When it comes to playing Hades, players will be introduced to a great variety of characters with massive backstories, traits and battles. Many of these characters are focused on empowering players by providing them with Boons, while others offer up battles that will provide players with important Loot like Keepsakes that will slowly empower players passively as they upgrade their Weapons and Talents in the Mirror of Night.
Admittedly, one of my favourite Characters in the game is Thanatos, not only because his mechanics are some of the most interesting, but because he fills my much needed role of “Dark Boy Fantasy” in Hades.
While Thanatos isn’t one of the major gods in Hades, being unable to provide players with his own specific Boons, he does play a major role in Hades, being one of the romantic interests that Zagreus can acquire and has one of the most interesting types of battles with Zagreus throughout runs.
The following guide will cover everything a player needs to know about Thanatos, his battle as well as what a romantic relationship with him will provide players.
Note: If you want to watch me play games like Hades on Twitch head on over here! I’m always happy to answer your questions there as well!
AFFINITY WITH THANATOS
Thanatos acts as a fairly pivotal character for players to bond with as not only will they get some good loot from him, they will also have the ability to romance him, which is very rare for other characters.
Players will want to provide Thanatos with Nectar, which will provide the player with the Pierced Butterfly the first time.
Players will be able to provide Thanatos with a total of 6 Nectar before they must complete his favour.
Upon completing Thanatos’ Favour, which I will cover shortly, players will be able to get a Companion, Mort, which they can use in any escape attempt.
Thanatos has a total of 10 Hearts, meaning that a player will need to provide a total of 6 Nectar and 4 Ambrosia in order to max out their relationship with him.
THANATOS’ FAVOUR
In order to complete Thanatos’ Favour, players will need to first provide him with the 6 Nectar and then must beat Thanatos while in an escape attempt.
Doing such will prompt Thanatos to mention that Zagreus is powerful enough to escape the underworld alone. After this dialogue, players will be able to provide Thanatos with Ambrosia.
THANATOS’ ROMANCE WITH ZAGREUS
While Romance isn’t the most important aspect of playing Hades, it is a nice little way to get more side story in such a well written game.
Players can obtain a romantic relationship with Thanatos, Dusa and Megaera and quite frankly, players can romance all three of them at the same time with no negative repercussions.
Players are actually encouraged to romance multiple characters at once as there are actually cutscenes that happen only if players have romanced more than one character together.
THANATOS’ BATTLE
Quite frankly, the battle between Thanatos and Zagreus is my absolute favourite battle in the game. While not always guaranteed, I have to say that I’m always hoping that he spawns simply because I love the mechanics of the fight.
Players will only begin seeing the battle between Thanatos and Zagreus if they have seen Aclecto or Tisiphone. If players have battled either then Thanatos has the chance to spawn after the third chamber in Elysium. Players have as long as the Temple of Styx to find Thanatos.
If players locate Thanatos they will initiate a specific type of battle that requires players to defeat more foes than him in a time limit.
Quite frankly, this battle is very easy to complete, unless the player is using a Heart-Seeking Bow, simply because it is a more difficult Weapon to actually use.
There are a couple of things players will have to keep in mind for the battle between Thanatos and Zagreus and that’s as follows:
Thanatos will will instantly kill mobs even if they have armour during the battle.
Thanatos will spawn in a large purple circle which will instantly kill all foes inside of it. Players can still kill these mobs before he does by attacking the mobs inside of this circle.
While players can choose to specifically focus on the mobs that are in the circles, they do not have to in order to defeat Thanatos.
Thanatos also has an ability that marks a single enemy with a purple scythe and it will kill that enemy after the delay.
If players are going to try to focus on taking kills away from Thanatos, players will want to focus on the circles more than the scythes.
Again, players don’t absolutely need to do this, but if Thanatos is closing in on the player, this may be very useful.
WHAT ARE THE REWARDS FOR DEFEATING THANATOS?
If players are successful in defeating Thanatos they will be given a Centaur Heart.
Players must always make sure to speak to Thanatos before accepting any rewards from him as he will disappear as soon as players accept their reward.
Players will want to ensure that they provide Thanatos with Nectar any opportunity they get as he can be very difficult to find, especially if players are unlucky with the RNG.
WHERE IS THANATOS WHEN NOT IN AN ESCAPE ATTEMPT?
Although he doesn’t always appear, when Thantos is in the House of Hades he will be in the left hand hallway that Achilles stands in, by the Administrative Chamber.
Here players will be able to gift Thanatos with Nectar or Ambrosia as long as they didn’t just provide him with Nectar or Ambrosia in the run that was just completed or failed.
Due to the fact that Thanatos is not always found in an escape attempt, this is going to be an important factor for players to note as they will want to speedily develop Affinity with him for his companion.
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