Hades is a rogue-style dungeon crawler game where you play as Zagreus, son of Hades, attempting to escape his father’s Underworld domain. Along the way, you are helped by the Greek pantheon.

Every so often, the Olympians grant Boons – power-ups that affect your abilities to attack, defend, and move. This list will help you pick the best Boons for each of the six weapons, and then make the most of those Boons with recommended Boon pairings, Daedalus upgrades, and Mirror of Night abilities.

 

Stygius, or the Stygian Blade

Best for Stygius: Swift Strike [Hermes]

Swiftly striking the hell out of your father

Boon Description

Your Attack is faster by 10% at the Common Rarity and up to 40% at the highest Rarity level.

• Hermes is really underappreciated when it comes to Boons, but increasing your speed is actually a very smart move.
• The faster you strike, the more damage you deal per unit of time, and the less time you leave for your foes to retaliate.

Best Boon Pairing: Rush Delivery [Hermes]

• Your damage increases based on any bonus move speed. 50% increase at the Common Rarity, then 25% more for each subsequent Rarity level.
• What could be better than extra speed AND extra damage?

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Flurry Slash

• Holding Attack makes you strike rapidly, dealing increased damage per hit.
• Using this, you will increase Attack speed and damage even more.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Olympian Favor

• Each rank adds a 1% bonus chance for a Boon to be Rare, with the max upgrade raising the chance to 40%.
• You can grab higher Rarity Hermes Boons, increasing your speed and damage.

Choose Swift Strike if you want to chop through the foes as fast as possible.

 

2nd Best: Thunder Flourish [Zeus]

You got it, big boss. No tempting.

Boon Description

Your Special causes a lightning bolt to strike nearby foes.

• The sword’s Special, Nova Smash, is great for clearing a bunch of enemies surrounding you.
• By using Thunder Flourish, you can deal even more damage to the surrounding foes by striking them with lightning.

Best Boon Pairing: Static Discharge [Zeus]

• Your lightning effects also make foes Jolted, making the victim’s next attack self-inflict and damage nearby foes.
• Really great for damaging foes in a surrounding area, so you can clear the field if you get swarmed by enemies.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Super Nova

• Your Special hits in a wider area and deals 20% more damage, obliterating the foes around you.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Fiery Presence

• Deal 15% more damage when you strike undamaged foes, for up to 75% bonus damage at the highest level.

Choose Thunder Flourish if you want to deal considerable damage to the foes in an area surrounding you.

 

3rd Best: Tempest Strike [Poseidon]

Tempest Strike build that proves you want it

Boon Description

Your Attack deals more damage and has a Knockaway effect that pushes your enemies away.

• When wielding a sword, you need to think extra carefully about defense, and Knockaway is just the effect to help you.
• It will let you keep the foes away, leaving you some space to breathe and fight on your own terms.

Best Boon Pairing: Razor Shoals [Poseidon]

• Now your Knockaway effects also Rupture foes; every time the affected enemy moves, they will take damage.
• Not only will the foes be knocked out of range, but they will also get damaged when trying to approach you again.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Piercing Wave

• Your Attack fires a wave that pierces foes, dealing 30 damage.
• By piercing foes, you will also damage the foes behind them, and they will also fall victim to Knockaway.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Shadow Presence

• 10% more damage when you strike foes from behind, with up to 50% more damage at the highest level.
• While your enemies are knocked out of range, you can creep up on other foes and deliver a devastating blow from behind.

Choose Tempest Strike if you want that extra layer of defense from the Knockaway effect.

 

Varatha, or the Eternal Spear

Best for Varatha: Deadly Flourish [Artemis]

I sure hope it would help me

Boon Description

Your Special is stronger and has a chance of dealing Critical damage.

• This Boon is about dealing Critical damage, which, in many cases, will let you one-hit an enemy.
• When you throw your spear repeatedly, you raise the chance of your damage being Critical.
• When you are fighting bosses, especially Theseus and the Minotaur, you can spam-throw Varatha and make a sizeable dent in their health bar.

