When it comes to playing Hades players will have a fairly large variety of different Weapons, also called Infernal Arms, to choose from depending on their play style.
While some Weapons are outright more powerful than others, and some Weapons are easier to use, the reality is that players will want to grab a hold of each one of the Weapons in order to successfully complete an escape with them. Each successful escape with a unique Weapon will provide players with the 4 main rewards from completing each area, also extending to each successful escape with difficulty settings changed, called Heats in this game.
The four rewards players will be able to collect while completing a map for the first time with each Weapon are 2 Diamonds, 1 Titan Blood and 1 Ambrosia. The most important of these are the Diamonds and the Titan Blood, Diamonds being used to unlock new renovations at the House Contractor and Titan Blood for unlocking new Aspects for their Weapons.
In many cases, players will find themselves holding some resentment towards specific Weapons, due to their very low damage or their functionality, though players shouldn’t fret for long as there are over powered Aspects that players can unlock to greatly increase the Weapon’s usability.
There are a total of 6 Weapons in Hades, with only one being unlocked at first, though the rest can be unlocked reasonably quickly by using Chthonic Keys, requiring a total of 24 Chthonic Keys in order to unlock all of them. In most cases players should be able to successfully escape a normal mode escape without the use of upgrades, there are some Weapons that I had to upgrade in order to successfully escape the first escape *cough* ’cause I can be a n00b sometimes. I’m looking at you Heart-Seeker Bow.
The following guide will take you through the basics of each Weapon, what you’re looking forward to and my rating of them. Note that these ratings and the information only has to do with each Weapon without any upgrades, as I will cover each individual Weapon in the future, covering all of the upgrades players can obtain for each and what their uses can be.
This guide will also avoid all talks of the Daedalus Hammer’s upgrades, as I will cover those in the Weapon’s individual article, and talk more about the Daedalus Hammer in it’s own post. For those of you who do not know about the Daedalus Hammer a short explanation is that it can appear as a reward for completing Dungeons and will impact the way that your Weapon works for that escape, essentially acting like a Boon that is specific to your Weapon.
Alright onto all of the Weapons!
STYGIUS, THE BLADE OF THE UNDERWOLD (STYGIAN BLADE)
The Stygian Blade is the first Weapon that players will have unlocked. Meaning that players will not have to spend any resources in order to unlock it.
While the Stygian Blade is the first Weapon players have access to it is, in my opinion, one of the better ones that players have access to. If I was to give it a ranking between the 6 Weapons, I would actually put it as the 3rd best Weapon.
As mentioned, a player’s play style will heavily impact the way that they interact with a Weapon, though realistically the Stygian Blade does provide a good amount of utility while dealing a good amount of damage.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Stygian Blade, click here.
Off the bat, the Stygian Blade has 3 different types of moves, being the following:
STRIKE
To Strike, players must use the attack button.
The Strike is going to be the most utilized attack when using the Stygian Blade, unless players have Boons that empower other moves, especially if those other moves are empowered multiple times.
The Strike will deal 20 damage per hit, though if a player uses the Strike multiple times, it will transform into a Combo.
COMBO
To Combo, players must use their Strike 3 times.
The first Strike is a… Strike, second Strike is a Chop and Third Strike is a Thrust.
Each time the player attacks, their damage will increase to the following:
The Strike deals 20 damage.
The Chop deals 25 damage.
The Thrust deals 30 damage and also knocks back enemies.
Players will essentially want to focus on dealing Combo damage as often as possible as this will help raise their damage output. Players can also bounce around while using their Combo especially if they want to utilize their Thrust to push back a stronger enemy that would normally deal too much damage to an enemy.
Even if a player is not cunning enough to bounce between mobs, tanking and smashing with the Stygian Blade is actually fairly impactful and should be able to carry a player through a basic run of Hades.
DASH-STRIKE
The Dash-Strike requires players to Attack quickly after they use a Dash, essentially jumping to the third part of the “Combo” and Thrusting at enemies.
Similar to the Thrust in the combo, players will deal 30 damage and will be able to Knockback enemies, ensuring a bit of space between them and the enemy.
While I would normally try to land a Combo, there is some merit in running around Dash-Striking enemies to deal damage, especially if a player is lower on heath and needs to continue to deal damage to enemies.
NOVA SMASH
The Nova Smash is a great ability to have and will only require players to hit their “Special.”
Nova Smash deals 50 AoE (Area of Effect) damage, though is much slower than using a Combo.
I would strongly recommend against using the Nova Smash on all enemies and instead leave it for instances where a player is against a group of clumped enemies, simply due to the DPS loss that players will experience if they are not rapidly hitting enemies.
A Combo will output more damage to single targets, though a Nova Smash will deal more damage to groups of enemies, even if it’s just two.
The Nova Smash can also Knockback enemies, however, it does not allow a player to “Backstab” enemies, which essentially deals more damage usually.
Backstabbing an enemy is trigger when a player attacks from behind as a name suggests.
VARATHA (ETERNAL SPEAR)
The Eternal Spear was by far my favourite Weapon for a long time, until I unlocked the final two Weapons.
In order to initially unlock the Eternal Spear, players will have to utilize 4 Chthonic Key. Players should be able to collect these in a couple of runs, though this really depends on whether a player focusses on collecting these over other Artifacts.
The Eternal Spear is primarily a Melee Weapon, though it does provide players with a good amount of range and has the ability to be thrown far away from a player, which I will cover shortly.
If I were to rank the Eternal Spear, I would put it in 2nd, simply due to it’s versatility and I would strongly recommend that players use it as the Weapon they complete their first escape with.
Again, this will have to do with a player’s play style, but after surveying chat on Twitch it was fairly clear that other players also felt the same way.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Eternal Spear, click here.
Unlike the Stygian Blade, players will have access to 5 different types of moves when using the Eternal Spear, they are as follows:
STRIKE
In order to Strike players will simply have to use their Attack Button.
When players Strike they will deal 25 damage.
Strikes again will be the most common form of dealing damage, though I would recommend trying to make sure you Combo as often as you can.
COMBO
Similar to the Stygian Blade, players will have to attack 3 times in order to successfully complete a Combo.
Unlike the Stygian Blade, a combo will not Knockback enemies and it will deal damage a bit differently than the Stygian Blade.
The first attack will deal 25 damage, while the second and third attack will deal 30 damage.
Combos are the best way to deal damage to single enemies.
DASH ATTACK
Dash Attacks can be completed by attacking quickly after a player performs a Dash.
While useful for avoiding taking damage, the Dash Attack deals less damage than a Strike, meaning that players are going to want to avoid dealing Dash Attack damage as much as possible, unless they have good Boon buffs on it.
Dash Attacks with the Eternal Spear will only deal 20 damage, being 5 less than a regular attack.
SPIN ATTACK
Quite honestly, the Spin Attack is an ability that I avoid.
Players will have to hold down their Attack button in order to charge their Spin Attack and will deal AoE damage, though will not be able to Backstab doing so.
The Spin Attack has 3 charge states, each dealing different amounts of damage and having a different radius of attack.
The first stage takes 0.26 seconds to charge and will deal 30 damage in a 210 radius.
The second stage takes 0.33 seconds to charge and will deal 50 damage in a 350 range radius. Players will see a white light when this tier has been reached.
The third stage takes 0.66 seconds to charge and will deal 100 damage in a 500 range radius. Players will see another white flash and the word MAX! when they reach this tier.
THROW
Quite frankly my favourite attack that players have access to with the Eternal Spear is the Throw.
The Throw is a player’s Special allowing players to throw their Eternal Spear out and will be able to press either their Special or their Attack again to deal damage both ways.
Using a Throw can be especially useful when a mob is in lava or if players are trying to avoid taking more damage than required. I personally find it the most useful when against the rats in the final area of your escape as staying far away from them lowers your chance of being poisoned.
Realistically thr Throw doesn’t deal a whole lot of damage, however, can be thrown 850 units away from the player.
Players will be able to deal 25 damage when the Eternal Spear is thrown and recalled, though players will have to make sure that they are standing in front of an enemy before recalling or… well, you just won’t deal damage.
It should be noted that players will not be able to Attack while the Eternal Spear is on the floor, though they will still be able to Cast during this time.
There’s nothing wrong with Throwing and Recalling immediately as this is one of the best ways of ensuring damage. There is no benefit to an Eternal Spear being left on the ground.
AEGIS (SHIELD OF CHAOS)
The Shield of Chaos is a tough Weapon to utilize, simply due to its low damage and it’s focus on defence instead of damage.
Players will have to use 3 Chthonic Keys to unlock the Shield of Chaos and realistically I would avoid unlocking it if you are running low on Chthonic Keys.
I would honestly place the Shield of Chaos as the 5th most useful Weapon in Hades, simply due to it’s low damage, though it can be very useful for players who are still struggling with staying alive while they’re trying to escape.
Quite frankly, even with good Boons, players will find themselves struggling with damage output, meaning that players will have to get used to defending between attacks.
