h2-builds-and-combat

[mystic mango]

Ah yes, we love abysmal garbage because it’s fun

I also enjoy playing Dr Mario in Smash Ultimate

[dry jay]

I may be to used to playing with it
due to the blocking saving me in far too many scenarious to count

[mystic mango]

||shiva|| is hands down like bottom 3 if not the worst aspect in the game

I basically never block with it tbh

[dry jay]

personally I've had fun with it
|| discovering it when I didn't realize secret aspects existed was awesome as hell im ngl ||

[dry jay]

|| I've also dealt unmatched levels of damage with it, THOUSANDS, and I don't have it maxed yet ||

[dry jay]

btw || are there any secret aspects you recommend targeting? ||

[mystic mango]

Blades and axe ones are both really strong

Staff and flames ones are funky but strong

And the skull one kinda stinks but some people like it

[umbral horizon]

Not +30%. It's multiplicative

[dry jay]

I've loved the moonstone axe so I'll probably go for that one

[mystic mango]

Its that if 15% of your hits do x3 damage then you do 30% more damage

I had the math wrong before

It’s effectively a 30% damage buff to ALL damage

[dry jay]

HOLY-

[mystic mango]

Yeah normal crit and ares crit are multiplicative AFTER all other calculation

It’s not additive to other buffs

Unlike every % damage bonus

Same goes for base power because it’s applied before %

Calculation goes (base power * all % bonuses added together (so 50% + 20% for origination and strength so 70%))

Then all of that is * crit activation

Say 50 damage becomes 85 damage then with crit is 255

[dry jay]

Wait what if:
|| Shiva with crit setup ||

[mystic mango]

But add 10 power and that becomes 102 then 306

[mystic mango]

That’s the goal

If you play the funny omega build then yeah you want as much crit chance as possible

And ares crit and ares attack since ||shiva destruction buff|| stacks with wounds

[dry jay]

[split igloo]

wow, the Eris fight sucks, the openings are so short, then it's back to running away

[opal pecan]

It sucks less if you stick on her tail and try to run away less

But she does fly around a lot for sure

[split igloo]

I had 120 hp and strength, switched to the tooth just in case (+101 more hp), still died lmao

very unfun fight

[dry jay]

Gets better as you fight her more
I can practically speed run through her
Get as much damage as possible, and slow down time if possible (the arcana card greatly helps)

[mystic mango]

It’s very fair if you consider she has the turn speed of a heavy tank

Can just sit behind her the whole fight

She literally can’t turn fast enough to hit you

Sister blades hard counters her since you can literally just teleport behind her

I actually quite like the eris fight because she checks your situational awareness and movement

[opal pecan]

Well, when you set Frenzy to max, she does turn a lot faster....

[mystic mango]

Still too slow to catch you but yeah

[split igloo]

anyway, I unlocked the aspects, they're hella grindy, only gonna bother with the staff and the torches I guess

I have the staff with aspect of melinoe rank v now, just got heroic volcanic flourish (500 dmg every 6 sec) literally 4 rooms into Erebus, pretty strong start

I first got Poseidon's flourish, then traded it with Hephaestus, then used Hera's bridal glow to upgrade it

[opal pecan]

They're not really that grindy

After you do a couple of bounties, you'll unlock multiple additional ways to earn Nightmare

[split igloo]

do dual moonshoot and volcanic flourish stack?

[vernal quiver]

no, heph attack and special are 1 time things on a cooldown

[split igloo]

so not worth taking then, thanks

[mystic mango]

Dual moonshot is really good on Mel staff aspect but you don’t have that yet

[mystic mango]

You’re already collecting the materials for the aspects anyways

I mean I already had all of them unlocked by just playing the game before I even got to the credits roll

And you can just choose which ones you want to bother upgrading

But unlocking the first level of each is pretty trivial

Unless you hate the concept of walking 10 feet out of your way to collect resources

[surreal hazel]

Don't have the literal default aspect?

[mystic mango]

You still have to unlock the actual aspect buff

IIRC the first level is still unlock gated

[surreal hazel]

" have the staff with aspect of melinoe rank v now"

why not read what they wrote?

[mystic mango]

They also hadn't even unlocked aspects at all yet

Well I didn't read that cause literally 6 hours ago we were discussing that they didn't even have aspects yet

I read the dual moonshot part and the rest was off my screen 🤷‍♂️

Forgive me for not scrolling up to read back the entire conversation

[surreal hazel]

it was two lines above? But okay

[mystic mango]

Okay? I was on my phone

I saw a question and responded to it with what information I had of the person from our previous conversation

[split igloo]

are trials of chaos a joke? I played the first two and you get obscenely OP builds and just steamroll?

[mystic mango]

That's the point

Most of them are just to show you the possible builds

If you read the instructions the difficulty is based on the eyes that appear on the right side

Some of them like the artemis trial give to white antler which limits you to only 30 health and you have to get through thessaly

And some others are more difficult than that

But the early ones are literally just to make you OP

It's so you can get some star dust early on for incantations and stuff

[split igloo]

the first trial you literally get 1000 hp 600 magic + OP Chaos boons (these aren't available in the regular game, I think?)

the second one is you get torches with all of Zeus' boons and just explode everything

[mystic mango]

Yep, as said that's the point

The early ones are like that

"Hey here's some cool builds you might experiment with as a new player and as a reward here's some star dust so you can brew stuff"

[split igloo]

but can you actually get those Chaos boons normally?

[mystic mango]

Yes

[split igloo]

how?

[mystic mango]

From chaos portals...

[split igloo]

those are different, the ones in the trial were just like normal god boons, no catch

[mystic mango]

Yeah that's cause of the chaos trial

They just come pre-completed

I guess the only way to get pre-completed chaos boons is chaos' keepsake

But like they have the same effects as normal ones

The catch isn't permanent and once cleansed they just become normal boons like the ones in the trial

[split igloo]

ah ok, thought the trial ones had unique icons and such

maybe not

[mystic mango]

They should just look the same as cleansed ones

Yeah they do

[split igloo]

is the chaos keepsake worth using btw? or too much of a gamble?

[mystic mango]

I only ever used it to get a prophecy he gives you to use it for an entire run

Otherwise it's okay but inconsistent

[split igloo]

yeah random boons every 8 rooms seems pretty dumb

can't build around anything

[mystic mango]

Well they can potentially be pretty good. My chaos keepsake run ended up being my fastest surface run at the time but thats also just cause circe staff is broken

But as you level it up it gets to epic boons

Which can be really strong like 100% damage buffs or 100%+ gold or something

So it's a lot stronger fully leveled than base

It's quite strong with enough gambling

All the power of chaos boons with none of the drawbacks

[split igloo]

I seem to be missing a lot of keepsakes between Echo and Chaos, is that normal?

I'm assuming Hades and Icarus give keepsakes, but there are still a lot of slots

[mystic mango]

Yep, characters you haven't run into yet

3 are exclusive to post credits roll

Won't spoil whose

[split igloo]

I can guess

btw, what's up with the tabby cat at the harbor? just a meme?

you pet him and he teleports away, maybe someone in disguise idk

[mystic mango]

You'll unlock something later on regarding that

[split igloo]

huh seriously

[alpine raft]

talk to frinos some more in the crossroads

that's your frog

[split igloo]

I already have the frog achievement, I check him once after every run

[alpine raft]

hmm i swear that's how you unlock it

[mystic mango]

The prerequisites should have to do with clearing hecate several times and collecting resources though the wiki may be outdated

[split igloo]

unlock what? is that a big spoiler?

there are a bunch of animals you can pet, like the dogs behind Hecate, but the tabby cat at the docks seems like it could be something more idk, why does it teleport away

[mystic mango]

Not if you've ever looked at somebody's win screen

Or watched a trailer for the game

[split igloo]

familiars??

[mystic mango]

It's a feature in the trailer anyways

Yeah

That's what all those animals you keep seeing are

[split igloo]

I don't think I have this yet, odd

do I need to beat Chronos once, I got to him twice, and lost

the last run had a very solid build, but I choked again very close to the end of phase 2

[mystic mango]

how many times have you gotten past hecate and do you have all the resource gathering tools?

