The Sister Blades, Lim and Oro with the Aspect of Pan achieve tremendous damage by unleashing a flurry of daggers against your foes. You combine a Cast with your Omega Special to strike foes with the seeking daggers, this Aspect provides multiple hits and high single target damage. Which is where Poseidon comes in, providing much needed area of effect to create a well rounded package. There are many ways to build, the Sister Blades, Lim and Oro so feel free to experiment with different Arcana, Boons and Keepsakes!
Note: Hades 2 is currently in early access, as development continues expect new content and balance changes. This guide was last updated for Early Access Patch 2.
Weapon Aspect
Invest into the Aspect of Pan for +5 Blades from your Omega Special. You have two ways to overlap these blades on your foes. First, is to stand in melee range and fire the Omega Special from point blank range. But you can also drop a Cast on your desired target so the blades from your Special seek them allowing for full overlaps even at a distance.
This has a lot of synergy with many Hammer of Daedalus upgrades. Hook Knives cause the blades to return, dealing damage to foes twice making this one of the best upgrades to take. With Dancing Knives, the blades bounce for even more AoE (area of effect). Boundless Flurry provides great quality of life by lowering the channel time for your Omega Special, this is the second best upgrade. Sureshot Flurry provides a way to increase your range and counteract the penalty from Hook Knives.
Spiral Knives on the other hand is a bit more hit-or-miss. On the one hand, this raises the baseline to 16 blades, making for a lot of potential overlaps. However, it changes the firing pattern to a ring around Melinoe. If you attempt to fire your Omega Special at a distance to strike a foe in your Cast, there's a good chance that half the blades miss as they'll run out of duration before reaching the target.
Author's Note: Some people swear by Spiral Knives because with perfect play it does incredible damage, but the build has plenty of damage even without it. Personally I don't like using it because I'd rather have something which works well even if I make a mistake.
Arcana, Keepsakes and Familiar
Before you set out each night, you need to choose your active Arcana, Keepsakes and Familiar. Which Familiar you use is up to you, Frinos provides some defenses and Toula adds a Deaths Defiance plus some damage. You have the option to switch up Keepsakes between each region but the remaining choices are fixed for the entire run.
Arcana
Because this build relies on your Cast and Omega Special combo, you want good Magick recovery. Start with general purpose staples like The Titan and Eternity.
From there, focus on activating The Centaur and Divinity. Activate all cards within the first row, as these Arcana offer highly cost efficient bonuses. Use The Unseen to ensure Magick recovery, then activate The Furies, Origination and Strength for additional damage.
After that, allocate your remaining Grasp based on personal preference, you can take additional damage, defenses, or utility.
Learn more about the Arcana in Hades 2 with our guide.
Keepsakes
- Start out with the Vivid Sea from Poseidon to ensure you have access to Wave Flourish.
- Barley Sheaf from Demeter is your best bet for a second Olympian as she enables Freeze via Arctic Ring.
- For the final zone, Knuckle Bones from Odysseus gives you a damage reduction and reduces the final boss's health.
- Alternative Keepsake options:
- Aromatic Phial from Narcissus, use this to rarify Wave Flourish if you obtain it at Common rarity.
- Crystal Figurine from Circe to activate a random Arcana.
- Silver Wheel from Hecate is a great way to have unlimited Magick for Omega Special spam within one region.
- Purest Hope from Apollo gives you access to additional quality of life.
Pro Tip: Learn more about Keepsakes in Hades 2 with our dedicated guide.
Hex
Phase Shift is tremendously helpful as it slows enemies to a crawl and gives you plenty of time to dispatch them with an Omega Special.
Boons and Upgrades
You can play Aspect of Pan with a variety of Boons, but this build focuses on proccing Poseidon's waves to flood the room with damage. Wave Flourish is your best bet due to triggering a 20 damage splash when striking enemies. This gives your Special a knockback effect which is highly effective at interrupting enemies. It pairs well with Poseidon's Legendary Boon King Tide which amplifies splash effects against bosses.
If you're unable to obtain Wave Flourish, Flame Flourish from Hestia is a good alternative as it allows you to stack the damaging Scorch Curse. Flutter Flourish from Aphrodite is a strong direct damage alternative but requires you to build differently and get your AoE clear from another Move.
