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Here is in one image with all the boons i preferred, and talents, heat, and items i used.

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• Boons

Always take attack, from Aphrodite for defense and hard hitting, or Dionysus for safety letting the dot deal damage. If you dont have a call by the end, take the Hades one as it gives invulnerability in case of bad position.

• Weapons

All weapons best pick is the fourth final hidden aspect, except the shield. All these are the most hard hitting or useful styles except the shield which is too slow to block properly.

• Mirror

Pick what you want here but i recommend the one that changes boons offered. If you like to combo two curse on enemy take the privileged +40% one instead of favorite.

• Heat

Im most likely to purge a boon i have to take along the way anyway, so i picked customs instead of harder hitting. Consider not taking it and adding more damage taken instead.
Also i take the final boss fight out of respect, i saw other people letting measures to 3 and putting those 4 points into other things like damage taken and heal reduced.

• Items

The one of Death is the hardest hitting and also works with backstab for very strong numbers. Cerberus collar or lucky tooth are fine, or Hades if u dont have a call by the end.

• Playstyle

Classic soulslike similar to Dark Souls type of games, see enemy animations and attack during idle windows, have patience and see the patterns.

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• Always take the attack boon, it's the most proper way to apply the effects with any of the weapons.

Aphrodite is always the best pick. That 30% defense from Weak curse is the highest defense you can get. I know you are not supposed to be hit so defense is useless if not taking damage, but this god also offers the highest percentage of attack bonus. Also, mistakes happen and you do get hit.

Dionysus is the second best pick because you dont have to engage with enemies, just pile stacks from safety. Also has the better wide range of good offers like more damage and full heal on fountains, more health with nectars, or defense with outlook, or even pick the specials boon to weave in with Aphrodite attack or other way around to keep weak effect with her special and Dionysus attack boon.

• For the order it's important to always pick one of these first. I prefer Aphrodite because she has the highest amount of useful boons. You want this as the first trinket pick because you can meet the god you start with again along the way.

Aphrodite is good first not because you need that attack damage this early, but to get as many boons as you can from her as you go. All these are useful and always pick her later on, in order of importance but pick depending on rarity:
- Surrender: foes more susceptible to damage
- Resolve: more potent weak, highest defense
- Different League: highest defense considering you stay melee
- Aid: very hard hitting and increases with other bonuses
- Affirmation: more health always useful

Dionysus would be fine first but between having weak later and no surrender in exchange for 5% damage from first fountain and 25 health from nectar, i would rather have those two Aphrodite boons and only one pick from him.

• If however in the very unlikely case where you dont get Aphrodite attack boon even after two rerolls, pick something like the special to weave for the effect and pick Dionysus attack to make that way the run.

As the third option a god with at least 3 other good picks should be taken. In order of priority and then in order of importance but depending on rarity:
- Athena: divine dash is very fun and useful but you can do without it once you know how to dodge properly. Bronze Skin straight up good defense. Blinding Flash a good source of damage but you need the dash first. Aid is mediocre but worth mentioning.
- Artemis: crit chance, call, dash strike depending on weapon, support fire depending on weapon but requires first having another boon

If for example along the way you get Athena or Artemis or Dionysus before you can use their trinket, dont pick the trinket next time and pick other of them. Not worth activating a trinket if you dont have three useful boons mentioned above available to pick. For example if in second area you get bronze skin, dont pick Athena trinket in the third area but pick Artemis (or Charon, explained later in the guide).

• You cant pick Hermes but try getting him only once for faster attack, sturdy dash, or auto dodge. If none shown then side hustle, faster special, or movement speed. You can pick him a second time if you have a call, to add in the possible roll auto god gauge fill.
  Dont pick extra dashes. I know how good it is and thats why it makes for you a bad habit because you wont get this option every time and when without it you will do mistakes, it's just a crutch.

