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When I first played Hades 2, way back in the mists of time that enveloped its early access launch, my entire strategy revolved around Hephaestus. The forge god's explosive Blast effects helped me smash my way through Chronos and Eris in those early builds, but then something went wrong. When I finally returned to The Crossroads for my Hades 2 review, I couldn't leverage those same boons to get the effect I needed to take out the game's toughest bosses. It was time for a change in strategy.
In my pursuit of Hephaestus' burst damage, I'd ignored most of Hades 2's new arrivals. The game tries its hardest to prevent that from happening – the very first god you meet is newcomer Apollo, and in an attempt to make space for a bigger roster, characters like Artemis have been shifted towards random encounters rather than handing out boons. But between the clang of hammer against forge and the familiarity of the likes of Zeus, Poseidon, and Aphrodite, I hadn't invested much time into Hades 2's new gods and goddesses.
But then I got a tip-off: Hestia. The goddess of the home is not exactly the biggest Olympian celebrity – she rarely features in ancient Greece's most famous myths and legends, preferring instead to remain at home at tend the hearth, and in the initial early access release she didn't even have key art. A brand-new character hidden entirely beneath a shroud was easy to overlook, especially while I was focused on hammering my way through the underworld instead. Hestia had mostly been consigned to the background, but that was all about to change.
Burn, baby, burn
Hestia's divine responsibilities are relatively broad, but mostly revolve around the heart, the home, and sacred fire. As a result, her boons in Hades 2 revolve around her signature 'Scorch' effect. As your abilities inflict damage on enemies, they'll take burning damage every second. The more damage you deal, the more Scorch damage they'll eventually take, and a powerful enough build will have enemy HP bars melting away before your eyes.
As a fan of Melinoë's quick-striking twin blades (which top our Hades 2 weapons tier list), I soon latched onto a combo that I'd stick to for most of the game. Hestia's Flame Strike boon, which inflicts Scorch with every attack, synergizes beautifully with the rapid attack speed of Lim and Oros, and it's not long before I'm taking Hestia's keepsake into the start of every run to ensure that I've got the most powerful version of it I can get. By the time I've fought my way out of Ephyra or Erebus, I'm usually a few more Hestia boons deep too, so my Scorch bonuses are really stacking up.
It's a complete game-changer. Bosses that were causing me significant trouble with my ill-fated Hephaestus builds were suddenly burning to ash almost in front of my eyes. The only thing that prevented Hestia from running riot over the rest of the game is that Scorch effects wear off with each new phase of a boss fight, but it's easy to build the burn damage back up. For fights like Prometheus and Typhon, which had repeatedly derailed even my most-powerful runs before I found this new approach, I suddenly had room to breathe, a chance to continue dealing damage while I was dodging around their attacks, and not feeling like I had to rush into danger just to stand a chance of defeating them.
Perhaps it was a cheap tactic, and perhaps I was too slow to adapt. But in my defense, in the face of Zeus' lightning or Poseidon's roaring waves, Hestia's soft-speaking maternal vibes were easy to gloss over at the start of the game in favor of something a little more electric. But since learning the error of my way she's become an absolute staple, a character who pairs with almost every other god with duo boons that push that deadly Scorch effect even further. She's easy to miss, but the oldest goddess of Olympus is one you definitely shouldn't overlook if you're struggling with Hades 2's bigger challenges.
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