Hermes is a very hit and miss kind of god to choose in my opinion, but it’s undeniable that he can really help a player in tight squeeze situations.
The main focus on Hermes is his ability to allow players to travel faster and gain Health when they Dash.
Hermes is a pretty defensive god and doesn’t actually pique my interest, because his defenses to me are… eh.
Hermes is one of the five Olympian gods who actually doesn’t make his way into a player’s roster until they complete their first proper escape of Hades.
I’ll be honest, I’m really glad that Hermes doesn’t make his way in the early game as players can quickly feel like they can rely on Hermes, but the first run really benefits from players taking a great deal of damage and using mostly Athena for their defenses.
Hermes can be useful for some niche situations, so don’t let me completely convince you that he’s useless, but I will cover the uses of each of his Boons shortly so you can make the decisions for when to use them.
Note: Watch me play Hades and similar games on Twitch! Always happy to answer questions there!
OLYMPIAN AFFINITY
Hermes, being one of the many Olympian gods will have the ability to gain Affinity with a player.
Players can gain affinity by trading in Nectar to him and upon providing the first gift, he will provide a player with his Keepsake the Lambent Plume.
At first players will want to hold off on providing Hermes too much Nectar as he will not provide players with any further rewards and players are recommended to farm for Companions, though when a player has enough Artifacts to waste, they can do so, being able to max him out at 8 Hearts.
To gain full favour with Hermes, players will have to level his Lambent Plume up to max level and then will haver to speak to him. This is by far one of the easiest Favours to receive, especially because players will not have to provide Hermes with full Hearts to do so.
TIER 1 HERMES BOONS
Hermes’ Tier 1 Boons do not require players to have any other Boons and always have the ability to show up regardless of how many Boons a player has access to.
Players should be cautious of taking too many Tier 1 Boons, especially if they are on the hunt for Legendary Boons, so making yourself aware of which Boons you will need to get the Tier 2 Boons you want is going to be very important, otherwise players may lock themselves out of the Boons they require.
SWIFT STRIKE
Swift Strike is by far one of my favourite Boons to have for players as it can essentially raise a player’s DPS simply because it raises a player’s Attack Speed.
Not only will Swift Cast allow players to hit enemies faster with Weapons that don’t need charging, but it will also reduce the amount of time it takes for players to charge their attacks, making all Weapons a viable option to upgrade.
I strongly recommend choosing to use Swift Strike, especially if you rely on your basic attack to deal most of the damage and each rarity of Swift Strike will raise the Attack speed of your character more, being:
COMMON
The Common Swift Strike will raise a player’s Attack Speed by 10%.
RARE
The Rare Swift Strike will raise a player’s Attack Speed by 20%.
EPIC
The Epic Swift Strike will raise a player’s Attack Speed by 30%.
HEROIC
The Heroic Swift Strike will raise a player’s Attack Speed by 40%.
SWIFT FLOURISH
Swift Flourish is going to be a hit and miss kind of Boon for players as it can also raise a player’s DPS, but will focus on a player’s Special instead of their Attack.
Swift Flourish is a Boon that I don’t usually take, however, if you have a Special that has a good amount of Charge Time and you want to reduce it, it’s a pretty good option for you.
Similar to Swift Strike, the different rarities of Swift Flourish will make the player’s Special attack faster or charge faster, being:
COMMON
The Common Swift Flourish will raise a player’s Special Speed by 10%.
RARE
The Rare Swift Flourish will raise a player’s Special Speed by 20%.
EPIC
The Epic Swift Flourish will raise a player’s Special Speed by 30%.
HEROIC
The Heroic Swift Flourish will raise a player’s Special Speed by 40%.
FLURRY CAST
Flurry Cast is actually a Boon that I’m not a huge fan of, though it requires the Infernal Soul Mirror of Night Ability to acquire and is pretty decent with it.
Essentially, players will be able to use their Cast faster and it will become fully automatic, meaning that as soon as a player hits the trigger for Cast it will be launched.
