Chaos Pit Usefulness?

[Jello]

So I've unlocked these chaos pits or whatever they're called. You have to take damage to enter them, and then you get your choice of penalties in exchange for minor perks. But from my four visits so far, the perks are all unimpressive, with small buffs to something or an additional chance of gold showing up.

Is this feature in need of a boost? Is there a facet to it I'm missing? Am I getting really unlucky rolls?

[Neon Black Interactive]

Chaos pits in my opinion are very powerful though you need a strong understanding of the game to understand how to use them. Normally I will take every chaos pit offered to me in both Tartarus and Asphodel because they both pose very little threat (except for extreme measures hydra and the middle management barge of death). In Elysium I would avoid them because you can actually just get screwed in Elysium.

Now that you know when to take chaos pits I need to explain why the boons from there are so powerful. You can normally only ever have one major attack buff, or special buff, or cast buff however Chaos boons bypass this restriction. Let's say you're in a situation where 80% of your damage is coming directly from your special and it already has a boon. If you're lucky you can get a little bit of extra crit from Artemis and a little bit of extra damage on your special from Ares but then what? Well a Chaos boon could boost your damage by roughly 50% at common and go upwards of 80% extra damage at epic and you're not going to get that boost anywhere else.

I personally think the Chaos boons are so powerful that I always start with the cosmic egg and hold onto it until I kill the hydra. Normally I'm salty over not finding a good amount of chaos pits and have no complaints about the power they each give me.

[Treskittle]

They offer insane bonuses, especially if you get currency ones real early on, then get damage bonuses on top of whatever you've got. The fact that they're passive really makes it shine.

[Aumires]

Chaos Pits are absolutely amazing stuff! Give a Nectar to Chaos for no HP loss entering them and a larger chance than the usual god amulet for them to be higher rarity. Once you get the hang of the game you might use other amulets.

I always enter them even if they make the game harder... well, and I am missing the "Defiance" passive which I dunno why still hasn't popped up.

[Prometheus]

The only chaos boon that is outright bad is the increased darkness gains. All the rest are great.

[Kill'em ALL]

Originally posted by Jello:

the perks are all unimpressive

They are admittedly quite specialised so they might indeed be unimpressive if they do not support your current build or farm goal.

That being said they are tremendous help when the stars align with your wishes - getting 250% darkness when you are still unlocking mirror upgrades or additional Cast charge when you're running Hera bow.

I'd say the fact that there is an element of gamble on whether or not the Chaos gives you something useful is only fitting.

P.S.

Originally posted by Promethian:

The only chaos boon that is outright bad is the increased darkness gains

Once you're done with the mirror. Before that it can cut your grind in half. What's not to like?

[Lorska]

Chaos is actually really strong because it offers bonuses to your common win conditions (cast, attack, special) and you can actually get the same bonus multiple times too.
I would say it depends on the weapon. If you are going for a fast stacking build like poison/seeking arrows this won't help you much, though the health and gold gain is still strong.

I'd say always enter a chaos gate if one of the following applies:
- you don't know if you are going attack or special yet and you are not passing a hammer (helps you make a decision)
- you already got a really powerful attack type boon (chance to steamroll)
- you are going for casts (two cast increasing possibilities)

I always start every run with the chaos trinket.

[Shot_Trip]

Base percentage bonuses are real good. PLUS, you can get multiple Chaos boons for the same thing, with different conditions, they count as seperate boons. Meaning you can stack up an absurd, like 300% attack with three Chaos Boons and a single godly one.

Chaos best granddaddy.

[HoneyDrake]

Originally posted by Treskittle:

They offer insane bonuses, especially if you get currency ones real early on, then get damage bonuses on top of whatever you've got. The fact that they're passive really makes it shine.

This. Being able to get additional casts, more money and just blatant dps boosts is insane and should be taken serious.

But be careful of taking some boon which has conditions which destroys your current build (like +x seconds before being able to pick up your casts. Get damaged while using your main attack form, etc. etc.)