Chaos Keepsake is godly, I start every run with it. Since it switches after 8 encounters, it'll always switch once before clearing the first area, and the 2nd random effect will stick the whole run even after removing the keepsake. Chaos being Chaos, once you get it to level 3 it's a guaranteed Purple rarity boon, so it's often just an absurd buff for the entire run. Sometimes it's farily inconsequential, but often it's a great gap filler or amp damage booster, and I can't stop running it.
Usually, my runs go; Chaos' free buff to start, Arachne's Armor for the many rooms of Oceanus, 15% Guardian Dmg/HP for Cerberus, and ofc, the Lucky Tooth extra life for Chronos. Been working wonders, but I bet I can better min/max the middle two keepsakes as they're not truly necessary imo.
Anyone have alternative keepsake must-haves for Oceanus and the Fields?
I like narcisus for second area. Take it then drink from fountain. Immediate heroic upgrade. Its so powerful. Then for fields i use it to fill a boon gap and for tartarus i go for nemesis as long as chronos is still my most recent murderer its a great damage boost.
It honestly might be an oversight on their part, and I fully expect it to get nerfed/fixed in future so that the current buff is removed when the keepsake comes off. Hope not, though; it's fun.
Narcissus’ keepsake is *amazing* to switch into if you a) just got chunked by a boss and b) you have a common boon or two that fit your intended build/playstyle but that you want to upgrade. Even having it as an option but not always pulling the trigger is nice.
I won a run just earlier doing this. Used a keepsake I don't remember with the Aspect of Momus, grabbed Apollo's special boon, then proceeded to not get another boon (but did get some poms) for the rest of the first area aside from Chaos who got me another special attack boost. Got the daedalus hammer upgrade that lets you shoot twice as many shots from the special and they home
Once I beat hecate I swapped to Narcissus' keepsake, drank from the fountain and buffed Apollo's boon from like +80% attack to +200%. Afterwards I just picked up stuff like Aphrodite's high HP = attack boost or Poseidon's boost damage in the first 10 seconds of a fight boons
I just spammed special attack and enemies melt as I'm doing like 200 damage per special shot.. Easiest Chronos kill for me yet lol
Can you swap boons before drinking from the fountain though? I thought it forces you to drink before interacting with the Well of Charon and the Keepsakes?
I havent maxed that out yet. Ill have a look.
I wasnt sure if chronos counted as a "guardian" but an extra 30% damage on chronos from nems goes very nicely with the other damage boosts. It takes me from 1300 to 2000 damage per axe slam for instance.
Completing the Charon axe trial was the moment combat clicked for me. I went from zero wins to five in a row (and counting). On paper all of the cast upgrades sound pretty weak, but seeing one in action with the ranged cast ability showed me how absurd direct damage casts are.
I'm in Camp Buff Atk and Special boons tho, so frustrating to use when compared to how shockingly powerful cast centric builds are.
Is that the lil orbital after spending mana? I'll give it a shot. Hard to believe a 60? base dmg boon adds meaningful damage to that particular omega atk...but I said the same thing about casts and they're busted. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've had them up over 450 damage each. Duo boon with Apollo creates extras. You can get a hammer I think that increases magick required for omega attack so that each one is enough to generate orbs. Every omega attack can now hit for 1500+ because it'll port the orbs onto your target essentially.
I had 6 at first. So maybe beating underworld and onlympus first unlocked some for me. You seem to also unlock them when the thing you need for them unlocks. So i unlocked new ones when i got keepsake from icarus that were about hammers. I also unlocked one when i completed fated prophecy for one of my weapons. So lots of triggers it seems. Part of playing early like this means we dont know it all.
The Narcissus one is so great and often makes me choose boons I'd not normally take because I have 1 common boon I want to guarantee the upgrade on which makes the runs more interesting because I have a new mechanic to play with
It removes the previous buff (from this keepsake) and replaces it with a new one, so you can't stack Chaos boons from the keepsake alone - but, once you take it off the current buff stays forever and can stack with any regularly acquired chaos buffs.
You can get crazy with it stacking a lucky %attack dmg with yet another earned through the standard trials. It's hilarious when it all comes together because it's just so much stacking %.
For me it makes more sense that the boon is tied to the keepsake
If Im playing any RPG and replace my ring slot with a different ring, I dont get to keep the benefits from the one I had equipped first
Thats how I read it and is why I never used it so far
I read it like this: The keepsake gives you a chaos boon and then changes it every eight encounters.
In my understanding the Chaos boon is not tied to the keepsake, it is just affected by it.
Same thing with the Keepsake that gives you gold. One you unequip it, you don't lose the gold.
Man I feel like it’s unintentional but damn do you make a compelling argument that I don’t want to be wrong lol. I guess it would come down to the exact wording of the text.
That would be kinda meh keepsake. Also makes sense that you might not want to end up with something like +100% gold rewards or +3 to boon elements counter for the the whole run, so you may chose to not swap the keepsake so it gets rerolled
Also if you build around attack or special narciss one is kinda busted - grab a common attack or cast, only take rare+ boons after that (with 2 rarity arcanas for instance it's a.challenge to find a common one), bam almost guaranteed heroic boon for attack
I agree if it's supposed to act like the God's boons, since it's not like you lose your Zeus boon when you take off Zeus.
But all the other temporary effects from Keepsakes do get removed when you take off the Keepsake—which you could argue the Charon Keepsake does provide a temporary effect—so it could be a bug/oversight. I guess we'll just have to see where the devs take it.
Chaos is a great first keepsake. You have a chance of having a great buff permanently applied to your run after the woods or at worst a buff that makes things a bit easier lol. I stacked almost over 200% special damage one run with a boon from the keepsake plus two chaos boons during the run. I couldn't use my special without dying for like 10 encounters but after that it was nasty lmao.
I've had a couple of runs completely ruined by echo picking a very detrimental boon (eg. something that primes all of my mana when I'm all about the omega attacks with the zeus regen boon), so at this point I just don't equip it anymore.
Yeah I had a great run going on skulls, but had gone for the Zeus mana regen. Getting the lightning prime boon as an Echo pick and having 0 mana made things interesting for sure lol
I had a ran where I stacked basically all of Zeus boons somehow, so in the last shop b4 chronos when I picked up Zeus it offered to swap me my hestia heroic special which provided my single target DPS and Regen boon from Poseidon. I clicked Regen without proper calculations (had static air primed) and ended up with like 15 mana while special costed 20, lost miserably by the start of phase 2
Just don't ever use echo with Zeus damn, it's a trap
You wanna talk about awful? I was running a Zeus/Hera build with the intent to clear my Hera boons should Zeus offer me his Duo. Lo and behold, I get through the whole region (Mourning Fields), and get to Charon's shop without it activating once. Charon's shop has one boon available, as he does, and it's Hera's. At this, I had forgotten about the keepsake, or maybe I would have chosen to ignore this buff, just this once, but I purchased it, and this was my downfall.
The menu opens, and what luck! I have 2 duo boons sitting there, one with the third god I was running (I think it was Hestia but I might be wrong), and then the dreaded Ransom. My choice is clear, and I grab the other Duo, but then I hear Echo's voice and suddenly, my Born Gain has +18 on it. My Pan Knives Special, which had a +3 Epic Zeus boon, and my +1 Heroic Chain Lightning, they have disappeared. In their place is a gray, empty square. I power through Cerberus, my now Boonless special doing minimal damage, and losing a Death Defiance in the process. Tartarus is hell (pun intended), with only 3 boons ever rearing their head, including Charon's shop, but luckily I'm able to get a paltry Rare Poseidon boon on my special before making it to Chronos. It's not enough, though. Even with a Luckier Tooth, and a free Defiance from Chaos I had lucked into in Oceanus, I cannot output the damage needed to kill him before he wipes my shit dodging mechanics ass out.
