Hades is out now, holy heck

[Paul le Fou]

I started this a few days ago, I think! Friday or Saturday, maybe? I had my first clear last night, with the bow. It was the run right after I got to the last boss for the first time, too! For boons, I had (actual spoiler) Demeter on cast, special and call, and (I think) Athena on dash. And I believe it was it Aphrodite on normal attack, for as much as I actually used that. No aspect. Woo!

One thing I've noticed is that while the first boss fight eventually starts changing up between the other sisters, so far the hydra is just rotating the color/effects. That fight is honestly kind of disappointing, considering it could have been another character to interact with? Wonder if it does change up more later. Also wondering if Theseus & Minotaur will eventually start changing up, and how. I'm still kind of shaky on those fuckers and have only recently been able to beat them semi-consistently.

For my next runs, to start getting more titan blood, I've started putting just one heat on. I did the "enemies take 1 hit before they start taking damage" thing first, which seemed just fine, especially with some useful fast-multi-hitting attacks and boons, and then for a second switched to "the bosses have extra moves" (so just Meg, or I guess with that heat on, it's Meg+Sisters. Wonder if you actually fight all three together, later... Anyway, I'll probably go back to "one hit" for my 1-heat runs since it's got the tiniest impact on the hardest fights (bosses) and only a small one on the normal ones. 2 hits probably starts to get a bit more noticeable, so maybe I'll combine that and the boss one for 2-heat runs.

The bow also got my first clear against the 3rd level's bosses, so it appears to be really powerful despite not entirely being my style. The rail has been very useful too - I had a run right after my first clear where I died on the last boss's last phase at 20% health, and I absolutely would've beaten him if I hadn't taken the ridiculously short-range shotgun mod from Daedalus's hammer D:

Right now my big thing is I'm not sure what to spend my Titan Blood on.

Spoiler

I went ahead and picked up the one from the spear where you dash to it instead of call it back because that's a cool bit of mobility; not 100% sold on the usefulness yet (it seems to stop short more often than I'd like?) and I'm not entirely certain the dash does damage? (Oh maybe I'm forgetting about the "boost attacks afterwards," maybe that's supposed to balance it out? Anyway, I also have my eye on the Blitz shield so I don't lose my attack and block, since I've gotten very good use out of my shield's toss abilities so far. For Rail, none of the aspects really appeal too much to me, so I might just get some extra ammo, since that's always nice. The homing special on the bow might be good, because I already use the special volley as close-DPS a lot, except I lose the option for area damage which the bow already lacks... and I honestly don't even remember what's on the sword or fists right now.

 

[Alixsar]

I think the best thing about this game is that it doesn't REALLY tell you anything with regards to how it's systems work, but it becomes clear over time what/how everything works instead. Great design. I wanna play more but I'm doinngggg choreessssss uwwaaaaaahhhh

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Had my first-ever good run with the shield last night and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I powered up the bull charge with the hammer bonus that does 400% damage to armor, plus I got up to five (!!) dashes along with whatever the Dionysus ability is that poisons enemies. So basically I spent every encounter flying all over the map, alternately charging, dashing and shield throwing (I had a bunch of Zeus boons too). It was pretty fun! I couldn't take down the big H, but that's in large part because I still have a lot to learn about that fight. My only victory so far has been with an absurdly overpowered gun build that did a thousand damage with every mortar shot, so I spent that whole fight running away from him and I still don't even know all of his basic attack patterns.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Woo, second clear! Did it with the sword and a surprising serendipity of synergistic boons aligning for a pretty good crit build (Sword aspect to increase crit chance after special; rare or epic Doom on special; Artemis on attack for a boost and yet more crit chance; Daedalus hammer to increase the thrust's damage and crit chance by a lot each; another hammer to increase backstab damage by 200%; athena dash of course (is there any other??); Ares call (not the best, but it did a lot of damage and save me from a little bit of damage now and then); Athena boon near the end to restore a Death Defiance and increase their healing (that one was important, wouldn't have won it otherwise...) By the end it wasn't uncommon to crit my sword hits for 355 or even 500+ - not super frequently, but enough to make a difference.

For my next run I unlocked and leveled once the bow aspect with the homing arrows. I started this once but stole from Charon, so I actually haven't even done the first boss on one heat with the bow yet, so I should make up some of that blood soon.

I think this game......might be good.


Also, question: If I have all the weapons unlocked, and all the talents unlocked, do I need keys for anything anymore?

 

[karzac]

You can spend keys to refund your Darkness, but otherwise, no. Except for a very late game cosmetic

 

[Adrenaline]

I've been trading my excess keys for nectar

 

[nataeryn]

I've gotten the credits!
After that, my streak has been steadily building.

I'm still working on unlocking the hearts of folks, so it feels like there's still more to do.

 

[Daikaiju]

Pom Blossom is amazeballs.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

So is there a way to track if you've invested enough blood in a weapon for the hidden aspect prompt to unlock? There's a little count in the upper right of each weapon but that seems to count down as you infuse blood, not up. So far I just have the spear, but I've put a fair bit of blood into other things.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Got my third clear the run after my second, with the homing-aspect bow. Then yet another close call with the shield, dying at like 20% of the last boss's health. I've done that so many times.

