All 24 Weapon Aspects Tier List by Haelian | Hades

UPDATE: I have an updated tier list for 2023 now! Highly recommend watching it over this one: • Ranking ALL of the Wea...
What's your favorite aspect? Let me know in the comments!
00:00 Intro
01:14 Zag Sword
03:39 Nemesis Sword
06:40 Poseidon Sword
09:00 Arthur
11:19 Zag Spear
13:56 Achilles Spear
16:32 Hades Spear
19:58 Guan Yu
23:30 Zag Shield
25:05 Chaos Shield
27:43 Zeus Shield
29:58 Beowulf
32:33 Zag Bow
34:02 Chiron Bow
36:07 Hera Bow
38:28 Rama Bow
40:22 Zag Fist
41:51 Talos Fist
43:21 Demeter Fist
45:07 Gilgamesh
47:48 Zag Rail
50:18 Eris Rail
52:37 Hestia Rail
54:19 Lucifer
56:43 Outro
/ haelian
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/ haelian

[@Haelian]

I have an updated tier list from 2023 now! I recommend watching that instead since some metas have evolved and my opinions have shifted a surprising amount: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4q3iZKQm9mrfsU

[@tomasborza63]

After watching for an hour i scrolled to the comments only to see this :'D well, off to the new vid!

[@alectrzaskowski6792]

I actually love the aspect of Arthur. Stacking damage reduction and getting health upgrades allows you to just turn into an absolute face-tank for most things, and getting Artemis with the attack means you can get upwards of 1,000 damage for one strike. Dashing during the sword swing also doesn’t interrupt the attack, so you can still remain mobile. Super fun to play.

[@gerardorivas2811]

I literally unlocked it yesterday and it's my favorite weapon now, plus I'm a huge Fate nerd, so as soon I heard the summoning words from Nyx I was super hyped, lol.

[@roxlsior5758]

This weapon is made even so much better, and way more powerful, with Hermes' attack speed boost.

[@barstoolbanter7212]

Hit for 2200 one time on a crit. Amazing.

[@skyefox]

@@gerardorivas2811 Just run around screaming "EX..CALIBUHHHHH" every time you special and fun factor becomes S tier.

[@solomon9655]

Yeah attacking into a dash and mashing attack does the next swing in the combo. It feels great and unique compared to everything else, a great trait for an aspect to have imo. It feels like “one *dash* Two *dash* THREE” and it’s soooo satisfying. It helps that that third swing is an absolute monster.

[@Uhnawnimus]

You are considering fun factor? You mean I'm supposed to be having fun? Not just optimizing every aspect of the game? Nonsense! Great video, thanks for posting this Haelian!

[@hrushikeshj8810]

Haha.. totally. I just want to WIN!

[@scilin8679]

Winning on any 40 plus heat run is fun, I think it is anyways, I'm not sure if i know what fun is anymore

[@alanmarshall6763]

@@scilin8679 l7g

[@Tomzin20]

If youre trying to beat the game with high heats, you should prolly consider getting the best weapon over the most fun weapon

[@accountlol7409]

@@scilin8679 I’m just starting my first heat level…

[@ethanhughes8602]

I think the reason I like using Talos fists is because it gives a sense of control over where the enemies are. Like if they're hovering over air, lava, or a trap- instead of having to play around that positioning- you can just drag them over towards you.

[@ImMeE19]

Especially when you have Hermès as your keepsake, you wanna hurry tf up & not wait for them to come out

[@ValGuard4801]

I love it for Magnet cutter's insane damage potential with Poseidon.

[@damsen978]

But it's still not a good idea if said enemies you're dragging are very op. Like on a high pact run.

[@Recychic]

I like yo-yo build with it lol where you get Poseidon special and just keep pulling them and knocking them away

[@user-uv6qu3wb5d]

@@damsen978 but, you are playing with fists? Pulling enemies makes you able to damage them, there is no difference between pulling enemies towards you or you dashing to them

[@MykaelLogic]

130hrs+ and the aspect of Talos is still my favorite. The magnetic cutter makes it so useful because of the lack of range with the fists. When armored witches and bowmen just try run away and range you out it makes it so they really can't. You just pull them back. It lends itself well to experienced players who know when to dodge armored enemies close range but also allows you to hit stun and melt any enemy close range that isn't armored. That's just how i play though.

[@steffanfatheringham2634]

Agreed! Talos let's you drag enemies into traps and bolt out the way, and get some heavy use out of Aphrodite's Cast, especially with Demeter/Artemis/Hermes cast add-ons.

[@ambitiouspants]

Yeah, I think Talos is particularly beloved by new players (it was my fave weapon for a while) because it takes the pressure off movement. It took me a long time to both figure out how important movement is and then do it right, so early on it made a big difference having a weapon that let me be effective anyway.

[@FlyingShadow11]

talos def my fav of all the weapons

[@konokolokopokonodokobokogo6669]

Yeah talos plus curse of drowning is great!

[@lorenzpacis3249]

Talos' Gauntlets are also my favorite.

[@Jyllted]

Fists were my first escape, and I still feel like Demeter and Gilgamesh are easy high-damage escapes even at low levels.

[@atl3652002]

One you get sturdy (shield while you attack) you’re damn near invincible

[@dwell7315]

Demeter fists were my first clear with one of the ranged special hammers. I believe I had Zeus attack and Artemis special as well, so I could get that Giga cutter doing critical at range, it was awesome

[@davidshovlin2783]

I really wanted to like Gil. Tried a bunch of forced Merciful End builds and it just never wound up working as nicely as I hoped.

