Charon is a bit of a hit and miss kind of NPC in Hades and quite frankly is much better in the early game to visit than in the late game.
Essentially, Charon is the in game shop for players, helping them collect Boons or upgrades along the way, though in the late game, this is going to become a much smaller priority as players will want to save up all of their Charon’s Obol in order to buy the rarest Artifacts at the end of the escape.
I would strongly recommend that players try to avoid using Charon shops along the way as early as possible as long as it doesn’t impede the player’s ability to complete a run successfully.
At the end of the day, completing a run is going to be the most important part to a player as it will help a player unlock more rare Artifacts (as Bosses on new Heats are guaranteed to drop a rare Artifact), so if ever you think you are struggling, go to Charon.
There comes a time for most players that they will understand which Boons they can regularly rely on, making sure they focus on getting these Boons each time so they don’t need to make any alterations along the way.
Charon is a relatively expensive NPC to buy upgrades from, though he also operates Wells of Charon which do not provide players with as drastic of an upgrade, but can still be very useful especially on Artifact runs.
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OLYMPIAN AFFINITY
Much like many of the other gods in the game, players can also gain Affinity with Charon.
Players are recommended to provide Charon with at least a single Nectar as this will provide the player with his Keepsake, the Bone Hourglass, which becomes very useful for Artifact grinds.
Essentially the Bone Hourglass will increase the duration of all items that are sold at the Well of Charon and while these items are not usually used for progression content, unless a player is very lucky with their rolls, it does come in very handy for players who are looking to multiply how many Artifacts they pick up.
Charon has a total of 7 Hearts to fill with Affinity, though players are encouraged to avoid doing this too early so they can focus on gods who provide them with Companions instead.
Charon has an easy favour request that players do not have to focus on and instead can simply play the game in order to acquire it. Essentially, Charon wants players to spend at least 10,000 Charon’s Obol in order to gain favour with him.
CHARON’S WARES
Charon’s Wares refer to the items that are available to be sold by Charon whenever players see him in his shop.
Many of these items include Artifacts, but can also be healing Items, the Daedalus Hammer or any God Boon other than Chaos.
Charon technically has two different shops. One style that appears in Tartarus, Asphodel or Elysium and the other that appears in the Temple of Styx.
When I tell players to avoid Charon, I mostly mean in the areas before the Temple of Styx as players will want to save their Charon’s Obol in order to buy the rare Artifacts that only appear in the Temple of Styx.
Players can do this effectively by running the Mirror of Night upgrade, Golden Touch which will provide players with 5% of their Charon’s Obol they are holding whenever they exit an area.
CHARON’S WARES BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF STYX
The following are all of the purchases that can be made from Charon in Tartarus, Asphodel or Elysium.
DARKNESS
Players can purchase 25 Darkness for 25 Charon’s Obol.
The amount gained can be increased by Dark Thirst after the player purchases this, though it will not be amplified by Pitch-Black Darkness.
I tend to avoid making this purchase at all costs, even during an Artifact run.
CHTHONIC KEY
Players can purchase a single Chthonic Key for 50 Charon’s Obol.
I personally always avoid this purchase as well as it cannot be amplified with Fated Keys. Even if, Chthonic Keys aren’t the hardest to get.
FOOD
Players can buy 30% of their Health back for 50 Charon’s Obol.
This purchase can be helpful for players who are low on Health and don’t think that they are going to make it through an escape.
Admittedly, this can be the most life saving reward from Charon, especially if players don’t have enough Boon mitigation or ways of restoring Health.
POM SLICES
Players can purchase a single Pom Slice for 50 Charon’s Obol which will raise the level of a random Boon by 1.
While not my favourite purchase, it is very cheap for it’s power and can be very useful when players don’t have too many Boons, but they are powerful.
I tend to take this if I’m happy with all the Boons I have or the majority of them.
GEMSTONES
Players can purchase 20 Gemstones for 75 Charon’s Obol.
