Hades guide: Skills and boons from the Gods of Olympus

Ares’ boons

The Greek god of war is bloodthirsty, and it shows with his skill set in Hades. His boons are symbolized by a blood-red sword.

He provides you with some high DPS options for skills along with those that can inflict the “Doom” status effect (will cause enemies to take a chunk of damage after a couple of seconds have passed). Here are some examples of Ares’ boons:

• Curse of Agony and Curse of Pain (tier 1) – Your attack and special abilities (respectively) have more damage and inflict the Doom status.
• Slicing Shot (tier 1) – Your casting skill throws a Blade Rift (blood-red spinning blades).
• Blade Dash (tier 1) – Your dash skill leaves a Blade Rift where you started from.
• Black Metal (tier 2) – Blade Rifts deal damage in a wider area.
• Engulfing Vortex (tier 2) – Blade Rifts last longer and pull enemies to its location.
• Vicious Cycle (tier 3/Legendary) – Blade Rift damage increases for each successive hit.

One of the reasons I’m such a huge fan of using Ares in my Hades runs is because of the boons that create or buff Blade Rifts. These wheels of death just slice and dice through enemies like a hot knife through butter. It makes boss fights a breeze since you can just dash to and fro with Blade Dash, or throw your Slicing Shot, and let them do the work.

Because of my singular focus on Blade Rift-boosting skills, I tend to neglect anything that has to do with the Doom status. I’ve also tried to avoid some of Ares’ Duo boons which can make Blade Rifts a bit weaker.

Next, let’s talk about Artemis.