Hades 2: Worst Boons You Should Avoid

There are a lot of new systems and mechanics at play in Hades 2, and it can be difficult to learn which boons you should take and which you should avoid in every run. Some boons are obviously strong, like Apollo’s cast that deals rapid damage, but other boons are just as weak as they appear – or are convoluted and restricted enough to not warrant being chosen.

Of the dozens and dozens of boons available to Melinoë in Hades 2, bad boons often come with a downside or major restriction that makes them next-to-useless. Some of the worst boons Hades 2 players can get aren’t good without significant investment, like Uncommon Grace or Dark Side, but others are just useless in almost every situation, like boons that require Melinoë to lose HP.

5 Any Boon That Requires Taking Damage

There are a variety of bad boons in Hades 2 that require Melinoë to take damage in order to trigger their effects. Hephaestus’ Tough Time boon requires players to take damage to empower their current attack or special, for example, while Apollo and Hera’s boons will apply their effects to all enemies if Melinoë takes a hit.

The thing is, the downside of these abilities is right on the package. Sources of healing are sparse in Hades 2, and if you need to sacrifice this precious resource to trigger an ability, it’s probably not worth it. Only take boons that require Melinoë to take damage if you truly have no other option, or have a way to reliably heal, like with the Aspect of Momus for the Witch Staff or Selene’s heal-on-demand Hex.

4 Zeus – Spirit Surge

Spirit Surge is one of the worst Hades 2 boons because of how restrictive its requirements are to proc. This boon will damage all enemies in your current area every five seconds with a lightning bolt that deals 60 damage. On its own, this effect would already be underwhelming – 60 damage is a hit or two from just about every weapon, after all. It affecting every enemy would almost be enough to save it, though.

The real downside of this ability is that the random Lightning Strikes will only proc if Melinoë has less than 10 Magick available. This is useless for builds that use a lot of Magick, because you probably will regenerate it before it can take effect. But it’s also useless for builds that avoid Magick, unless you are able to reliably Prime and reduce your max Magick to below 10.

60 damage every 5 seconds to all enemies is practically unnoticeable, especially with how few times this boon will likely be procced. Until this boon is buffed or overhauled, choose anything else Zeus offers.

3 Hera – Uncommon Grace

Uncommon Grace, in certain situations, is not a bad boon. If all of your other boons – core boons and passives all – are Rare or better, Melinoë will deal at least 10% extra damage with all abilities and attacks. But what makes it one of the worst boons in Hades 2 is that it requires the player to have collected nothing but Rare or higher-rarity boons for their entire journey, or else it has no effect.

But getting nothing but Rare or better boons is almost impossible. Unless this is the very first boon you are offered – and you choose bad boons that are higher rarity from there on out – or you have somehow made it to the end with all upgraded boons and are offered this in Charon’s final shop, avoid taking Uncommon Grace, which becomes a dead boon in all but the luckiest runs.

2 Demeter – Winter Coat

Demeter actually offers some of the best boons in the game, but Winter Coat is not among them. This is the worst Magick-regeneration ability in Hades 2 bar none, because of how restrictive it is. Winter Coat grants a huge amount of Magick regeneration, around 25 per second as a base. But Melinoë can only regain Magick if she stands completely still and makes no inputs for at least one second.

One second is a long, long time in Hades 2, enough to get hit by several attacks or get jumped by Eris’ sudden blasts with the Adamant Rail. There are few opportunities to take advantage of this boon’s high Magick regen because of how hectic the game is, and how much Melinoë has to do to survive a run.

Like with Zeus’ Spirit Surge boon, there is almost no situation where you should take Winter Coat. If you are at the end of a run and have no Magick regain, then it’s worth a consideration. But in almost all situations, Demeter’s other boons will serve you better.

1 Selene – Dark Side

Selene’s Hexes are considered by some to be underwhelming, with only one really standing out for being a must-pick – Moon Water, which lets Melinoë heal for chunks of HP regularly. On the other hand, Dark Side is the worst of the worst boons in Hades 2.

Without any upgrades from the Path of Stars, which requires investing more into Selene’s boons and Hexes, Dark Side will give Melinoë two new underwhelming abilities and make her invincible for 5 seconds. The abilities don’t deal much damage, the invulnerability suddenly drops with little warning and causes players to take damage anyway, and its effects are overall underpowered compared to other Selene Hexes.

If Dark Side will gain the most points for use with the Path of Stars, it can be worth consideration – but even when fully upgraded it’s nothing compared to fully-upgraded versions of other Hexes, and far less powerful than most of the defensive boons in Hades 2.