[@baselabuwardeh5352]

I feel that Gilgamesh is too heavy and slow plus you take 50% increased damage

[@impossiblekid0582]

@@baselabuwardeh5352 Well you can run Aphrodite on special(30% Damage reduce) and then Artemis on attack and then their duo boon that increases Crit damage, Athena Dash, Add some Zeus call + thunder boons and Universal damage increases(i.e Sweet Surrender/Billowing Strength/Chaos, Hermes boons etc.) Also use Ruthless Reflex and High Confidence at mirror and just Dash attack away~ (Tend to use special only at bosses and the like sinds dash attacking is enough for normal room mobs)

[@christopherbambino6984]

Me, a fist main: Welp, I can see I'm not wanted here.

[@Haelian]

Wuv you

[@gretasstolendreams2154]

I do not understand the hate for the fists from people. I fuckin destroy with them.

[@modernwarhero8447]

@@gretasstolendreams2154 they are really bad in boss fights which is probably most important and the aspects except for the gilgamesh ones dont provide too much

[@gretasstolendreams2154]

@@modernwarhero8447 the boss fights are easy though 🤷🏼

[@dolphinbj1629]

@@modernwarhero8447 Demeter with some decent hammers absolutely chunks bosses.

[@matthewloiacono3941]

Aspect of Talos is fantastic and so much fun when paired with Poseidon on Special! You pull and push them away with every use, keeping yourself safe and dealing silly amounts of damage. Combine with more Poseidon boons that increase slam damage to maximize output. One of my absolute favorites!

[@eggmon3813]

I remember first time I did a build like this I was one shorting every-non boss enemy, even the rats. Lots of fun

[@Recychic]

Ah I love the yo-yo build lol

[@johanneshavmo96]

200 hours into the game and aspect of Hades is still my favorite. Being able to spin the entire room just as things shows up is still fun to me idk 😅

[@yankokassinof6710]

yeah and its base damage is high from what i remember, also the charge is faster AND you can drag the spin with your dash, its very powerful when mastered

[@johanneshavmo96]

​@@yankokassinof6710 being able to charm a whole room with the spin and Aphro's legendary boon, will never get old for me haha.

[@michaelhawkins4169]

2 things: 1. It makes me so happy that you have Bastion music going in the background for a lot of the video! 2. “Fires a laser. Like in Congo.” That is solid gold, man!

[@jdmhexagon2584]

My first 32-heat clear was with Hades Spear, haha! Definitely shows how personal these things are. I also struggled with Guan Yu because of the health debuff, and took a while to get to 20 heat. Then I tried 32 heat Guan Yu, just for practice with no expectation of a win. Did it first try, with Charged Skewer and Demeter special! It's amazing how a run can just come together on this game.

[@keep7smiling]

Hades spear is amazing! +150% damage is so much and the range of the spin is just HUGE.

[@alexcattv]

I love Guan Yu a lot as well Only aspects i have beaten 32 Heat with are Guan Yu and Beowulf

[@jorisessen8410]

@@keep7smiling yes definitely. id charge it behind a wall and it would debuff almost all enemies. it feels so strong

[@zaadus112]

@@keep7smiling For real, imagine taking special + artemis (special crit). He said that crits do 300% dmg. 150% + 300% is 450% dmg increase. NOW THATS A LOT OF DAMAGE! AND HE PUT THE THING AT THE BOTTOM! D: IM SO MAD!!

[@zaadus112]

@@jorisessen8410 I is kind of an debuff, but its an 150% damage boost. So really you do 150% more damage to that target.

[@NobodyImportantInTX]

I feel like Rama is underrated on this list. First, shared suffering works even on a single target, which alone makes it much better IMO than it was given credit for, especially paired with certain hammers. Also, the fact that the special shoots straight and fast and then bounces makes it easier to aim and use than any bow special except Chiron. Almost all hammers work well with it.

[@clintgahm1495]

Agreed, the damage is absurd especially with the hammer that increases your sureshot damage by 150% or even just spamming the special with something like zeus or poseidon boon.

[@1TieDye1]

I think the biggest issue is how slow it charges. It can be hard to get full charges without gdtting hit, especially in small rooms or a ton of enemies. It is still amazing though; arguably S tier, especially in the hands of a high skill player

[@AronFigaro]

Aspect of Zeus is pretty reliably crazy good with the Zeus special. Because of how it works, you can trigger the bolt constantly, which you can't do with Chiron bow or other multihit weapons.

[@ethanglasgow7612]

That’s the first build I used to beat 32 heat. Very safe and reliable due to the fact that the special is already pretty strong on its own. Add on explosive return and it gets pretty crazy

[@maxwellmegagamer8535]

@@Intestine_Ballin-ism dionysus on special plus Splitting headache plus Low tolerance plus Curse of nausea

[@A.C_B.]

Haelian: "talking about how difficult Rama is to use" me: sitting one screen away from the enemies spamming Zeus special: "Huh?"

[@timliu2726]

Haha, Dionysus special is great too

[@hazardes4657]

Lol agree, one of the easiest to use

[@joaoluizkurianskifreitassa2436]

My first (and only, since I dropped the game right after) 32 heat was with Dionysius Rama. So easy and safe to use 😅

[@Kurama1732]

Seastorm Rama goes hard with privileged status

[@prachetasnayse9709]

Zeus special on Rama is hilarious. That and I usually just pair it with posideon attack and that legendary buff with throws more lightning on knock back. Give it jolted, rupture, double strike and high voltage and the game just becomes a white screen with yellow on the border. Some times I take Zeus dash, but Athena dash is what I prefer.

