How Does Scorch Work in Hades 2?

While the basic format of Hades 2 is the same as in the first game, there are loads of new things to get your head around. Scorch is a new status effect in the game and what it does isn’t immediately clear. So that you understand, here’s an explainer of what Scorch does in Hades 2.

What Scorch Does in Hades 2

Scorch is a status effect you’ll find on the boons from Hestia, who is traditionally the goddess of hearth, home, and sacred fire. The latter is the main focus of her boons in Hades 2, with most of them giving the fire effect of Scorch. You can find Hestia’s Boons by looking for the flame symbol.

Once you get a Boon of Hestia, you’ll find that most of the offensive options she provides, and her sprint, involve Scorch.

The in-game description of Scorch reads: “Afflicted foes take 40 damage accrued from this every 1 sec.”

Therefore, once you hit an enemy with a weapon or ability that inflicts Scorch, you’ll notice a very small orange number below them, and then some of their health bar will turn orange, which shows that the Scorch is doing damage.

All Hestia Scorch Boons

There are various Boons that do Scorch damage across your attack, special, and cast attacks. The list of all we’ve found so far are:

1. Smolder Ring
   • Effect: Your Casts repeatedly inflict Scorch on foes.
   • Scorch Damage: 30 (every 1 sec.)
2. Hearth Gain
   • Effect: Rapidly restore Magick, but you have -20% HP.
   • Magick Restoration: +7 (every 1 sec.)
   • Magick Restoration (Rare): +10 (every 1 sec.)
3. Controlled Burn
   • Effect: Your Ω Special also launches a fiery projectile but uses +10 Magick.
   • Blast Damage: 80
4. Flame Flourish
   • Effect: Your Specials inflict Scorch.
   • Scorch Damage: 15
5. Soot Sprint
   • Effect: Your Sprint destroys most ranged shots near you and inflicts Scorch on foes that fired.
   • Scorch Damage per Projectile: 2
6. Glowing Coal
   • Effect: Hold Cast to aim a fiery projectile that explodes on impact.
   • Description: The binding circle forms where the projectile lands.

The best we’ve come across are the ones that deal Scorch damage without you having to pay too much attention or go out of your way. The one that inflicts Scorch damage when you tab B to Cast is great, as you can place the area of effect and attack from somewhere else, doing two sets of damage at once.

That’s it for an explainer of what Scorch does in Hades 2. For more tips on the game, be sure to check out our guides on how to unlock the Fishing Rod and catch fish, and how to get G. Rock.