How to Conquer 8, 16 and 32 Fear! The Easiest and Hardest Vows Explained! | Hades 2

[@Annokh]

Vow of Suffering is a jerk. Winter Coat doesn't help against it because it only affects the damage that you actually take. I'm soo taking Hephaestus' armor in each location with this...

[@Haelian]

Good info!

[@lookalike4805]

Its surprising how Complicated this Game gets when you really Dig Into It. 👀

[@shadower227]

About to type the same damn thing when I was doing my 32 fear run. Got real pissed that it didnt work. It has to be active damage to the red healthbar ps: mine had armour, it did not work either

[@Annokh]

Now I wonder if that Caress duo works against it. Then again, by the time you get it, most of the problem will already occur...

[@spiegeleifisch2982]

But taking trusty shield (armor for priming magic) it could be pretty free. Did not try it but you could not lose more health than the amount of armor you have if I am right.

[@nicklemay8056]

I think the thing making 32 fear feel so much harder is the lack of the sort of padding consequences that Hades 1 had (things like armored perks or +1 armored enemy) or even extreme measures which gave a crazy amount of heat for very little investment (minus the super hades fight which is brutal imo)

[@josh___something]

4 heat felt like a gimme since any run that gets to hades probably has a shot at big dad.

[@karlrassmann4604]

My guess is Extreme Measures will come back at a later point, once we have biomes 3 and 4 for the surface

[@nicklemay8056]

@@josh___something I think for me I just had really horrendous timing with some of his attacks so I never could really justify doing it (plus I only went up to 16 for the achievement I never went for 32)

[@nicklemay8056]

@@karlrassmann4604 Yea this seems most likely, they probably were also more focused on getting areas 1-4 complete than coming up with harder versions of the fights. Some ppl speculate that the cyclops and eris fights will get toned down (due to them no longer being the end of the run essentially) and that their current fights will become their extreme measures variants. Cyclops will probably lose some of the shockwaves he currently has/some hitboxes like on his jump, and Eris probably won't buff as much or won't use her shotgun attack

[@ronaldwangdra9675]

​@@nicklemay8056 They probably just overtuned the health and damage stats on these bosses, but in terms of boss pattern complexity, they don't seem tough enough to be an Extreme Measure boss at the moment.

[@jaunnartatez-ukumelee2942]

I love how Demeter’s infusion book which caps damage at 15 can make taking increased damage modifiers essentially free

[@fabe61]

Can totally ruin you if you don’t get it very quickly though

[@shadower227]

Even works with a certain super-secret 1 shot kill move

[@phoenix6890]

Beat 24 with Pan today, cannot underestimate how important changing my arcana setup was, focused on low hp and all dmg with strength, white antler, and swapped a few things like turning off mob hp% - vow of domiance (which gave chronos too much hp) and turned on arrogance instead. Also, Vow of Forsaking is actually such a buff, turn it on every run and with enough rerolls you can banish bad god boons.

[@wildstorm3486]

(About vow of Forsaking) I know right? When I first looked at it I thought wow that’s going to be a difficult one to take. Then I paused to think about it and realized that it can be such a powerful toll. As long as you think about it. Like Haelian said. The TIER two boons aren’t going to show up until you pick an a core slot boon. You also most likely don’t want most boons from any one particular God. You only really want a few specific boons for any one specific build. Like you said it actively helps you cut out some unwanted or unnecessary boons for your build.

[@Kaizo107]

I feel like all of Haelian's recommendations need come with the caveat: skill issue. I would sooner take just about anything else on the list before Tight Deadline, because that underlying panic of the timer makes the entire thing anti-fun for me, because my skill level is way way lower. I'd rather play +60% enemies patiently than have to constantly pause the game to take a breath and think

[@nicklemay8056]

The way I warmed up was by doing the 9 minute variant. It's honestly plenty of time to complete the floor imo and with every upgrade the floor clears get faster, most of the time I end up with a surplus of time by tartarus and can go do all the side pathing and stuff. Just tried 7 mins on a 16 fear run and it's definitely much closer but doable. I beat chronos with about 30 seconds left and I was hauling ass, so take that for what you will. Doing 9 mins and cutting off 2 mins per floor mentally to see where you'd be at by the end of the run tells you how you'd have done with the harder variant

[@Kaizo107]

@@nicklemay8056 I've done the 9 minute level and finished with time to spare, but it changes the feel of the entire run in a way that ruined any enjoyment of the process

[@bellor123]

I mean you should tailor it to yourself but the first lvl of tight deadline is literally a freebie. There should be no way you ever need more then the 9min even with some awful build. I can see the 7min giving more issue if u are not fast tho. with the 9min one u regularly end up with huge amount of time left for the last floor since each floor is faster then the first.

[@lookalike4805]

Fun is the Whole Reason why I play Games so even if it Wasn't a Skill Issue for me I Still Wouldn't Bother. Effectively this Means IL never know what the 2nd or 3rd Statues Look Like.... Thankfully Schelemeus doesn't Pester me by Reminding me about it every now and then The Way Skelly did in Hades 1 😎

[@sleshstamp]

Agreed. I did 32 fear with no tight deadline. Just play safe and far away and take ur time.