If you've only done 12 or so runs then likely you haven't beaten her enough times and will shortly

[split igloo]

I only lost to Hecate like once, maybe twice, and I played 20 nights

I have all the tools as well

4 -5 of those runs were surface though

so I beat Hecate at least 13 times

[mystic mango]

Well it's alwyays possible you're just getting dialogue walled

It took me ages to get an incantation from aphrodite despite having the requirements just cause she refused to pick that dialogue

[split igloo]

I always talk to NPC's when they have the exclamation point

[mystic mango]

Some situational dialogue overrides others so that it can fit into what's happening at the moment

[split igloo]

is it an incantion? maybe I have it, I have like 7 I can't chant yet due to being poor

[mystic mango]

Characters are more likely to discuss things related to the moment rather than breaking away to other things

[mystic mango]

if you have one that mentions familiars yeah

You should have had hecate talk about it and then say you unlocked it

[split igloo]

they're now all talking about 3 fates since I just saw the dream where you play as daddy

[mystic mango]

It's not the end of the world

You'll unlock it eventually

Doubt it'll be more than another run or two

[split igloo]

kinda lame though, I want the cute cat lol

[mystic mango]

But that's what happens with situational dialogue

The cat is solid as a familiar, caries early game well

Her name is Toula

[split igloo]

I also want to unlock the door next to Eris, is it the fishing pier incantation?

[mystic mango]

Yeah

That's related to forming relations with characters

[split igloo]

and there's another one for like a shade tavern or something, but I don't see where it could fit, no more doors

[mystic mango]

Over under where artemis sits

[split igloo]

people spoiled me that there are also hot spring scenes, kinda like sex scenes?? but that's probably after the first clear

[mystic mango]

No lol

They just show shoulder up of characters and they chat about life

[split igloo]

a lot of fan art shows Mel together with Icarus, is that her bf, or just a fan ship

[alpine raft]

just fans

[mystic mango]

No spoilers but they know eachother is all you know when you first meet him

[split igloo]

meh, I guess she's a loner then

[mystic mango]

They have some friendship of sorts

He is a character you'll want to gift when you see him since he's rare

[split igloo]

I had no nectars.... only saw him once

[mystic mango]

Well you'll catch him next time

His keepsake is also pretty solid

Bit luck based but potentially really good

[split igloo]

he was like the wings may be faulty, but these boons will work lol

[mystic mango]

It's his Mk2 Iron Man suit

Also like he's already dead so nothing's gonna stop him

[split igloo]

oof, is that a spoiler? I thought he was alive somehow

I know he dies in the legend

[mystic mango]

Yeah this is after he died

[split igloo]

for flying too close to the sun

[mystic mango]

Not a spoiler it also says in his namecard that he's a shade

[split igloo]

if he's dead, then why was Mel so concerned about his safety

[mystic mango]

Well actually it does say "free spirit" on his namecard so its a bit more implied

[mystic mango]

Well he can still get hurt in some ways but he's immortal now

He could also be captured I'd imagine

[split igloo]

is Odysseus dead too

he has that green glow around him

[mystic mango]

Yes everybody in the crossroads is dead

or a god/titan

Since the crossroads is part of the underworld

[split igloo]

well, some (most?) are children of the night

[mystic mango]

Well yeah cause they've been brought to the crossroads that serves the Will of Night AKA Nyx who birthed most of the gods that you see there

Eris, Moros, Charon and Nemesis are all siblings

[split igloo]

been a while since I played Hades 1, but who was Hades' wife, was it Nyx or Persephone?

[mystic mango]

Persephone is their actual mother

Nyx was revealed pretty early on in H1 to not be Zag's mother

When you find the note from persephone in Hades' desk

[split igloo]

but Nyx is his actual wife?

[mystic mango]

Nope

[split igloo]

so she's just chilling there?

[alpine raft]

i forget why she hangs around in 1

[mystic mango]

Nyx is an ancient god who presided over the underworld before it became hades's task and her power protects the underworld

Nyx predates all the olympic gods

[split igloo]

Nemesis just told me that Nyx made Hades the master of the underworld because she was too busy managing it or something like that, to share the responsibilities

[mystic mango]

Yeah the Underworld is Nyx's domain

Hades just runs the place

[split igloo]

in Persona 3 Nyx is like the death itself, very evil

the personification of the end of everything

[mystic mango]

Yeah Nyx is close to Chaos in terms of being near omnipotent

In Greek mythology and in game

[split igloo]

was Chaos in the Greek myths too?

[mystic mango]

Night itself, before reality or time there was night

Chaos is the creator of all things in myth

The first being

[split igloo]

as in primordial chaos? thought this was from science lol, like the big bang

[mystic mango]

existing at or from the beginning of time; primeval.

Definition of primordial

So yeah

[split igloo]

I read the myths when I was a kid, it's been decades, I only remember bits and pieces

[mystic mango]

I ought to read more into it, it's interesting stuff

My knowledge is mostly surface level

The commonly known myths at most

[split igloo]

to be honest, I was a bit taken aback by Hephaestus being in a wheelchair, but then I looked it up, and that's a thing in the myths, wow

he's crippled and often rides a winged chariot which is kinda like a wheelchair

[mystic mango]

Would you believe me if I always just thought he was sitting in a chair?

okay yeah now that I think about it I do recall that somewhere

I thought he was just being lazy and sitting down and now I feel bad

[alpine raft]

wait where do we see that

[split igloo]

https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K7.6.html

the winged chair

[mystic mango]

https://hades.fandom.com/wiki/Hephaestus

that's absolutely a wheelchair

[alpine raft]

wtf i never noticed...

[mystic mango]

Yeah me neither

I thought it was just a very stylish chair

[median anvil]

hera tossed this dude off MOUNT OLYMPUS while he was a NEWBORN because of how ugly he was

[alpine raft]

next youll say aphrodite has been naked the whole time

[split igloo]

Zeus or someone maimed him for being a womanizer, so he's lame (bad leg) in the myths and has to ride that chariot

[mystic mango]

NGL my man is serving looks they didn't make him ugly enough

People would absolutely go after this version of Hephaestus

[mystic mango]

Zeus maiming somebody for being a womanizer? How ironic

[split igloo]

well it's Zeus, he's the biggest hypocrite

[split igloo]

oh yeah, why do Hades, Zag and Mel all have burning feet, just a stylistic choice?

I noticed it when playing as Hades in that dream

[mystic mango]

Artistic decision as far as I'm aware

Hades also has burning feet during his H1 boss fight

It's not mythologically based

[split igloo]

someone on the team has a thing for feet maybe, like Miyazaki

[mystic mango]

Ah yes, the other feet fiend

[split igloo]

also, about chthonic fate, you don't pronounce the 'ch', it's just thonic, but the game says kuhthonic, wonder why

[mystic mango]

They say some things differently and it definitely does bug some people

But like you say Cthulhu with the C pronounced so maybe they went off that or something

[wild drift]

Speaking of feet, are the only non-barefoot characters in this game the ones wearing armor like Athena, Ares, and Nemesis?

[mystic mango]

Is moros barefoot?

Yep

Eris is wearing just sandals

[wild drift]

Can't remember if Apollo, Zeus, Hera, and Demeter had anything on when we see them in Olympus

[split igloo]

none of them wear sandals?

