All Gods Explained (Tips, Tricks, and Pairings)

In Hades 2, the Olympian Gods come to your aid every night to offer you their power. Each God offers a unique set of Boons that shape your playstyle and strategy.

From Poseidon’s crashing Waves to Demeter’s Freezing Ice, their powerful Curses, effects, and modifiers can transform you into a titan-slaying machine by the end of your run.

Below you'll find a brief overview of what separates the Gods from each other, which other Gods and Weapons they synergize well with, and why you'd want them in your God Pool.

Aphrodite's unique mechanic is reducing incoming damage through her Weak Curse. She can even further increase damage reduction or add on global damage modifiers.

Glamour Gain refills Magick a bit slow for many Aspects, but you get the benefit of all nearby enemies being automatically afflicted by Weak.

Flutter Strike and Flutter Flourish are the highest percentage damage modifiers in the whole game, so if you want raw damage, she's a great choice.

(See How Weak Works)

God Pairing

The best God to pair with Aphrodite are:

• Zeus to put Blitz on the open Attack/Special slot, and start playing around Romantic Spark

Best Weapon

Best Weapon to pair with Aphrodite:

• Aspect of Melinoë Attack/Special are excellent for the critical damage, and Heart Breaker is a good pairing for the Omega Moves and close-range Specials.

Apollo's Attack/Special Boons increase the damage and AoE of of all strikes. One of his best Boons to top off any build is Blinding Rush because movement speed + Daze is very powerful.

He also has some nice duo Boons to add damage to your builds. The Sun God is a good choice when you want your weapon to hit big and hard, and for your enemies to not hit at all.

(See How Daze Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Apollo:

• Demeter: If you have Arctic Gale or Frigid Rush, Tropical Cyclone should be your next priority. Anyone frozen by Dem is an easy target for Apollo Attacks/Specials

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Apollo:

• Aspect of Melinoë Huge Omega Explosions, and the trio of Wide Grin with Nova Strike + Exceptional Talent is absolute must try.

Ares offers a mix of on-hit effects and damage modifiers. Wounds can only be inflicted once every 3 seconds, so you don't necessarily want it on a fast-hitting Weapon like Aspect of Hel Attack.

This Attack/Special inflicts Wounds which gives you +50 Power on the first hit on a foe, and then can be repeated every 3 seconds.

The best Ares offers is Grievous Blow and Mutual Destruction. Do not underestimate the power of +200% damage!

(See How Wounds Work)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Ares:

• Hestia to add Scorch's damage over time to Wounds' burst damage, and unlock Fourth Degree to become truly deadly.

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Ares:

• Aspect of Artemis with Vicious Flourish makes for a powerful and easy combat loop to cycle in Wounds. This will also allow the rest of you attacks to benefit from Grievous Blow which can stack with Artemis' Riposte. Additionally, the fast strikes work great with Blood Spree to keep you alive at low health.

Demeter freezes foes in place with her Attack/Special/Cast Boons. Freeze is extremely strong and makes the game significantly easier to beat. She also offers good damage percentage increases, making her an excellent balance of offense and defense.

As the Goddess of the Harvest, she will help you with Mystery Seeds and reward you for each Seed found with Plentiful Forage.

(See How Freeze Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Demeter:

• Zeus's Cast/Blitz damage is often enough to vanquish foes before they unfreeze. Grab Cold Storage and Hail Storm and you'll cause quite the storm!

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Demeter:

• Aspect of Momus is perfect for Demeter because you can use Ice Strike to freeze foes in place to get hit by the additional Omega pulses. Plus, Weed Killer & Local Climate get a lot of milage in this Omega Move build.

Hephaestus is primarily focused on fortifying your defense. He has multiple Boons that grant damage reduction, Armor, and health increases.

His Blasts start off on the weaker side, but become potent at high rarity and Boon levels. Try to grab as many Poms as possible for Volcanic Strike/Volcanic Flourish and the end of your run will Ding foes to smithereens!

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Hephaestus:

• Apollo for Rude Awakening. Inflicting Daze before every blast is easy, and nearly doubles the damage of each activation.

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Hephaestus:

• Aspect of Persephone starts with increased Boon levels, directly making up for Hephaestus primary weakness.

Hera inflicts Hitch which links enemies together, creating shared damage. The effect lasts 8+ seconds so you can move around a location and link every enemy together with Hitch. She also has arguably the best Magick Boon in the game. Born Gain automatically refills you Magick at the cost of priming a small amount. Making her a great choice for Omega Move builds.

Her non-core Boons are good on any build as she offers many universal buffs such as Proper Upbringing and Bridal Glow.

(See how Hitch Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Hera are:

• Aphrodite, to add Weak, Heart Breaker to pair with Omega builds, and for Ecstatic Obsession

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Hera:

• Aspect of Melinoë Hitch easily spreads with Specials, and Born Gain covers Magick needs. Additionally, Sworn Strike has good damage boost to synergize with the Flames crit chance.

Hestia deals damage over time with Scorch. She's a good choice when you want to utilize a hit and run style, or enjoy using the fast-hitting Weapon Aspects.

You'll need multiple secondary Boons and ideally some Duo Boons to get a really powerful Scorch build, but when you get it working, its well worth the investment.

(See How Scorch Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Hestia:

• Aphrodite to combine Glamour Gain with Scorch and get their Duo Boon Burning Desire. You'll especially notice the difference when facing Guardians.

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Hestia:

• Aspect of Anubis' Attack rapidly stacks Scorch. The AoE is huge as well so you'll have no trouble with standard or Guardian encounters.

Poseidon, ocean God offers the up the power and bounty of the sea. His Splash damage triggers on every strike, so the faster your weapon hits the better. Although his Attack/Special don't inflict a Curse by default, you can get his tier-2 Boon Slippery Slope to add Froth damage.

He's also good in early game to farm resources with Buried Treasure. He's not the most universally strong God, but the builds he's good with are very powerful and a lot of fun to use and watch the endless splashes wash away your enemies.

(See How Froth Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Poseidon:

• Ares for a big increase in Splash damage from Arterial Spray, and for his double damage boons Grievous Blow and Mutual Destruction. The builds that are good for Poseidon also synergize well with Grisly Gain and Blood Spree.

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Poseidon:

• Aspect of Pan, Wave Flourish triggers a tsunami of splashes with each Omega Special. If you manage to get Trick Knives, the splash damage deals 4-in-1 with each dash-strike.

Zeus's Boons deal lightning-based damage and grant primarily Air elements. His Boons are focused on offensive power.

Blitz is great for both Guardian and standard enemy damage. He's pure offense and doesn't offer any defensive buffs. Zeus also comes in handy for Air Quality because there are a lot of Weapon Moves and Boon damage effects that deal less than 50 per hit.

(See How Blitz Works)

God Pairing

The best Gods to pair with Zeus:

• Hera, for Hitch damage sharing with Blitz and Extended Family to boost its damage. Occasionally, it will also be worth going for King's Ransom to max out your Zeus Boon damage.

Best Weapon

The best Weapons to pair with Zeus:

• Aspect of Melinoë Special. Weave in Specials for Blitz between Attack combos, and you'll deal extreme damage. Even better if you get Romantic Spark.