[@mennobot3884]

The Talos magnetic pull is just so fun to use in my opinion, speeds up the game as well

[@purplelotus531]

In my case: running Fists of demeter + explosive upper has been the most powerful and fun I have ever been on run. A to S tier for me

[@andreyamane8892]

Demeter with any daedalus mod for special is fun as heck, I also love buffed hadouken. Seeing those big crits is instant serotonin

[@Elehk99]

Demeter is also one of the most used speed runner weapons with Merciful End, so you’re definitely not alone. It’s my favorite personallt as well

[@itsmegolan]

I agree, my fav aspect all the time 😁 so fun

[@joshshrum2764]

I’m surprised Spear, isn’t your favorite with the Undyne The Undying, profile picture, but you do really feel like her when your using it, also Alecto, reminds me of Undyne.

[@oakleyraverty1030]

@@andreyamane8892 Shoryuken is the uppercut I believe

[@Diditallforthexp]

Zeus shield is a great proccing tool for special boons like the Zeus lightning or Dionysus. Aoe and fast attack speed make for crazy numbers and if you stand in the sweet spot and know the distances the shield can sit right on a boss or area where enemies are passing through. Used with proper blocking and knockback with regular attacks you can keep packs locked in the shield spins and clear some rooms in seconds

[@junko4155]

i always loved chiron bow because i just have to hit 1 attack then i can uga booga with Q while i dash around the map

[@LeonardoPranadyar]

try remapping Q to right mouse click. Worked wonders for me till 32 heat!

[@bomes2084]

@@LeonardoPranadyar a lot of things stop working at that high heat like my sanity

[@inbracedefeat]

@@LeonardoPranadyar right click is cast and mb4 is special for thumb. Works very very well. I put my call on mb5.

[@LeonardoPranadyar]

@@inbracedefeat mb4 is my cast and my call is on mb5 too! what a coiincidence XD

[@inbracedefeat]

@@LeonardoPranadyar hah! i only remapped once i started messing with heat. completely changed the way i play

[@JobuSt8n2448]

I like Talos fists for helping control enemy location, especially with Crystal Beam as the cast.

[@NicoSuavemente]

Talos is my favorite fist for sure. I've had a lot of fun with it.

[@moonkinx]

My highest heat so far are all with Talos. So much fun with the pull and dash cancel to reposition enemy

[@nobleradical2158]

GET OVER HERE!

[@CoopMoe]

@@moonkinx the battlefield control part of this aspect was severely undervalued, especially considering how many boons provide great value and versatility.

[@HotAkPL]

For Hades Spear, I think the range increase for the spin is more important than the debuff. Pair that with quick spin and massive spin and a good atk boon you can almost just spin to win.

[@klawschafer7425]

I know this is a year old but that's what i kept thinking. Quick spin with it is nuts. Instantly debuff the entire screen more or less and then go to town with a good attack boon

[@blackmage1276]

Hades Spear is my favourite weapon

[@nihilictoria]

Honestly I really love Gilgamesh gloves mainly because of the Unga Bunga damage bursts you get with the Ares + Athena Duo boon.

[@darksoulofman]

Merciful End is such an apt name

[@1TieDye1]

Does merciful end trigger the maim damage?

[@cinnamonmink3736]

For the Arthur aspect I’d say the fun part is that it forces you to pay a lot more attention to the enemies, you need to kinda plan when you’re going to attack and not get hit

[@ivyr336]

Feels a bit like a dark souls strength build

[@juanquntos7123]

Nah I don't even do that. I just never use the special and only dash strike. Pretty much the best sword just because best damage and health. IDK how Haelian likes rail and bow so much. They are just so slow for me. Aiming sucks.

[@rampagingibex3181]

Talos Aspect is a favorite because you don't have to get into melee range to be in melee range, if that makes sense. It lets you reposition the enemy like no other aspect or boon. It might be dangerous to bring something into melee range but you need to be in melee range to use any of the melee weapons' regular attack anyway. Talos gives you the power to force enemies into melee range with you whenever you want without forcing you to reposition.

[@SKYBROC]

One time I was using Arthur and had epic "Strike" buff from Chaos, epic "Deadly Strike" from Artemis and heroic "Swift Strike" from Hermes, in addition I had "Cursed Slash" and "Hoarding Slash" so my attack was doing big numbers

[@caladbolg8666]

Zeus shield is my favorite, got my first clear, and 32 heat clear from it. It's incredibly versatile - you can use it to cc enemies with stagger, block off their path as they approach you, have it kite behind you, hide inside the Athena special for protection, etc. And that's all on top of keeping all of the benefits of a shield whereas special on other aspects means you can't block or attack until the shield returns. It also works with pretty much every god - Afro for big damage; Artemis for crits + Pressure Points + Support Fire; full Zeus special for continuous lightning strikes; Dio for easy hangover stacks; Athena for protection, Ares for doom stacks, and you can go for Merciful End. Poseidon is kinda bad, but it can still protect you if you're in special and if you take Zeus duo; Demeter is also kinda bad, but you can use it on cast to also just plop it on the ground and fight elsewhere. The only downside is that special moves slowly, but it's not a big detriment unless you're doing high heat speedruns.

[@kronicul107]

saw this comment, tried it out, hated it. Blitz disc does 0 damage and it move far too slow for some of the later enemies that jump far away constantly. Do not play this.

