Altars
Shrines are small, interactive objects found throughout the map that reward the player with various bonuses or loot in exchange for an offering, most commonly coins.
Contents
Appearance and behavior
Shrines only spawn in normal rooms, excluding the spawn room on each level. One variant of Huginn's shop has a secret shrine. Most rooms spawn with a shrine of some kind, but their appearance is not guaranteed.
Often times shrines can be difficult to spot; they tend to blend into their surroundings, both in color and in geometry. Scanning the peripheral walls of the room is a good start.
Once exhausted (which may take multiple inputs), shrines cannot be used again, and will usually glow with a pale fire or a halo to indicate they've been used.
Only one shrine of each type will spawn in a given room, but rooms can spawn with multiple types of shrines.
Shrines, especially secondary rarer shrines, can be located in hard to access places, usually high up on balconies or ledges. While some of these shrines can be reached via creatively jumping from rails, banisters, mushrooms, etc. having a mobility buff like flying, triple jump, super jump, rocket jump, grenade jump, low gravity level modifier or super speed can help. Some shrines may be impossible to reach with the player's current equipment and stats.
Shrines typically behave the same way given their type, but the player's Luck stat can induce other, better outcomes, even from basic shrines.
Normal shrines
These shrines follow the typical spawning rules for shrines as described above.
Blessing Shrines
These are the most common shrines, and take the form of statues with small offering bowls. They are easily accessible and usually appear along the peripheral walls of the room. They will accept a single coin in exchange for a +1 boost to the character's stat, dependent on the statue.
Angel and devil shrines
These shrines take the form of large statues with urns, and will accept a random number between 1 and 5 of coins or keys in exchange for a random result. The random results include:
- a stat increment consumable, eg. Luck Up
- a random equippable item
- an ultimate ability book
- a secondary ability scroll
- a random weapon
- a Skeleton Key.
Shell game
Three locked (cursed) chests appear in a row. Two contain a Fly and the remaining one holds loot from the same tables as a normal chest, and the library.
Slotted Chests (slot machine)
These take the form of small, square chests, with a slot into the front into which a coin is inserted. Upon inserting a coin a random outcome will occur:
- Nothing. Represented by a puff of smoke.
- An enemy spawns. Can be one of:
- A consumable spawns. Can be one of:
In addition to a previous effect, the machine can jam. The coin will remain in the slot and no further input will be accepted.
Damocles' Sword
This shrine resembles a small pillar with either a Bag of Coins or a Key with a floating, fiery sword above. Activating it deals 25 damage to the player, in exchange for whatever is resting on the pillar. Can also rarely contain a max health increase upgrade. The damage can be reduced or avoided with abilities and items like Block and Valkyrie's Veil, which will negate the damage completely, or Skjaldmeyjar's Plate which will reduce the damage to 15.
Special Shrines
These shrines are unique and only appear in certain specific parts of the game.
The Dish
Located in Helheim 2. After depositing 100, Giant Slayer Boots will appear. All subsequent runs will spawn the boots.