Melinoë is going to need all the help that she can get if she’s going to take out Chronos. Luckily, she literally has gods on her side! During your runs, different gods will come to your aid, granting unique buffs to your attacks, as well as improving survivability and utility in a variety of ways. In this guide, we will go over who all of these gods are, and what kind of Boons they can grant you.
How to Get Boons from a God
Getting Boons from the gods is simple: every room has a chance to have one of the Olympians in it (which, in most cases, you can see before going inside the room), who will offer you a choice of one out of three Boons after clearing a room. Only two of the gods will need to be found in way a different from this (Artemis and Chaos, which will be explained later). In general, you will only run into a handful of gods in any given run.
If there is a particular god that you’re looking for, you can increase the chances of finding them by equipping their Keepsake — each one will give you a Keepsake the first time you give them Nectar. Otherwise, you simply have to wait until they show up in your run.
All Gods in Hades II
Below we will go over who each god is, what kind of a theme their Boons have, and some of their most notable Boons.
Aphrodite, Goddess of Love
Boon theme – increasing damage to close enemies, and lowering enemy damage.
Unique effect – Weak
Weak causes enemies to deal less damage.
Notable Boons:
Flutter Strike and Flutter Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) deal more damage to nearby enemies.
Rapture Ring – Your Casts will drag foes in and inflict Weak.
Glamour Gain – In each Encounter, 1 foe is always Weak. You will gradually restore Magick when near Weak foes.
The goddess of love makes her return in this game, this time focusing on helping in close combat, and making enemies weaker.
Apollo, God of Light
Boon theme – increasing attack size, and preventing damage.
Unique effect – Daze
Afflicted foes have a 20% chance to deal no damage.
Notable Boons:
Nova Strike and Nova Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) deal more damage in a larger area.
Blinding Sprint – Your Sprint is faster and inflicts Daze on nearby foes.
Light Smite – After you take damage, your foe takes damage and you inflict Daze on all foes.
The god of light uses his powers to make your attacks hit more enemies, and curse your enemies to occasionally fail to damage you.
Demeter, Goddess of Seasons
Boon theme – freezing enemies in place.
Unique effect – Freeze
Afflicted foes are stopped for 2 seconds.
Notable Boons:
Ice Strike and Ice Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) deal more damage and inflict Freeze.
Arctic Ring – Your Casts repeatedly deal damage in the area and inflict Freeze.
Local Climate – Your Omega Cast deals bonus damage and follows you, even as you start to Channel it.
Demeter returns to aid her granddaughter, offering numerous ways to to Freeze enemies, stopping them in their tracks completely.
Hephaestus, God of the Forge
Boon theme – dealing extra area damage.
Unique effects – Blast and Vent
Blast will do a fixed amount of damage in an area, while Vent causes afflicted foes to take extra burst damage after 5 seconds.
Notable Boons:
Volcanic Strike and Volcanic Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) periodically create a blast that damages an area.
Furnace Blast – Your blast effects from Hephaestus also inflict Vent on foes.
Fixed Gain – You take -10% damage, and restore some Magick whenever you take damage.
The god of the forge lends his aid to empower your weapons, causing them to blast out at the enemies, which makes them more effective in taking out groups.
Hestia, Goddess of Flame
Boon theme – damage over time effects.
Unique effect – Scorch
Afflicted enemies will take damage every second.
Notable Boons:
Flame Strike and Flame Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) inflict Scorch
Soot Sprint – Your Sprint destroys most ranged shots near you, and inflicts Scorch on foes that fired.
Glowing Coal – Hold Cast to aim a fiery projectile that explodes on impact. The binding circle forms there.
Hestia helps you to burn your enemies down, granting many ways to apply a damage-over-time effect on them.
Poseidon, God of the Sea
Boon theme – knocking enemies away from you.
Unique effect – Slip
Afflicted foes take more damage and are knocked farther away.
Notable Boons:
Wave Strike and Wave Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) hit foes with a splash that knocks other foes away.
Crashing Wave – Whenever your knock-away effects slam foes into barriers, create a blast in the area.
Fluid Gain – After you strike foes with your Weapon, a Spirit Bubble may appear. Spirit Bubbles will restore your Magick.
The sea god lends his powers once again, allowing you to keep enemies off balance by knocking them around the battlefield.
Zeus, King of the Olympians
Boon theme – dealing extra damage.