[@eshansingh1]

I'm waiting for the new version of Extreme Measures to come out before doing higher fear runs, it was a pretty major source of heat in Hades 1. Right now it feels like you have to have a lot of very scary ones to even get to 24 fear.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

I loved EM because it increases the difficulty, but without just making numbers worse for you. (eg. less healing, more hp/dmg/speed for enemies, no arcana, no mana, etc.) So the feeling of increased difficulty isn't "false" (it makes the game harder for sure, just not in a fun way imo).

[@Kaizo107]

EM was the only heat I ever messed with. Didn't care about the statues, but harder boss fights while the rest of the game is normal? Love it. Streamed the process of beating EM4 with every aspect.

[@christopherm4540]

I'm a noob gamer first time playing hades I don't have skill I turned God mode on and beat 32 fear easy on third try. Beat both areas easily. I had maxed weapon aspects and arcana cards. It was actually very easy. Not complaining.

[@Haelian]

It will definitely be easier with a Extreme Measures-style vow.

[@Andrews13channel]

@@christopherm4540Well duh

[@danielmiller9379]

I recently got the 3rd statue and I pretty much fully agree with your takes. I will say that chronos 20/40% faster is REALLY rough when he starts pulling off his 3 move combos.

[@TheBooBomber609]

I found out some interesting things about Vow of Bitterness. Not only does it not affect boons that show up in Charon’s shop, dual boon rooms are also unaffected. So while on paper you are losing four boons, that number can potentially drop down to only one lost boon if you manage to find dual boon rooms in Erebus, Oceanus, and Tartarus (I don’t think they can spawn in Fields of Mourning). Additionally, I think you can work it as a sort of god frequency manipulator early on in a run. In one run I did with it, the first boon would’ve been from Hera but it got onion’d because of the vow. After that, I didn’t see Hera boons for the rest of the run.

[@chairwolf5446]

The best advice I got in Hades 1 was to turn up the enemy attack speed as early as you feel comfortable, just so you can get used to it and train your reactions. Going up from 20-40% enemy speed sucks more when you've been playing on 20% for a few hundred hours.

[@JoseHernandez-gu7pg]

That point you made about the Hephaestus armor was what got me over the hump. Took the extra 300% damage and 5 minute tight deadline. Took all the "antimagick" vows. Once i got that armor boon from... it was game over. Definitely harder than Hades 1.

[@francesgardner7070]

I like vow of suffering for surface runs bc I can intentionally stand in fire and get hit for 2 instead of 1 and then I don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the encounter

[@machazychaz]

Isn't there an aphro duo where the first hit heals you? Probably too much work to set up I guess

[@yojacket7319]

​@@machazychaz I think it's the case that the first hit with that boon doesn't count as taking a hit and so doesn't proc the increased damage until it's used

[@machazychaz]

@@yojacket7319 oh! Makes sense when i think about it for more than a few seconds 😅

[@Not.A.Heretic]

homie is thinking in 4D

[@Not.A.Heretic]

​@@machazychazyou'd be surprised how easy some duos can happen. most of em just need 2 specific boons, and most are boons you see all the time

[@majtravien4381]

Played with Vow of Commotion maxed out on 20 heat and it is BRUTAL. It's fine up until Tartarus, and then in Tartarus you spawn into rooms that have what feels like 40 enemies on screen at the same time. If you have a huge damage AOE build you'll have a fun time, but if not you'll be barely scraping by to reach Chronos. Also, a warning about the Vow of Bitterness - if you get Yarn of Ariadne between regions to boost your next boon, it actually seems to get used up *on the onion*, so you're just wasting money, basically.

[@duncan_parkinson]

Vow of Abandon was nice for getting some Nightmare from Hecate while also clearing the prophecy about beating her with no Arcana cards active, but I don’t think I’ll ever use it again now that I’ve completed that!

[@Ichbinsnur2181]

You can get that simply by beating one of the easy challenges as well. But i do hope they fix that, the idea for challenges clearly came from isaac and there unlocks were blocked

[@lookalike4805]

What if you Beat Hecate on the Very First Run like Haelian Did ? 👀 I remember this Didn't Work for Megaera in Hades 1... You had to Wait for the Fated List to give you the Challenge before it would Register. 😬

[@Flare34567]

Vow of forsaking in my opinion is pretty much a positive, especially if you’re using rolls. It can guarantee getting rid of the chaff in a certain gods pool like Poseidon to get to the legendary or the duos you’re chasing

[@CostelloDamian]

Interesting. I've never thought of it that way. Thanks

[@alexsawicki]

So, one thing I'm going to point out with vow of destitution: For surface runs, I almost never spend all my money anyway. The first region only has 1 normal shop... And, as you pointed out, it's a longer region then the first region when going down. It's not uncommon for me to have 500 to 700 gold going into the shop in the first surface region. The second region does have a mid-shop... But it seems rare to get. And the end shop is still only a regular shop. On the other hand, going down, there's always the big shop at the end. There's always mid-shops. There's a LOT more reasons to spend gold going down then when going to the surface. This is a vow that I think changes significantly depending on whether you're going to the surface or going down. Going to the surface, 1 level (maybe even both levels) seems almost free... But, going down, I'd totally avoid it until much higher levels of fear.

