Hades 2 Weapon and Aspect Overview

This guide provides an overview of the 6 weapons available in Hades 2 and their various aspects. Each of the Nocturnal Arms offers a unique playstyle and move set. This is then customized through Boons, Aspects, and Daedalus upgrades to create a new build each run. Understanding each weapon's strength is the key to achieving victory.

To unlock weapon Aspects in Hades 2, you need the Aspects of Night and Darkness Incantation. After that, your weapons default to the Aspect of Melinoe; you need to spend resources to unlock the others.

Witch's Staff

You begin with the Witch's Staff, Descura already unlocked. This is a great, beginner friendly weapon due to the combos being easy to use. Your Omega Moves unleash devastation across wide swathes. The Attack is a simple pattern striking enemies at close range. Descura's Omega Attack extends this to a line, capable of hitting enemies at considerable range. The Special is a high-speed projectile that pierces foes, charge it to unleash the Omega Special which is an explosive orb.

Weapon Aspects

The Aspect of Melinoe has high quality of life as you get to sit back and blast enemies with your special. This is a great starting weapon if you want something that's easy to play. Aspect of Circe requires careful positioning to maximize damage by placing foes between Melinoe and her familiar. While hard to play it's rewarding especially when paired with a powerful cast.

The Aspect of Momus supercharges your Omega moves by causing them to repeat on a delay. This is incredibly Magick efficient and allows you to weave between normal and Omega Moves. With a 1.5 second delay between bursts at rank 5, you need to use an Omega Move every 4.5 seconds to maximize your damage. This has a particularly interesting interaction with the Omega Cast, releasing pulses of damage every 1.5s without refreshing the snare.

Sister Blades

The Sister Blades, Lim and Oros cost 1 Silver to unlock. Unleash a flurry of blows with the Sister Blades, the Dash-Strike is especially useful as it positions you behind enemies. While the Attack is very close range, you can use the Sister Blades Special to strike foes from a distance. Positioning is key as your Special can strike enemies twice, once when you throw the blade and once when it returns. The Daggers' Omega Attack is a brutal slice, and the Omega Special is a flurry of daggers.

Weapon Aspects

Using Aspect of Melinoe requires careful positioning but offers a lot of damage against bosses. Being able to backstab off your Dash Strike allows you to get behind enemies reliably. Alternatively, you can use the Special's returning property to easily backstab foes from a distance. Aspect of Artemis on the other hand, is a defensive Aspect allowing you to Parry abilities while keeping your damage uptime high due to a +50% Critical Strike bonus on Riposte. Keep an eye out for the glowing Parry icon near your health bar.

Then, Aspect of Pan turns the game into a bullet hell for your enemies! Your Omega Special releases a cloud of knives that seek enemies in your channel, dealing massive damage.

Umbral Flames

Spend 3 Silver and 3 Cinders to unlock Ygnium, the Umbral Flames. This weapon is more difficult to use but has powerful aspects. The Attack is a flurry of projectiles, which transforms into large projectiles when charged for long enough to begin the Omega Attack. Meanwhile, the Special is a series of projectiles that spiral out from your initial location. Charge this to unleash Ygnium's Omega Special, creating flames that whirl around Melinoe for several seconds.

Weapon Aspects

The Aspect of Melinoe enhances your Omega Special. As the flames last longer you can spend more time using other Moves while running through enemies to maximize your damage. On the other hand, the Aspects of Moros and Eos both enhance your Attack to boost single target damage. Aspect of Moros enables an Attack-Special combo playstyle, whereas Aspect of Eos is all about firing off Daybreakers for big explosions.

Both of these Hades 2 weapon Aspects take a bit of practice but reward you for holding your Attack to set up bursts of damage. Keep an eye out for the Daedalus upgrades, which modify your Attack to further enhance its damage.

Moonstone Axe

Pay 15 Silver to unlock Zorephet, the Moonstone Axe. You combine wide (but slow) sweeping strikes with a rapid uppercut from the Special. Zorephet's Omega Attack is a good old spin to win. Unleash a rapid flurry of blows to slice your foes to ribbons! The Omega Special is a bit tricky to pull off due to the long charging time, but it unleashes a linear AoE strike that deals significant damage.

