Beginner's Guide - Basics and Features - Hades Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to IGN's official Hades Wiki guide. In this section, we'll cover the basics before you jump into the story and highlight some of the important features to ensure you get the most out of your playthrough.

For helpful tips and guides for common questions, check out our additional sections by clicking the links below:

• Tips and Tricks
• How-To Guides
• Boons List
• Bosses

As a rogue-like dungeon delving action game, the story of Hades is told somewhat abstractly. It’s main plot is that of the demigod Zagreus, son of the titular Hades, and his relentless quest to escape from the depths of the underworld to reach the surface, in hopes to see Olympus and the other gods for himself.

However, there is more to this story than may appear on your first attempt to flee Tartarus. In fact, you’re expected to die many, many times - bound to reappear in the halls of your father before you attempt your next escape, and it is often in these minor respites that you can speak with the denizens of the underworld to learn more about the underworld and the secrets your father keeps. Certain conversations with mythical figures will evolve over the course of your attempts as more information will be revealed to Zagreus - including his lineage and relations to other important people.

Even after your complete Zagreus’ main quest, you’ll find that there’s more to learn on subsequent adventures through the underworld.

Because Hades is a roguelike action game, no two escape attempts from the underworld will pan out exactly the same, but there are certain mechanics that are important to keep in mind that will always be applicable.

Zagreus starts with a sword but other weapons with very different attack methods can be unlocked over time. Regardless of your choice, each weapon has a regular type of Attack, an attack during your Dash, and a Special Attack. In addition to these, you'll also have your Cast that shoots out a limited amount of red shards that - by default - can make enemies vulnerable for a short period, but you'll need to collect the shards to cast them again, and certain boons can change how the cast works.

Once you find an appropriate boon, you can also use a Call of the Gods to temporarily imbue yourself with invulnerability and other effects for a short period. You can build a meter to call the gods as you attack your foes in each room, but unless you have certain upgrades or boons, the meter will reset between rooms.

You can also find powerups that change how your chosen weapon will behave as well, and the key to victory will lie in finding a good combination of abilities and upgrades, as well as a weapon that works best with your playstyle.

• How to Unlock All Infernal Arms

You’ll have to make your way through a series of challenge rooms as you move through the different regions: Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx. Each region is home to different types of enemies, minibosses, and a final boss. You may not face the same enemies each time, and even bosses may adapt and change over time.

Each region contains a random assortment of rooms that must be cleared of enemies to proceed, but you’ll almost always have multiple doors to choose from when proceeding forward - eventually leading to the boss of the region. Each door will have an icon that indicates the reward you will earn for completing the next room, and your choice should be influenced by what you are looking to obtain in this particular run. For example, rewards like Darkness and Gemstones won’t help you on your current run, but the currency can be used for upgrades once you return to the start. Meanwhile, the various Boons, Gold, or Centaur Hearts can go towards increasing Zagreus’ power for your current escape attempt. The full list of possible room rewards include:

As you attempt your escape, you can expect to die and return back to the start - but it is important to inspect the House of Hades each time for new conversations, as they can translate into new unlocked features.

This includes the ability to permanently increase Zagreus' power using the Mirror of Night in his room, give out Nectar and obtain Keepsakes to equip before starting your run, unlock new weapons, and much more.

Special Character Rooms

On some escape attempts, you may stumble into rooms devoid of enemies, and may even have a friendly face or two. Each of the regions in Hades has their own friendly NPCs that can appear, and they will give you free rewards as thanks for stopping by to chat with them. Learning what bonuses they give can be instrumental in learning when to deviate from other paths.

Charon and the Shop

You can also run into Charon, the ferryman, who runs a shop that has a random chance of appearing as an option when going through doors, and is often found just before the boss room to that region. In exchange for the coins you find as room rewards, defeating enemies, breaking pots, and so forth, you will have the opportunity to purchase upgrades and boons instead of having to clear rooms to get them.

You can also find wells in certain rooms that offer mini temporary upgrades sold by Charon, and can help you in upcoming challenge rooms with temporary damage boosting, health regen, or the chance to get better upgrades.

The key to survival and progression in any of your escape attempts in Hades almost always comes down to the Boons you earn. Both at the start of your run and after completing certain challenge rooms, you'll be able to speak to many of the gods of the Olympus pantheon, who will each offer Zagreus a host of temporary upgrades for your current run. The rewards offer will always be randomized to a choice of three, and can also differ in rarity - with rarer Boons offering more potential power.