[@arishok8689]

I never end surface runs with much gold. Are you not using the Hermes Shrines? The stuff from there is cheap as long as you don't need to do the rush delivery option (when you won't get the stuff before fighting the second biome boss).

[@alexsawicki]

@@arishok8689 That is a gold sink, I guess. But, like you said: just don't worry about it if you get one of the Hermes shrines late. It's cheap if you get it early, but maybe don't worry about it if you get it late.

[@justheadline]

Literally just did a 32 heat with Momus thanks to this guide. I love your content, been following for a while, thank you for all your dedication to this title!

[@SuperHansburger93]

I beat 32 fear recently and I mostly agree with your assessment. What killed most of my attempts was Vow of Fury 40% and Vow of Suffering 100%. It might not seem that terrible, but if you get hit only once per encounter, you still take double damage over the course of the run. This is much more detrimental than it looks, because there are many many many encounters in a single run. I never take Commotion because it just makes it nearly impossible to finish runs on time, while Haunting isn't a big deal. Wandering I mostly agree with you, except on the Surface runs. Because some of the tougher enemies you get on the boats start spawing in the city and they can be very annoying when mixed with the city's enemies. Still one of the easiest vows, though. Vow of Panic is free if you use a Momus build because you don't need magic anyway, and I would absolutely recommend Momus to beat 32 fear for the first time... Vow of Forsaking I ALWAYS have it on. Sure you take the risk of losing some boons, but it makes it SO MUCH easier to get the boons you want quickly. This vow is actually beneficial. Vow of Bitterness I only use if I'm going for a simple build. The +3 fear bonus is huge, but you can forget about getting specific legendaries and duos with this. Works great with Momus build because it doesn't affect hammers and the only boon you really need is Poseidon's special. Vow of Arrogance is good now because it's bugged. Once it's fixed, it's gonna be much harder to work with. Vow of Desperation I can manage 9 minutes without problem but 7 is a bit tight for me. I'm not a speedrunner like you :) Vow of Abandon completely destroys your build, I never use it. Even for +10 fears I wouldn't take it... For the 32 fear setup, I just couldn't do it with +40% speed. I tried but the Chronos fight was just too hard for me. Instead I took Bitterness. The onion isn't that annoying when you play Momus and all you really need is 1 Poseidon boon and some hammers (which aren't affected). I also took the 9 minutes Desperation because I'm not fast enough to be comfortable with 7, especially in Erebus. 2 Rebukes isn't a problem at all because once you have Poseidon's special it removes both shields in 1 hit. Revenants weren't too much of an issue because you have to keep running all the time in this game anyway... It was a bit annoying sometimes in Oceanus where I was forced to run through the steam and take damage to prevent enemies from respawning, but still manageable.

[@sockpuppetqueen]

God your timing is good, I just reached the point of the game where I'm trying to bash my head against 32 fear, and after dying a zillion times in a row last night, I literally searched your channel to see if you had some sort of fear guide lol

[@lookalike4805]

I'm not even going to Attempt it... 👀

[@Abn1098]

@@lookalike4805same I struggled enough with 18 I can’t imagine 32

[@Abn1098]

Nvm I did it

[@lovelylemonfactory]

@@Abn1098 lol that was quick

[@Abn1098]

@@lovelylemonfactory the bow of bitterness was fucking me up once I switched it up things became a little easier. Still hard as a bitch though

[@temtempo13]

Just did 32 Fear for both the Underworld (1st try) and the Surface (3rd try), both time relying on Momus Staff + Poseidon Special, having jumped straight from 20 Fear to 32 Fear. The game was nice enough to throw me Double Moonshot for the Underworld, whereas I didn't see it for any of my Surface attempts. I found it interesting that I went with a very different Fear setup than what the video recommends: For the underworld, I went with zero timer so I could play as safely as possible. That allowed me to max out +enemy HP, +blue hearts, one rank in both +enemy damage and +first hit damage, +20% enemies per encounter and no healing allowed. My surface setup was the similar, but taking full ranks in +enemy speed so I could ease up on enemy damage. I really should have taken at least 1 point in the time limit: even with the extra point elsewhere, and even with absolutely not rushing through chambers at all (not trying to kill enemies faster; not trying to sprint to the next room asap; not necessarily taking mid-region shops or avoiding extra fights; not using pauses when considering room choices), I still finished in under 32 minutes, so I probably would've been fine. I just know having the clock on the screen would pressure me into making mistakes, so I skipped it, and it worked out. (My surface run was over 19 minutes.... but I have to assume a fair bit of that was staring at my options in Ephyra and doing siderooms that could easily have been avoided.) The thing that made a huge difference for the Surface, which I got from this video, was giving up on the "higher chance of Epic boons" tarot card, freeing up grasp to allow me to take Swift Runner and "reroll locations" instead. Having the instant dash, and being able to reroll Ephyra rooms to load up on Poseidon boons definitely made all the difference. Great video, really appreciate the advice in it, even if I went my own way on some of the choices.