Unique effect – Blitz
If the afflicted foe takes enough damage within 3 seconds, they will be struck by lightning.
Notable Boons:
Heaven Strike and Heaven Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) inflict Blitz.
Storm Ring – Your Omega Cast also causes lightning bolts to repeatedly strike 1 foe at a time.
Divine Vengeance – After you take damage, your foe is struck by lightning, with a 50% chance of striking a second time.
Zeus makes his return to help smite your enemies, giving you a lot of extra damage in the form of lightning bolts.
Hera, Queen of the Olympians
Boon theme – spreading damage amongst all foes.
Unique effect – Hitch
Afflicted foes will take 30% of the damage dealt to other afflicted foes.
Notable Boons:
Sworn Strike and Sworn Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) deal more damage and inflict Hitch.
Born Gain – Whenever you run out of Magick, Prime to restore all Magick up to the reduced limit.
Bridal Glow – Your Boons become Heroic, then lose Rarity every 7 Encounters.
Hera eventually joins in the fray, allowing you to curse enemies to share damage with each other. Note that you will not start seeing Hera until you’ve reached the surface for the first time and meet her there.
Hermes, God of Swiftness
Boon theme – speed and utility.
Unique effect – none
Notable Boons:
Swift Strike and Swift Flourish – your Attacks and Specials (respectively) are faster.
Hard Target – Most foes’ ranged shots are slower.
Greater Evasion – Whenever you are struck, you may Dodge any damage.
The god of Swiftness returns to lend his speed as best he can. Unlike the other gods, his Boons don’t give your attacks any kind of special effects, and instead give you general buffs to make you faster, or make things easier in general. This is also one of the only three gods you can find in just about every run, regardless of who else you find.
Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt
Boon theme – extra damage and Critical Strikes.
Unique effect – Marked
Afflicted foes have +30% chance to take Critical damage.
Notable Boons:
Pressure Points – Any damage you deal may be Critical.
Support Fire – After you hit with your Attacks or Specials, fire a seeking arrow.
Death Warrant – A random foe occasionally becomes Marked. If it takes Critical damage, this repeats.
Artemis returns to grant you her hunting prowess, however finding her is different compared to the other gods. Artemis has a chance to show up during any non-boss Encounter – you will know she’s there when the text “The hunt is on” shows up on the screen, and green arrows periodically attack enemies during the encounter.
Her Boons will allow you to spawn arrows to do extra attacks, and she is the only god that can give your attacks a chance to critically hit.
Selene, Moon Incarnate
Boon theme – granting ultimate attacks.
Unique effect – Hexes
Hexes are special attacks that can be used after you used enough Magick.
Notable Hexes:
Moon Water – Your Hex restores 25 Life up to 3 times, which reset whenever you use Fountains.
Darkside – Your Hex turns you into an Impervious living nightmare with her own abilities for 5 Sec.
Total Eclipse – Your Hex blasts the target area for 1000 damage after 4 Sec.
The Moon Incarnate lends her strength to give you a special attack to use in runs. Unlike with other gods, you can only choose one Boon from Selene per run.
If you find Selene again after picking your Hex, you will be able to upgrade your Hex via an upgrade tree, rather than picking another one. This is also one of the only three gods you can find in just about every run, regardless of who else you find.
Chaos, Primordial Originator
Boon theme – various damage and utility buffs.
Unique effect – none
Notable Boons:
Strike and Flourish – Attacks and Specials (respectively) deal additional damage.
Favor – Boons have a chance to be Rare or better.
Revelation – You Channel your Omega Moves faster.
Chaos itself comes back to grant you powerful buffs to damage and utility, but not before testing you. There are a couple of things that make Chaos unique to the other gods:
You can only interact with them by going through a Chaos Gate that will require you to sacrifice some health before you can enter.
When picking a Boon, it will start as a negative effect before giving you its benefits.
When picking your Boon, you will first have to deal with a negative effect — the effect is random, and its duration will depend on its negative and positive effects. Once you have gone through enough rooms, the Boon will convert to its positive effect. This is also one of the only three gods you can find in just about every run, regardless of who else you find.
Now that you know what the gods are, you can try experimenting with their various Boons and try to make combinations that work for you! Take full advantage of their gifts so you can have a better chance to take down Chronos!
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KainHighwind27
I'm a huge gamer who especially loves the Final Fantasy series. I will play just about any game, especially if it has anything resembling a Dragoon.
