Underwhelming Weapon Aspects

[Deso]

I really think some weapon aspects are a quite underwhelming. There are a few categories of problematic stuff:

Aspects that are only usable with all upgrades:

• Eternal Spear (Aspect of Guan Yu)
  
• Shield of Chaos (Aspect of Chaos)
  
• Shield of Chaos (Aspect of Zeus)
  
• Heart-Seeking Bow (Aspect of Chiron)

Aspects that are annoying to use:

• Eternal Spear (Aspect of Hades)
  
• Twin Fists (Aspect of Gilgamesh )
  
• Adamant Rail (Aspect of Hestia)

Aspects that change too little

• Twin Fists (Aspect of Zagreus)
  
• Twin Fists (Aspect of Talos)
  
• Twin Fists (Aspect of Demeter)

I'd say I agree overall with what this video says:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSxyg458Fg

[Bobywan]

Aspect of zeus is one of my favorite. It's the one I used for my 16 heat run 1st try win.
Free damage with special and protection with attack if necessary.
With a few good boon you can make 150-200 damage with the special.

[The Sojourner]

I just watched the video that likely highly influenced the OP's opinions.
For me, the aspects of Poseidon, Chiron, and Eris are overrated:

• Yes, the Aspect of Poseidon can dislodge casts instantly, but that renders a few things useless: Boiling/Abyssal Blood, Quick Reload, Stygian Soul; and on top of that, it only works with casts that lodge into enemies. About half the time it feels no different from Level 0 Zagreus.
  
• Why use homing arrows on the Aspect of Chiron when you can just shoot enemies point-blank with a regular volley (unless you're afraid to get up close and personal)? Also, this aspect kinda sucks at lower levels.
  
• Perhaps I'm a little biased against the rail in general, however the Aspect of Eris' main feature is rendered kinda useless with Rocket Bomb and Hazard Bomb. No other rail aspect is like that for Daedalus Hammer enchantments.

For me, the aspects of Hades, Talos, and Gilgamesh are underrated:

• When I think of having some fun with clearing 32 heat or Extremer Measures Hades, I like to take this aspect. The spin attack is slow on any aspect, and with the Aspect of Hades it's pretty far-reaching anyway, so the idea is to spin attack once on as many enemies as you can, and the just... not — deal damage in other ways until the "Punished" debuff is gone, whence you rinse and repeat. (Plus, it's fun to beat daddy at his own game, with his very own, former weapon!)
  
• I think Haelian misses the attractiveness of Talos to newer players: it's the only aspect of the fists that deals damage at range, for a weapon that is normally an up-close-and-personal kind of weapon. And yes, you might pull in some dangerous foes and need to dash away... or you could just punch 'em up then and there.
  
• In standard encounters, yes, maiming foes is kinda terrible, but max aspect Gilgamesh vs. bosses can really help cut them down to size. I also feel like I'm slightly less likely to go wrong with this aspect when it comes to the Daedalus Hammer enchantments compared to other aspects.

All that said, I agree with the OP when it comes to the Aspects of Guan Yu, Chaos, Chiron, Hestia, and the Aspect of Zagreus Twin Fists. On the other hand, the Aspect of Zeus is surprisingly good even at level 1.

[ChexMixKitty]

Aspect of Gilgamesh is great. I replayed the game again on Game Pass and this weapon does so much damage. Just dash special and watch health bars melt. I used mostly Ares' boons and I did so much doom damage.

[Deso]

Originally posted by The Sojourner:

I just watched the video that likely highly influenced the OP's opinions.
For me, the aspects of Poseidon, Chiron, and Eris are overrated:

Actually I played enough to get all achievements before the video.

I did use max chaos, Max Chiron, max zag rail. I actually like guan Yu a lot.
Demeter firsts are actually quite good.

But I have to agree that aspects only usable at level 5 aren't a fun design.

[Nibbie]

Aspect of Hades is my favorite weapon, beat my heat 32 run first try with it. Something I think a lot of players miss with the spear (as I did for a while) was that you can dash while charging the spin to carry it forward, the same thing both Achilles and Hades do. This allows you to charge from further away, and thus safer and less likely to be interrupted, and still land the spin, as well as simply dodge attacks coming at you. You also only need to do it once every 10ish seconds, charging a single small spin in that timeframe is rarely difficult.

[Deso]

Originally posted by Nibbie:

Aspect of Hades is my favorite weapon, beat my heat 32 run first try with it. Something I think a lot of players miss with the spear (as I did for a while) was that you can dash while charging the spin to carry it forward, the same thing both Achilles and Hades do. This allows you to charge from further away, and thus safer and less likely to be interrupted, and still land the spin, as well as simply dodge attacks coming at you. You also only need to do it once every 10ish seconds, charging a single small spin in that timeframe is rarely difficult.

