Gods Tier List

The best of the best. The strongest builds in the game feature one or both of these Gods. Nearly every one of their boons is an excellent addition to your build. Their builds are immediately powerful. You'll never be disappointed when offered one of these Gods.

Zeus

Zeus's Attack, Special, and Cast boons are some of the best you can get no matter what Aspect of the Nocturnal Arms you are wielding. He also has incredible non-core, Infusion, Legendary, and Duo boons. For extremely Magick-hungry builds, Ionic Gain is one of the few Magick boons that can offer truly infinite Magick.

Blitz generates high single-target damage to help you defeat bosses with ease. Because Blitz applies with a single hit then can auto-trigger, it's also good for clearing rooms with a high number of enemies. If you manage to get a Static Shock build going, large locations are a breeze with fast-hitting Aspects.

Once you get his legendary boon, Shocking Loss, you clear every room 25% faster. Even mini-bosses can be killed by the Instant Destruction, making Zeus's legendary incredibly lethal.

Hera

Enemies afflicted by Hera's Curse, Hitch, take 30% of damage dealt to other afflicted foes which makes it easily one of the best Curses for clearing standard encounters. When paired with Aspects that have large AoE attacks or specials, you'll quickly link enemies together and wipe them with the chain damage. Lasting up to 13 seconds also allows Hitch to excel at activating the Origination (XIV) Arcana for bonus damage.

On top of Hitch, she also offers the 2nd highest attack damage percentage boost of all the Gods. Other than Nexus Rush, all other Hera core boons will be superb choices every run.

Born Gain is the easiest Magick Boon to use because you don't have to do anything to activate it. While you may find yourself running out of Magick early in a run, by the time you get to the 3rd and 4th region, you likely won't still be facing this issue.

Hera also has some good non-core boons that fit into any build because of their universal applications. Increasing rarity levels from Bridal Glow and Proper Upbringing is always a good thing, and many builds get a nice damage boost from Fine Line and Extended Family.

The high-tier Gods offer some great boons, but have fewer desirable options. You'll often want them in your God pool, but not always as your primary God. When using them as the foundation of a build, it takes more locations to feel their power come online compared to the top-tier Gods.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus is the best defensive God in Hades II. Equipping his Keepsake in the 2nd or 3rd region is a common strategy to give yourself the sustain required to overcome the increasingly difficult enemies. Altogether, he offers 6 defensive boons that either reduce damage taken or give you Armor.

Grabbing Trusty Shield early on in a run is a smart move to keep your health high throughout a Night. Regardless of your primary God or Weapon Aspect, every build will benefit from having the increased tankiness Hephaestus enables.

If you manage to get a high rarity on Volcanic Strike or Volcanic Flourish then multiple poms to decrease Blast Recharge Time, the "ding! ding! ding!" deals massive damage. For the luckiest, top the Volcanic build off with either Seismic Servo or Chain Reaction, and you'll have a very fun burst damage build going into the final boss.

• Jeweled Pom and Calling Card have also made Hephaestus blast builds more consistent and viable.

Aphrodite

When you want to go for big, hard hits, Aphrodite is your best choice. While her attack and specials don't inflict a Curse, a Heroic Flutter Flourish ramps up your Aspects damage to +250%! Any Aspect with high damage close-range attacks synergizes well with Aphrodite's boons.

Weak is a decent defensive Curse since Weak-inflicted enemies deal 30% reduced damage. Because it offers no offensive value, however, it's considered one of the weaker status effects in Hades II. Weak also only lasts a single second, so outside of Glamour Gain, you can't rely on the damage reduction.

Her CC from Rapture Ring is great for keeping your distance from dangerous enemies significantly easier. Her non-core boons are ok, but not worth taking Aphrodite for if you don't need Weak or her Attack/Special.

Another area where Aphrodite's beauty reflects is in her Duo Boons. Her Duos with Zeus and Hestia are must-haves. They make your build so much stronger that it's often worth using two God Keepsakes to guarantee you fulfill the Offering Requirements.

If you can get a bit lucky, being able to potentially inflict every curse in the game with her Legendary, Nervous Wreck, is ridiculously strong.

Hestia

Scorch deals damage over time and can be stacked when inflicted multiple times in a row. To maximize damage per second with Scorch, you'll want to put Hestia on a fast-hitting Aspect move. Examples include Aspect of Hel Attack, Aspect of Anubis Attack, and Ygnium Special.

