Hades is a fighting-based dungeon crawler. When fighting through the increasingly complicated levels of the Underworld, the weapon you choose becomes your best friend for the duration of your escape attempt. You can increase your weapon’s Stats through boons and Daedalus Hammers, but before you even start your next attempt, it is worth investing some Titan Blood in Aspects. What’s interesting about Aspects is that some of them are based on mythologies other than Greek, unlike the rest of the game.
An Aspect is a special power that gives your weapon a certain ability. A couple of Aspects can be unlocked by simply interacting with a weapon, but most can only be bought with Titan Blood. Some Aspects are specific to the weapon, while others are available for more than one; however, there are Aspects that are better suited for some weapons than others. Each Aspect has five levels that can be unlocked by spending more Titan Blood. Here are the top three Aspects for each weapon and why you should choose them:
Stygius, or the Stygian Blade
Best: Aspect of Arthur
Check out that massive aura
Aspect Stats:
- Your Stygian Blade becomes Holy Excalibur with a new moveset.
- Adds 50 points to your Life Total.
- Increased Attack and Special damage.
- Increased damage with Attack combo: pressing Attack thrice in sequence increases the damage per strike, with 60-80-200 damage dealt by each subsequent strike.
- Using Special now triggers Hallowed Ground for eight seconds, creating an aura around you; when active, enemy projectiles are slowed, incoming damage is reduced, and traps are disabled.
- Unlock an exclusive Daedalus Boon: Greater Concentration. Your aura is now 45% larger, and your foes are slowed by an extra 10%.
Aspect of Arthur Review and Advice:
- The damage per strike is more than doubled, making you a killing machine. Seriously, you can one-hit most Tartarus foes and dance your way through all levels of the Underworld. This is the most OP Aspect in Hades.
- Any Life Total increase is your friend, and adding a whopping 50 points to it will make you borderline immortal, especially when paired with other Life Total-increasing items and Boons.
- Don’t even get me started on Hallowed Ground! You are practically invincible while it’s active. Slowing down enemy projectiles is invaluable for Asphodel and Elysium, where most foes shoot stuff at you all the time. Beating Lernie has never been easier!
Choose Aspect of Arthur if you want to be really, really OP! Getting this Aspect is hard, but the increased damage, higher Life Total, and damage reduction will make any escape attempt a breeze. Essential for speedrunners.
2nd Best: Aspect of Nemesis
Quite an attractive set of stats
Aspect Stats:
- For three seconds after your Special, your Attack may deal Critical damage.
- Critical damage chance increases by up 30% .
Aspect of Nemesis Review and Advice:
- Critical damage is often overlooked in Hades, and it really shouldn’t be. A Critical attack deals at least 300% more damage when not empowered by Boons, which is a hefty increase, if you ask me.
- To maximize your Critical damage chances, join forces with Artemis. Her Boons are crit-oriented, meaning your Critical chances will become even higher.
- Pick any Boon that increases your base damage, such as Ares’ Urge to Kill or Poseidon’s Hydraulic Might.
Choose Aspect of Nemesis if you want to use a sword, but also like Artemis and her Boons (she is generally range-weapon oriented). Also pick this Aspect if you are a brute-force fighter and want to deal the most possible damage.
3rd Best: Aspect of Poseidon
That's one good-looking sword!
Aspect Stats:
- Your Special dislodges Cast Ammo from foes.
- Your Cast damage increases by up to 50%.
Aspect of Poseidon Review and Advice:
- Cast is more useful than you give it credit for, trust me.
- Cast-enhancing Boons increase your Cast damage even more and usually cause it to acquire an ability to inflict a status effect, such as Aphrodite’s Weak that makes foes deal less damage. Pair Boons with this Aspect carefully to get the effect you want.
- Be careful: most Cast-enhancing Boons change the way your Cast acts, meaning your Cast Ammo might not get stuck in your foes.
- Make sure to pair this Aspect with one or more of the following Abilities from the Mirror of Night (I recommend Boiling Blood + Infernal Soul):
- Boiling Blood: each rank gives you +10% Attack & Special damage to foes with Cast Ammo in them.