[mystic mango]

Many of them are just straight barefoot

Some wear sandles

[split igloo]

well that's definitely a fetish then

[mystic mango]

BRB

[mystic mango]

Or just... that they're gods 🤷‍♂️

[wild drift]

My hc is that they have some sort of protective layer over them that prevents them from getting dirty as one of their god powers

[mystic mango]

Zeus and Hera are barefoot

[split igloo]

I'm not against it! it's fun to have some small fetishes here and there, adds to the atmosphere, but traditionally the Greek gods wear sandals

[mystic mango]

Demeter I think is barefoot and I think apollo wears sandals

[mystic mango]

I mean they are gods so actual bathing is basically a non-issue and I bet they just float slightly off the ground or something

If touching the ground even matters to them

[surreal hazel]

Zeus "lands" when he arrives to zap typhon

[mystic mango]

Damn RIP the guy that hasn't reached them yet

I think

[split igloo]

I know there's a Typhoon, cause there's like 100 reddit threads complaining about him being too hard

[mystic mango]

NGL Typhon is a cakewalk after the first 2-3 clears

[split igloo]

but I'm only up to Eris so far on the surface path

[mystic mango]

He hits like a 18 wheeler but only if you let him

[alpine raft]

redditors love to complain typhons health bar is hidden as if it matters

[mystic mango]

Who needs a healthbar when his transitions last longer for me than actually fighting him

[split igloo]

I'm not very good at isometric games, I choked so bad in Chronos phase 2 despite having an OP build (600 damage every 1.5 sec volcanic flourish), it's hard to dodge in this camera perspective

I'll try with the tooth next time

[mystic mango]

Heph is really fun to build into since you can play pretty safe and still do tons of damage

Me absolutely hammering typhon to death with 2994 damage heph blasts without even getting crit on them

His blast duos are really strong

Seismic servo for cooldown, chain reaction for double blasts, rude awakening for tons of extra base damage, cryo pounder for extra 50% damage on frozen enemies

[split igloo]

I also had 10% chance crit btw, but I don't think the blasts crit??

[mystic mango]

They do

I was hitting 4773 damage on blasts in one of my clips with crit

[split igloo]

so you can hit for 1k+?

[mystic mango]

1k? hah

I posted the clip in #h2-victory-boasting if you're willing to spoil yourself on the fight

[split igloo]

600 x 3 = 1800, I don't think you can go much higher, at least without later upgrades

and it's 600 because of the Strength arcana, otherwise it's 500

[mystic mango]

Rude awakening is 300 extra damage

Grand caldera is like 100-250

And that's BASE damage

[split igloo]

anyway, there are no downsides to switching to the tooth once you get to Tartarus? it's just free HP, right? and once/if it pops, the arcana comes back online?

[mystic mango]

Add on origination, strength, furies, and any other % bonuses

And then crit goes on at the very end as a total damage multiplier

[tall notch]

Freezer burn before they capped scorch was a brilliant way of getting big hits

[mystic mango]

I was hitting 4773 on SMITHY RUSH. the 200 damage one

That's how broken those builds can get

#h2-victory-boasting message

[split igloo]

are the hexes any good, I've been trying some but they're kinda clunky to use, there's one that hits for 1k but the windup is 4 whole seconds, the boss will be somewhere else by then lol

[mystic mango]

Sorry 4788 not 4773

The absolute limit yeah but near 3000 is achievable without any crit as I've shown

Let me link the other clip

nearly 3000 damage no crit with chain reaction

[wild drift]

Actually yeah if Smithy Rush is hitting 4k+ then Volcanic Flourish should be able to hit 12k+ I wonder what other modifiers

Oh yeah I forgot Strength

[mystic mango]

#h2-victory-boasting message @wild drift

[mystic mango]

The power isn't multiplicative though

Grand caldera and rude awakening just add

[wild drift]

Rallying Cry and Extended Family too

[mystic mango]

Not multiply over smithy rush. It wouldn't triple the damage

[tall notch]

Have you unlocked godsents yet?

[mystic mango]

It's only 300 more base damage

[wild drift]

Oh yeah I forgot lol literally right after doing calculations that factored in additive and multiplicative

[mystic mango]

Special is 300 base more than smithy rush which I was hitting 4.7k with

[split igloo]

uhhh, what's that again? there's some skill tree for hexes occasionally, path of stars or something

[tall notch]

Oh then you haven't yet, keep playing you'll unlock a feature that juices hexes up

[split igloo]

I think the dark side hex could be interesting, you get 5+ sec of invincibility, could be useful for tanking Chronos' big attacks

[tall notch]

That's all I'm gonna say without spoiling it

[split igloo]

but you lose your normal moveset

[mystic mango]

It's overall a damage nerf though so becomes almost a downgrade to use if you don't need to avoid damage

It replaces your moveset

Needs nearly maxed path of stars and godsent to be decent damage

[split igloo]

yeah it's definitely a damage nerf, but can be useful during the add phases, just quickly tap them while you're invincible, no need to be careful

[mystic mango]

I'd rather take Phase shift for that purpose

[wild drift]

Yeah Dark Side is basically like Posiedon/Ares call in Hades 1

[mystic mango]

Keep my moves while not taking a damage nerf

[mystic mango]

Mediocre damage but full invulnerability

[split igloo]

what's phase shift

[mystic mango]

Slows time, it's another hex

Can be VERY good

[mystic mango]

#h2-victory-boasting message

[split igloo]

I think I've only tried the laser (garbage, it roots you in one place for too long), the big nuke (takes too long to actually start), and dark side which is okay if situational

[mystic mango]

Yeah laser is pretty bad, total eclipse is decent damage

[split igloo]

kinda shame that hexes are meh because Selene is cute and so nice to Mel

[mystic mango]

Best hexes IMHO are wolf howl (basically a super invulnerability dash), twilight curse (makes enemies just useless for a stupid amount of time and can even instakill some things), phase shift (slows time and can buff your attack speed and damage, and night bloom (minion that can do stupid damage in the right situations)

They're also decent without any paths of stars but not bad if you build into it

The part that's annoying about path of stars is it's random the arrangement and the upgrades you get

[split igloo]

oh yeah there's also the sheep hex, I've tried that one as well, but the duration is too short, basically the enemies just stop attacking for like 4 sec, not much point

[mystic mango]

That's twilight curse, you'll appreciate it eventually

It's easily the strongest crowd control in the game

Can shut down several mini bosses entirely

And is very low cost so very spammable

[split igloo]

but they get to keep their armor/defenses/hp, it's just they stop attacking

[mystic mango]

And? So you don't have to dodge

You'll appreciate it once you get to vow of fangs, frenzy, etc

Where enemies are faster and way stronger and have special abilities

[split igloo]

eh could be useful if you're being ganked really bad I guess

[mystic mango]

You haven't even gotten to adding fear yet so just saying you'll come around to it

maybe

It's easily my favorite hex

[split igloo]

speaking of the sheep curse, I finally managed to dodge Hecate's using the earlier tip, she congratulated me for doing her fight hitless

[mystic mango]

Nice, you have grown, Padawan

Glad I could help you with that. It's a weird one to figure out

[split igloo]

Chronos I think I'll figure out, will try him with the tooth, but Eris seems like BS so far

[mystic mango]

Again the tip for eris is literally just stand behind her

[split igloo]

I should try the hug strat, but I'm afaird that I'll die instantly

[mystic mango]

She can't turn fast enough to hit you

Literally just stand close to her and strafe and dodge behind her if she starts to turn

Rule of levers is that it becomes faster the further you are from the center

So standing further away makes it harder to avoid her

[split igloo]

her shotgun combo has like 5 shots, so you need to strafe 5 times at least I guess, and if you don't you will probably lose way too much hp

[mystic mango]

I may have a clip one second

[split igloo]

can you strafe the sniper shot as well? I just hide behind the pillars

[mystic mango]

You can and you can also just dodge it at the right time

[split igloo]

she also gets a double damage buff sometimes, is there an indication when it ends?

the first time she said "back to normal" after a while, but nothing on subsequent buffs

I guess it's just for the duration of her current attack pattern?

[mystic mango]

Posted a clip for you

That's also the chaos trial I mentioned where you only have 30 health

[mystic mango]

Something like that IDK

[split igloo]

how did you not get hit at 0:15 when she lunged at you

[wild drift]

Yeah it's a mechanic in H1 when you use the weapon she uses that expires after a few seconds

[split igloo]

is that a dagger parry or something

[mystic mango]

Parry yeah

That's artemis' thing

Can parry ANY attack while it's up

And I mean ANY

Including chronos instakills

And yet it's still a bottom 5 aspect in the game

[wild drift]

Lasts until the orange and blue effect around her disappears

[mystic mango]

I didn't know what the indication was, never paid attention or killed her too fast

[split igloo]

the dagger aspects I have say they only parry sometimes, which sounds dumb, like are you going to take a chance on this

[mystic mango]

Nah it's guaranteed

The % chance is the crit chance it gives

After parrying

It gives 8 hits of increase crit chance after the parry

[split igloo]

so you just special and it parries?

[mystic mango]

Omega attack

It's while charging

[split igloo]

omega special?

