Bosses inHades 2provide a major roadblock, most of the time. Hecate is a terror with her barrage of magick attacks, Scylla and the Sirens prove that three targets is harder to deal with than one, and then you get down to the end of the Mourning Fields and meet the third guardian you have to surpass.

Cerberus, covered in miasma, makes for a terrifyingly powerful boss. The size of his arena should give you pause, and so should the size of his paws. You’ll need to be quick on your feet and learn your openings quickly to take this beast down.

Hades 2 is currently in Early Access. As such, the details below may change over time.

How To Beat Infernal Cerberus - Phase 1

Infernal Cerberus presents afight with two phases, with the first being a mere introduction to this boss’s terrifying moveset.

Cerberus deals mostly in close-range attacks to begin with, so it’s a good idea to learn them quickly - especially when using a close-range build.

Description

Flaming Maws

Cerberus shoots three flaming projectiles that look like dog mouths at you. When they are close to you, they’ll explode in a large radius.

When you notice this attack start up, startcircling around Cerberusto avoid the trajectory of the projectiles. Once the third and final one is spat out, dart in to attack the boss.

Central Slam Attack

Cerberus slams both paws down on the ground. Each paw will erupt with a small radius attack.

Since this attack is so quick, you’ll want tobe reactiveagainst it - keep an eye out for the boss’s paws coming down and be prepared to use your dodge to avoid damage via invincibility frames.

Forward Slam Attack

Cerberus slams one paw down on the ground in your direction. The eruption here is far larger than the eruption created by the attack above.

Potentially this boss’s most dangerous attack, you’ll want totime your dodges to avoid damage via invincibility frames. The attack’sradiusis deceptively large.

Explosive Runes

At various points throughout the battle, Cerberus will cast runes on the ground that slowly fill up with tendrils. When thetendrils reach the outer ring, they’ll explode for high damage.

These runs can becreated all over the battlefield, including centred on Cerberus himself. He’s particularly fond of creating three runes around him, but this gives you an easy gap to stand in and counterattack.

Stay out of the rings when they start to get full to avoid damage.

Suction

Cerberus will create a cylindrical vacuum which will suck Melinoe close to him if she doesn’t avoid it. This will often be followed up with a Central Slam Attack or Explosive Runes centred on Cerberus.

Dodging to the side of the vacuumwill help you break free from its pull.

Flaming Swipe

Cerberus makes a swiping lunge, which will shoot out an arc of fire at you.

As long as you are prepared for the arc of fire, you can easily time adodge towards Cerberus through the flames.

Roaring Summons

Cerberus may roar, which will look visually like his Suction ability. This will summon some yellow shades to the fight who provide some distraction. Take them down when it is safe to do so.

An important thing to learn when fighting Cerberus is the difference in wind-ups between hisForward Slam Attackand hisFlaming Swipe, so you can adjust accordingly. When he raises his paw into the air, he will keep it raised for a longer period of time when charging up his Flaming Swipe attack.

The key to this part of the fight is learning where your openings are, as Cerberus is a particularly aggressive attacker.

Despite what you may think,ranged builds are dangerous to use against Cerberus. While he doesn’t move much at all, his attacks have surprising range and can be even more difficult to avoid when you stay far from him. On the upside,close-range builds(such as any Moonstone Axe build and Sister Blade builds that don’t revolve around Special attacks) will do very well.

Thanks tohow large Cerberus is, any builds that deal more damage at close range (withAphrodite’s Boons) or to your enemy’s backs (with the Sister Blades’supgraded Aspect of Melinoe) will do very well in this fight.

Once you get Infernal Cerberus tohalf health, he will sink beneath the earth, beginning Phase 2.

How To Beat Infernal Cerberus - Phase 2

Phase 2 begins with something of a breather. Instead of returning to the fight immediately,Cerberus will summon some enemies to the fight, which you must kill before he comes back.

These enemies will beArmoured versions of enemies found throughout the Mourning Fields. Common encounters are Lamiae, Mourners, and Lycaons.

After eliminating the enemies, alarge Explosive Runewill appear in the centre of the stage - avoid this as usual and be ready for Cerberus’s return.

The camera zooms out during this stage of the fight.Cerberus is far more mobile in this phase, and you’ll need to keep an eye on not only the boss himself but also your entire surroundings to find safe places to retreat.

Cerberus’s attacks in this phase are quite similar to those of the first phase, butfar more aggressive.

This attack will nowcover the entire arena in stages, meaning you may want to wait for the first runes to fire and then move into their location to be safe.

This attack can also just cover avery large section of the arenawith multiple runes at the same time, making it a more difficult area to escape.

Fire Gout

Cerberus will spit along-range jet of fireat you. He will often overlap this attack with an arena-wide Explosive Runes attack, so it’s more important than ever to not only stay on the move to avoid the fire, but to avoid the runes when they get close to exploding.

Forward Slam Combo

Instead of being a single attack, the Forward Slam attack is nowchained with itself 8 times in a row. Cerberus will have some light tracking at this point, meaning you’ll have to stay on the move and be very wary of the large radius of each individual slam.

Diving Rune

Cerberus will dive underground and then pop up underneath you with a veryfast-acting Explosive Rune. Be ready to sprint out of any area when he disappears from sight.

Walled Rune

Cerberus will create a very largeboundary of explosive runes, which will force you intoclose-quarterswith him. He will often follow this up with an immediate Central Slam Attack.

As with the first phase, the key to this part of the fight islearning the tells of each individual moveand knowing how and when to react.

Our best tip for this phase is tostay behind Cerberus whenever possible, especially when attacking. He cannot turn around very quickly, so his most dangerous attack, the Forward Slam Combo, will begin facing away from you.

This gives you ample time tosprint awayfrom him and avoid practically the entire combo with distance.

This phase will test yourpatience and risk factor. His habit of combining Fire Gout with large spreads of Explosive Runes may force you to make dangerous journeys across unfired runes to find a safer space, but it’s worth it - standing in a Fire Gout attack will force you to take a ton of damage in a very short amount of time.

As ever, the best strategy is tostay close to the bossas much as possible, as this will give you the best view of his upcoming attacks. This isn’t always possible thanks to Explosive Runes, but is a good general tip.