Can someone please point me to an updated list of weapon strategies for new players? This can be a combination of common buildouts and recommended boons and upgrades to take for each weapon. All the videos and other content for the game seems to be multiple patches old so it would be good to have an updated list.

because i recently saw a chart attempting to illustrate who works well with that, and i found it irritating, misinformative, and extremely awkward to navigate, i decided to write this up for people who want to actually bother to read and understand the nuances of how/why things work together. this will take into account all attacks of the weapon, as well as aspects. feel free to ask questions, im more than willing to expand on any points.

but first, some gods and their numbers. i'll be drawing from epic levels of power for numbers, instead of common or otherwise.

aphrodite: attack 90-100%, special 144-160%.

athena/demeter: attack 72-80%, special 108-120%.

poseidon: attack 54-60%, special 126-140%

artemis: attack 36-40%, special 72-80% (crits are a bit of a wildcard for damage calculations though, but can basically be simplified as 20% crit being an additional 40% increase, or 15% being a 30% increase)

boon damage gods:

zeus: attack 15, special 40

ares: attack 100, special 100 (although other rarities have slightly different amounts)

dionysus: attack 6, special 7

#1) sword

the first 3 aspects of the sword all function pretty much the same. poseidon aspect amplifies cast damage no matter what you choose, but the "dislodge" effect helps casts that aren't deme, ares, or dio. the sword has pretty average-fast stats and abilities. you can make pretty much every god work due to the numbers and style. the attack is quick, but the special is a little slow.

sword attack: pretty much any %damage god works. you can see the order of who does what amount of damage increase above, and zeus equates to poseidon for attack damage increase, both dealing ~40damage per attack. nothing wrong with taking dio, he's pretty easy to maintain max stacks. taking ares is fine too, and even taking dire misfortune (reapplying doom before it pops adds damage) can yield light results.

sword special: again, any %damage god boon can work just fine, but aphrodite stands out here due to attack rotation and time investment. generally you want to slip specials in now and again to animation cancel and maintain dps, especially using nemesis aspect to keep up the crit passive. having the highest damage boost and a need to slowly reapply weak every 3 seconds, aphrodite makes pressing special actually worth it, as opposed to some other gods that really would only offer damage out of it, like athena or artemis. i would not recommend demeter because stacking up 10 stacks would be kind of slow and difficult to maintain. ares can work fine, zeus can work fine (but his base damage equates to artemis without the crit), and i would not recommend dio because even only spamming special will barely maintain stacks of poison and you'll lose dps doing that.

arthur: bigger numbers, slower hits. stacking boons are less impactful due to the slower speed and their numbers balanced around the low attack damage of regular weapons. % increases shine with arthur. avoid zeus, ares, dio, prioritize aphro/artemis.

#2) spear

about the same damage as the sword, just about the same speed too, maybe slightly slower. dash attacks are just as fast, although unlike the sword's dash of 30, the spear's is 20 (how does that make sense? lol. compensation for range i guess). the charge attack being a thing favors % damage gods more than boon damage gods, although regular/dash attacks can make boon damage gods work just fine. special hitting twice makes boon damage gods a bit more viable than the sword, but still woefully underperforming dps that way (except ares, he's fine even without dire misfortune)

spear attack: as mentioned, % damage gods work just fine, as well as boon damage gods. stacks are easy to build and maintain

spear special: due to the slowish nature of the special, aphrodite once again shines with her high numbers and minimal need for reapplication. ares is fine, especially with impending doom (doom does more damage after waiting longer to pop). nothing to really note here.

guan yu: aphro, artemis, and athena are the best, avoid boon damage gods. aphro/artemis for the damage, athena for the giant circle of deflection.

#3) shield

the shield's attack is a little slower than the other weapons and only does 20 damage. the special only does 15. you're going to rely on blocking and bullrushing a lot, especially if you are using the chaos aspect. additionally, spamming dash attacks will compensate for the slow regular attack speed. due to the lower base damage, boons damage gods generally perform better than % damage gods.

shield attack: while you might think "if im spamming recklessly, then thats good for boon damage gods, right?" well you'd only be partly right. theres a sort of gap in dps for heavier hitting weapons with % modifiers over boon damage. while zeus might give 14 damage, which is 34 for an attack, aphrodite can still put you at 40. however, bullrush can charge up to 40 base damage, which can give % damage gods a bigger edge. special shout out to athena attack for making bullrush deflect in addition to blocking, especially since that act of charging through enemies puts you close and triggers their "oh he's in range, i should attack now" AI so you can sometimes get bonus damage out of your rush by deflecting attacks or projectiles. boon damage gods are good for the shield though, especially ares/dio because they do their damage after you hit, so they can lend to safer hit and run styles.

