How to unlock the Demonic Exchange trait in Halls of Torment

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Completing the various quests offered in Halls of Torment sometimes requires you to think outside the box. That’s especially true of quests you must clear to unlock some of the more interesting equipment and traits in the game. Here is our guide telling you how to unlock the Demonic Exchange trait in Halls of Torment.

Halls of Torment – how to unlock the Demonic Exchange trait

The Demonic Exchange trait allows you to improve the power of your summons. Appropriately, you can’t access it until you unlock the warlock character by killing the Wyrm Queen in Ember Grounds. In order to unlock the Demonic Exchange trait, clear the quest of that name.

Demonic Exchange is one of 15 quests listed under the Demonic Pact heading when you check your available Quests in the level hub. To clear it, you must survive five minutes or more with a maximum health of 250 or less.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

The way the quest is worded, you might suppose you simply need to take enough damage to bring your HP meter down to 250 or less, and then keep it there without grabbing healing items or allowing your health to regenerate. However, I tried that and it didn’t work. You need to drop your character’s maximum health to 250 or less. That is, the life meter itself must reflect a maximum total of 250 or less.

If you play in the Haunted Caverns stage, producing this situation is not especially difficult. Before you start a run, make sure to refund any Health Capacity blessings you may have purchased. That way, your warlock starts with only 350 HP. You then only need to reduce the HP total by 100 HP. Your next step is to kill enemies and select a particular trait when it appears. The Dedication I (Bloodletting) trait reduces your HP by 10%. You should double its impact using a Reverbant Tinkture. Do so twice in a single run to bring your total to 209 HP or so.

In my experience, you typically must survive in the level for most of around 10 minutes before the trait shows up enough times. Then you have to survive another five minutes after that. However, you are allowed to select traits that regenerate HP and improve your defense. I recommend taking advantage of that option if you find you’re having trouble.

Halls of Torment is available to purchase on Steam.