Hades throws a lot of currencies at you, split between the ones you spend in a run and the ones you bank for permanent upgrades. Knowing what each does — and where it's best spent — keeps your progression moving.
In-run currencies
🪙 Obols (Gold)
Spent at Charon's shops during a run for boons, health, hammers and items; doesn't carry between runs, so spend it all.
🛒 Charon's shop & Well
Shops sell power; the Well of Charon rents a temporary item now for a payout later in the run.
🌀 Chaos boons
Chaos gates trade a short curse for a lasting blessing — take them when your HP is safe.
👛 Chthonic Coin Purse
Hypnos's keepsake hands you a head start of Obols the moment a run begins — 100 at rank 1, rising to 125 and then 150 as you level it up.
Meta currencies
🌑 Darkness
The main meta currency — spent at the Mirror of Night for permanent upgrades like Death Defiance.
🗝️ Chthonic Keys
Unlock new weapons and open locked Mirror talents.
💎 Gemstones & Diamonds
Fund House Contractor projects — fountains, resource nodes and the one-time Fated List.
🔨 Titan Blood
Upgrades weapons and levels their Aspects at the Arsenal.
🍶 Nectar & Ambrosia
Gifts that build relationships — Nectar for Keepsakes, Ambrosia to deepen bonds and unlock companions.
Spending priorities
- Darkness → Death Defiance and Shadow Presence first; Death Defiance's three ranks cost 30, then 500, then 1,000 Darkness, and both talents transform early survivability.
- Titan Blood → one or two Aspects you love rather than spreading it thin.
- Diamonds → Fountains and other Work Orders at the Contractor for run-wide value.
- Use the Wretched Broker to convert a surplus currency into whatever you're short on.
Where each resource drops
- Darkness: from clearing rooms, boss kills and the flame-icon weapon Darkness bonus.
- Chthonic Keys: room rewards and first-clear bonuses; 24 buy every weapon at the Arsenal, and roughly 65 more unlock every talent on the Mirror of Night.
- Titan Blood: biome-boss first clears, higher Heat clears and Fated List rewards.
- Diamonds & Ambrosia: deeper biomes, the Wretched Broker, and completing prophecies.
The Wretched Broker's exchange
- Repeatable trades run one way only: Gemstones into Chthonic Keys, into Nectar, into Diamonds, into Ambrosia, and finally into Titan Blood — never backwards.
- Typical repeatable rates: 10 Gemstones for a Chthonic Key, 500 Gemstones (or 10 Nectar) for a Diamond, 1,000 Gemstones (or 2 Diamonds) for an Ambrosia.
- A limited-time offer refreshes each run and is the only way to spend Darkness at the Broker or reverse the chain — 500 Darkness for an Ambrosia is a common one.
- Hoarding one currency you no longer need — spare Gemstones once the Mirror is maxed, say — is exactly what the Broker is for.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 6 September 2026 against the Fextralife Hades Wiki and the Hades Wiki (Fandom). The roughly 65 Chthonic Keys for every Mirror of Night talent is a total that has drifted upward since the game's early patches, when older guides put it at 60. What is still unverified is the only thing reading cannot settle — nobody here has played it.