Meta-Progression Priority

What to spend Darkness, Chthonic Keys, Titan Blood, Diamonds, Nectar, and Ambrosia on, in what order, plus Mirror talents, keepsakes, and Aspects.

At a glance


What this is	The permanent layer. Spend it between runs and it never resets.
Bottleneck early	Darkness for the Mirror, then Chthonic Keys to open more slots.
Bottleneck later	Titan Blood for Aspects and Diamonds for renovations.
Golden rule	Spend everything after every run. Hoarded resources do nothing.

The permanent resources

Resource	Spend it on	Main source
Darkness	Buy and rank up Mirror of Night talents	Most chambers, fishing, the Wretched Broker
Chthonic Keys	Unlock Mirror talent slots and new weapons	Chamber rewards, story unlocks
Gemstones	House Contractor renovations	Chamber rewards, some bosses
Diamonds	Higher-tier Contractor renovations	Temple of Styx rewards, prophecies, the Broker
Titan Blood	Unlock and level weapon Aspects	First clears, Bounties, Temple of Styx, the Broker
Nectar	Gift characters for their keepsake	Chamber rewards, Charon
Ambrosia	Gift deeply-bonded characters for Companions and story	Late rewards, the Broker

See the full breakdown on the resources page.

Spend order, run to run

Darkness into the Mirror first. It makes every future run easier, so it pays back fastest.
Chthonic Keys to open Mirror slots before you spend Keys on new weapons. A wider Mirror beats a fourth weapon early.
Nectar to characters for their keepsakes. Cheap, permanent, and it steers your builds.
Gemstones to the Contractor for the functional unlocks (Fated List, Pool of Purging, Gateway to Erebus, fishing).
Titan Blood into one or two Aspects you actually play, not spread across all six weapons.
Diamonds for the late Contractor tier, and Ambrosia for Companions, once the basics are done.

Mirror talent priority

Each talent has a red side (available from the start) and a green side (unlocked after a talk with Nyx, which needs a minimum amount of Darkness collected, commonly cited as 300). Only one color is active at a time and you can switch freely.

Priority	Talent	Why early
1	A revive talent	Death Defiance (red, up to 3 ranks, each revives at 50% HP) or Stubborn Defiance (green, 1 recharging revive, listed at 600 Darkness, good while you still die a lot)
2	Dark Regeneration	Heals HP for 30% (rank 1) or 60% (rank 2) of Darkness collected that run
3	Greater Reflex	Grants an extra Dash. Survival and mobility in one
4	Shadow Presence	+10% damage per rank when you strike foes from behind

Refunding all spent Darkness costs one Chthonic Key, so experiment freely.

Keepsake unlock order (gift Nectar)

Gifting Nectar gets a character’s keepsake and starts a bond. Early standouts:

Skelly’s Lucky Tooth: a one-time 100 HP revive per run. Strong survival pick.
Eurydice’s Evergreen Acorn (Asphodel): a few hits of invulnerability entering each boss fight.
God keepsakes (Zeus, Athena, and the rest): make that god’s boon more likely to appear first, which is how you steer a build.

Equip the keepsake of whichever god your planned build wants, then swap at region transitions.

How Aspects and Titan Blood work

Each of the six weapons has four Aspects: three available from the start of owning the weapon, plus a Hidden Aspect unlocked through the story.
Titan Blood unlocks an Aspect and levels it up, raising its effect. Exact Titan Blood costs vary per Aspect, so check in-game before committing.
Focus, do not spread. Pour Titan Blood into the Aspect of a weapon you enjoy rather than thinly across all six.
The spear’s Hidden Aspect (Guan Yu) must be unlocked first before the other five Hidden Aspects can be unlocked.

Watch out for

Sitting on resources. Darkness, Nectar, and Gemstones do nothing in your pocket. Spend after every run.
Buying a third or fourth weapon with Keys before widening the Mirror. The Mirror helps every run.
Spreading Titan Blood across all six weapons. You will have weak Aspects everywhere and a strong one nowhere.
Forgetting to gift Nectar. No gifts means no keepsakes, which means no build steering.