Certain boons will take up unique slots that can empower your basic Attacks, Dash, Special, Cast, and Call of the Gods - and taking another boon from a different god can overwrite these slots. However, there are also many other types of Boons that bolster other abilities - to which there is no limit of many you can have.

Each god prides themselves on offering boons of a certain nature, and as you play, you may find that some suit your playstyle better than others, or work well when combined with another gods boons. For example, many of Athena's boons give you the ability to reflect attacks back at opponents, while Dionysus has many boons that deal damage over time. The full list of gods you can meet and get boons from include:

• Aphrodite - Boons that can weaken or charm enemies, or increase Zagreus' health powers.
• Ares - Boons that create spinning blade rifts and deal major damage after a short period.
• Artemis - Boons that improve your critical hits and cast abilities.
• Athena - Boons that allow you to deflect attacks, and increase Zagreus' defensive capabilities.
• Chaos - Boons that provide a large variety of bonuses, but require you to survive a debuff for multiple rooms.
• Demeter - Boons that can chill and slow opponents, debuff enemies, and improves health recovery.
• Dionysus - Boons that inflict damage over time and poison clouds, as well as allowing Zagreus to survive longer.
• Hermes - Boons that increase speed, mobility, dashing, and cast recovery times.
• Poseidon - Boons that improve your knockback ability, and grant more treasures and room rewards.
• Zeus - Boons that can inflict chain lightning attacks, or strike nearby enemies with lightning.

In addition to regular boons given by the gods, there are also certain special types of boons that may not normally appear in a run:

• How to Find Chaos Boons
• How to Find Duo Boons
• How to Find Legendary Boons

Increasing Boon Rarity vs Boon Level

One major choice you may have to make during your escape attempts in Hades is whether to increase the level or the rarity of your Boons. While most Boons are common rarity when first acquired, there are ways to increase their rarity to Rare (Blue), Epic (Purple), and Heroic (Red) - or have a better chance to find a rare boon:

• Choose Doors with skull icons (like boss doors) that also have a Boon reward.
• Trade in an Epic Boon for a Heroic Boon when getting a new Boon from the gods.
• Pick the Ambrosia Delight when speaking to Eurdyice in Asphodel.
• Gain the Rare Crop Boon from Demeter to increase rarity over several encounters.

The more rare the boon is, the better its base stats will be, which can also be increased when leveling up a Boon.

Using the Pom of Power, or a Pom Slice, you can increase the level of a Boon, which will increase the power of its stats by a certain amount. Since this can be done multiple times to the same Boon, it can be a very useful tool for building up Zagreus power to get further in your escape attempt.

One of the harder choices you may have to make is whether to focus on leveling up a boon, or trying to find a better rarity Boon (or waiting until you have the chance to increase its rarity). This will largely come down to what you're looking to get out of this run, how far in you are, and whether you feel comfortable with the stats you have or want something more.

For the most part, a common rarity boon that has been leveled up a few times is usually equal in power to a higher rarity boon that's still at level 1. You can still keep increasing the level of a common tier boon, but it will never reach the potential an epic or heroic boon that's been leveled up. Early on, it may be important to try and level up a boon essential to survival, but as you grow more adept, you may want to try holding off until you can find a better rarity tier and then focus on leveling the boon up. Still, there's no single way to best handle your boons, experiment and go with what feels right, or try a different strategy next time!

At the end of each region in Hades, you'll have to defeat a boss in order to continue on your escape attempt. These fights are something of a check on your abilities and upgrades - as they can be extremely tough during your first few runs, but as you get permanent upgrades in the Mirror of Night, earn Keepsakes, and figure out better combinations of boons and weapon abilities, you'll begin to have an easier time.

You'll have to learn their attack patterns carefully, know when to engage, and when to back off - as unlike most enemies, they are rarely staggered by your attacks. The more you progess in the story of Zagreus' escape from Hades, you may find certain bosses will begin to switch up tactics, or even get replaced by new variations!

Bosses you can expect to face include the following:

• Megaera
• Alecto
• Tisiphone
• Hydra
• Theseus and Asterius
• Hades