Arcana Cards Tier List

These Arcana Cards are so valuable that you should spend the Grasp to activate them every run. They are the hard meta of Arcana.

Death

No Arcana card has more potential to improve your odds of success than Death (XII). Having three Death Defiances easily makes the difference between a victorious run, and being sent back to the Crossroads in defeat.

Overall, Death (XII) has higher peak impact than Strength (XXIII) because the Death Defiances can be refilled by Echo and Athena or purchase at Charon's Well & Shop, and at Shrines of Hermes. Add Toula to your loadout, and you'll begin with an extra Death Defiance that can also be refilled in the same manner.

The Furies

The Furies (VI) may be the one Arcana card that should never be turned off. There really is not a scenario where you wouldn't find spending two Grasp on The Furies Worth it. The bonus damage will benefit you from the first to the last chamber.

Keeping enemies in your Cast is a core gameplay mechanic, so you shouldn't have to actively think about activating The Furies (VI).

Origination

The only minor drawback of Origination (XIV) is the two Gods and two Curses required to activate. You can often activate this Arcana during the first Region, but it may be later in the run depending on what God and Boons you are offered..

Note that Origination (XIV) will not activate with two Curses from the same God. For example, you can't activate the bonus damage with Arctic Ring and Arctic Gale even though Freeze and Gust are separate Curses because they are from the same God.

There are practically zero builds where you would find sacrificing the +50% damage worth using the Grasp on other Arcana.

Persistence

Even if your build is not particularly Magick hungry, the low 2 Grasp cost of Persistence (VII) is always worth it. Considering Melinoë's base HP is only 30, Persistence will more than double it at max rank.

The Sorceress

Costing only 1 single Grasp, The Sorceress (I) should be turned on in 99% of your runs. Even the base level of 20% increased channel speed is better than Racing Thoughts and many Omega Hammer upgrades.

The Wayward Son

Underworld runs will always contain 40+ locations. Playing on the Surface, you'll often pass through 50+ locations. Therefore The Wayward Son (II) equals 200+ extra healing over the course of a night. One Grasp is a small price to pay for such a high return.

Swift Runner

Another single Grasp Arcana, The Swift Runner (XI) not only increases Sprint speed, but just as important is the pass-through mechanic. Without Swift Runner, you won't be able to Dash through larger enemies and Guardians.

Each one of these cards has high impact, but is not considered a must-have like those ranked in the top tier. When your Grasp is limited, these would be secondary choices. After reaching max Grasp, you'll add them to nearly every loadout.

The Centaur

The condition to turn on The Centaur (XIII) is activating Casts that use 1,2,3,4, & 5 Grasp. Once you have around 20 Grasp unlocked, The Centaur (XIII) will be activated with the majority of viable Arcana builds.

As long as you don't have to activate totally random Arcana to turn on The Centaur, it's worth making minor adjustments to your loadout, as you'll go into the final boss around +40 max HP and Magick.

Strength

The only reason Strength (XXIII) is not in S-tier is becuase Death (XII) exists. If you watch gameplays from previous patches, you'll see Strength was highly favored over Death. Ever since the nerfs to Strength (XXIII), these two Arcana are more about preference that power level. The one thing that makes Death (XII) better is the ability to refill Death Defiances as covered above.

When you're looking to maximize your offense, Strength (XXIII) is the better choice for its global damage buff.

Because of the 40% reduction in damage taken, Strength (XXIII) increases the value of Healing. So as long as you are not playing with any Vow of Scars activated, Strength (XXIII) offers similar sustain to Death (XII).

The Messenger

The invincibility window from The Messenger (VIII) is exceptionally tight. You'll need to practice your timing if you plan to consistently utilize it as a dodge tool. The speed boost is also quite useful in itself for dodging attacks and repositioning to safety.

The Messenger (VIII) is never a bad addition if you have a leftover Grasp or in builds that sub out The Lovers (XV) and use a 2 Grasp card like The Huntress (III) instead.

The Lovers

The Lovers (XV) only benefits you during Guardian Encounters. The 1/2/3/4 invulnerable hits will make the difference between victory and defeat on runs where you yell out, "I was SO CLOSE!"

Additionally, the higher Vow of Pain rank you activate, the more valuable invulnerability becomes.

At Vow of Pain 0, The Lovers (XV) is not that important to have in the Underworld, where most of the Guardians hit you with low damage attacks. However, on the Surface, we'd raise the value of this Arcana up a notch, as the Guardians have more high damage hits.

Th Same can be said if you are using Vow of Scars and healing is less effective or non existent. All damage taken is more punishing, making The Lovers (XV) even more crucial.

The Boatman

A max rank The Boatman (XVII) will start you out with enough money to buy two God Boons from Charon's shop. Although it comes at a high cost of 5 Grasp, it is well worth it.

Later on when you are climbing Fear levels, Vow of Debt 2 raises the base cost of God Boons to 270 Gold Crowns. Effectively decreasing the value of 300 Gold. One extra Boon is still extremely desirable, especially at high fear levels, and you'll likely be looking to activate The Fates (XXI) as well.