[wild drift]

Never used Artemis Daggers but I believe the parry has a cooldown

[mystic mango]

I said omega attack

[split igloo]

ah ok

[mystic mango]

It has a cooldown yeah indicated by the dial next to the health bar

And it's only one hit

Doesn't block multi-hits

[split igloo]

anyway yeah I'll stick to the staff and torches for now, much more straightforward and less grinding for upgrade materials

[mystic mango]

The blades are fun when you get the hang of them and I've had some quite solid runs with the melinoe aspect but the Artemis and pan aspects are lame

Hidden aspect is BALLER though

Love the hidden aspect

[split igloo]

is the dagger parry omnidirectional btw or do you need to aim it?

[mystic mango]

360 yeah

Not directional like H1 shield

Or the black coat in this game which can block directionally with omega attack

Artemis parry can also block things black coat can't

[split igloo]

I can't find the adamant whatever it's called rocks for the coat

[mystic mango]

It's in 3rd area on surface

Past Eris

[split igloo]

it's not tartarus?

[mystic mango]

Nope Tartarus is marble

Adamant is in the 3rd surface region

[split igloo]

no wonder then

[mystic mango]

Yep

[split igloo]

is it a fun weapon? what IS it? like fists?

[mystic mango]

It's a jetpack with rocket fists and seeking missiles

It's fun but it has its haters

[split igloo]

power fist from Fallout lol

[mystic mango]

It can feel a little clunky at first until you abandon using the omegas

The omegas are kinda ass. So you just dash attack around and spam missiles

[split igloo]

honestly, a lot of weapons in this game are just too wacky, H1 was much more straightforward

[mystic mango]

Well this game has a much more methodical playstyle while H1 was much more in-your-face

Close range weapons mostly

In this game most of the weapons have considerable range and more AOE

And as such there's way more enemies that are faster and use more projectiles

[split igloo]

I was watching a making of H2 video yesterday, and they said they wanted all new weapons to fit the witch theme, hence these gimmicky weapons, but maybe they got a bit too creative with them idk

[mystic mango]

I think they're pretty straightforward as far as Roguelike weapons go

[split igloo]

in H1 most weapons were very easy to pick up and some like the bow were just facerolls

[mystic mango]

This game, as said, is a lot more methodical while H1 was a lot more of breaking your hands from constant dash attacking

So having a wider array of abilities and more unique effects makes sense

[split igloo]

yeah H1 had chain dashes, right? like in hyper light drifter?

[mystic mango]

Yeah you had double dash as a base option

And could get a bonus dash from hermes

But you actually are faster as melinoe with sprint

Zag couldn't sprint

[split igloo]

I mean, H2 is methodical as in you need to keep putting down casts to manage aggro/zoning, but IMO it's just as fast

[mystic mango]

It's not slow, no, but there's more situational responses than just "smack that guy or run away" since it's easier to get overwhelmed by numbers

[split igloo]

I just hide behind casts lol, and when it's a boss I put a cast directly on top of them

[mystic mango]

And that's their intended purpose

There's some enemies you literally can't outrun without casting

Especially on Vow of Frenzy 2

Those punchy guys in the Fields of Mourning are super fast

And those guys that scream at you in Erebus

You have to cast keep from getting bum rushed

[split igloo]

the small fish in Oceanus are the fastest I think

[mystic mango]

Yeah those too

They blitz you instantly if you aren't careful

But it's very intentional design how the casts work

And the enemies are heavily designed around the cast being an inherent ability to all weapons

[split igloo]

honestly, I wish there was a proper tutorial, when I started playing they just drop you in Erebus with no explanation, took me a couple runs to figure out casts

[mystic mango]

Thats the same as H1 was

That's how most roguelikes are

Part of metaprogression is learning the game and trying new stuff

Schelemeus also tells you tips

A proper tutorial would make the early game pretty trivial

You're supposed to be a little unaware

[split igloo]

oh btw, is it true that Eris spawns in the underworld and messes up your run if you're doing too well on your first few nights?

[mystic mango]

Yep

[split igloo]

never seen her there, has to be on the first 3 nights or so I guess?

[mystic mango]

Yeah it's only the first handful of nights

She's literally just there to bully you if you're too good then never does it again

[split igloo]

does she become nice at some point in the story

or is being a bully her whole character arc

[mystic mango]

She's literally Strife Encarnate

She exists solely to cause discord

Discordia being her name in Roman Mythology

She becomes nicer later on like characters did in Hades 1

But she's literally just here cause she likes making things difficult for people

[split igloo]

funny Eris pic https://x.com/turoboto/status/1795816241682428338

B!NTXE (@turoboto)

"Nice argument babe, but look, you've been drawn as the crying soyjack while I'm the based chad."

#Hades2 #HadesGame

X · May 29, 2024, 1:55 PM

[mystic mango]

She would

[split igloo]

reminds me of Megaera from H1

[mystic mango]

Meg was kinda just sour and mean while Eris actively enjoys being an ass

She literally says "Hecate scolds me in private. At least do it in public so people can know it was me"

[split igloo]

Nemesis is also pretty mean, come to think of it

[mystic mango]

Meg was just doing her job

[split igloo]

it's just Mel and Zag are goody two shoes because they're protagonists

[mystic mango]

Nemisis is also Retribution incarnate so she literally sees nothing but the worst in people

She only sees people who deserve punishment. That's her whole job

So it obviously makes her rigid and sour about the world

[split igloo]

Nemesis scoffs when I salute her

[mystic mango]

There's also reasons you'll see when you talk to her more about why she's sour at Melinoe

But yeah she's closer to Meg than Eris is

Meg is a Fury. Her job is fighting and killing, like Nemesis

Eris just likes doing whatever pisses people off and causes wars

[split igloo]

aren't they all furies

[mystic mango]

No. Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto are the three furies

[split igloo]

I thought all chthonic goddesses were furies

unless?

[mystic mango]

Furies is their Roman name

The Erinyes is their greek name

[split igloo]

well yeah this is the article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erinyes

[mystic mango]

There's three of them and they're also daughters of Nyx

Megaera is the personification of jealous rage

So no the children of nyx are not all furies

The furies are just 3 of the daughters of Nyx

Alongside the MANY other children

Moros, Momus, Eris, Nemesis, and several others

Hypnos

Oizys, thanatos, Hemera

There's like 15 of them

Some nice and some not

[split igloo]

Melinoe is a semi-real goddess though, she's only mentioned in like 2 ancient texts, this was in that making of H2 video

[mystic mango]

Oh and the three fates as well

[mystic mango]

Goddess of Nightmare is what they go with in the game whether that's actually what her myth is

Melinoë (/mɪˈlɪnoʊiː/; Ancient Greek: Μηλινόη, romanized: Mēlinóē pronounced [mɛːlinóɛː]) is a chthonic goddess invoked in one of the Orphic Hymns (2nd or 3rd centuries AD?), and represented as a bringer of nightmares and madness. In the hymn, Melinoë has characteristics that seem similar to Hecate and the Erinyes,[1] and Melinoë's name is sometimes thought to be an epithet of Hecate.[2] The name "Melinoë" also appears on a metal tablet in association with Persephone.[3]

[split igloo]

she's way too nice for a goddess of nightmare lol

I haven't seen her snap at anyone yet, well maybe Eris

[mystic mango]

Nightmare doesn't mean she has to be mean

Moros is the god of Doom and he takes some joy in how people suffer

[split igloo]

well the devs obviously took some creative liberty, e.g. Hades himself is often portrayed negatively in most media he appears in, like in Disney's Heracles

but here this is the family you root for, so they're mostly nice people

[mystic mango]

Okay okay ass not adding a hole to that

But hades is an ass in the first game and only becomes caring after realizing how much others matter to him

Like you're meant to dislike Hades in the first game to some degree

I mean he's the bitter, angry brother who got kicked out

[split igloo]

wasn't the first game more about Zag being rebellious than Hades being antagonistic? been a while, so can't really argue

[mystic mango]

He actively hid the existence of his mother from zagreus

And fought him escaping the underworld

And lied to him several times

It takes Persephone convincing him that they need to be a family because Zagreus wants her back in his life

[split igloo]

how is Zag fine being on the surface though? unless that part of the lore didn't exist yet in 1?