shield special: boon damage gods all the way. the base damage is so low that competing with boon damage's base numbers is next to impossible. special exception: poseidon on special if you're using the chaos shield and get the seastorm duo.

beowulf: this is the cast option

#4) bow

first off, i hate the bow. apologies if my experience skews my assessment. slow attack, big base damage. small damage rapidfire special. you should see this assessment coming

bow attack: % damage boons, artemis gets a chance to shine. avoid boon damage, except MAYBE ares.

bow special: boon damage can shine here, but % damage is nothing to scoff at. obviously its pretty bad with the zagreus aspect, but the chiron aspect makes both work pretty well. dio can actually underperform a little bit here because you can apply stacks faster than you need to by a LOT. aphrodite and artemis can put in work, zeus (or poseidon with sea storm) can do silly amounts of damage, ares can stack dire misfortune pretty well.

edit: as some have mentioned, shoutout to demeter on chiron special with arctic blast (140 pop at 10 stacks of chill). with both boons epic, thats a 294 damage burst.

rama: honestly havent gotten a chance to use it yet, though i suspect is favors % damage boons on attack and debuffs/stacks on special.

#5) fists

the fists attack very quickly. you might think "this will be good for dio, right?" not really. dio is actually mediocre for the fists and rail because they attack TOO fast. sure, you can maintain max stacks all day, but you're attacking so fast without any sort of bonus to those attacks during max stacks that you're actually losing out on dps compared to taking it on another weapon. sure that 60dps might be comparable or better than % damage boons, but thats just the nature of these low damage weapons

fist attack: zeus can finally shine just as strong as aphrodite. shout out to poseidon on attack with seastorm duo. ares can get good value out of dire misfortune stacks (basically putting him equal to zeus, plus 100). constant attacking can make athena good for deflects, but you'll probably want to find damage elsewhere. demeter with arctic blast can be decent, but some people prefer to maintain max stacks of chill for easier boss fights. just about anything works, but boon damage shines a little more than usual.

fist special: just about anything can work. boon damage can work due to it hitting twice, and aspect of demeter makes them work even more.

gilgamesh: havent gotten to use it yet

#6) rail

the rail is rapid fire, low damage, with a slow, high damage special. this favors boon damage on attack, and % damage on special. exception to this is hestia aspect, which wants % damage, especially artemis for big dick crits.

rail attack: base damage is 10. zeus offers 14. you just increased your attack damage by 240%. again, poseidon with seastorm adding 40 damage lightnings per bullet is kind of silly (i'd recommend zeus's cast or dash instead of special or call though). you can get value out of ares's dire misfortune here too. for % gods, take the number in the 10s place (and higher when applicable), and thats how much damage you increase per bullet. 70%? +7 damage. simple. not really that great. much like the fists, dio gets kind of wasted here because you attack TOO fast and are hitting at max stacks without any sort of value for it, but he's still a better pick than the % gods, unless you're really looking for a specific synergy/duo. again, demeter and arctic blast do well due to the speed.

rail special: special shoutout to the triple and/or cluster rocket hammer options, and making artemis on special playable with your eyes closed. % damage all the way, boon damage is wasted. its too slow and the increase in damage from %s is too high. while ares technically does competitive damage on special here, there are a number of factors through hammers and chaos that make % damage more appealing.

lucifer: didnt much care for this aspect, but the assessment doesnt change.

#takeaways

1. there is a clear divide between boon damage and % damage. for dio you want to attack fast enough to maintain stacks, but not too fast to lose value. around 6 attacks every 4 seconds does it, and the rail/fists go far over that. however, if you want to take playstyle into account, dio does work as a "hit and run" style since you simple attack, and run away while it does damage.

1 b) for dio you want to attack fast enough to maintain stacks, but not too fast to lose value. around 6 attacks every 4 seconds does it, and the rail/fists go far over that. however, if you want to take playstyle into account, dio does work as a "hit and run" style since you simple attack, and run away while it does damage. dio at max stacks is 6x5x2, for 60 dps. while 60 dps (on top of your basic attack dps, whatever that may be for your weapon and playstyle) can be good, there are other ways to have higher dps and better synergies with those fast weapons. i'll grant that its better than % damage boons in the raw, but you're still wasting potential by choosing him on the rail/fists instead of other weapons.

