DTB's Guide to Charon (0 to 50 Fear)

Aspect of Charon is one of the many variants of the weapon Zorephet. However, unlike the other 3 aspects, Charon plays in a very unique way, relying on an OSpecial + Cast combo, alongside Lucid Gain to fund your big percent bursts.

This guide is to provide tips for any person wishing to use the Aspect of Charon from 0 Fear / No Clear / Any% Speedruns, to the community made standard of high fear: 50 Fear.

A Few Quick Warnings before you view this guide:

• My Video Selection will be above the recommended guideline of 0 to 50 Fear. I do play in the same way for the most part as my guide, but some decisions are made outside of the scope of this general overall Charon guide.
• Additionally, my example video contains FULL SPOILERS to all of Hades 2's Underworld Rival Fights. If you wish to not be spoiled, wait to watch it until AFTER you have seen all of the Underworld Rival fights for yourself (I also do mention 2 Rival fights a little bit in this text guide, but I have tried to word it in a form that is not a massive spoiler if you have not played the fight). Otherwise, last note I shall make is to check out my channel @DystopianTeddyBear on YouTube for high fear content, including Aspect of Charon.
• Finally, this video is slightly outdated, as the video example is from Patch 11 (not 1.0), where Lucid again works differently than the current patch. Instead, Lucid Gain would give far more Magick, but require you to be in your cast.

With all of this preamble out of the way, let us delve into the world of Charon.

You may note, that in the cases of Athena, Hades, and the Special boon slot, several different boons are chosen. This is because each listed are fantastic options for Charon depending on your circumstances. This will be covered in later sections.

Arcana

The Arcana setup for Aspect of Charon can be varied, so my listed card setup is one of the most common for reaching 32 Fear (for the Final Statue). However, I do want to mention some Arcana that is useful to take if needed.

• If you feel comfortable removing The Wayward Son (II), or wish to sacrifice The Queen (XX) if already choosing The Swift Runner (XI), The Messenger (VIII) is a fantastic supporting card for Charon. Your cast is constantly being placed down, so you get use those brief moments of invulnerability to dodge a crucial attack.
• Eternity (IV) is another Arcana that can be used as an alternative for survivability. This essentially gives you a "faster" OSpecial, as all enemies (including Chronos) get slowed down by its time effect. If you don't struggle with bosses, The Lovers (XV) can be traded out for Eterenity.

Keepsake

Though I did choose 4 Keepsakes in this guide above, I've decided to keep this keepsake list analysis a little open. The most important keepsake is Harmonic Photon to start, but after that, you can use basically any keepsake you want (provided it is good). To name just a few...

• Iridescent Fan, Barely Sheaf, and Vivid Sea can be used to pick up specific boons from Hera, Demeter, or Poseidon in Oceanus / Thessaly
• Gorgon Amulet can be used either to pick up Mental Block as mentioned previously if you are running Strength (XXIII) or find a Natural Athena encounter, or to refill your Death Defiances via Renewed Faith.
• Knuckle Bones, and Engraved Pin can be used as the final keepsake for Tartarus / Summit as a defensive choice
• Blackened Fleece can even be used as a final keepsake if you have taken enough damage, as the bonus Omega damage works wonderfully on Charon.
• And finally, if you are speedrunning, Fig Leaf in Oceanus / Thessaly can be used with Charon too.

Familiar

For the most part, any familiar can work with Aspect of Charon. The only familiar I would not recommend is running Hecuba, as Lucid Gain provides enough magick sustain, and most priming boons aren't worth it to use this doggo. For the purposes of this guide, I have chosen Raki for even bigger bursts of OSpecial and OCast damage, but Toula or Gale can also provide fantastic survivability tools depending on if you are using Death (XII) or Strength (XXIII).

Gain Boons

At the very center of Charon's play style, is a boon that seemingly was designed with it in mind: Lucid Gain. Zorephet's base Omega Special cost is 30 Magick, but Lucid Gain at the bare minimum will give back 40 Magick. So provided you play correctly and get Lucid Gain as your very first boon, you will almost never run out of Magick (outside of overpriming via Vow of Hubris, or with boons such as Static Shock). What this means is that whenever you are charging your Omega Special, you should ALWAYS be in your Cast.

One minor note; for anyone who is taking Denial, Flood Gain and Tranquil Gain are also solid options for magick generation if you are forced to take them, and plan to greatly increase the cost of your Omega Special via Giga Cleaver or Exceptional Talent. However, Lucid Gain is still the best at higher rarities, for not having gaps of magic with Flood Gain, nor requiring you to stand still with Tranquil Gain.

After Lucid Gain, your goal is to boost Charon's two main elements: Omega Special, and Omega Cast.

Special Boons:

For the Special boon, there are two main options. On the one hand, Sworn Flourish gives you Hitch, one of the best curses in the entire game. Enemies hit by your Special will take damage from each other, meaning that this boon choice will clear crowds instantly. Additionally, Sworn Flourish leads into Sun Worshiper, an extremely solid Duo boon that can be useful on any weapon, and depending on your vow setup and encounter, can be used as a way to clear Vow of Wards off of enemies. On the other hand, Nova Flourish deals more % damage at nearly every rarity (except for Common, wherein it is tied), increases your Omega Special's range, and leads perfectly into the best Legendary boon for this aspect; Exceptional Talent (see the Daedaelus Hammer section with Giga Cleaver for how Exceptional Talent is useful). Both have their use cases, but both are excellent choices.

Cast Boons:

For the Cast boon, there are similarly some choices, but there are far more for what you can select. Tidal Ring gives you a second unique curse that deals bonus damage upon the Omega Cast's explosion; Engagement Ring can be used to apply Hitch if you chose Nova Flourish, and Apollo's own Solar Ring can be used to apply Daze and give yourself some safety if needed, alongside being the highest burst damage cast in the game at 80 Base damage. Personally, I would chose Tidal Ring in the event you are running Denial, in order to get the perfect combo of Lucid Gain, Tidal Ring, and Sworn Flourish.

Other God Boons

Now that the cores are done, it's time to hunt for some additional firepower for the lategame.

• For a fourth god selection, Demeter's Local Climate is a straight upgrade to Charon, as the Omega Cast % increase near always applies.
• Of course, the real star of the show for Charon and non-core boons is Geyser Spout. Getting 150 or more damage out of every Omega Cast is a huge win, so you'll want to pick up this boon.

Poms

Lucid Gain should always be your first Pom if you have a Common Lucid Gain. The first Pom will make each cast restore +20 Magick, just enough to get to 60 Magick, and be enough to refund your Giga Cleaver OR Exceptional Talent boosted Omega Special in one Special Cast combo. But if you have a Rare Lucid Gain or better (and do not have both Giga Cleaver and Exceptional Talent), it is far better to spend your Poms of Power on your damage factors. The main ones being, your Special boon, your Cast boon, and Geyser Spout if you get it. As with all pommable boons though, there are diminishing returns the more you pom a boon, so be sure to put 1-3 poms in each of your damage sources when needed.

Daedalus Hammers

Ok, Hammers. There are two main hammers you are hunting out for: Giga Cleaver, and Sudden Cleaver. Giga Cleaver is used to add even more Omega Special damage, and depending on your timing, or if you have Exceptional Talent, you can place a cast a second time in the Omega Special to trigger 2 Omega Casts. As for Sudden Cleaver, it is simple: faster Omega Specials means damage faster, and faster to reach safety afterward.

NPC Boons:

Chaos:

Chaos I would say has 4 really strong options for Aspect of Charon. Flourish and Chasm feed into a specific part of your Charon gameplan. Since they both affect their Omega versions, they both are good pickups. Revelation and Chant meanwhile buffs Omegas overall, and they are both excellent. Chant does rely on you having another boon already from Chaos, but the keepsake Transcendent Embryo, or the Spark of Ixion Well of Charon item can help bring Chant to your possession. As for Revelation, that leads into the Hermes section.

