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Hades 2is a game where the combat is quite simple, but it gets progressively harder the longer you play. Since you only have a few buttons to press, you only have to think about a handful of things. However, the more boons and upgrades you get, the harder it is to keep track of what you should be doing.
Once you play enough runs, you’ll get the hang of what you should keep in mind when choosing your upgrades. You’ll continuously look for ways to use your powerful moves but sometimes fall short. This might mean that you are neglecting some of the most basic combat concepts in the game and here are some tips that will help you get things on track.
Use Casts Whenever You Can
Casts are very powerful because using them doesn’t take anything away from you. You canuse it in the middle of a combowhich won’t disrupt anything, and if you aren’t doing any cast build, you’re able to put boons thatapply debuffslike Weak.
If you are building your attacks, specials, or omegas, you won’t always get what you need when boons are offered. When you add the cast to your attack rotation,boons affecting casts will now benefityou instead of focusing on one or two aspects throughout your run.
However, omega casts are a bit hard to add to your rotation as they are channeled actions. It is best if youstick to at least one channeled movebecause managing your Magick and upgrading power gets harder and harder.
Try To Add Debuffs
Casts aren’t the only move that can apply debuffs, and even if you already have slow or Weak applied from your casts, you canadd even more debuffs to your attacks and specials. Usually, players focus on buffing their attacks, specials, or omegas; if you are buffing up your specials, you may also add some debuffs to your attacks.
For example, if your main damaging ability is your omega special, you’ll be using that move almost 90 percent of the time. Once youadd a Freeze debuff to your attack, you can start your combat with an attack tofreeze the target before unleashing your deadliest combos,adding a bit of safety, depending on the debuffs you want to inflict.
Hitch is also great since it helps boost your overall splash or cleave damage against multiple targets.
Dash or Dodge In Between Combos
Some weaponsinflict their highest damage at the last move of their combo. For example, the Sister Blades unleashes a powerful but small cleaving attack at the end of the combo; if you stop in the middle of the combo, you’ll restart the combo again.
However, if youdash or dodge during the combo, your combo will not restart if you press the attack button immediately after dashing. This not only gives you a slight boost in damage because you are retaining your “execute” in the combo, but you alsogain more flexibility in dodging dangerous attackswhile on the offensive.
Break Armor As Fast As Possible
You might have noticed some enemies having a yellow health bar, and you’ll have to go through this yellow health bar tobreak through their armor. Most enemies stagger when they continuously get hit, but if they have armor,they’ll continue their attacks while taking damage.
Most players get hit while attacking armored enemies, which makes them one of the most dangerous mechanics in the game. Once you learn how to play around the armor,you’ll save hundreds of health pointsduring your runs.
If you are struggling with armored enemies, you can deal with the other enemies first, so you have more space to dodge and kite. Debuffs like Freeze go through armor, which puts more emphasis on adding debuffs to your build.
Add Ranged Variety To Your Builds
There are some instances whereyou’ll have trouble getting close to the targetbecause there are a lot of dangerous abilities going around the stage. If your best moves are done while close to the target, you might have some downtime, so it is best toadd some variety to your build.
If you are using theArgent Skull’s omega special build, you want to add some upgrades to your attacks to create some more opportunities to deal damage at all times. This comes in handy if you are fighting enemies or bosses with several large AoE attacks.
TheCerberus fightcomes to mind as it fills the arena with large dangerous circles where you need to run away frequently.
Add Defensive Layers or Healing
One of the biggest mistakes players make iscompletely investing in all the damage boonsgiven to them. Some players even go through Chaos portals tosacrifice even more health, so you want to be as conservative as possible unless you are aiming for a big upgrade.
Health doesn’t return to you at every stage, so you have toinvest in increasing your max health or healing a few health points. You can take defensive upgrades like the boon that lets you block a single instance of damage while sprinting (one of the best defensive boons).
You can alsoadd more Death Defiancesoruse the Ghost Onion keepsake efficientlyand swap it out with the Engraved Pin. There are so many ways to add defensive layers or survivability to your runs and using at least three or four of them is almost mandatory.
Remember Attack Patterns
Most of your runs will repeat themselves with a few things being added here and there as you progress through the story or even just your Crossroads upgrades. You’ll surely memorize fights against a few enemies becausemost of them only have one or two attacks.
The quicker you learn each of the enemy’s attacks, the farther you’re able to go in each run you play. Once you log five to ten hours in the game,you’ll start tobeat Headmistress Hecatewithout taking a single point of damage.
This goes for every strong enemy, guardian, or boss you go through. Now, if you have learned most of the attack patterns from the enemies, it is all aboutbeing patient and consistent.
Maximize Magick Usage
Magick, or some might also call this mana, is one of the most important elements in the game. If you aren’t using Magick, you are foregoing a big portion of utility or damage to your character build.
At the start of each stage, your Magick returns to full, soit is best to consume all your Magick whenever possible. If you aren’t using omega moves to use Magick because your build isn’t built for it, you’re able to haveboons that have great effects but drain your Magick.
For example, you may have a boon that strikes foes with a lightning bolt when you sprint through them. This is a great offensive boon to have, but the downside is that it costs you Magick every time you strike an enemy with a lightning bolt.
you may use these types of boons if you don’t have anything to unload your Magick on. For Magick-heavy builds, it is all aboutimproving Magick recovery or conserving it properly.
Use the Sorceress Arcana card thatslows everything down for two seconds when you are channelingany omega moves. This could be consideredone of the best Arcana cardsin the game because of the added utility it gives to players who constantly use omega moves.
