Hades 2: Major Patch
This one focused on the weapons
A few weeks ago, we dropped our first podcast to tell you all about the release of Hades 2, the sequel to our favorite roguelike game ever.
Hades 2 is still in early access, and is expected to be so for the rest of this year. That means large updates with dramatic gameplay changes, and this week we got a big one.
Focused primarily on the weapons, this update made massive changes to the mechanics of them. There were other QOL improvements and encounter balances, but the weapon changes are clearly the headline. Let’s take a look at the standout improvements. Necessarily, there will be spoilers.
Outstanding
Aspect of Momus: This new staff is fantastic. Previously, the Momus staff was a bog standard “spam out the long range light attack as fast as possible” weapon, with a buff to the damage of the special attack. The regular attack was useful only situationally, and the hammer options were useful in direct proportion to how well they buffed the “spamalot” strategy.
The new Momus staff focuses on the “omega” moves, turning your cast, attack, and special into incredibly useful tactical leave behinds that keep firing off after you’ve moved on (like turrets). This opens up a whole new way to play Hades, and truly makes the staff feel like a proper witch’s tool.
Aspect of Thanatos: The Reaper’s scythe had a mechanic that made sense, but didn’t function as described by ingame text. You’d get increasing critical hit chance for hitting enemies with your omega moves, but the critical meter didn’t build the way the descriptive text suggested. This led to a functional but underwhelming weapon choice.
Omega moves now are the recipient of the critical chance buff, which is procced by regular attacks. Adding 1%/attack, capping at 13%, this really buffs your spin attack omega move in a way that feels meaningful and powerful. To accommodate this change the axe also gets an attack speed buff with this aspect, allowing you to do a little more kiting/hit and run as you build your crit meter to unleash devastating spins.
Umbral Flames (all aspects): The patch note says “Attacks are stronger and faster; Omega attacks channel faster and use less magic; Special now gives a speed boost, but has reduced damage; Omega special can be channeled while moving.” It could have just said “We decided to make this weapon not suck.” This was the least-usable weapon in the game by a comfortable margin, and the new changes make it play the way it seems like was intended from the beginning.
The Eos aspect also got a major change to how it functions, differentiating its playstyle from the other two. Instead of the tedious mechanic tied to leaving out your attacks and then dashing to call them back, it now releases a massive charged floater, that does massive AOE damage pulses, as the omega attack and ditches the sprint mechanic entirely.
Not bad
Aspect of Circe: This was more tinkering than really changing. The Serenity state is now easier to achieve, and buffs damage for your omega moves. The Circe staff was already fine up to fairly high fear, now it’s just a little bit better.
Aspect of Artemis: The parry/backstab mechanic of the omega attack was changed to be used up before any other damage avoidance options you might have. Additionally it can be used slightly more often due to changes in how/when it recharges. This was already a good aspect, this is a minor improvement.
Aspect of Melinoe (Moonstone Axe): Melinoe’s aspect of the axe previously had increasing attack speed and recovery as you leveled it up. This buff has been transferred to the Thanatos aspect, and Mel’s version now gets maximum life and attack damage buffs instead. Decidedly lateral move here.
Y U DO DIS
Aspect of Persephone - This aspect is still a confusing mess to use, and the aspect’s buff is essentially useless if you’re running any kind of fear on the board. Needs a complete re-work to be competitive with the other skull aspects.
More to come
Numerous changes to the Daedalus Hammer upgrade were already included to go with these re-worked weapons. Visuals and boss fights were tweaked. Spawns were fixed. It’s great to see Supergiant Games so committed to making a fantastic final product here.
Word is, the next major patch will focus on the boons and god balancing. We’d like to see a major re-work of the Fear options first, the boons feel good.
In Hades, the modular difficulty settings presented by the Pact of Punishment (heat settings) really made the game pop, with scaleable customizable change driving the infinite replayability. There was a solid balance between options that made the enemies harder and options that made Zagreus weaker. Most options also had some scaling to them.
In Hades 2, the Fear options to this point seem slanted heavily toward gimping Melinoe, and a major portion of them don’t scale meaningfully. This, to our experience, is the biggest weakness in the current product.
Supergiant has earned every benefit of the doubt, though, and we are confident they’ll come through with flying colors again. We’ll be there to break it down for you when they do.
Tell us in the comments your experiences in Hades 2 so far. How many clears? Highest fear? Best weapon? Best speedrun? Let us know!
How are you getting this feedback to the developer team?