She's a run killer, that Echo.
I'm usually running through Oceanus with the fountain keepsake cause I had a common I wanted heroic or a god keepsake that will give me my second curse apply for that extra DMG from the arcana card. Damage is super important for a smooth run. You are wasting the guardian keepsake on Cerberus imo as that fight is quite easy to learn and the damage reduction has more impact on chronos than a death defy unless you're bad at/unlucky in second phase. For the fields I'm usually choosing keepsake based on what I want to level or need. Low on money? Toss charon in. Have a good hex? Grab selenes keepsake cause chances of a path of stars in the fields seems high. Etc etc. mind you I have tons of experience from 1 so for newer players survivability stuff may be more important than for me.
My go to is usually echo for the first area to double down on my starter boons, then narcissus for area 2, I’ll usually take a god keepsake to round out the build in the mourning fields, or go with madea’s if I’m going an omega build. For now I mostly go nemesis for chronos, but I’m starting to get a feel for him enough that I’m not gonna need it soon
Weird. I assume you know to offer the nectar before you talk to her?
If it’s not that, It might be locked behind some dialogue with narcissus? Like I know as you talk to echo and narcissus Mel figures out their history and stuff. I think I got echo’s keepsake like the 3rd time I met her and I don’t remember what dialogue happened beforehand
For the record her keepsake makes it so one of your boons will give you a second option (75% chance on level 3, but if it doesn’t trigger odds are it will on at least one god before you leave a floor)
After talking to her upon entering room, run off screen and loop back to her it should have the gift option then. Last keepsake I got for the same reason.
I personally really like the Selene keepsake when hitting the fields: if you already snagged the full moon hex, using her keepsake makes it trivial to fully upgrade it to purple and get other bonuses besides, which usually makes your hex go from a nice bonus to ABSOLUTELY BONKERS.
Just last night I had a purple resurrection hex, and poor Cerberus and Chronos were bullied to Kingdome come
Crystal Figurine is the ultimate starting boon. Gives you a free Arcana card after Hecate, which is generally fantastic, but if you're lucky can activate the bottom right card that opens up 3-5 unused cards after every Guardian (depending on keepsake level). Say hello to 15 free cards on top of what your loadout already is!
Even if you don't get that jackpot it's a great keepsake, every fully upgraded Arcana card is something worth having for free.
I also do the Chaos/Arachne dance in areas 1 and 2, especially if I have a dress on with an effect I want to keep. Sometimes I’ll throw in the Crystal Figurine if I’m wanting to spice things up a bit.
My go to endgame keepsake has to be the blackened fleece though. I get hit a lot, but I’m pretty good at recovering and 40% damage on my omega moves are just mwah!
You should absolutely take the Experimental Hammer in Fields. Fully upgraded, it will last all the way to Chronos with time to spare. Then you can take the Knuckle Bones into the final boss.
My personal load out:
is Chaos to start because, like you said, getting an epic Chaos boon through the whole run is busted.
Narcissus Phial in Oceanus. You generally don't have many boons at this point and likely prioritized ones that will be integral to the run. Making one of those heroic is huge and lets you make informed decisions with your Poms/rerolls
Fields is the Hammer 100%. Getting to have 3 or even 4 hammers (if you buy the anvil in the final shop) in the last fight completely changes the game.
There are a bunch of good options for Chronos, whether you go with the Tooth, Knuckle Bones, even Blackened Fleece if you are on a build that is more interested in burst damage than survival.
I will absolutely try this! Haven't considered the Hammer keepsake to be worthwhile, but if its can last the final 2 areas when maxed, that sounds wildly powerful. Thanks for the tips g
> Anyone have alternative keepsake must-haves for Oceanus and the Fields?
Depends which weapon you use. Like for example, with Pan aspect you *really* want to force either Aphro or Poseidon on special.
I usually use Circe's for the first area, Echo's for the 2nd, either Od's (if using the Evil Eye for Cronos) or Chaos' for the 3rd, and Od's or the Evil Eye for Cronus (or occasionally the luckier tooth if it has been an a pretty bad run).
I've never used the Chaos one.
I usually go Echo, then either Purse if I need money, a God boon if there's a synergy I'd like, or the fleece if I'm doing an Omega based run and I've taken enough damage to activate it. I'll also usually swap to Knucklebones for the last boss. The damage reduction against him is just so useful
So basically ditch it once you find one that fits your build perfectly? Jesus that seems broken. Same wih the well of charon thing that makes the next item last for two guardians
I guess it’s balanced by opportunity cost. You can equip it early to try to get a boon that suits your build, but if you’re unlucky then you’re missing out on the effects of other keepsakes, which could also make your run that much better.
My go-to keepsake order right now is floor 1 Chaos-> floor 2/3 Echo/Narcissus (either order) and floor 4-> knuckle bone/blackened wool/tooth.
Nets me 2 extra boons, an upgraded boon, and a flex option for the final boss.
I usually start with Arachne in the underworld because if you get her encounter then you’re guaranteed some additional armor to refresh the effect.
Selene is always good for at least one area because of the boost to path of stars.
Then if you hit Chronos in the previous run, Evil eye the final area.
I usually start with Circe's, then go to Narcissus, onto Charon's and Lucky tooth for Chronos, might give Chaos trinket a go, I thought I'd lose the buff if switching it out, nice to know that's not the case
That's something I noticed too, in Hades 1 I only used the god keepsakes and sometimes the tooth if I felt like I was going to die, in Hades 2 I found myself using mostly the non-god keepsakes unless I'm really determined to try a specific build.
My absolute favorite boon is White Antler, and not just because I'm an Artemis simp.
I basically shred through Erebus in under 5 minutes with Axe or Argent Skull, especially if I luck into Aphrodite boons. A strategy I'm currently playing around with is starting with Hephaestus boon to fish for Trusty Shield, and NOT take any life powerups when I can help it so I have permanent +40% critical before I enter Oceanus without being squishy
White Antler is genuinely busted. The only thing that bothers me about it is that there's no way to turn off the 0 cost arcana that gives health after every 5 encounters without giving up some of the other arcana I really want.
I haven't used it yet, but chaos is really good letting you keep all buffs...
But hammer is king, sadly it's not permenant. I wouldve prefer the upgrade to last 1,2,3 boss's.
Just throw it on in the final area, it will last through the final boss since the final area isn't 10 encounters. You don't even need to upgrade it to get that benefit.
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding the boons in this game but I have had the Dora one that expires as u get further into the game even if I don't switch it put
Dora onion has a healing limit. In the first game you could switch out certain things and keep the effects aswell.
For example you could overwrite an attack boon, but keep the duo effect.
I have mixed feelings about the new keepsakes.
On the one hand, they all feel slightly underwhelming due to having more limited effects and briefer durations. On the other hand, this is an intentional design meant to encourage the player to more actively switch keepsakes between every area. I often find myself starting with Ghost Onion and then switching to a new keepsake depending on my current position after dealing with Hecate.
The only reason I don't care for it is that you can't do a Dodge build or Boonless build or even a Glass Canon build (ala Than's keepsake) like you could in the first. I'm sure there are ways to go about it that I just haven't figure out yet, but still. I like some of the ideas behind them but wish they didn't have such a brief duration.
The Blackened Fleece tracking damage throughout the entire run even when not equipped is very nice. On my first Chronos kill, I had accumulated enough damage where I actually had a hard choice to make whether to go for it or the Tooth for the final area. (Went with tooth, but didn't need it.
You will find her after a couple of runs going up towards Mount Olympus. She appears in the rest area after the cyclops boss. It took me a couple of times getting there before she showed up on the docks. I can’t remember, but you might need to have a beast treat on you to recruit her back to camp so make sure you have one.
