General Improving Guide

Includes:

What weapons suit me
How to make a build
Finally making it out
Endgame

Introduction READ

I'm not gonna waste your time with a long intro.

Goals of the guide:

• Teach someone that's struggling with the game how to improve (Maybe you're using the "God Mode" in the settings menu and you want to learn how to stop)
  
• Not waste time by giving redundant tips like: "Dodge then attack when they're not attacking" or "Keep trying, keep playing"
  
• Explore builds (Boons, Keepsakes, Aspects)
  
• Walk through one run, with no heat modifiers
  
• ^THAT WILL SPOIL THE GAME^ If you're not okay with that, skip that section.
  
• This guide assumes you've done like 10 runs but haven't cleared the game yet. If you're looking for a true beginner's guide, I'd suggest SouL's guide.

based on game v0.23

Guide v1.0 1/4/2020

I'm not sure if I'll expand on my guide, I'd rather keep playing the game than write the guide, but the first several hours of writing have been really fun.

Which weapon suits me

As of 0.23 there are 5 weapons, each with their own specialties, weaknesses, and playstyles. In my opinion from easiest to hardest to play with are:

Spear, Shield, Fist, Sword, Bow, Fist, Gun

Let's go through why:

Spear is the easiest because of its versatility in many situations. Attacks are fast, but also long reaching in case the enemy is one that is dangerous in close quarters, and you can keep an enemy stun-locked if it's one on one. The special allows for long range sniping and application of status effects from afar. The dash attack is fluid and can flow into regular attacks. Charge attack is kind of useless to me. Zagreus Aspect is incredible with the right Daedalus hammer upgrade.

Shield is the second easiest for much of the same reason, versatility in range, and fast attacks. However play is a bit more complicated because you can deal at least double damage if you hit the enemy into walls or traps. The special deals little to no damage compared to the spear's because it doesn't get the backstab bonus the spear gets. I don't enjoy using Bull Rush, but it has its uses. We'll come back to why I think the shield can be better than spear in the next section.


Sword is right at the end of the melee weapons due to it's constriction of ONLY melee range. Certain enemies make engaging close quarters risky and closing the gap between you and your enemies to use your sword might leave you defenseless if you dash unwisely. Nemesis Aspect pushes this weapon to the best weapon for maximum damage in my opinion.

Bow is good with the help of Daedalus hammer. I extremely dislike the special, I think it's inaccurate, extremely situational, and barely redeemed with Chiron Aspect (which requires a ton of blood). The range advantage is extremely helpful throughout the whole game at least, and I like the fact that shots are 100% in your control. The arrow flies straight, and the range is determined by how long you hold attack. An extremely helpful part of the weapon mechanics is you can dash out of aiming and fire instead of the dash cancelling your attack. You can kite enemies pretty easily with this.

Fists may be fast, but the close range constriction might leave newbs in dangerous situations. Dashing a lot, having to be near an enemy right next to traps or lava. Leave this till last. Pretty expensive key-wise too.

Gun is extremely situational and un-newbie friendly. Its unique mechanic, ammo management, wouldn't be that bad with a couple levels in Zagreus Aspect. But my god(s), the base model is untolerable to me unless you're doing a special build, or have the Daedalus hammer upgrades right from the start. 12 ammo is incredibly low, auto reload doesn't happen unless you're doing dashes if you're just holding down the attack button, the attacks don't always go in a straight line, and sometimes even the special doesn't hit if the enemies jump around or get a dodge off.

Maybe you disagree, that's OK. I like spear the most, and that's the order I mastered each weapon. Depending on which weapon you love most, I think the order of mastering each one should be:

Best -------------------------->Worst

Spear, Shield, Fist, Sword, Bow, Gun

Shield, Spear, Sword, Fist, Bow, Gun

Sword, Fist, Shield, Spear, Gun, Bow

Bow, Gun, Spear, Shield, Sword, Fist

Gun, Bow, Spear, Shield, Sword, Fist

I think I sorted (sworded) this list based on which weapons I think are closest to each other in that order. Maybe you just never want to touch the other weapons, which is fine, but why are you reading this section then?

NEW: FISTS OF TEBIGONG Dual fists

The closest combat you can get. Special and attack are entirely limited to close range. Due to the rapid hit rate, probably going to be small hits build until you get to a hammer. Take the old 2x dash mirror bonus unless you are good at the game.

How to make a build part 1 (Build types and gods)

Going through the game with a weird build works, but it might not be the best way to play. Like eating a bowl of cereal with a fork or even chopsticks, I mean yeah it works, but you might be struggling a little more than you think without realizing. Making smart choices might be the only thing separating you from a win. The gamepedia or other steam guides are a great place to learn more about boons or status effects. Personally I think SouL's guide is incredible work for one person and you should check it out. The gamepedia will probably be more familiar and expansive though.

So depending on which aspects of which weapons you like, I decided to sort builds into three types:
Big hits, small hits, and status effects. Keep in mind that maybe the sorting isn't so clear at times. Almost every god applies a status effect, and gods can add a bunch of small hits to big hit builds.

BUILD TYPES

Big hits like critical strikes, or large Area of Effect specials, or Bomb Arrow builds are extremely satisfying, but usually slower and have large intervals between attacking again. These suck more against bosses, but make most of the game feel easy. My favorite examples are Adamant Rail triple special, Critical Sword, or Bomb Arrow variants. Spear special is ok, but lacking against bosses.

Small hits are the exact antithesis of big hit builds (duh). Great single target because of rapid attacks, but you'll struggle a bit more on troves or double god rooms. Works great with a lot of status effects because you'll apply them very often. Poison and electric base damage stack easily with spear or gun attacks. Artemis' boon "Support Fire" is a crucial part of these builds, adding 33-50% more damage just with that boon alone. If you started a gun run, whose attack is base 10 damage, and got support fire whose LOWEST boon level gives 15 damage, you got +150% damage right there. Zeus' boon "Lightning Strike" is just as good. Gives 10 damage, but has an Area of Effect to other nearby enemies. Spear attack build, shield attack build, or gun attack builds fit in here.

Status effect builds are very slow damage per second compared to the others, but they're SAFE. Thank you Supergiant Games for letting status effects work on bosses. Bosses can drag on for a long time, and status effects can take their time to do their work. You can apply them any way you like, although I prefer from long range. I think the best builds are: doom special with weak for shield/spear, poison with weak, or maybe even a revenge build. The best boon to look for are Duo bonuses for the doom/weak "Curse of Longing" or poison/weak "Low Tolerance". Revenge build comes together with "Vengeful Mood". Personally I think Doom special shield is one of the easiest builds. Apply doom with special, then hide with Bullrush or dash away. Your special deals only 15 damage, but with doom hitting 50-100, you just boosted your special's damage by 300%-600% but you still have the safe playstyle of the shield and it works from range. One of the crucial aspects to this build is you get the "Privileged Status" perk from the mirror. It gives +50% damage on targets with two status effects. A bright X will appear next to their health bar and you'll know it's working. Usually you'll be switching between all your attacks to constantly apply the status effects instead of one button like the other builds.

WHAT GODS FOR WHAT BUILD

So based on which build you want, you want to pick your gods and pick your boons carefully. You only have a select choice and a limited number. In general,

Big hits build should usually take the following gods as a priority:
Artemis (for critical strike chance on attack or special, or Pressure Points")
Aphrodite (for Duo with Artemis or survivability)
Ares for "Battle Rage" or "Urge to Kill"

Usually use either Zagreus Sword, Zagreus Bow Explosive shot, or Adamant Rail Triple Bomb.