Players will not be able to use Flurry Cast if they have the Aspect of Beowulf or the Aspect of Hera, which shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
With the different rarities of Flurry Cast, players will have a faster Cast Speed, being:
COMMON
The Common Flurry Cast will raise a player’s Cast Speed by 20%.
RARE
The Rare Flurry Cast will raise a player’s Cast Speed by 40%.
EPIC
The Epic Flurry Cast will raise a player’s Cast Speed by 60%.
HEROIC
The Heroic Flurry Cast will raise a player’s Cast Speed by 80%.
QUICK FAVOUR
Quick Favour is another amazing Boon to have in my opinion and will require player to have any of the God Calls available to them in order to acquire (being Aphrodite’s Aid, Ares’ Aid, Artemis’ Aid, Athena’s Aid, Demeter’s Aid, Dionysus’ Aid, Poseidon’s Aid, or Zeus’ Aid).
I wouldn’t say that Quick Favour is the most important for all God Calls, though admittedly… I wouldn’t choose the God Calls that it’s not “useful” for in the first place.
In my opinion, if you get offered Quick Favour I would always take it, especially if it is a higher tier.
With each Rarity of Quick Favour, players will be able to automatically charge their God Call faster, allowing players to use it more often, especially against Trash Mobs or more tactfully in Boss Battles.
The following Rarities will provide players with the following charge up speeds:
COMMON
The Common Quick Favour will charge a player’s God Gauge by 1% every 2 seconds.
RARE
The Rare Quick Favour will charge a player’s God Gauge by 1% every 1.5 seconds.
EPIC
The Epic Quick Favour will charge a player’s God Gauge by 1% every 1 seconds.
HEROIC
The Heroic Quick Favour will charge a player’s God Gauge by 1% every 0.5 seconds.
HYPER SPRINT
Hyper Sprint is one of the more Defensive Boons players can take from Hermes and in my opinion is pretty darn good, though not one of my main focusses.
Essentially players will be able to become Sturdy for a certain duration after they Dash, taking a lot less damage and will be able to run 100% faster.
The different Rarities of Hyper Sprint will essentially extend the amount of time that players are Sturdy and how long they run at 100% extra speed, being:
COMMON
The Common Hyper Sprint will last 0.5 seconds.
RARE
The Rare Hyper Sprint will last 0.6 seconds.
EPIC
The Epic Hyper Sprint will last 0.7 seconds.
HEROIC
The Heroic Hyper Sprint will last 0.9 seconds.
GREATER HASTE
Greater Haste is going to be a decent passive for players, though as you’re probably not going to be shocked, I’m not the biggest fan of it, though if I’m Artifact Hunting it can be pretty useful for players to speed up their escape.
Essentially, Greater Haste does not provide players with any utility other than running faster, which in the long run isn’t actually that useful unless players are attempting to simply dodge enemies.
The different rarities of Greater Haste will essentially speed up a player further being the following speeds:
COMMON
The Common Greater Haste will increase a player’s movement speed by 20%.
RARE
The Rare Greater Haste will increase a player’s movement speed by 30%.
EPIC
The Epic Greater Haste will increase a player’s movement speed by 40%.
HEROIC
The Heroic Greater Haste will increase a player’s movement speed by 50%.
QUICK RECOVERY
Quick Recovery is actually a Boon I take fairly regularly in progression content, especially if I am struggling with Health.
With Quick Recovery, anytime a player Dashes after taking damage they will regain a small amount of their Health back.
While this isn’t the most amount of Health back, it can be very useful, especially if players aren’t running Talents from the Mirror of Night that provide players with enough Health for an escape.
In my opinion, Quick Recovery is going to be a choice that players make based on what their current needs are.
The different rarities of Quick Recovery will provide players with more health back when they Dash after taking damage, being:
COMMON
The Common Quick Recovery will provide players with 30% of the Health they lost after Dashing after taking damage.
RARE
The Rare Quick Recovery will provide players with 40% of the Health they lost after Dashing after taking damage.
