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Of all the Reagents you’ll need to hunt down in Hades 2, Star Dust is likely the most elusive and an annoying head-scratcher if you don’t know where to look. Scouring Erebus, Oceanus, the Fields of Mourning, and the chambers of Tartarus, you won’t stumble into the stuff. Instead, it’s only available for completing curated challenges arranged by Chaos, the primordial void.
Easier said than done though, as these trials are tough, but also only available once you’ve made some significant progress in Hades 2. We’ll walk you through how to unlock Chaos Trials and how to get Star Dust.
How to find Star Dust
To get Star Dust in Hades 2, you’ll need to complete Chaos Trials available at the Pitch-Black Stone in the training grounds of the Crossroads. The Star Dust reward is given to Melinoe at the end of each run, which typically involves completing several locations before defeating one of the main Guardian bosses, such a Hecate and Scylla. Later in the game, you can also buy Star Dust for 800 Bones a pop at the Wretched Broker. Star Dust is used to upgrade Arcana cards and craft Beast-Loved Morsel and Moon Dust.
How to unlock Chaos Trials in Hades 2
To unlock Chaos Trials in Hades, you’ll need to concoct the Abyssal Insight Incantation at the cauldron in the Crossroads. The Incantation won’t pop until quite far into the game. You’ll also need to meet several requirements: unlock all weapons, gift Primordial Chaos a Nectar to get the Transcendent Embryo Keepsake, and unlock the Aspects of Night and Darkness recipe at the cauldron, though you don’t necessarily need to concoct it. After all this, play through several runs and pop into any Chaos Gates you come across to talk to Chaos and you’ll eventually get the Abyssal Insight Incantation recipe.
The recipe requires x2 Fate Fabric, x2 Pearl, x2 Moly, and x2 Nightshade. Fate Fabric is available from the Wretched Broker at the crossroads for 60 Bones, but also as one of the armor options from Arachne during runs and one of the shipment options offered by Charon at the Crossroads. You can get Pearl as a reward from defeating Scylla and the Sirens, the second boss in Hades 2. Moly grows throughout Erebus, while Nightshade is grown at the Crossroads soil patches from seeds dug up using the Silver Space in Erebus.
Visit the cauldron and brew the Incantation. A Pitch-Black Stone will then appear in the Training Grounds near the Silver Pool in Crossroads where you can view and start Chaos Trials.
Chaos Trials explained
Chaos Trials are a series of short challenge runs with very specific modifiers and different difficulty levels. They use different regions, weapons, and Keepsake loadouts. Opening up the Pitch-Black Stone displays all the Chaos Trials available. On the right is a chain of eyes that denote difficulty level, though each run ends with a Guardian boss fight and a reward of Star Dust. The more eyeballs, the harder the challenge.
You can complete trials several times, but you’ll only get Star Dust for the first successful run of each trial.
Here’s a list of the Chaos Trials available in Hades 2’s current Early Access build:
- Trial of Origin
- Trial of Salt
- Trial of Humility
- Trial of the Labrys
- Trial of Vengeance
- Trial of Fury
- Trial of Haste
- Trial of Blood
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