The Champions

The ability to reroll Boons is your greatest asset for consistently getting good builds. Path your Arcana unlocks towards The Champions (XXII) as soon as possible and start upgrading it.

• Note: When using the post-credit Keepsakes, The Champions (XXII) deactivates Fates' Whim, and would therefore be F-tier

The Fates

If you want to get those precious +4 Change of Fate from The Fates (XXI), you need to commit 12 Grasp to activate the surrounding cards. This is an extremely high price, but the extra rerolls can then be used for either doors or Boons.

With everything fully upgraded, having 10 Change of Fate rerolls gives you impressive control over the RNG in Hades II.

• Note: When using the post-credit Keepsakes, The Fates (XXI) deactivates Fates' Whim, and would therefore be F-tier

The situationally strong Arcana Cards are precisely that: situationally strong. Depending on your build and playstyle, these should be subbed in for the Cards ranked higher. The B-tier cards will be the most important Arcana for the night in some scenarios.

The Huntress

Some builds heavily rely on The Huntress (III) for damage. Omega Move focused builds have little use for the boosted standard Attack and Special damage. Anytime your Weapon Aspect or build uses frequent standard Moves, consider The Huntress (III).

You'll need to manage your Magick and make sure it's never maxed out, or primed to zero. Gain Boons that constantly refill Magick like Glamour Gain and Grisly Gain can make it difficult to keep the damage boost activated.

Night

Night (X) is an Arcana card that won't always be useful. However, when you build around alternating Omega Moves, the chance for critical damage makes this the most impactful card in your loadout. The Aspect of Eos and Aspect of Momus are examples of weapons you'll want to sacrifice other cards for Night (X).

The Enchantress

While rerolling doors is not quite as good as rerolling Boons, The Enchantress (XVI) is most often used because it's required for The Fates (XXI).

However, depending on your build and what you're being offered, you will want to reroll doors. If you don't need Magick, you can reroll Soul Tonic, or if you don't need any more Boons from the offered God, reroll their door.

• Note: When using the post-credit Keepsakes, The Enchantress (XVI) deactivates Fates' Whim, and would therefore be F-tier

Artificer

The The Artificer (XVIII) sees more use in the Underworld than on the Surface. This is because it is easier to earn a higher number of Major Rewards on the Surface thanks to extra Rooms in Ephyra and the Shrines of Hermes.

When you feel like the first Region is giving you a lot of trouble, starting with The Artificer (XVIII) will get your build off the ground significantly faster.

The four Cards landing in C-tier have meaningful effects, but should not be the focus of your Grasp use. Only activate or Awaken these Cards when it is convenient.

Divinity

The most common method of Awakening Divinity (XXIV)is to activate every card in the left column or every card in the middle row. Getting the right Epic Boon in place of a common will take your build from feeling decent to busted.

The Queen

The Awakening requirement for The Queen (XX) means that with most builds you won't have it turned on. We recommend having The Queen (XX) be one of the very last Arcana you upgrade. At rank one, a 6% chance is negligible.

Eternity

The truth is, as you improve at Hades II and at recognizing enemy attack patterns, you typically won't need Eternity (IV). It's a good early game Arcana because it buys you time to react with a Dash to dodge enemy attacks and cancel your Omega channeling.

An important note is that when you've activated the Vow of Frenzy, the timer does not slow down during Eternity (IV), so you usually won't want to use it if you're in a tight race against time.

When planning for a Night (X) build where you are constantly using Omega Moves, Eternity (IV)becomes a worthwhile card.

The Moon

The best thing about The Moon (V) is that the builds you would want auto Hex charge on will typically be using either Eternity (IV) or Night (X). However, builds that use a lot of Magick don't really need the (1,2,3) charge per second to use the Hex. It's nice to have, but not that impactful.

The cost of activating these Arcana Cards makes them unviable choices. Under no normal circumstances should these cards be selected. Consequently, we recommend leaving them as the very last cards you spend resources on to upgrade and unlock.

Excellence

Costing a whopping 5 Grasp, Excellence (XIX) is straight up not worth activating. It does not grant a (+50%) chance for every Boon offered to be at least Rare. Instead, it means one of the 3 Boons you are offered will have the increased odds.

When you're just having fun, or fulfilling the Fated List of Minor Prophecies and need a particular Legendary Boon, only then should you spend the Grasp on Excellence (XIX).

Judgement

Although it should go without saying, limiting yourself to just 3 Arcana Cards is generally not worth activating Judgement (XXV). Activating random Arcana Cards after defeating each Guardian is only good for fun runs.

The true purpose of Judgement (XXV) is when you're ready to go full sweaty try hard mode and attempt to clear Hades II at 65 Fear. Since you are limited to just 6 Grasp from the Vow of Void, Judgement RNG is vital to this prestigious victory.

The Unseen

Hands down, we're calling The Unseen (IX) the least valuable Arcana Card in the entire game. Five Grasp is way too much for Magick regen equivalent to an Epic Glamour Gain or Rare Will.

Just get any of a number of good Gain Boons, grab a few Soul Tonics, and take Hecuba with you, and you will never need to waste nearly 20% of your max Grasp on The Unseen (IX).