Hermes:

Hermes has three main boons to look out for: Racing Thoughts, Hard Target, and Success Rate. Success Rate is the least useful of the three, depending on what boons you already have. If you are using Tidal Ring, and/or any of the Artemis boons discussed in the next section, Success Rate can be a big deal. Otherwise, ignore this boon. Next, Hard Target is picked up for survivability purposes, but is not necessarily required. Finally, Racing Thoughts (along with Revelation from Chaos) is used to speed up your Omega Special channeling time, giving more survivability AND damage (faster, anyways).

Artemis:

Artemis similarly has two seemingly great choices, but you can only pick 1 (usually): Shadow Pounce, vs Killing Stroke. Killing Stroke gives far more Critical hit chance on each Omega Special, but primes some magic out of you, while Shadow Pounce gives lower critical damage percentages, but applies to both the Omega Special, and Omega Cast after a Dash. In my opinion, Shadow Pounce is the clear winner, since not only does it apply to more than one source of damage, but also Shadow Pounce doesn't prime your magic. Meanwhile, if you are running Vow of Hubris, the priming can mess with your chances of using the OSpecial combo at all.

Athena:

If you have replaced Death (XII) for Strength (XXIII), Athena's Mental Block will be constantly applicable, as your Omega Special immediately cancels your cast, allowing you to place it down once again. Otherwise, take Renewed Faith for Death Defiance refills, since all other boons are pretty terrible for Charon, and a waste of an entire keepsake (See the General Tips and Tricks section for how to best find and use Renewed Faith in the Underworld).

Hades:

Hades does have 1 boon choice that can greatly impact your damage output of Charon, and that is Cinerary Circle. You are already spending so much magick, so Cinerary Circle adds yet another damage source. If you feel the damage is not needed though, Unseen Ire or Deep Dissent for the Rival Chronos fight are as always fantastic choices, because more defense is great from the former, and the latter removes or reduces so many elements that makes said Rival fight a pain.

Hex:

Our Hex is Lunar Ray, simply because the Godsent Shine of Apollo deals huge bursts of damage, and Lunar Ray can be used to constantly regenerate armor to take hits if needed.

The main tips I can give for Aspect of Charon are

• With the changes to Lucid Gain in version 1.0, Charon’s gameplan paradoxically can stay the same, and be completely different. It is still extremely good to use the combo of Cast -> Dash -> Omega Special. However, because you do not need to be in the cast to regain the Magick, you can be more flexible than always dashing after a cast and still staying in the cast. The message here should be clear as the EA Patch 11 version however; be careful when you are charging up your Omega Special move.
• Do not overprime your magick. This aspect relies on magic far more than the vast majority of weapons. If you lose your ability to use Omega Special, your run may as well be aspect less or Dead.

But for higher fears, here's a few more tips and tricks.

• In order to clear 32 to 50 Fear, you want to avoid Vow of Forfeit, and the combo of Vow of Hordes, Vow of Grit, and Vow of Wards. Charon really wants to spam Omega Special, so if your vows are blocking the ability to do Omega Special bursts, then you shouldn't take them. Max Vow of Rivals should also be avoided up to 32, because Prometheus, Chronos, and Typhon become significantly harder than any other boss, and it's not worth it to fight these battles for the 3 or 4 Fear.
• If you have not received Giga Cleaver or Sudden Cleaver, you can take Experimental Hammer in Region 3, and use Echo's Gift Gift Gift boon to get potentially 4 Hammers in a single run. This should even the odds of finding the Daedalus Hammers you require.
• This is a general tip for High Fear, but it works with Charon as well: If you need extra Death Defiances after clearing Oceanus or Fields of Mourning, you can take Gorgon Amulet to get Renewed Faith. These two specific biomes are mentioned, because if you have 1 or 2 death defiances in the Starting Room of Fields, or in the Rival Cerberus fight, you can take self damage via the thorn bushes or the lava in order to lose all of your regular Death Defiances to replace them with Renewed Faith's upgraded Death Defiances. Do note, it is strongly recommended to save 3 or 5 Reroll Dice in order to find Renewed Faith, because if you do not get the boon, your run may be dead in the water.

And with that, you have now seen all of the General Advice I have to play Aspect of Charon. So go out there, and tell 'em It's Hammer Time!