Guan Yu is quite good with charge dash.

[smreyno]

The Shield's actually become my favorite of the weapons because of the variety/fun factor, which I didn't fully appreciate until watching that vid (though the 'most used weapon' numbers in the admin chamber back it up). I can have a really different play experience with Chaos than with Zeus than with Beowulf and I enjoy them all/none of them feel like they're hobbling me. It's also one of the weapons where I don't find the Zag aspect totally useless. It's not my favorite but it feels like it doesn't have the problem some of the other weapons do (like Sword and Fists) where it's just 'Worse version of Second Tier Aspect).

I think the vid underrates the Fists overall but the first three aspects do admittedly play in very samey ways. I think you can have a lot of fun/wreak a lot of havoc with Gilgamesh once you practice getting off the maim attacks.

[MaximumEffort]

I like aspect of Hades on the spear, since it allows for a very high radius sweep, and its useful against Hades himself in if you stick behind the covers, esp in his second form when he move much move and doesnt go 'darkness'. The increased range and damage can really help if get close to the cover before going with his flame AoE. Lot of free damage!

For the shield, I think all aspects are great and very balanced. Plus it never hurts to RP Captain America

[⭕TheSodaman]

Spear - Hades has strangely been my fastest and most consistent clears at higher heats. Bonus if I get the any spin attack Daedalus Hammer. Sometimes it's safer or more efficient for me to just spin attack again. Especially if I get faster spin attack. I do like this with mirror upgrade for +damage striking undamaged foes and if I add heat, avoiding the Damage Control (blue shields). Then typically charging the spin attack as enemies are spawning.

Shield - Zeus has been okay at level 1 with some boons (Zeus, Ares, Athena for the Deflect), but acknowledging that the damage it could do would be significantly more useful at rank 5.

Fists - Gilgamesh nearly every non-boss/mini-boss I've fought falls before the Maim effect goes off. That and I personally get hit more often with fists. Fists - Talos tends to be what I use when I have to due to synergy with casting and also not needing to aim as much with the pulling effect of the Special.

Very much agreed on Spear - Guan Yu. About the only two combos I like with this is Artemis Dash with Daedalus Hammer x3 Dash Strike OR then just Aphrodite Attack/Special with Abyssal Blood Mirror + a lodging Cast (I can't keep track of Zeus Cast), preferably with the Demeter Revenge. This has been the worst spear for me. In that it seems even more negatively impacted with a lot of heats: +enemy's deal more damage, -healing received, +enemies are faster, +enemy shields, and time limit heats.

Rail - Hestia is not my cup of tea due to favoring the manual reload. Maybe if I assigned reload to a different button, it wouldn't be so bad though. Edit: Changing the reload button to L1 (and the codex to R3 or whatever the reload button was previously) helped a lot. Unfortunately, the Empowered Shot is unaffected by Spread Fire Daedalus Hammer, BUT tried rail again and Empowered Shot is affected by Ricochet Fire. The latter run worked well in a non-EM Elysium Boss run.

[tri.sapphire]

Only ones I agree with on that list are Chaos Shield, Chiron Bow, and Zag Fists. I also don't find Guan Yu that usable even with all the upgrades.

Zeus Shield : Even with a single blood is plenty strong with Zeus Special.

Everything in the "Annoying to use" category should be easily remediated by the second or third time you use them. Out of the three, Hestia shouldn't even take a full run, and I'll give you a little slack with Gilgamesh, as it is kind of hard to get it through your head that you don't have invincibility while dash striking.

Talos has you focusing more on your attack and cast and sucking enemies over to you. Demeter is all about that built up special (I do find that one needs a minimum of 2-3 upgrades to be really useful though). Definitely different styles of play compared to the regular gloves.

[Deso]

Annoying is not hard, but rather cumbersome. You have to go out of your way to spin dash as hades spear, or spam reload with the gun (admittedly the shield pact makes it a necessity to have regular auto fire)

[MaximumEffort]

Originally posted by Deso:

Annoying is not hard, but rather cumbersome. You have to go out of your way to spin dash as hades spear, or spam reload with the gun (admittedly the shield pact makes it a necessity to have regular auto fire)

Hades spin is actually really useful as it has a large range hit through walls, letting you hit annoying enemies, like Elysium champions, while being safe.

Also super useful against final boss when he charges the AoE and is near a column.

[XxX GH0ST XxX]

All the weapons make it too easy to win. Just get the right upgrades.