Hades: Tips & Tricks for Beginners

Hades is the new action roguelite game from Supergiant Games, and while it does tend to be a bit more forgiving than most other games in the same genre, it can still prove to be a tough challenge in the early hours. Here are a few beginner tips to help get you started on the right foot.

Go for Keys, Nectar, Darkness, and Gemstones

The first thing you need to do is get familiar with the items in Hades, and learn which items are permanent unlocks, and which ones are temporary that you’ll lose upon dying. At the start of the game, the three main permanent unlocks you’ll want to focus on are: Chthonic Keys, Nectar, Darkness, and Gemstones.

Keys and Darkness, in particular, are the ones that you should definitely prioritize in your first few runs. With Keys, you can unlock new weapons to play around with, along with new skills for the Mirror of Night in Zagreus’ room. These skills can then be learned by spending Darkness, which should give you an edge early on.

The skills you’ll wanna go for are Death Defiance, which gives you a second chance upon dying, as well as the extra dash and minimal health restoration with each chamber explored. These should help improve your survivability significantly, and make it easier for you to collect more resources.

Nectar and Gemstones are used to unlock more items and upgrades from NPCs, but you don’t have to worry too much about these until you’ve unlocked everything you need with the Keys and Darkness in Hades.

Unlock the Shield of Chaos ASAP

At the start of Hades, you’ll be able to spend Keys to unlock a few extra weapons. We highly recommend unlocking the Shield of Chaos as soon as you can; it only costs 4 Keys, and it has the most versatile move set out of the starter weapons, making it an invaluable weapon for virtually all situations.

By holding down the regular attack button, you can charge up a bull rush attack while also blocking any attacks coming at you from the front, which is insanely useful. The special turns Zagreus into Captain America as you get to throw the shield around to hit multiple enemies, giving you some ranged options as well. With the right Boons, you can create a really nice build around the Shield of Chaos.

Try to Get Boons and Centaur Hearts Early On

Once you’ve got a good handle on the game and are ready to start doing proper runs to try to reach the end, it’s time to start picking up helpful Boons to give you a better shot at surviving. It doesn’t really matter which god you get your Boons from, but generally, you do want to get Boons that enhance your regular attack, special, and cast.

The cast, in particular, is important as it can be enhanced with tons of different effects to make it more useful. Ares’ Blade Rift and Dionysus’ Hangover AoEs are personal favorites, and can really help to create space when things get too hectic. And if you’re looking to create a more defensive build, Athena provides a lot of big defense Boons and also allows you to deflect attacks.

Finally, you’ll also want to grab Centaur Hearts whenever you can. These will increase your max health by 25, which is extremely helpful as you get to the third area.

Give Nectar to Every NPC in the Game

Death is inevitable in Hades, but also extremely rewarding. Whenever you get back to the house, make sure to talk to every NPC standing around. This is also a good opportunity to gift them with Nectar.

The first time you give Nectar to an NPC, they’ll reward you with a Keepsake. You can only equip one Keepsake at a time so you’ll need to decide early on what kind of build you wanna go for, but it’s possible to unlock upgrades with the House Contractor later on to let you change Keepsakes in between each area.

Some good Keepsakes to go for come from Skelly and Cerberus. Skelly’s Keepsake gives you one extra charge of Death Defiance, while Cerberus starts you off with more max health. It can also be a good idea to go with Hypnos, whose Keepsake starts you off with 100 gold at the start of a run.

Check In With the House Contractor and Wretched Broker

Finally, make sure to always check in with the House Contractor and Wretched Broker whenever you’re back at the house. Gemstones you get from your runs can be used to unlock renovation upgrades with the House Contractor, including a randomly spawning health fountain during your runs, as well as treasure troves and other utilities to give you more resources.

The Wretched Broker will also trade you rare items and currencies. For instance, you might be able to give up a bit of Nectar for extra Keys or Gemstones, etc. It’s always a trade-off, but depending on what you’re looking to unlock at the time, it can be worth it to see what the Broker has to offer.