extreme Measures) just to hit a number. Reach the same Heat with gentler picks.
Forgetting you can lower Heat. After claiming a Bounty there is no reason to keep a painful run if you do not want to.
Treating Bounties as repeatable. Each is a one-time reward, so plan which Heat target to chase next.