[mystic mango]

Hades is nice now because of a LOT of effort on Zag's part

[mystic mango]

He isn't fine

He still suffers going on the surface

Hades's bloodline is cursed

And so melinoe had to create an incantation to overwrite the pact so she could survive on the surface

Zagreus would die while talking to persephone in the first game

And in the epilogue you invite the gods to amend ties with hades by visiting in the underworld

Since hades and zagreus can't go to olympus

only persephone can leave the underworld

[split igloo]

so what was even the point of him escaping then, if he basically can't

[mystic mango]

He found his mother

[median anvil]

he wanted to find Persephone

[mystic mango]

And eventually he becomes "Security Specialist" so he can keep fighting out of tartarus

While improving the security

That's the excuse for the game being infinite

After persephone comes home

[split igloo]

I only did 1 clear in H1, it got really grindy after that

[mystic mango]

You also find that Hades kept a painting of persephone and the letter from her for a very long time

He still cared about her but tried to hide the truth from zagreus because he knew zagreus couldn't leave the underworld

[split igloo]

sounds pretty contrived, but works for a roguelike I guess

[mystic mango]

I mean it works well enough if you actually are playing the game and experience it first hand with the dialogue

Rather than hearing somebody's tired ramblings

[split igloo]

I never bothered unlocking the full story, from what I've seen you need like 120 clears to unlock the epilogue, that's crazy

[mystic mango]

Lore discussing a game you played a single clear of is gonna be a bit confusing

[split igloo]

given the game has only the same 3 areas you go through over and over

[surreal hazel]

In the western media, but in the canon he's.... kinda just there

He is the unseen one, after all

[mystic mango]

Yeah he literally just exists in the place nobody goes to and does his thing

He's a record keeper and just keeps the dead in check

[surreal hazel]

The story of Persephone kinda sorta doesn't portray him as a bad guy?

[mystic mango]

Tends to the ones who lived gloriously

That stuff

Hades is just "that brother who got the underworld which already existed"

It makes for a decent villain story in western media but yeah doesn't really exist in Mythos mostly

[surreal hazel]

he wasn't exactly openly worshipped in greece. Who wants to worship the concept of death?

[mystic mango]

Well not even death

That's thanatos

[surreal hazel]

the afterlife then

[mystic mango]

Hades either decides your eternal suffering or everlasting glory

He doesn't send you there or really control where you go

He just makes sure you end up in the right place

The accountant of the underworld

[split igloo]

is Hypnos just a decoration, or does something happen eventually?

[mystic mango]

You gotta wake him up somehow

It's a prophecy

[split igloo]

some smelling salts? lmao

[mystic mango]

Not far off lol

But there’s a mini plot line and some interactions behind it with a few characters

Gotta make sure you gift him twice though then it unlocks the prophecy

I waited forever to gift him a second time so I didn’t unlock it until well in

[split igloo]

oh yeah I've only been gifting everyone once, maybe that's why the familiars are taking a while

I want to unlock all the keepsakes first

[mystic mango]

First unlocks the keepsake, second unlocks prophecy

After that it’s just until they want special gifts

[split igloo]

I thought second onwards was just their story/log entries

[mystic mango]

Just keep gifting, generally save the nectar for those special interactions or rare encounters

[mystic mango]

After the second it’s mostly just for dialogue and completion

Idk if anything really UNLOCKS after the second

But I can’t say that confidently

[split igloo]

are those prophecies good, or more busywork for extra bones

[mystic mango]

If you just care about clearing runs you don’t REALLY need to bother but the rewards can speed up your meta progression

[split igloo]

idk, a lot of these are just checklists and then you get +100 bones

[mystic mango]

Some of them are WAY more substantial than that

Obviously if you just play the whole game and get everything without doing them then they’re worthless

But they’re good to speed things up a bit

If you’re in PC multiple of them are steam achievements

[split igloo]

well I'll try a few and see what happens

the Switch version has no cheevos at all? I'm on PC

[mystic mango]

They’re not hard to get, if you’re not confident about any of your options for a boon then just take the one that shows prophecy

[mystic mango]

Yeah Nintendo is lame and doesn’t have achievements

It’s really dumb

[split igloo]

devs are free to add their own achievements, like on the main menu screen, some Switch games have that

[mystic mango]

Well yeah but no profile achievements

Nothing you can see without opening the game

In-game achievements still exist via the prophecies

But there’s some stuff that exists on PC achievements that isn’t even a prophecy

Rarest steam achievement isn’t a prophecy

I still have yet to complete it just cause I’ve put it off

But it’s harder than the technical 100% completion

[split igloo]

I think there's an achievement for petting Cerberus but he refuses each time, maybe I need to clear the game once

[mystic mango]

It’ll be a bit before you can pet him

He’s obviously on edge with not recognizing you as family and with all his family being imprisoned

[split igloo]

yeah I guess you need to free daddy at least

[tough torrent]

What? I get Charyb way more than Yargo lmao. Now way. Unless fear does something about the odds

[mystic mango]

Nah it’s just unlucky

I see them maybe 50:50

Thankfully both are susceptible to twilight curse

[tough torrent]

I hate yargo more than charyb, so its not even negativity bias

Man you two have been chatting since i went to bed yeesh

[mystic mango]

Why? Just stand behind him

And dodge occasionally when he shoots the ricochet shots

[tough torrent]

Not sure. Maybe it's just because I get them so infrequently that im not used to their attacks still

[fast prawn]

back to my roots :)
https://imgur.com/a/dXcC4S6

[surreal hazel]

Rip and Tear

[limber vapor]

anybody have a good build/strategy for beating zag? I been going jeweled pom, athena and just kinda throwing myself at him but after his death defiance he usually knocks me out.

[tough torrent]

A weapon with long range so you can kite him around

[limber vapor]

so maybe just cheese him from a distance with the sister blades?

and or staff even?

[tough torrent]

Staff or non medea skull or something probably

Axe OSpec maybe

[limber vapor]

getting his trinket and maxing that bond is literally the last thign I have to do

pardon

[tough torrent]

I think he's only got one heart in the codex

[limber vapor]

nice

[tough torrent]

Unless he gets more after the first one

Anubis might be aight since it charges o spec so fast

And being a boss, zag is probably immune to the pull?

[limber vapor]

id wager

[tough torrent]

Or mel staff if you dont want to channel

[limber vapor]

I don't mind channeling

anubis gives me the option I think

funny I hated channeling at first even though all I had to do was a hold a button

[odd bolt]

Actually when he gives you the keepsake and you max the bond he gets like 10 hearts in the book of shadows all at once its kinda cute

[tough torrent]

Lmao

"My sister can kick my ass i guess she's alright"

[frank siren]

If you can, fight him later on in the run when you have more boons. He really only has 2 attacks so you have to watch his moveset and dont pre-dodge

[tough torrent]

Can he spawn in the third region? I feel like the latest I've seen the contract is oceanus end shop

[odd bolt]

In fields no because fields doesn't have midshop

And he can only spawn in midshops, but in Olympus he can

[tough torrent]

[wild drift]

I swear I've had a midshop in Fields before

[median anvil]

only in fresh file and in the last story run

[wild drift]

Oh ok

[tough torrent]

Weird

[limber vapor]

intersting

yea I've only seen him up into oceanus

[odd bolt]

yeah cause there's no midshop on fields/tart

same way you can't find him on ephyra as well

[limber vapor]

makes sense

[tough torrent]

Imagine if medea's room was just a shop sometimes

[tall notch]

Zag's the easiest in Olympus imo, you are stacked because it's decently far into a Surface run

and Surface does throw lots of power at you to allow you to deal with the wild stuff that happens there

[winged acorn]

Can someone show me the best build for aspect of nergal and arcana cards please

[tall notch]

get psychic whirlwind and then you can play any % attack really

[dry jay]

Anyone got tips for vor chronos?
He got healed too much and I couldn't kill the absurd amount of summons

[spark crown]

Hera is my psychic whirlwind god of choice

[spark crown]

Take the time to learn his patterns and what his wind ups look like then obliterate him

Also deep dissident (or whatever) is the best Hades boon for it

[dry jay]

I took like no damage from him and was doing insane amounts of damage but as soon as the summons spawned I couldn't do anything

[spark crown]

Halves his summons

[dry jay]

Oh ye

[spark crown]

What weapon are you on

[dry jay]

The secret black coat
Forgot what it's called lol

[spark crown]

EWWW

@viral yew help this poor soul with shiva

[dry jay]

I'm tryna get the secret axe rn

The secret black coat I got entirely in accident z and didn't even know it existed

[spark crown]

Same but I got axe first

All the secret aspects are niche af

[dry jay]

I'm so used to blocking everything now lol

[spark crown]

What's your arcana setup?

