Supergiant Games' Hades took the internet by storm when it came out of early access, and for good reason. The game has amazing animations, an incredible story, great art, and the combat is fun as hell. The roguelike (not rogue-lite) employs a Boon system that allows players to make a build every run. This is a very flexible and deep system, while also being fairly intuitive and allowing a variety of viable endgame builds.
A part of this Boon system is Duo Boons. These are interactions between two Gods, which result in a new, custom Boon that combines the characteristics of both Gods' Boons. These Duo Boons are powerful and are a great option for any build. And later, as a player refines their run and grows into a playstyle, knowing these Boons and their interactions will be very helpful. So, here are all the Gods that play nice with each other, and what it entails for dear old Zag.
Updated August 18th, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: For the longest time, the award-collecting dungeon-crawling roguelike extravaganza that is Hades was locked to either PC or Switch. In fact, for most of its Early Access phase, Hades was contained on the Epic Game Store only.
Then, when the 1.0 version came out, the title suddenly saw a gigantic boom in terms of a new player base, which made its Switch port even more worthwhile, but Xbox and Playstation console owners were left wanting. Finally, the game is out on all major platforms as of August 13th, and is even part of the Xbox Game Pass! With that in mind, when are we ever going to get DLC for this amazing game? Likely never, given the studio's track record with DLC, but still, it seemed like a good idea to take another look at the best of the best Duo Boons so that new players know exactly which combos to look for and why.
Disclaimer: Duo Boons only have a chance to appear once players obtain one Boon in each Olympic God's shortlist of options during a run. So, for example, to get Curse of Longing, players don't need to gather all of the Ares and Aphrodite Boons listed below; they'll just need one from the Ares list and one from the Aphrodite one.
12 Curse Of Longing: Aphrodite & Ares
The Curse Of Longing is the combo Boon players can find, which uses the powers of both the God of War and the Goddess of Love. To activate this, Zag needs to have:
- Ares: Curse of Agony or Curse of Pain.
- Aphrodite: Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, Crush Shot, or Passion Dash.
It constantly inflicts Doom damage (Ares' main status effect) on all opponents who have the Weak status effect (used by Aphrodite). By default, Doom effects only proc once for a big burst of damage, so getting a Boon that can guarantee it'll proc multiple times can elevate a build from decent to overpowered in an instant. The only downside is that each successful Doom damage trigger has its damage nerfed by 50%, but it would be sort of broken otherwise.
11 Exclusive Access: Dionysus & Poseidon
This Boon comes from the party God of Olympus and King of the Seas. It is one of the strongest Boons in the game, simply because it improves all future Boons found in that run. To get this, Zag needs to obtain:
- Dionysus: Drunken Strike, Drunken Flourish, Trippy Shot (Trippy Flare), Drunken Dash, or Dionysus' Aid.
- Poseidon: Tempest Strike, Tempest Flourish, Flood Shot, Tidal Dash, or Poseidon's Aid
Exclusive Access guarantees that all further Boons gained will be of Epic rarity, at minimum. The earlier the player finds it, the better; but even if this is found in Elysium, this Duo Boon is still a must-grab.
10 Lightning Rod: Zeus & Artemis
This ability comes from getting abilities from the pompous King of Olympus and the humble Goddess of the Hunt. Compared to some of the other Duo Boons on here, this one is a bit more niche, but it's shockingly strong if used correctly. For Zagreus to use it, he needs to find:
- Zeus: Lightning Strike, Thunder Flourish, Thunder Dash, Electric Shot, or Zeus' Aid
- Artemis: Deadly Strike, Deadly Flourish, True Shot, Hunter Dash, or Artemis' Aid
Whenever Zag uses his Cast, a Bloodstone is used. When those Bloodstones pop out of the enemy, they land on the ground waiting for Zag to pick them back up. But with Lightning Rod, those Bloodstones now continuously hit nearby enemies with Lightning Damage once per second. This isn't a Duo Boon that immediately propels Zagreus into overpowered territory, but it does mean he'll have fantastic crowd control for the rest of the run.
9 Low Tolerance: Aphrodite & Dionysus
The Hangover status effect inflicted by Dionysus Boons is one of the strongest effects in the game, and Low Tolerance makes it even better. To get Low Tolerance, Zag needs to get both Aphrodite and Dionysus to work together by getting one of each of their Boons. More specifically:
- Aphrodite: Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, Crush Shot, or Passion Dash
- Dionysus: Drunken Strike, Drunken Flourish, Drunken Dash, or Dionysus' Aid
By default, an enemy can get a max of 5 Hangover stacks on them at once, but this Duo Boon ups that cap to 8, as long as they're also inflicted with the Weak status effect as well. This means players can both massively debuff the enemies around them with Weak, as well as infect them with tons of passive damage thanks to Hangover as well.
8 Deadly Reversal: Athena & Artemis
This Duo Boon comes from the unlikely pairing of both Athena and Artemis, two strong Olympic Goddesses. To get it, players have to get:
- Athena: Divine Strike or Divine Flourish
- Artemis: Deadly Strike, Deadly Flourish, True Shot, Hunter's Flare, or Artemis' Aid
For players who are going for a full Artemis Build with tons of crit chance and crit damage, there’s no better Duo Boon to get. It triggers on every Deflect (the trademark effect seen in Athena Boons) and gives Zagreus 2 seconds of +20% Critical Chance each time. It elevates an Artemis Build to the next level, and adds even more utility to the already useful Athena Deflection Boons.
