h1-builds-and-combat

[boreal prism]

There's a keepsake or two you only unlock after beating the game a few times

[turbid needle]

its the one between Zues and Athena

Zeus

[boreal prism]

Oh that's poseidon

I think

[dry ember]

https://i.imgur.com/lrDCpeW.png

Yeah

That would indeed be Poseidon.

[turbid needle]

okay

so thats who i need to gift then

[dry ember]

yee

[turbid needle]

thx

one more question how do i get the ones on the bottom?

[dry ember]

you need to give some characters enough nectars/ambrosia to increase their affinity.

eventually they will give you something

[turbid needle]

ya thats what i thought i had to do

ik who the one on the very far left is but idk who the others are

[dry ember]

They are, from left to right ||Meg, Than, Sisyphus, Skelly, Dusa, Achilles/Patty||

[turbid needle]

i dont think i wanna be spoiled yet lol i wanna see if i can figure it out for myself

[dry ember]

yeah that's fair, that's why they are in spoiler marks :D good luck!

[turbid needle]

im still fairly new too the game im only doing level 2 heat runs atm lol

[runic glade]

Does anyone know good builds for the Bow with the Aspect of Rama

[boreal prism]

Ooo

What you really want on rama is % increase damage on your attack

[dry ember]

Just do a garden variety build with %damage on attack, status/DoT on flourish, Triple/Twin Shot + Point Blank/Perfect Shot.

Ideally Hunter Dash + Deadly Strike + Twin Shot + Point Blank Shot + Artemis Tier 2 boons.

That's about it.

[boreal prism]

That'll definitely work

Perfect shot especially

Most fun rama build i had was using explosive shot, which makes the attack time even longer but you deal ludicrous damage

Ideally with rama, you want to hit multiple enemies with each attack

Because every time you hit a new enemy, everyone tagged gets hit

[dry ember]

yup, tag with your special, execute with your attack.

[solid sable]

How do i aim the meg summon

or get like 2 witch/3 witch meg

[honest wing]

I usually get two out of luck

3 requires skill

[turbid needle]

theres a meg guide on speedrun.com iirc

[opal lodge]

3 is a pretty easy setup

4 is an easy setup too imo

but people are too lazy to learn sometimes

[honest wing]

agreed

[slim lynx]

which boons exactly are removed from the pool by stygian soul?

[strange lark]

uhhhhhhh

i think hermes legendary

and thats it

oh

and "cast drop faster"

replaced with faster recharge time

i think thats it

[slim lynx]

apparently it removes flurry shot

lightning rod is removed for obvious reasons

[strange lark]

oh

kinda forgot about those

because i never take them

[limber cloak]

yep

which is why stygian is good for speedruns

to get better hermes boons if your aspect isnt based on casts

[slim lynx]

you told me to take stygian in the first place so surely you would know what other boons it removes?

[honest wing]

I like stygian better anyways coz it's just better instead of having to go and get your cast

[mild raft]

Stygian is easier for me and it makes it easier for you to get good hermes boons

plus lightning rod doesn't exist which isn't that important but it comes into play sometimes

[limber cloak]

flurry, rod, and one of the hermes legendary

dont think it removes anything else

[mild raft]

It removes the hermes boon that unlocks Greater Recall

the one that makes them drop sooner

But adds Auto Reload

[cunning urchin]

Flurry Cast, Quick Reload (replaced with Auto Reload), Greater Recall (replaced with Bad News), Lightning Rod.

[mild raft]

so it's a net 0 in that aspect

[lime jolt]

Quick reload

[slim lynx]

ok so it basically removes 2 boons

[lime jolt]

And lightning Rod

[slim lynx]

ok yes i already have my answers

[limber cloak]

iirc its a 17% chance to get better hermes boons with stygian

not sure where i read that, so take it with a grain of salt

[honest wing]

does second wave do the damage twice or does it just knockback twice

[limber cloak]

knockback twice

its a bad legendary

dont take it

[honest wing]

damn

[slim lynx]

i also don't have to deal with arty and zeus trying to cram lightning rod down my throat when i'm trying to do ZAP rail or fists which is nice for a change

[limber cloak]

it makes it harder to reach enemies

[honest wing]

pls tell me at least it procs sea storm twice

[limber cloak]

not sure about that

since ive never taken it LOL

[slim lynx]

probably does

but not worth it

[honest wing]

brain see yellow brain already picked yellow

[slim lynx]

green boon bad

😡🤬

[turbid needle]

So I used hera bow for the first time yesterday and had spectacular results with a Aphrodite cast ares atk build

[strange lark]

nice

[turbid needle]

Don’t know if that’s optimal or

[strange lark]

aphro cast is great on hera because it makes up for the short range

it is

you can get a good duo with that build

[turbid needle]

Yeah I got the duo

[strange lark]

and you can activate privileged status

[turbid needle]

Mhm

I need to use privileged status more often when using hera, I usually prefer the other one

[strange lark]

same

[slim lynx]

arty attack is better

then get poseidon dash

[turbid needle]

I did have Poseidon dash too lol

[mild raft]

Aphro cast on Hera is like attaching a shotgun barrel to an arrow

[strange lark]

but i get sad when i get two curses but no privileged status

[slim lynx]

this seems like i'm just leaning into mirage shot but if you have twin shot then tidal dash + deadly strike + twin shot is actually great for supplemental damage

[turbid needle]

3 cast aphro shot did so much damage

[cunning urchin]

Crush Shot is optimal, yes, but not with Privileged Status.

[mild raft]

Wait why not

[strange lark]

curse of longing though

[mild raft]

Don't you just get Snow burst and be done with it

[turbid needle]

Curse of longing was so helpful

[mild raft]

ez PS?

[slim lynx]

curse of longing is meh

honestly

[turbid needle]

Hera is so much better than I thought it was going to be

[slim lynx]

it doesn't deal a lot of damage. PS is great but twin shot deadly strike is greater

[strange lark]

curse of longing is good for the 40% damage buff from privileged status

[slim lynx]

p.status is good but then you have to go out of your way for another duo boon

[strange lark]

true

and gods legacy is a scam

[slim lynx]

and taking ares in a cast build outside of hunting blades is sub-optimal at best

[turbid needle]

I’m using gods legacy to complete the fated list-

[cunning urchin]

You're one-shotting everything, Snow Burst is mostly there for AOE to kill trash mobs.

[slim lynx]

^^

crush shot on hera is so much burst damage PS won't matter

[turbid needle]

Yeah it’s crazy

And it has the aoe

[slim lynx]

if you insist on p.status just take snow burst

[cunning urchin]

God's Legacy is the way to go on Hera for easier Mirage Shot, Heart Rend, Smoldering Air, and Parting Shot.

[turbid needle]

Ok good to know

[slim lynx]

i'm curious as to what the ideal hera god pool is for crush shot

aphro/dem/arty/pos means potentially getting the most out of your cast

i've noticed that if you already have 4 gods, proceeding to force another god would remove one of the gods you already have from the pool and replace them with the god you just forced

[cunning urchin]

No, that's not how it works.

It pulls from a random pool until you have 4 gods or more. After that, it pulls only from the gods you already have, but it can be any of them.

[slim lynx]

i think it's happened to me twice before

last time not too long ago, i think about a week or two

[cunning urchin]

5 gods or more means there's a good chance to miss at least one for the rest of the run.

[slim lynx]

so the 4 god pool thing is just a myth???

#h1-victory-boasting message

this run i got two ares boons, then arty mid-asphodel, and then ares just didn't show up

[cunning urchin]

A myth? Once you have boons from 4 gods or more, you only see boons from those gods. Before that, you can see any gods.

So in most runs, you can only pick up boons from 4 gods naturally.