The Shield of Chaos makes gods like Athena less useful, though she can still come in handy, especially with her Dash Deflect.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Shield of Chaos, click here.
The Shield of Chaos comes with only 3 different moves, making it one of the most simple to use, they are as follows:
BASH
In order to Bash, players will have to use their Attack a single time, essentially being the Shield of Chaos’ “Strike.”
The Bash will cause Knockback damage and will deal 25 damage.
The Bash cannot combo, meaning that single attacks are going to be the best output of damage.
BULL RUSH
In order to Bull Rush players will have to hold down their Attack, essentially allowing players to defend themselves as they charge. When a player releases their charge they will go into a Bull Rush.
A Bull Rush will deal between 20-39 damage when partially charged, though when fully charged it will deal 40 damage.
Players will want to utilize the Bull Rush to push enemies up against a wall in order to deal more damage and will want to rotate between this and regular Bash attacks to ensure the most out of their damage.
Unfortunately this can be tricky, though without it players will notice a large drop in damage.
THROW
In order to Throw the Shield of Chaos players will have to use their Special.
While the Throw is a very useful ability to have, the reality is that it deals a marginal amount of damage to enemies, only dealing 15 damage.
The Throw can bounce between a few enemies, but during this time players will have to wait for the Shield of Chaos to return to them in order to continue to damage. Players will still be able to Cast during this time, meaning that the Throw should be used defensively when players are dodging damage as otherwise they’re just dealing small amounts of damage for extended periods of time, making chambers last longer than they need.
I would avoid using Throws regularly, unless you have Boons that will stack Status Curses on mobs after using a Special.
CORONACHT (HEART-SEEKING BOW)
The Heart-Seeking Bow is shockingly my least favourite Weapon in all of Hades.
It comes at much of a shock for me that the Heart-Seeking Bow is my least favourite Weapon as typically I enjoy playing ranged classes the most, being fairly mundane at melee classes, however I must say that I have to say that I’m not the best at playing with the Heart-Seeking Bow.
Let’s just put it like this… I was unable to escape using the Heart-Seeking Bow even though I was escaping Heats of 3-5 with other Weapons. Yes… I am that trash with the Bow.
Again, as always, it comes down to play style as the Heart-Seeking Bow can actually be one of the most powerful Weapons, but I still don’t have a good hang on it.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Heart-Seeking Bow, click here.
Luckily, the Heart-Seeking Bow is the cheapest Weapon to purchase, only costing a single Chthonic Key and has access to 4 different attacks. They are as follows:
FIRE
To fire players will have to hold their Attack down. There is no speedy way of dealing damage using a primary attack and if players want to deal quick bursts of damage they will have to use their Special.
Similar to a regular bow and arrow, players will have to charge up their Attack in order to successfully shoot an Arrow.
The longer a player holds down their Attack the more damage the Attack will deal.
Players can deal between 20 to 60 damage when using their Fire.
Luckily for players, they can deal damage to multiple mobs at once while using Fire as the Fire has a Pierce effect that will go through the first mob and continue moving forward.
Players will want to make sure that they are inline with multiple enemies if they wish to deal the most damage while using Fire.
DASH ATTACK
The Dash Attack actually works a bit differently than other Dash Attacks as players will essentially need to Dash first and their first attack after their Dash will charge faster, but deal less damage.
Due to the way a player’s Dash Attack works players may want to use a Volley Fire first and then attack simply due to how much less damage they will deal. Players can also take the opportunity to deal a medium amount of damage and then try to charge another attack to deal maximum damage and finish off a mob.
When using a Dash Attack players can deal between 20 to 40 damage depending on how long they charge.
Similar to the Fire, players will be able to pierce through mobs to deal damage to multiple enemies.
VOLLEY FIRE
The Volley Fire is one of the quickest ways to deal damage to enemies, though it is the weakest attack that players have access to when using the Heart-Seeking Bow.
Players will have to use their Special in order to trigger the Volley Fire, essentially shooting out 9 arrows in an arch, each dealing 10 damage.
Players can stack multiple shots of Volley Fire on enemies, though this will still only provide players with a maximum of 90 damage in total and only if players are extremely close to an enemy or an enemy is wide.
Realistically, I can’t say that the Volley Fire is a good way of constantly dealing damage and players will want to weave their Volley Fire damage in and out of their Volley Fire in and out of their Fire damage.
It should also be noted that players will not be able to piece through enemies while using Volley Fire, essentially cutting their capabilities of dealing damage to multiple enemies. At most players will deal 10 damage to enemies that are in the area.