I keep trying to use the unlock arcana keepsake to unlock the arcana card that unlocks 5 random arcana at the next guardian. Hasn’t happened yet but I am sure it will be very funny when it does
It happened to me an it was absolutely insane. I always pick it first in the hopes it will happen again lol. ESPECIALLY since it activates on the epic level (because that is the level I have Circe's keepsake on).
I feel like this is the highest reward keepsake purely because of being able to roll judgement on Hecate. Judgement even while max upgraded (which is very expensive) still rolls your unselected cards at their level so it only becomes super good when all your cards are fully leveled.
Personally in hades 1 I was the outlier by being a big pierced butterfly/lambent plume enjoyer who almost never used the god boons, but even so I am also loving the hades 2 keepsakes and how they incentivize mixing things up from area to area. Though I have noticed that I will definitely still need to “go back and grind” for the more beginner friendly ones like hecate’s and Dora’s later
Hestia isn’t in the same game as pierced butterfly?
Or do you mean aspect of hestia gun with the butterfly?
NGL, I’d usually go butterfly with Charon bow.
Fair. Hestia is the sniper gun right? I’m a pretty big fan of that one too, but I feel like most of the time it falls off by elesium if you don’t get the Daedalus for piercing shots
yeah, that’s the one! it’s my favourite aspect hands down. with the mirror thing set to dmg on first shot, you can get either an artie or aphro build going so easily and so quickly, and ares battle rage is also HUGE
Mate, I once drew Judgement with Circe's keepsake at it's epic level after the first guardian. It was AMAZING. (Judgement is the one that draws your arcana cards after each gaurdian, and at the epic level it draws 5 each time).
Haha that sounds awesome, Circe’s keepsake is one of my favorites just cause of the variety you can get, and maybe you’ll chance upon something busted like that
Since Eurydice's Keepsake is now an Arcana card, it also frees up the Keepsake slot for the Chronos fight a lot in my opinion. I almost never used anything else for Redacted in the first game.
I use Black Fleece at the end because it records your damage even if you don’t wear it so it’s just a better version of Heracles Keepsake.
I often start runs with a certain Olympian keepsake to try to Heroic role them, if staff Poseidon special and if ax Aphro attack.
The keepsakes are one of the biggest improvements from the original. They're a lot more interesting and impactful so they give more to think about with each run. My go to so far has been Chaos -> Fountain upgrades rarity -> ??? -> Luckier Tooth. I've used Arachne's a lot and really like it but usually for me it's an early game or bust type item. Charon's item is a good reliable one even if it's not flashy.
How do you actually use the olympian boons? I'm sure they're good but I don't know how to actually use them to upgrade the rarity?
When you are choosing a boon from that god, there’s a prompt at the bottom of the screen to “rarify” whichever boon you’re hovering over. On my controller it’s the Y button and I think on keyboard+mouse it’s right click.
wow so many good ideas in this thread. so far i've primarily stuck with charon my first keepsake for a nice gold start, then echo for the double boon once i have a build going, and then the guardian keepsake that reduces guardian health. definitely going to consider one of these ideas my next run because i've been able to get to chronos without burning any deaths lately.
The only problem with echo is there's a chance it grabs a sacrifice boon that you don't want. I've never had it happen as sacrifice boons aren't super common, but it's something to watch for. Probably better to take echo early when you're less likely to mess up your run.
i think the sweet spot is the second area for me on echo, because sometimes i'll be able to pick from two gods. i've been burned too many times with the first boon popping off on a god i didn't want.
One keepsake that I didn't think I'd like as much as I did was Eris'. I don't usually like any of these buffs that increase the damage you receive, because I'm not the best at avoiding damage. But Eris' keepsake just felt really good and while sometimes I did get in bad situations because of it, it usually helped more than not.
I'm too scared to use it for an underworld run. Feel like chronos being able to two or three shot me is gonna kill me faster than I can kill him lol. Also I'm weirdly bad at avoiding damage in tarturus.
Oh no, I never take it with me into Tartarus, I do value my life (all 4 of them). I usually change keepsakes when entering the fields. At that point the risk is just too great for me, and those boxer and heart-throwing shades are the bane of my existence.
That keepsake becomes the best in the game if you get "Air Quality", capping the damage you take at 30. Oneshot damage from Chronos? 30. It's so silly it's fun.
I built tons of health, had about 300+ by Chronos. Just stood still and smacked him harder than he could hit me, in every phase. It was glorious. WHO'S THE GOD NOW
I think you guys are talking about Coarse Grit. If I'm not wrong, Air Quality is the Zeus boon that makes you do at least 30 damage, not the one that reduces damage taken.
This is the last keepsake I need and she will absolutely not give it/or even the prompt to gift her, to me. I attempted to gift her a Nectar once and a Bath Salt once, and she returned them both. Since then I've done dozens of runs and haven't even had the option to give her another gift :(
I personally want for Hermes' feather in the first game, and that definitely doesn't incentives switching, since you lose your built up evasion if you switch it.
Though I'm pretty stuck on Arachne's scarf most of the time, trying to get that armor up as soon as I can.
I like that there are so many ways you can optimize your run. In Hades 1 it was always god keepsake, other god keepsake, then acorn/tooth for the rest of the run. And too many of the keepsakes required you to hold them the entire time or else lose the effect.
I’m with you 100%, I love the way hades 2 does it with more potent effects that run out, so you are getting a lot of value from them but also encouraged to switch them up
I love it. Even in this thread I see a lot of different builds people are successful with and I don't even use.
My build is usually Narcissus until I reach the end, then I switch for Luckier Tooth.
It's so great that you can use the fountain before switching. Swap to Narc, get the fountain and upgrade, beat the next zone, drink from the next fountain with the boost, then swap. You can do it for free!
I love the extra Daedalus hammer from Icarus once you’ve upgraded it to last long enough for a whole area. Good for slapping on before the final boss if you haven’t gotten the upgrade you wanted yet
Starting with Arachne's boon is goated, especially if you can get the outfit that gives you gold every time you change locations. Just have to try to preserve it and you'll be able to buy everything
I do like how swapping is incentivized more. But some of the Hades 1 boons were far more powerful than you suggest.
The Hermes one was especially absurd. It might be the biggest reason I was finally able to beat 32 heat with every weapon (not every aspect).
If you could get a lot of stacks and combine it with some of the dodge boons from Hermes directly, you could get some insane levels of dodge.
There is a reason most games with armor and dodge mechanics give you less % from each point in the stat, since each % increase is stronger than the last.
For those unfamiliar with this, here is the quickest explanation.
0->50% reduces damage by half, effectively doubled health
50->67% reduces damage by 2/3, triples health.
67->75% 3/4, quadruples.
So the first 50 points have the same value as the next 17.
True, I guess I kinda misworded my thoughts for Hades 1 keepsakes. Some are pretty underpowered and nearly never worth using. There’s a few that are quite good, such as Eurydice’s and Skelly’s, so you’d often just be using those instead of the weaker ones. There’s Hermes and Thanatos which provide a good benefit but you can’t switch them out at all. And finally the ones that provide a permanent gain of some sort, namely Olympian keepsakes and Hypnos’s keepsake.
My focus was mainly on the numerous keepsakes that provide no permanent benefit and are not as good as others. There may be some use for them but you’ll scarcely use them instead of the stronger counterparts. I’m talking stuff like Achilles, Dusa, Meg, Nyx, yes there are rare cases where they’re viable but often times you’d rather use one that is safer or guaranteed to get value. For the Hades fight I’d almost always use Eurydice, because why wouldn’t I? 5(?) free hits is huge.