The problem with Hestia builds is that you need a high rarity or Pom level on the core move, plus Pyro Technique, and ideally Burning Desire. You won't always be so lucky, or it may not be until late into the run that you get all the necessary boons, which makes the earlier regions more difficult.

If you're not going for a full-on Scorch build, it's better to choose one of the S-tier or A-tier Gods when given the choice. Hestia's synergy with most builds is limited by a lack of useful non-core boons and a niche Magick boon.

Demeter

Being able to freeze any standard enemy and slow bosses is immensely helpful. Many enemies can be destroyed by burst damage while they are frozen, so they'll never have the opportunity to hurt you. Freeze also makes Omega-centered builds easier because it buys you time to safely channel your Omega moves.

While her Rush and Gain aren't that great, they come in handy when you have no other options. Plus, Tropical Cyclone makes her Rush deal high damage.

For her non-core boons, Weed Killer is fantastic for Omega Attack builds, and the cost of an extra 10 Magick is well worth the increased damage.

Frosty Veneer is difficult to activate because of the high elemental requirement, only triggers on high damage hits, and is not necessarily worth going out of your way to try to acquire water element boons. Her Duos are very build-dependent and are not always better than taking standard Boons that may be more useful to your build.

Through Freeze, healing, and damage mitigation, Demeter offers a more defensive playstyle that works equally well as a primary or secondary God.

On a few Aspects, these Gods have the best boons to build around. They lack the versatility, however, to synergize with several of the Aspects. Generally, they rely on secondary tier 2 boons to make their core boons viable.

Poseidon

Splash damage is independent of Weapon damage. Depending on the Aspect, this is either a great mechanic or a terrible one. On an Aspect like Aspect of Melinoë with a slow but high damage Attack, Wave Strike is abysmal. For a fast-hitting Weapon like Aspect of Pan Special or Aspect of Hel Attack, you'll finish many runs with Poseidon Waves as your highest total damage.

Similar to Hestia, Poseidon's Attack and Special Boons require an enhancement boon (Slippery Slope) to get the real build started. You also are 100% going to want his Legendary, and hopefully even his Duo with Ares Arterial Spray. This is a tall order for a game based on RNG.

His Duos and Infusion are also quite powerful. Poseidon's biggest weaknesses are limited Aspect synergy and that most of his non-core boons are weaker than the other Gods, or only useful when taken very early in a run.

Ares

Ares's Curse, Wounds, is not a very impactful status effect on its own. The secondary boon, Grievous Blow, is the only thing that makes taking Vicious Strike or Vicious Flourish worth it. If you don't get offered Grievous Blow after taking Ares on your Attack or Special, your Weapon is going to feel weak.

Additionally, he has Mutual Destruction to add more chances to deal 200% damage. If you manage to get 8 Earth elements, and select his Infusion (which gives no element) then you'll even get 50% bonus to Olympian damage such as Ares' Falling Blades, or the infliction of Wounds. Despite ranking him as the "weakest" God, Ares has the potential for insane damage.

As of v1.0, Grisly Gain is really good! Unlike Cardio Gain, all strikes (standard and Omega) can trigger Plasma and restore Magick.

For secondary boons, Cut Above is essentially a worse version of Fine Line. Visceral Impact might as well not exist.

Blood Spree can feel OP if you get a high rarity while using the Strength (XXIII) Arcana, wielding a fast-hitting Aspect, and when you don't have Vow of Scars 3 on. Being limited to activating at below 40 health, however, means that big hits from the final bosses often don't give you the chance to benefit from its healing.

Apollo

Apollo's increases the AoE of any Attack or Special. His Curse is to inflict Daze, which gives enemies a 20% chance of missing attacks that otherwise would've hit you. Both of these effects are strong and make Apollo's Boons a nice balance between offense and defense.

Nova Strike is used a bit more often than Nova Flourish because every Weapon has at least one Aspect that synergizes well with the increased damage and AoE of his Attack boon. Weapons like the Axe, which have high damage Omega attacks, work especially well with Apollo. They shine bright like the sun when you have his legendary boon, Exceptional Talent, which doubles the damage of every Omega Attack.

He has a few good Duos Boons, a couple of decent ones, and a couple that are very niche. Most builds are not too focused on Rush Boons, so Blinding Rush's increased sprint speed and ability to inflict Daze are going to be a solid choice in virtually every run.

No God in Hades II is worthless, but someone has to be at the bottom of the list, and Apollo possesses a bit less viability compared to the rest of the Olympian Gods.