After your first escape, the Pact of Punishment lets you add Heat — stacking difficulty conditions in exchange for richer rewards and higher resource caps. Heat is how Hades stays challenging forever, and clearing minimum-Heat thresholds with each weapon is a big slice of the Fated List.
How Heat works
🌡️ Heat rank
Each condition you enable adds Heat; total Heat gates better rewards and the Fated List's per-weapon goals.
💰 Higher caps
More Heat raises the cap on resources a run can pay out, so rewards refresh once you clear a new threshold.
🔁 Adjustable
Mix and match conditions freely before a run — tailor the pain to what your build can handle.
Gentle first conditions
- Extreme Measures (rank 1) — one tougher boss; a lot of Heat for a small difficulty bump.
- Convenience Fee — pricier shops; barely affects a healthy run.
- Middle Management — an extra mini-boss in some biomes; free Heat if your damage is solid.
- Approval Process / Tight Deadline — cheap early Heat, but watch the timer condition on slow builds.
Climbing Heat
- Raise one weapon at a time so you can chase its Fated List thresholds efficiently.
- Swap which conditions are on to suit the build — a healing build laughs at Lasting Consequences.
- Jury Summons (more enemies) and Heightened Security punish weak clear speed — add them last.
- Every Heat level cleared banks resources, so pushing higher pays for more Mirror and Contractor upgrades.
💬 Community Strategies & Discussion
Did you find a hidden chest? Struggling with a boss? Share your tips and questions with other mercenaries below!