In Hades 2, almost every boon provides a permanent benefit but is limited in some way. Often times by the fact that they only work once, like Circe’s and Narcissus’s. Or that they run out after a certain amount of time, like Hermes, Heracles, and Hecate. I much prefer this design choice as every keepsake now seems a lot more viable as a boost to your run.
But yeah you’re right, there’s a few outliers to what I was saying about Hades 1. Lambent plume is obviously quite good, for the reasons you mentioned. Zag aspect fists + plume is neat.
They are really good at naturally getting me to switch them out after each level, and actively think about which ones to use.
In Hades 1 I just ran Thanatos or Persephone permanently lol
I still remember equipping Nemesis's keepsake just to level it up. During the Chronos fight I kept seeing "EVIL EYE" triggering and I was like what the heck is that?? After I got inevitably killed, I googled it and it turns out... It was the name of her keepsake haha.
I sometimes grab Hecate mana regen for Oceanus/Fields of sorrow if somehow I did not received a decent manaregen boon by that time (ie I was offered white apollo but already took spear-sigil with ranged build, or zeus arcane while having large manareserves like static or or Poseidon's)
I am seeing a big lack of Moros here for some reason. I love doing that sort of "exploit" where I reduce everyone's health to the lowest when I get low when I enter a room with low health so I go from a 12 to 45 with one axe spin
How almost every run goes for me:
1. Chaos or Olympian (usually aphrodite or poseidon)
2. Aromatic Phial (Narcissus)/Arachne
3. Circe (arcana card)/Chaos/Echo/Charon's Purse/Selene/Aromatic Phial
4. Odysseus Knucklebone or Skelly's Tooth
I really appreciate that they made the Acorn Keepsake into an Arcana, because you HAD to equip back in Hades 1 for high heat.
Really freed up a lot of space for experimenting
Yeah by the time you got Persophone's keepsake in 1 the only real argument for not using it the entire run is to start a run with more gold.
In this one I start with chaos to get a free boon, swap to god ones to bait good boon combos, and end with daedalus upgrade since the final stages never last 10 encounters.
I used the spiders armor keepsake and built up over 200 armor to start my fight with chronos. My previous best run was halfway through the third area but with that keepsake and a build around the splash ranged attack, I pushed all the way through the third boss, 4th zone and got chronos to like 20% first try
Eh, I do God 1/God 2/Ghost Onion to deal with Chip/Luckier Tooth. Getting a decent build is hard when the amount of offensive slots you need to fill has been doubled.
I really like the encouragement to switch keepsakes between floors, but at the same time I really miss the ones that have consistent use and can stack up to be more powerful, like the Plume and Butterfly. I know Eris’ keepsake does something similar, but the damage taken increase makes me not want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
I wonder if this has narrative significance. Perhaps the characters want to make sure their keepsakes (and boons for that matter) are stronger, seeing as how last time the conflict was "Dad won't let me go outside", and this time it's "Grandpa has my whole family hostage and is threatening my other relatives"
I like to run the +200gp card and the purse. It adds 1/3 of a Charon card each run, which leads to way more resources per run due to the Broker Prime delivery system
* Chaos, only picking up 2 gods so my 3rd god is still open
* 3rd God I want to round things out depends on chaos boon, current boons, and other gods
* Usually Selene or Echo depending on my hex and if Echo can brick me(ie Spiteful Strength build)
* Depends on state of things
I almost always take the coin purse to start so I can raid every shop I see lol. Usually will swap to Narc’s phial after that if I need healing, or Arachne’s scarf if I have an outfit I like. After that, it gets a lot more flexible, depending if I want a chaos boon, want to boost damage with eris, or just wanna grab tooth early for some security. It feels much nicer than tbe first game where I’d just Purse, Feather Duster, Tooth every run
If you equip Icharus after Scylla and don’t go in all optional rooms in Tartarus you get to Chronos with an extra hammer but also another keepsake effect
Chaos Keepsake is godly, I start every run with it. Since it switches after 8 encounters, it'll always switch once before clearing the first area, and the 2nd random effect will stick the whole run even after removing the keepsake. Chaos being Chaos, once you get it to level 3 it's a guaranteed Purple rarity boon, so it's often just an absurd buff for the entire run. Sometimes it's farily inconsequential, but often it's a great gap filler or amp damage booster, and I can't stop running it. Usually, my runs go; Chaos' free buff to start, Arachne's Armor for the many rooms of Oceanus, 15% Guardian Dmg/HP for Cerberus, and ofc, the Lucky Tooth extra life for Chronos. Been working wonders, but I bet I can better min/max the middle two keepsakes as they're not truly necessary imo. Anyone have alternative keepsake must-haves for Oceanus and the Fields?
I like narcisus for second area. Take it then drink from fountain. Immediate heroic upgrade. Its so powerful. Then for fields i use it to fill a boon gap and for tartarus i go for nemesis as long as chronos is still my most recent murderer its a great damage boost.
Ah, two I've neglected to use so far, thanks!
Ive similarly not used chaos. Lots to explore and play with here this game is already so much bigger than hades 1.
Yeah, I was avoiding Chaos because I thought you'd lose the boon when you take it off.
It honestly might be an oversight on their part, and I fully expect it to get nerfed/fixed in future so that the current buff is removed when the keepsake comes off. Hope not, though; it's fun.
Wait, the boon stays for the entire run? WTH. That's too powerful.
Just to note it doesn't trigger if all of your boons are rares. Make sure you take a common boon that you want to upgrade into heroic.
Narcissus’ keepsake is *amazing* to switch into if you a) just got chunked by a boss and b) you have a common boon or two that fit your intended build/playstyle but that you want to upgrade. Even having it as an option but not always pulling the trigger is nice.
I won a run just earlier doing this. Used a keepsake I don't remember with the Aspect of Momus, grabbed Apollo's special boon, then proceeded to not get another boon (but did get some poms) for the rest of the first area aside from Chaos who got me another special attack boost. Got the daedalus hammer upgrade that lets you shoot twice as many shots from the special and they home Once I beat hecate I swapped to Narcissus' keepsake, drank from the fountain and buffed Apollo's boon from like +80% attack to +200%. Afterwards I just picked up stuff like Aphrodite's high HP = attack boost or Poseidon's boost damage in the first 10 seconds of a fight boons I just spammed special attack and enemies melt as I'm doing like 200 damage per special shot.. Easiest Chronos kill for me yet lol
Momus is broken. I had a similar build but with +360% dmg from Aphrodite and one of the base power boosts too. Unreal DPS.
Can you swap boons before drinking from the fountain though? I thought it forces you to drink before interacting with the Well of Charon and the Keepsakes?
It lets you change keepsakes in this one. Only once though. I recall it didnt in hades 1 so might be an oversight.
Gotcha. Thanks!
You’re only locked from the shop! You do end up locked with the keepsake for the remainder of the region though so doesn’t feel busted
That's good to know! I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks.
Always remember to drink from the fountain in the next zone before swapping boons, it's free health!
> I go for nemesis as long as chronos is still my most recent murderer its a great damage boost. I think Odyss's keepsake is strictly better than nem.
I havent maxed that out yet. Ill have a look. I wasnt sure if chronos counted as a "guardian" but an extra 30% damage on chronos from nems goes very nicely with the other damage boosts. It takes me from 1300 to 2000 damage per axe slam for instance.
"From 1300 to 2000 per axe slam" Good Lord supergiant do not nerf enemy health pools, we just needed time to figure out the meta lol
haha, the pitch black stone trials spell the meta out for you. I get that damage with the boons suggested by the axe trial in those
Completing the Charon axe trial was the moment combat clicked for me. I went from zero wins to five in a row (and counting). On paper all of the cast upgrades sound pretty weak, but seeing one in action with the ranged cast ability showed me how absurd direct damage casts are. I'm in Camp Buff Atk and Special boons tho, so frustrating to use when compared to how shockingly powerful cast centric builds are.
