Going with health builds??

[Cockroach]

What's the most health anyone has been able to achieve. I think mine was about 250. Thanks. Any advice also whether it's a viable build compared to other builds. Thanks.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

From my limited experience I managed to get to 340 once, I don't think it's a viable build. Focusing on hp just isn't a super viable thing to do since the lack of damage and lack of ability to heal yourself in combat just isn't a winning combination. You could get the ability that regens hp when you have no lives left but that's not something I see beating the last boss. Generally I just have far better luck overall aiming almost entirely for damage with some survivability mixed in but I'd never aim entirely for hp.

[Minneyar]

The highest I've gotten was 285, which was mostly accidental; it was a combination of getting big boost from Chaos, Dionysus' Premium Vintage boon right at the beginning, and multiple nectars. Coincidentally, that was also the first time I beat Hades on Extreme Measures 4 -- and when I won, it was with 13 HP and no Death Defiances left, so I definitely needed all the HP I could get, although I would credit winning more with having the Adamant Rail with Triple Bomb. On most runs I feel comfortable if I get around 200 HP.

[ska.one]

I've had over 300 based on what Minneyar says above - darkness bonus, nectar bonus, Chaos boon, and of course Centaur hearts. There is another nice effect from this - DD brings you back at 50% max life, so coming back with 150 hp three times instead of 100 is practically another whole DD. You would have to be really lucky with boon and hammer pulls - but it can happen.

I usually shoot for 200 - 250 through hearts and darkness chambers. The more darkness and contractor upgrades you've bought, the easier it is to get there without a lot of thought.

[DarrkPhoenix]

I think I got over 400 one run, due to picking up Aphrodite's Life Affirmation early in the run. Normal runs I usually end up with 250-300 life. I tend to prioritize it a lot since my reflexes aren't all that good, so having that extra buffer for my various mistakes is useful. At the same time you still need a good source of damage, so health upgrades have to be balanced against offered boons that could fill in key damage roles. A strategy I often find myself drawn to is picking boons that can apply DOT effects easily (Dionysus, Poseidon's Razor Shoals, Demeter's Killing Freeze) then playing defensively after applying the effect and letting the DOT do its work. Razor Shoals + Tidal Dash is really good for this, since I can devote all of my attention to just dashing around defensively, plus in tight areas the wall slam effects can stack up big damage as well, especially with Wave Pounding or Breaking Wave. Of course, given all of this my run times tend to be pretty terrible (around 35-40 minutes).

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by Cockroach:

What's the most health anyone has been able to achieve. I think mine was about 250. Thanks. Any advice also whether it's a viable build compared to other builds. Thanks.

I just reviewed a few of my past Hades fights and it looks like I'm averaging around 280+ health a run with the most being 400 HP on a non-Excalibur run. I think I may have picked up Aphrodite max health bonus early on, picked up an Erebus Gate for max health, and saw max health in the shop on that run.

Thankfully the bow build I was aiming for only required Zeus Special to function and then anything else was a bonus.

[lordatog]

I suppose I prioritize health more than most - I've hit 400 multiple times, and 500 once (I got a very early Epic Life Affirmation and decided to go all in on it and take health over everything else). Max health boons from Chaos are a major factor here, as they can be worth over 50.

It's not really a build, though. I guess you can take a retaliation boon and pom it up a few times, so there is synergy there, but you still need an actual build to go alongside it.

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by lordatog:

I suppose I prioritize health more than most - I've hit 400 multiple times, and 500 once (I got a very early Epic Life Affirmation and decided to go all in on it and take health over everything else). Max health boons from Chaos are a major factor here, as they can be worth over 50.

It's not really a build, though. I guess you can take a retaliation boon and pom it up a few times, so there is synergy there, but you still need an actual build to go alongside it.

I hadn't considered some type of heavy duty "counter" build. Perhaps some combination of applying Weak on the enemies, maybe with Excalibur's Special Aura, perhaps something that causes Sturdy (Daedalus Hammer, Hermes Dash, etc.) and loading up on anything that deals damage on retaliation. Sure, Zag might die before then, but... watching a bunch of things occur every time he gets hit might be an interesting run to play around with.

[Snowl]

I think mine was just about 435 ish~
Granted I was using the secret sword aspect which gave me the boost, with an early Dionysus buff to get hp on bottles.

[Cockroach]

I'd like to just do it for fun and see what I can get. Yeh the underworld guy is key.

[Fourlamas]

Something over 400, its pretty cool with Dionysus and his ability to restore 50% hp after surviving a room and less damage taken at low hp. But stacking health upgrades for me rarely works as the bosses hit like a truck anyway and 50hp wont make much of a difference.

[Werdna]

I hit a little over 400 on my first EM4 run, but I did have Aphrodite's HP max%+ boon and hit an Erebus gate with a centaur heart for some nice HP boosting.

Aside from that, on average, I would hit generally anywhere between 275 and 350.

This is usually trying to snag 1-2 hearts per region (adjusting lower if you get an Erebus Gate with a heart or Aphrodite's HP boosting boon). I like aiming for around 300 - 325 if at all possible, though I skewed higher for those initial EM4 runs for a safety net to better learn the mechanics (and then to get more buffer to be more and more aggressive as I learned).

Different players will take different approaches to EM4 and beyond, but for me, it's HP stacking to a point (e.g. aim for 375/400) so I can get some leeway to take hits while continuing to pour out some punishment (+ going into the fight with effectively 1k HP is some comfort. 400 hp + 3x DD at 200 HP). Give as good as you get, and you might be able to ignore some of the mechanics. This is also coming from the perspective of someone that loves getting down and dirty (or up close and personal) with the fists and shield -- I usually don't purposefully aim for as much HP when using bow or gun (e.g. maybe 250-275ish).

[AscendedViking7]

I got to 350 once during my last successful run. I thought going after health was viable, since the weapon I was using (Stygius) is very close range.

[Kandidaten]

480-490 something.

Just facetanked Hades at that point, had 3 death's defiance left, and call generated faster on taking damage, so I just just there wailing away.

[sticky]

It's certainly viable but you'll probably want to take Dionysus' boons to make the most of that high life total. Without proper boons to supplement high life it you might not ever get much worth out of it. Strong drink (fully replenishes HP at fountains + gives dmg boost) and the boon that brings your life back up to a certain % after each encounter both work very well.

[Final★X]

I once had around 435 hp with the arthur sword.