In a few rare runs, you can get to a shop when you have only 3 gods, see a new god in the shop, and a different new god in the exit, so you can pick up 5 gods naturally.

If that happens in the Temple of Styx, you can see even more than that.

[brittle mortar]

hey yall, If you sell a boon, does the game treat it like you've never seen it?

[strange lark]

yeah, you can get it again

[brittle mortar]

if you sell the only boon you have from a god, is there still a higher chance of seeing that god?

[strange lark]

i think there is a chance you never see that god again

but i dont think that there is a higher chance of seeing the god

[brittle mortar]

ok

cool

[proven osprey]

I remember selling phalanx shot three times sigh

[proven osprey]

The god remains in your pool yeah so don't feel bad lol

[inner forge]

Not sure if someone hasn't mentioned this yet, but has anyone tried Arthur aspect with black out/heartbreak strike? by my math you could theoretically get 100% dmg reduction

[strange lark]

i think somebody in this server said that it is impossible to get 100% damage reduction

even if you actually get 100% damage reduction

you will still take damage

idk though

[mild raft]

Pretty sure damage reduction is multiplicative

or logarithmic

or something

basically it can't hit 100%

[strange lark]

there you go

[inner forge]

Got it, was about to say the hades fight would be mad simple if it were possible

[real crest]

100 dash chance is possible tho

[strange lark]

*dodge chance

[mild raft]

Yea dodge chance is additive

[inner forge]

interesting...

[real crest]

Oh my profile picture is angry about my mistake

[slim lynx]

zag fists + plume + greater evasion + second wind + smouldering

ez 100% as long as you're good at clearing encounters i guess

[royal wraith]

is there like a list or some collection of builds out here ? need ideas. tia

[strange lark]

#h1-high-heat-strategies message

heres one of them

[royal wraith]

many thanks, kind sir

[lime jolt]

https://discordapp.com/channels/456889434672201729/520688402958516254/826899445144092672

This is another one

[cunning urchin]

Monke — Today at 5:11 PM
How do yall beat the game so fast? My fastest clear is 19:48 and I thought it was fast
@halcyon minnow Speedrun Starter Kit. https://youtu.be/z3Mmoo4oTKU
https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides
https://www.hades-guides.ovh/index.php/generic-information/

These should help a lot with getting better times—whether you want to genuinely speedrun or just learn some ways to speed things up.

[strange lark]

I think they just want to get faster, but not speed run

they have completed 17 clears

they not there yet

[cunning urchin]

Never too early to learn some of these things.

[strange lark]

true

[small fable]

what are some good Cast boons for an Achilles Spear build?

[valid dagger]

Dio Ares Demeter

it can make all casts work because of the fat buff but the unlodgable ones are nice

[mild raft]

It’s good to use Stygian as well since you hav no reliable way to get your casts back after you lodge them into a boss

[split relic]

Wuts a good beo or demeter build for 32 heat?

I almost got it on beo but I am too slow for td3

[lucid oar]

Zeus' cast can clear Tartarus with its eyes shut, it falls off at Elysium though.

[small fable]

gotcha

[small fable]

I've been using the extra casts bonus but is stygian really better?

[split relic]

Probs easier for taking less dmg

Since u don't gotta run into boss to retrieve casts

[mild raft]

Stygian let’s you have consistent dps during boss fights while also making it so you don’t have to track down your casts

[cunning urchin]

For Demeter Aspect: #h1-builds-and-combat message

[mild raft]

Plus it works best with casts that don’t lodge cause you’ll always get them back after 3 seconds instead of waiting for them to be done existing

[cunning urchin]

Beowulf, you want Passion Flare or Flood Flare with Infernal Soul.

[split relic]

Ok

[mild raft]

Mirage shot nuts

[split relic]

Would flood be better for lots of poseidon boons?

Cause I've only ever done passion

[cunning urchin]

Then look for Snow Burst, Ravenous Will, and Mirage Shot.

[mild raft]

I usually build Poseidon cast Arty attack for mirage shot

[split relic]

Ye

[mild raft]

Mark is great too since it lets your cast crit

[cunning urchin]

For Passion Flare, getting Zeus' Aid + Smoldering Air is also very strong.

[split relic]

I do that but with poseidon dash and arty attack

[cunning urchin]

See what you get in Tartarus and take it from there. There's no strict path.

[mild raft]

You can do that for mirage shot it just requires you to get one of them naturally or take a god keepsake into Elysian

[cunning urchin]

Flood Flare really just wants Mirage Shot tbh.

[mild raft]

Pos beo can exist with just mirage shot and kill things really well

Wave pounding is nice too but not necessary

[cunning urchin]

And lots of poms on your Cast.

[mild raft]

As it is with all cast builds

[split relic]

Wut does flood do overall?

Like with mirage shot

[opal lodge]

big aoe

[split relic]

Is mirage shot like another projectile?

[opal lodge]

what you mean

kind of

its a second pulse

[split relic]

Like the little arrows from arty?

[opal lodge]

hmm

just try it

hard to describe

[split relic]

Oki

[opal lodge]

also tidal dash is weird on beowulf

if youre not experienced

[cunning urchin]

It's just a copy of your cast, really, that does 30% damage.

If the original cast does 100 damage, your Mirage Shot will do 30.

[split relic]

Ahh

So just straight up more dmg

[cunning urchin]

Essentially.

Snow Burst does good AOE damage + Chill any time you load your Casts, and you do load your Casts very often.

[boreal prism]

How does mirage shot work with trippy shot? Are there 2 clouds on top of each other?

[cunning urchin]

Ravenous Will is a global damage buff whenever your ammo is at 0, so it works just by loading all of your Casts.

[split relic]

Ahh

Flood shot seems nice if I get charged shot hammer

So I can sit in styx tunnels and shoot

[cunning urchin]

So that Duo Boon and those two boons from Lady Demeter are mostly what you're looking for once you have your Cast.

And otherwise, take every Chaos Gate and roll for Cast damage or +1 ammo.

[split relic]

Ok

[opal lodge]

yeah basically

[cunning urchin]

Check Wells of Charon for those two as well. Nail of Talos can also be great because that +50% armor damage is global hence also applies to your Casts.

I wouldn't buy any of those items in Tartarus though unless it's late in the biome where it can carry over into Asphodel.

And Nail of Talos doesn't matter too much until Elysium, in my experience.

[jovial fulcrum]

Hourglass is really good on Beo (or any cast build) for the Atlas Beads and Prometheus Stones.
If you're between Apshodel and Elysium and you see one of them in the well, it could be worth grabbing hourglass before you buy it

assuming you don't wanna take a different keepsake for some other reason

[celest lantern]

Splitting Bolt All your lightning effects create an additional burst.
Support Fire After you Cast, or hit with an Attack or Special, fire a seeking arrow.

Do those really trigger every time there's a hit? I swear, for support fire, when, for example, I use coronacht's aspect of Chiron, there seems to be way less arrows than expected (are they all stacked, visually, or something?), and with splitting bolt, there only ever seems to be 2 or 3 lightning balls on the field at once

[strange lark]

For splitting bolt, everytime your lightning triggers, splitting bolt triggers

[mild raft]

It’s another source of damage, which is not only multiplicative damage but also works with dealing with armored enemies

[strange lark]

And support fire works the same with normal attacks

[celest lantern]

aegis aspect of zeus with thunder flourish creates way less bolts than expected

[mild raft]

Zeus shield with Zeus special is nuts

[strange lark]

Zeus with zeus

[jovial fulcrum]

zeus on zeus action

[celest lantern]

still doesn't answer the question, why does it still seem like there's only 2-3 bolts on the field at once even with that?

[turbid needle]

Support Fire has a cooldown.

It's something really short, like .15 seconds (absolute spitball), but it's enough that Chiron doesn't work super well with Support Fire. Deadly Flourish is terrifying, though.