Minor annoyance: Heat rewards. I've cleared the game with the sword on one heat, getting all those bounties, except I haven't cleared it with the sword on 0 heat, which means I essentially have to run it again to catch up before I move on. I need those bloods! I guess I should work on a full clear with each weapon before moving on to heat for that weapon, and only moving up once I've actually gotten a full clear with that heat, etc. Although Blood being the first-boss reward, I could maybe keep cranking up heat and just fighting to the first boss...? Must investigate further

Do I need to stock up on a lot of ambrosia in the same way I need to stock up on titan blood, or even like diamonds?

 

[Mogri]

You need much more blood than ambrosia. That said, to max out everything, you'll need something like 80 ambrosia.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Ambrosia is a higher-level gift and good for improving summons once you get them, but I always seem to have extra so sometimes I trade it for stuff. Blood feels like a good deal in exchange.

 

[Daikaiju]

Good news is once you max out Dusa, you can get that ambrosia back with no strings attached.

 

[Cyrael]

Is there any benefit, other than bragging rights to doing 'Extreme Measures 4'? Because that fight is the WORST.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Zeus shield aspect, especially with Zeus on special, is so good. Haha lightning disc go brrrrrrrrrrr

 

[aturtledoesbite]

the Heat, presumably

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

So is there a way to track if you've invested enough blood in a weapon for the hidden aspect prompt to unlock? There's a little count in the upper right of each weapon but that seems to count down as you infuse blood, not up. So far I just have the spear, but I've put a fair bit of blood into other things.

I think it’s based on how many levels you’ve invested in a weapon tree, so it’s cheapest to just invest in the default for 1 Blood each. I think you need 5 to unlock any given hidden aspect. Or maybe it’s just 5 bloods total, in any aspect.

 

[Daikaiju]

It's one blood to unlock and level the Zagreus aspect. 2 blood to unlock and level the alt aspects and 3 to unlock/upgrade the hidden aspects.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

I know, I'm just not sure what's needed to open up the hidden aspect conversations. I have every other aspect unlocked for all weapons and some of them upgraded too, but maybe not all the Zagreus aspects at Lv. 2+ yet.

 

[Daikaiju]

That's RNG.

 

[karzac]

You can see the reveal requirements for each weapons hidden aspect on the Hades Wiki. It's not just RNG

 

[Paul le Fou]

Two more clears in a row last night, one with the fists (magnetic cutter aspect - it's neat, I guess?), and one with the bow, my first 2-heat clear (Bow was my first clear, and I've cleared it on 1 heat already). Not that the heat I've been choosing has affected the hardest parts of the runs at all, i.e. Hades.

Anyone got any recommendations for/warnings about heat? The "one hit" armor has been consistently totally fine to deal with; the extra moves on the Furies make it a little spicy but still fine to deal with, and I feel like Hydra might be fine, but I worry about T&M. After that I'm not entirely sure. Maybe the "extra stuff for armor/elites" if for no other reason than that there's a fated cheevo for it.

Just trying to get more blood at this point, trading in an ambrosia for blood after most runs (sitting on 6 ambrosia for no reason in particular but that it seems like a decent 1/weapon number). Starting to give out lots of extra nectar, focusing on Meg and Thanatos first (for...no reason in particular...), and actually using crystals for cosmetics now (except aNOTHer trove expansion for 500 just unlocked, urgh).

 

[karzac]

I always go for Extreme Measures/Middle Management/ Benefits Package for Heat, just because I find them fun.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Magnetic Cutter aspect is GREAT, it sucks everyone in so you can blast them with dash attacks and whatever other AOE stuff you have going on

I've also mostly been sticking with Extreme Measures because a lot of the other options either seem like they'd slow the game down or limit the builds I could take (tough to take a health-lowering pact if you might want also want to take a health-lowering Chaos boon or something)

 

[Alixsar]

I haven't played in two (2) days due to work, but I got the fists and JESUS THE FISTS. Dash attacking into your normal attack is WILD. I died on the first boss cuz it was one of the furies I hadn't seen before and I was dumb, but it felt really good. I think I overall prefer ranged stuff though so looking forward to getting the gun

Ah yes, famous Greek weaponry such as A GUN

 

[Sarcasmorator]

beloved weapon of the philosopher Rocketres

 

[Alixsar]

I got to Theseus with the fists and ALMOST got him but messed up at the end. Also this is the run where I learned that the Athena Dash is CRAZY, hot damn

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Oooooh yeah, take that dash whenever you can. Witch’s Circle who?

 

[MJG]

* Happy Centennial *

I will note that I do not like the bow less than any other weapon. I just pick whatever weapon gets the bonus darkness/gems, and the game decided to only bestow that bonus on the bow 8 times since I picked up my first win. RNG!

 

[Alixsar]

I died on Hades but had a great 1st run with the gun. I had the cast that stunned in an AoE, the daedulus that beefed the mortar shot, a bunch of Poseidons that made the special knockback and rupture, the Athena dash and the Athena buff that exposed too, and a bunch of Ares buffs for the regular shot. AND the Dionyus dash that made pools of poison everywhere. I got a Duo that made it so every boon I found was purple and I got it WAY early so everything was strong as heck! I probably could've done it too if I had taken different charms...I didn't know I was so close to the end ;____;