Small hits should usually take the following gods as a priority:
Artemis (for critical strike chance or support fire)
Zeus (for lightning attack)
Dionysus (for poison attack)
Athena (for deflect attack if you failed to find the previous two gods), or Ares (for doom if you failed to find any of the previous boons somehow and "Battle Rage" or "Urge to Kill")

Small hit weapons are usually spear attack builds, Adamant Rail Infinity Chamber or Spread Fire, I don't think anybody really does shield attack builds but it could be okay if you got the Artemis dash attack boon. Usually people do Chaos special shield builds.

Status effect builds should take the following gods as a priority:
Ares or Dionysus (main damage status effects)
Aphrodite (for duo with either of them and survivability), and any sort of Call ability. Your fights are going to last a long time, you're probably going to get your call up several times during a boss fight. Revenge builds are a subset of status effect builds that NEED "Vengeful Mood". I've made it work like once. It's pretty good if you have enough survivability.

Gods that are good in any situation/build: Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite. All of them give some sort of survival boost, or damage reduction.Quick Recovery, Greater Evasion, Greatest Reflex, Greater Haste, Second Wind, Bronze Skin, Sure Footing, the entire Weak status effect, Different League, and Spent Spirit. Hermes is just great overall, he can make your attacks +X% faster, which is more damage output.

WHAT BUILDS FOR WHAT GOD

To be honest, this is a meme section. You shouldn't build around one god, it almost never happens. But I already made a section about favorite weapons so why not.

Aphrodite: Status effect, but works with any build because weak is really good.
Ares: Status effect, small hits
Artemis: Big hits, small hits
Athena: All rounder, but probably small hits for more often deflections
Demeter: Cast! Waow! Also status effect.
Dionysus: Status effect, small hits
Hermes: Status effect, small hits, but great for any build
Poseidon: Sword or Shield for knocking things into walls. Sorry dude. You're like one of the big 3 Greek gods of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, but you're the worst because you don't hit bosses with your knockback so your build is limited. And I hate your call. Also needs 2 boons to apply rupture. Now a bit better with the new "Wave Pounding" but you need to find it. You need to spend an additional boon to do more damage to bosses.
Zeus: Small hits. NOT STATUS EFFECTS because you need 2 boons to find jolted and doom is just better jolted in my opinion. You can use jolted for "Privileged Status" I GUESS but it kinda sucks.
Chaos: All rounder. You can get Attack + damage or special + damage or Bloodstone +1.

I'd like to see a future gamemode where you ally with only one god and have to fight followers of other gods in each seperate room, but maybe it'll never happen.

Cast Builds

My other section was full on the character limit so I'm making this a separate section. Casts builds are recommended for advanced players. Usually, you only have 3 bloodstones to use casts with. Until you get those back, your main damage is gone.

Cast build: Take Poseidon aspect for the sword so you can dislodge your cast if you prefer a certain cast. If not, take Demeter/Ares because their casts do not lodge inside enemies. Cast builds take a while to get going but can eventually become one of the best builds and can excel at clearing rooms and boss killing. I think that cast builds rely very heavily on duo boons to really really excel though, and might not be that great at higher heat as you may be stranded early if you don't even get a cast or punished by lower rarity boons if you take the restricted mirror heat. Buyer beware.

Cast builds should take the following gods as a priority:
Poseidon aspect for the sword with your choice of favorite cast OR Demeter/Ares cast because these casts don't latch onto enemies.
Artemis/Hermes/Chaos (if you're really desperate) for more ammo/availability
Additional Ares/Artemis/Demeter boons that strengthen your cast (Violent Cycle/Hunting Blades/Dual Shot/Ravenous Will/Snow Burst/Crystal Clarity/Blizzard Shot/Ice Wine)

Notably: Try to find the duo boons that enhance casts. These are incredibly strong and make your playstyle unique. You may want to try buying Yarn of Ariadne to increase your chances of finding them or visit more shops.

NEW: Regenerating cast AKA Stygian soul can make casts builds easier to use, but you still need the help of Hermes or Artemis to kick things off.

How to make a build part 2 (Keepsakes and weapon aspects)

KEEPSAKES

Please read https://hades.gamepedia.com/Keepsakes before proceeding or refer to it as you go.

