Hades 2 – Best Boons From Each God

Hades 2, much like its predecessor, sees you acquiring new powers to face tougher challenges. Since this is a roguelike game, you can expect to fail multiple times before you manage a perfect run. Along the way, you need to be mindful of the abilities that you select. Here’s our guide on the best boons and skills in Hades 2. Likewise, please be reminded that this article contains spoilers.

Hades 2 boons guide: The best boons and skills from each god

There are hundreds of boons in the game, which means there are countless potential combinations, as well as the intricacies when it comes to randomness/RNG. Our Hades 2 best boons and skills guide takes these facets into consideration, especially since it’s extremely unlikely that you’d have all the abilities you need in every run that you attempt.

We also focused mostly on boons that further improve Melinoe’s cast, since the action is able to immobilize entire packs of enemies (which is great due to the mob density in many encounters). Moreover, we’ve added a few tips to help you manage your ideal build.

The biggest problem you’ll face when delving into dungeons in Hades 2 is that you’re never truly sure which godly boons are present. In relation to this, you might see a god’s rewards but the skill that you need isn’t among the choices. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Several god boons are viable, but a select few truly work wonders regardless of your chosen build or weapon.
• Due to the rarity, it’s usually not worth chasing after legendary or heroic boons. You can simply rely on basic ones that alter your attack, special, and cast, as well as extra passive boosts or omega abilities. Try to find synergies in the long run.
• The cast ability is the most important facet when it comes to combat. Due to numerous enemies that appear in encounters, you need to use Melinoe’s cast to ensnare and damage them.
• You can gift Nectar to gods. Some of them will grant a Keepsake that increases the chance of their boons appearing in dungeons.
• Some Arcana Cards can help you with your build. These include reroll dice and increased rarity.
• If you see a hand icon when exploring the Fields of Mourning (i.e. third zone in the Underworld), it means that you’ll be able to meet Echo. This NPC grants some amazing bonuses:
  • Boon Boon Boon – Grants a random boon from your previous run.
  • Reward Reward Reward – Creates a copy of the last boon that you picked up.
• For those who’ve progressed further into the campaign, there’s a late-game incantation called Insight Into Offerings:
  • This requires 2x Ambrosia, 2x Poppy, and 1x Golden Apple (dropped by Eris in the surface world).
  • Once completed, you may check the Book of Shadows for character profiles. Then, press the corresponding button to see the “offerings”–i.e. boons from each god.

Suggested boons:

• Attack: Flutter Strike – Attacks deal more damage to nearby enemies (i.e. close-up damage).
• Cast: Rapture Ring – Your cast pulls enemies toward the center while applying weak.
• Passive: Sweet Surrender – Deal more damage to enemies affected by the weak status effect.
• Passive: Healthy Rebound – Upon exiting a location, heal up 100% of your HP as long as you have enough HP within the minimum threshold (i.e. 80% HP remaining).

Aphrodite’s boons primarily apply the weak status effect (i.e. lower enemy damage), and some increase your health. Rapture Ring can practically weaken your foes, and you can swoop in for close-up damage via Flutter Strike (best paired with the Sister Blades or Moonstone Axe). Healthy Rebound, meanwhile, is an absolute lifesaver since it can fully restore your HP as long as you’re within the required threshold.

Suggested boons:

• Cast: Solar Ring – After your omega cast expires, rapidly deals multiple instances of damage in an area.
• Dash: Blinding Spirit – Increases your sprint speed and causes enemies to get dazed (i.e. chance to deal no damage).
• Passive: Lucid Gain – Gradually restore mana while standing in your cast’s area-of-effect (AoE) radius.
• Passive: Supernova – Your cast area-of-effect grows in size until the effect expires.
• Duo (with Hestia): Phoenix Skin – Give up -100 HP. If you don’t take or deal damage for three seconds, you quickly replenish HP (i.e. +3 HP per second).

Apollo’s Solar Ring might be one of the best boons in Hades 2. This is primarily due to the huge damage output that occurs after your omega cast expires. Combined with Lucid Gain, you can practically spam omega abilities without worrying about mana due to its restorative effect.

Lastly, there’s Phoenix Skin, which is amazing for HP regen. Just remember to increase Melinoe’s max HP before taking this duo boon. With it, you can run and hide in a corner for a few seconds, and then watch as your HP steadily climbs back up.

Suggested boons:

• Passive: Pressure Points – Any damage you make (i.e. low percentage) may be a critical strike.
• Passive: Death Warrant – A random foe gets marked for death. The hunter’s mark is reapplied if the target takes critical damage.

Artemis has several available boons. The problem is that, unlike most other Olympians, she’s just a random encounter–you won’t even see her sigil on any doorway that you’re about to enter. Because of this, your best bet is to use the abilities that she grants to complement the build that you’re planning. Pressure Points is amazing despite the low critical chance rate if you have fast weapons or multi-hit skills. Death Warrant, meanwhile, is great when facing bosses. You can learn more about the Goddess of the Hunt in our Artemis guide.

