Players have many options in Hades to customize Zagreus during each run and making sure that he is well-prepared for combat going forward. Players will be able to choose between six different weapons, a large number of Keepsakes, and even a bunch of different Boons from the Gods. By picking up these different things players will earn new abilities or increase their stats considerably during that specific run.
By far one of the most important aspects of Hades is for players to choose their Boons wisely. As they travel through the underworld players will come across different Olympian Gods that wish to give Zagreus more of a fighting chance. They will let players choose between three different Boons that can boost their abilities in different ways. The issue here is that depending on the player's combat style or experience some of these Boons are much more effective than others. This guide shows players to best Boons to pick for beginners.
Hades: Understanding The Gods' Boons
There are several things that players will need to keep in mind first before deciding which Boons they want during a specific run. First and foremost, players won't be able to hunt for specific Gods or Boons during every run. Since Hades is a roguelike every run is randomly generated, which means that players will most likely see different Gods in every run. There are a few things that players can do to boost their chances of finding a certain God though.
For one, if players prefer the Boons of a God-like Zeus the best way to keep finding his Boons is to wear his Keepsake. All players have to do is give the Olympian of their choosing some Nectar and they will receive a Keepsake in turn. These Keepsakes will boost the chances of encountering that God during the next run. Players can also upgrade that Keepsake in order to receive more rare versions of these Boons.
Another great way to ensure that players receive the Boons that they want is by choosing to focus on only a few Gods at a time during a run. If players receive a boon from a God early on in a run then that God is more likely to appear later on. This means that if players come across a God that they don't like very much then they should probably ignore them or they will be seeing them more often as they play.
Players will also occasionally come across Charon's shop inside the underworld where he sells all manner of different upgrades and objects. Most of the time they will find Charon selling a Boon from one of the Gods that players can purchase. This is another good way to receive Boons if players have enough cash on them.
Now that players understand how to acquire Boons, they also need to understand what each God offers them. Here are the different types of Boons that come from the Gods:
- Zeus- These Boons are all lightning-based attacks and they will do things like allowing Zagreus' attacks to chain to other enemies or they can strike enemies with lightning when certain conditions are met.
- Poseidon- Most of these Boons have a knockback effect that can push enemies away from Zagreus while causing damage. There are also some that improve the player's chances of getting better rewards.
- Dionysus- Boons from Dionysus cause enemies to receive the Hangover status effect which causes them damage over time. There are also Boons that increase Zagreus' health.
- Hermes- Most of Hermes Boons are separate from the other Gods as they then to just increase Zagreus' mobility and attack speed. One can even give players the ability to dodge when attacked.
- Demeter- Players won't encounter Demeter until they make it to the surface for the very first time, but her Boons will grant players the ability to inflict the Chill status effect on enemies which will slow them down considerably.
- Chaos- Any received from Chaos will come at a significant cost. They will give players strong abilities but they will also cause some kind of negative status effect for a certain amount of time.
- Artemis- Most of these Boons are based around improving the chances and strength of critical hits.
- Ares- All of these Boons are centered around boosting damage considerably or by giving attacks the Doom status effect which causes damage to enemies after a short delay.
- Athena- These Boons will also increase players' damage output, but a lot of them will also allow Zagreus to deflect projectile attacks.
- Aphrodite- These Boons will allow Zagreus to inflict Weak or Charmed status effects. Weak will reduce the amount of damage that enemies can do, while Charmed will force enemies to fight for the player for a small amount of time.
Hades: Best Boons for Beginners
Here are the Boons that players should keep an eye out for when they are just getting started in Hades:
- Life Affirmation (Aphrodite)- This boon will increase the amount of health that players can acquire from health pickups in the world.
- Slicing Shot (Ares)- The castability is woefully underpowered without any Boons, but if players upgrade it with this and other effects they can do a massive amount of damage. This allows the player to cast out a circular vortex of blades every time they hit the button.
- Curse of Agony or Curse of Pain (Ares)- Both of these Boons will allow players to cause the Doom status effect with their attack or special respectively.
- Battle Rage (Ares)- After killing an enemy players will be able to cause more damage to the next enemy they attack.
- Ares' Aid (Ares)- The player's Call ability will turn them into an invulnerable blade rift that causes a huge amount of damage.
- Clean Kill (Artemis)- Critical attacks will deal increased damage against enemies. This is great if combined with other effects that increase a player's critical chance.
- Divine Strike and/or Divine Flourish (Athena)- By having these Boons players will increase the damage of both their attack and specials, and will also allow those abilities to deflect enemy attacks as well.
- Deathless Stand (Artemis)- This will make the player's impervious to damage longer when using Death Defiance. Also replenishes a charge of that ability if that player has already died.
- Drunken Strike and/or Drunken Flourish (Dionysus)- This allows the player's attack and special to cause the Hangover status effect to enemies.
- Tipsy Shot (Dionysus)- Whenever players use their cast on enemies they will actually lob a projectile that causes Festive Fog. This causes a lot of damage to enemies on impact and allows players to do increased damage to them while they are inside the fog.
- Greater Reflex (Hermes)- There is a small chance that when players are attacked they will automatically avoid all damage.
- Tidal Dash (Poseidon)- Whenever players dash it creates a ring of water around them that causes damage to enemies and pushed them back considerably.
- Razor Shoals (Poseidon)- This will cause any knockback effects to cause the Rupture effect on enemies. Rupture causes a lot of damage to enemies.
- Lightning Strike (Zeus)- All attacks will chain lightning between enemies.
Players should probably avoid all of Chaos' Boons until they get a better grasp of the game's mechanics.
Hades can be played on PC and Nintendo Switch.