The 5 EASIEST Builds to Beat Hades 2 With | Haelian

[@Haelian]

How did you get your first win?

[@TheBT]

Haven't yet, though every run normally gets to stage 2 of Chronos

[@maco5152]

Spin-to-win Moonstone Axe. Such reliable dps. Although you really have to pick your attack windows with Chronos. Other bosses however, just gets melted especially the sirens.

[@BloodofTigerJr]

Duo cast boon from Zeus and Apollo with some supporting upgrades for me!

[@8butsideways295]

Skull goes brr And for below even tho i hate them i won with the torches cause i had 4dd even so took 400d to chronos

[@satanael-fool]

Axe aphro

[@maverickoen1359]

I think one of the safest runs you can do is an omega cast build using Zeus/Apollo cast and the Zeus/Hestia boon that makes the cast a ranged projectile. You just plop it down and run very far away. I also think Apollo's sprint is very good, because on top of the daze effect, the sprint speed allows you to get out of the enemies' attack range completely instead of needing to time your dodge. Also worth noting is that a cast build will work on any weapon and you don't even have to commit to it early on. If your attack/special aren't great and you have Zeus/Apollo/Hestia in your god pool, you can just pivot into it in the middle of the run.

[@bucks8428]

I think the Apollo sprint might just be the best boon in the game against bosses because their massive aoes basically no longer can hit you.

[@zachcate7102]

I no-hit a chronos fight with essentially this setup yesterday, Apollo+Hermes sprint, Zeus omega cast and ranged cast, and Apollo on my attack + attack hammers. Aspect of Circe on the staff is so nice because I never have to worry about magick regen which lets me spam whatever I want whenever I want

[@zachcate7102]

I also like getting gale force from Demeter for even more damage stacking on my cast

[@yadamspiezer]

Any omega cast run is an instant win. They are probably too powerful considering how safe and cheap they are.

[@williamw8590]

This ends up being my secondary damage strategy for a lot of builds too, like a Hephaestus or Zeus attack/special build with a strong ranged omega cast is great

[@iaxacs3801]

As an Axe main my most consistent build is: Aphrodite/Apollo on Attack, Demeter/Apollo on Special, Demeter/Hestia on Cast, Apollo on Sprint. Any of the Gods works for Mana, yes even Demeter if you have Apollo sprint to make space and if you can crit bonus on cast from Artemis. Literally any hammer goes with this build setup and I've gotten to the final boss every time with it. Either run in and place cast to freeze or use special to freeze then sprint in for some hefty damage with from the attack boon. When thawed back out, you'll clear rooms with ease. Apollo Sprint makes it a cake walk to get out of ranged danger and axe special blocks most attacks that aren't wave based. Boss damage will be a struggle though just be patient

[@Roezaea]

Storm Ring (Zeus's cast) is absurdly strong and can be used with any setup regardless of weapon, hammers, or aspect. When you combine it with his Lighting Lance, it's essentially a win condition on its own. Very easy and very safe, great for new players.

[@TheRhamiel]

I'd argue it's actually the "correct" choice to go for with quite a few aspects as it's better than the builds you can do with their attacks/specials

[@blushingralseiuwu2222]

More powerful than Apollo beam of light cast?

[@nicolaskowalski9589]

@@blushingralseiuwu2222 by far much higher dps overall as it hits for longer and doesn’t need downtime between casts, and safer because you don’t have to have ennemy out of the cast, plus zeus has lighting lance. Apollo shine with the axe aspect allowing you to make it explode right away, but without it it’s inferior to zeus cast

[@YahMum69]

It is soooooo OP

[@yavvivvay]

I think DUO Zeus/Apollo is kinda stronger?

[@rafakitu-kitu146]

One major thing to note about Advancing Whirlwind for the Axe - this upgrade does have the unfortunate downside of making it impossible to interrupt the spin with a dash, thus making you vulnerable to damage. Learned this the hard way...

[@yuandyberry]

Yea, I experienced that. However, if you're lucky enough to get, as the second hammer, the hammer that lets you Attack and Special during Omega Attack, then you'll get back your ability to dash during the spinning.

[@dashdoom8452]

Yeah I think the other two are much better to take first because of this drawback as the damage is already very good so the problem becomes just avoiding getting hit not getting some crazy dps

[@thomasb5307]

got the exact same problem yeh, raw damage it gives carried quite far but I will avoid it in the future

[@yeahboyz9314]

Get time slow hex, beat chronos without getting touched

[@Achridian]

I really like psychic whirlwind, it basically makes your whirlwind happen around you while you’re free to do anything else. You can cast, attack, use your specials, or dash, and the whirlwind just keeps going.

[@ScorpionGod]

Just wanted to say I wasn't part of the original Hades early access and your coverage of it, so am super excited to be able to play Hades 2 this time in EA and see the game grow/ evolve along side you.

[@Saracen93]

I find Apollo’s sprint really useful to apply curses fast without getting hit, with the additional speed also helpful to avoid damage overall (especially final boss second phase, if you’re still working on your reflexes.) It’s not as busted as Athena’s dash but still a nice crutch lol.

[@edkrassenstein5534]

If you are running Origination for 2 curses, you should also pickup The Furies to deal 30% to enemies in casts. It's way more consistent to use your cast to put on one of your curses. Demeter is also insane for this because of the Gale Force boon. The Cyclone is its own status debuff and can combine with other gods (or herself) to get 2 curses on 1 cast. Then you can use Aphrodite attack and still get 50% dmg from Origination.

[@imitdiu]

Revaal, with the aspect where it stays within reach and explode a bit latter or on impact. Hammer is +2 head and/or attack use all head in a spread pattern or substitute either with the one where if you pick up the head it will explode again. As for boon, anything for attack is great, Hestia dash cancel projectile is great. Just press Attack and special (don't do omega special, or do if you plan on using +25hp hex). Attack(x1 or x3 depending on hammer) -> special -> pickup -> repeat. Crazy number

[@Hotspur560]

For anyone who's not aware, heras born gain boon is absolutely busted. I'd be shocked if it doesn't get nerfed, you can just spam omegas at will

[@cliffkanthe7532]

Zeus Omega Cast that bolts one enemy at a time + Any Cast that lets you shoot of your Cast circle = easy to use easy to win. The weapon doesnt even matter with this :D

[@TheShicksinator]

Apollo cast with Zeus duo is even better

[@meekumanu]

Honourable mention for Apollo and Poseidon casts for similar builds.

[@zecuse]

Interestingly, I got my first win with the Lunar Ray. The Prominence upgrade turned it into Demeter's beam from Hades 1. I also got 3 Readiness upgrades which reduced its cost by 30 after the first use. It was important to get the Hex with the Full Moon buff (+2 Path of Stars). A level 4 Lucid Gain (Pom slices) and the Double Cataclysm hammer let me spam my magic away slower than I could regen it which meant I could spam the Ray as well! I also had the Night arcana card which charges your Hex by (not upgraded) 2 magic per second. Zeus's attack (Heaven Strike) was also a guaranteed proc with each Ω attack thanks to the hammer.

[@kjvmsc]

hephaestus attack is very good for umbral flames - you’ll mostly be using your special as you mentioned, so being able to weave one attack in for big burst is nice. pairs perfectly with hephaestus sprint + vent

[@wavypavy4059]

I've had so much fun with builds so far in the early access. Not beaten chronos yet, but had a couple of crazy runs where I made huge leaps in my personal furthest to see new bosses up to chronos. The most successful run I've had barely even used the weapon, because I had a combination of zeus boons based on burning through a small mana pool with the sprint boon to trigger the low mana lighting bolt boon consistently. I had poseidon on either my basic or special attack as filler, but most of the damage came from literally running circles around the bosses.

[@Figsbar]

One tip for the Umbral flames is pick Poseidon's Spirit bubble boon Since that can restore your magic while channeling your attack, so if you're lucky, or there's enough enemies, you can strafe around the room channeling the entire fight occasionally dashing to avoid any stray attacks (since that doesn't stop you from channeling) Good hammers are that one that reduces cost by 3 and the one that lets you move faster while channeling Best attack boons are probably Demeter or Poseidon for control, then basically spam the entire room full of those big flames This works better with Aspect of Eos, but is fine with base flames

[@possiblybottomlesspit]

I absolutely love ygnium, I got it with Demeter special so the lack of stagger didn’t matter at all as everyone was frozen! It’s the most fun I’ve had with any weapon by a good ways, with hook knives below it.

[@little_high]

Just now realizing I can upgrade the card for an additional Death’s Defiance… thanks for the video!

[@war_hawkan1727]

For the sister blades, when you get the 'Fire 16 shots around you' paired with 'Special returns to you and does 50% damage' from Daedalus together, as well with some boons that increase special damage, you will do ludicrous damage for each fully charged special. For example, on Chronos, I practically got inside the boss so that each of the 16 blades hit, and it ended up doing around 2000+ damage for one attack of it.

[@prophet4722]

The easiest OP build is Aspect of Charon Moonaxe with Zeus cast. It is so busted in fact that even with that single boon you can clear the game. You are OP from that first encounter. Don't need any gimmick, don't need any hammer. The rest of the boons can just be extra damage added onto it, or survivability. And even that is easy, as you can just drop your omega cast and dip out and everything in the cast dies. Cool guys don't look at explosions 😎

[@professorstringbean]

So the wands - I actually LOVE the feel of the attack and kiting around enemies. In a sense, they almost play like the fists where you hold attack and dart around. But just like you said, it feels as though there isn't a way to make the damage happen. Not super sure what I'd tweak but I hope it gets something. It's like a mix of the fists and the devs early "move while fire" concept that eventually became the rail in Hades.

[@quietlychaotically]

i think i'd like either for base damage to be higher or maybe higher attack speed? idk right now i just can't find a viable build for the torches if i don't get an early hammer

[@Dinklechad]

I just did a Moros torches build where I had Blitz on the special and the Hephaestus attacks, if you get the timer on the attack down to 2 seconds or so the build is incredible. Bonus points if you get the Zeus/Demeter duo to spread the blitz damage around

[@alexsawicki]

Honestly, I think the torches' attacks have 2 problems: low-ish damage and low projectile speed. I really think both of those could be buffed, and it'd make the weapon feel more in line with the other weapons... Just a note: This is from someone still new and terrible at the game, that hasn't even unlocked aspects yet. Also, the Omega attack just seems to drain mana too quickly. Again, this is from someone that doesn't have much meta progression yet.

[@williamw8590]

Wands with Hephaestus attack is great imo, just poke and run

[@professorstringbean]

@alexsawicki I largely agree and the part about projectile speed is interesting to consider. It does feel a bit bad to whiff an enemy that entered its walk animation for a second or two, especially while channeling

[@Dinklechad]

Beat my first Chronos fight with an aspect of pan Hook/Spiral Knives build- definitely the most OP but I had to take advantage of it! Loving the builds videos, been a fan of the channel for a long time, the Hades 2 content is peak! 💪

[@threeprongedfork7061]

A fun but Terrible for beginners build is the 30hp build, make sure you have the arcana that requires 30hp so you get +30% damage dealt and -30% damage received (at rank 1), and also Artemis's keepsake to give you increased crit chances at 30hp or below It's fun and you die a lot until you just don't get hit, I haven't completed chronos with this yet but I've gotten very close

[@Jason_TM]

I heavily disagree with the decision to take Advancing Whirlwind on the Axe. It prevents you from dashing out of your omega attack while it doesnt hit every enemy you might want it to, so I think in every single situation taking Psychic whirlwind to be able to attack while attacking is 10000000000000000000000x better for now until the other one is fixed.

[@ResonanceRetroData]

got my first clear with Pan aspect Sister Blades (the new Chiron which makes knives home in on targets trapped in your cast, I had aspects unlocked before beating Chronos, idk what the trigger is but apparently beating up gramps isn't it lol), Hera special boosted to heroic by max Aromatic Phial, the hammers Spiral Knives (16 knives in a circle with +40% damage) and Concentrated Flurry (knives deal more damage for each hit on a single foe), and for defense Coarse Grit (Demeter's infusion which caps incoming damage at 15 per hit) Pan's knife homing is actually strong enough to take the knives thrown in the opposite direction and loop them around to your cast trapped target, so such a high base damage from the heroic boon + 16 guaranteed strengthened hits + scaling damage per successive hit meant I was hitting Chronos for about 1/8 his HP bar per volley. Coarse Grit caps ALL damage at 15, so I didn't even have to avoid his OHKO moves because they also only dealt 15

[@liammcdonough2610]

I got my first Chronos kill with the Umbral Flames. Revolved around using Air Quality and Static Shock from Zeus, and Support Fire from Artemis, with Zeus attack on top. Air Quality made all the instances of Support Fire and Static Shock deal 30 damage regardless of poms or level which melted enemies, given the high DPS on the Flames attack. Zeus attack added some burst damage and I picked up the hammer that reduces Omega cost for the attack.

[@bergums]

I’m back! Had to unsubscribe till I got my steamdeck so I could partake in early access too. LOVE THIS GAME! So many fun touches and combos.

[@Accelos]

So A quick bug i think i noticed when you're using the axe, if you're using Than's Aspect for the axe DO NOT take psychic whirlwind, The omega attack turns into a normal attack and you'll only get 1% crit from the initial swing of the Omega attack, which means if you're goin for crit spin to win you can only take Furious Whirlwind. I've been able to confirm it through 3 different than axe runs.

[@minylover234]

If you get a particular witch to give you a boon and you choose "Explosive Intent" (50damage on each instance of damage of omega skills) then add that to any omega cast modifier (my favourite being zues for the attack every .2s) you come out of the mixture with absolutely crumbled bosses. Add in a point cast (hestia/zues), and apollo for increased size and you really do become the princess of the underworld.

[@AnnaTheFallMaiden]

I'm a sucker for Explosive Ambush on the Sister Blades (+400% damage on your Omega but use +20 Magick), that got me my first and only Chronos win with Aphrodite's strike boon and (very luckily) the hammer upgrade that deals more damage when attacking from behind, so I chunked everything reasonably well while being able to focus on evading attacks

[@wiatt7533]

Using the Aspect of Eos Umbral Flames combined with the hammer that doubles special projectiles basically creates a constant vortex of specials surrounding you if you spam

[@KidVivacious]

I got my first win with the Moonstone axe as well! The 2 Daedalus upgrades I got were the Big Chop and the one that makes your final Attack in a sequence hit twice for 20 mana or something. I didn't think they would work together but they do and it's very, very, fun bonking everything. All I had to do was get a bit more survivability and some mana regen and I was golden.

[@yadamspiezer]

There's a trial that gives you these two hammers and the one that lets you hold attack to spam it (taking away the omega attack). Add a Hermes attack boon and it's hilariously OP.

[@KidVivacious]

@@yadamspiezer Thats cool! I wasn't sure if they would all stack like that but its super cool.

[@justarandomdood]

I think I'm guaranteed that I've watched your videos and VODs more than I've actually played the game myself LMAO, I'mma need all the help in-game that I can get xD Thanks man :)

[@meekumanu]

You're definitely sleeping on Axe Omega Special builds, especially with Aspect of Charon. I've found them to be way more consistent and easy than Omega Attack builds for Axe. The playstyle is very safe because you don't need to be in melee range, and you block while channeling. Apollo Special is a must-have, as the Omega hits twice on most enemies (and 3 times against Cerberus) because the circles become so big they overlap. This pretty much doubles your damage on top of it's damage bonus, and the Omega special also has multiple great hammers to support the playstyle. Frequently firing out 500 damage nukes that hit every enemy in the room is super satisfying, and Aspect of Charon makes it even better. Hera and Demeter are also pretty good instead, though they don't work as well for boss damage.