[dry jay]

I'll check in a minute
I'm eating rn

[spark crown]

Posting it here aswell as in your DMS but this is at least 99% of what most people use for arcana https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/ArcanaDeck/?deck=WyJjMSIsImMyIiwiYzMiLCJjNiIsImM3IiwiYzgiLCJjMTEiLCJjMTIiLCJjMTMiLCJjMTQiLCJjMTUiLCJjMTciLCJjMTgiLCJjMjQiXQ==

[keen bluff]

(strength and death can be swapped)

[dry jay]

just found out about the third phase..
how exactly do you do that? i lost 3 death defiance in 10 seconds..

[spark crown]

Again deep dissident is a carry but I personally haven't reached that other than the needed version from the ending

[dry jay]

ok just realized i dont have to beat him
thank god

[viral basin]

I'd like to try and do a fun run where you only use one damage source, meaning the most damage inflicted screen at the end only says one thing. What's the best way to do that?

I tried it with thanatos, but I'd accidentally do dash strikes, traps did some damage, and I was reminded that frinos does some damage.

Is there a way to not do dash attacks, or do I need to just use a weapon without a dash attack, or just be really careful?

[spark crown]

Ahh your doing the list stuff

[spark crown]

With all weapons it's best to do cast only with casts that do pure cast damage

Unfortunately is so easy to get other damagers

[odd bolt]

the best advice for third phase chronos is know when you shouldnt attack
as soon as phase 3 starts he starts doing the "laser" attacks teleporting everywhere, dont attack, just go to the edge of the arena and run around the arena while evading the lasers. when the summons a clone also just run and evade

[dry jay]

is the aspect of nergal worth investing in?

[viral basin]

I suppose that would be zeus or hestia cast, but can't really do circe as psychic leash would do damage.

[spark crown]

You need it fully leveled for its effect to be decent

[spark crown]

Hestia = cast and scorch iirc

[dry jay]

before I go investing that much nmare..
are any other secret aspects worth looking into?

[spark crown]

Dagger

Staff is ok too ig

[viral basin]

Depends what you like playing. Nergal is my least favorite because it's so slow, but others may like it.

[mystic mango]

Probably the best overall weapon for all 4 aspects is Torches

Mel torches is solid, Supay struggles a little early game but gets very strong late game, and Eos and Moros are super strong from start to finish

If you enjoy torches you can’t go wrong with any of the aspects

[vernal quiver]

Crazy to say when skull and staff exists

[mystic mango]

I don’t hear anybody dog on the worst torch aspect as much as I hear people dog on Hel and Momus

I’m saying most consistent IMHO

But yes skull and staff are technically better

[vernal quiver]

Torches suck balls at high fear(62+)

65 and 67 they're borderline dysfunctional

[mystic mango]

Well now are we talking 62 fear? I mean they’re still investing nightmare

I was saying for overall

Early on the easiest weapon to pick up for me at least was torches

[vernal quiver]

Low fear staff and skull are still infinitely more consistent

[mystic mango]

Okay okay I’ll just stop giving my opinions since apparently they’re dumb and invalid

[vernal quiver]

Theyre all (minus anubis) little to no mana weapons that need like 2 things to be active

But also at low fear who tf cares anytning works

[mystic mango]

Again I don’t think the person asking where to invest their nightmare cares about that

Like yeah play whatever

But they asked suggestion and I gave my opinion

Your opinion is what? 400+ hours in?

You have more experience to speak on of course but I still provided mine

[surreal hazel]

Staff is like, 3 S tier aspects and one more that only looks bad by comparison

[tall notch]

??? What

I can't speak about anything above 62 but at 62 torches are great

[median anvil]

no moros is very much functional at 65

[manic shuttle]

They only suck at max fear because of no sorceress

[tough torrent]

Shrimply hit it off judgement after the first boss

[median anvil]

moros has ok damage at 67, the main issue is safety

[tough torrent]

Thats my main struggle with all torches. You really just wanna start blasting but then you're just standing there

[split igloo]

are hephaestus builds meta? start with hephaestus keepsake, pick volcanic flourish, after first boss switch to poseidon keepsake, get seismic servo

then keep upgrading volcanic flourish, if you come across echo and get pom pom pom you're pretty much set to 1 blast every 1 sec

with origination, strength, huntress and all the other passives you can be hitting for over 1k before any crits, every second, for 0 mana

this is just something I figured out myself after 25 runs, but it's pretty boring, what other strong builds are there? scorch DOT? chain lightning?

[tough torrent]

Heph blasts are good but really need rarity

[naive grove]

Which would be best for medea attack

[tough torrent]

And poms, but there's a trinket later for free poms so not as big a deal

[naive grove]

Aphrodite or ares?

[tough torrent]

Maybe hera or apollo or zooz

[naive grove]

Zeus for attack?for medea aspect i don't think it would be better tho

I don't understand how exactly ares attack works ? Some ppl saying ares works better

[wild drift]

I would say Ares on attack, Zeus on special

Ares attack adds 50 base power to your attack with an interval of 3 seconds per enemy, plus a small percentage boost

[median anvil]

because medea already has 90% damage boost on attack
if you put another %boost on your attack you'll have diminishing returns, the 50 power from wounds is a massive boost

[umbral horizon]

Medea maybe the only aspect we can pick any attack/special and it's still good

[naive grove]

Yeh i understood..it give 50 power and percentage damage which is better than

Aphrodite cause we keep spamming wounds with medea attack

[naive grove]

Does aphrodite 120% attack is less efficient than 65% ares?

[split igloo]

how do I unlock Ares? I think that's the only god I haven't met yet

[median anvil]

when you already have like 200% boost from other sources, yeah

[median anvil]

see the final boss of the surface

[split igloo]

I died a few rooms into the summit, do I have to reach the actual boss

for Ares to appear

[naive grove]

For the aspect of pan

[median anvil]

yes

[naive grove]

Posedion special or hestia special? Which would better

??

[median anvil]

poseidon

[split igloo]

the summit enemies are really PITA, I'm not even sure what I'm dodging, it's just spam from all sides

which is funny because I first tried the previous boss, figured I'll at least be able to reach the next one, but nope

[median anvil]

surface gives you so many boons and resources, most people get their first win by stacking a ton of health and defense

[split igloo]

yeah I have upgraded my arcana a ton since then so I'll probably do much better next time

that mini boss (literally called ????) drained most of my hp with those odd charges he does, and then I died in the next room

how do you dodge those charges, just outsprint them? or sprint then dash at the last moment? felt like a crapshoot

[keen bluff]

pretty sure just dash through him or to the side

like when hes just about to hit you

[split igloo]

so I just unlocked the power fists and there's a Chaos trial with them, figured I'll try to learn the weapon

is it actually worth blocking? = omega attack

feels like you stall too much and it can't be worth it

[alpine raft]

on one aspect with one hammer its not bad

[split igloo]

and before you say it's amazing on X aspect, I'm going to learn the vanilla weapon first

[alpine raft]

yea its not worth anywhere else

[split igloo]

man that's lame, I was hoping maybe it auto-parries if you time it just right

[median anvil]

nope, it's terrible

[split igloo]

rip then

so you're basically playing without omega attacks, that alone makes this weapon much less attractive

[median anvil]

ospecial is decent

[split igloo]

nah, I don't get this weapon, can't beat the trial

it's "Trial of Glory", if anyone's curious

[opal pecan]

The trial is not very good for it

It forces all your boons to be Zeus or Hera

[split igloo]

the build they give you is ass too, you take 20 damage from any stray hit

[opal pecan]

They're good gods, but if they are the only two you have for this weapon, it's not great