For now, I'm just going to sort them into Useful or always good, kinda useful/controversial, and useless level.

Useful or Always good

Broken Spearpoint (Noob friendly. It's just Holy shield without damage and deflect. Only thing is if you already have holy shield, you probably shouldn't take this because the durations overlap. Helps you against Hades' laser which could deal a ton of damage but instead will deal like 12 damage then stop.)

Lucky Tooth (Another death defy, perfect for noobs. Even better if you have positive outlook, because death defy brings you to just above 40%.)

Old Spiked Collar (More hp. Can't go wrong. More hp = more time alive = Make it farther. Noob friendly. Although I do think that Tooth is better in most cases. For example, if you have 3 death defies and get +50 hp at collar's max level, at most you're getting 75 additional hp (3*[50/2]) as well as the +50 base for 125 hp. Tooth at max level is 150 hp .)

Chthonic Coin Purse (Free Money, which you can swap out later for a more useful Keepsake once you're done with it. Think of this as a free boon [150 gold] on level 3.)

(Start off with a boon from a god of your choice! Helps start a build)

Adamant Arrowhead
Blood-Filled Vial
Conch Shell
Cosmic Egg
Eternal Rose
Owl Pendant
Thunder Signet

Kinda useful/Controversial by order

Black Shawl (Need to find shadow to get the heal. What if you just don't take room rewards with shadow, or don't take +20% shadow weapon or troves don't have one? Otherwise, really good, especially if you're just trying to learn the game because you'll improve your mirror and get farther. Bosses will drop shadow on reruns, which provide a massive heal. I can't remember if it works on "Tinge of Erebus" from the minishops, but it should work on the shadows Charon sells.)

Harpy Feather Duster (Never used it, seems bad, but put it up here with health regen. Also makes you have to go break pots. Shawl seems better to me.)

Bone Hourglass (Same as reasons above. Helps you get to the parts of the game you're struggling with. Hydralite or Eye of Lamias have saved my run more times than I can count. More useful on higher heats than Shawl or Duster.)

Skull Earring (Probably really good with something like Positive Outlook, and good regardless because you'll be looking for extra damage when you're that low)

Controversial

Distant Memory (Good with long range builds, in my opinion just take something from above instead.)
Myrmidon Bracer (Good...? Maybe at higher heats? Never used it. The caveat seems bad, and is not very useful if you're going shield. Just take Cerberus's collar/tooth.)

(What I say here is applicable to both Keepsakes below. It's good if you're good, bad if you're bad. Don't take these because If you take these two, yeah you can flawless some rooms early and get the bonus, but that's about when it stops growing. Floor 1/2. Furthermore, if you can flawless rooms or clear them quickly, you're probably past the point where you need these measly damage/dodge boosts. Bad in my opinion.)
Pierced Butterfly
Lambent Plume

Useless

Evergreen Acorn (Broken Spearpoint is just better, not restricted to bosses, and maybe you just never make it to the boss if you're a noob. Also you get healing after the boss anyways so what's the point. Could see use if there's ever a flawless boss achievement. Until then, USELESS.) EDIT: Alright if you're going Guan Yu spear since you don't really get a chance to heal against bosses. Incredibly situational.

Shattered Shackle (I'd rather take Bouldy on my run through hell than this Keepsake. Please Supergiant games add a Bouldy Mode where you take Sisyphus's boulder through hell. You can even make it Endless so it'll be a Sisyphusean task. Anyways, I've never used it, but I can't see it as any good since you need to use a lot of effort to make it work.) EDIT: After learning lava is considered a trap, I'm willing to bump it up to controversial tier, but I don't want to leave Evergreen Acorn all alone in the useless section.

I do still like the themes of the Keepsakes though. Achilles is really fitting considering your back is your "Achilles Heel", Skull earring makes you hit with the wrath of a fury, Harpy Feather Duster rewards you for cleaning up, etc.

