Boons

Boons are upgrades given by the gods to help Zagreus in his attempts to escape the underworld. They can be obtained as rewards for clearing a room marked with the respective god's symbol or purchased for 150 from Charon's shop. Boons only last for the duration of a run; they disappear should Zagreus die and be sent back to the House of Hades.

Gods

 * Aphrodite reward.pngdite gives boons that inflict Weak and Charmed on opponents, as well as improve survivability.
 * Ares reward.png gives boons that inflict Doom, create Blade Rifts, or increase the damage of your attacks.
 * Artemis Reward.pngis gives boons that grant Critical hits and improve Cast abilities.
 * Athena reward.pnga gives boons that allow abilities to Deflect projectiles and improve various defensive options.
 * Chaos reward.png gives boons that grant a variety of bonuses after inflicting a debuff for multiple encounters.
 * Demeter reward.pnger gives boons that add Chill to abilities, improve healing, and various debuffs.
 * Dionysus reward.pngsus gives boons that inflict Hangover, create Festive Fog, and improve survivability.
 * Hermes reward.pngs gives boons that increase your mobility, attack speed, evasion, dash capabilities and cast recovery.
 * Poseidon reward.pngdon gives boons that add Knockback to abilities and improve room rewards.
 * Zeus reward.png gives boons that add chain lightning to abilities, or cause lightning to strike nearby enemies.

More information on specific boons from each god can be found on their respective pages.

Equipping a keepsake given by one of the gods (except Hermes or Chaos) ensures that the next time a boon is offered, it will be from that specific god. It does not guarantee that the very next reward will be a god boon - only that, the first time one appears, it will be from that god. Chaos and Hermes boons can appear before any other god boon regardless of the keepsake you are using.

Slots
Zagreus' Attack, Special, Cast, Dash, and Call abilities have one boon slot, and cannot hold multiple ability boons.

For example, you cannot have both Aphrodite's cast boon Crush Shot and Dionysus's cast boon Trippy Shot. However, a god may offer to replace another god's ability slot Boon with their own. Exchanges increase rarity of the boon by one, keeping the level the same. In the above example, Dionysus may offer to replace your Epic Crush Shot (Rank 2) with Heroic Trippy Shot (Rank 2).

There are no other limits to how many other boons Zagreus can have.

Standard Boons
There are four 'standard' rarities of boon available, each more powerful than the last:


 * Common

rarity is available through exchanging an -rarity boon, choosing Ambrosia Delight from Eurydice, or from cultivating boons with Rare Crop from Demeter. Note that neither the Yarn of Ariadne from the Well of Charon and Refreshing Nectar from Eurydice cannot offer a heroic boon, even with the Exclusive Access duo boon from Poseidon and Dionysus, which makes every future boon to be at least an -rarity boon.

Boons that are rewarded from Erebus encounters, mini-boss encounters (both types are denoted with a small skull on the chamber preview) or bought at a higher price from Charon in the Temple of Styx are more likely to have higher rarities.

Special Boons
There are four types of special boons that are only offered after meeting certain requirements:


 * Duo
 * Legendary
 * Chaos
 * Bouldy

Special boon requirements include clearing a curse or acquiring specific standard boons. Special boons cannot be upgraded with Pom of Power.


 * Duo Boons combine the powers of a pair of gods, and require Zagreus possess certain boons from both gods. They can be offered by either god, and trigger dialogue between the pair when obtained.
 * Legendary Boons are top-tier blessings offering unique skills, and require Zagreus possess certain boons from one god. Each god has at least one.
 * Chaos Boons require the player enter a Chaos Gate and overcome a curse before the boon activates. Unlike other boons, Chaos blessings can be taken more than once in a run, and effects stack. Chaos boons cannot be sold.
 * Bouldy Boons require the player to converse with Sisyphus a number of times until he can 'speak' with Bouldy and gift him Nectar. Bouldy boons cannot be sold.

Trial of the Gods
In a room of Trial of the Gods, Duo Boons are not offered whether with the paired god or otherwise, although they may offer to exchange already obtained boons from the other god.

Trivia

 * Before Patch 037, the price for a boon in Charon's shop was 200.