Hades 2 Patch 4 is bigger than expected, with Supergiant pushing balance changes and bug fixes "we wanted to get in before our first Major Update later this year"

With Hades 2 Patch 3, developer Supergiant Games made it clear that the team is "now focusing on our first Major Update slated for later this year," indicating that normal, polish updates would be smaller or arrive less frequently as development shifted to larger additions. That hasn't stopped Hades 2 Patch 4 from dropping today, not even three weeks later, with a bigger-than-expected chunk of changes.

"It contains several balance changes and bug fixes we wanted to get in before our first Major Update later this year," Supergiant says of Patch 4 in a tweet. The full patch notes also say the update is on the "smaller" side, but it's still packing some pretty important tweaks. 

The standout changes for me come with some minor boss spoilers, so I'll give you a moment to turn back if you're totally new to Hades 2 and don't want any hints. 

Still here? Good. 

Two Hades 2 bosses have gotten small but significant adjustments: the first and final bosses of the roguelike's conventional dungeon dive. Headmistress Hecate and Chronos are now "easier to strike from behind after certain moves," with Chronos receiving additional changes to the "sequencing of some moves." I'm not sure if Supergiant is talking about literally landing attacks at an angle that counts as dealing damage from behind, or more generally about how much of an opening these bosses give you, but this change should work nicely with a buff to the Sister Blades (Melinoë), which now deal increased damage when striking foes from behind. 

The bulk of the Patch 4 patch notes are fixes to community-reported bugs – some narrative events with Nemesis and Moros "never playing" is a big fix – but there are more balance changes to dig into as well. The Phase Shift and Lunar Ray Hexes have been tuned, with the former rescaling upgrades and the latter distributing damage "over a shorter duration," which is just what I wanted to see after trying this laser for myself. 

Boon, Blessing, and Daedalus Hammer changes include: 

• Spirit Surge (Zeus): reworked; now whenever you use Magick, a surrounding foe is struck by lightning
• Engagement Ring (Hera): reworked; inflicts Hitch on foes, and any slain in the circle deal area damage
• Family Trade (Hera): cut from game; replaced with...
• Rousing Reception (Hera): new! Your Casts damage foes as they enter the Encounter, wherever they appear (this effect was previously innate to Engagement Ring)
• Golden Rule (Hera X Poseidon): now applies a multiplicative global damage bonus, rather than a flat bonus only to Attacks and Specials
• Mirrored Thrasher (Staff): removed Life penalty; now requires Magick instead
• Skulking Slice (Blades): reduced bonus damage striking foes from behind
• Melting Shredder (Axe): increased damage to Armor
• Inverted Spark (Flames): now also causes projectiles to linger for longer
• Whirling Coil (Flames): projectiles no longer spin in place; renamed from Origin Coil
• Crushing Comet (Flames): cut from game; replaced with...
• Triple Comet (Flames): new! Your Special fires more projectiles

Hades 2 already beats its predecessor as my favorite roguelike ever, but I still had to bully myself into trying its two trickiest weapons.