How to get Animal Familiars in Hades 2 Early Access – Equip and upgrade pets

✓ At a glance

• Get pets to accompany you by handing them Witch’s Delight. 
• Create more Witch’s Delights with the Beast-Loved Morsel recipe.
• The best pet to get is Toula, the cat grants a bonus Death Defiance and can scratch enemies. They let you use the Rod of Fishing’s ability.

Animal familiars are companions that are both adorable and helpful on your runs. While you’ll meet Frinos after every failed attempt against Chronos, they’re not the only pet you can find. While the original game had companions, the sequel gives them a more involved role. Read on to learn how to get all the Animal Familiars currently in the game.

How to get pets

You’ll need familiar treats, called Witch’s Delights, to convince a pet to join you. As you go through underground runs, Hecate will talk to you about animal familiars, unlocking the Faith of Familiar Spirits incantation. Here are the resources you need to brew this incantation:

• 2 Nectar: found via chamber rewards or purchased at the Wretched Broker for 30 Bones (once per run)
• 1 Lotus: found in the Oceanus region of the underworld

Concocting this incantation at Hecate’s cauldron creates the Witch’s Delight. And don’t worry about using it up as you can use the Beast-Loved Morsel recipe via the Alchemy tab for more treats. It costs 2 Lotus and 1 Star Dust to create 2 Witch’s Delights. Obtain Star Dust by clearing Chaos Trials in the Pitch-Black Stone after using the Abyssal Insight incantation from Chaos.

All Animal Familiars and where to find them

At the moment, the Early Access build of the game only has two Animal Familiars. Expect more animal companions to arrive as we get major content updates from Supergiant Games.

Frinos the Frog

• Bonus Max Life: +10
• Blocks enemy ranged shots.
• Lets you use the effects of the Tablet of Peace once.

Frinos is a helpful frog whose name means “toad.” You don’t need to worry about finding them as they’re right next to where you arrive after a run at the Crossroads. While the bonus life might not be much, their ability to block projectiles is great when bosses like Hecate litter your screen with moving projectile attacks. You can also use Frinos as a Tablet of Peace tool to improve Melinoe’s Psyche amount, letting you work towards carrying more Arcana Cards.

Toula the Cat

• Bonus Death Defiance: +1 to resurrect Melinoe with 10 Health after a fatal hit
• Sprint near Toula for them to scratch foes for 99 damage.
• Lets you use the effects of the Rod of Fishing once.

Toula can be found in the Rift of Thessaly biome on the surface. I’ve spotted them at the pier after the city of Ephyra, right before the ship segments. And while you might run into them first at the hidden fountain room in Erebus, this will usually happen before you unlock Witch’s Delights. The bonus Death Defiance alone is worth keeping Toula around. It’ll let you survive a fatal hit and the cat does some damage against enemies too. As for utility, you can use their Rod of Fishing effect to get fish and trade them for Bones at the Wretched Broker. Bones can then be used to get useful items like Nectar, Ambrosia, or Moon Dust.

How to equip and upgrade Animal Familiars

To equip a pet, head to the training grounds at the Crossroads and interact with them. You’ll find Frinos and Toula near the gathering tools. I’d recommend switching to Toula if a boss is hard to beat. As for upgrades, use Witch’s Delights to upgrade your pet’s core skills by one rank. Each of them can be leveled up to a maximum of three ranks. The Attending a Faithful Beast incantation further boosts their effectiveness by upgrading their tool uses by +2. Here’s what it costs to brew:

• 1 Tears: found after defeating Cerberus in the Fields of Mourning
• 1 Wool: found after defeating Polyphemus in the city of Ephyra
• 4 Wheat: seeds found in random dig spots in the Fields of Mourning region

Here are all the upgrades that Frinos can access.

Ability	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3
Life Bond	Frinos boosts your max health by +10.	Increase this to +20 health.	Increase this to +30 health.
Soul Bond	Use the Tablet of Peace effect twice per night.	Increase this to thrice a night.	Boost this to four times per night.
Strength Bond	Frinos deals 10 damage after jumping on an enemy.	Increase damage dealt to 20 damage.	Boost this to 30 damage after a leap.

Toula also has upgrades to boost her abilities for one Witch’s Delight. Here are her upgrades.

Ability	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3
Heart Bond	The bonus Death Defiance granted by Toula revives you with 10 health.	Increase this value to 20 health.	Bump up this value to 30 health.
Soul Bond	Use the Rod of Fishing effect twice per night.	Improve this to thrice per night.	Boost this value to four times a night.
Strength Bond	Toula will strike one more time before losing interest.	Improve this to two more times.	Bump this up to three more times before they lose interest.