[@stygiansilver9320]

Hard agree, been playing for a pretty long time casually and zeus shield is one of few aspects ive gotten a 45 heat clear with, super fun, super easy, always my go to pick.

[@GustoFormula]

@@kronicul107 I'm guessing you didn't upgrade it, because fully upgraded the special does 30 base damage per hit, which is more than most other weapon aspects' attack. It also hits three times in one second and staggers enemies which means they're stuck and can't jump away after you've broken their armor. While it's doing this you can block all attacks as you're charging a bull rush. Of course if you just hate it that's fair but I feel like you weren't using it very effectively.

[@ResonanceRetroData]

from the "new player" angle, gilgamesh is an amazing take, the extra dashes give a struggling player so much more survivability because you can spam dash to escape from almost every situation unscathed even without Athena. it doesn't need to be leveled up at all to get the new player benefit because you're not taking it for the maim, you're taking it for the dashes. a struggling player can also easily pair it with the near miss dash on the mirror instead of the double dash, and the constant dashes will be accidentally procing the near miss bonus near constantly for a very consistent dodge and damage up which goes a really long way to mitigating even more damage, a dodge here and there adds up fast especially in boss fights for a more experienced player who knows the attack patterns well and can avoid damage consistently with a single dash, I can see why gilgamesh would be rated lower, but for a struggling player I simply can't justify putting the single best damage mitigating aspect in the game anywhere below A. the multi-dash is just way too good when you're panicking in an unfamiliar attack pattern as an additional boon to struggling newbies, the input for dash-upper is hard enough that they're unlikely to accidentally miss-input a maim and bring an unwanted +50% incoming damage from bosses, so maim will likely never harm your run unless you deliberately seek using it out

[@mdjv]

totally agreed i love this aspect

[@Elehk99]

Fully agreed, I was a Gilgamesh main for a good while since I loved the dashes. I’ve since moved to Demeter, but I absolutely think Gilgamesh is the hidden aspect I have the most fun with. Fist supremacy

[@Rasea611]

As a new player that's only escaped a few times, I find that Gilgamesh is just too punishing to use. I agree with your points on the +2 dashes, along with the Near Miss from the Mirror, giving you 3 dashes (enough to get away from most attacks reactively) plus the dodge chance. The problem I have, though, is that the damage output of Gilgamesh isn't nearly as good as other aspects in A without using Maim. And using Maim is really dangerous for a new player, at least in my experience. +50% damage on a given boss is really nasty, especially Hades where most of his attacks can easily deal a third of your max health. Which just gets worse with Hard Labor and Forced Overtime. Two dashes are useful, but the weapon itself is kind of lacking compared to other Aspects without using Maim, at which point I feel like you can easily be punished too much. Which is not new player friendly.

[@oakleyraverty1030]

@@Rasea611 forced overtime is like top 3 most difficult pacts and should be left until last.

[@StonetheDestroyer42]

Gilgamesh was the only aspect I could constantly escape with for a while. Taking more damage doesn't bother me when the gain is dealing a ton more and clearing a room faster. Less time in the room means less time to make a mistake or wear out.

[@LouieWebb560]

Sea Storm Talos Fists has got to be my go-to, zeus attack, poseidon everything else, lightning boons up the wazoo, takes a lot of prep but even without a lot of the second tier boons can still be a lot of fun

[@JawlessPaul]

I can't believe you rated my favorite aspect so low !!!!1one! JK! Awesome list! Well done! I loved hearing your reasoning and I can't disagree with any of your points. The only thing I like to point out with the claws is that you can take Ruthless reflex and get the sweet bonus without much of a penalty since you get some extra dashes. Again, thanks for making these videos! Well done! Thumbs up, subbed, bell... all the things. :)

[@opsedar]

Would love to see your tier list too Paul

[@JawlessPaul]

@@opsedar haha! I have a couple of those vids out! 😊

[@loloverlord1664]

Absolutly. I had a run with Rama and Thunder flourish (Zeus lightning on Special)... Needless to say: most of Tartarus was spamming A like a 5 years old and after that, most the of run was... continue to spam A like a noob because: if it works, it's not stupid.

[@Moblinn]

Aspect of Hera is by far my favorite build. I love oneshotting absolutely everything then dancing around, trying to survive till I get my cast back

[@tacticalchunder1207]

This came at the perfect time! Just started playing and unlocked aspects last night. Loving the shield the most so far.

[@sonofhades57]

I adore the Aspect of Achilles. It was the first non-plot weapon I got to Legendary and it helped me kill Extreme Measures Hades on the first try at 16 heat. That Platinum Trophy looks so lovely in my collection.

[@starlitdown]

Thanks for doing this! I am going to have to try more of the S tiers because I still can't beat high heats. Having said that, the fists are my favorite weapon so that might have something to do with it. I love using Zag fists with the Hermes plume. I end up with so much dodge and attack speed it is usually chaotic and hilarious. Also love the Demeter fists, pretty much put anything on attack and Arty on special. *chefs kiss*

[@leozaro4531]

Personally aspect of Arthur and aspect of Poseidon are my favorites in the whole game. I always get hilarious builds with them.

[@greernelson7419]

The ludicrous crit damage you can get with Excalibur is so damn satisfying

[@leozaro4531]

@@greernelson7419 I just like having it with Hermes +30% attack speed boon. It's great!