[@gavinblue3534]

32 fear definitely a lot tougher than 32 heat was, i used the momus speedrun strat for both 32 fears everything else felt so bad. especially the lack of shattering shackle my baby from hades hurts high fear too

[@goatmeal5241]

Yeah turning the shackle into a Heph/Hera Duo boon is such an awkward choice

[@Saracen93]

If you just wanna get the statues and not actually play 32 for funzies: I prefer no timer, and put more stuff in the top row, full revenant and wandering, so I can take my time dealing with the extra health/revenants and just running to corners without worrying about time. I do 2 low-healing but keep just 1 because I hate 0-heal fountains. Currently I think 32 is way harder and feels worse than 32 heat. If it changes I might consider using vows for fun.

[@GreyWithCreamium]

Have to say that the onion vow is one to consider. I actually got my two 32's using it. If you're going for the Momus special spam you don't need that many boons anyway. It makes the start of the run tougher, but it allowed me to enable some healing still. No healing at all was too rough for me. It's even better for the surface since you get one empty boon early before going into the city, and then you're free to seek out Poseidon and the hammer from the room choices.

[@VivBrodock]

Recently finished 24 fear on the Axe, been mostly using Than Aspect (Aphro attack, Hera magic etc.) on the 24 fear run I planned on doing the 0 magic vow, mel aspect just stick to regular attack, ended up getting born gain very early anyways. Im pretty sure I won nearly entirely because I got the Infusion boon that caps the max damage you can receive at 15 (Demeter's?) not needing to avoid Chronos' instant kill moves saved me so much mental overhead on the second stage.

[@CoachJohnMcGuirk]

I have maxed out the vow of suffering IRL.

[@chanlekho]

I can do 20 heat casually back in Hades 1. But this, i struggle so much even on low fear.. Some vows are just really terrifying..

[@majtravien4381]

well, it is called Fear for a reason...

[@lovelylemonfactory]

Are you doing it with Tight Deadline? That used to be pretty free but it really isn't in this game. I was struggling to do 8 with the deadline. Did 16 my first time after turning it off. I think it's a trap for most people.

[@juanp7691]

@@lovelylemonfactory very appropriate that the timer feature is terrifying in the game about killing time himself

[@vyrv6719]

Spamming comments to let dad see, the axe's daedalus hammer that lets you "attack during your omega attack" lets you charge your omega attack AGAIN during the first one, and they DO stack. so you can have 3 or four going at once. With aphro attack and thanatos aspect, You instantly phase every boss, and every miniboss dies to one spin. Edit: Just did a run with haephaestus as second god, rolled for first 12 sec immunity. This is the speed strat 100%. Died to chronos because i tried to attack during his big aoe and stepped out, but it was LAUGHABLY fast.

[@RoninCaged]

Just wanted to say thanks Haelian for this guide. It was the reason i managed to push above 16 fear which was my max. The biggest mistake for me was always thinking enemy quantity and health wasn't that much of a big deal. Newbie mistake I know. Still working towards being able to use Vow of Desperation at 07:00. I'm still too slow. Oh and the arcana guide which also helped me so much. So yeah i suck at this game but its amazing just as all the Supergiant games and You made me able to get enjoyment of the story but also of the gameplay itself and not dying all the time.😅

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

Vow of Bitterness should turn the first boon you get into an onion _as long as you've already gained a boon that region,_ in order to fix completely kneecapping you right out of the gate and negating the usefullness of your Olympian keepsakes. (Because what's the point of determining what your first boon of the reigon is going to be if that's the boon you have to give up?) I.E the _second_ boon of each region is yeeted instead. Another way to solve this would be to make you gave up the boon at the _end_ of each region, but I think that's too much like th e Pact of Punishment and is perhaps too lenient the other way because you then have a large range of options.

[@sockpuppetqueen]

Or maybe make it have levels- for 1 fear, lose the second boon in a region, for 2+ fear lose the first one, or something like that

[@maxwithanaxe8098]

Thanks, after lots of struggle i got my first 32 fear run with your fear setup and poseidon momus

[@conorhannon3352]

i like the idea of vow of abandon a lot but i really think they either should make it scale like approval process, by limiting the max cards you activate (higher restrictions adding more fear ofc), or make it add a LOT more fear in order to justify using it a bit more. i like using it for the added challenge but i definitely wouldn't consider unironically using it unless it added 10 fear at minimum EDIT: the former option could also allow for easier judgement runs which i think would be PERFECT for high fear levels

[@MinorKeyMystery]

It could also just have a scaling Grasp reduction effect, -10/-20/-30, but it definitely needs to top out at much more than 5 fear.

[@oliverweldner8704]

After 16 Tries i finally made it at 32 fear with the skulls! Apollo attack, 5 skulls and a lot of health through 3 Chaos boons with health! Never thought it possible for me

[@JoseHernandez-gu7pg]

My first 32 win was with Skull too... I feel like it's a bit underrated. It's my favorite nocturnal arm but nobody seems to be talking about it.

[@Arkayjiya]

@@JoseHernandez-gu7pg I don't enjoy playing skull much, but it is undeniably the most powerful weapon in its base unbuffed state for me. Once you get crazy boon combinations, other weapons can become stronger but if I have to use one weapon to win a "no Olympus boon run" like the one in Hades 1, it has to be the skull. It has an AoE weakness but the omega special is still very good at it if you've got mana regen, and if you can get the shotgun hammer with the +2 shell hammer, you already have enough damage to beat Chronos without any other bonus beside arcana cards.