Best Boon Pairing: Hunter’s Mark [Artemis]

• After you deal Critical damage to a foe, a foe near it is Marked, meaning that for six seconds, the victim has an increased chance of receiving Critical damage from any attack.
• This is also handy for fighting multiple enemies, especially when you are fighting a boss supported by smaller foes.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Vicious Skewer

• Your Special deals 50% more damage and gains a 50% higher Critical chance when recovered.
• Varatha deals damage both when you throw it at a target and when it hits a foe on recall, and with the increased damage from the Boons listed here, you would be able to obliterate most low- to mid-level foes in one throw-recall combo.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Shadow Presence

• 10% more damage when you strike foes from behind, with 50% bonus damage at the highest level.
• Varatha’s Special lets you target enemies from afar, making it easier to strike them from behind before they notice you and turn around.

Choose Deadly Flourish if you want a high chance of Critical damage dealt from a distance.

 

2nd Best: Drunken Strike [Dionysus]

To replace or not to replace, that is the question...

Boon Description

Your Attack inflicts Hangover, a status effect that causes the affected foes to take damage every 0.5 seconds for four seconds. It can stack up to five times.

• The spear’s strength is its speed. Your Attack is fast, and when you press Attack thrice, the second and third strikes deal +5 damage.
• To really make use of the high Attack speed, modify it with a stackable effect such as Hangover so that the victim does not only take increased damage from the Attack combo but also keeps getting passive damage from the Boon for up to 20 seconds.

Best Boon Pairing: Swift Strike [Hermes]

• Increase your Attack speed by 10% at the Common Rarity, and by up to 40% at the highest Rarity level.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Flurry Jab

• If you are ready to pass on the spear’s Spin Attack, add this upgrade: it lets you hold Attack to strike rapidly, so you can stack Hangover very, very fast.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Abyssal Blood

• Reduces speed and damage from foes with Cast Ammo in them by 6%, with up to 30% less speed and damage at the highest level.
• There are two ways to be faster than your enemies: speed yourself up or slow them down.
• This Boon-Ability combo lets you do both if you are ready to supplement your spear with some Casting.

Choose Drunken Strike if you want your Attack to apply stackable passive damage at high speed.

 

3rd Best: Support Fire [Artemis]

Adds a nice green tint to your arrows

Boon Description

After you Cast, or use your Attack or Special, fire a seeking arrow that will auto-target and damage foes.

• Varatha is a great weapon for both close and ranged combat, but it has a downside: when you use your Special to throw the spear, you cannot Attack until it returns to you.
• Support Fire is a great Boon to mitigate that; a seeking arrow will deal damage to a foe while you wait for your weapon to come back.

Best Boon Pairing: Pressure Points [Artemis]

• Any damage you deal has a chance to be Critical, so you can use the spear’s versatility to deal Critical damage no matter what you do.
• You can safely throw your spear and watch it deliver that crit while the seeking arrow from Support Fire damages someone else.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Chain Skewer

• Your Special bounces between up to seven foes, dealing 30% more damage for each. 
• Since you are already waiting for Varatha to return, might as well send it on a path of mass destruction.
• Also, more hits mean a higher Critical chance!

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Boiling Blood

• 10% more damage from your Attack and Special to foes with Cast Ammo lodged in them, with up to 50% more damage at the highest level.
• Do not miss out on Casting, especially if you want to maximize your damage. Another great tool to use while your spear is away!

Choose Support Fire if waiting for Varatha to return is a little bit too boring, and you would like to keep damaging while weaponless.

 

Coronacht, or the Heart-Seeking Bow

Best for Coronacht: Deadly Strike [Artemis]

+75% Attack damage? Don't mind if I do!

Boon Description

Your Attack deals more damage and has a chance of dealing Critical damage.

• If you want to get the most out of your bow, make friends with Artemis.
• Her Deadly Strike will let you one-shot many low-level enemies and deal some serious damage to those higher up on the food chain.

Best Boon Pairing: Clean Kill [Artemis]

• Your Critical effects deal even more damage.
• There is a good reason this Boon is called Clean Kill; a Critical hit deals 300% more damage to a foe, and increasing this damage will make you a one-hit kill machine.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Chain Shot

• Your Attack bounces to up to three foes, dealing an extra 15% damage for each.
• With the increased base Attack from Artemis, you will deal some serious damage on each subsequent hit, and your Critical chance will increase further, too.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Fiery Presence 

• Deal 15% more damage when you strike undamaged foes, for up to 75% bonus damage at the highest level.
• I simply can’t recommend this Ability enough if you want to increase your chances of killing foes with one hit.
• Extra damage and crit chance from Deadly Strike, more crit damage from Clean Kill, 15% more damage from Chain shot, and 75% bonus damage from Fiery Presence - tell me that won’t absolutely destroy an undamaged foe.