EPIC
The Epic Quick Recovery will provide players with 50% of the Health they lost after Dashing after taking damage.
HEROIC
The Heroic Quick Recovery will provide players with 60% of the Health they lost after Dashing after taking damage.
GREATEST EVASION
Greatest Evasion is another defensive Boon that players can acquire, though in my opinion it’s really useless.
Essentially with Greatest Evasion players will gain extra dodge chance, but the rates are pretty low, so I’d rather take extra damage than this.
The Dodge Chance players receive is based on the rarity of Greatest Evasion, being:
COMMON
The Common Greatest Evasion provides players with 10% Dodge Chance.
RARE
The Rare Greatest Evasion provides players with 15% Dodge Chance.
EPIC
The Epic Greatest Evasion provides players with 20% Dodge Chance.
HEROIC
The Heroic Greatest Evasion provides players with 25% Dodge Chance.
GREATEST REFLEX
Greatest Reflex will allow players to Dash more times in a row and in my opinion is another one of the Boons that depends on what other Boons you are running.
Greatest Reflex works best when players have Boons that apply Status Curses on their Dashes, especially those with Demeter which require 10 stacks.
I personally rarely use Greatest Reflex, though it can be very useful for Demeter and not so much for Dionysus, as his threshold is much lower than Demeter.
The following are the amount of Extra Dashes players will receive when using the different rarities of Greatest Reflex:
COMMON
The Common Greatest Reflex will provide players with 1 extra Dash.
RARE
The Common Greatest Reflex will provide players with 2 extra Dashes.
EPIC
The Common Greatest Reflex will provide players with 3 extra Dashes.
HEROIC
The Common Greatest Reflex will provide players with 4 extra Dashes.
SECOND WIND
Second Wind is a pretty decent Boon to have, especially because it provides players with a substantial amount of protection after players use their God Call.
While I’m not a huge fan of Defensive Boons, it’s undeniable how much Second Wind can help a player, especially if they are struggling with Boss Battles.
Essentially with Second Wind after a player uses their God Call (being Aphrodite’s Aid, Ares’ Aid, Artemis’ Aid, Athena’s Aid, Demeter’s Aid, Dionysus’ Aid, Poseidon’s Aid, or Zeus’ Aid), they will gain a significant amount of Dodge Chance and will be able to move faster for 6 seconds.
The different rarities of Second Wind will raise the Bonus Dodge Chance and Move Speed, but both stats will always be active for 6 seconds after the God Call. The Dodge Chance increase and Movement Speed increase are as follows:
COMMON
The Common Second Wind will provide players with 30% Bonus Dodge Chance and Move Speed.
RARE
The Rare Second Wind will provide players with 33% Bonus Dodge Chance and Move Speed.
EPIC
The Epic Second Wind will provide players with 36% Bonus Dodge Chance and Move Speed.
HEROIC
The Heroic Second Wind will provide players with 39% Bonus Dodge Chance and Move Speed.
QUICK RELOAD
Quick Reload can be a very good Boon to have especially if players are relying on their Cast for a good portion of damage.
Quick Reload will cause enemies to drop Casts inside them faster and players will want to make sure that their Cast has some good damage on it.
It should be noted that players will not be able to use Quick Reload on the Aspect of Beowulf.
Players will also be unable to combine it with Crystal Beam, Curse of Drowning, Slicing Shot or Trippy Shot.
Players are also required to run Infernal Soul from the Mirror of Night in order to acquire Quick Reload.
The different rarities of Quick Reload will reduce the amount of time it take for a cast to dislodge, being:
COMMON
The Common Quick Reload will drop a Cast after 5 seconds.
RARE
The Rare Quick Reload will drop a Cast after 3.75 seconds.
EPIC
The Epic Quick Reload will drop a Cast after 2.5 seconds.
HEROIC
The Heroic Quick Reload will drop a Cast after 2 seconds.
SIDE HUSTLE
Side Hustle is quite a powerful Boon to have, especially if you’re currently completing an Artifact grind as it will help you get get the rarest Artifacts successfully in each run.