- Abyssal Blood: each rank reduces foes' speed and damage by -6% while they have Cast Ammo in them.
- Infernal Soul: each rank gives you +1 Cast Ammo for your Cast.
Choose Aspect of Poseidon if you like Casting. When using the Stygian Blade, you will have to fight melee, and Casting is a great way to add ranged attacks to your arsenal.
Varatha, or the Eternal Spear
Best: Aspect of Achilles
Makes your spear nice and shiny!
Aspect Stats:
- After you use your Special, instead of retrieving the spear by calling it or picking it up, you rush forward to grab it and trigger Raging Rush.
- Raging Rush increases the damage for the next four Attacks and Casts by up to 150%.
- Your Special is charged now; the longer you hold down the Special button, the farther your spear will go upon release.
Aspect of Achilles Review and Advice:
- More damage! This is what we want for any self-respecting weapon.
- Cast, Cast, Cast. Do not underestimate it. With certain Boons, such as Demeter’s Crystal Beam, your Cast will deal passive damage, leaving your hands free to swing that spear around. This is very useful when fighting bosses: Cast at the boss and let it writhe in pain from all that increased damage while you one-hit smaller foes with +150% damage attacks.
- Let me say this again: upgrade your Cast with the Mirror of Night. See Aspect of Poseidon above for good Cast Abilities to equip.
- Beware: your Special range decreases by 10%.
Choose Aspect of Achilles if you like a good balance between close-combat and ranged attacks. Cast damage increases are not easy to come by, so make use of this Aspect.
2nd Best: Aspect of Hades
Sweeping poor Skelly off his bony feet, but I guess he volunteered for it
Aspect Stats:
- Your Spin Attack becomes a Punishing Sweep.
- Your Attack and Special deal up to 150% more damage.
- Your Spin Attack radius increases.
Aspect of Hades Review and Advice:
- You can Dash while you spin without interrupting the charging, so you can further expand the range of your Punishing Sweep.
- Very good for fighting multiple enemies at the same time – just spin and clear the field around you with that extra damage!
- Put some damage-increasing Boons on your Attack and Special for even more damage. Using Boons with effects such as Aphrodite’s Weak will make sure your foes are destroyed for good.
Choose Aspect of Hades if you like fighting multiple enemies at once. You can one-hit multiple low-level foes in Tartarus with the right Boons!
3rd Best: Aspect of Guan Yu
You get a little snake friend on your spearpoint!
Aspect Stats:
- Your spear turns into the Frost Flair Blade with a new moveset.
- Your base damage more than doubles.
- Your spear can now pierce when you hold Attack to charge or use your Special, meaning that instead of hitting one enemy, you can skewer several with one throw!
- Your Serpent Slash, aka charging your Attack, will heal you for one Heart per hit.
- Unlock an exclusive Daedalus Boon: Winged Serpent. Your Frost Flair Blade Spin Attack travels for 80% longer.
Aspect of Guan Yu Review and Advice:
- Add some damage-increasing Boons on top to get the most out of this Aspect and deal as much damage as possible.
- Make use of the Daedalus Hammer. I recommend picking Extending Jab to increase your Attack range even more and deal more damage to distant foes, which is perfect for a throwing weapon.
- If your Life Total is a concern, be careful using this Aspect. Your Life Total and Life Gain with decrease by at least 50%. Make sure to equip items that give you Health.
Choose Aspect of Guan Yu if you are a ranged fighter but like to have a melee option, too.
Aegis, or the Shield of Chaos
Best: Aspect of Chaos
Look at all those shields! Poor Skelly...
Aspect Stats:
- After you use your Special, aka Bull Rush, you can throw up to six shields instead of one.
Aspect of Chaos Review and Advice:
- The shield is definitely my favorite weapon in Hades, and the Aspect of Chaos is near and dear to my heart. You can hit multiple enemies at once, and using your shield as a melee weapon allows you to defend yourself as efficiently as possible.
- Equip the Dread Flight from Daedalus, so your shield bounces between four additional foes before returning.
- The best Boon you can get for this Aspect is Ares’ Curse of Pain, which inflicts delayed Doom damage to your enemies. Throw a shield from afar and watch your enemies succumb to Doom without ever getting close. Add on the Dire Misfortune, too, to increase Boon damage and have it hit multiple times.