Choose Deadly Strike if you want one-hit opportunities with an increased Critical chance.

 

2nd Best: Divine Dash [Athena]

Divine Dashing your way out of range

Boon Description

Your Dash deals damage and can Deflect, making the enemy attacks bounce back to hit them.

• Using ranged weapons makes defense much harder, so using a Boon that lets you stay covered while you Dash is very useful.
• The added damage and the Deflect ability make it even better.

Best Boon Pairing: Greatest Reflex [Hermes]

• This Boon lets you Dash more times in a row, increasing the rate of your defense and Deflect.
• You can essentially kill enemies that shoot at you by just running around.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Perfect Shot

• Your Power Shot is easier to execute and deals 150% more damage.
• You don’t want to waste any of that precious time you could be dashing on charging up your Power Shot, and this upgrade not only saves time but increases your damage.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Greater Reflex

• Adds a Dash for your chain, so you can Dash-Deflect repeatedly.

Choose Divine Dash if you want a close-range damage opportunity and some extra defense.

 

3rd Best: Frost Flourish [Demeter]

Poor Lernie, it's freezing to death!

Boon Description

Your Special is stronger and inflicts Chill, a status effect that slows the affected foe down by 4% for eight seconds. The effect can stack up to 10 times.

• Your bow’s Special is a perfect vehicle for stackable effects since it fires an arc of volley shots.
• With Chill, you can slow the smaller foes down while you focus your Attack on bigger targets.

Best Boon Pairing: Arctic Blast [Demeter]

• Applying 10 stacks of Chill causes a blast.
• With Coronacht’s Special, you can easily stack Chill onto multiple foes: watch them explode as the cold takes hold.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Relentless Volley

• Adds four more shots to your Special, letting you cover more area with your Volley, and thus Chill more enemies.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Abyssal Blood

• Reduces speed and damage from foes with Cast Ammo in them by 6%, up to 30% less speed and damage at the highest level.
• Nobody move! Everyone is Chilled, and slowed down even more now, so you can keep stacking damage and Chill until every foe freezes to death.

Choose Frost Flourish if you want to slow down a large group of enemies at once.

 

Aegis, or the Shield of Chaos

Best for Aegis: Divine Strike [Athena]

Thanks, cousin, you're the best!

Boon Description

Your Attack is stronger and can Deflect, making the enemy attacks bounce back to hit them.

• There is a good reason why Athena’s sign is a shield. Her defense Boons are unparalleled, and Divine Strike is where it’s at.
• You can hold down Attack to Defend, and release it to use Bull Rush, a high-damage charged attack.
• This Boon lets you charge your Bull Rush safely while dealing damage to your foes, which comes in really handy in Asphodel and Elysium, where you will encounter a lot of enemies that will shoot at you.

Best Boon Pairing: Blinding Flash [Athena]

• Your Defecting abilities also Expose Foes, making them take more damage when struck from behind for five seconds.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Minotaur Rush

• Your Bull Rush gains a Power Rush that deals 500% more damage.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Shadow Presence

• Grants you up to 50% extra damage when striking foes from behind.

Choose Divine Strike if you want to turn the foes’ attacks against them while staying fully defended, then tank the foes with increased Rush damage.

 

2nd Best: Curse of Pain [Ares]

Would anyone give Lernie a break?

Boon Description

Your Special inflicts Doom, a status effect that deals a burst of damage after 1.1 seconds.

• Doom is one of the best ways to deal passive damage in the game, and the fact that your shield bounces between foes when you use your special lets you apply Doom to several foes at once.
• Advice: apply Aspect of Chaos to your shield, so after your Bull Rush, your Special throws multiple shields.

Best Boon Pairing: Dire Misfortune [Ares]

• Increases Doom damage when it is applied multiple times.
• Let the damage deal itself while you focus on other things.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Dread Flight

• Make your Special hit up to four additional foes, so you can apply Doom to even more enemies.
• Speed it up with Hermes’ Swift Flourish (+10% Special speed at the Common Rarity, with +10% speed for each subsequent Rarity level), and watch Doom take care of undead hoards for you.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Fiery Presence

• Deal 15% more damage when you strike undamaged foes, for up to 75% more damage at the highest level.