These gods are generally not worth picking other than selling for customs heat or money (which you should if the other room is something like gems or keys or money):
- Ares: you wont do consistent enough damage to keep doom uptime properly. Call and urge to kill are good but not worth picking his trinket for just these, maybe to try getting them and selling what you get if none.
- Demeter: i know how good decay is but thats not consistent to get, also requires first having another boon. I know having foes chilled is useful but this has disadvantages. It will get you out of rhythm, again acts like a crutch. Also certain mechanics such as final boss spin take longer to finish thus having a wider timer of damaging window making it harder to dodge.
- Poseidon: good just for farm runs to get ocean bounty more darkness or sunken treasure. Call is fine but other than this nothing else better than other gods.
- Zeus: weakest god, has nothing good or better than others. Attack or special can be made useful but wont provide more than others.

Yes take chaos gates but not instead of the good gods mentioned at the top.

• Between max health rooms or boons and defense boons, choose depending on how much health you think you will have at the end. For example if you will have 300 hp and 3 defiances at the end, a bronze skin of 7% defense will mitigate a total of 52 hp until dead considering you dont heal in any way. But if picking instead a +25 hp that will count as another 37 hp with defiances so it's 62 hp instead regardless of how much health you have.

So pick defense boons generally such as Bronze Skin, Positive Outlook, Broken Resolve, or even Ravenous Will, because you should reach above 300 hp by the end, also if you can heal in any way then defense is better.

No mention of Legendary or Duo boons because theyre unreliable to get. Yes the Charm one from Aphrodite makes the run too easy especially with a weapon that attacks often such as Bow special or Spear spin. Or the duo that heals you with no defiance. But my point is to not depend on such cheesy things and to have reliable and consistent runs.

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Each weapon has or needs one or none hammers to be good or decent. Below weapons are listed in order of how good they are, with a description why and what hammer and if is needed.

• Aegis, the Shield of Chaos with Aspect of Zagreus
  The best weapon because it needs no hammer upgrades to perform good, but also becomes much better with certain hammer upgrades. Can weave specials sometimes.

This weapon makes the run easy even at higher heat. You can just bullrush through everything the whole run. Blocks everything including ground attacks if you are facing the center, can just faceblock even the final boss fire lines. You can even prioritize damage boons instead of defense ones if you know to block properly.

Hammer upgrade of attack twice no knockback is the best as it more than doubles your dps. Fire a piercing shot hammer upgrade is also good as you can now even play ranged, it also gets very strong with faster bullrush and faster attack, but be careful of remaining in aoes now.
Picking the hammer room is ok because you should always get something at least useful, if those two not there then pick faster bullrush, bullrush damage to armor, bullrush power attack. None with special.

The special attack you just weave to apply the off curse god or just break the blue shield before fighting.
You can also play with Aspect of Zeus for a specials playstyle but micromanaging the blitz disc will make things ineffective and you also lose that base damage.
The fourth final hidden Aspect of Beowulf is bad because it's too slow to activate the block. Can be made to work with a cast playstyle but just makes the weapon mediocre.

• Coronacht, the Heart-Seeking Bow with Aspect of Rama
  Very good weapon because it needs no hammer upgrades to perform good. Theres no upgrades to make it much better either, though. Will weave specials all the time.

Being at range is an advantage, use dash strike to charge the shot further and faster even though it hits lower. Speed of cast makes up with and for the dps. Dash strike boons such as from Artemis or Chaos are very useful. Always have the special effect on the target for extra 60% attack damage even on the initial target itself. Easy aoe clear here as you can mark the whole room and do one big fat shot through all of them.

Hammer upgrade for chain shot is fine but not worth instead of other rooms with health, pom, or boon. Also aiming for hammer for one upgrade is not reliable. Sniper and point blank are also unreliable to play with. Easier power shot would be better than all these.

A very strong build is having triple shot and explosive shot, and you just make triple explosion in melee range but this makes the playstyle risky and invalidates the whole point of being ranged.

• Stygius, the Blade of the Underworld with Aspect of Arthur
  Good weapon because it needs no hammer upgrades to perform good. Upgrades are fine but doesnt make it much better. Weaving specials is bad.