Weapon Aspects

The Aspect of Melinoe offers attack and health bonuses, which means you rely on the axe's base move set. Aspect of Charon creates a one-two punch playstyle. You drop your cast, then detonate it with your Omega Special.

Finally, Aspect of Thanatos rewards you for avoiding enemy attacks. You can stack the Critical Strike chance bonus with your Attack up to a 13% chance to deal massive Critical Damage on your Omega Moves. Aspect of Thanatos, rewards you for playing well, as you need to not only land several blows to build up the critical bonus but then avoid damage to capitalize on it. If you can master this aspect, it rewards you with a consistently high damage output.

Argent Skull

Collect 2 Glassrock and 1 Bronze to access the Argent Skull, Revaal. The biggest quirk of this weapon is the ammo system; you only get 3 Attacks before you need to collect your skulls to recharge. Your Special provides much needed mobility in the form of a charge, making for a highly mobile hit-and-run playstyle. Charge the Attack to fire a single skull, which explodes on impact. The Argent Skull's Omega Special is a devastating charge that provides full invulnerability for its duration. This is powerful, but don't take unnecessary damage during your channel!

Weapon Aspects

The Aspect of Melinoe rewards you for having more Shells and leaving them uncollected on the ground. Try to find the Daedalus upgrade Bolstered Array for +2 Shells. In general, you want to leave a couple of Shells on the ground when playing with this Aspect, then rapid fire the rest into foes for maximum damage. Aspect of Medea offers a close range explosive playstyle to clear hordes of enemies with the downside of a short delay.

The Aspect of Persephone enhances your boons and gives you more control over your Omega Special while increasing its duration. Even if you don't plan to use the Omega Special, you get a lot of bonus power from the boon levels.

Black Coat

Collect 2 Cinders and 2 Adamant to access the Xinth, the Black Coat. This weapon is part oversized fist, part rocket launcher, all awesome! The Attack is a punch that is paired with a dash, which makes it easy to land blows. Xinth's Special unleashes 2 rockets that fly towards a nearby enemy. Both of these moves can be empowered by channeling Magick into them to unleash the Omega form. The Omega Attack is a bigger charge-punch that has the ability to block enemy strikes during the charge. Meanwhile, the Omega Special locks onto targets before quickly firing a barrage of rockets. It has a low channel type, making it easy to use on the fly.

Weapon Aspects

The Aspect of Melinoe gives you a nice speed boost. This makes it easy to abuse the mobility in Xinth's kit and use your Attack to dance around enemies while striking at them. You don't get any damage bonuses, making this Aspect reliant on the Boons you find within you run, but having the speed is well worth the trade-off.

Aspect of Selene, on the other hand, is built around using Skyfall to make enemies vulnerable, then blasting them with Omega Moves. The Omega Attack hits harder and can block enemies when timed properly, whereas the Omega Special is much easier to execute. On the other hand, Aspect of Nyx fully leans into the charge playstyle by adding a new charge move to your Dash. Striking enemies with your Omega Boost empowers Melinoe, allowing her Attacks and Specials to split, adding more AoE when striking into groups of enemies.

Hidden Aspects

Each of the Nocturnal Arms has a hidden aspect in addition to the 3 you can unlock from the start. These are earned by speaking to an NPC who has a connection to the weapon to learn the waking phrase. For example, when speaking to Medea she can reveal the waking phrase for Revaal; I see you gather countless dead in cold and dark domains.

Aspect of Anubis (Descura)

Learn the waking phrase from Circe and spend 5 Tears / 2 Fangs to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Ankh scepter.
• Your attack becomes a damaging field with a massive radius of effect.
• The special transforms into a pull that's useful for grouping enemies.
• When you slay enemies, there is a chance to raise them as shades, sprint into the shades to deal damage to nearby enemies.
• Leveling the Aspect of Anubis increases your Omega Move speed and damage.

