Bones are the currency everything else is priced in
Bones read like junk. They are the purple pile you get for clearing a room, and the game does not explain why you would want them.
Here is why: the Wretched Broker sells you nearly every other material in exchange for them.
| Item | Amount | Cost in Bones |
|---|---|---|
| Ash | 1 | 15 |
| Psyche | 5 | 30 |
| Nectar | 1 | 30 |
| Bath Salts | 1 | 50 |
| Fate Fabric | 1 | 60 |
| Moon Dust | 1 | 80 |
| Ambrosia | 1 | 500 |
| Stardust | 1 | 800 |
That table is the answer to “where do I get Moon Dust” and “how do I get more Nectar”. You do not farm those directly — you farm Bones and buy them.
Bones also pay for the Cauldron incantations themselves: Summoning of Mercantile Fortune (10), which brings the Broker to the Crossroads, then Kinship Fortune (60) to expand his stock, and Earthly Fortune (100).
Getting the Broker
Cast Summoning of Mercantile Fortune at the Cauldron for 10 Bones. He appears as a large Shade near the docks.
Then spend 60 more on Kinship Fortune, which is what unlocks the rarer goods — including the additional Nectar you need for keepsakes.
The stack, not the single source
Room rewards give 50-100 Bones each and they are random, so you cannot control the base rate. Everything below is a multiplier on top of it.
1. Take the Bones doors. The Bones sigil is a pile of purple bones beside the door. It appears early and often, especially in Erebus.
2. Use the weapon with Grave Thirst. This is the one most players miss, and it is the difference between a trickle and a stream.
- Unlock the Crescent Pick tool for 1 Ash.
- Harvest Limestone in Oceanus, the second region.
- Cast Gathering of Ancient Bones at the Cauldron for 2 Limestone.
- From then on, one random weapon each night gains Grave Thirst and pays you Bones passively for every location you clear.
Sources put the value at +2 or +3 Bones per location. You can spot the weapon instantly: it is wrapped in a black and red haze.
You do not choose which weapon gets it. The incantation picks randomly every night, so if you want the Bones you take the burning weapon even if it is not the one you wanted to play.
3. Equip Poseidon’s keepsake, Vivid Sea. It raises the odds of Poseidon appearing, and upgrading it lets you increase a Boon’s rarity once per night. Then take:
- Ocean’s Bounty — resources gathered are worth more.
- Double Up — a chance to double any reward you find. 25% at Rare, 30% at Epic.
- Sea Star is also worth picking up on the same logic.
4. Run Arcana XVI, The Fates. It gives you +1, +2 or +3 chances to alter Location Rewards. The trick: use those rerolls on Minor Finds doors — Ashes, Psyche, Gold Crowns — to try to convert them into Bones doors rather than accepting them.
5. Bring Toula. She fishes for you, which removes the risk of losing a fish when the minigame procs. Fish sell to the Broker.
The one-offs and the side doors
| Source | Bones |
|---|---|
| Fated List of Minor Prophecies | 120-3,000 (typically ~400) |
| Eris’s “Blessing of Strife”, at the Tartarus entrance up to night 8 | 300 |
| Odysseus, one-time gift | 80 |
| Well of Charon, Exhumed Remains | The wiki lists the exchange as 20-40 for 40-80 |
| Charon’s shop, when it stocks them | The wiki lists the exchange as 50 for 90 |
| Poseidon’s Buried Treasure boon | 50 |
| A Chaos Trial you have passed before | 50 |
| Narcissus in Oceanus, Ancestral Offering | 50 |
The Fated List is the single biggest source in the game, and it is the one people skip because it feels like a checklist. A prophecy that pays 400 Bones is worth more than half a run of Bones doors, and the top end pays 3,000.
Check the Fated List before you head out and plan the run around whichever prophecy is closest to done.
If there is no Bones door
Take the Gold door instead and go looking for Charon’s shop. He often sells Bones, and the Gold you picked up funds it.
What to sell
The Wretched Broker’s Pawn Shop tab turns your clutter into Bones:
- Deathcaps, Nightshades and Cattails — most incantations need a few, and after that they only take up space.
- Fish — if you are not saving them.
- Surplus materials — Ashes, Psyche, Fate Fabric and anything else above what your next incantation needs.
The rule of thumb: anything an incantation you have already cast needed is now inventory clutter, and clutter is Bones.
A farming loop that works
- Check the Fated List first, and pick a target you can finish this run.
- Look at which weapon has Grave Thirst, and take it.
- Equip Vivid Sea and take Ocean’s Bounty and Double Up when they appear.
- Walk the Bones doors, and use The Fates to reroll Minor Finds doors into them.
- Stop at Wells of Charon along the route.
- Sell the clutter to the Broker when you get back, then spend on whatever your next upgrade actually needs.
The short version
Bones are not the reward — they are the currency. Take the burning weapon, walk the purple doors, reroll the junk doors, and cash the whole pile in at the Broker for the material you actually wanted.