Probably.

I completed the full epilogue the other day, which I won’t spoil for those who have yet to reach it. Understand that it takes a significant amount of “relationship” investment to achieve. It was somewhere around run 78 I think. I have 1 only Aphrodite left to max out now.

I still have some minor prophecies to go, related to getting all the duo boons, getting all hammer upgrades for gloves, bow, and railgun, as well as completing the lyre quest. That last one appears to take ~100+ uses of the lyre and a good half dozen extra runs. I think that one quest is my only complaint of the game so far!

Given the Duo Boons quest, it’s made for some interesting focused runs. Things I normally would not have tried for. The biggest hurdle in this is Demeter, as she is the least likely to show up as a primary god on a run. Primary gods are those that show up 5+ times in a run. Combined with the fact that her tier 1 boons are the weakest, you’re really at the mercy of RNG to have a decent run.

I wouldn’t say I’m in the optimization mode, since you know, RNG is RNG. Yet, I’m aware of every weapon’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as each god’s. Zeus for example, is great on fast attacks, but horrible otherwise. Artemis is best on slower weapon as the crit impacts can deal crazy damage levels. Dash-strikes reduce combo damage, but are twice as fast. Hermes speed boons can be crazy. Chaos boons need to take into consideration when you’re going to reach the boss.

Some screenshots below of end of game screens that I thought were worth mention.

This run focused on the Zeus/Poseidon with the Zeus Shield. That shield aspect hits multiple times, and if you aim it right, it can hover over a boss. The actual shield damage is minimal (30) but it triggers a 71dmg bolt that has a 43% chance to hit twice. Each of those triggers a 40dmg bolt which can also hit twice. All the while I’m dashing to trigger Sea Storm for yet another 40dmg bolt (again hitting twice). It’s impressive to see.

This run was an Arthur Sword run, which is high damage but really slow swings. The base combo damage 60/80/200. It was focused entirely on getting the Hoarding Slash hammer upgrade, which raises attack damage by 5% of your total gold. Poseidon, Hermes, and Chaos all give gold boons. The Golden Touch mirror upgrade (+15% gold at end of zone) is also great. With 3158 gold, that comes to +158 damage on attack. It has a 15% crit chance, and with Weak, crit deals 350% damage. You’ll notice that I didn’t boon my Cast, that’s due to a mirror upgrade that increases damage to targets with a crystal by 50% – only Artemis and Poseidon have casts that inject a crystal. The weird math behind this means a 3rd strike can hit for ~2,300. Even a non-crit 3 hit combo hits for 1,500.

Easy Heat

Heat levels give you more Diamonds, Ambrosia, and Titan Blood. Diamonds are for cosmetics (some quests), Ambrosia to max friendship, and Titan Blood to upgrade weapon aspects. You only get rewards for 1 Heat increase per weapon – repeating the same heat level only gives Darkness. In the picture above, that means I’ve successfully beaten Hades 41 times with increasing Heat levels. The rewards end at 20 heat (aside from a Skelly cosmetic/achievement at 24). You can get all these materials through the Broker in the Lounge, or buying them at the Styx/Charon shop.

The absolute easiest Heat levels come from Tight Deadline, which reduces the amount of time you have to clear a zone. No difficulty increase, and ample time to clear everything with either 9m or 7m selected (36m/28m full clears). As a perk, this pact prevents the annoying “survive 45 seconds” rooms. Extreme Measures is also helpful here, at least for the first two ranks. The Furies add some extra AE attacks, but that’s it. And Lernie has a smaller zone, which actually helps clearing the extra heads (and AE damage). Extreme Measures for Theseus/Asterius is a pain in the butt, at least in terms of clear time.

Now for the hard ones. Underworld Customs (remove a boon at end of zone), Routine Inspection (lose 3/6/9/12 mirror upgrades, from bottom up) is insanely painful, and finally Approval Process (remove 1/2 boon choices) is extremely restrictive. There’s a quest to clear the game with each active, but I don’t suggest trying with all 3 active at the same time.

I won’t suggest any combos past 5 heat. If you can clear that, then the rest is fairly obvious.

While I’m still having a ton of fun playing, I think I’ve saturated the blog enough on Hades for a while. Happy gaming!