Hades 2 – Gameplay Tips & Useful Info

Useful Tips for New Players

How to Beat Chronos Boss

The first phase is all about timing and spacing, funnily enough. Everything he throws at you can be dashed through, if you’re watching closely enough. The only time you should be wildly spamming and putting out as much damage as you possibly can is when there are adds around that can disrupt you watching and responding to Chronos’s cues.

Go for damage when it’s safe to, which is usually right after he dashes/swings at you with his scythe. He’ll do it one time when he’s above 50% HP, and then a combo of three successive dashes/swings when he’s below. All of these can be dashed through. The little echo they do afterward that’s like a rip in the fabric of space, is deceptively larger than it appears, so mind your spacing.

If you have the ability to put your cast somewhere else, like with Zeus, Hestia, or Hades’ boons, slap him with it as often as you can. Take advantage of whatever ranged attacks that you have when he’s melee-unsafe to shorten the fight.

Note: I find putting Hephaestus on my magic regen helps a lot and then using the omega special on Zorephet with him, Demeter or Aphro if you can get an epic or better on her. Add in Dad’s sudden burst of damage or the boon that makes only half as many mooks spawn so you aren’t getting bombarded quite as hard. Luckier Tooth as your keepsake for insurance and if you have upgraded Eternity then Echo’s revive boon is invaluable. If you can get the healing hex from Selene and boost it so that you stock uses even when they aren’t expended then you’re golden.

How to Beat Mermaids

Dodging’s key here, but you gotta be smart about it, use that line of sight. When I’m in the thick of it, I usually target the drummer first ’cause she’s dropping all those nasty AoEs across the map. The key-tar player? Not too bad, honestly. She charges, and if she smacks into a wall, she’ll hurt herself. If not, leading her into environmental hazards does the trick when they’re active. Now, Scylla’s the real pain. She’s shotgun-blasting in front and blocking shots from behind.

Having different boons helps a ton. Zeus throws down lightning on everyone if your mana’s low, which is a lifesaver without mana regen. If you’re packing good mana regen, Zeus, Hestia, and Demeter all dish out serious damage.

Apollo’s got a range boost for your attacks, and Poseidon hooks you up with a damaging sprint.

Loads of strategies to win here. My tip? Just keep playing, stack those upgrades, and get those attack patterns down cold. You got this!

How to Beat Infernal Cerberus Boss

Literally just learn the pattern and don’t get greedy. The slam has a massive AOE so when you see the paw go up dash backwards/away from the paw being slammed so your opposite. Alternatively use ranged stuff. Get behind him when he does the vacuum so you can hit him for free when he spews fire. Run the hell away when everything starts glowing.

How to Beat Eris

• Hestia Sprint can block almost all her attacks, just keep sprinting and gets some hits in when safe.
• Stand behind pillars and use attacks that go through solid walls, the only attack she has that breaks them.is the snipe so just manually dodge that.
• Slow Time Hex with high spend weapon really messes her up since shes not immune to time slow. Getting like 7 seconds of free dmg will pretty much phase her.
• Cast builds can ve quite safe since hit around pillars and you just drop it and focus on dodging.

How to Get the Cat as a Pet / Familiar

You showed some love to the underworld cat a couple of times, scored a recipe for treats, and later ran into the same kitty on the surface. Now, she’s on your team. She’s got your back with a bit of health recovery, she can fetch a fish, and if you hustle over her, she’ll lay the smackdown on enemies for 90 damage. But let’s not get too excited, most of the time, she’s just snoozing in a corner, especially on the Fields stage. Cats, right? And her health boost? It’s just a measly 10 HP.

Note: The cat’s not exactly top-tier. It wanders off, takes a nap, and only wakes up when you dash through it to smack an enemy for 99 damage before going back to sleep. It’s got this weak death defiance thing too, just tossing you 15 HP. Oh, and it’ll fish for you once. But let’s be real, compared to the frog (Frinos)? The frog’s way better!

