In Hades, there are four major boss fights that players will have to get through if they want to reach the surface, but there is also a mini-boss type fight in the form of Asterius the Minotaur. Reaching the end of Elysium will see the player fight Asterius and Theseus together at the same time, but there's a chance that Asterius will spawn by himself in one of the chambers leading up to that boss fight.
Beating Asterius early in Hades is useful for a number of reasons, but most notably he starts the main boss fight at the end of the realm with less health if the player defeats him ahead of time once. Additionally, the rarity of boons and rewards obtained from the room Asterius resides in are slightly better than usual.
With all that in mind, there are three main attacks that Asterius the Minotaur will use against the player. Compared to other straightforward bosses like Hades' first boss, Megaera, the Minotaur isn't terribly difficult. His attacks are slow and easy to dodge, but getting hit by them is very punishing.
Asterius' first technique is a double axe swing that hits in a large arc in front of him. If directly behind the beast this attack could miss, but it's best to just keep distance instead. After this, he will frequently combo into a leaping axe smash. This move can be a little hard to predict, but as soon as Asterius leaves the ground the player should dodge. The leap can be performed three times in succession. Finally, he also has a bull rush ability similar to those of the chariot enemies. Leading him into a wall or pillar will stop this assault. This is a difficult fight but Hades players can overcome it with practice.
Once Asterius is reduced to half health, he becomes invulnerable for a brief moment as he enters his second phase. For the most part, the fight remains the same, but his axe swing and leap both produce shockwaves now. This can make these moves more difficult to dodge, so again it's best to keep distance, only closing in to attack after Asterius finishes up a combo and is briefly stunned. Alternatively, Leading the bull into pillars in this area will cause them to break, dealing damage to the beast.
When fighting Asterius before the final boss of Elysium, he will call off the fight after reaching 20% hit points. When fought later in the stadium he will start the fight at only 80% health, making it much easier to vanquish him despite Theseus' ranged attacks. Players that are struggling with this should be sure to equip a powerful keepsake such as Skelly's keepsake.
Hades is available now on PC and Switch.