Best boons in Hades 2 ranked – My top 10

✓ At a glance

• The best boons are Hephaestus’ Volcanic Strike, Hestia’s Smolder Ring, Hera’s Bridal Glow, Aphrodite’s Flutter Flourish, and Demeter’s Ice Strike.

As Melinoe, you’ll rely on your Greek god relatives to bestow you with the best boons to thwart Chronos. While much of it is up to fate, even the odds with better choices and reduce the runs it’ll take to defeat Chronos. After several victories, we’ve listed the best boons to add to your divine arsenal.

How to pick the best boons

While some boons enhance specific builds, consider the ones below regardless of what you’re aiming for. We haven’t considered Daedalus Hammer weapon improvements and vendors like Arachne and Echo. Their bonuses are more general-purpose and can flesh out just about any build. Duo boons like Phoenix Skin’s HP regeneration are excellent but aren’t on this list because they’re pretty rare.

We’ve picked these based on their damage potential and effectiveness in keeping you alive against all sorts of threats. Bosses won’t pose as much of a problem with the right boons. Read on for our top picks.

10. Zeus – Static Shock

• Effect: After you enter a location, Prime 50 Magick to make your strikes emit chain lightning.
• Rarity: 10/15/20/25 lightning damage

These lightning strikes aren’t devastating on their own. But with critical damage chance modifiers, they can clear entire rooms of enemies for you. Priming 50 Magick might seem like a loss but if you don’t use Omega moves much, you won’t miss out. This boon works well with all of Melinoe’s weapons unless you prefer Omega casting. Don’t expect his brother Poseidon on this list, even with Lucid Gain to restore Magick.

9. Hermes – Midnight Oil

• Effect: When your Hex is ready, move and attack faster.
• Rarity: +20% move and weapon speed

While Hermes’ boons focus on mobility in general, this one buffs Melinoe’s weapon speed as well. An Arcana card lets your Hex regenerate even without using Magick, letting you use this in almost every encounter. It’ll come in handy with slower weapons like the Moonstone Axe and Argent Skull. As for quick weapons, Midnight Oil makes them devilishly fast. The best part is that this doesn’t replace other Attack and Special enhancements.

8. Support Fire – Artemis

• Effect: After you hit with your Attacks or Specials, fire a seeking arrow.
• Rarity: 10/15/20/25 arrow damage

While the damage output alone isn’t amazing, having multiple projectiles is always a good thing. They improve your odds of landing critical hits and can even deal backstab damage. That’s right, Artemis’ arrows can zip about and surprise enemies with a backstab if you’ve got the right boons to take advantage of it. This works well with most Nocturnal Arms. But my favorite trick is stacking it with the Umbral Flames and its Daedalus Hammer upgrade that splits its projectiles.

7. Selene – Moon Water

• Effect: Your Hex restores 25 health up to three times and can be recharged at fountains. Ready after 70 Magic.
• Rarity: NA

While you might want a devastating ultimate ability for bosses, healing is just as important. Delay death with Selene’s Moon Water, granting you three instances of 25 health whenever you use 70 Magick. You’ll need to replenish them at fountains after each region. After a couple of runs, you’ll be able to save these healing potions for boss fights, letting you tackle them with less fear. As a general boon, it goes well with all of your weapons. 

6. Apollo – Light Smite

• Effect: After you take damage, the enemy takes damage and you inflict Daze on all foes.
• Rarity: 50/75/100/120 counter damage

Daze is a neat affliction that causes enemies to attack less often. While applying this to every enemy in an encounter is great, pairing it with the Back Burner boon from Apollo makes it devastating. As Back Burner grants bonus backstab damage to Dazed foes, you can wipe an entire screen of enemies in seconds. It synergizes well with melee weapons like the Sister Blades and the Moonstone Axe, especially since you need to take damage to trigger Light Smite. You’ll end up activating it unintentionally, letting you turn the tide when needed.

5. Demeter – Ice Strike

• Effect: Your Attacks deal more damage and inflict Freeze.
• Rarity: +30/45/60/75% bonus damage

Freeze is easily one of the best status effects in the game. Immobilizing enemies is great when there are a bunch of them on-screen, like the darting fish in Scylla’s boss fight. The bonus damage is great too, letting you whittle down boss health bars. The Cold Storage boon increases your Freeze duration, letting you slow fights down for even longer. Demeter’s Arctic Ring Cast boon is also great, especially with the boon that summons a cyclone at its location. All of Melinoe’s Nocturnal Arms can benefit from Freeze moves. Rank it up to Epic or Heroic for even more damage. To affect your Special damage, try Ice Flourish.

4. Aphrodite – Flutter Flourish

• Effect: Your Specials deal more damage to nearby foes.
• Rarity: +100/150/200/250% close-up damage

Close-up damage buffs are a big deal for melee builds with the Moonstone Axe and the Sister Blades. While moving toward enemies might open you up to damage, using your Cast to trap enemies can let you land some free hits. Some of Aphrodite’s boons can inflict Weak, lowering enemy damage. While these work well with melee weapons, the Argent Skull’s Aspect of Medea requires you to get close to enemies too. This makes it a good weapon to pick while leaning on Aphrodite’s divine firepower.

3. Hera – Bridal Glow

• Effect: Two random boons become Heroic and lose rarity after some encounters.
• Rarity: Lose rarity every 5/7/8 encounters

This one’s a double-edged sword. I wouldn’t recommend using this boon in the starting region. But if you get it right before a final boss like Chronos or Eris, you’ll walk in with two Heroic boons. And if Hera picks two boons you rely on heavily, it’ll turn boss fights into a cakewalk. Once again, this boon synergizes well with pretty much every weapon in the game. Hera’s boons with Hitch effects are great too, letting you chain attacks together for extraordinary amounts of damage.

2. Hestia – Smolder Ring

• Effect: Your Casts repeatedly inflict Scorch on enemies.
• Rarity: Deals 30/45/60/75 Scorch damage per second

While your Casts are great for slowing enemies, Hestia lets them deal damage over time. It’s great for enemies that appear during boss fights, like those hourglasses in Chronos’ final stand. It locks enemies in place and can even eliminate weak foes on its own. You’ll appreciate the breathing space when enemies in packed chambers lob projectiles all over the screen. Hestia’s boons go well with Melinoe’s entire arsenal. Since you’ll be using Casts often, activate the Arcana Card that lets you deal more enemies in your Casts.

1. Hephaestus – Volcanic Strike

• Effect: Occasionally create a blast that deals 200 damage in an area after an Attack.
• Rarity: 12/10/8/6 second recharge time

Volcanic Strike, my beloved. While I expect Hephaestus’ boons to be nerfed into oblivion once Supergiant Games starts dishing out balance patches, they’re incredible right now. While you miss out on cool status effects like Hera’s Hitch or Zeus’ Blitz, Hephaestus is all about damage. Dealing 200 damage in a small area is great. Adding a boon for bonus Vent damage on top of that is the icing on the cake. You’ll melt through bosses with the aid of Hephaestus, regardless of which weapon you pick. Volcanic Strike and Volcanic Flourish are easily the best boons in the game.