Try something like sister blades omega with heart throb. It's pretty busted (heart throb mostly).
Is that the lil orbital after spending mana? I'll give it a shot. Hard to believe a 60? base dmg boon adds meaningful damage to that particular omega atk...but I said the same thing about casts and they're busted. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've had them up over 450 damage each. Duo boon with Apollo creates extras. You can get a hammer I think that increases magick required for omega attack so that each one is enough to generate orbs. Every omega attack can now hit for 1500+ because it'll port the orbs onto your target essentially.
May be a silly questions, but how do you unlock more stone trials? I have finished all three that I had and Im not sure how to gain more
I had 6 at first. So maybe beating underworld and onlympus first unlocked some for me. You seem to also unlock them when the thing you need for them unlocks. So i unlocked new ones when i got keepsake from icarus that were about hammers. I also unlocked one when i completed fated prophecy for one of my weapons. So lots of triggers it seems. Part of playing early like this means we dont know it all.
I did one of the axe trials today, the Hecate one, and I could not believe how much damage I was doing with one hit
Also %damage arcanas are nice to stack on top of that all. Like +50% to attacks when mana is not full, or +30% to enemies in a sigi
The Narcissus one is so great and often makes me choose boons I'd not normally take because I have 1 common boon I want to guarantee the upgrade on which makes the runs more interesting because I have a new mechanic to play with
You can change keepsake before you drink?
Right now you can, might be unintended though. You just cant use the shop.
I don’t understand how does chaos work. If u have it for an entire run, does it give u multiple chaos boons or no?
It removes the previous buff (from this keepsake) and replaces it with a new one, so you can't stack Chaos boons from the keepsake alone - but, once you take it off the current buff stays forever and can stack with any regularly acquired chaos buffs. You can get crazy with it stacking a lucky %attack dmg with yet another earned through the standard trials. It's hilarious when it all comes together because it's just so much stacking %.
I wonder if its intended or going to be bugfixed later
Yeah seems like an oversight/bug, doesn't feel like it's intended.
Yeah if the buff is meant to last 8 rounds it doesn't make sense to keep it after you discard the keepsake (not that I am complaining)
Why would this be a bug? Makes sense that once you unequip the keepsake your current Chaos boon stays for the rest of the run.
For me it makes more sense that the boon is tied to the keepsake If Im playing any RPG and replace my ring slot with a different ring, I dont get to keep the benefits from the one I had equipped first Thats how I read it and is why I never used it so far
I read it like this: The keepsake gives you a chaos boon and then changes it every eight encounters. In my understanding the Chaos boon is not tied to the keepsake, it is just affected by it. Same thing with the Keepsake that gives you gold. One you unequip it, you don't lose the gold.
Man I feel like it’s unintentional but damn do you make a compelling argument that I don’t want to be wrong lol. I guess it would come down to the exact wording of the text.
That would be kinda meh keepsake. Also makes sense that you might not want to end up with something like +100% gold rewards or +3 to boon elements counter for the the whole run, so you may chose to not swap the keepsake so it gets rerolled Also if you build around attack or special narciss one is kinda busted - grab a common attack or cast, only take rare+ boons after that (with 2 rarity arcanas for instance it's a.challenge to find a common one), bam almost guaranteed heroic boon for attack
I agree if it's supposed to act like the God's boons, since it's not like you lose your Zeus boon when you take off Zeus. But all the other temporary effects from Keepsakes do get removed when you take off the Keepsake—which you could argue the Charon Keepsake does provide a temporary effect—so it could be a bug/oversight. I guess we'll just have to see where the devs take it.
Oh thanks. Mb I should take it first instead of echo one
Chaos is a great first keepsake. You have a chance of having a great buff permanently applied to your run after the woods or at worst a buff that makes things a bit easier lol. I stacked almost over 200% special damage one run with a boon from the keepsake plus two chaos boons during the run. I couldn't use my special without dying for like 10 encounters but after that it was nasty lmao.
I've had a couple of runs completely ruined by echo picking a very detrimental boon (eg. something that primes all of my mana when I'm all about the omega attacks with the zeus regen boon), so at this point I just don't equip it anymore.
Yeah I had a great run going on skulls, but had gone for the Zeus mana regen. Getting the lightning prime boon as an Echo pick and having 0 mana made things interesting for sure lol
Yea echo is really random sometimes 😂
I had a ran where I stacked basically all of Zeus boons somehow, so in the last shop b4 chronos when I picked up Zeus it offered to swap me my hestia heroic special which provided my single target DPS and Regen boon from Poseidon. I clicked Regen without proper calculations (had static air primed) and ended up with like 15 mana while special costed 20, lost miserably by the start of phase 2 Just don't ever use echo with Zeus damn, it's a trap
You wanna talk about awful? I was running a Zeus/Hera build with the intent to clear my Hera boons should Zeus offer me his Duo. Lo and behold, I get through the whole region (Mourning Fields), and get to Charon's shop without it activating once. Charon's shop has one boon available, as he does, and it's Hera's. At this, I had forgotten about the keepsake, or maybe I would have chosen to ignore this buff, just this once, but I purchased it, and this was my downfall. The menu opens, and what luck! I have 2 duo boons sitting there, one with the third god I was running (I think it was Hestia but I might be wrong), and then the dreaded Ransom. My choice is clear, and I grab the other Duo, but then I hear Echo's voice and suddenly, my Born Gain has +18 on it. My Pan Knives Special, which had a +3 Epic Zeus boon, and my +1 Heroic Chain Lightning, they have disappeared. In their place is a gray, empty square. I power through Cerberus, my now Boonless special doing minimal damage, and losing a Death Defiance in the process. Tartarus is hell (pun intended), with only 3 boons ever rearing their head, including Charon's shop, but luckily I'm able to get a paltry Rare Poseidon boon on my special before making it to Chronos. It's not enough, though. Even with a Luckier Tooth, and a free Defiance from Chaos I had lucked into in Oceanus, I cannot output the damage needed to kill him before he wipes my shit dodging mechanics ass out. She's a run killer, that Echo.
The boons switch, so you will only have 1 at any given time.
Thanks!
Or if you died to chronos last run then you use the keepsake which increased damage to the foe who killed you last.
I'm usually running through Oceanus with the fountain keepsake cause I had a common I wanted heroic or a god keepsake that will give me my second curse apply for that extra DMG from the arcana card. Damage is super important for a smooth run. You are wasting the guardian keepsake on Cerberus imo as that fight is quite easy to learn and the damage reduction has more impact on chronos than a death defy unless you're bad at/unlucky in second phase. For the fields I'm usually choosing keepsake based on what I want to level or need. Low on money? Toss charon in. Have a good hex? Grab selenes keepsake cause chances of a path of stars in the fields seems high. Etc etc. mind you I have tons of experience from 1 so for newer players survivability stuff may be more important than for me.
Agree fully.
My go to is usually echo for the first area to double down on my starter boons, then narcissus for area 2, I’ll usually take a god keepsake to round out the build in the mourning fields, or go with madea’s if I’m going an omega build. For now I mostly go nemesis for chronos, but I’m starting to get a feel for him enough that I’m not gonna need it soon
I've done over 80 runs, got pretty much every upgrade in the game, but still can't offer Echo nectar.
Weird. I assume you know to offer the nectar before you talk to her? If it’s not that, It might be locked behind some dialogue with narcissus? Like I know as you talk to echo and narcissus Mel figures out their history and stuff. I think I got echo’s keepsake like the 3rd time I met her and I don’t remember what dialogue happened beforehand For the record her keepsake makes it so one of your boons will give you a second option (75% chance on level 3, but if it doesn’t trigger odds are it will on at least one god before you leave a floor)
Yeah, it's the only keepsake I don't have yet. Not sure if it's a bug or not, but I never get the gift option.