7 Cold Fusion: Demeter & Zeus
These two Gods on Olympus hold domain over two elements: ice and lightning. Zeus and Demeter work together for once to give Zagreus the Cold Fusion Duo Boon, and all he needs to have a chance at it appearing are:
- Demeter: Frost Strike, Frost Flourish, Mistral Dash, or Demeter's Aid
- Zeus: Static Discharge
This Duo Boon impacts the “Jolted” Mechanic that is a part of some of Zeus’ Boons. For a long time, players were confused as to how exactly Jolted enemies took damage, but now it’s known for sure. Once an enemy is Jolted, they’re briefly stunned and then take a big burst of damage the next time they try and attack.
With the Cold Fusion Boon, this Jolted status effect no longer wears off after one attack; rather after, a certain amount of time. This means that enemies who attack rapidly — such as, say, Hades himself — take this burst of Jolted damage over and over while the Jolted effects are active.
6 Hunting Blades: Artemis & Ares
Hunting Blades combines the ultimate Warrior with the ultimate Hunter to turn Zag's Cast into an even faster-swirling rift of death. To activate this Boon, he'll need:
- Ares: Slicing Shot
- Artemis: Deadly Strike, Deadly Flourish, Hunter Dash, or Artemis' Aid
With this Boon, Zagreus has a Cast that can output an ridiculous amount of damage as well as reach them quicker, and it even gets a homing effect as well. That said, the "seeking" ability only lasts about 3.3 seconds so it won't hunt down enemies infinitely, but still long enough to take out even the tankier mobs of the Underworld.
5 Sea Storm: Zeus & Poseidon
Normally the knock-away effects gained from the God of the Sea aren't highly sought after by Hades players, but with this Duo Boon that borrows some of the Lightning God's power as well, it's a totally different story. As usual, for this Duo Boon to appear, Zag needs:
- Poseidon: Tempest Strike, Tempest Flourish, Flood Shot, Tidal Dash, or Poseidon's Aid
- Zeus: Lightning Strike, Thunder Flourish, Electric Shot, Thunder Dash, or Zeus' Aid
This Boon ensures that any enemies knocked back by Poseidon Boon effects will also be struck by lightning. This applies to any knock-away effect, whether it's a Cast, Attack, or Special. Any fool who dares come near the son of Hades will be thrown away and shocked, in quick succession. Paired with Malphon or Stygian Blade, Zagreus is almost invincible in close combat.
4 Sweet Nectar: Aphrodite & Poseidon
While this next Boon is not as flashy as some of the others in this list, it is very powerful and will be very helpful to anyone aiming for a build to reach the end. It seems odd that a Duo Boon made up from the two most eccentric Gods isn't flashy, but maybe they just cancel each other out. Once again, Zag will need:
- Aphrodite: Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, Crush Shot, Passion Dash, or Aphrodite's Aid
- Poseidon: Tempest Strike, Tempest Flourish, Flood Shot, Tidal Dash, or Poseidon's Aid
This makes all the Poms of Power that appear from this point on more effective. Essentially, every Boon upgraded with a Pom gets +2 levels instead of +1.
3 Ice Wine: Demeter & Dionysus
Ice Wine is another great area control Boon made from arguably the least likely duo, Demeter and Dionysus. The Boons the player needs to obtain this are:
- Demeter: Frost Strike, Frost Flourish, Mistral Dash, or Demeter's Aid
- Dionysus: Trippy Shot
This makes the Festive Fog left by the Dionysus Cast ability inflict a Chill effect in that area as well and also increases the blast damage of this Cast as well. of the Cast. The Festive Fog was already overpowered enough since it stunned enemies inside and applied Hangover. Now that it inflicts Chill as well, it becomes a prison cell for any enemy caught in it, one that slowly kills them over time.
2 Smoldering Air: Zeus & Aphrodite
Smoldering Air, the Duo Boon made up of Aphrodite and Zeus is a bit of a mixed bag, as its usefulness is highly dependant on Zag's build. The component Boons needed for this to appear are:
- Aphrodite: Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, Crush Shot, Passion Dash, Aphrodite's Aid
- Zeus: Lightning Strike, Thunder Flourish, Electric Shot, Thunder Dash, Zeus' Aid
To put it simply, this Boon caps the God Gauge a 25%, meaning Zag can no longer use Greater Calls for the rest of the run. But, in exchange, the God Gauge now automatically fills itself. With certain Call Aids, like Aphrodite's or Zeus's, ironically enough, it's very useful since the "Greater" version isn't all too different. But, with other ones like Artemis' or Poseidon's, it might not be the best idea to pick this Duo Boon up.
1 Stubborn Roots: Athena & Demeter
Stubborn Roots, the product that comes from the two most "no-nonsense" Olympic Gods Demeter and Athena, is a great tool late in a run when Zag's Death Defiances are almost gone. For it to appear, Zag needs:
- Athena: Divine Strike, Divine Dash, Athena's Aid
- Demeter: Frost Strike, Frost Flourish, Demeter's Aid
Once Zag is completely out of Death Defiance/Stubborn Defiance, this Boon ensures he regenerates 1 life every 0.8 seconds. It's not a Boon that players will be desperately searching for in a run (unless they're a hell-mode player), but when it pops up they should still absolutely grab it since this HP regen can mean the difference between a frustratingly close run and a satisfyingly completed one.