Thunder Flourish has a .3.2 second cooldown before it can drop another lightning bolt (timing was tied to Aspect of Zeus' pulse, I think).

[cunning urchin]

200 ms cooldown for Thunder Flourish, not 300 ms.

[turbid needle]

hey what is a good shield build? im working on level heat-4 run?

[raw junco]

What are the Ares Boons for ME?

Started a new game and can't remember if Curse of Vengeance works

[proven osprey]

Nope, only curse of agony or curse of pain

[raw junco]

Ah man, another reset haha thanks

[celest lantern]

Merciful End requires curse of agony + divine flourish, or divine strike + curse of pain. Period.

the attack of one, the special of the other

[raw junco]

Got it. Thanks!

[opal lodge]

although you can proc curse of vengeance doom with a deflecting move if you have ME

[raw junco]

Not enough luck haha going for the first run win

[opal lodge]

oh youre learning first run

nice

[slim lynx]

support fire has an internal cooldown, so you don't end up flooding the screen with green arrows

[raw junco]

Ah no no hahaha I'm setting up a new game and trying to beat Hades on the trial run

[opal lodge]

yeah

theres a category for that on sr.com is what im saying haha

[raw junco]

Oh nice!

[muted canopy]

Aspect of Arthur with rare Swift Strike (+30% attack speed) is god tier

[limber cloak]

first run is hard

good luck though!

it is definitely very rewarding

[boreal prism]

cant believe yall told me lightning rod wasn't a build defining duo

70 dps
*1.20 from ravenous will
*4 from 4 different casts (chaos)
*1.68 from double strike
*1.16 from urge to kill
= 654 dps

654 dps, and that's with my hands behind my head

and i didnt even have zeus leg or arte leg

lightning rod is good actually

[honest wing]

wait why would urge to kill affect lightning rod damage

won't it affect like only the damage of your main cast

[finite iris]

You have a lvl6 heroic double strike. Any lightning ability is insane with that

[opal lodge]

you cant multiply all of those either lol

thats not how that works

[boreal prism]

ok geniuses

it did deal damage tho

[honest wing]

it would be kinda pointless if it didn't

lmao sorry, but like it's probably more dps to actually use your cast as damage

instead of leaving the stone on the groun

how much ever dps it may be

[turbid needle]

lightning rod does some side dmg but its not like amazing

[honest wing]

yea

[turbid needle]

also yeah its calced wrong

[boreal prism]

wouldve been more dps if i was actively using the casts, sure, but then I would've taken a lot of damage

[turbid needle]

nothing is stopping you from doing lightning rod only runs

other than TD

[slim lynx]

i mean it's pretty difficult to take damage if you have a shield and everything is dead

[boreal prism]

I'll die believing yall are underrating this

i know it's not ME

[celest lantern]

don't forget to factor that they repeatedly get jolted

just sit back behind your shield and let them get jolted over and over on it

[turbid needle]

I'm not saying its useless just kinda meh

[valid prism]

It's fine, part of Hades' fun is making you own tests whatever people say

As long as you clear 👀

[limber cloak]

someone cleared beo 57 heat with skelly companion (and only used it like twice)

that just goes to prove

do whatever ya want

[turbid needle]

skelly good

[valid prism]

I tend to say we actually didn't explore the pet optimizations that far

[limber cloak]

i think skelly could actually be decent at high heat, now that i think about it

but then again he dies in a second

wait does HL5 affect the dmg enemies deal to skelly

[turbid needle]

I think I used skelly for my first 40+ clear

[valid prism]

Scratch is doing is best with Talos 50 attempts, and he's now going with Mort

[honest wing]

"meg good, rest bad"

[turbid needle]

he doest die that fast

[limber cloak]

and plume LOL

[valid prism]

Which can make sense with fists

[limber cloak]

i might try to use skelly for my 50 heat attempts

hmm

a poor man's aphro call i guess

[turbid needle]

oops

[limber cloak]

bot is alive!

[turbid needle]

was pretty good for bad rooms and the hades summon phase

[limber cloak]

hades.. summon phase..?

em4 at 40 heat

or do you mean just normal summons

[turbid needle]

normal summons

[limber cloak]

ah

[turbid needle]

I mean even those can be bad

[limber cloak]

yeah true

archers and chariots

and what not

[turbid needle]

drakons 😂

I just use meg nowdays tho

[honest wing]

the invulnerablity stones

[limber cloak]

those atleast deal no dmg

so you can clear them out

and be good to go

[honest wing]

but like you have to clear them out

[limber cloak]

chariots archers and drakons on the other hand, can kill and stunlock you for ages

[honest wing]

what are drakons

the flying hands?

[limber cloak]

those things that burrow

[turbid needle]

the tiny hydra heads

[limber cloak]

in asphodel

[honest wing]

oh yea

[limber cloak]

theyre spelled dracons iirc, doesnt matter eitherway

but yeah theyre annoying af when armoured

[turbid needle]

I used to use bouldy before I believed in lc4 SD

[limber cloak]

bouldy is a pretty decent casual summon tbh

like if you dont want to learn meg timings and stuff, and arent interested in just optimizing every little bit of dmg, bouldy is pretty good

[valid prism]

Meg is #1 summon for any heat speed but at 50 and above we still have some pet surprises 👀

[cunning urchin]

I think it's a bit disrespectful to just dismiss people like that. There are players who have spent hundreds of hours theorizing builds, experimenting with anything and everything that seemed unorthodox, sometimes using DPS meters to check numbers, etc. The meta for speedruns and high heat is what it is because very dedicated players have pushed it there and continue to push it.

Lightning Rod can most certainly carry a run all on its own at lower heats. But when speed becomes a determining factor for "good" as it does in speedruns and high heat runs because there's a timer, Lightning Rod is just okay. It's certainly not bad, but it's also not the core of any build in those contexts.

You may be right that some players are underestimating it, but a 32-minute run at 7 Heat does not exactly convince anyone who does runs for speed or at high heat that it does actually good DPS, truth be told.

m all for experimentation and being excited over a build. I think you can do it without calling out others, though.

[valid prism]

Does lightining rod have a good speed rate btw?

Genuinely asking

[celest lantern]

each stone does 1 lightning strike per second

[cunning urchin]

70 damage, hits once every 1 sec. So three casts hit 3 times every 1 second. It's nice damage with no maintenance if enemies actually decide to stay on top of your casts.

[celest lantern]

the range isn't actually that strict

[cunning urchin]

Chambers are large.

[celest lantern]

it's like... the range of varatha's attack with the extension hammer upgrade?

[cunning urchin]

In some builds it's actively hurtful because your casts don't return unless you're right on top of them.

[gusty rapids]

but also its damage

[valid prism]

Oh damn the aspect is beowulf

[boreal prism]

I'm sorry for being rude. I guess I'm at the part of the game where everything is viable

[valid prism]

Sounds like dilemma : I would want to use lightning rod and spam my cast as well

Which means grabbing them back quickly

[celest lantern]

you can use 1-2 of them and leave the rest on the field

[turbid needle]

oh with beo I wouldn't use it at all

activley giving up dmg then

[cunning urchin]

It's nice on Beowulf.

[turbid needle]

really?

I thought beo players just pick up their casts right away

[cunning urchin]

Yeah. All your Casts drop in the same spot anyway.

[boreal prism]

it makes sense that passive damage wouldn't really be worthwhile once you're real good with the weapons

[cunning urchin]

Yeah, but it adds some damage before you pick up your Casts.

[turbid needle]

makes sense I see

I havent actually played a cast build with rod

because I would just sell it

[cunning urchin]

It's kind of like a Snow Burst but after you drop your Casts instead of when loading them.