Big swings make it easy to hit and the third half circle hit even makes easy backstabs. Need to be careful though as it's slow and your attack even gets interrupted if hit during it. The special is bad, it keeps projectiles on the field for longer instead of just letting them go in wall. Good for covering traps or magma but being pinned in a small location is bad.

The special's defense is fine so you can try fighting on it, but moving properly will save you more damage than risking taking it lower. It's fine if you are overwhelmed and need to take some distance and spreading out enemies. It's also useful when being cornered against a flurry of projectiles.

Hammer upgrades of backstab is good, the piercing wave is weak, extra damage by coin is unreliable. Damage to armor is fine i suppose but not useful against bosses. Cursed blade is very good but you need lots of defense and preferably a call that makes you imprevious such as Athena or Hades.
Also a weapon is not to be picked for one specific hammer upgrade as you may not get it.

• Varatha, the Eternal Spear with Aspect of Guan Yu
  Fine weapon but you require hammer upgrade for it to be good. Without them it's bad, but with two specific upgrades it becomes very good. Weaving specials is bad.

Faster spin charge is the best hammer upgrade that makes the weapon very good. As you can see in the first image i finished a final boss battle at full health and defiances. This upgrade is also good because you can even add to it multiple upgrades of spin attack such as bigger and stronger, or travel longer. Spin build is better because is safer and has easier time at range.
Triple dash damage is another upgrade that moves this weapon from decent to good.

Just two upgrades makes this weapon unreliable for a run as you may not get them. Having bigger spin is not helpful if you dont cast it fast. If you get triple dash or bigger spin, pick triple dash and make that the run. If you get triple dash or faster spin charge, pick the spin as it's safer and you can upgrade it later.

You can also play with Aspect of Hades because spin bonus damage is good to pair but here you just have triple dash to make this a good weapon for a run, so it's unreliable.
You can also play with Aspect of Zagreus for specials damage build but this has much lower dps that dont make it worth enough for the safety.

• Malphon, the Twin Fists with Aspect of Gilgamesh
  Fine weapon because it needs no hammer upgrades to perform good. Theres no upgrades to make it much better either, though. Will weave specials consistently.

With such description this weapon sounds good. It is, but the weapon is very melee and so easy to get hit. Having more dodges sound good but theyre shorter and take you out of rhythm based on experience with other weapons, another crutch. Also its special deals very good damage but also increases enemy damage dealt, for a weapon that needs to more than melee hump the enemy. Keep special all the time though, even if you hit and run, that final explosion hits hard, just keep punching if the enemy can be staggered consecutively.

Hammer upgrades are a few good, such as base damage per hit or sturdy while attacking, but nothing to make the weapon rank higher. Dealing more damage to armor might be the best upgrade. However not a priority over rooms with health, pom, or boon.

• Exagryph, the Adamant Rail with Asepct of Lucifer
  Bad weapon because you require hammer upgrades for it to be good. Without them it's bad, but with a few specific upgrades it becomes decent. Will weave specials but not easy.

While being at range is an advantage, this range is lower and doesnt stagger the enemies, nor it destroys projectiles such as butterflies. Damage, cleave, defense, all are low. Throw in a special during reload at enemy location for instant explosion when you start shooting. You can stagger consistently enemies with the special, placing it at the corner of a pillar to keep ranges at bay, but it's unreliable to play with and deals little damage unless exploded.

Hammer upgrades that make it decent are the one that pierces foes, faster start of fire, faster damage ramping. Combining all these make it a good weapon but it's unlikely you get this. Using triple line of fire is very good but requires you to stay melee to hit triple but this makes the playstyle risky and invalidates the whole point of being ranged.

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• Companion

Thanatos companion is the best because it hits the hardest, it's also an aoe where you can lure enemies, or on bosses when they have phases such as when third boss calls for god aid or when final boss channels health. It also increases with backstab damage if you position it properly raising to very strong numbers.