Gemstones are actually fairly rare to come by, though I admit that they aren’t the most useful resource to have unless you’re trying to regularly make purchases with the Wretched Broker.
In general, I would rather farm Gemstones rather than purchase them from Charon, though in an Artifact run where a player is needing to make pit stops it’s not the worst purchase.
Players will be able to amplify the amount of Gemstones they receive from Charon by using Darker Thirst, though it will not work with Brilliant Gemstones.
POM OF POWER
The Pom of Power can be purchased with 100 Charon’s Obol and truthfully is the better choice if players have a specific Boon they would like to level up.
This is going to be a great choice for players who have the Charon’s Obol to make the purchase and do not have very many Boons they like.
CENTAUR HEART
The Centaur’s Heart is a purchase I made regularly with Charon as it will increase a player’s maximum health by 25 and will also provide players with that Health.
In my opinion, I like Centaur Hearts more than I like food as it provides players with a good amount of survivability.
RANDOM GOD BOON
Players can purchase a random God Boon for 125 Charon’s Obol. Admittedly, this isn’t that bad as it is at a reduced price, however, it’s a very early game strategy.
By the mid-game players are going to recognize what gods they prefer and are going to want to avoid specific gods, making it a bit harder with a randomly generated Boon.
I would recommend avoiding this if you already know what Boons you like over others.
It should be noted again that players will not be able to get a Chaos Boon this way.
SPECIFIC GOD BOON
Specific God Boons cost a bit more, but admittedly not much more, coming in at 150 Charon’s Obol.
Players can collect any God Boon from here other than Chaos.
NECTAR
Nectar costs a whopping 200 Charon’s Obol and is extremely unreasonable to purchase. I strongly recommend focusing on getting Nectar from a Chamber reward if you are farming it as the 200 Charon’s Obol can be used for something much more impactful for your run.
Players will not be able to amplify how much Nectar they get, meaning that Premium Vintage does not work for Nectar.
DAEDALUS HAMMER
By far the best purchase a player can make at Charon at this point is the Daedalus Hammer as players will only be able to collect a maximum of 3 for a run.
Players may not see a Daedalus Hammer along the way, so if they are making pit stops at Charon, I strongly recommend getting it as it will drastically improve your damage.
The Daedalus Hammer does come at a higher cost, but the cost is very worth it due to how limited the opportunities are to acquire it and the amount of damage increase or versatility it provides.
CHARON’S WARES AT THE TEMPLE OF STYX
The following are all the purchases that can be made from Charon at the Temple of Styx.
As mentioned earlier, my favourite place to make purchases from Charon is at the Temple of Sticks.
The reality is that many of the purchases cost a lot more, so when players are running Golden Touch, this is going to be one of the only ways to acquire all the rewards.
While some Boons cost the same as they would in Charon’s regular shop, the ones that cost more actually have Boosted rarity on them.
There are 4 sections of purchases that can be made at Charon’s shop in the Temple of Styx and they are as follows:
RARE ARTIFACTS
Players will either have the option between:
1 Diamond that costs 1,000 Charon’s Obol
1 Titan Blood that costs 1,200 Charon’s Obol
While both purchases are good, Titan’s Blood is better. Players can essentially sell Diamonds for Titan’s Blood at the Wretched Broker. While this is isn’t “cost efficient” at a certain point Diamonds are only for cosmetics or for orchestrion rolls, so the option is always there for you.
SPECIAL BOON/UPGRADE
The next most notable purchase players can make at the Temple of the Styx are:
A Hermes Boon with Boosted Rarity that costs 500 Charon’s Obol
An Anvil of Fates that costs 275
I truthfully tend to avoid these two purchases as I’m not the biggest fan of Hermes and depending on what upgrades I have with the Daedalus Hammer already, I may not need the Anvil of Fates.
You can read more of my opinions on the Anvil of Fates here.
If players are a big fan of Hermes or have Charon’s Obol to spare, I’d make this purchase, especially if you choose to clear all the rooms in the Temple of Styx.