[@mattgopack7395]

Omega special on axe is quite useful, yeah. Personally I found that going for a mix of it and spin to win is probably the safest for players who aren't the most skillful (like myself). Spin to win is easier and safer against a lot of enemies, since it repeatedly staggers them without the delay that the omega special can bring (there's some awkward timings there). But against some bosses, especially Chronos, that becomes a lot more dangerous. So having a few good boons on the special definitely pays off in those.

[@Trattt]

Being able to freely move with the hammer, and then getting the quick charge or double hit on the special with a hammer is absolutely busted. I've dealt a lot of damage with the special just having hephaestus special boon

[@apw9929]

I find that even if I’m blocking when channeling, I get hit after I release the Ωspecial because I’m stuck in place for a while as it fires. Is there a way to fix this other than git gud?

[@Trattt]

@@apw9929 the best way to fix this is to have a boon/hammer that quickly charges your Ωspecial, you can act out much quicker but that's probably the only best thing

[@sparKnightYT]

​@@apw9929 Increasing channel speed, luring enemies into the cast or just generally keeping enough distance. With the Apollo special you have massive range so use that to your advantage. Other than that it's pretty much just git gud/timing your attacks so you don't get hit in the animation.

[@lucas_lipp]

It took me 48 runs to finally take down Chronos. I was using the twin blades and started to really enjoy relying on the omega special, instead of playing it like the gauntlets in 1, although that's still really fun. I think I added hook knives and either Aphrodite or Demeter attack, and it went reasonably well. At that point, Chronos turned from an impenetrable obstacle into a DPS check. Pan's aspect on the twin blades is absolutely crazy. I think with the right setup, I once took away like a fourth of third of his health bar, with one fully charged, well set up special. Hook knives is still awesome, but the one that gives you the 360° spread is insane, too. The combination of both just absolutely melts the health bars of bosses. It's so much tun. The one downside is that sometimes Cerberus only exists for like 30 or so seconds.

[@atauygur8104]

For the first win I advice using twin blades. Start with Hestia's keepsake, for attack boon get Flame Strike boon and rarify it then in the first region if you see any zeus,aphrodite or demeter boons take Heaven Flourish from zeus for special attack and get Arctic Ring from demeter for cast and *Activate these arcanas: The Huntress, The Furies, Eternity, Origination(most crucial one) *Forget Omega attacks, make sure you always have less than 100% magick, get boss or enemies in cast before attacking. Now you have both cast and curse arcana damage boost. *Start with Hestia's Keepsake *Get Flame Strike boon and rarify it with your keepsake *Get Heaven Flourish from Zeus for your special *Get Arctic Ring for your cast from Demeter *Get Passion Rush from Aphrodite for your dash( really optional but I like cursing the s*it out of enemies) *If you need to choose between any other boons than these and Hammer or Pom of Power choose Hammer or Pom of Power *If you need to choose between Hammer and Pom of Power: If it is the first(and maybe second) hammer in run choose hammer othwerwise choose Pom and level up your Flame Strike(attack boon) as much as you can If you are not fan of hastia you can choose Aphrodite's Flutter Strike boon for attack too but personally I believe scorch effect litterally melts the bosses, to get all these boons you can change keepsakes between each region but it would decrease your chance of increasing their level a bit so you can also choose Apollo's Solar Ring boon for your cast too but demeter's cast boon helps A LOT especially when your are trying to deal with crowded enemies as twin blades is a bit single target heavy damage type of weapon( I hate it's special omega as you can guess)

[@Di_Gra]

After try all Hexes I can say that most OP is Resurrection. Sometimes you can resurrect some dude with armor on Guardian fight. With star upgrades + 66% on Attack speed it can solo guardian. Also good upgrade when dude leave until you leave the room, it's help you carefully clear rooms

[@DarrenHurst56]

If you can get a boon with a high enough Magick regen, then take the Dark Form Hex. It makes you invincible for 5 seconds, you can deal out some very nice damage during that time, and it only takes 90 magick to cast. Last night I did a run where I was able to spam my magick, use my hex, and rinse and repeat without getting hit.

[@iandeorio8529]

The torches attack with Zeus’s blitz is really crazy. I got the splitting attack hammer and the extra Zeus boon that the blitz activates after it expires. Any large crowd was killed pretty quick by moving and kiting while charging the omega attacks. You just need a decent amount of Magick or regeneration to sustain.

[@SAVAGENEDVED]

Hestia sprint is underrated for all those boss projectiles, especially surface bosses that are projectile heavy. Just not having to worry about them makes things way easier.

[@fabe61]

So watched this video and then tried the double-special staff build. Got all the boons and hammers, including the duo, as well as the infusion. Absolute cakewalk - totally trivialised Chronos. Only reached his second stage twice before so wasn't even sure what I was doing in terms of dodging some of his attacks and got hit by his 999 damage move because I don't understand where the safespot is, but still crushed him. Thanks!

[@GTRaijin]

If it's the attack I think it is, you just need to stand in the small circle at the end of the attack because it insta-kills you if you are outside of it. The room starts to darken and the small circle/safe zone lights up which is where you need to go asap.

[@fabe61]

@@GTRaijin That one is very straightforward, aye, and is used in the first stage. The move in the second stage looks like it wants me to stand in the middle ring maybe? But it's never clear to me where I'm meant to be and I only realise the move is about to happen immediately before it does, so I'm not even sure what cue I'm looking for. That being said I do play with music on in the background so might be missing an audio queue for it.

