Supergiant Games’ Hades gives players the chance to jump into the burning shoes of Zagreus, the Prince of the Underworld, as he embarks on a quest to reach the surface world. With that said, during his journey, filled with not only blood, but lots, and we mean lots of deaths, Zagreus can make use of a wide array of boons given to him by many Gods, each capable of granting him a set ability or buff. But what are each God’s best boons? To answer that and more, here are the best boons for every God in Hades.
Best Zeus Boons: Lightning Strike and Static Discharge
To start, we have Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods. Among Zeus’ boons, the best are without a doubt Lightning Strike, as it allows you to deal ounces of extra damage upon every hit, and Static Discharge, thanks to its ability to apply Jolyed on enemies. With that said, both boons are a must for Electric focused builds and can shine even more when paired with boons such as Storm Lightning and Splitting Bolt.
Best Artemis Boons: Deadly Strike and Deadly Flourish
Among Artemis’ many boons, Deadly Strike and Deadly Flourish can be considered her best, as they not only increase the damage of both your attacks and special moves respectively but also increase your chances of scoring criticals, thus allowing you to deal devastating blows. To bring the most out of the boons is advised that you equip a fast-hitting weapon and make use of other Critical focused boons, such as Pressure Points, Hunter’s Mark, and Clean Kill.
Best Ares Boons: Curse of Agony and Urge to Kill
As Ares’ boons are mostly focused on increasing your overall damage, both Curse of Agony, which not only increases the damage of Zagreus’ attacks but also allows them to inflict Doom upon hit, and Urge to Kill, the latter which increases the overall damage of all of Zagreus’ attacks, can be considered his best.
Best Poseidon Boons: Poseidon’s Aid and Boiling Point
Contrary to what many would suspect, Poseidon’s strongest boon is actually his Call, Poseidon’s Aid, as it not only coats Zagreus in water, making him invincible for a few seconds but also deals high damage to enemies as you pass through them. After Poseidon’s Aid, his best boon is Boiling Point, thanks to its ability to massively increase the charging speed of your God Gauge.
Best Demeter Boons: Rare Crop and Killing Freeze
Only available to those who managed to reach the surface, Demeter’s best boons are Rare Crop, which downgrades a select number of boons to Common rarity, and then continuously raises their rarity at every 3 rooms visited, and Killing Freeze as it allows you to both Slow and Decay opponents affected by Chill, including bosses.
Best Aphrodite Boons: Different League and Sweet Surrender
Among Aphrodite’s many boons, Different League can be considered the best, as it not only allows Zagreus’ to take less damage from attacks but can also fit any composition. For those planning on making use of her damage-oriented and status-focused buffs, Sweet Surrender can also be considered one of her best boons, as it allows Zagreus’ to deal increased damage to enemies inflicted with Weak.
Best Athena Boons: Divine Dash, Brilliant Riposte, and Divine Protection
Athena’s boons are focused on giving Zagreus the ability to deflect. With that said, among her Boons, Divine Dash is in our opinion the best, as the boon allows Zagreus to deflect attacks while dashing, an ability which makes the boon useful or pretty much any given situation and able to fit any composition.
Among Athena’s other boons, Brilliant Riposte, which massively increases the damage of deflected attacks, and Divine Protection, which generates a protecting barrier negating one attack every 20 seconds, can also massively increase your chances of finishing a run on top.
Best Dionysus Boons: Positive Outlook, Trippy Shot, and Trippy Flare
Dionysus boons are mostly focused on increasing Zagreus’ damage by applying Hangover to his foes, which deals damage over time. Taking that into account, his best boons are Positive Outlook, thanks to its all-round effect, which lowers the damage you receive when below 40% health, Trippy Shot, which allows Zagreus’ casting attack to burst into Festive Fog, and Trippy Flare, a boon exclusive for both the Aspects of Hera and Beowulf, which allows you to cover the field with Festive Fog, and thus deal massive damage.
Best Hermes Boons: Greater Haste, Greatest Reflex, and Rush Delivery
All of Hermes’ boons are focused on increasing Zagreus’ mobility. With that said, his best boons are without a doubt Greater Haste, which increases your speed, Greatest Reflex, which increases the number of dashes you can perform at once, and Rush Delivery, which increases Zagreus’ damage by his bonus move speed value.
Best Chaos Boons: Favor, Flourish, and Strike
Unlike the ones offered by the Olympic gods, although Chaos’ boons are focused on providing a wide array of different buffs and debuffs, they do not offer you the ability to apply status effects on targets. With that said, their best boons are without a doubt Favor, which increases your chance of finding Rare or better boons, Flourish, which massively increases your Special’s damage, and Strike, which massively increases your normal/charged attack damage.
You can currently play Hades on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC, via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