WEAPON ASPECTS

Try them all out. Maybe you love one, think another is meh. I won't choose for you, but I think you can't be wrong with Zagreus Aspect for each weapon. Furthermore, Zagreus Aspects are cheaper to level than the other ones. I do have some that I think deserve special recognition.

Nemesis Sword: 30% critical strike chance is insane. All you need to do is sprinkle a few specials in between attacks for it. One of my favorites. Absolutely nuts with the Artemis attack. You've hit 50% critical strike chance by the first room in the game.

Chiron Bow: Bow Special sucks. Chiron Aspect makes it barely tolerable and opens a whole new playstyle for single target.

Achilles Spear: Super fun, have to try it at least once. Gives a massive damage boost and interweaves special and attacking.

Zeus shield: Your special is now more like a blade rift. Probably more for expert players, who could rip through runs with this aspect.

Shield and Gun: I like the Zagreus Aspects I'm such a noob with these two :(.

Chaos shield: Good because you don't need to aim your special, and you are spending 50% of combat in block phase so you take less damage.

Guan Yu: If you get fast spin attack, you can have a lot of damage and an easy clear. Depends heavily on levels though because the hp decrease is deadly against bosses.

In general, the Zagreus Aspect tries to be a modifier that is beneficial in a lot of situations, but doesn't really shine. The second aspect of each weapon encourages using both special and attack together. The third aspect encourages a unique playstyle.

I just want to win! (Easiest builds to win with IMO/Popular)

If you're still having issues, my recommendation is to be simple with your build or practice with only one build or weapon.

Use mainly Athena/Artemis/Aphrodite. I feel like these gods are the most noob friendly and straightforward. Completely deflect attacks while spamming yours, Hope for a big critical strike, reduce damage overall and effectively have more HP.

Try to find Greater Dash from Hermes. As soon as you see an attack, spam dashes.

In playstyle, stick to one attack style and only use casts to get the boiling blood damage on bosses or don't use it at all.

Look for the Charon Wells/minishops and buy as much healing as possible. Maybe even take the Charon keepsake. The higher hp you can be at, the better. On the last floor, exit as soon as you find the Satyr Sack and don't look back. Don't try to take another boon and risk an unlucky fight.

Notable builds in no particular order (once you have more Titan Blood from beating the game/grinded for it through trading):

Nemesis Aspect with critical strike: Big hit, big dps, hit enemy before they hit you.

Chaos shield with specials: You can play incredibly safe and still get good damage from far back because you'll be blocking half the time. People have cleared 32 heat with this before! Take from that what you will.

Hestia Aspect with critical strike: Closest thing you can get to a sniper rifle in the game. Shoot, dash away and prime another shot.

Zagreus Bomb Arrow with critical strike: Farther range, but you need to charge and stand still while charging. Get room clear as well as bossing. Try to find double arrows for even more damage.

Triple Bomb Critical strike: Hit special three times then run.

Fast hit spear: Regular attacks are very fluid with the dash. Do anything you want. If you run into problem enemies up close, use the special instead.

You could always turn on God Mode I guess, but this is an improving guide not a wimp out guide. You can do it!

General mechanics/one runthrough SPOILERS AHEAD

I just realized the gamepedia has something for this too. Give it a read if you want. https://hades.gamepedia.com/How_to_play_guide_for_Hades

General comments

Dash >>> walking. This is not Dark souls, dashes are very forgiving, and you can spam and chain them together, especially if you get the Hermes perk. Panic pressing will reward you early, but less so late. If you're struggling, take Athena's deflect dash.

The store prices are right. If you're having problems determining what room rewards to take, go by store prices. Daedalus Hammer 200, Boon 150, Heart 125, Pom 100, Coin 100, then nectar, keys, shadow, gems are 0. If you have stuff that improve the "0" gain choices, take that into account!

How much HP do I take? Usually at the end of a run I try to aim for 200-300 hp. Anymore is bad because HP orbs only give +25 hp, which is a gradually decreasing benefit. If you're sitting at 50 hp, +25 is a whopping +50% hp. At 200, +25 is a measly +12.5%.