[@leabje5611]

My first win was with Apollo's Solar Ring, with the cast being a ranged projectile. Absurdly strong on its own with just a few levels and a really safe way to approach the final boss. Think I also had a couple of Hephaestus boons dealing blast/vent damage on top. Melted everything left and right.

[@meekaillim]

2 projectile with Aspect of Momus is crazy strong, either Hestia or Poseidon do the trick Aphrodite is not bad once you get the Duo boon that causes all enemies to be classed as nearby

[@flawlessness-5267]

For Revaal I find that Using the Hestia Burst damage boons are the easiest way to win with. Normally with the bosses you can fire the normal attack and activate the Burst which can be like 8-10 seconds and then go with with the Special attack to retrieve them and then hit the bosses a few times while close range and pick up the skulls immediately. Pair it with the Poseidon Boon that Increases your damage for 10s and its pretty much a free 30% health on all bosses and you can easily clear the first wave in 1-2 seconds for normal levels.

[@luckerooni1153]

Probably the craziest combo that I've found so far ignores all arcana cards and the weapon is also irrelevent. It's just the invulnerability hex ability that lets you regular cast as Omega cast, and combine it with Poseidon's ring that instantly bursts when you Omega cast. You functionally just get to spam click while standing near anything while invulnerable and it's too easy to kill absolutely anything in the game with it especially if you start buffing it with literally anything from Poms to arcana card synergies, it's a huge nuke you can drop multiple times a second while no one can hurt you, the literal only thing that does anything to you is the sand stuns that can waste your hex vs Chronos and Tartarus in general so be slightly careful (as in just don't walk into them) with that, Eris is completely free with this build. This functionally takes like 3-4 boons (1 Poseidon and enough Selene to max 1 route) to fully get going and you can run anything else with it, so you can fully min-max it and turn it into a build where you're always in hex always blowing up everything, or you can slot it into another OP combo. This is definitely way more OP than Moon Water by far, though Moon Water is definitely nice and I'll get it if I don't see this hex or I know I won't get Poseidon's ring because the rest feel like pure ass unless I'm missing something important, if not those 2 I'll get the 2k damage hex or I'll just literally not use it. Once I do get them, however, moon room becomes even more powerful than double boon room just because the ability to omega cast Poseidon ring as a regular cast just makes you an actual anime character for the rest of the run. I can definitely see myself relying on this when I get to insane heat runs, I've only beaten each current final boss about 5 times each.

[@RandomMagus]

For the torches you can actually use your cast and your dash while still holding down the Omega Attack, so if you get the hammer that makes your Omega attack take 60% less magick and you get Born Gain you can literally hold attack for an entire encounter with 0 issues and benefit from the safety of staggering everything still. I stacked an Epic Aphro attack + regular Passion Dash + Scorch cast on top of that and I beat every encounter by just hitting A and B occasionally while holding down the attack. Absolutely shredded Eris, I had a couple of +power effects that helped out and I was offered the +50 power +10 magick cost hammer for the Omega Attack but didn't take because I thought the magick cost would be too high, but if my -60% cost hammer also affects that extra 10 I would have been fine to take it and been shredding even harder

[@starfall0]

I was successful with the Witch Staff omega attack and the hammer that makes it trigger twice. You can stay far away and do a lot of damage, but mana regen is required. It's also quite easy to apply double curse with the long range special.

[@Di_Gra]

Also really like build with aspect of Haron on axe. You need: Good mana regen from Hestia/Hera + Hera/Afrodite/etc on special + hammer with +50 cast speed on omega special (also good hammer after is to double strike on omega special for additional +15 mana cost) + Zeus/Hestia/Hades for projectile Cast upgrade to fire it from long distance. With this build you can wipe whole room from far away without taking any of dmg

[@theformation3781]

I personally think that charon aspect is the easiest to get a win with, special gives you both range and safety like shield from hades 1 and either an origination setup with hestia cast/hera special (zeus also works) or a tad more work, with apollo cast, gale force, and hera/zeus special work wonders and you dont really need to unlock the aspect to full to make it really feel good unlike pan. Since hera/hestia are so important you also gain access to their magic regen boons which are pretty much best in class and allow you to completely ignore that aspect of the game, or hestia/zeus have the best supplementary cast placement boons too (glowing ember/lightning lance), it also pretty much applies the Furies buff for you, and finally since it still uses a lot of magic any hex boon will work really well to complement the build and give you even more safety since most hexes give you i-frames or huge damage for basically just playing the game

[@nintandao64]

Default axe. Zeus attack boon. Juiced out cast with Hestia scorch, Demeter cyclone, Apollo radius expansion. Easy first chronos kill on run 16. Used the same build to beat Eris the first time. Hestia’s soot sprint breaks that fight as well as Charybdis. Their lethal projectiles dissipate on approach while ur sprinting

[@zeldafan9656]

I think the best Special boon for Torches is Aphrodite, since a lot of the unaspected weapon's damage comes from its Omega Specials, which rotate close to the player. Pair it with a couple daedalus options (Growing Coil is a personal fave), a way to get magick back quickly (I like the bubble boon from Poseidon), and optionally a Chaos boon that increases Special damage. Then you have an incredibly bursty build if you stack your Omega Specials. I've been loving the torches and have tried lots of builds, but this one has been my favorite so far.

