Best Hades 2 builds

What are the best Hades 2 builds? Melinoe, the daughter of Hades, is capable of making light work of the enemies in The Underworld, but you need to learn which power-ups synergize with her abilities. There aren't any bad upgrades in Hades 2, but there are definitely some that are stronger than others, capable of transforming Melinoe into an unstoppable monster.

With so many new weapons and techniques in Hades 2, there's a lot to think about when preparing for your next run. This roguelike game has plenty of Hades 2 gods you can meet in every run that each dish out the Hades 2 boons like candy. As we progress deeper into the labyrinthine dungeons, we're finding success with very specific builds, which you can find below.

To make the best Hades 2 build, you first need to equip the best Hades 2 keepsakes for the job. You will also need to organize your Hades 2 Arcana cards, selecting which perks you wish to activate. Finally, you need to choose your weapon. Do note that the weapon with Grave Thirst, as granted by one of the Hades 2 incantations, gives you free Bones whenever you complete a room.

The best Hades 2 builds are:

• Wounding Black Coat
• Argent Skull
• Poseidon Moonstone Axe
• Hestia Sister Blades
• Apollo Witch's Staff

Wounding Black Coat

• Weapon: Black Coat
• Keepsake: Sword Hilt
• Arcana: Judgement
• Boons: Grievous Blow, Mutual Destruction, Profuse Bleeding, Vicious Flourish, Vicious Strike

This build focused on Ares' Wound affliction, which is all about dealing a lot of damage in a short amount of time. The key Boons are Vicious Flourish and Strike, as they allow you to apply Wound with nearly everything you do. Grievous Strike enhances this effect further, giving you a chance to inflict further damage to foes with Wound. A possible branch of this Wound build is to pair it with Hestia, if the opportunity arises - Fourth Degree embues her fireball effects with your Wounds, allowing for huge damage. This build starts weak, but with the Judgement Arcana, you gain a lot of power with each boss you defeat.

Argent Skull build

• Weapon: Argent Skull
• Keepsake: Silken Sash or Aromatic Phial
• Arcana: The Wayward Son, The Huntress, The Titan, The Unseen, The Swift Runner, Eternity, The Centaur, and The Boatman.
• Boons: Wave Strike, Super Nova, Extra Dose, Arctic Ring, Fixed Gain
• Hammer upgrades: Fetching Array, Bolstered Array, and Colossus Tackle

This is a relatively mid-late game build, as there are a lot of unlocked Arcana. It requires at least 21 Grasp to equip everything, but there are tons of buffs here that link to your main attack. Hammer upgrades are vital here as Fetching Array ensures you won't have to track down skulls, while Bolstered Array increases the maximum number of them you can fling at once. The Boons here will keep enemies away while also damaging and adding better range and additional damage to your main attack. As for what you should be doing: keep your distance and be patient while dodging enemy attacks and using Cast if things get too much.

Poseidon Moonstone Axe build

• Weapon: Moonstone Axe
• Keepsake: Vivid Sea
• Arcana: The Huntress, The Swift Runner, The Titan, Eternity
• Boons: Fluid Gain, Wave Flourish, Breaker Sprint, Blitz, Arctic Ring

The Poseidon Moonstone Axe build gives us the power to freeze shielded enemies in place while swatting away others. It's worth noting that this build uses a lot of mana, so pay close attention to your resources as you can't spam your abilities. The Vivid Sea keepsake summons Poseidon more often, while the Aromatic Phial increases how much health you recover and upgrades a boon of your choice. If you have the Breaker Spirit, you can sprint over enemies to deal damage at the cost of some mana with Wave Flourish to complete this build.

Hestia Sister Blades build

• Weapon: Sister Blades
• Keepsake: Everlasting Ember
• Arcana: The Wayward Son, The Furies, The Titan, The Unseen
• Boons: Flame Strike, Flame Flourish, Soot Sprint, Smoulder Ring, Fixed Gain

This fire-based build will require you to liberally use ranged attacks to whittle down enemy shields, using the cast spell to keep them from getting too close, before finishing them off with swipes from your burning knives. Soot Sprint is there to erase projectiles, while Fixed Gain gives you a little extra defense and mana recovery.

Apollo Witch's Staff build

• Weapon: Witch's Staff
• Keepsake: Purest Hope
• Arcana: The Huntress, The Titan, The Swift Runner, Eternity
• Boons: Nova Strike, Lucid Gain, Extra Dose, Solar Ring, Ice Flourish

This is another highly aggressive build that uses Apollo's boons to increase the size of your attacks. Given that the Witch's Staff is one of the faster weapons that's otherwise lacking in range, this build mitigates its most obvious drawback. The only non-Apollo boon we've taken here is Demeter's Ice Flourish, as you'll likely use it to freeze shielded enemies to the spot, allowing your regular attacks to hit multiple times. If you somehow get a run where Artemis appears, many of her abilities work well with Apollo's, so be sure to pick them up, too.

Those are the best Hades 2 builds we've found so far. We also have some tips and tricks on how to defeat the Hades 2 bosses in this guide - a few tricks up your sleeve means that nothing can possibly stand in your way.