How do you decide between a Pom or Coin? Pom if one boon or attack is really carrying you, otherwise coin because coin is flexible. You can turn it into hp, or boons, or an extra death defy.

What build do you recommend to beginners? Probably small hits because missing is less painful and attack times are shorter so you can attack without risking taking a hit. Or just go pure defensive and try to take as much Aphrodite/Athena as you can.

Game Runthrough

Zone 1: Tartarus
Everything's a pushover and their cues are obvious. You shouldn't be struggling, but if you are, it's easy to get back. The only thing you should be struggling with is the boss. Meg's main attacks are: Dashing towards you, and an area of effect attack around her. She does have another attack in which she'll fire a ton of projectiles in a fan pattern. You can attack the projectiles to dispel them. Keeping your distance works most of the time, either stay away or find an opportunity to strike. Not much to say.

Zone 2: Asphodel
Things start heating up. The regular mobs you should recognize from the miniboss rooms of the last zone. They throw bombs and leave a bomb when they die. Spreaders are a big more annoying, but you can go right between the projectile lines If you're melee, try to save your dash when killing the bombers. Once you kill them, dash away immediately. Lava isn't dangerous unless you dash into it. The miniboss was and still is a struggle if you don't have enough damage. The head will turn you to stone while the thwomp will smash you. A really deadly combo, so you need to learn how to dash with purpose. It's tough love, but it'll help you later. The hydra is a lot of information to take in. Multiple heads attacking at once while you still have to manage the main head. Try to focus on one area to clear out so you can focus on attacks coming from one direction. What I mean is start from one side of the arena to the next. Remember to make use of the two food sources at each corner of the arena.

Zone 3: Elysium
This is the main barrier. In my opinion, harder than zone 4. Enemies regenerate after death, so if you kill from range you have to track them down for the second death. Chariots and flame wheels are merciless to ranged builds, so either make use of terrain or hope they ram into the wall and die on accident or take them out first. Armor will really make you struggle to interrupt enemies so have a good build or have a good trip back to zone 1. The butterfly miniboss can be ended short if you kill the butterfly early, or careful management of the eyes. The minotaur miniboss is incredibly easy. He has two attacks: Run at you until he hits you or a wall, and two wide sweeps of the axe, then one large leap and overhead swing. Dodge behind him with two dashes, then wail on him. Repeat. The boss, Theseus, is the same thing but you need to keep an eye on your character. A crosshair will appear on him once Theseus starts aiming his spear. You have two choices: Dodge behind one of the six flower vases/ audience stands or press dash right as the crosshair becomes hot pink. Be careful, because the spear will hit you on the way back. In my opinion, deal with Asterius first, then dispatch Theseus because Theseus has a special at half health. Theseus is vulnerable right after he attacks. After the spear throw, he will always walk away. His second attack, the spin dash, he will always face the character. Dash behind him and hit him a few times. He will likely lead into another spin dash, so dodge quickly again. Once he reaches half health, he'll call on a god, most likely whichever one you have 1 or no boons from. If you have a call, right here is the perfect time to use it. He stands completely still with his spear in the air, and his shield at his side. He doesn't block, and he's completely vulnerable. Use the call, and dash around him until it makes quick work of him. If your call makes you invincible, even better. My personal favorite is blade rift, you just sit on him.

Zone 4: Temple of Styx
Could be 1 room, could be 5 rooms. Luck is a big part, but making use of hiding behind barriers is crucial. You can avoid poisoning, traps, and lasers by sitting behind a barrier or wall. This is the only place Poseidon really shines, because of the claustrophobic little holes you have to traverse. Broken Spearpoint is also really good for this area. One poison tick will trigger Spearpoint and give you invincibility for 1.5 seconds, changing poison into Invincibility juice. If you've cleared the game before but can't take the higher heat, I think a good goal is to buy the super expensive item Charon holds. It's like a pseudo-"Convenience Fee" that you can end whenever you want, and meeting the goal nets you a Diamond or Titan Blood!