[@lilac47100]

Aspect of Charon axe with Apollo cast (with a ton of poms put into it lol) and lightning lance to help position it was SO good and made the chronos fight way more manageable. Managed to beat him without even needing to use any of my death defiances, and it may be my new favorite weapon aspect

[@johobo6556]

I main the axe and imo the right click hold special is way better than left click holding, does so much damage and can cast it from range and shield attacks while casting it, get the double one where it shoots twice and charges quicker plus area of effect and more dmg boons then it goes insane, can get it up to around 1.5-2k dmg per cast every 1-3 seconds if u get right build, it’s very consistent

[@alexthursday9011]

For the sister blades, the hammer that adds +200% damage to backstabs melts bosses, especially with upgraded Mel aspect (+40% backstab) and constantly doing the omega attack which sends you behind the targeted ennemy!

[@BartlebyScrivener-oz6mk]

Feels very "teleports behind you" in a way that I love

[@reboot3332]

The hexes are really strong if you build them with the path of Stars. The one that let's you raise a dead enemy to fight for you can get crazy and they also can take dmg for you. Still experimenting with them all.

[@tulicloure]

Yeah, Hexes for sure get a lot better as you add Path upgrades. I've had a run with that one Wolf jump where I could do it like 4~6 times in basic rooms while getting a massive boost after each use, and another where I was invulnerable for half of each encounter while melting bosses with the Wraith one. Even the Beam feels a lot better with the upgrade that lets it fire on its own.

[@cajwalkman761]

If you get an early Moon Hex and you see the Heal one, pick it up!!! In the third region you get a lot of opportunities to upgrade it, if you get to upgrade it earlier, even better! So after about 12 Hours I got a run where i got Heal Hex in the first room. Until the end of the run i had a 11 Charge heal hex, which healed for 65 health and recharged at a well. While having double shot homing specials (Staff), equipped with Epic Posidon Boon+Lightning Chain+Support Fire. Damage was insane and i cleared rooms without ever needing to use my broken hex because i just spammed my special and it cleared the entire room. As for Chronos i had a total health pool of 1016 (200 Health + 715 Healing + 101 Health Death Defiance) and he chewed trough 970 of it. But i tanked him and really got to learn his moves in this lengthy fight.

[@caangelesPH]

Poseidon Wave flourish + Hammer Moonshot is so OP, it feels like a cheat code. I even got the Chaos boon for special damage for good measure. Was able to get my first win by this witch staff cheese combo

[@Nomgoose]

For the normal attack with the Umbral Flames, I had a run on the surface with Hestia and Poseidon that felt pretty busted. It was the first time that my normal attack with that weapon felt like it did actual damage. I ended up getting the Duo boon toward the end of the run where you can apply Steam with both curses active on the enemy and that was pretty nuts since I was applying Scorch with a cast to hit multiple enemies.

[@StickyTapeZz]

for the skull weapon (ravaal) i think the best playstyle is to get the hammer where your omega special hits only on one side + the hammer that lets ur omega special projectiles return.

[@chilldude012]

Not my first win, but got aspect of charon to work with Apolo and Zeus duo boon. Basically picked apollo omega cast, zeus attack, demeter special, and apollo/zeus duo. Got the hammer that pumps the damage by 50% after a block. Gameplay loop is: drop regular cast on mob/boss, charge special and freeze enemy/block hits, use omega special, it then makes the cast explode dealing massive damage. Chronos died after 3 casts on each phase.

[@land5917]

First win was using a maxed out aspect of Melinoe sister blades with Aphrodite's Flutter Strike, Zeus's Static Shock, and Deadalus Hammer's Final Slice. I just upgraded flutter strike as much as I can-got up to +180% atk, the I just kept backstabbing Chronos. It melted him, especially with the final slice damage amped up by flutter strike and backstab bonus.

[@rektalizertv9958]

I extremely suggest trying omega special builds for axe. It feels kinda similar to aegis gameplay with frontal blocking while charging the attack, and if you can get decent mana-regen (I would say demeter is pretty nice, but others are also fine. Especially chaos one, yet it's quite random to get) you can literally spam the attack. Get charge time reduction or double charge from hammer, put apollo on special on top and you get one of the best builds for both clearing and boss fights. I got my first win with this build and it was absolute breeze, never had easier playthrough so far. You literally can clean a room with 2-3 specials as they cover GIGANTIC area with Apollo boon.

[@Scorpio3002]

I've increasingly fallen in love with the axe's special. Not the omega (although that can be useful for dealing damage at a distance), but the regular "shield". It's supposed to be a defensive tool, but it also does chip damage if you do it in an opponent's face, and it's INSANELY quick, which makes it a fantastic tool in a build that's otherwise constructed around the omega attack. Once you put some kind of boon on it, you can effectively treat it like a smash-bros Shine. Hephaestus works really well on it, since rarity or poms don't scale the damage, just the downtime (which only matters if you plan on using it frequently). Other special boons that inflict a curse (like Zeus, Demeter, or Hera) are all really good as well. I got a Zeus/Aprhodite duo boon build that took me all the way, where Zeus' special was my only way of applying Blitz.

[@franciscovaldes4107]

7:10 advancing whirlwind doesnt work that well for new players because we get greedy and have to dash out of our omega attack, however advancing whirlwind keeps you stuck in the whole animation while the attack flies ahead, and thats even worse because you are now spinning without the attack protecting you

[@dek4714]

Another build I think is busted: romantic spark (duo boon for zeus attack + Aphrodite dash) on lim and oros. One run I got it and kept upgrading heaven strike, so by the time I reached Chronos I could hit him once, dash through him, deal 440 damage due to blitz, and repeat.

