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✓ At A Glance
- Weapon – Witch’s Staff, Aspect of Momus
- Arcana cards – Eternity, The Furies, Origination, The Huntress, The Champions
- Keepsakes – Luckier Tooth or Knuckle Bones
- Boons – Wave Flourish, Double Moonshot, Smolder Ring, Slippery Slope, Scalding Vapor, Swift Flourish, Moon Water
Because of the run-based structure and the RNG of the Boon system, the concept of a best build is an odd one in Hades 2. It’s very much down to the luck of the draw, but if the gods’ whims are in your favor, it’s possible to brew up a high-DPS Witch’s Staff build that carves through enemies and even Guardians.
For our Hades 2 Early Access review, we collectively trialed dozens and dozens of builds, but this is by far the most efficient we’ve come across so far. We’ll walk you through all the details, including Keepsakes, Boons, Arcana Cards, and more below.
Weapon
For this build, the Witch’s Staff, also known as Descura, is the weapon of choice. It may be the starter weapon, but it has one of the best attack speeds in Hades 2. The staff is also one of the most versatile arms with both potent mid-range and strong melee attacks. The build is focused mainly on the staff’s Special to dish out serious DPS.
If you’ve unlocked Nocturnal Arms Aspects, you’ll want to get the Aspect of Momus, which grants +10 to Special and Omega Special Power (more if upgraded). It also lets Melinoe absorb her Omega Special blast when below 50% health to restore 5 HP. If you can afford them, Aspect of Circe and Aspect of Melinoe for the Witch’s Staff are worth having. Upgrade these Aspects as much as you can, too.
Arcana Cards
As a basic setup, the build benefits most from Melinoe having the following Arcana cards equipped:
- Eternity – Adds up to x3 Death Defiance when fully upgraded. Extra lives mean longer runs.
- The Furies – Deal an extra 30% damage to enemies caught in your casts when fully upgraded. Stacks with the Boons listed below along with Origination and The Huntress cards.
- Origination – Deal an extra 50% damage to enemies afflicted by 2 Curses. The idea with this one is to use select Boons to chain scorch and splash to trigger the card using both Cast and Special attacks.
- The Huntress – Deal up to 50% extra damage with your Attack and Special when your Magick gauge is below 100%. This synergises well with Origination and The Furies for massive damage output.
- The Champions – Gives you three re-rolls when fully upgraded, useful to get the Boons you want for this build.
Beyond these core cards, picks like The Titan and The Wayward Son for an HP and Magick boost, The Sorceress, The Messenger, and The Swift Runner for extra mobility and survivability, the Death card to boost Omega moves, and Divinity to increase the chance of Epic boons, round off the build well. Though, feel free to deviate as you see fit as these are very much optional.
Knuckle Bones. Captured by VideoGamer.
Luckier Tooth. Captured by VideoGamer.
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Keepsakes
Luckier Tooth is a solid pick because it gives you an extra Death Defiance-like revive, pushing your HP back up to 101 when at max rank when your health drops to 0. Though this build makes Guardian boss fights significantly easier, especially Hecate, Scylla, and Infernal Cerberus, an extra safety net is always a good option. Otherwise, Knuckle Bones, which shaves 10% off the next Guardian you encounter and reduces the damage taken by Melinoe from Guardians by 15% is another good option. It’s particularly powerful if equipped just before the Chronos boss fight.
Boons
The Boons for this build are aimed at beefing up and speeding up the staff’s Special attacks, while also adding in several curse types, like Splash and Scorch, to make the most of our Arcana card choices. The focus is on a combination of Poseidon, Daedalus Hammer, Hestia, and Hermes Boons. The result is that the staff’s Special fires at an extremely high speed rate, shredding through mobs and making easy work of early bosses like Hecate and Scylla. Given that RNG determines what Boons you’ll get, the following is very much a best case scenario.
Wave Flourish. Captured by VideoGamer.
Double Moonshot. Captured by VideoGamer.
Smolder Ring. Captured by VideoGamer.
Slippery Slope. Captured by VideoGamer.
Scalding Vapor. Captured by VideoGamer.
Swift Flourish. Captured by VideoGamer.
Moon Water. Captured by VideoGamer.
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| Boons | Gods | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Wave Flourish | Poseidon | Specials hit foes with a splash that knocks other foes away and cause Splash damage. |
| Double Moonshot | Daedalus Hammer | Melinoe’s Special fires 2 projectiles that seek foes. |
| Smolder Ring | Hestia | Inflict Scorch Damage every second on foes in your Cast. |
| Slippery Slope | Poseidon | Splash effects from Poseidon also inflict Slip on foes, for 10% bonus damage. |
| Scalding Vapor – Duo | Poseidon and Hestia | When Foes affected by Slip are struck by fire from Hestia, they are affected by 25 Steam Damage (more if rarity is higher) every 0.2 seconds. |
| Swift Flourish | Hermes | Special attack speed is increased by 15%. |
As for the Hex, you’ll want Moon Water, which restores 25 HP up to 3 times, recharged whenever you use a Fountain. With Path of Stars points you can easily double the charges and the amount of HP granted by the Hex. Again, this is a welcome safety net to have, though not essential.
Here are a couple nice-to-have Boons to boost the build if you can get them:
- Hephaestus Molten Touch – Attacks and Special deal bonus damage to Armor.
- Hestia Flame Strike – Attacks inflict Scorch.
Strategy
To start, aim to get Wave Flourish and Double Moonshot as early as possible. These are the basis of the build. They significantly increase the DPS output and attack speed of the staff’s Specials. Don’t hesitate to use the re-rolls of The Champions Arcana card to get these Boons.
After that, get Smolder Ring and Slippery Slope, which add the second curse needed to trigger the Origination card and Slip Damage. Finally, the last pieces of the puzzle are Swift Flourish, to once again increase attack speed, and Scalding Vapor to add in Steam Damage, which is borderline broken at this point in Early Access.
When you dive into a fight, chuck Cast on top of enemies (or use an Attack if you went for Flame Strike) to cause Scorch then spam fire Specials until the Cast expires. Doing so triggers Scorch, Slip, Splash, and Steam damage simultaneously. Now watch as HP bars melt away. It’s downright impressive. Rinse and repeat for each location. Try to keep enemies inside your Cast to trigger The Furies Arcana card as often as possible to further increase damage.
For Guardian boss fights, the tactic is the same, except that you’ll want to occasionally use your Moon Water Hex to keep your health topped up. The build is powerful enough to defeat Hecate in under 30 seconds and Scylla in under 90 seconds. Infernal Cerberus takes a little longer to beat but is much easier than with most standard builds. Chronos is a tough fight even if you have a superb build but the quadruple curse Special spam will eat through his health bar quickly. The issue is staying alive long enough, especially in the second phase, to dish out enough damage, which is where the extra Death Defiance charges and Moon Water Hex should help.