- There is a good reason why Athena’s sign is a shield. Her Boons grant you Deflect abilities, which turn your enemies’ attacks against them. Equip Diving Strike, hold down your Attack, and watch the projectiles and blows bounce back and damage the foes.
Choose Aspect of Chaos if you want to add some defense options to your powerful range fighting. Great for fighting multiple enemies at once.
2nd Best: Aspect of Zeus
I think giving the shield wings was the right decision
Aspect Stats:
- Your Special becomes a Blitz Disc with up to 30 damage per hit.
- Blitz Disc will move through foes for 10 seconds before stopping, dealing damage every 0.3 seconds both on the way there and back.
- You can still Attack while your Blitz Disc is in motion, and you can recall your shield at any point.
Aspect of Zeus Review and Advice:
- Equip some of Zeus’ Boons to increase the number of foes you damage. Thunder Flourish is a must, since it causes a lightning bolt to strike nearby foes while your shield obliterates enemies further from you. Try to get Static Discharge, too; it will apply Jolted effect to the foes affected by any type of lightning. The next attack from a Jolted foe will self-inflict and deal damage to nearby foes.
- Get the Empowering Flight from Daedalus so when your Special hits, your next Attack deals 80% more damage. You can send your Blitz Disc flying and melee-hit nearby enemies with increased damage while it travels.
Choose Aspect of Zeus if you want to deal passive damage to multiple enemies with ranged attacks while still retaining melee attack abilities.
3rd Best: Aspect of Beowulf
That Dragon Rush is so massive it makes Zagreus crackle
Aspect Stats:
- Your shield becomes Naegling's Board with a new moveset.
- You can now use Dragon Rush: press Cast to load, hold Attack to defend, then release to Dragon Rush. Your Dragon Rush deals 50 damage and up to 100% more on top of that, and your Cast deals 50 damage.
- Your Attack has Knockback now.
- Your Throw becomes Heavy Throw and deals 45 points base damage.
- You can still use Bull Rush; it is not replaced by Dragon Rush. That’s two whole Rushes!
- Unlock an exclusive Daedalus Boon: Unyielding Defense. Become sturdy (receive 30% less damage) for three seconds after using your Naegling's Board Cast.
Aspect of Beowulf Review and Advice:
- Upgrade your Rush through Daedalus. There are three options:
- Sudden Rush: your Bull Rush charges faster.
- Minotaur Rush: your Bull Rush gains a Power Rush that increases your Rush damage by 500%.
- Breaching Rush: your Bull Rush now deals 400% more damage to armor.
- Increase your Cast Ammo by equipping Infernal Soul from the Mirror of Night so you can use your Dragon Rush more frequently.
- Two things to be aware of: you receive 10% more damage when having this Aspect equipped, and you cannot use your Attack or Special until your shield returns after the Heavy Throw.
Choose Aspect of Beowulf if you like using Rush - stay defended while dealing increased damage to foes.
Coronacht, or the Heart-Seeking Bow
Best: Aspect of Hera
Aspect Stats:
- Your Cast loads into your next Attack, firing on impact.
- Cast Ammo drop time is reduced by up to five seconds.
Aspect of Hera Review and Advice:
- This Aspect is an odd one, but once you learn how to use it, it’s great. You would need to avoid Boons that drastically change your Cast, because you want to make sure the Ammo is lodged within the foe.
- Use Mirror of Night to get either Boiling Blood for up to 50% more damage to foes with Cast Ammo in them with your Attack and Special, or Abyssal Blood to reduce the speed and damage of your foes by up to 30%.
- Knockback is a must-have for a ranged-only weapon, so make use of Poseidon’s Boons that add knockback to your Attack.
- Grab Dionysus’ Trippy Flare to have your Cast lob a projectile that explodes into Festive Fog that deals increased damage and stuns enemies.
- Here’s an OP build hack for you:
- Bother the Mirror of Night for Fiery Presence for up to 75% more damage to undamaged foes and Stygian Soul so your Cast Ammo regenerates in three seconds instead of dropping.