[@nassi9093]

Here's a fun build. Staff with aspect of Mel (channel speed). Get Born Gain from Hera. Spam omegas all day. I got to Chronos on 32 fear. Need to practice that fight.

[@muphrid7799]

I've struggled with Advancing Whirlwind. I thought it would be safe and a strict upgrade, but nothing felt worse than seeing a boss just walk forward out of a max omega whirlwind when I could have maneuvered it without the hanmer for more uptime. Being locked in the whirlwind animation at a distance felt worse (can you still dash to cancel with this hammer?). But maybe I just need to git gud.

[@trevordeatherage5098]

Beat Chronos for the first time tonight after watching some of your videos! Thank you Haelian :)

[@TheTroupeMasterGrimm]

I’ve been feeling this game is just HARDER than hades 1. It reminds me of the feeling when I first played risk of rain returns, I thought I was just not getting it, or playing bad, and then everyone said “nah it’s just harder”

[@Ichbinsnur2181]

It is harder, especially the bosses, as you can't bruteforce your way through

[@pdotlol]

once you get your first kill, its surprisingly easy to continue getting to chronos with just about any build. by your 5th kill, you know every enemies pattern and you can literally run anything

[@FakeShark333]

My first wins have been with the torches with Hestia's attack. Hold attack and dash around inflicting scorch. Even better with Aphrodite's boons to inflict weak on nearby enemies and the duo boon which helps stack scorch damage. Zeus's chain lighting and Poseidon's damage reduction boons also stack well.

[@fluffygalaxy6]

I am always a fan of putting Hephaestus on the special, if I’m focusing on my attack (or the other way around) so I can just use it once every 20s or so, also like I saw elsewhere here: Zeus‘ target cast boon is great, I personally also like using Demeter cast with it, since demeters works on normal casts to

[@glad16252]

An easy way I've been able to win is the sister blades with Aphrodite and Hera. Though Apollo would also work too since he also just increases base damage. I would say those 3 will be the strongest just from the fact their increase to your weapon's base damage instead of adding on an effect works super well just in general

[@andreasantoniu5249]

you should definitely try a run with persephone aspect on the skull, apollo on specials and if you can get the hammer that make the omega special waves come back to you, you basically have a 6 second window in which you are invincible and melt any bosses health

[@Sad_King_Billy]

Just got my first win with the axe. I stacked Aphrodite's and Poseidon's boons and it felt awesome. Love this game so far!

[@bencekovacs719]

i cant believe he called Schelemeus Skelly, the disrespect is unreal

[@АнатолийКнязьков-р6я]

Charon Axe is busted. Grab Apollo cast, enlarge and anything damaging on Special. Map delition. PLus Extra safe b/c of parry. Axe is the most fun weapon lol. Exept for the surface run. Axe sucks for those.

[@raynecoleman8817]

Agree the torch special is very strong and I have been clearing easily with it, BUT I want to say that the aspect that returns your attacks to you on dash is also quite powerful and in my opinion /far safer/ than special build. Get blitz or scorch on them (scorch /MUST/ have the boon that blows up your scorch though) and you will melt enemies. ❤

[@Tragedy_e]

Pretty sure my first kill was with the torches. The buff which always has at least 1 weakened for on screen was nice for the dmg boost against weak. And Poseidon splash on the spam auto was cool. If the special staggered, they’d be that much cooler.

[@3emad.305]

The umbral attack is cool because i can hold the attack and use magick until it my hex is ready or just spam normal attacks. It’s even better when i have that splitting hammer and zeus' chain lightning boon.

[@dekina1198]

I personally recommend to get the magick regen card for weapons you wanna use you omega moves often, like the axe. Since it helps out a lot until you get your boon to fix your magick

[@dorjjodvobatkhuu6457]

We that just goes without saying

[@ricardohernandez2954]

My easiest chrono win was with: chiron axe aspect (cast explode w/omega special), apollo solar ring (high damage when your cast explode), hammer quick charge omega special AND hammer giga clever (omega special hit twice), aphrodite special for extra damage at close range and chrono was melting. The trickiest part are the hammers but hope this is useful.

[@Konrow]

LMAO my first win was the poseidon staff special with that hammer just yesterday, I also went into the run with a special build in mind so decided to gamble with chaos. wound up with 2 chaos boons for a total of +143% damage, epic artemis special speed and a heroic special thanks to a last room haeph boon. goddamn it was like an OP super soaker. Could've worked with any special, but having the splash and water visuals was extra great.

[@aurelia2132]

All of the builds in the video are designed around the Special, so for players looking for a super easy build that doesn't rely on the special, you honestly can pick up Apollo's cast boon "Solar Ring" and just omega cast your way to victory. (Hestia's cast boon doesn't have quite the same damage profile, but it will also get the job done.) The video really understates how important your cast is in Hades II, because it's your main and easiest method of crowd control, and your omega cast just does a comical amount of damage compared to your other attacks. You can omega cast with Solar Ring and then just float away while your enemies die by droves, without much other investment. However, DON'T pair it with the god boons that allow your cast to be targeted (e.g. Zeus and Hestia), as these are currently broken and will completely lock you out of your omega cast after the first few uses, regardless of how much magick you have left. You can, however, pair it with Papa Hades' boon that makes your cast targetable, and it will actually stick to Chronos even while he floats around, which is fantastic for forcing him to just eat all of your Apollo damage. When using the Unseen arcana, I've never needed to pick up any regen boons to support an omega cast style play, and I honestly think it's the easiest for beginners.