Zone 4 boss big spoils: Here we go final boss time. First phase, Hades is a lot like Asterius from Zone 3 but you have to deal with his burning skulls exploding as well as additional mobs and the third strike is Theseus' large spin dash instead of Asterius' final attack. If you're having trouble dodging his stealth attack, look for small cues like smoke or fiery footsteps in the snow. If you don't dispatch of the burning skulls, be ready for the massive shock wave. IT CAN HIT YOU MORE THAN ONCE. At least you can deflect them if you have Athena. Dodge into the center of the explosion. Even if you miss, it'll only hit you once. Save your calls for right after he summons mobs, because he won't go invulnerable anymore. He might stealth to dodge it though. First phase is harder than the second phase. Second phase, he gets angry and has new attacks. However, he does stand still to do most of them and is vulnerable like Theseus to calls. He has one where he'll summon a ton of green vases. The green vases explode into an area of effect stun when hit by him or you and count as traps. Stand right next to him so you can hit him while he readies that attack. It's incredibly slow, maybe 5-7 seconds for the entire attack, and standing closer to him will at least only hit you with the shock wave and not the jars. The other attack is the laser attack. The laser has two types: Triple laser or everywhere laser. You have three choices to avoid them in order of difficulty: Use an invincibility call, dash behind two or three different safespots/move right on top of Hades because it's like the eye of the storm, or move left and right to avoid it (not recommended). Blade rift call is again, my favorite call for this situation. Even better if you have "Vicious Cycle". Broken Spearpoint is pretty good here. The laser will hit you multiple times in one second, so the Keepsake will save you a lot of health if you were late in dodging. Tooth is good too. With luck, or optimizations from earlier zones, you can hopefully net a victory. Good luck!

Endgame: Additional Heat

For now, the only thing left for Endgame is adding heat to runs. The easiest heats to clear in my opinion are:

Damage control with a Small Hits build.
Calisthenics Program for Big Hits build.
You can practice doing Convenience Fee by saving all your money or by avoiding shops and money entirely, and trying to buy the Diamond/Titan's Blood in Charon's final shop.
Middle Management barely changes anything. Just don't take with the +enemies together or you may run into issues.
The new bosses are also interesting, and don't make the game too hard.

Doing these should get you additional Titan Blood for your favorite Aspects.

If you want to go the hard route and eventually get to 32 heat, you should train with Tight Deadline first, then keep adding restrictions. I'll expand more on this once I actually get a 16 heat clear.

Any of the damage increase ones, or healing reduction (affects the +3 hp you get between chambers!) or enemy speed up ones are also really hard and I advise against those. The trap one is especially dangerous as it modifies lava which does 5 damage instead of 1 damage a tick and also Hades' green jars which will deal 150 damage

New boss patterns:

The furies bring their sisters to battle and add additional zones of attack you need to dodge. Tisiphone becomes even more problematic because of a smaller room.

The hydra downsizes his home to save on costs. In his last phase, he'll break off his base and come after you. Unexpectedly hard for beginners, be prepared to have melted feet for your first few tries.

Theseus and Asterius bling up their armor, but the fight is easier/the same difficulty. Asterius' new attack is a whirlwind attack where he spins and swings his axe around him. Simply keep your distance and peck at him with whatever long range stuff you have or switch to Theseus. Theseus now rides a golden chariot and has guns and bombs. His new attacks are: He'll cut across from one side of the arena to the other while shooting, and he'll cruise around the outside of the arena dropping bombs. After you bring him to half, he resumes his normal behavior of spears and spins. He doesn't block anymore in his first phase, so you can keep your distance and peck him down too.

The final boss doesn't have a new pattern, but if Supergiant Games is reading, I'd be ok with a third phase!!!

