So... About Hades II

Hades has been one of my favourite games since it released back in 2019... but about it's sequel... It's absolutely amazing who am I kidding. Hades II offers so many new options for a unique rogue like experience and despite only being in early access, is setting up to be one of the best games of this year!

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[Cosmitzian]

I'm sure everyone will complain but the plot goes further. You can only spend so much time out with your mother, you die in the sun. So each time you try to talk to her about different things and try to resist longer. The real ending of the game is when after many escapes, you convince her to come back, Hades relents and appaluds you and you keep running the dungeon, because otherwise the other gods would think you succeeded to return Persephone to Hades and split them up again. It's actually /magnificent/ storytelling and reasoning as to /why/ we're still playing a roguelike and why Zagreus still 'escapes' and still fights Hades. But the tone changes to one of sparring and contest.

Unrelated. Any talks about anything in the game mechanics wise and gameplay wise are useless. Hades 1 in EE was equally a mess. Everyone has to remember Hades 1 got praise /after/ release. Not a lot of people were excited about Hades and its EE was relatively a small affair. Hades 2' EE is getting a lot of eyes on it, and as such, any flaws or deficiencies are blown out of proportion when it comes down to what actually will end up being the final game experience.

[MsZaki]

I think the dash is a balancing thing since melinoe has a lot more ranged attack compared to Zag. Also the cast is integral to mel's gameplay since she needs the range and making an area that restricts enemy's moevements is key

[estebansanchez]

Cmon man. You gotta finish the first game. I think you gotta beat it 11 times. Just keep at it.

[sebastianzarek]

It's true, I played about 50h of Hades II (having 350h in Hades), and then tried to come back to Hades and found it feels sooo much different. Played 2 runs, got used to it again, came back to Hades II again, and Same exact thing occurs. This just shows that while the games look like they play almost identically, they're much different. The pacing is much different, enemies are much different, and Hades II isn't hack and slash anymore, so frantically spamming everything you have won't get you any wins this time.

[balturunç]

Honestly I think the cast is so much better in hades 2. With the right arcana set up your cast becomes both offensive and defensive which I adore. Not to mention you can apply two curses solely with your cast with the right boons which triggers origination is chefs kiss.

[stashladki]

Regarding your cast comment. I literally felt the same till I started experimenting with different cast boons when I started to struggle clearing fear runs. Some of those are actually amazing and completely change the way you play the build. At first I thought it's just a dumb damage increase from the Arcana card, but it's 1) a root, which is very important when in high fear runs you can litetally get one shot. 2) It's instant and AOE, and some casts like Poseidon's one literally deal 100 dmg to everyone in front of you and pushes them away, that's stronger than his heroic attack and 3) some casts are working while they are active, which means you drop it and then continue playing while doing dmg/debuffs in the background.

So what I'm saying just try some cast boons for fun, and you'll instantly will fall in love!

[taylorkat]

Any boon from Hestia, Apollo or Demeter that involves your cast becomes terrifying. I particularly like Hestia and Apollo, because being able to summon a circle of fire to destroy your enemies is kinda awesome

[ArcadeJackson-usmq]

Demeter’s cast options are insane. I basically needed them when I was doing the level 32 fear challenge runs. And add Zeus into the mix and the enemies can’t get close, can’t move and there constantly getting bombarded with lightning

[jacktaylor]

A great combo for melinoe's cast is the zeus boon and demeter boon that when put together, turn the cast into a blender. And then if you give every enemy the hitch effect while in the cast they'll all be taking damage each time one of them is hit, which is 4 times a second. And then, if you're using one of the staffs different forms, it will recast any omega cast for free. And you can get a bonus that if an enemy dies with the hitch effect, any other enemy with the hitch effect will take a burst of damage, which is really great for the [redacted] fight.

I know that's a long list, but it's honestly great, and more can be added on top of it

[brofst]

The cast is less damage focused (aside from a few select aspects) and much more about utility. It keeps you from getting mobbed by the whirlers and banshees in erebus, the needlefish in oceanus, punchers and lycans in fields, etc. You pretty much drop it and kite so that you can pick off the enemies from a medium range.

[danielj]

Once you unlock the weapon aspects, the Charon version of the Moonstone Axe can be super broken. If you hit your regular Cast circle with the Omega Special (OS), it instantly donates your cast as if it was your Omega Cast. If you get Apollo's Lucid Gain boon then you regain 50-100+ mana back if you're standing inside when your cast disappears. So you can spam Cast and OS back to back and always have full mana. This makes your Hex charge up very fast by spending mana.

You can get an upgrade like the Daedalus Hammer that increases the mana cost of your OS and fires it twice. And/or the Hestia boon that increases the mana cost and launches a fireball when you OS. You can get your OS to cost 40 or 55 so that you only have to cast your OS twice to build your Hex even if it costs 80-100.

If you get the Darkside Hex you become impervious to all damage during it. So you can fire 2 OS and then Hex to become impervious for 5-6 seconds and repeat 2 OS into Hex over and over.

I like to put Hera's boon on the Special so everything gets Hitched and shares damage with each other for even bigger nukes. But the only thing you really need is Charon's Axe and Apollo's Lucid Gain for the mana gain. You could slap any other boons on and it should work.

[heaven_inc.]

what most people dont remember about mel's cast is that it slows enemies inside of it, meaning if you have enemies chasing after you, you can drop the cast and it will allow you to stop them long enough to drop an omega move and decimate them, and the omega cast is the strongest omega move period, which just adds an explosion to the end of your cast

[ziphrox]

Hades 1 also had 4 areas, namely the maze…

[Latency]

Ok, so you wonder what the cast is for? In contrast to Hades 1, the cast basically acts as a defence mechanism for Hades 2. Outside of bosses, the Cast is meant to ensnare enemies and keep them in place so you can safely attack them from a distance or for you to finish them off. One of the uses I found for the Cast is when dealing with the fishes that spawn in Oceanus. Specifically, the ones that come in schools. Or the ones that Scylla summons desperately as you’re about to kill her. It’s basically Aspect of Arthur from the first game but more convenient and way easier to use. It gives you more breathing room and allows you to attack opponents more safely. My typical strategy with it is to cast it when enemies are about to spawn, and kill them immediately. It’s effective against mobile enemies or for bosses that aren’t particularly fast (Hecate, Scylla, Roxy, etc.). While it also isn’t particularly good against very fast enemies (Jetty and some others).

[likealaddertothesun]

My only real gripe with the early access approach is when early players post spoilers as content. I don't mean this video which was good about teasing new stuff without giving away anything too juicy, but the other day I saw a reel giving away a unique final boss mechanic. I'm glad early players are helping make the final release as good as it can be but I wish more of them would chill on talking about specific reveals or cool aspects of the sequel that a lot of us are looking forward to discovering on our own when it's officially out.

[bevvy.bee]

A build with Apollo's cast will be really powerful

[MarcoPenuelaPT]

The cast is a staple of hades II kit. With a good boon it can be the lynch pin of a play through

[alanaeichsteadt]

Oh my man, the cast is the cornerstone of any build. You’re definitely missing out.

[sebastianzarek]

What? Hades 1 runs were also split into 4 regions?

[abelochoaizquierdo]

the only use I managed from the cast is in the fields of mourning agains the boxing guys that cant reach you when they get caught in the cast