Hades 2 guide with everything you need to end Chronos for good

Hades 2 screenshot of protagonist Melinoë surrounded by magical orbs, with a magical sigil and the silhouette of her mentor Hecate seen behind her — (Image credit: Supergiant)

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Tips and tricks
Builds, weapons, and upgrades
Resources and items
Bosses and characters
Review and platforms

Our Hades 2 guide will help you through the basics of Melinoe's revenge mission on the perilous Underworld and war-torn Surface. If you've played the first game, much of Hades 2 will be familiar to you, with things like Weapons, Aspects, and Keepsakes all making a comeback. But new systems in the form of Arcana Cards, Familiars, and a ridiculous amount of resource collecting mean completing Melinoe's ultimate task can be far from simple.

So, whether you're a witch-in-training or a veteran Underworld explorer, some tips and guides will go a long way to helping you through Hades 2 and untangling its myriad mechanics. Below, you'll find all of our guides that we've written with hundred of hours of experience put into Melinoe's journey.

Hades 2 tips and tricks

Hades 2 witch staff omega attack charge — (Image credit: Supergiant Games)

Erebus can be brutal at the start of the game, so help you get through the game's first region and go deeper into the Underworld, make sure you bear our Hades 2 tips in mind.

Hades 2 builds, weapons, and upgrades

Hades 2 Sister Blades Aspects of Melinoe, Artemis, Pan, and Morrigan — (Image credit: Supergiant Games)

While your build options in Hades 2 will be very limited at first, you'll soon unlock plenty of things that you can alter and upgrade to grow Melinoe's strength, eventually letting you come up with builds with several core components:

Hades 2 weapons tier list: There are six weapons that Melinoe can wield on her revenge runs, but knowing the potential of each one isn't easy when there's so much randomness at play – and unlocking them all isn't easy either. With that in mind, this weapons tier list not only lays out our favorites but also how to add them all to your Silver Pool collection.
Hades 2 Arcana Cards: Unlocking Arcana Cards and increasing Melinoe's Psyche are another vital part of increasing her strength and making runs easier, so make sure you've read up on how these cards work.
Hades 2 Keepsakes tier list: Give some gifts to any allied characters you come across in the Crossroads and during runs to get valuable Keepsakes in return. However, with over 30, to collect, it's difficult to know which ones are worth nabbing first.
Hades 2 Aspects: Cast the right Incantations and you'll eventually unlock Weapon Aspects – new perks and movesets that alter your existing weapons. The problems are that unlocking them is very costly and that knowing which ones are best isn't obvious from reading about them. So, to help you get the best possible Aspects for all six weapons and how you go about getting them, check out the linked guide.
Hades 2 Familiars: The final component of your build is the pet pal you choose to accompany you on runs, providing buffs and helping you get certain resources. There are five to unlock but catching 'em all is a long process and upgrading them takes even longer, but our guide can help you out.

Hades 2 resources and items

Hades 2 Melinoe mining Adamant — (Image credit: Supergiant Games)

Hades 2 is chock full of resources that are essential for casting incantations, unlocking new weapons, Arcana Cards, Aspects, and more, and upgrading all of those things and more too. There are earthy reagents and organic greeneries, as well as fanciful indulgences that make great gifts to hand out to your divine allies:

Hades 2 Nectar is the first indulgence you'll come across, and you'll need a lot of it as you play – handing it out is the main way you get Keepsakes!
The later regions of the Underworld are home to Hades 2 Glassrock, Hades 2 Poppy seeds, and Hades 2 Marble, all of which are needed in quite substantial quantities.
Hades 2 Thalamus is a core ingredient of an important Incantation, but you can only get it from Chaos Gates.
Once you finally unlock the Surface, you'll need to pilfer its outcroppings and digger spots for resources like Hades 2 Bronze, Hades 2 Iron, Hades 2 Mandrake seeds, and Hades 2 Adamant.
If you're in the endgame, you'll want some Hades 2 Soot to help you cross off what is likely to be one of your final Fated List prophecies.

Hades 2 bosses and characters

The list of Hades 2 characters is huge, drawing from all over Ancient Greek mythology, from famous Olympians returning from the first game to plenty of new faces found across the various regions of the Surface and the Underworld.

However, some of the most notable are the game's brutal bosses that bar the way out of each region:

The Hades 2 Hecate boss fight comes first as she blocks your way out of Erebus. Battling Scylla in Hades 2 comes after in the depths of Oceanus.
On the Surface, you'll have to beat the Hades 2 Eris boss fight to leave the Rift of Thessaly, and then the Hades 2 Prometheus battle (which I think can be one of the hardest in the game) will cap off Mount Olympus.

Hades 2 review and platforms

In our glowing Hades 2 review, our writer said that, impeccable combat and flawless characterization across a huge roster make for a follow-up that surpasses even its excellent predecessor".

You can pick up the game right now on PC, Switch, and Switch 2. Sadly, there's no sign of Hades 2 on PS5 and Xbox at the moment.

Look ahead to future releases on the horizon with our roundup of upcoming PS5 games, upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PC games to anticipate in 2025 and beyond.