- Get Dionysus’ Trippy Flare since it gives your Cast the highest base damage.
- Your Attack and your Cast damage are treated differently, so this build will let you one-shot armored enemies.
Choose Aspect of Hera if you want to turn your Cast into a nuke.
2nd Best: Aspect of Chiron
I'm gonna be honest, that does not look too comfortable to wield
Aspect Stats:
- You Special now automatically seeks the last foe struck by your Attack.
- You can shoot up to eight more arrows with your Special.
Aspect of Chiron Review and Advice:
- Daedalus is your guy. Get Relentless Volley to get four more arrows for your Special.
- Aiming is a lot of work, especially when you are surrounded by foes wanting to kill you. Automate the aiming process with this Aspect.
- When using a bow, Artemis is your best friend. Equip Deadly Flourish so your Special has a chance of dealing Critical damage. With more arrows granted to you by the Aspect of Chiron, you increase your Critical chance significantly. Artemis’ Pressure Points will give any damage you deal a chance to be Critical, which is just as good.
- You can make the aiming mechanics even more useful with Artemis’ Hunter’s Mark. Any time you deal Critical damage to a foe, a foe near it is Marked, meaning that for six seconds, it has a higher chance of receiving Critical damage.
Choose Aspect of Chiron if you want to cover as much area as possible with your attacks.
3rd Best: Aspect of Rama
Lean mean Shared Suffering machine
Aspect Stats:
- Your bow becomes the Celestial Sharanga.
- You Special can now apply the Shared Suffering effect, which causes all affected foes to take damage when any foe in the room is hit by Rama’s Attack.
- Shared Suffering damage increases by up to 60% of your Attack damage.
- Your Attack and Dash-strike deal more damage, and the first Attack after the Dash-strike charges faster.
- Your Special, or Volley Fire, now releases three ricocheting arrows in a narrow cone.
- Unlock an exclusive Daedalus Boon: Repulse Shot. Your Attack now creates a Blast Wave around you; it deals no damage, but knocks the foes back.
Aspect of Rama Review and Advice:
- Add Ares’ Curse of Agony, inflicting Doom with your Attack. This way, both your Attack and Special will deal passive damage.
- Get Daedalus’ Sniper Shot to deal +200% damage to distant foes.
- Equip Athena’s Divine Dash for an extra layer of defense that is very much needed when using a bow. Your Dash will now turn your enemies’ attacks against them.
Choose Aspect of Rama if you want to maximize passive damage to multiple foes at once. Great for a ranged weapon.
Malphon, or the Twin Fists of Malphon
Best: Aspect of Talos
Mmm, magnetic!
Aspect Stats:
- Your Special turns into Magnetic Cutter that pulls foes in while dealing 20 base damage.
- For six seconds after you use Magnetic Cutter, your Attack and Cast damage increase by up tp 50%.
Aspect of Talos Review and Advice:
- The Twin Fists is a melee-only weapon, which can be a bummer when fighting multiple foes that are spread out. With Magnetic Cutter, you can pull foes into your range with your Special and then deliver a flurry of punches by holding Attack.
- Get Boons that let your Attack apply status effects, especially Hangover and Chill. Those stack, meaning you can increase the effect with every punch.
- Get Concentrated Knuckle from Daedalus so your Attack deals 5 more damage for each consecutive punch.
- Daedalus again; grab Flying Cutter so you can hold Special for longer range and 100% more damage, or Quake Cutter to deal 90 damage in an area where you land after using your Special.
Choose Aspect of Talos if you like your fights up close and personal. No need to chase your enemies around when you can pull them in with your Magnetic Cutter.
2nd Best: Aspect of Gilgamesh
Get your inner beast out with those claws
Aspect Stats:
- Your Twin Fists turn into Claws of Enkidu with a new moveset.
- Your Dash-Upper can now Maim foes, causing them to take an additional 25% damage but deal 50% more damage to Zagreus.
- Your base damage increases.
- You can now hold down Dash to Dash rapidly two more times in a row.
- Unlock an exclusive Daedalus Boon: Rending Claws. Maim-afflicted foes take +25% damage and are slowed by 30%.