[@deepseafish257]

I've beaten 32 on both routes with skulls (Persephone works best, but the other aspects are okay too) and Hera omega special spam. The invulnerability during it is nice and Hera on it let's you add fear like the blue hearts and extra health very easily. Hera in your pool also means you can get her magic regen, giving you pretty much infinite mana as soon as you get it. Hestia or Demeter cast pair very well with it, both for origination and getting the blue hearts off without spending mana. Demeter is safer due to freeze, but Hestia has a good duo, so honestly it's just whichever one you get first.

[@vyrv6719]

Was just doing a casual run with like 6 fear. Got aphro attack on the axe.... With the hammers that make you charge omega attack faster, and let you attack during your omega attack. YOU CAN CHARGE YOUR OMEGA DURING YOUR OMEGA AND THEY STACK. Every single cronos phase when down before my first omega spin was done, and because that lets you dash during your omega, you can clear rooms SO Fast. The "use attacks during your omega attack" hammer has GOT to be the best speed hammer. It takes my crazy poseidon special spam runs and makes them look like jokes. (i got the charge speed hammer first, so the run wasn't really crazy till right before cerberus, but I didn't even get through my resists vs cerbie. Just killed him with two stacks left, since he phased instantly every time.)

[@tylerschreurs5187]

One of my favourite runs was Thanatos with Apollo cast and Demeter attack with the hammer that makes your omega attack go off on its own. Throw one attack, cast then spin. So fun.

[@lookalike4805]

You mean *Advancing Whirlwind* ? Oh goodness I hate that Specific Hammer the Most 🤢. For some Reason when you put that Specific Hammer on... You are unable to Dash Cancel your Omega Attack anymore... I was having a pretty Chill Run once and the Chamber Right after getting that Hammer I lost all my *Death Defiances* 😭

[@NemusD]

Greats tips, i got the 8 and 16 easily, but i was a afraid to try 32, i made your setup and got it first try even with out the 2 specials's or any hammer

[@jhon1406]

I really appreciate this guide

[@fabe61]

With pan daggers I’ve found the Poseidon mana boon gives me way more mana than I could ever use and because you’re usually hugging enemies to shotgun them you pick up the spirit bubbles straight away. When you get bad luck and need to get more bubbles, the attacks proc it super easily. I think it’s better than the Hera boon for this specific omega special dagger build.

[@selocan469]

Nice content, full level "Vow of Suffering" can be circumvent with Hephaestus Trusty Shield of any rarity with zero pom. But, you need to survive it until then. I generally go for it in second biome though where "Vow of Blood" can not be circumvent other than being a good player. I prefer going full "Vow of Suffering" instead ""Vow of Blood" " thanks to Trusty Shield. Note: Even with one shield 999 damage will ve soaked and none will be carried over your health. Similarly, Trusty shield or any shield value small enough is a good price to mitigate risk chaos boons with a "Doomed" penalty. "Vow of Abandonment" though... is total bs, only a full fear achiever would be forced to take it. No way!

[@firegon2288]

High heat runs feel more miserable than in Hades I imho. Especially the first two acts can feel really like a chore, once the build gets going it gets a bit more exciting ( though not easier). The "fun" type of challenging stops at around 15-18 fear for me, while in Hades I it was around 25-28. Completed the 32 fear run once, not really tempted to do it again for now. So many of the pacts just make the game really severely less fun to play - more health, more enemies, revenants, boons are onions, less gold, arcana cards don't work, enemy shields, priming magick ... and then some of the other ones seem to have overtuned values - 5 mins deadline, 300% first time you take damage, 40% attack speed - there is no way these will stay unchanged if they are going to add extreme measures. Hades I managed to have a PERFECTLY balanced heat system where it was barely humanly possible to get to 64 heat and only a couple of people ever have done it. Time will tell if this system will be similar, but i really doubt it.

[@NOMATfull]

I lost a most 32 heat ridiculous run.... Died to Chronos simply because I got FOUR BOONS in 4 floors. Needless to say i wasn't able to activate bonus damage from curse/status effects coz I had none. I am not even that good at the game, but that could have been THE run, if I was able to get that +50%.

[@1korax]

mmmm about the dagger and mana regen I had a problem but maybe I missed something, with BORN GAIN for mana regen, does it only work if you go to zero? It often happens to me that I'm left with 1 mana and since it's not at zero the mana regen doesn't start, is there a way to activate it ? Or I'm missing something ?

[@joaopedroalbernaz5745]

This video deserves an update

[@FuneralRage]

I personally used Vow of Bitterness for my 32 fear runs, instead of the final level of Fury (Chronos is brutal with it). Also, 1 level of Dominance and Commotion in order to drop the final level of deadline (I failed twice to the timer in the Chronos fight while using it, I was done lol). As for rebuke, I only used 1 level of it; 2 layers was too annoying to deal with, I'd rather have any other 1 fear Vow. And for Keepsakes, since Bitterness makes it difficult to go for specific gods, I rely more on the raw damage of Momus and other Keepsakes to make up for the lack of Boons, namely Heracles keepsake for zone 1 works really well, then switching to Chaos or Narcissus if you have a decent boon to make Heroic. Odysseus' keepsake also works well for Chronos. Personally not a fan of Moros'.

