Help understand bounties

[onomastikon]

So after 56 escape attempts I have finally beaten Hades, yipee. Apparently, this game is really hard for me. Fine, I'm having fun. I have been avoiding spoilers so far, so I was surprised at what came after, expecting something entirely different. Be that as it may, I am exceptionally pleased with this game and find myself compelled to play more.

Despite my attempts at avoiding spoilers, after my next couple of runs I have read this article (https://hades.fandom.com/wiki/Pact_of_Punishment#Bounties) on the pact and bounties, since this feature is new to me, and am still confused. An example to illustrate.

When looking at the Pact before leaving, it tells me that I have already received a bounties (blood, diamond, ambrosia) with the Spear at heat 0 and 1 (I can remember those runs), so I tried turnign the Heat up to 2, and then because it said I still received those bounties, to 5 or 10, but nothing changed. Do I also have to beat Hades *again at that particular heat level* to be able to turn up the heat further and get a reward?

I have only beaten Hades once, with the Shield. Because I have not beaten him with the Spear (even at Heat 0), does that mean that I should leave the heat down to 0 to be able to beat him with the spear and thus be able to get bounties at heat 1 with the spear? Why should I turn the heat to level 1 and get a "full heat" meter if I cannot get bounties?

[lieutenantkirtar]

Heat 1 can be accessed right away for all weapons. Anything past that you have to beat the previous heat level with that weapon to unlock the next heat level rewards.

[Tiank]

Originally posted by onomastikon:

Do I also have to beat Hades *again at that particular heat level* to be able to turn up the heat further and get a reward?

Basically, yes.

Originally posted by onomastikon:

(...)does that mean that I should leave the heat down to 0 to be able to beat him with the spear and thus be able to get bounties at heat 1 with the spear?

Heat 0 and Heat 1-20 are treated separately. So if you've never beaten Hades with a certain weapon, didn't even have a run with it before at all, and then you set heat level at let's say 5 and beat him, you would get rewards for heat 1. If you don't change the heat at all for that weapon and beat him again with it, you will receive rewards for heat 2, and so on. If you beat him on heat 5, you will need to increase heat in order to get more rewards (up to 20 which is max for bounties).

After all that you still will be able to get rewards for heat 0 for that weapon.

Hope that clear things up.

[onomastikon]

Thank you, that helps. So "heat" and bounties does not only refer to the rewards I see in the preparation screen "pact" before leaving for a run, or the "heat gauge", but I need to take into consideration if I beat Hades with that weapon -- right?

[Tiank]

It will show. For example, if you got killed in Elysium but before the Elysium's boss, you would still get rewards for Tartarus and Asphodel, which will be shown in the preparation screen. So you can see how far you got with each weapon. If you unnecessarily exceed the heat gauge it will also warn you visually (and Zag will comment on that sometimes).

[onomastikon]

OK - so it doesnt matter how high I turn up the heat unless I beat Hades beforehand, correct?

[Tiank]

Yes.

[onomastikon]

thank you.

[Tiank]

No worries ;).

[onomastikon]

I think what confuses me is that I have only beaten Hades once, but yet I can gather bounties using the Pact at Heat 1 with the weapons with which I have not yet defeated Hades. Is this ... working as intended? So that beating Hades once with any weapon lets you gather all +1 heat bounties with ANY weapon?

[Gregor]

Originally posted by onomastikon:

I think what confuses me is that I have only beaten Hades once, but yet I can gather bounties using the Pact at Heat 1 with the weapons with which I have not yet defeated Hades. Is this ... working as intended? So that beating Hades once with any weapon lets you gather all +1 heat bounties with ANY weapon?

It should tell you at the pact how high you need to fill the Heat Gauge.
You can recognice, where you did fail, or what you didn't get yet, by it beeing a Questionmark or a specific reward in the individual section of area.
If it's a questionmark it's open to be earned, if it's a "reward" it's been done before.
You'll get darkness instead of the reward for clearing the boss of the area if you've taken out the boss already on the amount of heat.