Choose Curse of Pain if you want to deal high passive damage to as many foes as possible.

 

3rd Best: Drunken Flourish [Dionysus]

Another Dionysus build that will let you finally move out

Boon Description

Your Special inflicts Hangover, a status effect that causes the affected foes to take damage every 0.5 seconds for four seconds. It can stack up to five times.

• If your weapon can bounce between foes, make the most of the stackable effects.
• Aegis’ Special does not deal much base damage, but Hangover will take care of that with some sweet, sweet passive damage.

Best Boon Pairing: Bad Influence [Dionysus]

• Deal more damage while several foes are under Hangover.
• Your Special will make sure several enemies are Hangover-afflicted, so hooray for an easy way to get that extra damage!

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Dashing Flight

• While you Dash, your Special is faster and deals 200% more damage.
• Get the most out of that Special by speeding it up; 200% bonus damage is a great perk, too.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Ruthless Reflex

• When you Dash just before getting hit, gain 50% extra damage and dodge chance for two seconds.
• Dodging negates all the damage you take, so let’s add some evasive maneuvers to your arsenal.

Choose Drunken Flourish if you want to stack the passive damage effect on several foes at once.

 

Malphon, or the Twin Fists of Malphon

Best for Malphon: Lightning Strike [Zeus]

These foes are pretty conductive

Boon Description

Your Attack emits chain lightning when you damage a foe.

• Non-stop pummeling by the Fists’ Attack means non-stop chain lightning bouncing between the surrounding enemies, allowing you to cover more area.

Best Boon Pairing: Storm Lightning [Zeus]

• Your chain-lightning effects bounce more times before expiring.
• When fighting a group of foes, you will only be able to hit one at a time with your weapon, so increasing the secondary damage from your strikes will allow you to deal with more enemies simultaneously.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Colossus Knuckle

• While using your Attack or Special, you are Sturdy, taking 30% less damage, and your actions aren’t interrupted by taking damage.
• Malphon gives you very few ways to defend yourself, so lowering the incoming damage is important.
• This upgrade also allows you to pummel without interruption.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Boiling Blood

• 10% more damage from your Attack and Special to foes with Cast Ammo lodged in them, up to 50% extra damage at the highest level.
• Using your Cast adds a way to use ranged attacks: throw a Cast at an enemy and pummel them with increased damage until they are dust.

Choose Lightning Strike if you want to increase your damage range against multiple enemies.

 

2nd Best: Drunken Strike [Dionysus]

Look, if it works, it works, and Dio builds do work!

Boon Description

Your Attack inflicts Hangover, a status effect that causes the affected foes to take damage every 0.5 seconds for four seconds. It can stack up to five times.

• Malphon’s Attack is a series of punches delivered in sequence by holding Attack, making it perfect for stacking effects.

Best Boon Pairing: Heartbreak Flourish [Aphrodite]

• Your Special deals more damage and inflicts Weak, causing the foes to deal 30% less damage for four seconds.
• Combined with Drunken Strike, you can deal increased active and passive damage on both your Attack and your Special.
• Weak will help you in melee-oriented Fists combat by making sure you receive less damage from foes.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Long Knuckle

• Your Attack has more range and deals 10% more damage.
• Now your Attack also has increased damage, and the increased range will mitigate the need for close-combat fighting while using Malphon.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Privileged Status

• Each rank gives you 20% more damage against the foes afflicted by at least two Status Curse effects; max 40% bonus damage at the highest level.
• This Boon combo will ensure your foes are receiving passive damage and dealing less damage to you, so you can capitalize on that by dealing extra damage to both Hangover- and Weak-afflicted foes.

Choose Drunken Strike if you want extra passive damage from a stackable effect.

 

3rd Best: Curse of Agony [Ares]

That's one massive Ares dagger

Boon Description

Your Attack inflicts Doom, a status effect that deals a burst of damage after 1.1 seconds.

• This Boon adds a layer of damage to your Attacks, giving you time to get out of range while it takes effect.

Best Boon Pairing: Divine Dash [Athena]

• Your Dash deals damage and can Deflect, making the enemy attacks bounce back to hit them.
• Another way to stay defended while you use Malphon: Dash every time you need to avoid damage, and you are all set!