[@Fermentos]

The new fear feels so much more difficult then the Hades pact, it's pretty insane. I dont have everything unlocked, but I lost twice on 20 fear while 32 heat was pretty easy imo

[@deepseafish257]

Extreme Measures and the mini-boss one helped imo. EM was easy up until (and including) 3, so that was 6 free heat, plus 2 for the mini-boss one. 4 extra heat if you can do EM4, which means that even with just those two you have the equivalent of 20 fear for all normal rooms. And with soooo many mobs with high speed and range and much more cramped rooms, the normal rooms got harder as a baseline, which fear will exponentially increase.

[@anthemoftheworld]

I ended up doing my first 32 heat run with Dominance 1, Rebuke 2, Fury 2, Suffering 1, Commotion 2, Wandering 2, Scars 1, Destitution 1, Panic, Forsaking, Arrogance 2, and Desperation 3. I HATE HATE HATE Vow of Haunting so much, I had such an issue with the skulls flying in absurd directions and costing me too much time so I ended up removing it from my attempts and got my 32 win only a couple runs later.

[@dyllanoverly1091]

Once I unlocked fear I maxed out the speed and the foes from the next zone to get used to the speed up sitting at 9 fear from that and getting threw the faster mechanic wind ups made getting my fear levels increasing at a more steady pace

[@dyllanoverly1091]

Vow of arrogance is the third one I maxed once I got used to the 9 fear

[@Eon-n6n]

Had a lot of fun on a torch build with Zeus special, Apollo cast, and their duo boon. Nothing else is a must get for it, but channel speed is a big plus. As many poms as possible on Blitz from special. Not sure if it’s actually strong, ran it on 16 heat and felt pretty good

[@Im_A_Nerd]

vow of panic is free if ur not using an omega-heavy build one time i intentionally took no magick regen w/ it so i could get permanent huntress card + spirit surge boon (all enemies get smited every once in a while if you have less than 10 magick) it was very funni

[@Kohcta]

vow of suffering goes well with hephaestus armor every room boon

[@sockpuppetqueen]

My problem is, on high heat, I die before I even have a chance to GET that boon. I feel like if I could just make it through Erebus and get a good build going, I'd be okay! But I need to figure out how to survive those first couple rooms.

[@rodrigonarvaes7032]

Me playing Hades 2: God, I suck at this game. Can't even do sub 20 runs. Haelian: I actually don't run 5 minutes now. Me: Oh. Ok.

[@lookalike4805]

The Point of the Game is To Have Fun... Not to Compare yourself or Anyone else.... I mean if you can without Bumming yourself Out then Go For It.... 👍

[@rodrigonarvaes7032]

@@lookalike4805 oh, yeah, that's not what I meant, though I can see how it could have sounded like that. I get a little frustrated sometimes, because I feel like I "should be better". Seeing that a player such as Haelian is also struggling with some of the difficulty settings makes me feel a bit better because it eases the "incompetence" feeling.

[@coldshade8186]

Weapons that use a lot of mana (looking at you, torches) definitely cannot take Vow of Panic in higher fear. You won't make the timer because you're either taking mana regen and lack damage boons or take damage boons and lack mana in Erebus.

[@aolremembers9450]

Vow of arrogance isn't as bad on the surface I'd say if you get Medea's blessing that gives you 10 magic each encounter. Also get any magic vials anywhere possible

[@lucas_lipp]

I'm not the best Hades 2 player. I still struggle with the axe 20 fear run (daggers was way easier), but I personally find the 5 minute timer to be fairly doable, if you really try to be fast. It's probably easier for some weapons than others, but it's like the one vow that doesn't make the game harder, but just requires you to play a bit differently.

[@lazerninga]

The Huntress makes Vow of Panic not just free fear, but a buff tbh.

[@fabe61]

Oaths feel rough at the moment. I think some of them should have steps, going straight to -100% magick for instance seems steep. Plus some of them seem like they don’t provide enough fear either. Needs a rebalance if you ask me.

[@UltimateVegetto]

Btw can anybody tell me why fear requirements for the testaments escalate so quicky? I've beaten the game with Fear on maybe 6 times and the minimum requirement already spiked up to 20 minimum-all Chronoses. How can you even farm the material like this?

[@samusmp1_4]

My theory is that it escalates so quickly because there is still one more weapon in development, plus a hidden aspect for all current weapons. If you could get a Nightmare on every increment of 1 Fear, you'd max out every weapon in a week. So I think Supergiant is deliberately making it harder to farm Nightmare while the game is in Early Access. For those who just aren't able to get Nightmare at high Fear, then they have to grind bones for a while by always taking bone doors, prioritizing the fishing rod, and using a maxed out Toula on every run. I would expect that in the full launch, Fear requirements won't escalate so quickly.

[@MellowSquash]

I got 32 fear but had to turn off the timer because I chose to play it safer with max enemies, max hp, and max damage with revenants, 40% speed. Priming rarity isn't so bad if you can stack magick early on and get born gain but first boon being rotten onion was so bad to start with that I chose to get rid of it and went with 0 magick start and got the Arcana that grants 50% bonus damage when under 100%. Overall, it was doable but harder than Hades 1 by miles, needed more incremental fear in some like the No Arcana and No Magick vow going 0-100

[@sofapillow7660]

YET ANOTHER BANGER MY LIEGE

[@fishieshavenoeyes]

The 50% revanant chance is basically free. It has never caused me a problem (although I haven't tried the 7 minute timer before).