[@tafffee6032]

I found myself using the Aspect Of Talos' pull for places like asphodel and the styx to avoid standing in lava or poison. It adds an aspect of moving around the enemies to have them where you want them and it's rare to find that in a lot of other aspects

[@AbsentCrysisX]

My 1st escape was with Spear, Aspect of Achilles and I still love that weapon the most

[@treeleupp8504]

I love the Talos aspect of the fists. It‘s not really viable on high heat I think but force pulling everyone around the map is fun as heck.

[@castlecragnizab2163]

I remember fighting Asterius for the first time and hoping that the last weapon, which I hadn't yet unlocked, would be his Axe. Unfortunately for me, it was not, but then they added Arthur aspect and pretty much gave me exactly what I wanted. I haven't played in a while, but I'm pretty sure it gave me my highest heat clear too. Tl;dr Arthur aspect is my favorite.

[@Pr1est0fDoom]

Everybody knew that Chiron and Eris were going into S-Tier, but I did not expect to see 2 Aspects of the Shield there as well! I enjoyed listening to your reasoning for each Aspect.

[@catalystxi5184]

Oh man was wild seeing chaos at S tier! Haha. I know everyone has their tastes I just don't enjoy that weapon at all. Great video as usual though.

[@rizzzou]

I agree it's a slog once you are good at the game. But I think it may be one of the more braindead easy ones for beginners

[@alexk1888]

Okay..... but Zag fists + Plume is my favorite! I got my first sub-15 that way. I also recently did a run with 50% ruthless, 36% second wind, ~29% plume, 20% evasion, 15% aspect of Zagreus. If I've calculated that correctly that's about 84.5% dodge haha. I face-tanked EM4 Hades and only lost a single death defiance, with a clear time of 15:23. It was glorious!

[@jacklorenz4274]

BOW SUPERIORITY! *also, a lot of my fun with Talos comes from me pretending to be Scorpion from Mortal Kombat and saying “Get over here!” every time I pull someone towards me.

[@nddugas]

I got my first clear with Talos. I never really used the special with the cast, but the magnetic pull was useful on some enemies (like the poison ones) since you can basically just spam the special to keep them from attacking.

[@walkermcmullin8665]

"Rama is the most difficult to learn" >me blasting a giant hole in Theseus to kill the Minotaur on 16 heat while failing to even come close to muster with other weapons: "Beg pardon?"

[@vadimzaytsev2660]

Wow, I was sure Zeus shield was gonna be S-tier. Whenever I use it, it's like easy mode compared to the other weapons, especially with Zeus special.

[@scilin8679]

Ive found Zeus shield is like any slow weapon once enemy speed is up and timers are on just isn't reliable

[@vadimzaytsev2660]

@@scilin8679 ah well, I play on 20 heat, I don't go over with speed and timers.

[@yuuhanmicu5737]

same

[@Str4ng3]

I kinda hate the shield in general and I find keeping the Zeus Shield's special on most common enemies quite weird/hard most of the time, it's crazy powerful against most stationary stuff though (like Lernie for example).

[@yuuhanmicu5737]

@@Str4ng3 At long range against fast enemies you can't really use the zeus shield special. You have to get close. Most of the time I dash around the enemies while spamming the special and everything dies very fast. I only play differently against the last 2 bosses.

[@BRexxors]

Aspect of hera bow with exit wounds and sped up bloodstone drop, as well as the lightning rod duo made for one of my most effective runs. Chiron is a lot of fun, but the loading mechanic of Hera with crit boost and the boons I mentioned above makes it a monster.

[@kevinwells9751]

Haven't watched the video but wanted to put in a comment here first to say that my favorite aspect to play is Rama. I'm sure it won't be close to the top of the list, but I love the chunky hits and the flexibility of building it either focused on the attack or the special

[@kevinwells9751]

Having now seen your summary of it I totally agree that it is a difficult aspect to learn. It took a lot of time to warm up to, but it's just so much fun that I put in the time and now I love it

[@pthepersistent7369]

@@kevinwells9751 I definitely haven't gotten to high heats, working my way up currently, but Rama's aspect is my favorite bow aspect too. First run I did with it I got the daeduals hammer modification that increased damage and charge time, would take forever to charge up but the big damage was so fun to see, and being able to mark other enemies than blast one and clear the room was so satisfying.

[@TheMirksta]

I didn't find it hard to learn at all, just shoot special - > shoot normal attacks, big damage numbers appear. I like triple shot barrel stuffing with it

[@jsprc]

Just gonna say, I love the Transistor music in the background. Thanks for the fun video Haelian!

[@MysticSorcery]

My personal two favorite weapons are Hera Bow and Zeus Shield. My first sub 10 minute run was with Zeus shield, but bow is still much slower for speedrunning. The different builds with casts loaded into the main attack just make it really satisfying and safe even at higher heats (as long as you're not running jury summons!)

[@mdjv]

Fun video, i feel unkillable with Arthus and gilgamesh aspect and its my favorite, its fun to have a different pov ^^

[@gapsilog]

His thorough explainer was what got me into Hades. So good!

[@Kojir0555]

Very informative video!! Favorite weapon type is fist and Gilgamesh is a lotta fun, it just clicks with me more than using sword when I started out

[@ratticustheratman4747]

One of my favorite things to do with Arthur aspect is to broadswipe dash and I was really hoping that’s get mentioned

[@Ahmyrak]

Aspect of Gilgamesh is actually my favorite hahaha! I'm definitely not a super seasoned player though (maybe 300ish hours?), but I tend to get an Ares/Athena (Merciful End) + Artemis build going and play very aggressively. Putting Poseidon on dash is another fun option too with the extra dashes, with some Zeus. I'm sure that I don't put in as much intricate strategy though, it's more a 'feel good' thing for me, which is why I attached right away to the fists category in general, I love close-range smack fests, but I know that would destroy me in higher heats (I've only gotten to around 25 w/ AoG)~ Super love this video, as it does provide a lot of information!

[@Cthulhusdreams]

Arthur is my favorite weapon aspect hands down. With the large nova and double special hammers it's so stupidly fun. Use the special cancel dash and it's silly you dash in and explode. So fun.

[@zanexiao4488]

As a Zagreus Bow main, I'm so happy to finally see some love for this aspect! Artemis attack + some nice hammers such as perfect shot or twin shot, and you'll have a very fun high heat run! A tier at least for sure.

[@HoHhoch]

Bought this game last Friday, and didn't stop playing until Sunday when I finally beat Hades for the first time. What a rush of a game. Getting trounced by a boss the first couple times while I learn the attack patterns makes it so satisfying when I finally win.

[@eruyom8144]

lol... you just start the fun, wait for it

[@matthewblacksher3616]

almost same for me, got it through game pass and played as often as I could the past couple days till I beat my first hades with a zag shield zeus build that worked really well.

[@tkshillinz9334]

Watching this while playing Hades spear, my favourite aspect. :D But as you said Haelian, we can all like what we like, and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts. I also love Arthur Sword, Zag fists, and Zag bow. Cheers, mate.

[@Daniel_WR_Hart]

The Hades aspect is also my favourite spear. Guess I'll have to unsub now /s

[@TheOnlyFin]

I love Talos a lot and was surprised to see it’s place here. Being able to quickly grab enemies and kill them, dashing to grab and then dodge and kill them is a blast. I’m mostly doing this with Artemis and Ares with Athena on the special and dash, so maybe that’s where my QoL for the weapon comes from.

[@deanmoriarty6015]

this is like my exact build and what i aim for. such an absurdly aggressive, fast, and fun way to play. love it

[@Volition366]

I think people who say talos is bad don't know that you can cancel the special with a dash after you pull somebody in.

[@Luscinia_Nightengale]

@@Volition366 In addition, they probably don't ever pair it with Tempest Flourish and the age old art of button-mashing.

[@fatmanfalling]

I love the fists, I think Demeter fists can be the best option for new players having trouble with Elysium. 5 upppercuts will melt armor and I think Demeter fist with Aphro special was my first EM4 win

[@Diditallforthexp]

Zag spear focused on special and backstab with some Athena boons can be pretty busted as a ranged "safe" build, but not many hammers work with it. Not the best spear overall of course but as a backstabbing vehicle it can be a real beast

[@blakepomaville4013]

I just picked up Hades relatively recently, but I got to say the bow is my least favorite weapon. I recognize it's power potential, but it's so much slower than the other weapons. I enjoy Hades because of the fast paced action that make runs quick and easy to hop into whenever I have like 30 minutes of free time. The first time I used the bow I got farther than I had with any other weapon, but the way you have to play with it just isn't fun to me. It's like hardscoping with a sniper in an FPS, extremely powerful but a lot less fun than running around with an SMG. Shield, fists, and the sword are the weapons I've had the most fun with. Everyone enjoys a different play style though, so if you like the bow then there's nothing wrong with that! Edit to explain why my top 3 go to aspects are fun to me: I can say that new players like myself enjoy Talos because it allows you to clear rooms extremely quickly, brings the enimies to you and makes them take more damage. I hate it during boss fights though and would rather have something else, the extra damage works on bosses but it doesn't pull them at all so you lose that element of stage control that makes it so fun. The aspect of Demeter is kind of underrated though, with the right build you can dodge attack around bosses and then unload massive amounts of damage at a time. I haven't unlocked Beowulf yet (still waiting on RNG to give me the voice line needed), but aspect of Zues for the shield is a lot of fun and extremely potent when used right. It takes time to get the spacing down, but once you do you can deal a ton of damage to bosses any time they stop in an area for any reason. It's also great for quickly clearing out hordes of weak enimies like the skulls or rats.

[@tumultuousv]

When you get different aspects. It Definitely can help.

[@korpi]

Also you’ll need the Zag sword on max upgrade for one prophecy/quest, so the upgrades aren’t wasted. Out of the spear aspects Guan Yu is my favorite, and my go-to when ever Dark thingy is on spear. After watching the video I have to say that it feels that this list is from a high heat players angle. The chunky hitters like Arthur sword and especially the Aspect of Gilgamesh for fists are really good for no heat to 5 heat gameplay, because they pretty much one or two shot all the enemies with almost any boon. On higher heats they fall off fast because of the low speed, but for the first 50 to 80 or so hours of gameplay the chunkies rule.

[@Haelian]

Totally forgot about that prophecy, it has been a long time.

[@Deathranger999]

Aspect of Arthur is my favorite to play with (unfortunately, since it’s not great), but I’ve gotten up to 17 heat with it so far. It just works for me, not sure why I can’t figure out some of the other weapons haha.

[@IonSquared]

I just really wish Guan Yu was like a 25 or 30% HP reduction maxed out instead of 50%.

[@Burningskull13]

I LOVE Aspect of Talos. Especially with Quake Cutter? The one that gives you an attack when you land with the special. Let's you pull normal enemies to you instead of dashing around to them so it's easier on your hand a little bit. Bosses still suck but only the Range hammer really helps with bosses lol.