Aspect of the Morrigan (Lim and Oros)

Learn the waking phrase from Artemis and spend 2 Feathers / 8 Iron to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Crow Cutters.
• Attacks become a whirlwind move that hits 3 times.
• The special travels slowly, damaging enemies as it flies.
• Strike enemies with an Attack, Special and Omega Move to trigger Blood Triad (444 damage by default).
• Leveling the Aspect of the Morrigan increases your Blood Triad damage.

Aspect of Supay (Ygnium)

Learn the waking phrase from Moros and spend 15 Marble / 1 Shadow to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Devil Sparks.
• Your weapon fires automatically, dealing passive damage to nearby foes.
• The special becomes a passive damage effect.
• Omega moves rain hell on enemies for 4 seconds.
• Leveling the Aspect of Supay increases your rush boon damage.

Aspect of Nergal

Learn the waking phrase from Charon and spend 15 Iron / 5 Serpent Scales to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Rock Lion Mace.
• Heavy attacks with decent speed, given how hard they hit.
• Omega Special has a huge AoE.
• After enough strikes, Enter Berserking for 8s, increasing move speed and recovering health on hit.
• Leveling the Aspect of Nergal reduces the number of strikes needed to enter Berserking.

Aspect of Hel

Learn the waking phrase from Medea and spend 2 S. Reed / 4 Adamant to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Frost Mane.
• Attacks become a rapid fire reminiscent of the original game's Adamant Rail.
• The specials seek foes, and the Omega version still fires side projectiles.
• Use your Omega Special to trigger the Valkyrie buff, letting you rapid-fire your Attack for longer.
• Leveling the Aspect of Hel increases your attack speed during Valkyrie.

Aspect of Shiva

Learn the waking phrase from Selene and spend 2 V. Lens / 4 Nightmare to unlock the weapon.

• This Aspect transforms your move set to Purifying Grace.
• The Attack is a 3 hit combo that can be tricky to land.
• Your Special transforms to more of a lob-type attack.
• The Omega Attack becomes a charge, and the Omega Special a jump that can absorb the Specials to stack Destructive.
  • Destructive gives you +25% damage per rank and kills enemies below a certain threshold.
• Leveling the Aspect of Shiva increases your maximum Destructive Ranks.

Video

Here are Tenkiei's thoughts on the various weapons in Hades 2 and their Aspects from when the Early Access was originally released (stay tuned for an updated version for 1.0).

Summary

There are 6 weapons in the Hades 2 early access, each of which has 3 aspects that change their properties and playstyle.

• The Witch's Staff combines a series of close range strikes with ranged projectiles from the Special to make a well rounded weapon. While these Moves have good range they lack AoE which is where the Omega Attack and Special come in, providing a linear Attack and explosive projectile.
• Your Sister Blades unleash a flurry of blows ending in a large slash. The Special is a single thrown dagger used to deal damage at a distance. The Omega Attack is a wide sweeping slash and the Special throws a fan of knives that overlap at close range.
• Use the Umbral Flames to strike your foes from a distance. Your Attack releases projectiles that bounce off terrain whereas the Special creates projectiles that spiral out from your location. The Omega Attack launches a steady stream of projectiles, whereas the Special creates 2 orbiting projectiles that follow Melinoe.
• Execute your enemies with the Moonstone Axe, its sweeping combos end in a heavy overhead chop and the Special is a swift uppercut. The Moonstone Axe has an awesome Omega Attack where you spin-to-win unleashing a flurry of blows for a short time.
• Argent Skull, this is the only weapon with an ammo system. You begin with 3 Shells used to execute your Attack. Then, the Special is a charge which deals damage to the side when charged. The Omega Attack fires a shell at range which explodes dealing damage in a large area.
• The Black Coat combines a punchy Attack that can block enemy strikes, with a ranged Special that fires rockets from a safe distance. This weapon is more difficult to play due to the limited duration of the shield from your Attack, but when executed well is incredibly satisfying!

Written by: Tenkiei

Reviewed by: Dredscythe