The third boss of Hades II, Cerberus guards the gates of Hades for the usurper Chronos. Cerberus is a surprisingly tame boss, given how challenging the Fields of Mourning are. Still, understanding the three-headed dog’s move set is important, as you’ll want to go into the game’s final stretch with as many resources as possible. In this guide, we’ll discuss strategy and tactics for facing Cerberus, and cover how to avoid some of the boss’ trickier attacks.
Location – End of Act 3 (Fields of Mourning)
Reward – x1 Tears
Boon Selection
As always, move speed boons are very useful against bosses, as they frequently have large area-of-effect attacks that you have to avoid. That said, Cerberus’ attacks are generally easier to avoid than the other bosses, so there’s less of a need to specifically spec into move speed. He does have a large HP pool, so if you’re struggling to get past the big dog, picking boons that increase your DPS can be quite helpful. The boss mainly uses close-ranged attacks, so if you prefer, you can choose boons that improve your special, and simply stay out of range while peppering Cerberus with your special.
Weapon Selection
You can really pick whatever you want against Cerberus, as he doesn’t have the moveset to punish a particular playstyle. You’re better off learning to avoid his attacks, and picking a weapon best suited to whatever else you are finding challenging in your runs.
Strategy & Tactics
This fight can be made very easy with one simple trick: stay behind the boss. This means you’ll always avoid his ranged attack, and since a lot of his attacks originate from his paws, you’ll start out further away from the epicenter of those moves.
If you’re using your special a lot vs the boss, watch out for the handful of ranged attacks he has — it’s still better to try and stay behind the boss even if you aren’t in melee range most of the time.
Take your time with the adds — when Cerberus hides and you fight regular enemies, there is no rush, as the boss does not return until you kill the last add.
You don’t have to leave the wormy-looking circle attacks until the worms reach the edge (see image below) — these work just like the glyph circles Hecate creates, and you can stay in them for quite a while. This matters because you’ll often want to remain in them and keep attacking the boss until the circle is about to explode.
When the growing central area (circled in green) reaches the edge of the attack’s zone (the light blue ring) the entire area will explode, dealing damage
Be aware of the two-part damage of the paw slam attacks. Basically, there’s the initial circle of damage, but then the circle expands and does damage again. You can dash when the circle expands to avoid damage (as in Image 2 below), but it’s easier just to sprint/dash as far away from the initial paw slam area as possible. Note the amount the circle expands is smaller when Cerberus does a small dash before paw slamming.
When the boss spits out the flaming teeth, make sure you’re pretty far away from them — their area-of-effect is large when they explode.
You can often damage the boss after dodging a paw slam attack, or especially while he’s charging up the large worm-circle attack. When he fires the damaging clouds of red mist into the air is another great window to attack him for an extended period of time.
We hope this guide on defeating Cerberus was helpful! If you have questions or suggestions, drop ’em in the comments below!
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DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