Sisyphus companion is good for farm runs, keep it closer to final after you get some darkness bonuses such as from Chaos or Poseidon. The healing is good and useful but only if you are about to lose a defiance, could be used in a tight spot to remove ongoing aoes. Otherwise, finishing a boss fight faster will save you more health.

Fighting a boss will drain you health over time from mistakes and fatigue. Refilling up a bit is useful and having defense help against mistakes, but finishing the fight faster will reduce the times when taking damage occur. This doesnt mean it's worth to push damage at the cost of taking damage just to finish the fight faster.

• Trinket

As mentioned earlier first would be Aphrodite, then Dionysus, or either of them first depending on weapon and preference. Third would be Athena or Artemis, or even Ares if you want to risk it.
However depending on your money, you can pick Charon third, then get healing and damage to have for the whole area. Then when you enter the room before the final area, again pick from shop bonuses that will last you up until final boss, and after this change the trinket to something else.

For final boss the Cerberus trinket will give you 125 health considering you have all defiances, while Skelly trinket gives you 100 health but can soak up a hit, for example having 10 health and getting hit by 40 will count for 130 health. Not big difference so pick either, i did have runs that i finished with less than 50 hp and no defiances, so it matters.

If you dont have a call yet, the Hades trinket should be the best because it gives you invulnerability while invisible if cast at full gauge.
If by some weird misfortune you didnt get a useful attack upgrade by this point you should use the Sisyphus trinket.

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Any heat you prefer, theyre self explanatory ingame. Some players dont pick final boss fight and spend those 4 points into damage taken and healing reduced. I prefer the final boss for fun and respect, and it's not that much more difficult either. The most difficult part is having two mini boss summons, the worst being the giant crystal and butterfly ball. With enough damage you can skip these by pushing Hades into his second phase, kill the first mini boss though.

Dont pick faster speed, it's awful. Even enemies that have the benefits package with extra speed will show you how tough it is.
Dont pick stronger traps. I know, just dont stand in stupid, but mistakes happen and you dont want to lose a defiance because of a random trap. Also sometimes final boss bottles deal you damage after theyre destroyed while they have the animation going and these are boosted by this perk.

One point in approval process should be fine considering you can reroll, and you can lower the damage dealt by enemies.
Distable customs if youre not comfortable with it.

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Persuasion because you are going to choose which god you get.
Favor for blue boons, because not only having more rooms with boons is worse but also getting a white attack is worse.
Favorite instead of privileged because keeping two curses is unreliable. Youre going to have at least two different gods boons anyway.

Now why would having more rooms with boons be bad, since i propose going with customs as well. If you fill Zagreus with tons of boons it will make harder for poms to work. Also will make unreliable which boon to sell. Having two or three boons will make consistent what to sell and what to upgrade.

Even without that mirror talent you will still get a second god before reaching the final area so just pick something to sell from it which you would have been doing anyway. Or remove customs completely and dont bother with it.

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For safety you need to play this game like one of these difficult soulslike games such as Dark Souls. Have patience, watch out for enemy animations and patterns, attack during idle time windows. Runs can take a lot, mine are taking between 25 and 50 minutes depending on weapon and luck.

You can understand enemy attacks so well that you can deal damage directly through them.
For example i keep companion for third boss when he calls the aid, i always beat the bull first as the cart guy just moves around. Dont push damage longer time on bull because he suddenly hits hard and fast, see if he is going to jump or not and walk towards him in straight line because he jumps past you.

For final boss you can dash through both spins if you time it right, without taking damage. And such staying melee range to deal damage. With Aprodite aid you can stop his fire lines attack, no need to be full gauge, but do this if youre caught on bad position. Keep him on upper left or right corner so that you have more space to move behind pillar during the lines. You need the space because you can pop some bottles by mistake or didnt dash the skull circles properly.

It's about practice and dedication.

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If you have any feedback, suggestions, corrections, questions, do post them in the comments.
Playing the way i describe here i can consistently clear 32 heat with any weapon without having to reset or give up because i didnt have luck for something.

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