While Side Hustle isn’t an absolutely necessary Boon to always get, though I will say it tends to make escapes easier because players can essentially get any Boons that they need by purchasing them with Charon’s Obol.
Essentially with Side Hustle players will gain a small amount of Wealth each time they enter a new Chamber, though it should be noted that players will not reap any benefits from other Boons that increase Wealth Gain.
Players will often want Side Hustle at the beginning of their journey, though admittedly it’s not the worst late game, especially because players will get Wealth for every room in the Temple of Styx, really churning out that income near the end.
Essentially with each rarity of Side Hustle players will make a bit more Charon’s Obol every time they enter a Chamber, being:
COMMON
With the Common Side Hustle players will gain 10 Charon’s Obol anytime they enter a Chamber.
RARE
With the Rare Side Hustle players will gain 13 Charon’s Obol anytime they enter a Chamber.
EPIC
With the Epic Side Hustle players will gain 16 Charon’s Obol anytime they enter a Chamber.
HEROIC
With the Heroic Side Hustle players will gain 19 Charon’s Obol anytime they enter a Chamber.
RUSH DELIVERY
Rush Delivery is a pretty interesting Boon to have and will make having Movement Speed from Hermes much more useful as players will deal more damage based on what movement speed increase they get.
I would personally recommend that players get Rush Delivery before they get movement speed increases, unless players are fans of movement bonuses in general.
The different rarities of Rush Delivery will increase the amount of bonus damage from bonus movement speed, being:
COMMON
The Common Rush Delivery will provide players with 50% bonus damage from bonus movement speed.
RARE
The Rare Rush Delivery will provide players with 75% bonus damage from bonus movement speed.
EPIC
The Epic Rush Delivery will provide players with 100% bonus damage from bonus movement speed.
HEROIC
The Heroic Rush Delivery will provide players with 125% bonus damage from bonus movement speed.
AUTO RELOAD
Auto Reload is by far a very useful Boon to have, especially if players are running Stygian Soul, which is actually required for this Boon.
Essentially with Auto Reload, players will regenerate their Casts even faster than normal and each rarity of Auto Reload will make it even faster at the following speeds:
COMMON
The Common Auto Reload will regenerate a Cast after 2.75 seconds.
RARE
The Rare Auto Reload will regenerate a Cast after 2.5 seconds.
EPIC
The Epic Auto Reload will regenerate a Cast after 2.25 seconds.
HEROIC
The Heroic Auto Reload will regenerate a Cast after 2. seconds.
TIER 2 HERMES BOONS
Hermes shockingly does not have any Tier 2 Boons.
TIER 3 HERMES BOONS
Hermes’ Tier 3 Boons are fairly rare to acquire and come in both Greater Recall and Bad News.
Both Greater Recall and Bad News require players to have different upgrades in the Mirror of Night and need different Boons to unlock, though players will be able to acquire both with their Lambent Plume, the Keepsake ability.
I will break down each of the Legendary Boons on their own in order to thoroughly explain them.
GREATER RECALL
Greater Recall requires players to have the Mirror of Night ability Infernal Soul as well as one of the following Boons/Abilities Flurry Cast, Quick Reload, or Lambent Plume (Keepsake Ability).
With Greater Recall, players will immediately collect their Casts whenever they use them and they are dislodged from enemies.
While helpful, Greater Recall isn’t the most important Boon to have in my opinion as in many cases players can easily pick up their Casts. If players are struggling to pick up Casts or want to optimize their damage on Casts, I strongly recommend it.
BAD NEWS
Bad News requires players to have the Mirror of Night ability Stygian Soul as well as one of the following Boons/Abilities Auto Reload or Lambent Plume (Keepsake Ability).
With Bad News, players will be able to optimize their damage when they lodge their Cast in different enemies, essentially dealing 50% more Cast damage to enemies that don’t already have a Cast lodged in them.
DUO BOONS
Hermes does not have any Duo Boons, however, if you’re interested in other Duo Boons I strongly recommend checking out this post.
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