Suggested boon:

• Passive: Will – Restore a certain amount of magick every second.
• Passive: Favor – Boons have a 50% chance to be rare or better.
• Passive: Creation – Gain a number of elemental stones.

Similar to Artemis, Primordial Chaos’ appearance is also random. At the same time, any type of boon you select always has a corresponding, randomized negative modifier (e.g., damage dealt if you do a particular action). This lasts for a number of rooms before you actually gain the blessing’s full effect.

The Will blessing is easily the best due to constant mana regen while in combat. If you see it during your run, make sure you take it and do your best to survive the next encounters. Another option, assuming the Will blessing doesn’t pop up, is Creation. Once the detrimental modifier expires, you receive several elemental stones. These can greatly boost the effects of any Infusion boon that you’ve acquired. Lastly, there’s Favor, which is stupendous if you can get it early–it just means seeing blessings of a higher rarity for the rest of your run. In any case, you can learn more in our Primordial Chaos guide.

Suggested boons:

• Attack: Ice Strike or Special: Ice Flourish – Your attack/special deals more damage and inflicts freeze on enemies.
• Cast: Arctic Ring – Your casts repeatedly deal damage in an area while inflicting freeze on enemies.
• Passive: Cold Storage – Your freeze effects last longer.
• Legendary: Winter Harvest – Frozen enemies shatter at 10% HP, dealing damage in an area.
• Duo (with Poseidon): Natural Selection – Location rewards exclude HP, magick, and gold; boons are more likely to be rare or better.
• Duo (with Hephaestus): Room Temperature – Your blast effects from Hephaestus clear freeze, allowing you to freeze foes again right away.

If you’ve played the original game, seeing Demeter this time around might wow you. Simply put, Demeter has some of the best boons in Hades 2.

This is due to the aforementioned issue with mob density in many chambers. Since Demeter’s abilities can freeze your foes, you can easily take them out without a care in the world.

Suggested boons:

• Attack: Volcanic Strike and/or Special: Volcanic Flourish – Your attacks/specials occasionally create a blast that deals damage in an area.
• Passive: Molten Touch – Your attacks and specials deal bonus damage to armor.
• Passive: Uncanny Fortitude – Gain bonus HP based on your maximum magick.
• Passive: Furnace Blast – Your blast effects apply vent (i.e. affected foes take burst damage after five seconds, and the timer resets if reapplied).
• Duo (with Demeter): Room Temperature – Your blast effects from Hephaestus clear freeze, allowing you to freeze foes again right away.
• Duo (with Hestia): Chain Reaction – If you use blast effects from Hephaestus just after they recharge, they fire two times.
• Duo (with Aphrodite): Soft Caress – The first instance of damage you take during an encounter heals you for the full amount instead.

Hephaestus is yet another Olympian who has some of the best boons in Hades 2. This is primarily due to the blast mechanic, which deals a tremendous amount of damage once it’s off-cooldown. For instance, you could attack an enemy, and the blast will deal +200 damage. After 12 seconds or so, this would be reset, and the attack you do at that time will trigger blast once more. Subsequent upgrades via the Pom of Power decrease this cooldown, too.

Suggested boons:

• Passive: Nitro Boost – Gain +20% sprint speed and a barrier that ignores the first instance of damage for each encounter.
• Passive: Hard Target – Decreases the speed of enemy projectiles.
• Passive: Mean Streak – Each time you slay a foe, gain +1% increased damage (up to 30%) for 30 seconds.

The skills you gain from Hermes won’t necessarily carry the day. Rather, they’re meant to complement the build you have in mind. Likewise, they can help you with speed and avoidance.

Suggested boons:

• Attack: Sworn Strike or Special: Sworn Flourish – Your attacks/specials deal more damage and apply hitch (i.e. afflicted foes take 30% of the damage you deal to other afflicted foes).
• Cast: Engagement Ring – Your casts last 200% longer and deal damage to every opponent that spawns during the encounter.
• Dash: Nexus Sprint – Your sprint inflicts hitch on nearby foes, and then spreads to other nearby hostiles.
• Passive: Bridal Glow – All boons become heroic, but they lose rarity every five encounters.
• Passive: Hereditary Bane – Hitch effects last +5 seconds longer and they deal more damage.
• Passive: Dying Wish – Whenever hitch-affected foes are slain, you deal damage to other hitch-affected opponents.
• Legendary: Brave Face – Automatically use magick to resist up to 50% of any damage.
• Duo (with Zeus): Queen’s Ransom – Give up all your boons from Zeus; increase the level of all Hera boons for each Zeus boon that you sacrifice.