[valid prism]

Yeah but the more the stones stay on the field the more it's worth it, isn't it?

[boreal prism]

in elysium it felt a lot like running a zeus aspect build... i was dealing damage over here and the casts were dealing damage over there

[celest lantern]

what about both at once? *_*

[cunning urchin]

Too much opportunity cost to leave your ammo lying around when that ammo can be used for a Dragon Rush.

[limber cloak]

rod is dealing dmg there, frisbee aspect is dealing dmg there, and youre dealing dmg here

[cunning urchin]

Just in terms of DPS potential.

[boreal prism]

yeah it might have been a better build on another shield...

though it is really nice to be able to drop your casts in one place, and that's difficult to do without beo

[cunning urchin]

Well, it's not a bad build per se. It's very safe and works just fine. Speed isn't always your goal, and it doesn't have to be.

[celest lantern]

dionysus makes that easy

[boreal prism]

yeah but the cloud would delay the rod

[valid prism]

Beo runners are just spamming the cast each time they have them back

[celest lantern]

have scintillating feast for while you wait :3

[valid prism]

For speed reasons or for TD3 reasons, they usually don't use lightning rod on purpose

[celest lantern]

mightning rod :>

[boreal prism]

well you never wanna have an unloaded cast on a cast aspect, right?

[cunning urchin]

There are probably some players who die on 7 Heat trying to play a more meta Beowulf build while you win just letting Lightning Rod do its thing.

[boreal prism]

a part of me wanted to pick up the casts immediately, but that would mean dashing into a crowd of enemies that were already taking a lot of damage

maybe if i had gotten a faster rush hammer

it's important for me to remember that a "good" build is extremely relative

[valid prism]

A good build is the one that allows you to clear the game, we saw people doing revenge builds or anything funny

[cunning urchin]

There are often a lot of Casts lying around a lot of the time when I speedrun Hera because you often don't need all of them to one-shot an enemy type, so I only pick up what I need at the moment, so Lightning Rod could do a lot of work there.

What hurts is that Casts refuse to return to you unless you're right on top of them. That means instead of dashing close to two casts, charging a shot, and pulling in both while I do that to load them immediately into my shot, I have to dash right on top of one Cast and then on top of the other. That wastes a lot of time.

[cunning urchin]

You can actually rush into a crowd like that, pick up your ammo on the way, and immediately load any of them before the end of your rush.

[valid prism]

But the more we climb on the speed or the heat difficulty, the less "good builds" we have to clear the game

[finite iris]

I only play beo for high special damage builds, similar to GY special style. I don‘t like the shields much. A special focused build on beo is a fun playstyle for me. But I am neither speed running nor playing on high heat yet when playing with a shield aspect. What I really like about hades is that you reach a point where you can make anything viable on lower heat, just because you know the game so well.

[cunning urchin]

High Heat Beowulf has been done with a Special build, too.

Was much easier when Charged Flight was +400% base damage instead of +200% like it is now, but it's still very effective.

[boreal prism]

Huh.... I never considered using beo that way... I kept passing up special hammers

[valid prism]

Do you think it's doable again despite the charged flight nerf? 👀

[cunning urchin]

+400% was hilariously broken.

Well, there are some runs on the board from after the nerf, so yeah.

[valid prism]

50 heat beo runs using charged flight or just any shield runs?

[cunning urchin]

Beowulf. I think Retrash did 51 or something. And I think there were 1-2 other ones.

[valid prism]

Retrash? Huum

Thats means looking at the gdoc board more than the SRC one 👀

[cunning urchin]

https://youtu.be/duy6j7_vM4A

There it is.

[valid prism]

Thank you

[cunning urchin]

Hadesprofessor had Lv.1 Trippy Flare, Lightning Strike, and Drunken Flourish.

[valid prism]

Damn the AP2 curse on room 1

[cunning urchin]

So, a typical Beowulf build.

At 50 Heat.

[honest wing]

hera tips please

is there like a guide

what is the build, for say crush shot, what support boons do I want

what should my playstyle be

[valid prism]

Probably aphro start + artemis synergy in order to reach Heart Rend duo + Exit wounds

[honest wing]

I got exit wounds

and natural demeter

but like I'm getting destroyed in this trial

[valid prism]

? Which heat?

[honest wing]

15

but like FO1 + faster BP witches

and I took flurry shot to complete prophecy

[proven osprey]

Crush Shot Snow burst Ravenous will Deadly Strike Mirage Shot are good boons

Flurry shot can feel a bit weird on Hera but it's still good

[cunning urchin]

When you start with Crush Shot: Mirage Shot, Snow Burst, Ravenous Will, Parting Shot, Smoldering Air. Those are what you're looking for. And also any +1 ammo and Cast damage from Master Chaos you can get.

Flurry Shot on Hera is absolutely amazing.

[honest wing]

I'm having trouble with that

[valid prism]

trouble with flurry shot?

[proven osprey]

It's something to get used to

[valid prism]

Zag rail feeling I'd say

[cunning urchin]

Flurry is probably my #1 pick for Hera at the moment.

[valid prism]

and taking into consideration that you slightly stay on bit more static because you tend to add more arrows with flurry shot

[cunning urchin]

You also want all the poms you can get on your Cast.

Attack boon is actually not very important, but if you see a good one and don't have to give up a chance at any of the boons I listed before to get it, take it.

That usually means I only really take Heartbreak Strike, Deadly Strike, and Divine Strike.

Frost Strike will hurt your chances to get Ravenous Will and Snow Burst.

So I wouldn't take it until I have those two.

[valid prism]

If time doesn't matter you can wait for your casts to come back. If you really want an optimized approach, you want something good on your atk to deal decent DPS while waiting for your cast

[cunning urchin]

Nah. You're not waiting for your Casts. Your Casts one-shot everything, and you pick them up again immediately.

[proven osprey]

Which is why deadly strike is the best pick imo

[cunning urchin]

You don't need an Attack boon to do that.

[proven osprey]

Damage and requirement for mirage shot

[valid prism]

Well deadly strike can come naturally if you already look for exit wounds

[cunning urchin]

I wouldn't ever look for Exit Wounds on Hera.

[proven osprey]

Exit wounds is overrated

You one shot everything but bosses

[cunning urchin]

In a good build, you'll only ever get any damage from Exit Wounds on bosses, yeah.

[valid prism]

(if foes have big hp and you have to deal with the cast cooldown)

[cunning urchin]

Which is nice, but she has better things to offer most of the time.

[proven osprey]

Yeah but I think we are in a any heat context

[valid prism]

yeah but with any heat context, exit wounds can lead to the legendary Artemis boon which is good if you're not that comfortable with Hera yet

I mean that on any heat context, I clearly wasn't considering if builds were overkill or not

[proven osprey]

Yeah the boon is still ok

[cunning urchin]

#1 picks from Lord Hermes for the first boon you find for me are: Quick Reload > epic or rare Greatest Reflex > Hyper Sprint > common Greatest Reflex

In that order.

You'll want God's Legacy for a better shot at all the Duo Boons and Greater Recall.

Greater Recall on Hera is nuts. You can just mash your Cast button and one-shot everything while your Casts automatically return to you.

[slim lynx]

can't believe i had to learn that plume for greater recall is actually a terrible idea the hard way

smh

[proven osprey]

Plume for rush delivery is also a bad idea

I tried plume Arthur it was a bit disappointing

(especially with JS3 CP2)

[slim lynx]

why would you take plume for rush delivery

[valid prism]

Because plume bonus already gives you move speed

[slim lynx]

you'd have to start with the plume in tart for that to matter

[valid prism]

so you don't have to get any move speed boon from Hermes first before getting it

You can get rush delivery on your first time meeting Hermes with plume

[proven osprey]

Yeah this is what I did

[cunning urchin]

Excalibur with Lambent Plume when stacking dodge and damage reduction is fun.

[proven osprey]

Yeah I mean it could be viable

[cunning urchin]

You can get ridiculous eHP.

[proven osprey]

Yeah

[cunning urchin]

3k eHP for EM4? Sign me up.

[proven osprey]

But you still have to find heartbreak strike sigh

[slim lynx]

imagine dying 🤮

[cunning urchin]

Crush Shot, you mean.

[proven osprey]

No no I actually swing the sword

[cunning urchin]

Excalibur was still a Cast aspect, last time I checked.

[slim lynx]

i mean

[proven osprey]

I actually play Arthur

[slim lynx]

crush shot and heartbreak strike both apply weak

[cunning urchin]

Well, you're playing it wrong. Duh.

[proven osprey]

Crush Shot is really good to have on Arthur y

[slim lynx]

not doing a cast build on arthur is like doing an attack build on beo

smh

[proven osprey]

But I don't value crush Shot for the weak

Rather than the burst of a single attack cast combo

Which is quick

[cunning urchin]

https://tenor.com/view/why-not-both-why-not-take-both-gif-11478682

[proven osprey]

(weak being still super good but you don't have the aoe of the swings to apply it)

[cunning urchin]

What swings?

[slim lynx]

aoe? not an issue

just get blown kiss

[cunning urchin]

Yeah.

[proven osprey]

https://clips.twitch.tv/WanderingSpunkyLatteDAESuppy-4A4l6XVOj034U7cQ

this kind of aoe :)

[cunning urchin]

That's not Excalibur. Excalibur doesn't have an Attack.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/725021639506526249/823758779983462430/Hades_1721.png

This is Excalibur.

[slim lynx]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/771815559410876446/830649063002079252/unknown.png

arthur in 7:29.56 by lovcrimson

[proven osprey]

Magnil is a mad man

[slim lynx]

also i just noticed this is their best time with stygius

imagine your best time with sword being a cast build and it isn't aspect of poseidon

[proven osprey]

Well yeah this was Arthur WR

Then Ananke beat it

[slim lynx]

wait was it?

[proven osprey]

Yes

[slim lynx]

???

[proven osprey]

Magnil likes casts to go fast on slowish aspects

That's how he got Chiron WR until the situation escalated with sea storm shenanigans

[slim lynx]

hera and zag being the preferred aspects for speedrunning and then chiron pulls up with sea storm in 6:17 is the funniest thing to me

[proven osprey]

Insane room rng

[slim lynx]

speaking of speedrunning

what's up with there being 4 filters for "aspect" on src

i have to check each one

[magic rivet]

Is he going to go for the Gilgamesh wr next

[proven osprey]

Ananke is going for sub 7 gilga iirc

[hoary slate]

I've heard that one is for anyheat, the next for 32heat and so on

[manic willow]

Uhh am gonna try to get chain skewer for prophacy, taking Hades, any tips?

Oh nah just gonna use his aspect

[strange lark]

you should try to get quick spin or massive spin

[manic willow]

Okay play the spin lord

Any god or boons I should aim for?

[strange lark]

artemis

shes good with spear

[manic willow]

On attack ?

[strange lark]

yeah

or aphro

wait what level is your spear

[manic willow]

Uhh only lv 1 right now but I can upgrade

[strange lark]

level it up if you want to

lvl 1 hades spear is not that good

just like every other weapon at lvl 1

[manic willow]

Hera lv 1 good

[strange lark]

nah

hera makes casts drop out of your enemies faster

so you can shoot your casts more often

[untold vortex]

for non-lodging casts yes lvl 1 hera is good

[valid prism]

lvl 1 Hera isn't fast but it's totally functional if we compare to some lvl 1 aspects

on other aspects, being lvl 1 is really sad

[untold vortex]

lvl 1 chiron 😅

[strange lark]

epic 5 arrow action

[celest lantern]

4

[strange lark]

bruh

[limber cloak]

sr.com design

they have to add 4 filters for aspects to make it apply to all the categories

[celest lantern]

lvl 1 guan-yu, without the +50 base HP mirror buff

starting HP: a GRAND 5 HP!!

[valid prism]

It's fine, butterfly starter then 👀

[celest lantern]

imagine if every room in tartarus has a chaos entrance just to spite you

[valid prism]

fsbrain style then : GY with egg starter

problem solved

[limber cloak]

LOL does fsbrain actually do that

thats hilarious

[untold vortex]

you start at 15hp with lvl 1 GY and no thick skin mirror btw ^_^

[valid prism]

He did, maybe he still does

[celest lantern]

oh, there's a minimum?

[untold vortex]

5hp would be a 90% hp decrease

[celest lantern]

no thick skin means--

[untold vortex]

I know what thick skin means

[celest lantern]

yeah, and isn't the base -90% HP/healing?

[strange lark]

no

[untold vortex]

it's 70%

[strange lark]

70%

that would be the dumbest thing in the game

[celest lantern]

oh... I thought I remembered 90%...

[strange lark]

why would sgg add a weapon that reduces your health to 10

[celest lantern]

and every upgrade lowering it by 10%...

you say that, but they DID add a weapon that reduces it to 15 <_<

[limber cloak]

15 with no thick skin, yeah

[strange lark]

thats not 10

[celest lantern]

s'not that far off

[valid prism]

He used to be WR GY at 32 heat so why not I would say

[opal lodge]

15 is 14 HP more than you need

guan yu is strong

doesnt need HP

only weak aspects need HP

[strange lark]

true

[proven osprey]

Truth has been told I can fly away

[celest lantern]

...but were we ready for it?

at 1 HP, we're so weak; there's only so much truth we can handle!

[proven osprey]

I did a funny run with HL5 LV1 Guan Yu

[strange lark]

bruh

[proven osprey]

The thing is you have SD

[strange lark]

why would you do that to yourself

[proven osprey]

So you can tank any hit

[celest lantern]

any one hit

[proven osprey]

For the jesus christ% strat

The goal was to get a full call every time I died

Which is guaranteed if you step on a spike trap

Pseudo made the scenario I was merely the actor

[limber cloak]

it was so fun to watch

astaos calculating how much dmg a hit is gonna deal to him every half second and basing his decisions off of it

[magic rivet]

Didn't you also have heightened security

[proven osprey]

ofc

You need HS in Tartarus

[slim lynx]

heightened security means you can reset faster obviously

[magic rivet]

It means you can get 167% of your health lost instantly in Tartarus

[nocturne raven]

I've had a few runs in the last while (Eris rail) where Zeus didn't offer his attack in the first chamber. My usual strat is going for the attack and getting another god like Arty or Dem on the special, but is it worth going for Zeus special? I tend to go for the cast in those situations, but having neither an attack or a special can slow things down.

[strange lark]

nah just go for zeus attack, artemis special, and poseidon dash if you want the best eris experience

so grab anything but the special and dash

[nocturne raven]

Yeah, that's my go-to. In cases where attack isn't offered at first I usually go with the cast if it's offered then ditch it in Asphodel for Poseidon's cast in hopes of Sea Storm.

[strange lark]

ok

so do that

or you can reroll for attack

[nocturne raven]

Thanks, was just wondering if Zeus special was worth it or not.

[cunning urchin]

Attack is what you want, Cast is second best.

[nocturne raven]

And I usually do the chamber reward reroll tbh unless I've given up on a run.

[cunning urchin]

I wouldn't sell the Cast. Helps you get other boons you want because it fills a priority slot.

