The world of Hades forces players to face off against many different kinds of deadly foes. Luckily for players of the game, there are several to prepare for these fights. There are six different weapons that grant players different combat moves. Players can also obtain boons from Gods in Hades that allow them to use different abilities against their enemies. Those who gift Nectar to Gods and other NPCs will also be given Keepsakes that will help them in different ways.
One of the strongest abilities that players can obtain in Hades are the Companions. These are essentially legendary Keepsakes that can only be acquired by giving an NPC several bottles of Nectar and then completing a specific task for them. Having access to these Companions is a great way to deal massive amounts of damage to enemies or even grant players other specific skills. Companions in Hades are not easy to earn, though, and will take players a considerable amount of time to acquire.
Companions take the place of a player's Keepsake for a run and can only be changed out at the display case. Each of these items will allow Hades players to summon the character that gave the item to the player. That character will then help the player out in some way. Players should keep in mind that Companions can only be used once per encounter, have limited uses per run, and some can't be used in specific areas.
Hades: How to Unlock Companions
For example, most of these Companions cannot be used against Hades as he is technically the boss of almost all of these characters. Additionally though, if players want to be able to use their companion more often every run they just need to level up the companion with Ambrosia. Every level will allow them to use the Companion an additional time up to five. Here are each of the Companions and what players need to do to get them:
Battie (Megaera)- The first thing that players will need to do is gift Meg five bottles of Nectar. Once players have done this they will not be able to gift her anything more until they complete her favor. Luckily, they don't have to do much other than continue playing the game until Meg randomly shows up in Zagreus' room. After this encounter players can gift Meg a bottle of Ambrosia and she will reward them with Battie.
By activating Battie, Meg will appear before Zagreus and deal damage to enemies in front of him. She will basically drop a small area of attack circles similar to in the boss encounter against her, and each one does 2500 damage. The downside to this companion is that it cannot be used against any of the Furies or against Hades.
Antos (Achilles)- Once players gift Achilles six bottles Nectar he will disappear for a short amount of time. The player will then need to track down Achilles' former lover Patroclus in Elysium and speak to him. Patroclus will tell the player to pass a message on to Achilles, which prompts the warrior to request a change to his pact with Hades. Players will then need to pay 7 diamonds to the contractor in order to alter the pact and allow Achilles to travel to Patroclus. After that players can gift him Ambrosia and earn Antos.
Once players use Antos it will summon Achilles and Patroclus to help the Zagreus. They will attack two random foes and deal 1500 damage apiece. The only restriction on this Companion is that it cannot be used against Hades.
Fidi (Dusa)- Players will need to give Dusa six bottles of Nectar before completing her favor. This favor will involve renovating the Lounge, which she has fallen far behind on. Players will need to complete twelve renovations to the Lounge. One of these must be a new rug, while another is cleaning up the scratches and fur left by Cerberus. Once this has been completed players can gift Dusa some Ambrosia and obtain Fidi.
By activating Fidi, players will be able to summon Dusa to their aid in combat. Dusa will fire paralyzing shots at enemies for 15 seconds that also deal 70 damage apiece. This Companion can not be used to fight against Hades.
Shady (Sisyphus)- This one can be fairly difficult as it takes a while to meet Sisyphus enough times to gift him Nectar, but nevertheless players will need to give him five bottles in total. Once done Sisyphus will ask Zagreus to find a way to lessen his sentence in Tartarus. Players then just have to purchases the Knave King's Sentence item from the contractor for seven diamonds, which will complete the favor. Players can then give Sisyphus some Ambrosia in order to earn Shady.
By activating Shady, Sisyphus and his giant boulder will drop in from the sky. Sisyphus will slam the boulder into the ground, which deals 1000 damage in a wide arc. He will also drop a care package of items for the player that includes Obols, Darkness, and Health. There are no restrictions on where Shady can be used, so players can attack Hades with it if they wish.
Rib (Skelly)- Players will need to gift Skelly five bottles of Nectar in order to receive his favor. There are also requirements though. Players will also need to have three separate weapon aspects unlocked. This means that players will need to collect some Titan Blood and unlock new aspects, but after that Skelly will request that you kill him using the level-5 Zagreus Aspect Stygian Blade. Players will have to collect five more Titan Blood to level the weapon up all the way and then kill Skelly to free him from his contract. Players can then gift the skeleton some Ambrosia to acquire Rib.
If players use Rib it will summon Skelly to aid them in battle. Skelly becomes a decoy that attracts enemy attention and fire, which allows players to attack unhindered. Skelly will remain summoned until he is killed or players exit the room. The only restriction for Rib is that it can't be used while fighting against Charon (which is a secret boss fight anyway).
Mort (Thanatos)- The final Companion can be claimed by first gifting six bottles of Nectar to the God of Death Thanatos. This will trigger his favor despite it not explicitly being mentioned to the player. They then just need to wait until they find Thanatos out in the Underworld again and defeat more enemies than he can. This will trigger a short conversation between the two about Zagreus' strength, which will then enable the player to gift Thanatos some Ambrosia and obtain Mort.
By using Mort, Thanatos will appear on the battlefield and use the same AOE attack that he uses against enemies during encounters with him. This attack will deal 3500 damage to any enemies that are unlucky enough to get caught in the massive circle. There are sadly a few restrictions to this Companion as it cannot be used against Thanatos himself or against Hades at the end of the game.
Hades is available now on Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac.