Hades Shield Overexplain Run for Beginners v1.0 | Haelian

Hey everyone, not sure I'll do another one of these but I liked the idea of just having one in case it can help some people. I also got to cover a lot of topics that I don't normally have a chance to when doing the guides and other things. Let me know what you think!
/ haelian
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/ haelian

[@setcamper]

New Hades player, this is exactly the content I've been looking for and frustratingly absent in my searches. Every guide I find is for High Heat, unlocked Aspects, specific boon combinations, max try-hard, etc. While shield might be a bit strong, all your choices were very mediocre and you did an excellent job explaining and making the most of your boons. Now I'm off to learn more tips/suggestions from your other vids. SUBSCRIBED!

[@Haelian]

Glad I could help!

[@theschachter9816]

I really enjoyed this video because it taught me that: - My decision-making seems like it might already be pretty decent with regards to room choice and boon choice - There's still a lot of finer details for me to learn and start considering, which is honestly quite exciting! Thanks for making it!

[@JetGills]

This is one of the best Hades videos I've ever watched. As a newer player I learned so much about how the game works and fight mechanics. A lot of the boon stuff was just too much for me, but those seems more like things you get used to over time. I hope you do a few more of these Overexplained cuz this was the most educational Hades videos and I loved it!

[@penguinmonk7661]

Join the Hades reddit, it is really good and friendly, amazing community that is happy to answer all things Hades :3

[@oscarlove4394]

The best way to learn is to play the game, preferably every day at least, and really pay attention to the boons/choices you make. that said having recently started my first full-time job I can definitely see that you might not always have the time to really get good. so videos like this are great to learn.

[@LarisG]

I bought Hades in the Halloween sale three days ago, I'm on 18 hours and having a BLAST, what a great game. I already have completed a few runs but had many questions about the game, many of those have been answered in this video, so thanks a lot. I hope you make more of these as I throughly enjoyed it!

[@jjssb6582]

I’d love to see more of these! Especially with different weapons/builds

[@andysabur4966]

for what it's worth, you could do this like once in a blue moon and use other weapons. so you could talk about the more weapon/aspect specific tips and insight

[@Mr_bl0nd3]

As someone who basically used trial and error to figure this game out, I wish something like this existed towards the start of 1.0. Excellent video, even 100+ runs into the game I still learned a few things.

[@brofenix]

Wow, thank you for these overexplained runs. This is the perfect way to learn tips and how to play better at Hades. It's nice listening to someone really knowledgeable and also very good at the game :) Thank you, I hope you do more of these.

[@jodysgamingchannel9480]

I've been waiting a month until I beat Dad for the first time to watch this. Glad I did, for the spoilers, but now I'm looking forward on bingeing your content! Thanks for making it!

[@Holyblades1982]

Finished 1 run with the spear but I struggle with almost everything else. Loving your videos man. Earned a sub.

[@HiFisch94]

With the sword I love the weapon upgrade that gives you -60% HP but fills up 2hp with each attack. It's super broken and helped me to learn a lot while using the sword.

[@Bogrin]

Would love to see some overexplained runs for difficult to use aspects like Guan Yu! This was very helpful even for a 120 hour plus player! :)

[@TheRalouch]

Just focus special :P

[@slav1453]

I love using spin with hammer upgrades (quick spin, massive spin) with both of those I find it hard to lose lmao

[@ArcNine9Angel]

39:20 For the codex, you need the upgrade for it yes, but also to see the boons of each god (and open their prophecy list), you need to have given them nectar. You give them nectar when you encounter their boon in a normal room before taking the boon, you should see the option. Note by 'normal room' I mean it cannot be a boon from: Charon's shop, Trial room, mystery bag, or a scripted event (Poseidon giving you first call, Demeter's first appearance, etc.)

[@tototoben]

51:15 Got sudden rush with charged shot on aspect of zeus, loved it. Had zeus on special, dio on attack, poseidon on dash, sea storm and scint feast with some nice extra jolts in there. Just set up a kill zone with special + cast and pushed everyone right in the spot. Probably the most enjoyable run I've had.

[@rowanbarrett9498]

Shield was my first successful run, it's my best weapon by far

[@PurushaDesa]

Wait, Hermes doesn’t count as a slot? Wish I’d known that. This whole thing is fantastic actually because it’s teaching me to focus my run on just a few buttons instead of scrambling all over the controller.

[@alttilehmusmetsa5926]

I love how much you say "I think" I think

[@joelthecannonmain7121]

Well theres a lot to think about, cant blame him

[@Haelian]

I think so too

[@CrudeYellow]

I hope you make fuck tons off these long videos you post, taking up such a large portion of your stream to do these over explained runs is just so sick

[@CymrilTaran]

57:05 Hey now, After Party lets you play extraordinarily sloppily and get away with it!

[@Haelian]

I just like giving it a hard time

[@lololollololol629]

pretty sure the teleporting boss only appears after making it to hades.. same with the grabber hands.. because I never seen them till the first time I got totally fucked up by hades..

[@Haelian]

Good to know!

[@horsebox5138]

Yup

[@PhysicsHelps]

Also Demeter

[@LithningWolf]

Charged shots with beowulf aspect is so much fun

[@jeremysaklad6703]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who occasionally finds mini-bosses in Styx way easier. Personally, I always take a non-boss wing first, followed by boss rooms. This maximizes the chance of getting a boss replaced by Satyr storage, since that is guaranteed not to happen immediately. Whether I clear the other wings after getting a Satyr Sack depends on how confident I am that I can avoid taking meaningful damage doing so, and whether the rewards are worthwhile. I usually end up clearing them in practice, since I’m pretty good at handling Styx enemies and you get truly insane amounts of Obols doing so if you have Urn upgrades.

[@Khunal1]

Hi. After watching your video I escaped for my first time and then again in the next run! It was your explanation of Hades’ battle that got me the wins. Thanks!!!

[@charliethecockatoo2159]

I appreciate EVERY ONE of your Hades videos. Thank you for the work you put into these. ;D ps friendly reminder (as the word is littered throughout the game) that chthonic is pronounced "thaa-nick", rhyming with phonics.

[@Joutube_is_trash]

I'm kinda mad. Got to the last 1/3 of his health on second phase but got melted by the giant 360 laser move the first time I fought him and I only had 1 death defy for the fight. I figured he would have a 3rd phase, now I see how close I was.

[@hollowthere3850]

Patty in Elysium name is actually pronounced "pat-trow-clease" I wouldn't have known this but he is in the movie Troy as Achilles' cousin. Great tutorial man, I've managed to escape 3 times in around 30 attempts thanks to watching your strategies, you have a cool twitch chat following too and your interactions are entertaining!

[@NyancyCat]

Pa-TROC-lus is how its pronounced in-game.

[@burrskurr4304]

very nice vid for beginners! one thing i was wondeing regarding always picking shops when offered: if you're offered a boon that fits your build (like at 39:15) and you're confident you're not going to take (too much) damage in the fight, would it not always be better to take the fight instead of the shop, especially if you don't have enough gold to buy multiple things? (obv doesn't apply to speedruns)

[@Haelian]

Yes! That's when the choice is more difficult: when the god offered is very much desired.

[@thanith3564]

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for doing this explanation video. I've had so many questions regarding how to make builds, especially with how to damage scale boons like lightning and hangover (is Chaos even good for these like, at all??). Thank you!

[@Haelian]

Chaos is best for cast builds and when you just want attack or special damage, but it's a bit of a gamble.

[@krusher181]

Please make more of these, my man. WE NEED IT. also: when does it tell me Patroculus' (sp?) name? He's listed as "? ? ?", still. I've cleared Elysium a bunch of times (still haven't beat Hades tho).

[@Zenancyne]

Okay wait, I think I figured out why it does that because I've been having that same problem and he won't talk to me but today I opened Achilles's codex and saw the patroclus option and Zag's voice over went something like "oh, so that's patroclus??" And so I think next time it should have his name instead of "???" Haven't had the chance to do another run yet 😅 so if someone else can confirm that would be cool

[@Jay2JayGaming]

@Andyndt2 1:09:12 Ah, but we do read Twitch Chat!

[@mogwaidimanno5639]

Good job bro, I am new at hades and I find these kind of video really helpful, and there aren't a lot of that around. I'd like to see this kind of stuff for other runs/weapon too, so if you are up to it, I'd really love it 😂. And thanks for the spoiler alert, was really appreciated since I got belated by hades three times now and I never killed

[@christopherfleetwood5252]

Hades: I… will… remember… this. Me: Clearly I didn’t hit you hard enough.

[@BrendanStuart]

I generally really dislike Poseidon boons for Atk/Spec/Dash. I'll take Dash if I'm using Bow/Rail or Special focused Spear/Shield, otherwise if I find Poseidon in the first handful of rooms before any other god I'll die and reset. I HATE landing a hit and having the enemy knocked back out of range. Before I really understood how things work I murdered a really good Fist run by swapping Aphro's Dash for Poseidon's in Elysium. All of a sudden my 1-2-3-4-Dashstrike-1-2-3-4 combo was absolutely worthless. It was such a good build too. Heroic Zeus on attack and Heroic Hermes attack speed (thanks Rare Crop😊), Long Fist and that one hammer that slams the ground on Special. Now every time I dashed to reset my combo, every enemy went out of range. SAD FACE.

[@scoot6363]

Thanks man just picked up the game and this helped alot

[@Yavorh55]

Had two "aimbot" builds today, both hinging on chain lightning + support fire spam on fast firing attacks. In particular used the homing special bow and the rail, but they both worked very similar in terms of the build I was doing Some Artemis for crit and it was chefs kiss

[@stgirat]

I beat Dad the first try on my 25th run! Couldn't believe it.

[@DevinJuularValentine]

Same on my 19th, I got the 300%+ rocket special, Artemis criticals on the SPECIAL and Athena's dash, doom on attack and the hangover bomb. I was just volleying aoe all over the fight and he went down so easy... The special was critting for 1300+ and it was by far the most damage I'd ever done in a run and it was my second time in Styx But I've had a hard time trying to finish it with the melee weapons, again especially in Styx when trying to avoid poison

[@quaidan]

I don’t understand. For the first shop, shouldn’t you choose the miniboss to save money and get Boon for free rather than wasting it at the shop?

[@Samsunaattori]

Fairly often you get a second room option at the end of the floor other than a shop, and that room has a literally free thing in it with no fighting at all. Also as explained in the video, there will be a miniboss room afterwards even if you skip the first so you'll find a boon that way anyway

[@Haelian]

Dis.

[@horsebox5138]

I'm good with everything weapon except this and the sword. Need this video lol

[@wh3elson]

This is what makes the game so good. The sword, spear, and shield came super natural to me and I always went pretty far the first few times I played with them. But the bow, gun, and fists I was terrible at, and the arrow is the only one That I’ve finally got to “click”. Gun and fists are still super hard for me, any tips?

[@zhaf]

Would be awesome if you could do a video on how to play more safely in Hades. As a fairly new player, most of my runs I spend a lot of gold refreshing death defiance's at shops and the enemies in Elysium usually destroys me. The Elysium boss usually ends my runs. And the few times I get past them the mobs in Styx destroys me. I have reached Hades boss fight only a handful of times and I have never beaten him. I usually have too little health left. So I really need to learn how to play more safely. Know how to deal with some of the later enemies. I like bow and fists the most. I've gone furthest with them. My worst runs are with shield and spear.

[@ARZiehm]

My first clear was with fists and my highest heat weapon is fists, there’s two builds I recommend: Zeus on attack with fists is really good. Focus on getting jolted and privileged status with another boon. If you want safer, go splash dash and sea storm, as it knocks away and is free damage. If not zeus, go artemis attack. You hit so much that your crit chances are pretty good. Get aphrodite special for heart rend (50% extra on crits) and all the other artemis boons like marked and support fire and you will shred through. Take athenas dash; it is by far the safest. Possibly her call as well. Your call will build up fast enough with support fire that you’ll always have invulnerability to pop. As for hammers, take long knuckle if you can; its safer and helps either build. Take any god boons you see, then gold if you’re under 150, then health or poms. Generally 200 health plus death defiance will be good. If you need extra lives by the end, take patroculus dd’s in Elysium or the tooth for styx. Also for health, take a dionysus charm early on and try to find strong drink. You’ll stay healed and get a damage boost. Also, if you feel low you can take the feather duster in Elysium (dusa’s charm after 1 nectar)

[@ARZiehm]

As far as bow runs, chiron is amazing, but only at level 4-5, which takes a lot of blood. Zag bow is great if you can max it and go for an artemis run, but otherwise id stay stick to fists, theyre easier to win with and dont need as much to be good and dont rely on hammers

[@ARZiehm]

Also, if you’re having trouble with enemies in elysium/styx, you can take the fist hammer that gives you extra armor damage on your dash attack. Just hold Y then dash and you’ll wreck armored enemies. As for styx, just stay long range with rats so you avoid poison, try casts or long knuckle. For the satyrs, listen for them hocking a loogie; thats the poison shot and is where you’ll lose the most health. Keep an eye out for where the heal pots are, you can pause when you enter a room to find one. Staying un-poisoned is the main way to survive

[@staffmaster]

try to get Athena dash and extra dashes from Hermes, chiron bow can be played really safe, try to keep your distance and learn the attack patterns, its mostly trial and error and you'll get more confidant the more you go against those enemies/bosses. Eurydice's keepsake also helps a lot.

[@zhaf]

Wow thanks for the tips. I would definitely try these builds. I usually run Zeus with Ares on fists and Artemis and Aphrodite on bow. Since I haven't beaten Hades yet I've only had 6 titan bloods. I run lvl1 Talos fists and lvl1 Hera bow. I also have Nemesis sword, chaos shield and eris rail unlocked at lvl1. No spear aspects unlocked.

[@chadraybon4822]

Not sure if I’m super lucky but I’ve gotten to Hades about 20 times now and I’ve always gotten satyr sack on the second path always when I’ve picked the path for Centaur Heart second.

[@gamesak1]

Exactly this! Thank you

[@mic01851165]

Doom Shield throw is my first Hades clear XD. But then I use shield much less now since other unlocked weapons are way more powerful. (Like Eirs Rail/ Charion Bow/Arthur Sword.) Shield seems to fall behind as far as dps goes later on.

[@FightTheMoose]

I've been messing around with Zeus shield lately bc its surprisingly fun and the damage it can put out is insane. I think it's probably in the top 3-4 aspects in terms of DPS

[@mic01851165]

@@FightTheMoose I kinda disagree with that. For dps, bow's special focus dps is absolutely broken. (Charged valley or Charion.) Eris Rail also has one of the best dps/ clear too. Don't get me started Fist's insane dps combo (but tougher to execute.) Both Aspect of Demeter and Gigamesh can do absurd amount of damage. Sword generally has low dps but Arthur Sword's dps is abnormally high too. Only spear seem to do meh damage comparatively. I'd say Shield/ Spear both are bottom tier dps. Not saying they're bad weapons, just saying comparatively their dps are way lower than other 4. Chaos Shield nerf is too much. Now it just does average dps.

[@Terminator85BS]

@@FightTheMoose I really love zeus shield. still only at heat 5 but it's crazy how it clears enemies when it's maxed. and it's fire and forget, really nice for some bosses so you can just focus on dodging. and a lot of boons trigger on special hit, so any of these can go crazy!

[@ashenonekenobi421]

I have a question: always thought that charon's shop is a good option only if you have enough gold to afford 2 things there, as you get double the value from the room. It depends on how much hp you have (sometimes you want to skip a fight and also have a chance to buy a heaing ware), thou. Why is it not true and you choose shop even if you have gold for only one thing?

[@Haelian]

Depends on a few things, but most of the time a boon is in the shop so if the other door isn't a boon, I'd rather go there. Even if the other door is a boon from a miniboss, I could delay seeing the miniboss thus getting 2 boons out of it.

[@ashenonekenobi421]

@@Haelian thanks, now I understand!

[@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269]

Haa! Gotta love that Deflect.👍

[@Surrender1821]

great video!

[@juliagalang4260]

Just gonna throw a question out here in hopes that someone will answer. I just unlocked the part of the mirror that offers Privileged Status vs Family Favorite, and I wanted to know which one is the preferable one to max out for consistent runs? Because FF damage bonus is much lower, but I can't always guarantee getting boons that put status curses... Any insight would be great!

[@Haelian]

I think PS is a bit more interesting and fun, and once you get in the habit of planning around it, you'll see it active the majority of the time.

[@juliagalang4260]

@@Haelian I just saw this! Thank you! I also ended up diving more into your channel and actually saw your Mirror guide video! Decided to invest in PS after and nabbed myself my first win with the shield :D Great stuff!

[@ckannan90]

Great video, even after multiple clears

[@joshman0219]

Love these videos

[@WarBovine]

This might be a really stupid question... but how do i enable the ability to see what chamber I'm in? I have the timer enabled but I never see a chamber count?

[@Haelian]

Not a stupid question, it's not a setting unfortunately, you have to hit the boon menu to check (I think B is the default on keyboard).

[@WarBovine]

@@Haelian thanks for the info appreciate it!

[@alyxakas]

thank you sm for this mr haelian. v helpful

[@ruslanbaimakhanov2491]

Plz explain logic of choosing shop over boon. You can always spend gold later.

[@Haelian]

I explain it in other comments but essentially we are guaranteed a boon in the future because a mini boss door will be offered again. Shop can only be offered once and has a very high chance of having a boon inside.

[@ruslanbaimakhanov2491]

@@Haelian shop is not offered once, it's 2 per region. So you can spend gold later. Plus you can have bonus 15% gold per region if having right perk.

[@walldell210]

Is it weird that i reached 12 heat average on each weapon so far and kept winning while only using family favorites?

[@Haelian]

Not weird, definitely fine@

[@psychofurby]

Can't believe he didn't buy the rod of fishing at the beginning. Fucking RIP

[@WodermarkBimbley]

Hey is curse of drowning good with Hera also keep the awesome videos

[@Haelian]

I dont think it can be offered while using Hera, at least it would be weird if it was...

[@WodermarkBimbley]

Haelian thanks I spent like 4 runs trying to get it

[@devinmacy186]

How do I get more titans blood? I’m running into not being able to get that much

[@Haelian]

Gotta slowly turn up the heat with each weapon to earn those bounties. You can also try to save up gold each run to buy the blood/diamond in Styx.

[@Scarlettshardd]

I don't feel like I agree with your choice to take the first shop over the boon... ? you said you generally go middle shop but I almost always skip it if I'm offered a boon as an alternative. Obviously you didn't know you would buy demeter in shop, but you really just lost out on 150g for no reason.

[@ARZiehm]

I get you, but at the same time shops have boons AND health/darkness/hermes so yeah you lose money but you have more options and if the other door is a god you don’t want you can go shop to get different gods into your pool

[@Haelian]

The miniboss is guaranteed to be offered again, so if I skipped the shop I'd actually be down a boon. I could have saved the gold but I would have ended up spending it on something similar later anyway.

[@hereweare9011]

When do you even get the pack of punishment?

[@Haelian]

After your first win I believe.

[@kyle123456789986]

For the life of me I can't win runs anymore I always lose a life to theseus and then I completely die to hades and I don't understand why it just started happening out of nowhere

[@iniiloi6636]

Ares dash ability is really good for theseus imo. Theseus can't block the rift and you are not in hurry, just take your time.

[@namelessbacon9483]

If you get aphrodite call that 2500 dmg can get you through the last 1/4 of theseus life and help with hades until you memorize atk patterns

[@kyle123456789986]

@@namelessbacon9483 ive been on a winning streak I already beat the game it's just out of nowhere I'm getting fucked like I'm level 1 with no mirror and I don't understand

[@kyle123456789986]

It absolutely breaks my heart that I can't play one of my favorite games with my favorite music and story just out of nowhere the game spiked it's so upsetting I literally can't tell what I'm doing wrong

[@o0Hystic0o]

I did beat him the first time on my 12th run with first time gun :-D but since failed 4 times against him :-/ In that run i got the big bonus on the special(rocket) that also damages you with other multipliers on special and since the Hades area is pretty large I could just dash around sniping him with 900 rockets Hope this can help some new players to get the Juicy 1000 crystals for the 1st clear, since I'm not very good and it was not that hard with that strategy

[@TheBestTacoCat]

are there any benefits to trying to max out a single god in a run?

[@Haelian]

Zeus and poseidon are great for this actually

[@thetreacherousleech8990]

Btw you just need to talk to nyx to get the other side of the mirror I think. I got it with only the first key upgrades

[@WhaitWhattt]

Beat my first run with Eris rail!

[@applesandbananas6761]

I watched the whole thing lol

[@Syllaren]

My first win was shield. I may or may not have just flat out turtled into a corner and had the projectile shield rush change. I'm a coward.... But I'm a coward that beat a god.

[@louiskusters9452]

I always thought shops were by far the worst room in the game. I just spend my money on well of charon + the shop in the styx area. I also see this opinion voiced online all the time. Can you give a reason as to why you 'always go for the shop'?

[@Haelian]

I can see this happening, I guess I'm looking at it as a 'reaction' based decision where you want to spend gold getting back health after having lost it instead of spending the gold getting stronger in a more preemptive move. I guess I cant see for sure my way is better, whatever works for you!

[@MyLazyEye23]

“I can’t start with it unless I carry it all the way to the end” Regarding keepsakes..why? Are they single use?

[@tanewby3861]

@haelian do you think they will nerf the 5 rocket spread on the rail cause that thing is flipping beast mode. I beat the boss at the end of Elysium in like 7 shots lol. Do you know anyway to ensure getting a hammer at the start of the run.

[@doodlecrazydc]

Farm deaths until you get one

[@tanewby3861]

@@doodlecrazydc so if you get a hammer and you don't get the option you want if you give up do the options change or stay the same

[@doodlecrazydc]

Stay the same if you use the same weapon/aspect, but different aspects don't always have access to all hammer upgrades so that can force a change. Obviously using a different weapon changes them entirely.

[@tanewby3861]

@@doodlecrazydc okay I was just curious if there was an easy way to force a hammer but I suppose there isn't. Like if you are using the rail and you get a hammer right at the beginning and your after Delta chamber but you don't get it could you give up and when you went back in what the options have changed but I guess not that's okay though. Also curious if they'll Nerf the rocket and the five spread together because I used it and you can straight just delete enemies with it and it just seems extremely overpowered I hope they don't cuz it's fun

[@Haelian]

There are some mods but it wont help guarantee the second hammer. I'm doubtful they'll do too much nerfing now after 1.0 so I wouldn't worry.

[@YuhMovies]

I got the other side of the mirror pretty fast, it was around when I defeated the hydra

[@LongerTomTV]

thanks that was helpfull

[@benmeysembourg2148]

Never clicked off of hades so fast

[@blindfold1046]

Can someone explain why Demeter isn’t used as much as let’s say Artemis?

[@Haelian]

Crits are just very powerful for dealing damage and Hades is a game where some times the best course of action is to kill the enemy before they kill you. The Chill effect can be nice to slow enemy patterns but Demeter also has a lot of other boons that aren't exactly stellar.

[@kiveynen]

Second wave is huge vs non boss rooms and wall slamms. Also it should be huge on fast hitting weapons with zeus legendary and or just the zeus / poseidon duo, right? I've yet to try this, but in theory everys attack (with posidon boon) should trigger two knock backs which in turn would trigger two of the lightning goodness. (More if you also got the zeus double...something boon) ... rrrrright? :D.

[@lynciurro2381]

21:28 I am also used to traps

[@ripsterhipster5948]

Waityou can fight Charon?

[@ChaossX77]

I thought one of the 2 mini boss rooms always had the sack for Cerberus. Or has that just been dumb luck for me?

[@Haelian]

Completely random, just can't be the first path you take.

[@ChaossX77]

@@Haelian so strange. When I pick only the mini boss rooms I've gotten it on my second try almost every time. I've tried it like 25 times in a row and got it after the second room. Idk if the Switch version is different or if it makes the odds a lot better if you pick the mini boss rooms 2 times in a row right from the start? Appreciate the reply either way.

[@surajkarthikeyan3650]

IDK bout you but I lost it at the jesus spam lmao : 1:05:25

[@masedrums]

Say "Post Office" and now say "Re-POST." That's how you pronounce riposte...

[@darkerm76]

Dude, you should bump up the volume of your videos. its kinda low and with mobile its hard to understand. Not everyone use headphone

[@nilskavanagh]

Idk what youre talking about, its literally fine volume

[@ARZiehm]

Yeah its more than loud enough for me too, im on phone speakers, not headphones. Maybe it’s just on your end?

[@TheMathias95]

I have the sound on half volume on my phone. Maybe you should consider your environment is the issue, or your phone.

[@TheArchitect097]

I suck at this game as much as I love it. Attempt 65 and still can't complete a run. Got to Hades once and blew it. I don't even know how I made it there once.