Arcana Cards System Guide

The Altar of Ashes

Before you can begin using Arcana Cards, you'll first need to speak with Hecate and enact the incantation called The Consecration of Ashes at her cauldron. Once you've done this, the Altar of Ashes will appear in the Crossroads training grounds area and prompt you to MEDITATE.

How to Unlock all Arcana Cards

The function of each Arcana Card is hidden until you reveal it by first unlocking an adjacent Card (side, top, or bottom). The revealed Cards appear in black and white and cannot be used until you've unlocked them using resources gathered during the night as you progress through chambers each run.

Once unlocked, Arcana cards can be activated with Grasp or be Awakened by fulfilling the required conditions. Early and late game strategies for building your Arcana Deck will vary considerably. Maxing out Grasp requires a significant amount of Psyche, so be patient as you play through and focus on enjoying each run rather than trying to rush and aquire all 30 Grasp.

For a full breakdown of every Resource in Hades 2, including where to farm each resource, refer to our Resources Explained Guide.

Example Full Arcana Unlock Path

Starting Unlocks (High Priority)

The Sorceress (I) → The Wayward Son (II) → Persistence (VII) → Death (XII) → The Swift Runner (XI) → The Furies (VI)

Survival is extremely difficult in Hades 2, and these are the first Cards you should be unlocking and activating for every run.

Secondary Path

↳ The Huntress (III) → The Messenger (VIII) → Eternity (IV) → The Moon (V) → Night (X) → The Boatman (XVII) → The Centaur (XIII) → Origination (XIV)

After you've finished the secondary path, focus resources on upgrading the cards you already have. Then, when convenient, continue unlocking the Cards in the remaining paths below.

Your Choice

↳ The Champions (XXII) → The Lovers (XV) → The Artificer (XVIII) → The Enchantress (XVI) → The Fates (XXI)

Next on the agenda should be upgrading the bottom left corner cards to maximize rerolls. Boon rerolls are a potent tool for consistently getting strong builds in Hades 2.

Save for Last

↳ The Queen (XX) → Strength (XXIII) → Divinity (XXIV) → Excellence (XIX) → Judgement (XXV) → The Unseen (IX)

These Cards will either not be used as often as the rest and must be fully upgraded before they become useful. Only upgrade these when you've already maxed out the rest of your deck.

Best Early Game Arcana Build

Here is one example of a good Arcana build that uses only 10 Grasp. These are quick to unlock, and all have a high impact on your run, without costing too much Grasp.

Although most would use 2 Grasp on Persistence (VII), if you find, "the best defense is a good offense," to be true, mix it up! Killing an enemy 30% faster from standard Attack/Special leaves them alive for less time. Consequently, you won't have to dodge for as long because it will take fewer strikes to vanquish the foe.

Don't feel that you have to use just one build. Play around with different loadouts every night as you unlock more Cards and Grasp!

The Best Arcana Build

The best Arcana build for you will nearly always be a close variation of this build. You'll find that this build closely resembles our Arcana Cards Tier List, and Arcana Unlock Path. This will NOT be the best Arcana Deck for you before you've unlocked and max-ranked each of these cards.

For example, having a single Boon reroll from The Champions (XXII) at rank 1 is not going to be worth using 4 Grasp. However, after you've ranked upThe Lovers (XV), The Boatman (XVII) The Fates (XXI), & The Champions (XXII), to their max ranks, the 12 Grasp it takes to have 10 rerolls and 300 Gold Crowns is 100% worth it.

A similar argument can be made for many of the Arcana Cards. Let's compare Strength (XXIII) andDeath (XII) as our final example of the difference in early and late game Arcana builds. At max rank they are very comparable and using either one will depend primarily on your individual preference. Strength (XXIII) only activates when you have no Death Defiences, and at rank 1 only grants 20% damage reduction. That means you'll have no Death Defiances, and others popular items that grant Death Defiances, such as Toula and Luckier Tooth, are inherently less effective because they deactivate Strength (XXIII). Thus, Death's 1 Death Defiance tends to be more impactful than Strength's 20% damage reduction during the early game.

When to Change Up Your Arcana

Different Weapon Aspects will synergize better with certain Cards over others. When wielding the Aspect of Melinoë, you'd be smart to add The Huntress (III) to your load out for increased standard Attack and Special Damage. If you're instead using the Aspect of Momus you'd be better off using the same 2 Grasp on Night (X) becuase you'll be alternating between Omega Moves throughout the entire run.

With Aspect of Momus you may even want to free up 3 more Grasp from this build and use it for Eternity (IV) to make avoiding damage easier while channeling all those Omega Moves.

• Check out our verified and community builds for ideas on the best pairings of Arcana, Weapon Aspects, and Boons.

Remind Yourself to Utilize Arcana

During your run, it is helpful to pull up your inventory and pin your Arcana Cards. Many Cards need to be actively utilized or else they will have no effect. If you aren't used to using Origination (XIV), for example, you may forget to grab two different God's Curses or forget to keep inflicting both to keep the bonus damage activated.

(Minor Spoiler) Arcana Build Saves

You'll be happy to find out that later in the game, you can save and label multiple Arcana loadouts to quickly swap between them when changing Weapons or paths. Because there is so much variation in Arcana builds for different Weapons, Gods, and Vow of Fears, this feature certainly comes in handy!

Everything about Arcana build strategy changes once you unlock and use the three post-credits Keepsakes: Jeweled Pom, Calling Card, & Time Piece.

All three require you to be at the "Fates' Whim." Meaning you are unable to use The Fates (XXI), The Champions (XXII), The Enchantress (XVI), or any God's Keepsakes such as Cloud Bangle.

When doing a "Fates' Whim" run, here are some general tips for how to structure your altered Arcana Deck:

Best Fates' Whim Arcana Loadout

Depending on your Weapon Aspect, there will of course be a few changes you should make. If you aren't going to be using Omega Move combos, then you should definitely unequip Night (X), and use the extra two Grasp on something like The Wayward Son (II) and The Messenger (VIII).

One other interesting choice here, is that we're recommending Excellence (XIX) over The Boatman (XVII). First off, we don't need rerolls so the Fates' or reroll corner has diminished value. Secondly, with Vow of Debt 2 activated, 300 Gold Crowns is only +1 Boon, so gaining higher chance for rare and Legendary feels like a better use of 5 Grasp.

12 Free Grasp

Since you can't have the reroll corner activated while using the post-credits Keepsakes, you effectively gain 12 more Grasp to spend than normal. On top of the incredible power of each of these Keepsakes you can also activate Arcana Cards that you normally wouldn't, or stack a bunch of Arcana Cards that previously only dreamed of.

Experiment with different combos because Fates' Whim is a great time to get more use out of Arcana Cards that you normally would not use.