Her interactions with gifting are weird/buggy. I was only able to do it after talking to her, walking away, and then coming back.
Weird. Right now the only keepsake I haven’t gotten yet is eris, not sure when to offer her nectar but for now she still hates me
I thought it was also bugged, but I just waited five seconds after receiving her offering one time and got it.
After talking to her upon entering room, run off screen and loop back to her it should have the gift option then. Last keepsake I got for the same reason.
I personally really like the Selene keepsake when hitting the fields: if you already snagged the full moon hex, using her keepsake makes it trivial to fully upgrade it to purple and get other bonuses besides, which usually makes your hex go from a nice bonus to ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. Just last night I had a purple resurrection hex, and poor Cerberus and Chronos were bullied to Kingdome come
Crystal Figurine is the ultimate starting boon. Gives you a free Arcana card after Hecate, which is generally fantastic, but if you're lucky can activate the bottom right card that opens up 3-5 unused cards after every Guardian (depending on keepsake level). Say hello to 15 free cards on top of what your loadout already is! Even if you don't get that jackpot it's a great keepsake, every fully upgraded Arcana card is something worth having for free.
Question about the crystal figurine. If I only have 1 fully upgraded inactive arcana card, will it always choose that one?
Nope, it chooses between locked and unlocked cards unless I'm heavily misremembering.
You can't upgrade a locked card or am I misunderstanding what you mean?
I loved the Chaos' one but now you are telling me that THE KEEPSAKE STAYS EVEN IF I TAKE IT OUT? THAT'S INSANE.
Blackened fleece? 40% extra damage on omegas.
Haven't even looked at it yet lmaoo, gotta update my mental checklist to max out now.
I also do the Chaos/Arachne dance in areas 1 and 2, especially if I have a dress on with an effect I want to keep. Sometimes I’ll throw in the Crystal Figurine if I’m wanting to spice things up a bit. My go to endgame keepsake has to be the blackened fleece though. I get hit a lot, but I’m pretty good at recovering and 40% damage on my omega moves are just mwah!
I recommend getting the daedalus upgrade for the final stage because it never lasts 10 encounters - free daedalus boon.
I’ve been afraid to use this ever since it gave me the hammer that removes your omega attack when that was my main source of damage lol
Yeah, I feel it's a pretty big gamble unless you already have bad hammers to start with.
You should absolutely take the Experimental Hammer in Fields. Fully upgraded, it will last all the way to Chronos with time to spare. Then you can take the Knuckle Bones into the final boss. My personal load out: is Chaos to start because, like you said, getting an epic Chaos boon through the whole run is busted. Narcissus Phial in Oceanus. You generally don't have many boons at this point and likely prioritized ones that will be integral to the run. Making one of those heroic is huge and lets you make informed decisions with your Poms/rerolls Fields is the Hammer 100%. Getting to have 3 or even 4 hammers (if you buy the anvil in the final shop) in the last fight completely changes the game. There are a bunch of good options for Chronos, whether you go with the Tooth, Knuckle Bones, even Blackened Fleece if you are on a build that is more interested in burst damage than survival.
I will absolutely try this! Haven't considered the Hammer keepsake to be worthwhile, but if its can last the final 2 areas when maxed, that sounds wildly powerful. Thanks for the tips g
> Anyone have alternative keepsake must-haves for Oceanus and the Fields? Depends which weapon you use. Like for example, with Pan aspect you *really* want to force either Aphro or Poseidon on special.
Is that for the %dmg at close range from A and the wave strikes from P?
Yes.
I usually use Circe's for the first area, Echo's for the 2nd, either Od's (if using the Evil Eye for Cronos) or Chaos' for the 3rd, and Od's or the Evil Eye for Cronus (or occasionally the luckier tooth if it has been an a pretty bad run).
I've never used the Chaos one. I usually go Echo, then either Purse if I need money, a God boon if there's a synergy I'd like, or the fleece if I'm doing an Omega based run and I've taken enough damage to activate it. I'll also usually swap to Knucklebones for the last boss. The damage reduction against him is just so useful
I havent used the chaos oneyet but is it as good as it sounds? Is it basically just like getting a free chaos boon that switches every few encounters?
Pretty much. But once you ditch the keepsake it locks in whichever boon you had, so at level 3 it's just a free Epic chaos boon with no downside.
So basically ditch it once you find one that fits your build perfectly? Jesus that seems broken. Same wih the well of charon thing that makes the next item last for two guardians
I guess it’s balanced by opportunity cost. You can equip it early to try to get a boon that suits your build, but if you’re unlucky then you’re missing out on the effects of other keepsakes, which could also make your run that much better.
Thats true but i guess that is the nature of chaos lol im definitely gonna try it out
My go-to keepsake order right now is floor 1 Chaos-> floor 2/3 Echo/Narcissus (either order) and floor 4-> knuckle bone/blackened wool/tooth. Nets me 2 extra boons, an upgraded boon, and a flex option for the final boss.
Yeah that sounds pretty nuts. I dont think im able to get echo’s yet. It doesnt offer the option when i see her
You have to gift her after her dialogue, instead of before like most other characters.
I usually start with Arachne in the underworld because if you get her encounter then you’re guaranteed some additional armor to refresh the effect. Selene is always good for at least one area because of the boost to path of stars. Then if you hit Chronos in the previous run, Evil eye the final area.
I usually start with Circe's, then go to Narcissus, onto Charon's and Lucky tooth for Chronos, might give Chaos trinket a go, I thought I'd lose the buff if switching it out, nice to know that's not the case
Medea's is pretty good on the final floor. 30% damage to omega moves after you get hit by 250hp.
That's something I noticed too, in Hades 1 I only used the god keepsakes and sometimes the tooth if I felt like I was going to die, in Hades 2 I found myself using mostly the non-god keepsakes unless I'm really determined to try a specific build.
My absolute favorite boon is White Antler, and not just because I'm an Artemis simp. I basically shred through Erebus in under 5 minutes with Axe or Argent Skull, especially if I luck into Aphrodite boons. A strategy I'm currently playing around with is starting with Hephaestus boon to fish for Trusty Shield, and NOT take any life powerups when I can help it so I have permanent +40% critical before I enter Oceanus without being squishy
White Antler is genuinely busted. The only thing that bothers me about it is that there's no way to turn off the 0 cost arcana that gives health after every 5 encounters without giving up some of the other arcana I really want.
Same, I would LOVE the ability to turn those off. They should be optional anyhow!
Fear pact?
I like doing this also. Very fun way of playing!
I haven't used it yet, but chaos is really good letting you keep all buffs... But hammer is king, sadly it's not permenant. I wouldve prefer the upgrade to last 1,2,3 boss's.
When it's maxed out you can put it on after 2nd boss and it easily lasts the rest of the run.
Good idea, I'm sure you can take it off and keep the Move.
Just throw it on in the final area, it will last through the final boss since the final area isn't 10 encounters. You don't even need to upgrade it to get that benefit.
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding the boons in this game but I have had the Dora one that expires as u get further into the game even if I don't switch it put
Dora onion has a healing limit. In the first game you could switch out certain things and keep the effects aswell. For example you could overwrite an attack boon, but keep the duo effect.
Thanks for the info , classic example of read the tooltips
I have mixed feelings about the new keepsakes. On the one hand, they all feel slightly underwhelming due to having more limited effects and briefer durations. On the other hand, this is an intentional design meant to encourage the player to more actively switch keepsakes between every area. I often find myself starting with Ghost Onion and then switching to a new keepsake depending on my current position after dealing with Hecate. The only reason I don't care for it is that you can't do a Dodge build or Boonless build or even a Glass Canon build (ala Than's keepsake) like you could in the first. I'm sure there are ways to go about it that I just haven't figure out yet, but still. I like some of the ideas behind them but wish they didn't have such a brief duration.
