Very briefly:

Torches you Omega special, then hold attack. It’s not a ranged weapon get in baddies’ faces. You can cast and dash while attacking so dance around to not get hit. Anything works on attack/special but Hera/Zeus is probably optimal. The “Clean” hammers are best. Moros plays the same but you really prefer a +% attack and it’s insanely strong. Eos the loop is the other way: Omega attack, then O special and spam specials. Triple Comet is fun here.

Skulls mash attack, as close as you are comfortable. When you’re empty, tap special to retrieve the ammo. Honestly that’s it. Hera or Apollo are good on attack. You can O special to safely gather your skulls but I’ve found that less necessary this patch. You want Huntress arcana. Possessed Array is the best hammer but you need a ton of magick. Fetching lets you machine gun skulls so that’s nice. Medea you attack then special through to pop it, back and forth. You want Zeus special and a percent attack. Persephone O cast to build the gauge then O special to mop up. You can steer during the O special and you’re invulnerable. Twisting Crash is excellent, or you can do good things with Wide Grin.

Mel/Nyx coats the base combo is special attack attack but hammers or boons might effect the balance. Any combo of Ares, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus, Hestia on attack/special should be fine. Exhaust Riser Hammer makes your dash-strike hit 6x so run towards Poseidon or Hestia or Static Shock if that shows up. The O attack blocks, which is handy. Shimmering and Ripper Rockets are the best hammers. Selene start the moon beam keepsake to power up your hex immediately. Alternate Omegas to torch magick and light it up. Can either do big percentages on attack/special with Night, or Origination and statuses to power up the space lasers.

The coat has increased sprint speed by default and very solid damage output from the special. Generally I just run around really fast and spam omega specials while occasionally dashing in and using my cast (or melee to apply blitz/Hephaestus/wound if I have them). Generally I have found the block too slow/awkward to use to really be useful but with the +100 power hammer it can do pretty solid damage especially with Aphrodite on the attack.

If it's an especially difficult fight I try to keep my distance and just spam specials until everything dies.

The torches are amazing. Don't bother with the other aspects, just melinoes. Focus on normal attack

Once I got the scythe, I was done looking

I struggled with them as well, took a while to get a handle on any of them. Now I'm fine using all except the torches and coat. They're definitely less straightforward than weapons from the first game, but I've come to appreciate the depth. The Melinoe skulls at least function like the gun in the first game with the rocket hammer, plus the shield dash on special. Had my first win using them with Zeus chain lightning boons and the hammers that give you more skulls, and auto recollect.

Fists, no contest. Once I had a few runs with Aspect of Demeter under my belt, I quit even playing the other weapons. Only have one clear each for most of them.

I personally do the best with Zeus shield

Lots of votes for the bow. I want to like it but I'm terrible with it. Maybe someday I'll learn how to use it properly.

My best aspect is Zag fists.

It has my fastest clear, my first 32 heat clear, and my only aspect that's cleared 32 heat more than once.

So I think it's all very playstyle based.

Chiron bow. Aspect with the highest heat and first sub 20.

There is no meta, unless you're interested in speed running, I guess. The best weapons and aspects are whichever ones you personally enjoy using.

i honestly think that the best weapons are the ones that "cheat" damage calculation, so basically the multi hit stuff(Demeter Fist/Chaos Shield/Chiron Bow) because it is a X times boost in a game of additive percentages, but you have to maybe build around it with flat damge boons( Zeus/Ares/Dio) and hope you also get some %boosts to damage with maybe chaos, ares %boost on all attacks, dio %boost on fountains and zeus %boosts on calls. So as you can see that's a lotta work for maybe not very efficient especially because luck is involved.

fuck all that, just put artemis attack on Arthur Sword and crit in the thousands

ALSO speaking of math, artemis special on the multi hit weapons is basically a guaranteed crit (20% chance to crit on 6 attacks[8 on bow])

Best aspects for every weapon

Bow - Hera (speed) or Rama (high heat) Rail - Eris (speed) or Hestia (high heat) Shield - Beowulf Sword - probably Nemesis (I don't play sword idk) Spear - Achilles

hidden aspect of the shield, if u mean overall weapon factoring in all 4 aspects then rail

You want an easy first clear id go with the sheild

The first three links should be what you need to get past Redacted. The rest are for after you beat him and unlock the pact of punishment.

Leereamsnyder’s Hades 1 Build Guide!

Widely considered the Hades 1 Bible(jokingly but for good reasons). It is one of, if not the best Hades 1 guide out there.

Here is an old comment of mine going over the mirror options and my opinion on them in extensive detail.

YT: Hades 1 Boss fights guide.

YT: Haelian’s O to 32 Heat Guide. This video explains the Pact Of Punishment, really well in the first few minutes of the video.

YT: Haelian analyzes player data to determine how to beat 32 Heat.

Banana’s 32 Heat Guide. Banana’s guide has a section on working your way up to 32 Heat so it’s still useful even at low Heat.

Leereamsnyder on clearing 32 Heat W/ All Aspects.

Leereamsnyder on how to handle Tight Dead Line.

How to unlock all hidden weapon aspects in Hades 1

Have you tried turning God Mode on?

Poseidon dash

so i did not turn on god mode as when i look it up it felt like cheating but i did beat him thanks guys

Your health is a resource, don’t be afraid to use it. 

