Hades: Inside the Administrative Chamber's Permanent Record

Hades:

Hades: An Olympian Feat of Remaking Greek Mythology

Hades: The Capricious Will of the Gods

Hades: Relationships are Divinely Depicted

Hades: Inside the Administrative Chamber's Permanent Record

As a final addendum for Hades, Awkward Mixture offers strategic rankings on Gods, Boons, and Rewards.

At the eighty hour mark, the following lists my priorities when choosing rewards:

1. Daedalus' Hammer

2. God Boon I really want

3. Chaos Gate (unless low on health, or approaching a boss)

4. God Boon I sort of want

5. Obol

6. Nectar (because you unlock an ability that adds a Pomegranate to every Nectar)

7. Pomegranates (See above)

8. Centaur Heart

9. God Boon I don't really want

10. Darkness

11. Gems

12. Key

God Rankings

1. Artemis consistently increases damage. Most of her abilities increase the chance of critical hits.

2. Dionysus has my favorite Cast (stuns in an area of effect) and best auxiliary abilities. But his Attack, Special, and Dash bonuses don't inflict enough damage, making them the worst of any god.

3. Hermes teaches no Attack, Special, Cast, Dash, or Special ability, but auxiliary skills that boost dash amount, increase chance of dodging attacks, and increase movement speed.

4. Ares offers the best ultimate. It deals massive damage (in a small area), targeting the foe the player wants, and the player can't be hurt. How? The player becomes a giant spinning blade for the duration of the ability. Adding Ares' Doom ability to AOE attacks also feels strong. Or is it? One thing I remain uncertain of is how much damage everything does, and whether a God who increases damage by a percentage boost (like Artemis) is better or worse than a God who adds flat damage (like Ares or Zeus).

5. Zeus has the second best ultimate and works well with Dionysus. His abilities produce the best effect when a player focuses on acquiring them all, instead of diversifying into other gods. The final effect is like a lighting storm indoors.

6. Athena's Dash is essential. Her Core abilities: Attack, Dash, Cast, Special, and Ultimate reflect attacks back at enemies. She also refills Death Defiances (extra lives).

7. Demeter's attack effect, Chill, is weak. But Hades compensates by providing a sizable damage increase. It seems that weaker effects receive higher damage bonuses. I do like her Cast and Ultimate.

8. Aphrodite has a terrible Cast (short range), and her Charm abilities don't work against bosses, but her Weak effect is ok.

9. Poseidon may be one of the strongest Gods against regular enemies (according to some reviewers), but he is pathetic against bosses. 

 

The Best Boons:

This list is partially compiled by looking at in-game stats (A record room in Hades lets the player know how many times they have used a Boon, their success rate, as well as the highest Pact of Punishment difficulty they won with), but also some personal feelings, because even at 90 attempts, the evidence isn't conclusive.

Divine Dash – Athena's best reflective ability.

Greatest Reflex – Hermes adds more dashes.

Trippy Shot – Dionysus' Cast damages an area, and repeatedly stuns all enemies in the area every quarter second for five seconds.

Pressure Points – Artemis increases the chance of critical damage on all damage.

Hunter's Mark – After critically damaging a foe, the next attack against a nearby foe has an increased chance to take critical damage.

Quick Recovery – Hermes dash restores 30% of health lost from the most recent attack.

Ares Aid – Ares transforms Zagreus into an impervious spinning blade of death.

Brilliant Riposte – Combined with Divine Dash, Athena causes deflected attacks to deal more damage to enemies.

Glacial Glare – Demeter boosts her Cast so the crystals attack longer and inflict Chill.

High Tolerance – Dionysus causes Zag to take less damage while standing in Festive Fog

Killing Freeze – When all enemies are Chilled by Demeter, they lose 20 Health every half second.

Last Stand – Athena restores a Death Defiance, and all Defiances restore more health.

Of all the Boons, none compare to Scintillating Feast, a Duo Boon of Dionysus and Zeus. The Festive Fog that lasts for five seconds after casting Dio's Trippy Shot also becomes a lighting storm!

And the worst abilities are those that say: Trigger when hit...

The funniest moment was the result of the Boon, Zeus Aid. Deployed against Theseus, he cried out, “What have I done to offend thee?”

On Boons: they have a rarity value (Common, Rare, Epic, or Heroic) which is apparent when discovered. It is difficult to upgrade the rarity. Rarity does not indicate that the Boon is rare, but that this power level of the Boon is rare. All Boons are found at all four levels, except for Legendary or Duo Boons. Rarity does affect the power of the Boon, and how much its power increases with each Pomegranate. All Boons start at level one, and a Pomegranate increases the level by one, increasing the power depending on the rarity of the Boon. Boons also have a level. This is upgraded by the Poms of Power.

The MVP Infernal Arm is Aegis, Shield of Chaos. Doesn't matter which Aspect, though the final secret one is preferable. Imagine a weapon that is limited in range, but will block every single attack against it, regardless of whether the source is the weakest corrupted soul of Hades, or an Olympian leveling his full strength against it. Its impenetrable armor renders it invaluable.

And the cheapest shot. Traps are normally a nuisance, but not a threat. I often accepted the +400% trap damage penalty from the Pact of Punishment, because traps don't inflict significant damage. No enemy uses an ability that counts as a trap, …. except the final boss. The first time REDACTED reduced my health from 100% to zero with a single explosion of ITS Glowing Green Vases, I didn't realize what had happened. I was too surprised, too incredulous. By the third time I was fuming. I have not signed the Heightened Security agreement on the Pact of Punishment since.

Recent:

Hades: Relationships are Divinely Depicted

Relevant:

Kingdom Come Deliverance: Helpless in History

Hellblade: Fighting the Ghost of Norsemen

Tyranny: Ruled by The Overlord, Archons, and Choices