[@Noteturtle90]

The axe?

[@Nanoqtran]

If you want a build that isn't tied to a weapon you want Demeter/Zeus/Hestia Cast build. The boons you are looking for are Demeter: Gale Force (Cyclone), Arctic Ring (Ice storm) Zeus: Storm Ring (Lightning storm), Lightning Lance (Cast Far away) Hestia: Smoulder Ring (Adds scorch tick), Glowing Coal (throw fireball) all you are doing is throwing a Omega Cast at things so that Storm Ring/Gale Force/Arctic Ring/Smoulder Ring can deal the damage over time. The main point of Lightning Lance or Glowing coal (I prefer Glowing Coal) is so that you can stay out of range of the enemy and send your cast to them. These boons are strong enough to support ANY weapon if you are struggling. There are also nice additions you can add on if you have other Gods in rotation. These all pair nicely with Blitz (zeus) as it will consistently proc the blitz curse

[@meekumanu]

Omega Cast builds with Poseidon Cast is also extremely fun, alongside Lightning Lance/Glowing Coal

[@yuuhanmicu5737]

Moon water is very good. Dark side is busted with decent mana recovery. You get invincible again immediately after it wears off. Phase shift too. You can recharge it before it wears off so everything is permanently slowed down (except Chronos). But the other hexes are not that good.

[@kampfkeks6619]

I'm very close to my first win and I've been enjoying the staff with omega attack and a Hestia or Zeus cast. You just play way back and get Blitz on your special that you throw out every so often

[@Cthululululu]

Aphrodite Special Revaal can result in actually *absurd* Omega Special Dash damage. I was one shotting everything until the House of Hades with that, almost. Melts Cerberus, obliterated Scylla, ect.

[@cherch222]

Just got my first win with the Circe staff, heph special for big damage, and the time slow ult. Had the dem seed heath bonus and aphro/dem duo for extra damage for all my health.

[@RyanZ-ww4fz]

I had really good runs at first with the flames. Hephaestus attack with a bunch of poms brought the cooldown to 1 sec and I didn’t use the special, though this would probably work on most weapons. For skull, a great build I had was the skulls returning to you, and the plus 2 skulls with zeus on attack. Pretty good dps. Omega special is def good with the hammer that goes both ways though

[@darthlink106]

EASY MODE: Lightening Lance (Aim cast from a safe distance), Storm Ring (High single target DPS), Gale Force (Additional damage on cast), and Super Nova (optional). I prefer Ice strike on my attack but anything that adds a curse is necessary for Origination Acrana Card 1. freeze enemies with attack (1 curse from freeze) 2. Aim cast on frozen enemy to apply Cyclone (2nd Curse) and let storm ring MELT 3. rinse and repeat

[@notgabbro]

found a fun build with the duo of Demeter and Hestia, and the duo of Demeter and Hephaestus. You burn an enemy, double the burn with frost, reset the frost timer, and double again. I got up to 497k burning damage on Cerberus, it was pretty fun.

[@manfrombc5162]

I wonder if i encounter a bug when using Advancing Whirlwind. I wasn't able to dash after using the Omega attack. I was stuck spinning slowly and without the protection of the attack circling Mel, it was unusable.

[@zacharyenglish2904]

Yeah, people are very high on advancing whirlwind when it’s actually a trap. I don’t know if that’s a bug, but it might be, because advancing whirlwind doesn’t function with aspect of thanatos the way it should

[@Ztirual]

I agree, moon water is insanely strong for survivability. In my last run I had 18, 45 HP / 50 Magicka heals when I started the Chronos fight.

[@kristikata]

Like always great guide that's easy to follow, thanks Haelian ✍🏻🌟

[@antwerpsfinest9970]

Maxed out Thanatos aspect on moon axe with spin to win build is pretty crazy

[@travelsizedlions]

Dang, that's funny. My first clear was with the spectral flames, exclusively using attacks. The special is so frustrating to me because you can't hit threats directly in front of you.

[@GraysGx5000]

Nice video! I was curious about your opinion on Hephaestus, I really like him. my best run so far (got to chronos 2nd phase in my first encounter with him) was the torches with hephaustes on both special and attack, felt like a ranged build with hit and run tactics. Im assuming if I added demeter or zeus cast and the boon that lets you throw your cast, it work really well as a ranged build?

[@Keladrie]

I haven't gotten a win quite yet, got to chronos with a really good burn build with the +20% damage infusion and +25% damage from poseidons boon that gives you 5% damage for each 100 coins you have, it got me to the second phase. If I had been to the second phase before I think I could have beaten him, but I didn't know his moveset yet 😅

[@Bruhwhy8]

I just got my first win yesterday with the twin blade Aphrodite set up. I 4 shot Cerberus and 8-12 shot chronos accounting for both phases

[@yeahboyz9314]

Summon build is fun as hell, that 4 arms shade solo cerberus (i don't even have 63% bonus attack speed)

[@daviddonaldson2807]

First win - hook daggers with the hammer that makes them all fire in a straight line. Poseidon special and Chaos buff special damage by 90% Also moon water