Getting a side hustle from Hermes in Tartarus helps tremendously.

couldn't be more wrong about Hermes. his extra dash(es) is probably one of the best boons in the game. i got a high level dash that gave me 3 extra, plus my two other ones. ridiculous. even 1 dash is amazingly helpful. i also had good runs with his extra speed after dashing. get them as early as possible, as you'll be less vulnerable.

One of my favorite boons in the game is Support Fire from Artemis. Basically any time you hit an enemy with an attack, you summon this little seeker missile that will track the enemy down and do extra damage. It's essential for any weapon that does rapid attacks like the twin fists or the gun.

This was pretty helpful for a new player like me. I accidentally replaced boons without realizing it the first time around. 😬

I just started and when trying out some stuff i ended up with an ares aphrodite duo where the doom hit repeatedly on a weakened enemy. Also this deserves way more attention, I feel like I actually understand the game now.

I bought this game last year and finally started playing and I am enjoying myself immensely

I have found that the Zagreus aspect of the twin fists pairs very nicely with Hermes Lambent plume and Hermes boon greater evasion. You dodge chance skyrockets!

Keepsakes issue aside, there are some other things I feel I have to point out. Aphrodite's Life Affirmation affects only max life gain, not healing. Also worth mentioning that Aphrodite's boons have the highest damage increase percentages in addition to the weak status, and that she also has Sweet Surrender which gives you bonus damage against weakened enemies, so all in all, it can give you absolute insane DPS when paired with right weapon, like shooting bow's special point-blank. Hangover is also a great way to deal damage, especially on a weapon that can efficiently stack it up, like fists, bow or rail. Imagine 5 stacks dealing 10 damage each every 0.5 seconds for 4 seconds - that's 400 damage without much investment, not even mentioning the Dio/Aphro or Dio/Ares duo boons that make it even sillier. I feel like you've overlooked Artemis' aid boon - when powered up to full, it can singlehandedly clean up a whole phase of a bossfight. Also, support fire is a very nice passive boon on quick weapons. I guess Demeter isn't mentioned since she only shows up after beating the game, so I guess I'll skip that too. But Hermes being situational? Come on, he has two of the hands-down best boons you want to have on any build: Side Hustle for the extra cash, and Greatest Reflex, for extra dashes - can never go wrong with those. And even if you don't get those, extra attack or move speed, or dodge chance are always nice too.

These are all great tips in general, especially for beginners. I do feel that there were a couple missed points, however. That's not a criticism, though! There are so many data points to keep track of. I think an important part of primary boons is the damage percent increase some give. For example, yes, Aphrodite weakness effects might not be as optimal for DPS as other statuses, but she gives the largest raw damage boost to compensate. Also, I agree that Hermes attack speed increase boons are situational and hard to plan for due to RNG. Hermes is an MVP Olympian to me, though, due to his boons that improve your dash. Hyper Sprint to minimize downtime between dashes is probably the one I choose most often. Other honorable mentions are the one that lets you recover a percentage of damage you take if you dash right after being hit, and Side Hustle for a lot of extra gold.

Really good guide. Very indepth and clearly explained. Gives me a much better understanding of the boons now. Thanks.

Great video! I have already completed my first successful run of Hades but still got some great insights out of this one :D Keep up the great work 🙌

Hey man! I bought Hades after seeing your video of Roguelikes/Lites monthly release, and man was I not disappointed! It was about a week ago and I didn't stop playing it until yesterday (I finally escaped). I was waiting to watch your guide (did not wanna get spoiled or anything so I finished it first). The game is so good that's amazing! About your video, it's definitely helpful for new players, as the beginning of the game does not give you a lot of information about how to do your build, and you have to mostly figure it out by trying stuff out. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks, you are definitely reliable when it comes to what I should buy haha! Keep up the good work :)

Hermes's boons that boost dodge chance and number of dashes are pretty life saving. Side hustle is good if you can get it early, it also activates in every room in Styx.

SUPER HELPFUL video, dude. Thank u!

Great video man! Super helpful

It's worth mentioning that Aphrodite has the highest percentage of bonus damage for your weapon (50% on normal attack and 80% on special attack in base rarity). Also she has probably the strongest call in terms of dealing damage

Outstanding explanation.

One correction - Doom can't stack (with an additional boon it kinda stacks). That means that it's great for AOE type attacks, but not great for fast single-target attacks.

privilieged position (use charm and chill for this) and boiling blood gives you double damage when applied at the same time.

So about Hermes boon: as someone who plays with the shield, having a a faster special attack speed makes a HUGE difference every time since it allows to hit more enemies a lot faster. Pair this with with Dread Flight from a Daedalus hammer (with makes your spec. hit up to 4 more enemies before returning) and you have what I call my “pinball duo”, where you hit a ton of enemies very quickly every time you throw your shield.

Finally, I was looking for a hades channel, I need all the help I can; I already beat the game once and haven't been able to do it.

Probably should point out that ares doom does NOT stack without dire misfortune. And even then it's only a very marginal damage increase. Doom effect are still very powerful, but the fact that you have to wait for the effect to activate to get it to trigger again is an important part of the dynamic and why it deals so much damage.