REGULAR BOONS/UPGRADES
As mentioned, Charon will still offer standard Boons and upgrades. These cost the same as they would in his pop-up shops and players will be offered two of the following:
1/4 a chance to get a Centaur Heart that costs 125 Charon’s Obol
1/4 a chance to get a Pom of Power that costs 100 Charon’s Obol
1/2 a chance to get a Non-Hermes or Non-Chaos Boon that costs 150 Charon’s Obol
When it comes to making these purchases I tend to decide based on how much Charon’s Obol I have left over.
BOOSTED RARITY BOONS
These are going to be the Boons you want to focus on, especially if you want to be guaranteed better upgrades.
There are two lines of thoughts for this. If players have decent passives from the Mirror of Night, they may be able to rely on the lower tier Boons to get decent upgrades, however, if they do not they will want to purchase the higher tiers to ensure a successful battle with Hades.
Players will have a chance to get two offers from the Boosted category, being:
1/3 chance to get a non-Hermes or non-Chaos Boon with Boosted Rarity that costs 450 Charon’s Obol.
2/3 chance to get a super Pom of Power that increases a Boon’s level by 2 which costs 300 Charon’s Obol.
I tend to always take these if I have the Charon’s Obol, but my priority is always the rare Artifact so I can focus on these in the later heats.
WHAT IS THE BOOSTED RARITY PLAYERS GET ON BOONS?
You may be asking yourself, but what is the Rarity boost on more expensive purchases and the reality is… the chances are pretty darn good!
Players are guaranteed the following:
100% chance that all Boons are going to be at least Rare
25% chance for an Epic Boon
10% chance for a Legendary Boon
[SPOILER] CHARON’S BOSS BATTLE
At first I was completely oblivious to the fact that Charon was actually a boss that players can interact with and this had a lot to do with the fact that there is only a 22% chance that players will be able to do this in a run.
Players will have to visit Charon at one of his pop-up shops and will have to look around him to see if there is a sack of 300 Charon’s Oboll.
Players will want to click on this sack in order to unlock this boss battle and will only have access to it if they have completed at least 1 successful run.
If players choose to interact with the sack they will be teleported into a room with lots of loot and will have to kill him in order to progress.
CHARON’S MOVES
Charon has 4 sets of moves and is actually quite a tough Boss. I strongly recommend having the Athena Dash Deflect if possible as this will make it a lot easier to complete successfully.
Charon’s moves include:
GHOST CHARGE
Ghost Charge, causes Charon to hover on either side of the field sending a wave from either the left or right of the room.
The patterns of the Ghost charge will depend on the health state of Charon and he may actually end up in the center or the room causing waves to come up or down the lane.
In most cases the waves will come in a V formation, making it suitable for a player to dodge, though in most cases it’s much better to have a deflect so you can still hit Charon during these phases.
FLOOR WAVE
The Floor Wave is when Charon pushes a small wave that bounces around the room once and then towards the player. As the battle progresses, players will have to deal with 3 waves instead of one.
OAR SWIPE
The Oar Swipe causes Charon to move towards the player and swipe twice at the player. This deals heavy damage and must be avoided at all costs.
STUN WAVE
The Stun Wave will happen if players are too close to Charon, essentially pulsing a wave that deals knockback and has the opportunity to stun a player.
HEALTH STATES
Charon has various sets of Health States that both change the way Charon functions and makes the battle harder.
The first Health State change happens at 75% of his max health (Max Health being: 16,500) and he will destroy two golden jars that can be used to protect the player. The next Health State acts similarly, happening at 45% HP.
Players will only need to damage Charon until he is at 20% HP as he will call off the fight and provide the player with a Loyalty Card, also giving the player 300 Charon’s Obol.
The Loyalty Card will reduce all the rewards that can be purchased from Charon. This is one of the best methods to be able to purchase any leftover Artifacts a player needs, though if a player is uncertain if they can challenge Charon, they should avoid him as a successful run is more important.
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