Anyone feeling Duo Boons to be a lackluster? :/

[Marmalogre]

In Hades 1 I remember Duos to be build defining, chasing Duos in most runs to make your build pop to crazy effects was the most fun I had. Now although they feel a bit more easy to achieve, I don't feel any one I've stumbled upon feels that special.

[jimmyliou1990]

Originally posted by Neo NiGHTS ®:

Originally posted by jimmyliou1990:

Yea the majority of the duo and legendary boons in Hades II feels like some situational QoL stuff. They don't really transcend your build the way they did in Hades I anymore.

Not to mention some of them are outright extremely difficult to utilize, so I guess in a way it's good that one doesn't need some setup to get those much rarer boons for a more effective build.

I think duos and legendaries are like the Hexes: it's good if you can make a build around them, but it's not necessary and won't ruin or run if you can't get them.

Which is a good approach, IMHO

Very true, but the problem lies in the fact that these much rarer boons still require ample of setup but now they only lead to something simply that feels like Hex instead of something build-transcending. So complaints regarding this will likely continue: "It wasn't like this and It doesn't worth the setup".

As for me, I missed finishing a specific duo boon that officially "kicks off" the build in Hades I, but I also remembered the terrible runs where I couldn't make that happen, In a way I do appreciate the change that makes me less rely on them. But from something that could send you from B- to A, Hades II trivializes these rare boons' powers and makes them into something that can't even consistently bring B to B+; all the while still maintain their rarities despite all that.

[hilfazer]

No, i don't feel Glorious Disaster, Apocalyptic Storm, Romantic Spark, Funeral Pyre, Natural Selection, Island Getaway, Scalding Vapor, Torrential Downpour, Sunny Disposition, Stellar Slam, Chain Reaction are lacklustre.

[paincanbefun]

Originally posted by Rod, of eight toes:

Originally posted by paincanbefun:

especially since, as a duo, you need to have quite a few boons already

Wrong. You need only two boons for that Duo to appear. I believe most duo boons only require two, but I'd need to double check to be sure.

good catch

[Noided]

Maybe they tried to not make them as overpowered as they were in the first game (hello Merciful End) and ended up doing the complete opposite in the process.

[Sollós]

Originally posted by s_welsh:

The Hera- Zeus duo's seems especially bad
Under what circumstance do you want to give up half your boons?

Zeus Hera duo boon (not the other way around) is good. Especially when you have a lot of Zeus.

[Chaosdrake89]

Originally posted by houseof.atu7:

Originally posted by s_welsh:

The Hera- Zeus duo's seems especially bad
Under what circumstance do you want to give up half your boons?

Zeus Hera duo boon (not the other way around) is good. Especially when you have a lot of Zeus.

They can be good but it was designed to make playing them together difficult. Cause Hitch plus blitz literally makes Guardians all you care about. Minions waves get nuked when they spawn

Originally posted by Noided:

Maybe they tried to not make them as overpowered as they were in the first game (hello Merciful End) and ended up doing the complete opposite in the process.

No a lot of duos are broken. Like Heph Hera duo looks weak due to no attack/special boon required for its 250 attabck buff. Until you look at their kits. Hitch is the best minion wave clearer. Hera makes all boons rare. Her revenge mechanic is the strongest. Heph makes you impervious, gives you armor, gives HP off mana. Makes attacks/specials deal more damage to armor and if hit double their damage. His infusion buffs your attack special for earth boons you own. Hera gets an easy damage buff due to her infusion along with her no commons owned boon. Which negates the make boons Heroic then decrease rarity drawback.

Then Aphrodite Hera look bad but it says two enemies always have originality and deal less damage while taking more damage. If you have hitch/weak associated boons picked the damage gets dramatically increased/decreased and if you didn't get Hera's gain it makes Aphrodite's gain stronger. Since three enemies will have weak now.

Zeus Demeter lets you AoE for blitz and then just proc one to trigger them all. Both slip associated duos are insane. Hestia/Zeus duo is insanely powerful cause scorch is such a good blitz activator.

Aphrodite Apollo is actually one of the best ones cause Heartthrob has mega damage and has insane growth if you level it. You can easily get 1500 extra damage from using 30 mana.

Zeus/Hera Heph/Hestia Hestia/Hera Hestia/Aphrodite Demeter/Hestia(literally pointless unless you have Zeus's infusion Flame extinguisher or Hestia Legendary or Poseidon/Hestia duo) Heph/Apollo Demeter/Aphrodite(when we get the dig pet probably will be stronger but currently building HP requires too much sacrifice since is a major boon)

[lukeliu]

I shared the same view initially, but after 70 hours of gameplay, I realized there are some combinations that are completely mind blowing and would definitely be top tier even when compared to those in Hades 1.

One example is the Charon axe + Glorious Disaster (Apollo/Zeus) duo. This combination is completely insane. You can deal over 3k damage with an simple aura cast + omega special. I casually got an 11 mins run with this build the first time I got the duo in the first act.

[Sintonir]

Originally posted by s_welsh:

The Hera- Zeus duo's seems especially bad
Under what circumstance do you want to give up half your boons?

When you only care about the remaining half.
For example, if you have Storm Ring+Lightning Lance and this is the final Charon shop, taking King's Ransom is a great idea.
On the other hand, if you didn't get key Zeus Boons for your weapon but have good Hera boons you may want Queen's Ransom. I took both and they helped a lot in both cases.

[三Akiyama]

Even in the first game most duos were awful.