[split igloo]

and this weapon deals no damage

I try both omega moves and they barely tickle the robots

[opal pecan]

Attack does the same base damage as skull attack

[alpine raft]

dont use omega

[split igloo]

and then I get swarmed by the harpies, and I have no AoE nukes, so I die

[tough torrent]

Shrimply get ransom

[opal pecan]

Also, what I'm specifically telling you is that Trial of Glory makes it worse because you don't have the boons that are best for making this weapon do damage

[tough torrent]

And then your boons are so over leveled it doesnt matter

[split igloo]

am I meant to give up all my Zeus' boons?

there's an infusion that rarifies your entire build if you pick one more Zeus boon, so I thought that was the way

[tough torrent]

It only rarifies commons

[alpine raft]

try just playing a run with it rather than the trial

[split igloo]

yeah and half of your boons are common when you start, at least 4 maybe 5

[opal pecan]

We're telling you the trial is bad for the weapon but you don't believe us

😔

[alpine raft]

i mean zeus and hera is all you need

[split igloo]

look, you're meant to go to this place sooner or later, how would you deal with the harpies? this weapon has no AoE support

[alpine raft]

you play from distance and hold special

[opal pecan]

Spam special, or dash in with iframes and dash back out

[split igloo]

yeah and the rockets deal very mid damage, I maybe half-kill one harpy with them lmao

[opal pecan]

I personally prefer attack-focused, so I do the latter

[tough torrent]

Cast is also an option

[opal pecan]

Because you don't have boons that make them do better damage

[split igloo]

I thought maybe I'm meant to facetank with the charging block, and sometimes it even works, but not when you're surrounded

[opal pecan]

You're meant to have boons that do more damage

[split igloo]

this trial is a pretty bad weapon demo then

[opal pecan]

It's not a weapon demo

Trials aren't weapon demos, they're challenges

That's why they're called trials

[split igloo]

it unlocked when I unlocked the fists, thought this was the game saying "now try this in action with a complete build"

[opal pecan]

Not like a "trial version software" but like "trial by combat"

[opal pecan]

Yeah.... misleading

[stable herald]

Coat special loves added damage like splash or scorch since it launches multiple projectiles

Sane for coat dash strike, with exhaust riser it's the best dash-strike in the game imo

[split igloo]

the skull one in Ephyra was a pretty good demo, OP build but the boss is tuned up too (I think that's the rivals version?)

[tough torrent]

Probably

[opal pecan]

I don't remember it individually! If he had a buddy with him and was very poisonous, then yes, Rivals.

TBH the only aspect trial I remember off the top of my head is in fact Trial of Glory

And the reason I remember it is because it SUCKS AND IS BAD

[split igloo]

no, he was just stomping non-stop and had more mobs, there was a blue shield (?) icon under his health bar at all times

[opal pecan]

Ah, no, then it sounds like you had some Vows activated in that trial, probably Hordes and Wards or something

Frenzy maybe? If he was stomping more often?

When entering a trial, always check everything in your boon menu, including arcana and vows.

[split igloo]

what about the omega attack

[alpine raft]

mostly useless

[opal pecan]

Bruh doesn't believe the first seventeen people telling them it's useless

[alpine raft]

actually completely useless

[split igloo]

yeah I guess frenzy, he was doing that slow walk where the red circles come out non-stop, then just jumping over and over, calling more adds including the barrel guys

[opal pecan]

Barrel guys... so Menace also, since those are normally in Thessaly

[split igloo]

no, the fat ones that throw barrels, they're commonly found in Ephyra's side rooms

[opal pecan]

Oh! Okay nvm then

Thought ya meant the dudes in barrels

[split igloo]

idk man, it's kinda like the shield in 1, why is it bad specifically, you can release when you want

the devs added this on purpose, it can't be complete ass

[opal pecan]

The devs added a lot of things on purpose and some of them are ass

[alpine raft]

its just horribly compared to normal punches and rockets

[opal pecan]

Yeah, it's not that it's actively sabotaging you or anything, I remember I used to use the block more when I was first playing the game since I hadn't learned the enemy attack patterns and so on

[split igloo]

you can hide behind a cast, then charge the block, seems like that's pretty safe??

[opal pecan]

The thing is that after you get more familiar with the enemies, it's usually faster to just dash to avoid the damage

And then on coat, dash-attack is super good

[alpine raft]

its less safe than moving and spamming special

[split igloo]

I tend not use dash attacks at all

[alpine raft]

how

[opal pecan]

If you're not dash-attacking on (the normal) coat, then you are literally playing with your hands tied behind your back and a lead weight attached to each ankle

I complained about the trial, yes, but if you're not even dash attacking that's kinda at least half on you :P

[split igloo]

I only play the staff and torches normally

[opal pecan]

Also, do you know about hit stun?

[alpine raft]

staff has a great dash attack

[opal pecan]

(Staff dash attack is decent too, yeah)

(It's not as good as coat's though :P)

[alpine raft]

its so much longer than normal attack

[split igloo]

idk, I kinda just close the gap, then start attacking normally, should I always dash attack for my opener??

does it stun the enemies harder or something

[alpine raft]

no its just longer and safer and faster

[opal pecan]

Coat dash attack hits three times

[tough torrent]

The Artemis knives trial with forced horn is pretty rough

[alpine raft]

easier to dash towards an enemy than walk

[split igloo]

isn't that one against Eris? you have to basically no hit everything, I'll def never beat that one

[opal pecan]

One of the three hits of the coat dash attack does less damage than a normal punch does, but the dash attack makes the three hits happen really fast, and if you have flat damage bonuses on your attack, that means you are pumping out a lot of extra damage way faster than normal punches can do

[alpine raft]

dont you have demeter special in that one? its so safe

[tough torrent]

Yeah through thessaly

[split igloo]

I just sprint around the arena, only dash when I need to dodge, am I playing this wrong lmao

[alpine raft]

dash strikes are good

[tough torrent]

Idr I only tried it twice and put it down for later™

[split igloo]

so what's an easy build for the Glory trial? just tell me what boons to pick

[opal pecan]

Glory trial forces your build

That's what I've been telling you.

It forces you to have a weird and suboptimal build.

[split igloo]

I know, but you're supposed to "fix" the build they give you, how do I fix it

[opal pecan]

It also forces all the chambers you see to have Zeus or Hera only.

But I would say prioritize getting Static Shock.

[split igloo]

I saw hermes and poseidon

[alpine raft]

take zeus special then run around punch and special

its also such a great kings ransom setup i had + 45

[opal pecan]

If you see Poseidon you could try gambling to get him on your attack

If you can't get that, Hera attack will suffice

[split igloo]

also there are no heals in this trial and everything grazes you for 20, and the revive is only 80, Prometheus is an easy boss, but getting to him...

[alpine raft]

i suppose itd be harder with no upgrade coat actually

[opal pecan]

Oh are you doing this on rank 1

[alpine raft]

but really its just get zeus special static shock double strike

[split igloo]

rank 1? I only have like 6 trials unlocked in this thingie

this one is 3 pips out of 5, so I thought it would be ez

[opal pecan]

Do you have aspects unlocked

[split igloo]

ah, yes, rank 1 everything

[opal pecan]

Ahhh okay

[split igloo]

I'm not throwing materials at this thing

[opal pecan]

Your loss

[split igloo]

the other coat trial is against cerberus, but there's a 5 min limit for the whole biome, could be rough

[alpine raft]

whats that one called

[split igloo]

let me see

Haste

[alpine raft]

ah haste

[split igloo]

I have 7 trials total, Glory and Haste are the only ones I haven't beaten

[alpine raft]

you should really upgrade, its good

[split igloo]

I want to focus on staff and torches first, as I actually like playing them

okay, so the dash attack on the boat is this AoE spin

[alpine raft]

just think of it as hitting 3 times

[split igloo]

and the staff one is a long stab, which is okay, I think I was already using that one on instinct

[opal pecan]

Or six times with Exhaust Riser :D

Basically turns Melinoe into a moving AOE

[split igloo]

the trial is possibly overtuned though, even killing the first 3 enemies in room 1 is rough

maybe it's smoother when you're good with the weapon, but as a demo it's not very welcoming

[opal pecan]

It's not a demo

[split igloo]

unlocked together with the weapon, like I said

[opal pecan]

Unlocking the weapon is the prereq for unlocking the trial, basically

There's a randomized trial that only unlocks after you have unlocked every aspect, keepsake, familiar, and arcana, but I wouldn't call that a demo for the game

[split igloo]

I just wanted to play a trial as my dog cookies are baking in the cauldron, but oh well I'll do a real run I guess

[opal pecan]

INFO: are these cookies FOR your dog or cookies SHAPED like dogs 👀

[split igloo]

they are for Hecuba in fact

[opal pecan]

Incredible, no notes

[split igloo]

got frog, raven and cat, I know Hecuba is with Echo, Hecate mentioned one more familiar, but I haven't seen that one, I think she said Gale??