Your other big upgrade comes from the Hammer of Daedalus. Hook Knives doubles your damage and gives your Special projectiles a Backstab effect. This is not mandatory but it does significantly boost your damage output. Boundless Flurry is a good alternative as it makes fully channeling your Omega Special much easier especially on Chronos where you do not benefit from The Sorceress's time slow.
Arctic Ring from Demeter Freezes enemies within your Cast. It's not mandatory for Aspect of Pan, but greatly increases your quality of life. With this boon you can aggressively drop your Cast on dangerous Armored foes then safely burst them down with your Special. When facing swarms of enemies, Arctic Ring is your best friend, you Freeze them solid, charge up an Omega Special then watch as the splash damage from Wave Flourish clears the screen.
Additional Boons
In addition to the recommended Boons, here are a few things to keep an eye out for when playing Aspect of Pan.
- If you want to use Omega Moves more often, pick up Fluid Gain from Poseidon, as your blades strike they frequently generate bubbles with this boon.
- Poseidon's Water Fitness Infusion gives +100 Max Life if you have 4 Water. It's easy to pick up Water element boons from Poseidon and Demeter to fulfill the requirement.
- Because you drop your Cast directly on enemies, Gale Force from Demeter provides a reliable way to slow and gives you more time to dodge.
- Slippery Slope from Poseidon provides a bit of extra damage and a second Curse to enable Origination if you have it active.
- Lucid Gain from Apollo is another good way to recover your Magick and ensure you can continue spamming Omega Moves.
- Apollo's Super Nova makes it easier to keep enemies within your Cast as it gains radius over its duration.
- Swift Flourish from Hermes accelerates your Special. This is a DPS (damage per second) gain while also making it easier to interrupt enemies.
- Support Fire from Artemis provides a reliable ways to boost your damage.
- The Sureshot Flurry Daedalus upgrade fires your blades forward, fully overlapping on any target.
- This isn't necessary because the blades Seek enemies within your Cast but does mean you don't need to drop a Cast to maximize your damage.
Pro Tip: Learn more about Boons and Gods in Hades 2 with our dedicated guide.
Playstyle
Your goal in any encounter is to drop your Cast then spam your Omega Special to delete foes. If an enemy isn't in your Cast the Aspect of Pan won't cause blades to target them so, stay close to ensure most if not all of your blades overlap. You need to be careful when fighting Chronos as it's easy to take damage from one of his attacks while channeling your Omega Special.
- On most normal enemies, drop your Cast then special spam to deal with them quickly.
- On swarms of enemies, use your Cast then Omega Special.
- Against Armored foes, Freeze them or look for an opening in their attack pattern then use your Special to finish them.
- Try to keep your Cast down against Armored foes to maximize your damage and avoid the need to stand at point blank range.
- Treat bosses similarly to Armored foes, stand close to them, observe their attack pattern then use your Omega Special for a burst of damage when you have an opening.
- Don't forget your Hex on boss fights!
If you're struggling against a dangerous foe, don't be afraid to drop your Cast then move out of melee range and use your Omega Special from a distance. When you're able to stand still and spam your Omega Special the burst is tremendous. Having the splash damage to clear groups of enemies means this build has no weaknesses. When traveling down to the House of Hades, get the core boons then look for Hammers of Daedalus, Centaur Hearts and a bit of Magick.
Overworld
There aren't many differences between the challenges you face in the underworld and overworld with this build. Just be aware it's more difficult to get a Hammers of Daedalus, making a higher rarity Wave Flourish more important.
Video
Check out this video from Tenkiei using the Aspect of Pan.
Summary
Use the Aspect of Pan to release a flurry of blades which target anything within your Cast. This Aspect doesn't require specific boons but scales incredibly well with Poseidon's Wave Flourish and the Hook Knives Daedalus upgrade. Demeter's Cast Freezes foes to make them easier to deal with. Use Keepsakes to encounter Poseidon and Demeter while activating Arcana Cards to provide Magick, health and damage. This build Freezes foes with the Cast then safely obliterates them with a single Omega Special.
Written by: Tenkiei