In our playthrough, Hera was the last Olympian that we encountered (i.e. once we went to the surface world). Her boons also have the nifty hitch effect (i.e. chain damage), which means you can continuously take out hostiles that are suffering from this affliction.

There are also a couple of things that are worth noting. The first is you should only pick Brave Face if you have a boon that continuously restores mana (i.e. Apollo, Poseidon, or Chaos). The second is that Zeus’ abilities are quite disappointing–you’re better off sacrificing his boons to bolster Hera’s further (i.e. Queen’s Ransom).

Suggested boons:

• Cast: Smolder Ring – Your cast rapidly inflicts scorch on enemies (i.e. fire damage per second).
• Dash: Soot Sprint – Your sprint destroys most ranged projectiles, while inflicting scorch on the opponents that shot you.
• Passive: Glowing Coal – Hold cast to aim a fiery projectile that explodes on impact; the binding circle forms there.
• Passive: Flammable Coating – Scorch effects deal more damage to armor.
• Passive: Fire Extinguisher – Foes with at least 300 scorch take a burst of damage that consumes the effect.
• Passive: Natural Gas – Scorch-afflicted enemies that are killed also damage nearby foes.
• Legendary: Pyro Technique – Scorch effects deal damage faster.
• Duo (with Apollo): Phoenix Skin – Give up -100 HP. If you don’t take or deal damage for three seconds, you quickly replenish HP (i.e. +3 HP per second).
• Duo (with Hephaestus): Chain Reaction – If you use blast effects from Hephaestus just after they recharge, they fire two times.

Now, we’ve got Hestia here, who has some of the best skills in Hades 2. The abilities that she grants all emphasize the use of the scorch damage-over-time mechanic. As such, the idea is to upgrade these to see faster ticks and ramp-up. As noted earlier, you should have high HP on Melinoe before taking the Phoenix Skin duo boon. This grants a reliable means of continuous HP regen.

Suggested boons:

• Passive: Fluid Gain – After striking foes with your weapon, a spirit bubble may appear. It restores a small amount of magick.
• Duo (with Demeter): Natural Selection – Location rewards exclude HP, magick, and gold; boons are more likely to be rare or better.

The sad part about Poseidon is that his buffs don’t really translate well into combat situations. If it’s more preferable to have enemies clustered together so you can blast them, then the knockback effects from his skills don’t offer any help.

However, Poseidon does have Fluid Gain, which is easily one of the most amazing passive skills. There’s a pretty decent chance that weapon hits spawn bubbles that allow you to regain mana in the middle of encounters.

Suggested boons:

• Moon Water – Restore +25 HP up to three times; reset whenever you use fountains.
• Night Bloom – Raises one random slain foe in the current encounter; this zombified ally will fight for you for 12 seconds.

The abilities granted by Selene are more akin to “Calls” from the first game. Think of them as “ultimate abilities” in a way, and you need to spend mana before they can be activated in each encounter. Moreover, picking up Selene boons during your run is mostly to select additional upgrade nodes for that ability. You can learn about these mechanics in our Selene/Path of Stars guide.

Suggested boons:

• Magick Prime: Static Shock – Prime 50 magick when you enter a location. This causes all your strikes to emit chain lightning.
• Duo (with Hera): Queen’s Ransom – Give up all your boons from Zeus; increase the level of all Hera boons for each Zeus boon that you sacrifice.

When you have a section for an Olympian god where it’s suggested that you have to get rid of his abilities to buff someone else’s, then you know there’s trouble. That’s essentially the problem with Zeus–the blitz trigger isn’t as helpful as other status effects (i.e. scorch, blast, or freeze). At best, you can get Static Shock (for runs where you’re not too reliant on omega abilities/magick), just so every hit can cause chain lightning.

The big bad of the first game, and Melinoe’s and Zagreus’ daddy, offers a bit of help. However, you only meet him at the end of your run in the Underworld. When you reach Tartarus (i.e. zone 4), there’s a door with the hand/speech bubble icon where you’ll find him and Cerberus lounging around.

Because you’re just a few encounters away from facing Chronos, some of Hades’ boons are meant to weaken the final boss or at least keep you well-prepared for the battle. Here are a couple of notable examples:

• Deep Dissent – Chronos summons fewer reinforcements.
• Life Tax – Restore HP equivalent to 1% of the damage you deal (multiple instances), until you reach the 100 HP limit.
• Unseen Ire – After you take damage, vanish for 10 seconds; strike to reappear and deal +100% bonus damage. This proc’s cooldown is refreshed after 40 seconds.

That does it for our comprehensive guide on the best boons in Hades 2. Bear in mind that these suggestions are just based on our playthrough. Perhaps you can discover other synergies or methods that are more in line with your preferred playstyle.

Hades 2 stars Melinoe, the Princess of the Underworld. This roguelike game promises challenging encounters as you keep retrying until you can have the perfect run. If you want more tips and tactics, you can head over to our guides hub.