POWER SHOT
The Power Shot is by far the most important form of damage players can use in a battle as it deals the most damage and isn’t very difficult to obtain.
Essentially, the Power Shot requires players to charge up their Fire to the point where their Bow begins flashing. At this point your Bow is charged and can deal 10 extra damage to any enemies it touches, equaling to 70 damage when players have stood still to deal the damage and 50 damage if players have recently dashed.
The best thing about Power Shot is that it will also pierce enemies, essentially meaning that players will be able to deal a maximum of 70 damage to all enemies it hits.
MALPHON (TWIN FISTS OF MALPHON)
By far my favourite Weapon is the Twin Fists, which also comes at a bit of surprise because the damage it deals is not that impressive, though the speed of it’s attacks are really the plus to this Weapon.
The Twin Fists are a melee Weapon that doesn’t place any effects on on enemies, though due to how fast players can smack enemies players will see a good amount of damage output before they have to run off to seek some time away from mobs.
Essentially, I find that the Twin Fists will help a player ensure enough safety while still dealing good amounts of damage, which is why I rate it as the #1 weapon in Hades.
In order to acquire the Twin Fists of Malphon players will have to have the first four Weapons unlocked and then will have to pay 8 Chthonic Keys.
While 8 Chthonic Keys is a pretty steep price, I promise you that you will not regret the purchase, again because I find this Weapon to be the best in the game.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Twin Fists, click here.
The Twin Fists have 4 attacks that players can use in Hades being the following:
PUMMEL
The Pummel is the basic attack players can use while using the Twin Fists, essentially players can either button mash and deal 15 damage with each attack or can hold down their Attack button to deal damage 5 times before a sequence is over.
While players do not get any damage increase for completing a sequence, there are many upgrades that will help change this, essentially making performing a sequence more worth it.
Whether a player chooses to take these upgrades will highly depend on what other options are available, however it does tend to be a better than many of the other upgrades simply due to the amount of damage increase players will experience.
RISING CUTTER
The Rising Cutter is a unique Special as it is one of the only ones to hit multiple times, particular since it will always hit two times even without an upgrade.
The Rising Cutter has a decent range and will deal 30 damage per hit, damaging enemies in front of the player.
Players must note that dealing damage with the Rising Cutter deals less DPS than attacking consistently with a Pummel, though players will be safer using this attack and will also want to use it depending on an enemy’s location and what their health state is at.
I would strongly recommend finding ways of weaving your Rising Cutter into your attacks, especially if you’re someone who struggles with avoiding damage.
DASH-STRIKE
Shockingly a Dash-Strike with the Twin Fists deals more damage than a regular Pummel, dealing 25 damage per hit, though again not the best way of dealing damage.
Dash-Strikes are much more useful when using the Twin Fists than using most other Weapons and are great for helping a player avoid taking damage, especially if players have Athena’s Dash Deflect Boon or a Boon that provides players with extra damage when they Dash.
Quite frankly, this is one of the perks of using the Twin Fists as it officially can be a bit more versatile than the rest simply due to it’s high damage.
DASH-UPPER
The Dash-Upper Cut is a mixture of a Dash and your Rising Cutter, essentially meaning that players will have to use their Special while Dashing, dealing 40 damage.
Similar to many other attacks in Hades, the Dash-Upper deals less than the simple Rising-Cutter, though this is only if enemies are able to be attacked by both hits of the Rising Cutter.
In many situations, players are able to successfully land both hits of the Rising Cutter, though when up against speedy enemies or when not timed correctly, this can be an issue, making the Dash-Upper the better choice.
Players can effectively chase an enemy with Dash-Upper then land a few Pummels on the enemy as realistically a Dash-Upper deals more damage than a Dash-Strike, though both will be based on a player’s play style.
If you were ask me though, I would try focusing on a Dash-Upper versus the Dash-Strike, even though the Dash-Strike is easier to achieve.
EXAGRYPH (ADAMANT RAIL)
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how I felt about the Adamant Rail at first. I thought it would be the most powerful Weapon in the game, though I wasn’t ready to experience a limited amount of ammo.
The Adamant Rail might not seem like the strongest Weapon when you simply look at its stats, however, due to it’s impeccable speed (minus reloading) and its range, players will find themselves dealing a really good amount of damage, especially with Boons that focus on it’s attack.
Realistically, it’s a bit difficult to explain how good the Adamant Rail is as it has the longest learning curve in my opinion, however, it’s one of the Weapons that players will want to focus on rotating damage with as it can output some of the highest amounts of damage in the game, especially when upgraded only a couple of tiers.