[opal pecan]

Yes, she's in Olympus

And she's a GREAT familiar, BEST girl

[split igloo]

the snowy biome like in that blasted trial?

[opal pecan]

Yep

[split igloo]

lol, it couldn't be Prometheus' eagle??

[opal pecan]

Nope, you've already met her previously

[split igloo]

hmmmmmmm

[opal pecan]

....if you interacted with everything in the Crossroads at the beginning of the game, anyway

[split igloo]

is that the smaller dog?

[opal pecan]

She's a polecat!

Which is kinda like a weasel or a ferret or whatever

[split igloo]

there were 2 dogs behind Hecate, Hecuba (the black one) and some other mutt you cound't pet

[opal pecan]

A wiggly noodle creature

[split igloo]

I petted them every time I returned, but now they don't spawn there anymore

[opal pecan]

Yeup

[flint widget]

yo @dense dawn what's ur fear pb

[dense dawn]

I think I did everything except pain at 60%, 0 arcana handicap and 50% scars

[flint widget]

ah i see

well that's 50% of the work done

whats wep and aspect are u running

[dense dawn]

medea 99% of the time
I did 40 fear on persphone and nergal but medea seems easier

[flint widget]

ok yeah that's probably the reason why you're struggling

medea is super unbalanced on low to mid fear but balanced on high fear

by balanced i mean

on low to mid fear you can probably face tank any and all attacks (except instakill) and you'll still win

cuz medea deals so much damage

on high fear however since enemies deal so much damage the margin for error is extremely low

plus you have to get up close to your enemies to deal damage giving you more ways to get hit

so like lowk

save medea for later and play something like mel staff circe eos nyx etc

extremely safe aspects that still deal a lot of damage

[dense dawn]

yea, I've mostly been using medea cus I literally do not need to care about the build, everything sorta works 🤣

[flint widget]

doesn't deal as much as medea ofc but safety is everything

[dense dawn]

i shall try this and report back. thanks!

[tall notch]

Nyx is considered extremely safe? Compared to Medea I guess, but ramming into enemies to omega boost isn't my definition of safety, as much as I like it (100% my fave coat)

[austere trail]

<@&456908176877551658> bot

[median anvil]

omg free money!

[austere trail]

tyty

[indigo walrus]

begone, bot,

[median anvil]

nooo mods took it for themselves 😭

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1400282834882658324/1400288767486460125/20250715_182526.webp?ex=6995be4a&is=69946cca&hm=a6d9f07abfe61f8eadbb010b932136a47c0876aaf5507592691f18af1a6658ba&

[drifting kestrel]

https://tenor.com/view/tinkering-tony-stark-tony-stark-jarvis-gif-24567852

oh yay it embeded

[flint widget]

built in shimmering bro

[tough torrent]

Beyond gathering that its for the Simon says game, I don't really know what ik looking at

[opal pecan]

"We have Shimmering Rockets at home", anyway

[silk jasper]

I just got the game! I’m excited to come here and do some research

[flint widget]

then u should probably hang out on the #h2-for-new-players channel for a bit

theres lots of like spoilers here

[rain grove]

Hi everyone, if I take jewelled pom and switch it for an other non god trinket, would I keep the hades bonus?

[austere trail]

yep

[dry jay]

What's the best trinket in y'all's opinion?

[austere trail]

jpom

[rain grove]

Oh, I thought I would lose it

[opal pecan]

All the Fates' Whim keepsakes and any keepsake that says "this night" or such wording allow you to keep their thing even after unequipping

[tough torrent]

ah yes, the run where i pick up Charon is the run where i get room 2 epic winner circle

thank you game very cool

[tough torrent]

does popping the Cast with charon actually count as omega? for purpose of Witch's Mark and such

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/268784286985879553/1473483108878647494/image.png?ex=69965f95&is=69950e15&hm=f46d54ea4bc1f60003d187d00420faacfe66c69cfd76c6593a8a27f9bede4dc5

wow gee thanks 😭

[austere trail]

yes

so things like meat grinder, prominence flare, and geyser spout will pop when the cast is struck with the omega special

glowing coal with charon works pretty well btw

[tough torrent]

yeah its turning out alright

i thought it would be a little awkward but its not too bad

i was offered meat grinder but didnt think about it until i saw a witch mark in a well

perhaps i gotta turn of em4 for a bit 😅
i keep getting to the last boss and just dying to them most times, on either route

[tough torrent]

finally managed to beat the artemis knife trial... all it took was getting trick knives in room two

[surreal hazel]

By the time you charge the ospecial, the fireball will have exploded, I think it only has a fuse of like, half a second?

[drowsy basin]

I'm struggling to complete le last testament in 20 fear with axe. I know I should use dash strikes or specials more often but bigs swings to slash big hordes make me play too recklessly. What is the safest build with this weapon for a surface 20 fear run with any aspect? And what fear setup also

[spark crown]

Which axe?

No matter probs this fear if you can do frenzy and vor easy https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/FearCalculator/?vows=WzAsMCwwLDYsMCwwLDAsMiwwLDAsMCwwLDMsMCwxLDAsOF0=

What arcana you got on?

[drowsy basin]

Doesn't matter. I like Charon because of flashy omega special but I can switch. For arcanas I have something like that https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/ArcanaDeck/?deck=WyJjMSIsImMyIiwiYzMiLCJjNCIsImM1IiwiYzYiLCJjNyIsImMxMCIsImMxMiIsImMxMyIsImMxNCIsImMxOCIsImMxOSIsImMyNCJd
because I'm taking grenade as my first keepsake

[spark crown]

I am now seeing how not playing and only giving advice is karma for my past transgressions against this chat

[spark crown]

I would recommend this as your arcana as excellence isn't even that good https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/ArcanaDeck/?deck=WyJjMSIsImMyIiwiYzMiLCJjNCIsImM1IiwiYzYiLCJjNyIsImMxMCIsImMxMiIsImMxMyIsImMxNCIsImMxNSIsImMxNyIsImMyNCJd (also I personally recommend picking {lovers + artificer or eternity} over {artificer+eternity} otherwise your losing out on 12 boss hits that'll do no damage)

And with Charon make sure your cast is eternally down and spam yo special into it when ever you have da mana = free win if you can dodge properly

[spark crown]

Fear is here btw ^^^

[drowsy basin]

Thanks! Maybe I have lovers activated instead of another arcana, I'm not sure but I'm taking out excellence anyways.

[spark crown]

For why it's bad Rarity = around +1 pom per rarity

[drowsy basin]

Well it maybe my problem, I tend to rely on omega special too much and I'm getting sniped

[spark crown]

So it's such a slight boost its not worth 5 grasp

[spark crown]

With Charon your omega special +cast is your damage

Never omega cast hitting it with your special auto makes it omega

[drowsy basin]

I know. I'm trying to pick Appolo cast to have infinite mana but compared to other weapons I'm somehow lacking dps

[spark crown]

Also just remembered night dosnt work on charon

So switch it with messenger and swift

[drowsy basin]

It's typically that type of weapon mechanic I'm bad at. In Hades 1 I sucked so much with aspect of Arthur

[spark crown]

The axes are probably gonna be the worst for you (except Thanatos) as they are all very slow

Idk if you have the secret aspect unlocked for axe but definitely give that one a try if you haven't already

[drowsy basin]

why should I focus on more frenzy rather than menace, shadow, return or even grit as axe deals huge damage?

[spark crown]

Frenzy is easy to learn and learning it early is good

And grit and return slow the run down so much