How to Deal with Screamers

Try a different tactic. This isn’t the original game where you can just abuse dodge and facetank hordes of enemies. the combat requires a little more finesse.

In this game, ensnaring enemies with your cast and punishing them with Omega attacks to break armour is the current meta.

Once you adapt, you’ll have tons of fun melting mobs. Those screamers are easy, there’s tons of other enemies later on that are way, way more annoying.

Tips on Goldwrath

He is pretty tanky. If you don’t end up with decent DPS he can be tedious.

I don’t think it is too difficult to avoid his damage, just continue dashing behind him when he does ranged projectile, and keep distance when he is spitting coins. He is pretty easy if you have cast with a decent damage output as you can just keep it underhim while you avoid his attacks.

You have to slow down its turning speed, then the lasers are dodgeable. Basic cast should be enough, add Demeter (any boon that freezes) for a bit of cheese.

How to Get Weapon Upgrades

This option will be unlock at the dialogue, and get a recipe on the calderon, speak and improve relation with hecate to unlock this. You get it from an incantation which Hecate will teach you after talking to her enough. I got mine on I think night 18? It was roughly ten hours from my latest playtime. Upgrades are all tied to resource gathering primarily gained from succeeding at oaths of night challenges.

How to Unlock Legendary Boons

There is an incantation that will enable offering lists in Book of Shadow, similar to Hades 1, and you can see requirements for legendary/duo boons. That will make getting legendary/duo boons a lot easier.

You need a combination of boons, there is a list that shows the combos that you can unlock.

For example to get king tide from poseidon (splash effects are larger and apply bonus damage to guardians).

You need:

1. Wave strike or wave flourish
2. Slippery slope
3. Crashing wave

Some of the duos have 3 requirements mixed between multiple gods/goddesses, some are only 2.

All Legendary Boons (expect) Hermes require 3 different boons from that god (and from very specific groups, can’t just be 3 random boons).

Thankfully you unlock a codex upgrade later on that gives you all that info on requirements.

What are the requirements for that codex

You need 2 Ambrosia, 2 Poppy and 1 Golden Apple. All 3 are pretty late game items. Poppy seeds are from Tartarus, Ambrosia from a specific main hub area upgrade (the tavern) and Golden Apple from last boss on the Surface.

How to Pause a Game

Tip/cheat for people who want to pause the game during that fight:

• You can just [Alt]+[Tab] the game while at full screen to pause it.
• When the game releases on consoles, going to the home menu of the console will also work.

More Helpful Tips

• That’s solid advice. Sometimes those boons you initially hate can turn out to be real game-changers, especially when paired up with the right upgrades or weapons.
• Frinos is clutch, no doubt. Psyche matters a lot in this game, and having more cards can really amp up your power against those titans.
• Sprinting is a lifesaver, especially with the cooldown on dashes now. Being able to outrun attacks or just create some space to strategize can be the key to survival.
• True, experimenting is where it’s at. Sometimes you gotta ditch the guides and figure out your own playstyle. You might stumble upon some killer combos you never knew existed.
• Forget-Me-Not is a godsend for us forgetful types. Keeps us on track with recipes and saves us a ton of time wandering around aimlessly.
• Nemesis can be a pain, but losing a few coins beats losing the whole run any day. Gotta play it smart.
• Can’t sleep on those hexes. They’re powerful on their own, but upgrading them with more Selene boons? That’s just next level.
• Frinos pulling double duty as a shield against projectiles? That’s some next-level teamwork right there. Especially handy against those pesky sheep hexes from Hecate.

Fields Nemesis Event – Bough Grab

Nemesis events pause the In-Game Timer, if you so happen to get one in a combat encounter in Fields of the Dead you can activate the Bough at zero timeloss!