2. poseidon can be considered in place of boon damage if you shoot for sea storm.

3. while athena, poseidon, demeter, and artemis are basically inferior to aphrodite in raw numbers, you have to consider what else they DO and how that factors into your playstyle and what sort of duos you might be aiming for.

4. ares doesnt need dire misfortune to be good, but fast attacking weapons utilizing it makes him better. he can work on slow hits just fine due to the delay nature of doom and impending doom. ares outclasses dio, and stays on top easier, as long as you can reapply doom in a timely fashion.

4 b) something to note: ares attack is good on anything, and usually actually better dps on basic attack than even aphrodite. i think the only instances where aphrodite (or artemis) comes out on top is with arthur and hestia aspects, and maybe the spear spin attack. ares special is good on just about anything because nothing really comes close to being able to deal more damage by hitting multiple times within the window of the doom, unless they have specific hammer upgrades (like the triple or rockets for the rail). the only other times %boons actually out perform him are after multiple things synergizing together (extra bonus backstab damage and all that)

4 c) this ares stuff is also pretty much solely on the damage provided from the doom compared to the bonus damage you get from %boons. a base attack of 25, with aphrodite would be 50, would have to hit 4 times to match the damage of the same attack with 4 times with a single doom. 4x50=200. 4x25=100, +100 doom =200. factoring in impending doom, which is a whopping +72%, lets add 2 attacks during the increased window and say doom version is a total of 6x25=150, +172 doom = 322. 6x50=300 for aphro. all hypothetical of course. additionally, ares gets to split poms between the two boons, while % damage things are stuck with just the one thing to boost. ares is a beast. now, i mention above about dire misfortune making ares better with fast weapons, but with all of this math he stands head and shoulders way above % damage choices for the fast weapons and their puny base numbers. apparently i was "downplaying" this before, so heres the exalted version.

#TL;DR

sword) attack: anything works, knock yourself out. special: anything works except dio, % damage slightly favored.

spear) attack: anything works, knock yourself out. special: anything except dio works.

shield) attack: anything works, boon damage does better than the previous 2 in comparison. special: boon damage all the way.

bow) attack: % damage all the way, MAYBE throw ares on if you feel like it due to some duo digging necessity. special) anything works, boon damage shines, dio underperforms.

fists) attack: anything works, but boon damage does great due to the speed. special: anything works, especially with demeter aspect

rail) attack: boon damage, avoid % damage unless you need a certain effect or duo to show up. hestia aspect actually uses % damage though. special: % damage all the way, ares is acceptable due to the slow nature though. avoid other boon damage.

[deleted]

So, how have y'all been faring with the weapons, and what are your favourites?

For me, it goes as follows:

Staff: Pretty much my personal favourite. I reached Chronos the first time with the Hammer boon that heals you when you kill an enemy with the Ω-attack. Got him down to 20% in his second phase with the one that makes the omega attack hit twice, but only in front of you. Most gods' boons make the Ω-attack better without drawbacks, so I think it's fairly easy to make a good build without too much help from RNG-Chaos. Then again, I've never managed a good build focused on the staff specials, although I see the potential in the hammer boons.

Skull: My second go-to weapon. I basically do the same thing everytime: Ω-attack until I have no skulls left, then Ω-special to get the skulls back. Using so many Ω-moves helps me a lot because it activates the time slow card everytime, and with the bullet hell that some boss fights (and the last area in the underworld) can be, this is extremely helpful. Again, most gods are useful here I think. Although I tend to go for Apollon, because of the larger AOE. From the hammer, I take the five skulls or the one that makes the Ω-special strike back inwards.

Torches (they are torches, right?): Special-spamming. That's it. I recently had a run where I got Hestia's DOT, the hammer boon that makes the orbs grow bigger and faster, Zeus' chain lightning and Artemis' arrows on the special. Combined with a cast that had Apollo (rapid damage after cast ends) and the Zeus/Apollon duo boon on the cast, I got into Chronos' second phase and would have had him if I hadn't been greedy in Tartarus (picked one of those where I have to choose one god aboce the other, got decimated by Zeus -_-) and wasted 2 DDs. I cannot for my life figure out how to make a build work that doesn't rely on specials on this one. Again, I see the potential in the hammer boons. Recently managed to get to Eris with Aspect of Moros, Zeus on basic attacks and specials, plus the hammer boon that makes the specials go in a straight line. It felt all wrong, though.