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Heavy Knuckle

• Your Attack becomes a slower 3-hit sequence, each dealing 40 base damage.
• For Curse of Agony, the speed of your Fists’ Attack is not particularly important, but the increased damage is.
• Pair it with Doom, and you can pummel your foes and dash out of range while the status effect is working its blood magic. 

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Family Favorite

• 2.5% more damage for each different Olympian whose Boons you have, up to 5% bonus damage per Olympian at the highest level.
• Grabbing Boons from several Olympians is a worthy investment that will increase your Attack damage even more, so you can safely invest in both Attack modification and defense.

Choose Curse of Agony if you want to increase the Attack damage by quite a bit.

 

Exagryph, or the Adamant Rail

Best for Exagryph: Heartbreak Flourish [Aphrodite]

Now, that's what I call a damage increase

Boon Description

Your Special deals more damage and inflicts Weak, causing the foes to deal 30% less damage for four seconds.

• The Rail Special is Bombard: a shot that fires near you and explodes in a 400-unit radius.
• When you give it the ability to weaken foes, you can safely stay in place and not worry too much about the damage you take while waiting for your bomb to land.

Best Boon Pairing: Bronze Skin [Athena]

• Resist damage from foes' attacks.
• You cannot deal damage while your Rail Special bomb is in motion, so getting a Boon to help you stay defended while you bombard will ensure that you can use your Special as safely as possible.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Targeting System

• Foes targeted by your Special move slower and take 30% more damage.
• Now that you are defended and your foes are weakened, it’s time to up the damage you deal: slowing down the enemies also helps you target them better while using your Special.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Death Defiance

• Restore 50% of your Life Total when it is depleted, three uses at the highest level.
• Exagryph offers very few defense options, so you would need an extra backup for when you get damaged.

Choose Tempest Flourish if you would like to stay defended when using your Special.

 

2nd Best: Drunken Strike [Dionysus]

Yes, brother, spill the tea!

Boon Description

Your Attack inflicts Hangover, a status effect that causes the affected foes to take damage every 0.5 seconds for four seconds. It can stack up to five times.

• The main perk of Exagryph’s Attack is its speed.
• When you hold Attack, your Rail fires rapidly until it runs out of ammo, making it an ideal vehicle for stacking status effects.
• Hangover will deal extra damage to compensate for the low base damage of your Attack.

Best Boon Pairing: Bad Influence [Dionysus]

• Deal more damage while multiple foes are Hangover-afflicted.
• It’s easy to afflict multiple foes with Hangover while using the Adamant Rail, so this Boon will add even more damage during your encounters.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Ricochet Fire

• Your attack bounces to one additional foe.
• That’s just the upgrade to afflict as many foes with Hangover as possible!

Best Mirror of Night Ability: Ruthless Reflex

• If you Dash just before getting hit, gain 50% more damage and dodge chance for two seconds.
• More damage! Trust me, you would need to Dash a lot while using the Rail since dodging attacks is the most accessible means of defense for this weapon.
• Why not let your dodging protect you and increase your damage at the same time?

Choose Drunken Strike if you want to increase your Attack damage.

 

3rd Best: Swift Flourish [Hermes]

It's not like you're a big talker, anyway, but thanks

Boon Description

Your Special is faster, with 10% more speed at the Common Rarity with a maximum of 40%.

• As mentioned above, Exagryph Special is pretty slow when not empowered by Boons, and this Boon is just what you need to speed things up a bit.

Best Boon Pairing: Curse of Pain [Ares]

• Your Special inflicts Doom, a status effect that deals a burst of damage after 1.1 seconds.
• Now that your Special is faster, you might as well make it deal more damage: Curse of Pain deals delayed damage, so you have time to move around while your enemies die.

Best Daedalus Upgrade: Triple Bomb

• You can use your Special three times in rapid succession.
• Not only is your Special faster with Hermes’ help, but you can also use it for the rapid bombardment to deal a hefty amount of damage.

Best Mirror of Night Ability: God’s Pride

• 1% higher chance for a Boon to be of Epic Rarity, 20% at the highest level.
• Hermes’ Epic Swift Flourish increases your Special speed by 30%; why not increase your chances of landing the Epic Rarity Boon if you can?

Choose Swift Flourish if your game style is all about the speed with which you deal damage.

 

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