Vows & Ordeals
A vow is a standing pledge: a restriction you choose to carry for an entire descent, sealed in exchange for something real. Vows are entirely optional. Nothing in the 9-vow table below is required to clear the dungeon; they exist for players hunting an extra dial to turn, harder or richer, once the base game feels solved.
Sealing a Vow
Vows work as a standing pledge rather than a one-time choice. You can pledge or unpledge vows at any time between descents, and that pledge persists across runs until you change it again. The moment a new descent begins, every pledged vow tries to seal onto that run — but a vow whose restriction your currently equipped gear already violates (an empty-slot vow with something equipped in that slot, or a cursed-only vow with a non-cursed item in it) is skipped instead of sealed. It stays pledged and tries again on your next descent, so unequip the conflicting piece first if you want it active. Once a vow does seal, its restriction holds for the rest of that run; there is no way to lift it early.
Trade Vows
Trade vows swap a restriction for real combat power: 6 vows, each pairing one restriction with a bonus that only applies while the vow stays sealed and unbroken.
| Vow | Restriction | Bonus | Spoils | Break Scar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vow of the Empty Flask No potion touches your lips again this run. |
No potions may be bought or drunk this run. | +25% Attack | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Vow of the Bare Hand Your weapon hand stays empty. Your skills carry the weight. |
Weapon slot must stay empty. | +60% Skill Damage | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Vow of the Cursed Path Wield nothing but cursed steel. |
Only Cursed gear may fill the Weapon slot, or it stays empty. | +40% Lifesteal | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Vow of Thin Blood Your blood runs thin, but every blow you land cuts deeper. |
25% less Max HP this run. | +35% Crit Damage | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Vow of Leaden Feet Your steps grow heavy, but your arm never tires of striking. |
20% less Speed this run. | +30% Attack | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Vow of the Naked Crown Your head goes bare, but your whole body grows unbreakable. |
Helmet slot must stay empty. | +25% Max HP | +5% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
Ordeals
Ordeals are the harder, reward-free counterpart: 3 restrictions with no combat bonus at all. An Ordeal never makes you stronger — it exists purely to make the descent harder, and pays you back in richer spoils instead.
| Ordeal | Restriction | Spoils | Break Scar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordeal of the Broken Blade Your blade arrives already broken. |
45% less Attack this run. | +35% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Ordeal of the Crumbling Aegis Your shield crumbles before the first blow lands. |
40% less Defense this run. | +30% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
| Ordeal of the Bleeding Hourglass Your hourglass bleeds sand faster than your feet can move. |
40% less Speed this run. | +25% rarer finds | 30% Max HP |
Breaking a Vow
Breaking a vow's restriction — drinking a forbidden potion, or equipping into a forbidden slot or rarity — forfeits its bonus and its spoils weight for the rest of the run, and stamps a lasting scar in their place: a flat 30% cut to Max HP, the same for every vow currently in the game. The scar applies immediately and lasts until your next wipe or fresh descent.
Vow of Thin Blood, Vow of Leaden Feet, Ordeal of the Broken Blade, Ordeal of the Crumbling Aegis, and Ordeal of the Bleeding Hourglass pay their cost the instant they seal rather than through anything you do mid run, so in practice they can never actually be broken; the scar exists only for consistency with the rest of the table.
Ordeals and Trade Vows Never Mix
An oath of hardship admits no crutches. Ordeal and trade vows cannot be sealed together. You choose one side or the other for a given descent: chase power with trade vows, or chase spoils with Ordeals, never both at once.
A handful of vows also conflict within their own category, because they target the same equipment slot or sacrifice the same stat:
- Vow of the Bare Hand and Vow of the Cursed Path can never be sealed together: Conflicting vows both target the weapon slot.
Spoils: How Vows Reweight Your Loot
Every sealed, unbroken vow — trade or Ordeal — adds its Spoils percentage to a single running total for the run. That total reweights every uncommon-and-above item row in the loot tables you roll against, shifting relative odds toward the rarer end without adding or removing any entry, and separately raises the odds of the rare cursed-item drop channel by the same amount. The reweight reaches every rarity from uncommon up through cursed inclusive. The two purely drop-only apex tiers above it, mythic and divine, along with their pity timers, are completely untouched by any vow — see Items for the full rarity ladder and Bosses for where those two only ever drop.
The Vows Leaderboard
The Ranks screen carries a dedicated Vows tab: an all-time leaderboard, separate from the daily difficulty boards, tracking the best floor anyone has ever cleared while at least one vow stayed sealed and unbroken for that clear. Ties are broken by how many vows were still unbroken at that floor. It is a permanent record independent of daily resets or difficulty tier, so a strong vowed clear stays on the board for good.
See Progression for everything else you spend outside of vows, and Items for the cursed relics a high Spoils total makes easier to find.