Consider the number of hits per button press. The more hits that come out, the more effective on-hit damage effects are (like Poseidon on the bow’s special, or Zeus attack on the rail). Attacks that have a higher base damage benefit more from percentage based increases. Like the shield’s charged attack, for instance. Put Aphrodite on the shield’s attack and it will almost single handedly carry you through the first three areas. 

Also on the shield - you can predict REDACTED’s attacks are going to come because there’s always a buffer between when he ends an attack and when he selects a new one. You can hold attack with the shield to block, fully mitigating the damage, then use the window of opportunity to nail some damage. 

Artemis has synergy with damn near every single other god, so if you are getting to Elysium and haven’t seen her yet, swap to her trinket at the end of asphodel and pick up some of her boons. Pressure Points specifically can be difference maker, as critical hits do TRIPLE damage. 

If you aren’t certain about weapons, give the Rail a try. Zeus or Poseidon on attack, Artemis on special, Dionysus on cast for the stun. Lob bombs and if you get any hammers, look for rocket bomb and spread bomb. Those two go crazy together. 

And don’t be afraid to change up your keybinds to make the game more ergonomic to play - I play on my keyboard and mouse on computer and moved my cast button and it made the game a much more pleasant experience. 

Hope you get it! Good luck! 

I love the rail. Especially aspect of Lucifer. My main build for it is; lightning strike, static discharge, support fire, chain lightning, Artemis’ aid, cold fusion, concentrated beam, and piercing fire. It just melts everything in its path. On the other hand though, I hate the spear and shield. They are such a pain to use and I just don’t like how they handle.

Spear is the perfect weapon for me, it’s so extremely versatile. Long range attacks, short range, instant movement(with Achilles’ aspect) and it’s extremely amazing all around. Most of its upgrades are amazing, especially flurry jab. Although I’ve never been able to utilise spinning attack fully. It’s too slow. My second favourites are the fists, I have my fastest runs with those. Just dash attack constantly, moving from one end of the map to the other non stop. With Hermes feather and the Zagreus aspect, I don’t fear just anything.

Shield, mixed with athena and ares boons r godsent for me

I love the shield. I love running in and out of enemies with a bull rush.

It’s between the sword and the rail, I love them

Eris is the closest thing we have to a broken weapon. Its kind of hard to judge them though. The sheild and bow are very safe. But id go eris simply because it can shred through bosses in seconds. The world record hades fight is like 30 to 40 seconds with eris

Shield just straight up broken

Eris because of the damage which lead to fast gameplay

I do as the dark thirst guides

Gun with eris is best but I like Lucifer the best and also bow is good with chiron and hera

I think at this point I would take the H2 weapons, overall. I would take the axe and daggers over anything from H1 except maybe the bow. The skulls feel a lot better with the latest update. The torches, staff, and mech suit all have an aspect or two that I have fun using.

That being said, the hidden aspects will obviously have a big impact on the outlook of each weapon and there is still more balancing to be done. If they can make some aspects feel more impactful and really flesh out the hammer upgrades, then I think this weapon set could easily clear the H1 set in total.

One thing i’d keep in mind is we don’t have the hidden aspects yet in 2, and those were the ones that really radically changed how weapons worked in 1.

Nah, I’m with you. I’m basically the same on which weapons I use, order and everything, the only difference being that I don’t have any of the non-Meli aspects unlocked. And I don’t have the coat yet. But I agree that the aspects (and the weapons in general) feel a bit less than Hades I. I can enjoy the skull, but the only serious run that I’ve played with it was a bit of a brawler build, running into enemies and hitting them with skulls from a close range (I had the Hammer upgrade that made them explode on return). It might just be that I prefer melee weapons though; I always have. That’s why I’m on heat 10 with Stygius in Hades I and 7 with the gauntlets and rest are under five.

Also, total side note, I miss the blocking special on the axe :(

What is the chance that they add all the weapons from the first game at post game content?

Something that often happens with early vs late designs IMO. you use all the clear, simple concepts early in and have to create new and more specific stuff if you want to be distinct.

The spear is my go to. Love the recall on the special for the backstabs.

If you get the “hit multiple targets” boon you can really start melting through rooms

Hestia! I just love reloading, especially after remapping the reload trigger. Stacking crits on it is great fun.

New player here. Farthest I've gotten (4th level) was with the shield. Shield throw with lightning and jolt was pretty strong. The spear is great to.

The sword for the final aspect.

Love any aspect of the gloves for their fast pace and because it's fun to punch monsters.

Love any aspect of the bow because you need a bit more strategy and placement to not be overwhelmed.

Really like the hidden form of the sword because it really feel like you're handling a legendary weapon and it's so satisfying.

The others are fine with me to switch up a bit and challenging myself. I thought the gun was pretty weak but it reveals an incredible weapon with a bit of updates and the right boosts.

Fist cuz I like to smash buttons and dash hit

Team Malphon all day. When I finish an encounter, my hands better be feeling the early onset of arthritis...

I'm gonna get destroyed by the community for this, but I really don't like the bow

In order :

1- Fists 2- Bow 3- Shield 4- Gun 5- Sword

And that's all... Yep.. definitely not forgeting any weapons.

I meant Shield, but accidentally put Sword

Charon bow is awesome if you abuse the special.