Axe: It's fun, and I die. Had some decent spin-to-win builds, but never got me far because IT'S SO SLOW. I always get hit. Most fun weapon though, IMO.

Blades: I honestly don't know what to make out of those. The Chaos Trial with Poseidon boons was hella fun, but I haven't managed to recreate anything similar. I find them very dangerous when against shielded enemies, unshielded ones obviously just die.

Edit: Has anyone managed a good build around dashes/sprints?

In the hades 2 TT there is 2 weapons the sister blades and staff. What other weapons do you think they’re going to add

I really love Hades 2 so far, between Mel, the witchiness, casts, new boons/builds, and gods. I know a lot of people are iffy with a few things but as a woman I absolutely love playing as a female main character and I think Mel is so cute with how respectful she is towards everyone, especially Schelemeus (who I think would get along well with Skelly btw, they seem like they would be good friends).

I miss calls from Hades 1, not actually using them but having the changing voice lines of Zag calling out to the god. I don’t use hexes much and I’ve done 20 fear on staff, blades, and axe without caring much about them but I just miss that piece of interaction Zag had with the gods. I’m not against hexes in general but it’s also kind of sad because calls were very synergistic with the gods and hexes are a bit static (which may be good or bad but I find myself usually going for the morph one or phase shift regardless of build).

The second thing I miss is a bit similar to a common complaint with Hades 2: the weapons. Specifically, I miss the bow. Long-range slower weapon based around kiting and pumping up the damage. I like how every weapon has a long-range and short-range aspect to them now, but it also means there’s no pure long-range weapon. The skulls are hybrid and don’t feel as nice as the bow, and the torches’ special relies on a closer-range approach. Even just going attack only on torches, their play style is closer to the rail than the bow. I miss my slow, heavy-hitting long range weapon and I feel like the skulls aren’t a good enough replacement. The other weapons have a good enough replacement (imo) in my eyes (and I absolutely love omega attacks, and the staff in general). It’s also kind of sad because there are a few lines about Mel not having a bow, from Odysseus and Apollo. I also love the aesthetic of archers in a lot of games and the two torches/skulls don’t really replicate that feeling.

Anyone else feel like this? Otherwise I absolute love Hades 2, even if it’s a bit slower than Hades (honestly sprinting >> dashing twice and I was also fine before they changed sprinting to be instantaneous). I’ve also been able to go farther in fear than heat, but that may be because I’ve been playing this game more consistently (88 hours for one playthrough vs 116 for two playthroughs in Hades). I kind of want to try 32 heat but between missing extreme measures (my favorite pact option) and not being rewarded for going above 20 outside of another statue I think I’m going to wait on that and just get all weapons up to 20 fear.

Side note, what builds are everyone’s go-to? Mine are: Momus staff: Apollo omega attack spam fishing for his legendary Pan blades: Poseidon omega special spam, Demeter or Aphrodite on cast, fishing for Ares duo or Zeus chain lightning Eos torches: Apollo attack, Poseidon special (listen I really love Apollo attack and Poseidon is my favorite god this update) Thanatos axe: Percent god on attack (usually Apollo) and special, mostly using attack and omega moves Mel skulls: Percent god on attack(usually Demeter), Hera or Aphrodite on special, repeating attacks then special through enemies. Selene Coat: Aphrodite attack, Poseidon special. Usually plays similar to pan blades with special spam except the casts aren’t as important to dps. Fishing for Aphrodite/Poseidon legendary.

I haven’t tried Charon axe since they changed casts and the axe special, is it still good? I feel like it would be a lot more vulnerable with no blocking. What’s the best build for it?

Hello, I would like to share a comprehensive 32 fear build guide on the new patch, as I've seen quite a few posts saying that the recent patch made 32 heat harder, they miss the momus special spam, and so on. I just want to prove that a simple attack-spam build still exist and is quite powerful still.

So here's the guide:

Weapon

We're using skull, aspect of melinoe. This is because it has the highest damage (AOE even) and attack frequency, with the drawback being you need to pick up the skulls after firing. However, if you are right next to your enemy, you will actually just pick up the skull immediately after it bounced off. The skull is effectively the highest DPS melee weapon in the game, with the option to switch to range attack if you are low on health.

The play pattern of this weapons is going to be:

• For normal encounters, drop a cast to bind the enemies in place, fire all your skulls at them from a distance, then sprint towards the enemies. By the time you get there, they're probably staggered from the blast, so you can safely pick up the skulls and attack again from close range.
• For mini-bosses/bosses, always dash behind them, drop your cast, then unload your skulls continuously (due to the instant pickup). Most of the time you will deal so much damage you just instantly phase transition them, then rinse and repeat.