I don't mean to jump on the Hermes hype train...but those extra dashes are insanely good. Hades boons are really high priority for me as having more dashes pretty much makes the game easy mode. In addition, he's the one God who kinda stacks on other gods as those speed buffs will make most builds more effective. As you said, you can't really base a build around him but the utility is insane.

I'm officially a fan of your channel ☺️😁 I like the games you play and the tips are really useful. 1 up 👍

Hermes is literally no.1 Get his dodge boon, fists of malphon and hermes' keepsake and after reaching asphodel you're almost invincible. Dodge builds for life

Appreciate this. Thank you

Wow thx mate It really helped

SkipMcLazy On Artemis casts: it isn't that good In a build" Speedrunners: "am I a joke to you?"

One note: I’m fairly certain Artemis’s boon rarity doesn’t increase crit percentage but increase crit damage. That is equally useful but is good to know.

Nice video. I got really confused by your use of "keepsakes" though, about halfway through I got convinced that you actually mean boons.. Can you clarify? I'm pretty certain that the gods only have keepsakes that increase boon rarity chance and makes it so the next boon you see is theirs. Though 1.0 may have added some need for some..

in terms of Hermes, you really ought to have mentioned Hyper Sprint, which is absolutely clutch if you don't have Divine Dash. and still good even if you do. if Hermes offers Hyper Sprint, you pick it. you don't pick the other two. you pick Hyper Sprint. it may just save your run, and will certainly save your bacon in Styx with all the poison the rats shed everywhere.

ALSO! Even tho it's frequency is a pain in the ass, Hermes' Rush delievery is very good

I know this video is from 2 years ago but if anybody sees this. Hermes is amazing for fist builds. You can pick up 'Rush delivery' Which gives you extra damage based on your movement speed. If you complement that with a movement speed boon like 'Hyper sprint' or 'Greater Haste' you will do a lot of damage. Put divine dash from Athena on top of this and you are a dashing murder machine. Most fun build I've used in a while

Hermes is actually one of the more OP gods IMO because unless you're going for a doom build he's going to offer a speed upgrade that allows you to heavily multiply your damage output as well as make attacking safer because your attacks take less time. While it's RNG whether you'll be offered the boon for whatever you're focusing on (attack, special, cast) he will almost always offer something incredibly useful as having extra dashes, moving faster after dashing, or just moving faster are amazing defensively for any build and good offensively for a melee build. If you go for him early which you recommended against Side Hustle earns you an incredible amount of money, with even the common version able to earn you around 500g which will let you buy more boons, healing, etc. His dodge is some of the best damage reduction in the game. And if you have any call that doesn't rely on the greater version to be good and Athena's Proud Bearing (start with a quarter of your God Gauge full) then Second Wind is probably the single best defensive boon in the game, giving you +30% movespeed AND dodge at just common up to 50% at heroic. Also you said Doom builds are some of the best for damage output but I think it's actually the opposite. They are good for slow methodical play since they enable a hit and run playstyle but doom does NOT stack so any other boon that gives a multiplier to the skill will be better for raw damage output. Doom can be a good effect for damage output if you attach it to something you will only use once anyway, like if you are primarily focused on attacks but open up with a cast or special, having doom on cast or special in that case will be the best for damage as long as the enemy isn't dying before it would normally go off.

Did you forget about dementer?

Still waiting for part 2

I’m dumb. When going for a build do you turn down other boons?

Play God Mode, unlock and try everything, learn your regrets. Then play a clean save, focus on avoiding the duds that you made before. Also, use a controller, otherwise one third of the boons are useless.

hermes is almost essential for every escape

Artemises cast got me my first win in hades lmao

8:18 when did this get patched out?

nice

Lost but will try to beat the game anyway

5:40 lol

What about Demeter

Ares makes no sense for the bow's special, because as I recall doom has a delay between activations (& unfortunately doesn't stack either). Also, you haven't given Aphrodite nearly enough credit as she's the god with the highest % boosts IIRC. Not to mention how fantastic her cast is. As far as Poseidon is concerned, it's insane to recommend his call over his dash as one will get FAR more use out of the dash, even in the absence of his secondary knock-away-enhancing boons. Maybe in future you should check out Haelian before posting to be certain you have your facts straight, yeah? edit: LOL stye-jeen, hm? Deflect > reflect

There are people who only die once and beat the game

I'm about to get bored of this game. I upgraded wrong things because I misunderstood and now the game gets harder but my character is pretty much the same. So repetitive now

Change my mind: Hermes is the best God.

The second lvl of hard......omg

Max Level Doom makes the game easy.

I'm on a twenty win streak. Why am I watching this?

Why the hell is everyone so touchy about spoilers for this game? I want the elite maneuvers where I've been playing this game for a while, not "I assumed you died at least once" baby crap

Move speed, attack speed, dodge and more dashes are situational? You kidding? There are no situations where any of this is close to 'useless'. Extra coin is situational???? Money is literally the one most non-situational thing in the world. Its like you specifically aimed to make worst advice on Hermes. Probably same with others, but im not bothering myself. Sorry but you're not qualified to give tips. As for recommendation to pick it 'later in your run' - you dont have to recommend it since Hermes never appears in Tartarus, duh

Nah... Just get gud, mate. Nothing that you pick matters, everything is useful, the only thing that would make you better is practicing and memorizing enemy patters so you can dodge them. That's it, learn to dodge attacks.