[@od1401]

It seems like one of the main problems is hammer RNG, they really should bring back rerolls on hammers and you could have so much more control of your build and how fun your runs are.

[@Crushenator500]

Very surprised how low Talos fists are, and fists in general. I love using them.

[@Exaltable]

it's a biased list clearly and that's fine it's his list. Personally i'd have shields lower because I don't enjoy them as much and have done the majority of my 32+ heat runs with fists, spear, and bow but hey that's part of what is great about Hades expression.

[@Drezdorn]

Talos is my bae 😥

[@callanthemeryllia252]

Talos is so ridiculously fun!!! ...well except against bosses, then it kinda sucks :(

[@BreakDowning]

I had a lot of fun with Gilgamesh + lambent plume + dmg boost dash, then sought out hunter dash and extra dashes from hermes, not treating it like a chunky aspect but more applying the maim and dash striking like an animal

[@kunduntroll]

Its my fav because you maim and you just dash swipe spam around them and then they explode i like it so much

[@jjjaquez493]

Thank you so much for the video. Very helpful as a new player. Most of these are so old I never know for sure if they are still accurate.

[@DeInevitable]

love your work man. take care!

[@flaviocbrangel]

Regarding aspect of Chaos, all I can say is: “Look how they massacred my boy”

[@Voicelet]

Zeus shield in my opinion is fairly beginner friendly. Got my first no damage Hades fight with it and Ares's special.

[@chairwolf5446]

One of the benefits for Zeus shield for newer players is that you don't have to wait for the special to come back to you before you can block/attack again, so it's much less punishing than something like chaos shield, where you can find yourself up a creek if you accidentally threw your shields into space.

[@ryanager8029]

Also Zeus shield is another one of the few specials that works well with stacking debuffs like Hangover, chill, Zeus lightning.

[@supajerm]

I think I mostly enjoy the throwing it. Asking for it to return but just running away from the return while it slices up the enemies. Makes almost a game within the game... speed run be damned lol

[@GustoFormula]

Yeah it made it very easy getting my first clears. kinda ridiculous that you can continually special and do bull rushes and just be so safe

[@Rasea611]

I found Zeus shield personally to be kind of rough. I got a couple of boons to help it and had also amped my attack as well. It felt like I had to pay attention to too much at once. It didn't feel like a fire and forget thing for me, though maybe I misunderstood it. It felt like I wanted to get the spacing right and have it tick on enemies when it came to a standstill for big damage and then avoid it returning to me. While also avoiding attacks and using Attack. Idk, it just feels more complex than something simple like Chaos shield which is super straightforward (as Haelian said). Bull Rush into an enemy, shotgun your shields, repeat a lot. I also just found multiple other Aspects a lot simpler to manage.

[@justinbuergi9867]

Thanks for the vid. Just started a new game and was looking where to invest my early Titan blood. For now, I’ve got chaos shields shooting out 4 bonus shields. Feels like a good starting weapon for early game.

[@imma5269]

Really helpful video, thanks bro. Loving this game so far, though it took me 14 attempts to actually get through a full run lul

[@rubenfernandez7755]

Aspect of Gilgamesh for me is a glass canon aspect. I've had a run recently where everything went right, with a lot of Doom, a bit of Dyonisus and Zeus (on the dash), and I melted EM4 Hades. You would see HUGE chunks of his life slip away. Using the Acorn or Patroclus for the final fight is recommended so you can play a bit more safe.

[@iurk0_streaming]

Zag's Fists with Hermes' plume + Zeus attack and Poseidon's dash has to be one of the most fun things in the game Also, Lucifer with the no recharge hammer and stacking doom from Ares + Aphrodite bombs is really fun imo

[@f.prince6642]

New to hades since Xbox game pass. I appreciate the info so I can hear what pitfalls to avoid but more importantly what to attach to each aspect boon wise. Many thanks traveler.

[@traviswilliams2348]

I personally with chiron bow love to run the posiden buff for my special, and then pick up the boon that makes attacks with knock away effects do bonus damage to bosses, I don't know how well it stacks up against something like Artemis, but it feels amazing and is pretty damn strong.

[@Xanoss99]

The aspect of Zag on the rail with flurry fire is actually good

[@florasplace3404]

Fun video! I've had a lot of success using Gilgamesh with splash dash builds. If you level up splash dash a few times you can take out rooms super fast, so it scales up well with high heat I've found. Cleared 47 heat with it today :)

[@Unknowiii]

Yeah, i can't believe he put Gilgamesh in D tier when you can just start with poseidon dash and be ultra safe because you dodge everything while hitting them and pushing them. I did my 32 heat run with it aswell and it was just that strong.

[@mitchclark6047]

I love Talos because of how fun it is. Also bring able to pull enemies towards you can actually create space if they're grouped up or in positions that surround you

[@Deeldoe]

One of my most fun runs was a run I called “the flash” where I used zeus mostly, and always took a Hermes room and took any dodge or movement speed available with the Zagreus fists. Literally my entire Hades fight was “near miss “ “near miss”. I just spammed space bar and m1 and let it rip. When I’m feeling bored of trying to do achievements in the game I go do a normal run with it for the giggles and I have a blast

[@k.i.dscrappy]

For talos aspect I liked to use a combination of Poseidon on the special with Demeter on the cast it's just fun knocking enemies into walls and dealing tons of damage

[@cantrip7]

I tend to play really fast with Gilgamesh simply because it kills so fast. But it's quite flexible! You can tag many enemies with Doom from Ares, or you can put Aphrodite on the special to make Maim safer as you focus an enemy down. You put Demeter on the attack and it becomes even safer. I shredded though Pacts of Punishment with them up until the late teens where damage becomes more dangerous.