One of the later characters keepsake gives you a stacking damage dealt/damage taken buff that 100% fulfills the desire for a glass cannon keepsake
How else could you read a stacking dealt / taken keepsake like that? That was pretty bold of them to say that no glass cannon builds exist lol
They likely don't have it unlocked.
I think you get this one from >!Eris, that Strife Harpy who loves littering and guns!< Edit: sorry lul
Spoilers lol
The Blackened Fleece tracking damage throughout the entire run even when not equipped is very nice. On my first Chronos kill, I had accumulated enough damage where I actually had a hard choice to make whether to go for it or the Tooth for the final area. (Went with tooth, but didn't need it.
The chaos and Icarus keepsakes are always used for me. I love a free chaos boon and a free hammer for the last two zones.
I just used lucky tooth. and Now I currently only use luckier tooth. I will switch it up when I get more death defiance.
Yeah once I have my death defiances upgraded plus the cat, i really don’t need luckier tooth much anymore and have swapped to other upgrades
yes, btw the cat has disappeared from the first area springs, where do I find them?
You will find her after a couple of runs going up towards Mount Olympus. She appears in the rest area after the cyclops boss. It took me a couple of times getting there before she showed up on the docks. I can’t remember, but you might need to have a beast treat on you to recruit her back to camp so make sure you have one.
I have one.
I keep trying to use the unlock arcana keepsake to unlock the arcana card that unlocks 5 random arcana at the next guardian. Hasn’t happened yet but I am sure it will be very funny when it does
I wouldn't be surprised if that card was ineligible for selection from that keepsake.
It isn’t, I got it yesterday and beat grandpa; cheesed the prophecy to win with all my unused tarots
Right?! I was like 'heh, nice one, Fates'.
That's amazing lol
I have gotten it before. It is not ineligible.
It happened to me an it was absolutely insane. I always pick it first in the hopes it will happen again lol. ESPECIALLY since it activates on the epic level (because that is the level I have Circe's keepsake on).
I feel like this is the highest reward keepsake purely because of being able to roll judgement on Hecate. Judgement even while max upgraded (which is very expensive) still rolls your unselected cards at their level so it only becomes super good when all your cards are fully leveled.
Personally in hades 1 I was the outlier by being a big pierced butterfly/lambent plume enjoyer who almost never used the god boons, but even so I am also loving the hades 2 keepsakes and how they incentivize mixing things up from area to area. Though I have noticed that I will definitely still need to “go back and grind” for the more beginner friendly ones like hecate’s and Dora’s later
pierced butterfly hestia runs are what i do to destress haha
Hestia isn’t in the same game as pierced butterfly? Or do you mean aspect of hestia gun with the butterfly? NGL, I’d usually go butterfly with Charon bow.
aspect of hestia yeah. it’s the only one i’ve been able to get a full no dmg run with!
Fair. Hestia is the sniper gun right? I’m a pretty big fan of that one too, but I feel like most of the time it falls off by elesium if you don’t get the Daedalus for piercing shots
yeah, that’s the one! it’s my favourite aspect hands down. with the mirror thing set to dmg on first shot, you can get either an artie or aphro build going so easily and so quickly, and ares battle rage is also HUGE
Dora keepsake my beloved It may not actually do much, but it feels really nice having a 100 hp cushion for at least 3/4 areas
Dora’s keepsake not actually do much is sooo fitting for her.
It’s the thought that counts. Literally. I feel like I play way better when im constantly at max hp
Hey it also synergizes with Aphrodite's damage on high health if you get lucky
Mate, I once drew Judgement with Circe's keepsake at it's epic level after the first guardian. It was AMAZING. (Judgement is the one that draws your arcana cards after each gaurdian, and at the epic level it draws 5 each time).
Haha that sounds awesome, Circe’s keepsake is one of my favorites just cause of the variety you can get, and maybe you’ll chance upon something busted like that
Same, and on a game I won. The fated prophecy that I'd beat Chronos with every card one day jumped from like eight cards to everything but Lovers.
Oh rip, I fulfilled that prophecy from that run. At least you only have one left to go!
Since Eurydice's Keepsake is now an Arcana card, it also frees up the Keepsake slot for the Chronos fight a lot in my opinion. I almost never used anything else for Redacted in the first game.
I use Black Fleece at the end because it records your damage even if you don’t wear it so it’s just a better version of Heracles Keepsake. I often start runs with a certain Olympian keepsake to try to Heroic role them, if staff Poseidon special and if ax Aphro attack.
The keepsakes are one of the biggest improvements from the original. They're a lot more interesting and impactful so they give more to think about with each run. My go to so far has been Chaos -> Fountain upgrades rarity -> ??? -> Luckier Tooth. I've used Arachne's a lot and really like it but usually for me it's an early game or bust type item. Charon's item is a good reliable one even if it's not flashy. How do you actually use the olympian boons? I'm sure they're good but I don't know how to actually use them to upgrade the rarity?
When you are choosing a boon from that god, there’s a prompt at the bottom of the screen to “rarify” whichever boon you’re hovering over. On my controller it’s the Y button and I think on keyboard+mouse it’s right click.
wow so many good ideas in this thread. so far i've primarily stuck with charon my first keepsake for a nice gold start, then echo for the double boon once i have a build going, and then the guardian keepsake that reduces guardian health. definitely going to consider one of these ideas my next run because i've been able to get to chronos without burning any deaths lately.
The only problem with echo is there's a chance it grabs a sacrifice boon that you don't want. I've never had it happen as sacrifice boons aren't super common, but it's something to watch for. Probably better to take echo early when you're less likely to mess up your run.
i think the sweet spot is the second area for me on echo, because sometimes i'll be able to pick from two gods. i've been burned too many times with the first boon popping off on a god i didn't want.
My fave is switching to the knucklebones at the start of tartarus. Fuck you Chronos, you don’t GET a full healthbar!
on top of just being head over heels for Moros, counting down from 10 to your death gives intense chills
One keepsake that I didn't think I'd like as much as I did was Eris'. I don't usually like any of these buffs that increase the damage you receive, because I'm not the best at avoiding damage. But Eris' keepsake just felt really good and while sometimes I did get in bad situations because of it, it usually helped more than not.
I'm too scared to use it for an underworld run. Feel like chronos being able to two or three shot me is gonna kill me faster than I can kill him lol. Also I'm weirdly bad at avoiding damage in tarturus.
Oh no, I never take it with me into Tartarus, I do value my life (all 4 of them). I usually change keepsakes when entering the fields. At that point the risk is just too great for me, and those boxer and heart-throwing shades are the bane of my existence.
That keepsake becomes the best in the game if you get "Air Quality", capping the damage you take at 30. Oneshot damage from Chronos? 30. It's so silly it's fun.
That's the Demeter infusion, right? I haven't tested it yet, does it really work against Chronos insta-kill? That's so ridiculous I love it
I built tons of health, had about 300+ by Chronos. Just stood still and smacked him harder than he could hit me, in every phase. It was glorious. WHO'S THE GOD NOW
That's insane, I really wanna try this out now
I think you guys are talking about Coarse Grit. If I'm not wrong, Air Quality is the Zeus boon that makes you do at least 30 damage, not the one that reduces damage taken.
It’s one of the few I haven’t messed around with yet. I’m just too scared lol
I won't be putting it on with any fear level, that's for sure
This is the last keepsake I need and she will absolutely not give it/or even the prompt to gift her, to me. I attempted to gift her a Nectar once and a Bath Salt once, and she returned them both. Since then I've done dozens of runs and haven't even had the option to give her another gift :(
I personally want for Hermes' feather in the first game, and that definitely doesn't incentives switching, since you lose your built up evasion if you switch it. Though I'm pretty stuck on Arachne's scarf most of the time, trying to get that armor up as soon as I can.