[strange lark]

i dont like the chamber reroll because most of the time when i am playing eris i am speedrunning or doing high heat and stopping to reroll the chamber reward will lose me some time

[mild raft]

Fated Persuasion is simply better because it gives you more control over what you're rerolling

rerolling rooms can get you anything with the same laurels, which includes all of the gods available for gold laurels

It's a much larger pool than rolling a specific god's boons

[turbid needle]

I know nothing when it comes to the rail. May I be schooled? What's the boon situation and anything from the hammer that changes the game?

I have all the rails at at least 1 and a dozen blood, so I could go with any of them

[boreal prism]

a simple build you can do is invest everything into special

[turbid needle]

you want things that benefit from fast hitting attacks

like zeus is the classic

for hestia you just want high base dmg which is aphro or artemis

Does the hestia cast thing use your cast boon? I'm not sure what's going on with that effect.

[cunning urchin]

Lili's guide works very well for both Eris and Zag rail. https://www.hades-guides.ovh/index.php/eris-rail-guide/

[turbid needle]

no its the one with buff on reload

[turbid needle]

Oh whoops! You right

I confuse it with hera all the time too dw

[turbid needle]

I'll check that out

[turbid needle]

Herstias gunbow right?

lol

@cunning urchin they had me at "get tidal dash"

[boreal prism]

tidal dash 🤤

[cunning urchin]

Lili knows his stuff, yeah.

[lucid oar]

Any run without tidal dash feels stale now after speedrunning. It's the experienced player's divine dash.

[turbid needle]

I just found great joy in dashing things into walls. Crystalguys, Witches, Everything in Styx.

[boreal prism]

if you like wallsmash damage, poseidon attack is a cute build

I can't say it's good, but you'll get the little "wall slam" notification like 100 times

[lucid oar]

Poseidon's attack really needs bonus attack damage from chaos to really shine imo

[limber cloak]

loll same

The lack of dmg hurts so much against lernie on eris speedruns

[turbid needle]

Last time I had the poseidon/zeus duo boon on fists and I was just a flurry of lightning bolts on screen.

[lucid oar]

Even meg without it feels bad. It's why I prefer speedrunning Hestia as you start with tidal dash

[limber cloak]

That's just zeus attack with more steps tbh

[turbid needle]

I believe that's what we call in the biz "bad luck + just winging it"

[limber cloak]

Valid point

[cunning urchin]

Taking Tempest Strike is a choice, though.

I'd rather have no Attack than Tempest Strike on Malphon.

[turbid needle]

I was punching things into walls.

It was a mood.

I've enjoyed the doom and exposed combo on fists recently. Been easier to clear things.

[cunning urchin]

Exposed has no effect on Doom.

[turbid needle]

What is it deflect and doom?

[cunning urchin]

Deflect, yeah. You're talking about Merciful End.

[turbid needle]

Thanks I was like it's the Me-- something.

Thanks for the advice y'all. ✌️ time to put it into practice

Started Hammer > Chaos > Zeus. I think this build is going to work out 👌

[small fable]

Wondering whether to upgrade Aspect of Achilles to level 2 or get Aspect of Zeus. Any feedback? I sometimes feel like my spear does little damage but it's probably due to bad Cast choices lately

[strange lark]

Zeus can be hard to play and at lvl 1 it's not that good, so probably level up achilles

[mighty obsidian]

Why the hell doesn’t tidal dash count as a tier 1 boon for duos

I can’t get sweet nectar in tartarus as easily

[fervent elbow]

It is tier 1, and you aren't lucky

[turbid needle]

how do i unlock the ||Beowulf|| aspect

[proven osprey]

#h1-story-discussion Pinned message

[turbid needle]

thx

[turbid needle]

uh, which of the 1st 4 weapons is the best like overall? ive been using the spear

[small fable]

I ended up getting Zeus aspect and did a run up to Redacted on my first try so it was nice. Was able to get two titan blood as well so I can upgrade achilles aspect

[small fable]

I would ask more in new players channel since this one has spoilers but to answer your question just try them out and see which one you like best

[turbid needle]

mk, and what is achilles?

[small fable]

Don't worry about that. You'll see eventually

[turbid needle]

alright thank ya

[small fable]

Np

[toxic river]

is it possible to purge hermes boons

[valid prism]

Yes

[toxic river]

good

i'm trying to do a boonless run

[valid prism]

I assume you mean selling them when you see the red fountain

[toxic river]

yep

[honest wing]

man I've had multiple good seeds while doing hera run

but I keep dying

apparently 15 heat isn't good for me to try out hera for the first time

I think FO1 and HL1 are what was troubling me

plus with me not taking thick skin and sticking to high confidence

[honest wing]

quick reload stacks with hera to have the bloodstones drop out of the enmies?

exit wounds stonks

can you get blown kiss with hera

[valid dagger]

Yes

[honest wing]

aight

didn't get it

is it good tho

[slim lynx]

it's good aoe but the "deal extra damage to undamaged foes" property simply doesn't work on hera

[turbid needle]

Cut my average time from 23-32 down to 16 with eris ❤️ Thanks again for the build advice. @cunning urchin

[cunning urchin]

Nice! Congratulations!

[cunning urchin]

It does. A lot of enemies will be first-hit by the AOE, not the arrow.

[cloud vault]

Especially if you land the shot short of the target

[harsh depot]

chaos shield is my favorite weapon, but lately I've been dying a lot to redacted. any good builds? I try to get around 30 mins per playthrough

I should say too, I might just be a newbie, bc even though I've beat the game, the past 10 or so runs I've been off god resistance, which was a big handicap for me

at first I had god resistance just to experience the story, but after a while 80% resistance wasn't much of a challenge

[lime jolt]

Dio, ares, zeus special

Zoos special is considered to be the best/fastest

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/725021639506526249/828638955850956810/image0.png?width=838&height=471

This is the premise of that build ^

[harsh depot]

okay thanks, didn't know how long I'd have to scroll to find a good build

is this built fast? does it use the special alot?

[lime jolt]

yes, for a traditional chaos build, you use the special a lot

Charged shot is also really good, but then you don't really get to use the aspect mechanic

And yes it can go fast, I just went through all the styx tunnels for mom pom value

[harsh depot]

mom pom lmao

yeah I really like that keepsake

[cunning urchin]

@slim lynx Hades' Aid requires 50% for a Call, but Smoldering Air is capped at 25%. So no, it doesn't work.

[harsh depot]

I think my problem comes in with trying to collect so many different gods' boons in one run, instead of levelling up the ones that I currently have or trying to get another rarity for it

[lime jolt]

I just put mom pom on in apshodel and let it do its thing

got a lvl 6 billow

Not complaining about that

[harsh depot]

yeah the highest level I achieved for any build for any run was lvl 6, that's pretty good

I could probably go higher but often I just focus on getting more boons

[lime jolt]

Nothing wrong with that

Look at how many boons this run had

just make sure you are choosing useful boons

[harsh depot]

true

I saw a guide saying that it was most important to focus on duo boons you want to get for your run, is there any merit to that?

[lime jolt]

If ur run revolves around a duo boon, then yes

[harsh depot]

oh okay. just wondering if it was essential to a good build or not

like, with the zeus/dio build that was previously linked

[lime jolt]

I just got that by accident lol

I was like oooh shiny boon

[valid dagger]

Yea not all builds need a duo to work

[valid prism]

Some builds require a duo, some builds just need to stick with one god only...

If you grind heat, it's about having a main idea of what you are looking for + improvising if you don't have the boons you need yet

[harsh depot]

yeah I was grinding with heat once upon a time but now I'm just focused on getting darkness & getting through to redacted

[valid prism]

Using the codex stops the timer so you can completely look at the boons during a run even with Tight deadline activated

Yeah take your time if you want to grind and farm resources

[ripe glade]

any build suggestions?... with the bow?.. kinda played out all my regular builds.. looking for something different... any fun suggestions?

[boreal prism]

You got hidden bow?

I like hidden bow with explosive shot hammer... the pullback is as slow as possible and deals incredible damage

[turbid needle]

Wow I can’t believe this build rn- low tolerance, heroic heartbreak strike, unhealthy fixation

[ripe glade]

actually not tried that... yeah.. that spread damage would be nice.... although I'm not starting with the hammer... but I'll hunt it if I can.. thanks for the suggestion 😄

[turbid needle]

any good beginner weapons i should use? i dont really love the bow personally and i can get to asphodel with spear

[limber cloak]

Just use the weapon that you like, every weapon in this game is pretty well balanced. @turbid needle

Though i think some people find it easier to clear with shield because it can block things

[honest wing]

is zeus cast good?

I always didn't like it but thinking of trying it out

should I try with poseidon aspect or achilles

[cunning urchin]

Yeah, it's really good.

Both of those aspects work.

Electric Shot was the speedrun meta for both of those aspects for awhile.

[honest wing]

does it lodge in enemies if there isn't anything to bounce to? coz like phalanx shot was weird with the bouncing

[cunning urchin]

Yeah. There's almost always something else to bounce to, though.

[honest wing]

aight I'll do poseidon aspect first then

and try to get some exit wounds stonk

thanks for the help

[cunning urchin]

I don't think I would make Exit Wounds a high priority at all.

[honest wing]

yea I mean I would try to pick it up

to help eventually get the artemis legendary also

and like regular artemis to hopefully get mirage shot and stuff

[cunning urchin]

The goal in most Cast builds in high heat and speedruns nowadays is to just have your Casts kill things immediately, and then you can pick up your ammo again right away because it's dead.

Priority from her then would be any core boon to unlock Mirage Shot and Lightning Rod in the case of Electric Shot, and maybe Pressure Points or Support Fire to make your Casts do a little bit of extra damage.

[honest wing]

alright I'll try that then thanks

although I mean, I just don't find it fun to not have exit wounds with poseidon sword

yea it's probably not optimal but like

f u n

[cunning urchin]

You never know. You probably haven't tried every other build without Exit Wounds yet.

[honest wing]

I had it once, wasn't that satisfying

anyways I'll see whatever RNGesus gives me this run

[turbid needle]

what god should i give nectar to as a beginner

[honest wing]

whichever god's boons you like the best, ideally you want to eventually have given them all nectar, but start with whoever you like the most maybe

athena is good for beginners coz her boons help defensiveness

[turbid needle]

oki then

i think ill do ares then athena

the doom effect got me past meg and bone hydra on like my 10th run

[honest wing]

ares and athena actually synergise with each well

if you get their duo boon

[turbid needle]

ive never seen a duo boon before but okay sounds p cool

[honest wing]

yea duo boons dont come up often in early game

[turbid needle]

so far i got to elysium and died because the sword guys kept regenerating

im using the shield because why not

[cunning urchin]

There's #h1-for-new-players, which is free of spoilers. You might wanna go there instead if you haven't beaten the game yet.

[turbid needle]

i went here first because i didnt really have story related troubles yet

[cunning urchin]

It's just that this channel allows spoilers.

[turbid needle]

makes sense

[honest wing]

I have splitting bolt sea storm epic storm lightning tidal dash flurry jab all in tartarus

[honest wing]

got mirage shot also

died

how

why

man did like 60 damage with the swings

acorn turned off or something

man

[harsh depot]

acorn only prevents damage from bosses, I believe. and only from the first 3 hits that they get on you

[lime jolt]

5

[honest wing]

let's go got flurry cast I'm so happy

now all I want is exit wounds and artemis legendary

[harsh depot]

having such a hard time getting used to the zeus aspect for the shield. can anyone outline their gameplay strategy with this one? i find I tend to launch it at enemies first, then dash in for a few regular attack hits, and then dash out. power attack seems too slow to implement, and the special is hard to control.

[honest wing]

one strategy is to throw it out and call it back but run away from it so that it follows you

[proven osprey]

Special is indeed tough to control. You can throw it, punch enemies with dash strikes while following it and retrieve. There is a really safe rotation : Special > Bullrush > Special. Enemies lined up for max efficiency. It takes time to get used to. If you get the hammer "explosive return" you can just spam special at melee range.

But it's a matter of a practice and it's damn hard.

[honest wing]

another is to throw it and call it back immidietly

[lime jolt]

Making it follow behind you is really bad damage

Zeus is a melee weapon

Play it like that

[lime jolt]

^

I like dash striking

[strange lark]

you can throw it in front of you and start knocking enemies into it

for bosses most of the time i will throw the shield attack, and then call the shield back, and when i can tell that the boss is gonna do something that i have to avoid (em3 spin or hades laser) i will walk back and throw the shield

[lime jolt]

I bullrush at high heat with it

It’s way safer

[strange lark]

yeah

i gotta start bullrushing more

[lime jolt]

This is essentially how you do the combo (except you don’t die). Watch Baj tho for really clean and good zeus gameplay

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/811332258106703892/831675196947169330/video0.mov

[strange lark]

better chaos shield

[lime jolt]

No

I like chaos

[strange lark]

chaos is great

zeus is better

[lime jolt]

I don’t have to worry about my special

And I can hide

https://youtu.be/d_MHYwNesXY

^

This is quality zeus gameplay

[strange lark]

imma watch that rn

[harsh depot]

hm. I will keep those strategies in mind. does seem like there's a steep learning curve involved with using this shield. whenever I keep my focus on where my shield is at, I get distracted & am jumped by enemies around. I've tried the melee strategy, where you recall it & dash around enemies and have it drag behind, damaging them as you go, but it's so damn wonky to me 😂

and I haven't won with it in so long

[urban vapor]

what's the point of the cast? i find myself never using it because i can do significantly more damage with my weapon even if i'm restricted to only melee

does it get more useful when you reflect and get more casts at a time

[strange lark]

50% more damage

its most useful on aphro and artemis

the 50% damage only works for physical damage

so attack and special

[urban vapor]

i see

[cunning urchin]

The most important thing for Zeus Aspect is good shield fundamentals. Learn to use your Attack effectively.

[turbid needle]

if im using a cast build what gods should i go for

[cunning urchin]

You'll get much better at using the Special the way you want when you get better at base shield. When you have to think too much about how to use your Attack, it will make it that much harder to also focus on your Special.

That's for optimizing the aspect, anyway.

@turbid needle anything specific Cast you have in mind?

[turbid needle]

my idea is to just use my casts and then use my weapon to clean

[cunning urchin]

An effective Cast build just kills everything with Casts.

What aspect do you want to use?

[turbid needle]

i either havent progressed enough or im just stupid but what are aspects lmao

[cunning urchin]

Oh lol. They're different versions of all the weapons.

[turbid needle]

ohhh

so far im using the shield to progress but ill probably go with sword for a cast build

[cunning urchin]

If it's just base weapons, it doesn't matter too much which one you choose for a Cast build. Have you cleared the game yet?

[turbid needle]

nope

i got to elysium and died

[cunning urchin]

Ahhh okay.

[turbid needle]

i wanna get started right away so i dont have to do this later

[cunning urchin]

What mirror talents do you have unlocked?

And what keepsakes do you have?

[turbid needle]

i got an extra cast, and the one where you deal more damage with casts on enemies

[cunning urchin]

So you have 2 ammo?

[turbid needle]

yes

i can get a third

with more darkness

[cunning urchin]

Definitely get a third if you want to do a Cast build. Otherwise you'll have a very difficult time getting anything started.

What keepsakes do you have?

[turbid needle]

for keepsakes i have the tooth for an extra life, and the boon ones from poseidon and aphrodite

i have 2 nectar though

[cunning urchin]

Lady Artemis's keepsake would help a lot.

[turbid needle]

alright well with my luck i usually get her boons

[cunning urchin]

Do you have the house contractor upgrade that you can swap keepsakes between biomes?

[turbid needle]

yeah

i officially have the artemis keepsake

[cunning urchin]

Nice.

What I would try is start a run with the Eternal Rose for Crush Shot because that has very high base damage.

Then try to get as many poms as possible on that.

[turbid needle]

eternal rose? is that the aphrodite one

[cunning urchin]

Yeah.

[turbid needle]

okay just making sure

[cunning urchin]

In Tartarus, you want to look for Poseidon and Lady Artemis—ideally both. Try to get at least one out Attack, Special, Dash, or Call from each.

If you only find one of them in Tartarus, you take the other's keepsake into Asphodel and get their boon there.

[turbid needle]

i gotta finish this run because i got the artemis keepsake now

[cunning urchin]

Yeah, sure.

When you have a core boon from those two, you're eligible for their Duo Boon. That's the one you want.

[turbid needle]

also if im using the shield what hammer upgrade is good

my guess is the bull rush becomes a shot

[cunning urchin]

Charged Shot is the best by far.

Less because it becomes a shot and more because the base damage is crazy.

[brittle mortar]

^ agreed

it's a bit harder, but it's well worth the practice

[cunning urchin]

It takes some getting used to if you're only used to the Bull Rush.

I don't think it's harder. I'd rather say it's easier because the damage is so high.

[brittle mortar]

ah yeah I guess

[turbid needle]

im still going and im on meg with 1 life

[brittle mortar]

oh nice, hope you make it

[turbid needle]

nevermind it was meg’s murdering sister or smth

died

[brittle mortar]

oh lol she's scary

[turbid needle]

yay now im a boxer

unlocked the fists

[brittle mortar]

ohhh lit

those are so fun

throw on some dio or athena and have fun

[turbid needle]

geeze how many sisters does megara have

[strange lark]

she has 2 sisters

[misty sun]

Anything else that would be good on fists?

[brittle mortar]

dio and athena are really good for attack. different boons are good for different aspects

but arty is good for a lot of them

also, you could do zeus, but I dont really like zeus too much. that;s just a preference

demeter is kind of fun too if you want to get the boon where 10 stacks of chill does damage

but if you are new, I really suggest athena on attack and ares on special

that way you get one of the best duo boons in the game.

and the deflect is really helpful when I was starting out

[cunning urchin]

#h1-builds-and-combat message

[turbid needle]

hey i was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction either a youtube channel(s) or forums for some starting builds or just builds in general please and thankyou

[misty sun]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2233472883 is a list of good starting builds.

[turbid needle]

^^ i found this useful aswell

[midnight sky]

Is there a demonstration of advanced movement maneuvering while attacking? I see pros with the fists with an onslaught of hits that seem to never stop while dashing all over the place, I couldn't do that, so maybe I'm missing a technique like reloading while dashing for Hestia

[tired snow]

Still doing my best to learn maneuvering, switched to controller and it's been a big improvement on mobility

[turbid needle]

Same controller is better then joycon to me

[pseudo jetty]

Does curse of vengeance + holy shield work with vengeful mood + merciful end?

[slim lynx]

yes, but you have to get holy shield after curse of vengeance i believe

[pseudo jetty]

I see, thanks!

[limber cloak]

It barely works

The radius is really small

[dusky locust]

Used Lucifer's gun, the special with athena is just so much fun. Surrounded the Lernie with it, all the shots just returned to him.

[boreal prism]

Ooh that sounds cool

I've had mixed results with Athena special on luci

[honest wing]

it explodes really quick so like yea

[slim lynx]

it's funny how steam discussions people will be like "guan yu is horrible" and then unironically tell you cursed slash is a good hammer on aspect of arthur

[magic rivet]

Isn't cursed slash just one guy

[slim lynx]

now i see other people saying it's good

[magic rivet]

Oh no

[slim lynx]

plus that shackle guide was actually popular so you know it's not just that one guy

[magic rivet]

Pain

[cunning urchin]

Cursed Slash has carried a lot of new players to their first victory or first sword victory.

[honest wing]

does nourished soul increase the cursed slash healing

[quaint crystal]

just started using rama for the first time, chooseing a hammer atm whats the best option

Triple shot repulse shot chain shot

[slim lynx]

triple

definitely triple

[quaint crystal]

awesome ty

[valid prism]

@slim lynx People will naturally grind heat whatever if it's tryhard or casual play. Then they will go further enough into the game to unlock GY but when it happens, they are probably surprised by how hard it is to play it if they stay at their current heat level. While they probably had time to practice sword, cursed slash hammer included

[valid prism]

The HP malus is tough so it's not an easy aspect to discover after a big bunch of hours

[honest wing]

high confidence guan u

[magic rivet]

On lvl 1

15 health

[slim lynx]

lmao just don't get hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[valid prism]

GY pros: go to the shop and spend only 50 for health recovery

[glossy crag]

Hi i'm struggling making a good spear build

Do you have any idea or suggestions ?

[valid dagger]

What aspect are you trying to use

[glossy crag]

Regular one

Zagreus aspect

I'm still trying to beat hades btw

[slim lynx]

exploding launcher + charged skewer works

[valid dagger]

You can do Zeus attack with the flurry jab hammer and you can try to grab a good dash like Tidal Dash or Divine dash for safety, thats an attack focused build, Jolted and possibly Zeus call + Billowing and Double strike are good boons to look for, its basically full on Zeus, Aphro can complement that build with Smoldering Air aswell.
For a Special build you can look for Charged Skewer + Exploding launcher, without those your regular special is really weak, any % Special boon should do fine, Artemis or Aphro are preferred

[slim lynx]

or you can just use conch shell to get tidal dash at the start and get flurry jab

although that might get you killed pretty easily if you're not careful with dashing

[glossy crag]

Ok thx

I was wondering for the sword too

I'm using nemesis aspect

[glossy crag]

And yeah thx for the tips but i'm still a noob so i'm still not really good with dashing

[valid dagger]

For Nemesis your main source of dmg is dash striking, so you can grab Artemis Dash with her attack and you have dmg, a big hammer upgrade for Nemesis and swords in general is double edge, this will take your build to the next level, more Dashes from Hermes always a good thing, Aphro Special + heartrend is also a good duo to look for

oops wrong reply

its ok

[glossy crag]

It's ok thx

Imma beat hades soon

You'll see

[valid dagger]

You got this

[slim lynx]

with nemesis, your best pick from hermes is rare/epic greatest reflex, common isn't exactly worth it. in that case just go for hyper sprint (if you haven't already gotten something from hermes) so you can get rush delivery the next time hermes shows up, which effectively increases your damage output by 50% (common) or up to 100% (epic)

[small fable]

what's the optimal way to play with nemesis if you have 3 or more dashes? Still do two dash strikes + special or as many dash strikes as you can?

[slim lynx]

as many dashes

because obviously you get the most damage out that way

[valid prism]

3 dashes or more I think you're still under the nem's special buff if you use them all to dash-strike

[slim lynx]

3 seconds is more than enough time to get allll that damage in don't worry about it lmao

[glossy crag]

I DID IT

I finally beat hades hell yeah

[honest wing]

hell yea

[pseudo jetty]

any good vengeful mood aspects?

[slim lynx]

probably arthur since it has +50 base hp

if you mean which aspect just goes well with vengeful mood and not necessarily a revenge build then uhh i guess melee weapons in general?

[magic rivet]

You can get both with Zagreus fists

[desert axle]

how do you use the zeus shield

[lime jolt]

Special management is key. Throw out your shield and bullrush back and forth while you recall and throw out your shield

[slim lynx]

i feel like i have a good idea of how to play zeus and then i don't