Aspect of Gilgamesh Review and Advice:
- Twin Fists have Dash-based attacks; you need to press Dash and Attack for a Dash-Strike, and Dash and Special for a Dash-Upper, which deal quite some damage. With the Aspect of Gilgamesh, your Dash-Upper also Maims foes.
- Equip Hermes’ Greatest Reflex Boon to Dash even more times in a row so you can move so fast your foes don’t even see you coming.
- More dashes! Equip Greater Reflex from the Mirror of Night to add an extra Dash.
Choose Aspect of Gilgamesh if you are fast and furious. This Aspect is for those who like to move and attack as fast as possible.
3rd Best: Aspect of Demeter
Giga Cutter for giga-damage!
Aspect Stats:
- You get the Giga Cutter: after you land 12 strikes, your next Special hits more times, with up to 5 more hits.
- Your Giga Cutter uses the base damage of the Special move it’s activated by, meaning you deal more base damage if you trigger it with a Dash-Upper.
Aspect of Demeter Review and Advice:
- Grab the Rush Kick Boon from Daedalus so your Special becomes an advancing kick that deals damage twice. Alternatively, get the Kinetic Launcher Boon to turn your Special into a charged ranged attack with increased base damage.
- Get Boons that let your Attack apply status effects, especially Hangover and Chill. Those stack, meaning you can increase the effect with every punch.
- Beware: your 12-hit charge does not carry over to the next room.
Choose Aspect of Demeter if you like turning your foes into pulp. This Aspect is all about increasing the number of punches you land.
Exagryph, or the Adamant Rail
Best: Aspect of Lucifer
You get a kind-looking lady with your gun, isn't that special?
Aspect Stats:
- Your Adamant Rail becomes Igneus Eden with a new moveset.
- Your Attack becomes a Beam Attack, dealing 10 base damage and 0.75 damage per tick on top.
- Your Special is now Hellfire, shooting up to three orbs that detonate when you or your foe deal damage. It deals 20 damage per second, and detonating it deals up to 100 damage.
- Unlock several exclusive Daedalus Boons. There are five options, but most other Daedalus Boons are incompatible with the Aspect of Lucifer.
Aspect of Lucifer Review and Advice:
- Get the Flurry Fire Daedalus Boon for extra ammo capacity for your Attack.
- Make use of Attack-modifying Boons, such as Zeus’ Lightning Strike that causes your Attack to emit a chain lighting that bounces between foes.
- Add Dionysus’ Drunken Flourish to your Special to inflict Hangover on the foes it hits, stunning them and reducing their speed.
Choose Aspect of Lucifer if you are big on firearms. This Aspect turns your Rail into the closest possible thing to a modern weapon.
2nd Best: Aspect of Hestia
I don't know how I feel about this design
Aspect Stats:
- After you reload manually, your next shot becomes empowered, with up to 150 base damage.
- The range of your empowered shot increases by 150%.
Aspect of Hestia Review and Advice:
- Combine with Artemis’ Boons to increase your damage even more and have a chance of dealing Critical damage. Your Rail becomes a one-hit killing machine!
- You need to stay defended while you reload, so equip some Deflect Boons from Athena. For example, you can Dash and reload while turning your foes’ attacks against them with Divine Dash.
- If you want to completely obliterate enemies from a distance, equip the Distant Memory Keepsake from Orpheus to increase the damage you deal to foes more than 500 units away.
Choose Aspect of Hestia if you are good at firearms and don’t mind reloading manually.
3rd Best: Aspect of Eris
An Aspect of Eris-based build for the win!
Aspect Stats:
- For four seconds after absorbing the blast from your Special, deal up to 75% more damage.
Aspect of Eris Review and Advice:
- You can use your Special, and then send a flurry of shots with your powered-up Attack. This makes for a good tactic for fighting foes both at close range and far away.
- You would want to keep your foes at bay while you absorb your Special, so throw on Poseidon’s Tempest Flourish, increasing your Special’s damage and knocking them away. If you add Razor Shoals to the mix, you will also Rupture foes affected by Knockback, meaning that they will take damage as soon as they move. Nobody would be able to come close to you!
Choose Aspect of Eris if you want to maximize the damage your Exagryph deals.