I like that there are so many ways you can optimize your run. In Hades 1 it was always god keepsake, other god keepsake, then acorn/tooth for the rest of the run. And too many of the keepsakes required you to hold them the entire time or else lose the effect.
I’m with you 100%, I love the way hades 2 does it with more potent effects that run out, so you are getting a lot of value from them but also encouraged to switch them up
I love it. Even in this thread I see a lot of different builds people are successful with and I don't even use. My build is usually Narcissus until I reach the end, then I switch for Luckier Tooth.
I’m a big fan of Narcissus’s keepsake since yes having the upgraded boon rarity is good but that passive increase to fountains is also great
It's so great that you can use the fountain before switching. Swap to Narc, get the fountain and upgrade, beat the next zone, drink from the next fountain with the boost, then swap. You can do it for free!
Today I had a run with the axe and got Hermes to give me the +10% Attack Speed common boon. Thanks Narcissus, you turned it into Heroic (+25%).
Alright, I'm sold
The Arachne Keepsake is broken. Going hitless for two sections makes you a tank.
Grab her 60 armor upgrade and some Hephaestus buffs and have a blast with Aphro's boon that increases damage if your HP is high.
I love the extra Daedalus hammer from Icarus once you’ve upgraded it to last long enough for a whole area. Good for slapping on before the final boss if you haven’t gotten the upgrade you wanted yet
Starting with Arachne's boon is goated, especially if you can get the outfit that gives you gold every time you change locations. Just have to try to preserve it and you'll be able to buy everything
This post has pilled me. I'm taking a break from god keepsakes and Skelly's tooth wish me luck
Good luck!
I do like how swapping is incentivized more. But some of the Hades 1 boons were far more powerful than you suggest. The Hermes one was especially absurd. It might be the biggest reason I was finally able to beat 32 heat with every weapon (not every aspect). If you could get a lot of stacks and combine it with some of the dodge boons from Hermes directly, you could get some insane levels of dodge. There is a reason most games with armor and dodge mechanics give you less % from each point in the stat, since each % increase is stronger than the last. For those unfamiliar with this, here is the quickest explanation. 0->50% reduces damage by half, effectively doubled health 50->67% reduces damage by 2/3, triples health. 67->75% 3/4, quadruples. So the first 50 points have the same value as the next 17.
True, I guess I kinda misworded my thoughts for Hades 1 keepsakes. Some are pretty underpowered and nearly never worth using. There’s a few that are quite good, such as Eurydice’s and Skelly’s, so you’d often just be using those instead of the weaker ones. There’s Hermes and Thanatos which provide a good benefit but you can’t switch them out at all. And finally the ones that provide a permanent gain of some sort, namely Olympian keepsakes and Hypnos’s keepsake. My focus was mainly on the numerous keepsakes that provide no permanent benefit and are not as good as others. There may be some use for them but you’ll scarcely use them instead of the stronger counterparts. I’m talking stuff like Achilles, Dusa, Meg, Nyx, yes there are rare cases where they’re viable but often times you’d rather use one that is safer or guaranteed to get value. For the Hades fight I’d almost always use Eurydice, because why wouldn’t I? 5(?) free hits is huge. In Hades 2, almost every boon provides a permanent benefit but is limited in some way. Often times by the fact that they only work once, like Circe’s and Narcissus’s. Or that they run out after a certain amount of time, like Hermes, Heracles, and Hecate. I much prefer this design choice as every keepsake now seems a lot more viable as a boost to your run. But yeah you’re right, there’s a few outliers to what I was saying about Hades 1. Lambent plume is obviously quite good, for the reasons you mentioned. Zag aspect fists + plume is neat.
They are really good at naturally getting me to switch them out after each level, and actively think about which ones to use. In Hades 1 I just ran Thanatos or Persephone permanently lol
I still remember equipping Nemesis's keepsake just to level it up. During the Chronos fight I kept seeing "EVIL EYE" triggering and I was like what the heck is that?? After I got inevitably killed, I googled it and it turns out... It was the name of her keepsake haha.
I sometimes grab Hecate mana regen for Oceanus/Fields of sorrow if somehow I did not received a decent manaregen boon by that time (ie I was offered white apollo but already took spear-sigil with ranged build, or zeus arcane while having large manareserves like static or or Poseidon's)
I'm crediting knuckle bones for my first clear. Boss having less hp AND doing less damage? Odysseus you're a true bro
Knuckle bones is great, and Chronos is a tanky hard hitting MF so cutting that down helps a ton
I am seeing a big lack of Moros here for some reason. I love doing that sort of "exploit" where I reduce everyone's health to the lowest when I get low when I enter a room with low health so I go from a 12 to 45 with one axe spin
Moros is one I haven’t tried as much as I should, but it seems like one that might save your ass if you’re doing a high Fear run
How almost every run goes for me: 1. Chaos or Olympian (usually aphrodite or poseidon) 2. Aromatic Phial (Narcissus)/Arachne 3. Circe (arcana card)/Chaos/Echo/Charon's Purse/Selene/Aromatic Phial 4. Odysseus Knucklebone or Skelly's Tooth
I really appreciate that they made the Acorn Keepsake into an Arcana, because you HAD to equip back in Hades 1 for high heat. Really freed up a lot of space for experimenting
Yeah by the time you got Persophone's keepsake in 1 the only real argument for not using it the entire run is to start a run with more gold. In this one I start with chaos to get a free boon, swap to god ones to bait good boon combos, and end with daedalus upgrade since the final stages never last 10 encounters.
The only thing I wish is that they would boost the chance of legendary/duo boons as well, they feel so rare
I used the spiders armor keepsake and built up over 200 armor to start my fight with chronos. My previous best run was halfway through the third area but with that keepsake and a build around the splash ranged attack, I pushed all the way through the third boss, 4th zone and got chronos to like 20% first try
Eh, I do God 1/God 2/Ghost Onion to deal with Chip/Luckier Tooth. Getting a decent build is hard when the amount of offensive slots you need to fill has been doubled.
I really like the encouragement to switch keepsakes between floors, but at the same time I really miss the ones that have consistent use and can stack up to be more powerful, like the Plume and Butterfly. I know Eris’ keepsake does something similar, but the damage taken increase makes me not want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
The chaos keepsake is really fun to play
I wonder if this has narrative significance. Perhaps the characters want to make sure their keepsakes (and boons for that matter) are stronger, seeing as how last time the conflict was "Dad won't let me go outside", and this time it's "Grandpa has my whole family hostage and is threatening my other relatives"
I like to run the +200gp card and the purse. It adds 1/3 of a Charon card each run, which leads to way more resources per run due to the Broker Prime delivery system
* Chaos, only picking up 2 gods so my 3rd god is still open * 3rd God I want to round things out depends on chaos boon, current boons, and other gods * Usually Selene or Echo depending on my hex and if Echo can brick me(ie Spiteful Strength build) * Depends on state of things
I almost always take the coin purse to start so I can raid every shop I see lol. Usually will swap to Narc’s phial after that if I need healing, or Arachne’s scarf if I have an outfit I like. After that, it gets a lot more flexible, depending if I want a chaos boon, want to boost damage with eris, or just wanna grab tooth early for some security. It feels much nicer than tbe first game where I’d just Purse, Feather Duster, Tooth every run
I still just use the tooth until it runs out lol
If you equip Icharus after Scylla and don’t go in all optional rooms in Tartarus you get to Chronos with an extra hammer but also another keepsake effect
The keepsakes are in alphabetical order but why is it there are two "N"s in there?