[@79treefrog]

You nailed the Aspect of Hades. I was reading through them when I first started and thought that bonus damage sounded insane! I thought it was going to be so broken. But upon using it I realized how hard it is to actually debuff enemies and realized I had wasted my titan blood on an aspect that is not as strong as it sounded (at least in my hands/a new players hands).

[@bk_flash]

excellent video mate! the fist hate kinda hurt a little, but im willing to let it slide lol. it was honestly kind of surprising seeing some weapons like achilles spear and eris rail get so high on the list - i always personally wrote them off cause the moveset felt weird to use (i always kind of felt like i had less movement control with achilles since youre zooming around so much, and reloading the rail is kind of a pain) but based on what you said here, i think i might try and give them another shot sometime!

[@dareusdesign]

chiron, achilles, and arthur have been my favorites recently. especially arthur, loving the gameplay of it despite it being the slowest weapon in the game

[@xuanathan]

If Dark Souls has taught me one thing, its that weapon speed does not matter at all

[@alexer6755]

i love talos fist with ares atack and doom stack, combined with the atenea duo boon, i use the blade rifts and use the special to pull enemies to them, for me its so much fun

[@martymcfly88mph35]

Ooooh this sounds good, excited to watch this vid! Thanks homie.

[@huaihongwen]

i really like this video, fun factor is really important to consider as game design, nice job, for roguelikes and lites, fun and variety is really important for replayability , nice job, great video and really want to see more videos like this on boons and hammers

[@RioBoBio]

Demeter holds a special place in my heart as the aspect I beat hades with the first time. Once the heat started to get high with the fists though I tend to enjoy them less and start to agree with his other rankings

[@three_crows_all_day]

Great video! As a new player, I personally love Aspect of Zeus on the shield-- I don't know what it was about it, but I took to it like a fish in water. My first run with it, I cleared the game in less than 30 minutes (which, while not particularly impressive, was fairly substantial considering all my other clears were 50-80 minutes with any weapon). I vastly prefer athena or zeus on special and poseidon on attack; this allows you to knock enemies back into your spinning disc and chew through their health faster than fresh raspberries mould.

[@notjohn100]

Awesome video man!

[@darksoulofman]

I hardly used the fists or enjoyed using them so imagine my surprise when I unlocked gilgamesh and felt this primal urge to destroy everything. Lost that run but fun factor is the most important thing.

[@elyasnaji3502]

I love the Arthur Sword personally and i love seeing the Big numbers with Artémis on the attack

[@sudeshnard7439]

Especially if the 3rd hit (with 200 base damage) hits for a crit. Big daddy damage ensues

[@absoluteradiance3254]

I also love to do inmortal builds with stuff like athena and aphrodite where you take like no damage and projectiles are basicaly useless. I really like that weapon

[@Narmerlover]

Just got the aspect of Gilgamesh, and even though you give it fair critique, I *LOVE* it! It got some satisfying weight to it! I've gotten to Hades allready and just went for a aggressive, DOT build. If you maim a beefy enemy, and apply Hangover? It'll completely erase that enemy!

[@buddhagotback6921]

Just started playing the game a week ago, and I love the fists. I got Poseidon on my Talos with the knock back on the special, and I think it’s easy to see why it’d be a favorite: pulling them in just to knock them into a wall was such an unexpected fun run for me

[@serpentsembrace782]

It's funny that you ranked Hades spear so low because it's dangerous, but then ranked Guan Yu, arguably the most dangerous of all the aspects for any weapon, so much higher. Hades spear is actually how I got my very first clear, so I think it's a fair bit better than you give it credit for.

[@jennyinutil2018]

Aspect of Hades was the first aspect I ever maxed, which I did immediately Absolutely love it The spin hits behind cover and that has saved my ass so often

[@SaberShadow002]

I love Arthur aspect, running Aphrodite boons or Ares doom boons with it is fun, it has a Very Wide arc and unlike other swords, if you dash during start-up of the 2nd and 3rd swings, it retains the actual weapon swing and still gives you a dash attack status so doing 300 to 400% damage on a 3rd swing depending on the boon is so fun

[@CaptinSpyke]

This is an interesting list that I appreciate as someone who didn't beat 32 heat with anything besides Gilgamesh and Arthur. Fists were always my go to weapon in the main story and I'm a big fan of greatswords in games where I can use them so those two always clicked with me despite being wildly different playstyles. Never had much interest in the other weapons besides the occasional Poisedon sword or Achilles spear run so I'll need to try revisiting the game to run higher heat with new stuff

[@xelinco3005]

My favorite aspect is hades, i find the big swing very satisfying,and the dynamics of small/midrange/fullrange swing interesting also dashing to stop the swing and a bit of a proactive gameplay(precasting the swing), While i do think that D is a bit too low, since 150% is a lot of bonus damage, i do agree that it is neither a very good aspect nor new-players friendly and a bit clunky since swing spam is rarely optimal. And i definitly would rather play achilles if I want to push high heat with the spear. I also enjoy arthur and hestia a lot, i just like to hit big honestly.

[@leventebolyos8060]

Poseidon's attack is so satisfying with the Hades spear, makes you feel like absolutely godly as you whack the whole screen around with just one swing.