Hades 120 Heat Challenge Strat

Hades 120 Heat Challenge Notes

Sections:
-Introduction ~ What is the 120 Heat Challenge in Hades.
-Pact of Punishment and Heat ~ Significant resources to make this happen.
-Probability of Finishing a Run ~ Formula to win any Rogue-Like game.
-The Plan ~ Given the idea of probability, how do I start to think about the Pact of Punishment
-Suggested Pact of Punishment and Mirror ~ As it sounds
-Breakdown ~ Why I choose what, why I intentionally leave out certain ones


Introduction:
The 120 (heat) challenge in hades is a different style of game brought to Hades to challenge players of all skill levels to try and complete. In order to unlock the 3rd trophy in the weapon + trinket room, you must finish a full run with 120 heat spec'd into the Pact of Punishment. The game will unlock the cosmetic statue on the first successful completion, but also keep track of each weapon you have finished the challenge with.


Pact of Punishment (PoP) and Heat:
Currently the Pact of Punishment (PoP) currently has multiple debuffs for the character and buffs for enemies in order to make the game difficult. The player spends Heat into the PoP gathered during each run. The fastest way to grind for heat is to finish runs as quickly as possible, and give up benign resources (keys, darkness, etc.) in order to hit the 120 mark. Once you have 120 heat, you can attempt the 120 challenge.


Probability of Finishing a Run:
The core concept of being able to finish any run of Hades comes down to the probability you will make a mistake and take damage. If you never take any damage in a run, and can deal even the tiniest amount of damage to the enemy, you will finish every run of Hades period, regardless of boons, etc. Thus, the amount of heat you spend in the PoP only alters two core things with this idea in mind, and then a 3rd based off of the first 2 core ideas:

1) How punishing a mistake becomes. (Enemy Buffs)
2) How much time you must spend in X room and not make a mistake. (Player Debuffs)
3) Reducing the opponents ability to hit you. (Hybrid)

Reducing the amount of hits buys you more time in rooms, killings things faster in a given room means you spend less time in them, debuffing the enemy means you have a slight safety net. With these in hand, for the 120 run, you must max-min each of these in order to have the highest chance of winning. If you make mistakes more punishing, you reduce the amount of time you spend in a room; if you deny certain buffs on enemies or debuffs on your character, you can tip the scales of the min-max.


The Plan:
Hades currently is a game about damage; find various ways on each weapon to maximize the pain output with as few boons and Pom of Powers as possible. As such, I choose to take the path of reducing the amount of time I spend in each room as much as possible, because of the core concept that the longer time you spend in a room, the more likely you are going to make a mistake. If I play extremely well for 20 min, that is a lot easier for me than playing at a decent level for over an hour. As such, we must maximize the punishment level of taking a mistake (because I plan on making only a few) to hit that 120 heat.


Suggested Pact of Punishment and Mirror:
https://imgur.com/a/sF67IC8



Breakdown:
Okay so for boons, you want things that compliment your weapon. I've found artemis bow is potent, viscious skewer with athena special buff on spear, Athena Primary + artemis duo boon to guarentee crits on shield is great, etc. Find the strat you enjoy employing you the most that keeps you out of harms way, but allows you to deal insane amount of damage. I could write another few pages about the types of builds I go for but it would be better to just mention you want to reset a ton. Get a plan for a daedulus upgrade, a singular boon you want to assist in damage based on your mode of attack, and reset until you get that 1 other complimentary build that EXPLODES your damage. Reset if you lose too many death defiance early etc. Beyond that, here are my thoughts on PoP + mirror things:

~PoP Specs~
Stiffling Darkness: Cap at 1500 Darkness | Debuff
	-Impossible to describe without looking at others. Lesser evil in order to min-max elsewhere. A #3 from 'probability' section.

Grim Inevitability: Max at -100% Healing | Debuff
	-This is the core of the concept; don't make mistakes, you don't need to heal. Free's up more darkness in mirror, etc.

Tenebrous Veil: Minimize at -0 | Debuff
	-Worst thing on the board, savagely reduces the probability of finding the bare minimum boons to compliment your Daedalus

Convenience Fee: Max at 100% | Hybrid
	-Not as bad as you might think, you ONLY want to purchase Pom Upgrades (200 cost now) so gold is more valueble in the run.

Pain Tolerance: Medium amount at +35% | Enemy Buff
	-Unfortunately, we need to put some points into this, extra health isn't too bad if you can stack a narly crit. Increases amount of
	 time you must spend in a room

Vicious Torment: Max at +500% | Enemy Buff
	-Health is a resource, only if you take damage. Don't get hit, doesn't matter how strong enemies are.

Whipped Frenzy: Medium at +15% | Enemy Buff
	-3rd scariest thing on this mirror; gives you less time to react and harder to build space between you and a threat.

Death Insurance: Minimize at 0 <3 | Enemy Buff
	-The 2nd worst thing on this board, it doesn't matter if you crit for over 1k, it still only counts as 1 hit before any damage goes
	 to armor/health of EVERY enemy. Do NOT put anything into this, ever.

Shared Misery: Max at +50% | Enemy Buff?
	-Least scary thing on this board; more enemies doesn't matter if your core mechanics are good. Barely effects how many enemies can
	 be on the map at a given time, and if you are dealing tons of damage you will sublimate the extra spawns no problem.




~Mirror Specs~
Shadow Presence: Optional, I choose 0%
	-This ONLY deals extra damage if you hit an enemy from the backside, with extra enemies on the board that move faster, and not
	 much return for a TON of darkness at the highest levels, better to have gaurenteed damage vs high health foes regardless where you
	 hit them.

Chthonic Vitality: Minimize at 0
	-Useless with Maxed Grim Inevitability; You can't heal.

Infernal Soul: Max at +2
	-Epic Cast mid game deals a surprising amount of damage, and extra ammo means you can handle harder rooms more easily.

Greater Reflex: Max at +2
	-The MOST powerful thing on this board, extra dashes before cooldown is essential towards finishing any run of Hades consistently.

Boiling Blood: Max at +50%
	-100x better than Shadow Pressence, guarenteed damage if an enemy has an ammo stuck in them. Keep track of this, because it effects
	 what boons you should and should never take for your cast. ie. Dio + Ares cast boons are pointless with this spec.

Death Defiance: Max at +3
	-You MUST take this at max, this is your only vital resource beyond max health for "oops I made a mistake" scenarios. You want to
	 try and build as many of these during the run and do your best to never get hit causing you to lose one. You need maximum of these
	 for Meg + Hydra boss fights.

Deep Pockets: Minimize at 0
	-Not worth it, just try and get a chaos buff to increase gold you recieve early on to make up for this, or get a gold pickup or 2.

Thick Skin: Medium at +30 Health
	-I played around with this one a bit, I found having +30 gets us an extra hit, but +35/+40 etc doesn't buy you much else.

Olympian Favor: Minimize at +0%
	-Why need things that manipulate RNG if you plan on resetting a ton :^)

God's Pride: Medium at +2%
	-Okay, slightly reduce how much you reset :^)

Fated Authority: Minimize at 0
	-If you REALLY want to spend 2/3 of your darkness on 1 room reroll, go for it. I won't convince you otherwise you crazy person you.