[@barronlucas8054]

I’m cheated my 32 heat 😂. I chose max vow of suffering and started with hephy as my starting god on the daggers. I fished for the Hephy armor boon that gives you armor every time you enter a location which counters the vow entirely

[@MDoorpsy]

Do we know how Vow of Arrogance works with boons that already prime magic? By that, I mean, will those boons still work if you don't have enough magic to prime? If they do, then it seems a natural thought to go for Zeus's prime boon along with the one thet does damage to everything if you have under 10 magic.

[@YahMum69]

Literally as this video dropped I beat 32 fear

[@Silas_MN]

after watching this I went and did a staff run with poseidon special and *holy smokes* that is so broken

[@LycanDreams9159]

Now that we have the real early access and all of the keepsakes can you do another video doing a review of all the keepsakes. I’m curious if any of your opinion on the keepsakes changed since you did the previous keepsake video. On the topic of this video do you get extra gold for doing vow of commotion since your killing more enemies. It might help out the gold issue from the other vows

[@Haelian]

Soon!

[@lookalike4805]

On Top Of That.... I can Confirm that the *Crystal Figurine* is Capable of Proccing *Judgement* .... And it only took a Week to Test. 😥 So Yeah... That's how you Do the *Arcana Of The Ages* on the *Fated List Of Minor Profecies*

[@sebastianzarek7056]

1:46 I'm pretty sure that enemies get staggered with this vow if they're normal enemies, but they'm don't get staggered if they're armoured. Correct me if I'm wrong. Can also check my other thoughts below if you're there anyway.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

2:15 I always pick Vow of Suffering, it gives a lot of fear and is easily menagable, since I either not get hit at all in normal rooms, or use things that deal a tiny bit of damage to take it off, and for bosses it only works for first hit so isn't nearly as bad as normal damage vow, and gives a fair amount of fear. I like it.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

3:45 So basically Hades II becomes transistor lmao. Love that game, and I think this is very managable, even if some enemies spawn again. Worth the fear in my mind.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

8:00, Just the opposite for me, I've read it, thought; 4 boons in the run for 3 heat? I'd rather take those faster enemies. I feel like in Hades II good, strong builds are more important than in hades, where you could do the entire game just playing well enough, with a complete mess of a build and be fine with it until like 12-16 heat. In Hades II you need to melt through stuff because everything is so tanky in Hades II. I've heard a lot of words on enemies being absolute sponges, don't know what I think of it still, but can see people making the devs lower enemies' hp by a bit.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

10:00, Yep, I used to run 7 or 5 depending on the run in Hades, in Hades II I run 9 mins on surface and 7 on Underground. There's just a lot of things that take a ton of time, like first biome which is surprisingly long (both surface and Underworld), fields being open world-ish taking a lot of time without some sprint speed buffs, cerberus fight where he just disappears taking your precious time away, and tartarus where sometimes you just need to skip the bonus rooms and go for quickest route just so that deadline doesn't absolutely obliterate you. It's rough, and I can see 5 min getting changed to 6 for sure, maybe 7 going to 7.30 and 9 staying. Ofc, if some of these time-consuming things would get changed the difficulty of this might change, but so far It's surely harder than in Hades.

[@sebastianzarek7056]

@@GoXDS thanksies, edited.

[@MatoMeatball]

There is a way around Vow of Bitterness which I discovered by accident but it's very unreliable, almost to the point of unusability. It simply has no effect if the first boon you pick in a region is from a trial encounter. I'm assuming it's because the game doesn't know how to deal with putting two boons in front of you with any which you pick first possibly becoming an onion, so it just doesn't work. And then for the rest of the region it counts as if the boon has already been transformed into an onion, so the other boons there are normal. Pretty weird.

[@herroyung857]

I thought it was a bug, cool that someone else experienced the same thing

[@13Shadell]

I've had bad luck testing it, but I'm curious if you could cheese vow of suffering by getting the Hephaesteus/Aphrodite dual boon and convert it to healing?

[@55avenger]

The poseidon special on staff with the double damage hammer is broken and will most probably get nerfed soon. That said, that's the only way I can beat 32 heat right now. Hades 2 is just way harder than hades 1 right now I think.

[@NOMATfull]

I won the first 32 fear run lmao. After having four damn boons in 4 floors I decided to cancel the Vow of Bitterness.

[@MrGhosta5]

Damn no equivalent of extreme measures yet. I liked extreme measures because it was an easy way to get 6 heat and the revamped bosses where more fun.

[@samanderson1650]

A lot of these really suck to deal with. Like Vow of Panic. I get zero magick at the start of each encounter for only 1 fear...? That's stupid. I get that you can get a regen boon, but it just takes away a key mechanic in the game. So far, I think the heat system in Hades was much better, but it is still early access.

[@SpacedMancy]

If you take Vow of Arrogance, get a common boon, and then use the Narcissus Keepsake to make it heroic, do you still have to prime? It says whenever you "choose" a boon, so I would imagine its safe to increase the rarity afterwards?