For me, the Adamant Rail is the 4th best Weapon in the game, though I will say that it took me a bit of time before I started looking at it that way. Early on, I would say that I thought that the Adamant Rail sat around 5th or 6th, but once I got a hold of how I wanted to use it, I fell in love with it, really loving when it’s my choice in Weapon these days. (Although I’ve ranked it at 4th)
I will cover my rotation shortly, however, before that it’s important to note that players will need all Weapons before they are able to purchase the Adamant Rail.
The Adamant Rail costs the same as the Twin Fists, being 8 Chthonic Keys though unlike the Twin Fists, I would recommend rushing to purchase this Weapon.
Realistically, by the time the Adamant Rail is unlockable, players have access to a good amount of Weapons with different play styles so players will be able to rotate between different types of damage regularly and the Adamant Rail doesn’t really add much more to the table, other than being able to unlock rewards that players have already unlocked using alternate Weapons.
That being said, if you don’t know what you want to spend your Chthonic Keys on or have nothing to spend your Chthonic Keys on, just buy it!
Shockingly, the Adamant Rail doesn’t have many attacks, limiting it to technically two, though even with this “issue” players will have a good amount of rotation.
For a guide on the Aspects for the Adamant Rail, click here.
The following are the attacks that can be dealt while using the Adamant Rail:
FIRE
The regular basic attack for the Adamant Rail is the Fire, essentially using one piece of Ammo.
Players will be able to shoot from a 710 range, making it one of the best Weapons to use if players are trying to avoid as much damage as possible.
The only downside to this is that players will only deal 10 damage per shot.
Players have two options for dealing this kind of damage, they can mash their Attack button as they need, or they can hold down their Attack button to deal damage as rapidly as possible.
The choice is up to the player and will heavily depend on how they would like to conserve ammo.
It should be noted that the Adamant Rail will reload immediately after a player runs out of ammo, meaning that players will have to switch to using their Bombard or Cast to continue to deal damage.
DASH ATTACK
The Dash Attack requires players to press attack immediately after dashing, firing a shot at a faster rate than usual.
A players range remains the same, meaning that this is one of the only times that a Dash Attack is exactly the same as a Fire Attack.
Realistically, using a Dash Attack or a regular Fire is fine and will simply depend on if a player needs to get out of the way or closer to an enemy.
It should be noted that while players have a faster attack, it’s not that much faster meaning that there isn’t a whole lot of DPS lost in not dashing every time.
RELOAD
Depending on the dexterity of a player and whether a player is overwhelmed with mobs, the Reload may or may not be important to them.
Players have 6 Ammo originally meaning that they will be depleting their cartage regularly. Unless you have an Ammo upgrade, I personally wouldn’t recommend Reloading because of the time it takes, however, if you would like to you’ll have to press your Right Control Stick or press R.
During the Reload phase you will still be able to use Cast or Bombard.
BOMBARD
I originally didn’t think that I would rely on Bombard as much as I do, but the reality is with the 60 damage that it deals, you’re going to want to make sure you put it into your rotation.
While I wouldn’t always rely on your Special to deal damage, I would make sure you always use it when you have to Reload.
It should be noted that the Bombard Attack cannot Backstab and can be used for AoE damage, coming in hot with a 400 damage radius.
The only issue with the Bombard is the fact that it can bounce against walls, essentially meaning that if there is a Trap or Wall obstruction between you and the enemy, there’s a chance that the Bombard will not land where you selected and instead will land behind you.
I would strongly recommend using your Bombard to damage multiple targets and avoid using it on single targets, even if that means shifting your focus onto other mobs while you reload.
Realistically there is a lot of damage lost if you use Bombard on solo enemies, though if players have multiple yields of Bombard this can be less important.
CONCLUSION
While the reality is that a Weapon a player focusses on using will heavily depend on play style, my weapon rankings are as follows:
- Twin Fists
- Eternal Spear
- Stygian Blade
- Adamant Rail
- Shield of Chaos
- Heart-Seeking Bow
Realistically, the ranking of these change as a player gets more passive upgrades for each Weapon, so don’t be surprised if you start to fall in love or deal more damage using other Weapons, especially as some Weapons come with much better upgrades than others.
I will shortly be covering each Weapon and their hidden upgrades, but for now I’m very curious, what were your favourite Weapons in the early game of Hades? Does your tier list look similar to mine or do you like different Weapons than me? Let me know in the comments below!
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