Arcana

The important ones are:

• The huntress (we are going for a mana-less build, so this is just a free 50% damage boost)
• Strength (we are also going for no healing, so this is a good consistent 50% damage bonus)
• Origination (50% damage is too good, you almost always want this)
• The furies (we really want to maximize our damage)
• The lovers (Make it easier to survive)
• The titan (Easier to survive, also triggers Strength at a higher life total)
• The furies (More damage the better)
• Eternity (you want your DDs, this is 32 heat)
• The fates and The champions (we need rerolls to get our build online ASAP)

Note that we do not take the 300 gold arcana, because we are going to make everything expensive, so gold is much less valuable. The rest of the arcanas are up to preference, but you shouldn't take any healing related ones.

Vows

• Vow of panic, max vow of arrogance (we are doing a mana-less build)
• max vow of desperation (Just like with momus, everything dies quickly so time is not an issue. You only need to be careful in the first region)
• Vow of forsaking
• max vow of scars (make Strength arcana and white antler more consistent)
• max vow of destitution, vow of haunting, and vow of wandering.
• vow of blood (60% damage), vow of fury (20% faster), vow of suffering (100%)
  • we prefer taking damage instead of super-fast enemies, as we can get around the damage increase with better dodging, defensive boons, or just killing them fast enough.

Other setups

• pick Aphrodite's keepsake, we want her epic or heroic attack boon (more on that later)
• pick Fritos as your companion. Our goal in the first region is to not lose any DD if possible, and having higher health is more beneficial than an extra 40 health DD.
• pick silver spade (In case we get plentiful forage)

First Region

In the first region, your start is always:

• Find Aphrodite's boon, reroll until you get an attack.
• If it is epic or rare, rarify and take it. Congrats, now you have your heroic or epic boon.
• If it is common, take it without rarifying it. For the rest of the region, pick only non-common boons (use rerolls/Aphro's rarify if necessary). Then, at the end of the region, switch to Narcissus's keepsake before drinking the fountain, then drinking the fountain will get you your heroic boon.

For the hammer, the +2 skull upgrade is the clear number 1 choice, with second place being the new "omega attack upon pickup" one. Otherwise, just make sure you don't pick any hammer that ruin the play style. For example, never pick the "fire all skuls in a spread pattern" upgrade.

As for how to pick rest of the Gods/boons, here's my guidelines:

• You want to be able to consistently apply 2 curses without using mana or special, so you really need to use cast and sprint. This means Demeter's or Hestia's casts are great.
  • Furthermore, Demeter's sprint or Gale Force also counts as a curse and it is different than freeze, so Demeter could apply 2 curses all by herself.
• Once you get your 2 curses, I like Hephaestus's defense boons. Both the shield and Impervious can make sure Strength arcana and white antler stays active, which is great. Furthermore, he offers Earth elements, so if you have Demeter, he helps activate Demeter's infusion boon, which is very good when you have no healing.
• Otherwise, I will focus on Gods with good infusion boons, since even though Vow of forsaking doesn't help you get duos or legendaries, it does help you consistently get infusion boons.

Finally, your primary focus in this region is to finish within the 5 minute time limit, and to not lose your DD if possible. If you can achieve these two goals, you are off to a great start.

Rest of the regions

In region 2, if you do not need narcissus's keepsake to upgrade your attack boon, then I recommend echo's keepsake for an extra boon. With vow of forsaking, this lets you potentially save a desirable boon that would've been erased forever, but even if it picked a useless boon, it at least gives you one extra element, which makes it easier to activate infusion boons (which are easier to get with vow of forsaking)

In region 3, switch to Chaos' keepsake, Chaos just have a lot of beneficial effects and it can very well be run-winning.

Finally, in tartarus, if you are low on health and/or DD, and you are still consistently losing health in normal encounters, use Moro's pin so that you can try to keep all your DDs (10 seconds should be enough to clear the room with your DPS). Otherwise, I recommend white antler as the high crit chance on top of high damage can very easily kill chronos with 0 effort.

Conclusion

That should be it, hope you enjoy the skull as much as I do!

How do people upgrade their weapons/ how do people get better stats for their weapons?

Workshop is where you can upgrade your weapons. Every Upgrade has it's own downsides, including the prices.