[@jazzy1358]

You’d be correct. His keepsake is a great way to up your rarity without facing the consequences

[@Haelian]

Correct! There are some odd things with Vow of Arrogance right now (perhaps bugs) but ya affecting boons after you've already chosen them won't hurt you.

[@riccardomosena4162]

Rebuke is usually the first one i do honestly xD but i dont do deadlines, didnt do that in hades 1 too, im not that pro Starting with 0 mana would ve interesting in a full primed mana bar run 🤔

[@GreenT_LoR]

Vow of Suffering is indeed suffering

[@mattheworman7779]

I actually think forsaking makes the game easier. Best way to farm duos and legendaries when those are the only thing that can be offered.

[@davidshovlin2783]

How do the vows of blood and suffering interact with coarse grit?

[@Haelian]

Coarse Grit should override it

[@muhammedaskin1830]

can i still use this guide or the vows changed too much?

[@ThePoodle]

Yeah fear is harder than heat previously, but not by a huge amount IMO. I was barely able to pull 16 heat in hades 1, but I have gotten 16 fear already in 2 Capsicum

[@justinbuergi9867]

Perfect timing! I was just looking for a video on this to help me take down Cerberus on 12 fear I had the best build (best staff with Poseidon special and double shot) and I still lost Edit: ok. I think my fear setup just REALLY sucked. I just beat Cerberus and Chronos with 12 fear without the double shot and without losing a single death defiance. Thx so much for the guide!

[@josh___something]

Smth smth craftsman, tools. No offense, but the best build is really only half the battle, the rest is... the battle. There's only so much a build can do for you when you keep getting hit.

[@justinbuergi9867]

@@josh___something I know I’m not the best hades player (heck I’m amazed I can play at all with only 3 working fingers) but it’ll still be easier if I get the right fear setup

[@sockpuppetqueen]

​@@josh___somethinga good build can make up for a LOT of player error, though. Like the Demeter infusion that caps damage to 15, combined with any cheesy high DPS build (like a cast with cyclone and any other curse, so you automatically lay down privileged status every cast, and just.......any good attack), and I've been able to face tank Chronos without even trying.

[@bellor123]

Not gonna lie if u lose with momus, poseidon + double shot. Literally the easiest and most op build in the game that will get nerfed. Thats some MEGA skill issue, like even 32+ fear is a joke with that set up.

[@sockpuppetqueen]

@@bellor123 my problem, personally, is even making it far enough to GET those boons and hammers. I am pretty sure once I got the build going I'd be fine, it's super super early in the run where I have the most trouble. I'm still not reliably making it to Hecate, on 32 fear. It's like... Maddening.

[@juvyjuvy3012]

tbh fear is the only part of the game im a not digging at the moment. loved heat in the first game but alot of the options for fear dont feel like fun challenges, theyre just like... grueling. im rlly hoping for a few more additions to the vows on release for sure

[@lookalike4805]

*Vow Of Satisfaction* "Viewers have 50% Chance of Clicking That *Like* Button" 👀

[@Seikufu]

I tried vow of panic while forgetting that I didn’t have the unseen on… and I was using the Charon axe. Um. It didn’t go very well lmfao

[@Kohcta]

how did you do all the Testament, one is locked with no icon of the weapon? isn't it for the unreleased weapon?

[@Haelian]

They don't have any testaments for the unfinished weapon yet.

[@comet8157]

Wish there was a better way to grind out n-mare. I can beat chronos or eris with 8 fear, but it kinda takes the fun out of the game for me

[@Individuali-dtd]

I think of vow of commotion as more money on hand. Is that wrong

[@Haelian]

You mean more enemies = more gold earned? Probably true since it was in Hades 1 but it's certainly not a monumental amount.

[@Asdom100]

Love the game so much rn. But imo it is a bit sad that i have to farm Bones after 16 Fear for Nightmares because I can't fkn beat Chronos at 20 xD.

[@avishay323]

Vow of abandon is free when you try to complete defeat Hecate with no Arkana

[@TheM00ndawg]

vow of commotion seems worse because the areas are smaller.

[@PatGunn]

I like playing zero-mana runs with arrogance. Different way to play.

[@sleshstamp]

You are nuts for 0% healing. What.

[@gasparsigma]

RIP Momus 😢

[@joaovmlsilva3509]

Yep this needs an update, some fears were nerfed

[@Haelian]

Just made one!

[@OldKingCl4ncy]

I really can't get the skullgun to work, wich frustrates me as a 35 year old who can only do a run a day 😭

[@tberk470]

Lately I’ve noticed my surface runs skip Charybdis, anyone know why?

[@Thrawnarch]

Charybdis is just random. Sometimes you get a shop instead.

[@tberk470]

@@Thrawnarch yeah that's what I was thinking. He just seemed more consistent before. I feel like I never see him now lol

[@lookalike4805]

I've Done 5 Surface Runs so Far and Never got a *Medea* Chamber... RNJesus has Forsaken me 😭 !!!!

[@mikec.c.9535]

Would need an update ...

[@davidefavoino8739]

64 fear when?

[@michaelorrill1728]

Algorithms

[@yoinkyu]

first ily

[@prashantgaikwad9808]

bro u need to sleep

[@lookalike4805]

Sleep Is For The Weak. 👀