How to fish

Wait till the bobber goes underwater/you see a flash of light from the water/bobber. There's a ding after you clear the room that lets you know there's a fish. There's a Legendary Poseidon boon that increases fish found. Every fish seems to give a different reward. The rewards are usually gems/nectar.

New update: Night Night

Fists of Tebigong can let you compare the speed of your attack rushes.

New nyx.

New mirror changes are interesting. Most of them are for more advanced players. 2 dashes has been a staple for me for almost my entire time playing this game so playing with 1 just makes me uncomfortable. I did try it though. I struggled until I found Hermes.

God's chosen is really good if you've already unlocked pretty much everything.

Fiery presence is insane for those big hit lovers. Say you took Fiery presence, Hestia aspect max level and critical strike which deals 300% damage and gives a bonus attack %. Use Aphrodite call to charm an enemy and have Artemis duo. Have a bunch of chaos boons that raise attack. Let's say 100% bonus. And you have epic hidebreaker. You'd probably hit very hard. 1.5*150*3*1.5*1.5*2*5 if I did it right? You'd be at a 15000+ hit. Unfortunately there's no way to really know unless someone has an inventory editor or something. Or ask the devs. Damage is probably capped at 9999 anyways like Thanatos.

BBL after I do some runs.

Conclusion

Great game, you'll enjoy it if you feel like you know what you're doing. I hope I could help someone with this guide. Let me know if you'd like an explanation of something that someone else hasn't already covered in the gamepedia or some other guide.

Some comments to Supergiant games if they're reading this for any reason:

For M+KB, Change cast to q and special to right click for default controls. Wouldn't it make sense to control your weapon with the mouse? and cast isn't very utilized in my opinion.
Can't wait for real release/DLC/more fan art on your twitter, good stuff.
Endless mode/Sisyphusean mode? Boss Rush?
I'd like something like a secret room or easter eggs, but I know that's probably not a priority right now. Thanks for making a game that's great. I feel like it really deserves the sudden love it just got. It even motivated me to write this short guide.

Lastly, Hades looks REALLY similar to Age of Mythology's cover's Zeus. Is it just me?
Thanks for reading, everyone.

[Mailo]

tenx mano

[nickmao (^_−)−☆]

No word for my buddy Eris rail(

[robotfly]

your getting a unicorn for the Xiaolin Showdown reference

[green dwarf]

i hate how theseus is a pussy sometimes and a nightmare others like the 2 in one boss fight is bullshit and needs to be removed i dont care what anyone says.

[Nora]

I've found the railgun's Eris aspect extremely fun to play with, though I wouldn't recommend it for beginners as it shines most with close ranged combat (to hit both yourself and enemies with the same bomb).

Also, a note on hammer upgrades: I almost always find one on floor 1, then a second on floor 3.

[Chiwicho]

Good guide bro

[MULTIPASS]

About the railgun - I've had a lot of success with this weapon when using the Aspect of Hestia.

Fully upgraded, the Hestia aspect increases the base damage of the first shot after reloading to 150. This is extremely strong when combined with Artemis and Ares boons like critical hit chance and damage (Artemis), stronger critical hits (Artemis), 200-250% increased damage for the next attack after a kill (Ares), increased critical hit chance against a specific enemy after a critical hit (Artemis), etc. With the right setup, you can pretty much waltz through the game chaining 1-shot kills and land very high damage hits on bosses. I also like to pick up the rocket special daedalus buff and Artemis critical hits for special as well.

[sancha_webo]

There is also a fish that gives you 2 nectar when returned to the chef.

[Uncertain]

Re. fishing, after casting the rod, the lure will soon begin bobbing under the water, indicating that a fish is at it. After about 0-3 of those movements (I believe the first phase is skipped occasionally), the lure will be tugged fully under for slightly longer, and it'll emit a small flash of white light. At that moment you must immediately press the Cast Rod button again.

You can give various fish to the chef shade in the lounge for something like 20-40 gemstones each.

[huyanhhb]

nice, thanks, save time for people, love from vietnam