Dodging Nessie Projectile

Nessie (Oceanus Midboss) has a projectile attack that is chaos to keep track of. However, if you look at the pattern it generates, the spot where the projectile explodes will always be safe to stand, after it explodes.

What I usually do is keep an eye on it, and stay fairly close, then as soon as it explodes dash on top of it and stand there until the projectiles go away.

If you’re using staff special you can just spam while you’re sitting there waiting for them to clear – you’ll be in range of Nessie while also being safe.

Hecate Engagement Ring Clone Tech

If you have the Engagement Ring cast boon from Hera, when Hecate spawns her clones for her Triple Divide attack, the clones are attacked by the cast, but not the real Hecate. Thus you can attack the one the cast doesn’t attack for a guaranteed indicator to damage the real Hecate.

Still Image for what to look for:

Consistent Visual Cue for Hecate Clones

The real Hecate has a thicker smoke cloud and larger magic circle beneath her at the moment that she teleports (rightmost Hecate in this image).

Also, there seems to be a visual bug where one or both of the flames at the end of Hecate’s torches will be missing, though they will never be missing on the clones.

List of In-Game Resources

27 Tool Resources:

(Shovel / pick / generic / boss)

• Erebus: Nightshade/Silver/Moly/Cinder
• Oceanus: Cattail/Limestone/Lotus/Pearl
• Fields: Wheat/Glassrock/Myrtle/Tears
• Tartarus: Poppy/Marble/Shaderot/Zodiac Sands
• Ephyra: Garlic/Bronze/Moss/Wool
• Rifts of Thessaly: Mandrake/Iron/Driftwood/Golden Apple
• Chaos: Thalamus/Plasma/Darkness

6 General Progression Resources:

• Bones

Obtained from doing runs.

• Ashes/Psyche

Obtained from doing runs, or buying from the broker/item delivery system. Psyche is obtained with the tablet too.

• Star Dust

Obtained from chaos trials and the broker

• Moon Dust

Obtained from incantations, the broker, the delivery system, and tartarus shop

• Nightmare

Obtained from testaments (the fear system), the broker, and tartarus shop

5 Gifts:

• Nectar, Bath Salts, Twin Lures, Ambrosia, Witch’s Delights

Obtained from incantations and/or the broker.

Fish:

Technically a tool resource. You count how many there are if you want to they’re all doing the same thing (being sold)

Obol Points (Loyalty Card):

Obtained from spending obol at shops/wells, used to buy items from the delivery system and to upgrade charon axe.

List of Unpommables

Here’s a quick reference list of boons from each god that cannot be pommed:

General

• All Duos
• All Legendaries
• All Infusions
• Everything from Chaos, Hermes, Artemis, and Hades

Aphrodite

• Life Affirmation
• Secret Crush

Demeter

• Rare Crop

Hephaestus

• Heavy Metal
• Uncanny Fortitude

Hera

• Family Trade
• Bridal Glow

Hestia

• Hearth Gain
• Burnt Offering

Poseidon

• Sunken Treasure
• Ocean’s Bounty
• Flood Control

Zeus

• Ionic Gain

Well of Charon Information

The standard weight (SW) of each option is 1. Some boons are weighted at a percentage of the SW and their weights have been mentioned.

Out of the three options, one and only one option will be a health-related option. This includes:

• a. Price of Midas [Damage self by X to gain money] (20% of SW)
• b. Life Essence [Heal by X amount] (200% of SW)
• c. Centaur Soul [Gain +25 max health without increasing current health] (20% of SW)
• d. Hydralite [Restore X health whenever you enter a room] (SW)
• Preserved Hope [Restore X health after Y duration] (SW)
• f. Kiss of Styx [Restore a DD] (200% of SW)

The other well items are all weighted at SW. This includes:

1) Trait items:

• a. Chimera Jerky (+40% Spl. Dmg)
• b. Braid of Atlas (+35% Cast Dmg)
• c. Ignited Ichor (+20% Sprint Spd.)
• d. Yarn of Ariadne (Boon rarity increase)
• e. Witch’s Mark (+50% Omega Dmg)
• f. Python Scales (-10% Dmg taken)
• g. Expiring Deal (Charon’s goods cost -30%)
• h. Spark of Ixion (Spawns a Chaos Gate whenever next possible)
• i. Archaic Seal (Next well shop item with a duration will expire after the next 2 Guardians

2) Consumables:

• a. Exhumed Remains (Gain Bones)
• b. Dust Parcel (Gain Ash)
• c. Faint Flicker (Gain Psyche)
• d. Gaia’s Gift (Gain a Mystery Seed)
• e. Fateful Twist (Gain a random Well item)

Trait items and consumables are rolled in the same pool.

Charon’s Shop Information

The standard weight (SW) of each option is 1. Some boons are weighted at a percentage of the SW and their weights have been mentioned.

Charon’s Shop (Mid / Endshop)

The first option will be chosen from the following pool:

• a. God’s boon (500% of SW)
• b. Random boon bag (SW)
• c. Hermes’ boon, if applicable (SW)

The second shop option will be chosen from the following pool:

• a. Hammer, if applicable (250% of SW)
• b. Food (250% of SW)
• c. Centaur Heart (150% of SW)
• d. Armor (SW)
• e. Ash (SW)
• f. Psyche (75% of SW)
• g. Bones (50% of SW)
• h. Nectar (25% of SW)

The third shop option will be chosen from the following pool (equal weights):

• a. Magick Increase
• b. Pom
• c. Random Pom
• d. Selene, if next room doesn’t have her

Charon’s Shop (Tartarus)

The first option will be chosen from the following pool (equal weights):

• a. Big Pom
• b. Big Boon (450 cost)

The second shop option will be chosen from the following pool:

• a. God’s boon (300% of SW)
• b. Random boon bag (SW)
• c. Centaur Heart (30% of SW)
• d. Magick Increase (30% of SW)
• e. Pom (30% of SW)
• f. Selene, only if you have her Hex this run (30% of SW)

The third shop option will be chosen from the following pool:

• a. Big food drop (SW)
• b. Big armor drop (75% of SW)
• c. Death defiance (50% of SW)

The fourth shop option will be chosen from the following pool (equal weights):

• a. Hermes (500 cost)
• b. Anvil
• c. Big Boon (450 cost)
• d. 2x Centaur Heart
• e. 2x Magick Increase

The fifth shop option will be chosen from the following pool:

• a. Nightmare
• b. Charon’s Card
• c. Moondust

Builds

Barebones Eos Build

How to Play: Hold omega attack on things, dash in the same direction you’re attacking to pull spirits into enemies. you can cast while omega attacking, btw.

• Good Gains: Hera, poseidon, kinda hephaestus (these ones actually work).
• Bad Gains: Any magick per second (attack is channeling – these dont work).

Good Attacks: Really anything with a decent %. demeter exception because weed killer (need magick cost reduction from chaos OR good born gain, else you will lose all your magick immediately).

• Good Hammers: +damage -speed on omega, +damage +speed on omega, -cost on omega, splitting shots (acquired taste).
• Bad Hammers: +a lot of damage single shot omega (very weird), anything that affects special except the armor damage one.

Medea Build

Aphrodite atk, zeus spec., hammers – bolstered array (prio), looming ignition (2nd best), sudden driver (if can’t get both), hera gain not a must but good to have

Gameplay: Charge 2 skulls per special, use dash to close gap and then use special, special doesn’t have to be omega but if you feel like you’re gonna take damage charge it all to omega, 2 skulls trigger blitz so it’s best to use 2 per special to maximize dps.

Momus Antler Builds

DD and Non DD version. Can run the same Arcana setups if you have Centaur, Antler just wont work as good unless you run Vow of Scars to keep your health low.

I hope you found this helpful!