Just a month into Hades 2’s Early Access launch, the acclaimed action-RPG is already getting its second update, and it’s a major one. Patch 2 is full of dozens of buffs and bug fixes, as well one change that reduces how often final boss Chronos is “patently unfair.”
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Developer Supergiant Games wrote in the Hades 2 patch notes that all of the changes were driven by community feedback. “Among the improvements in this patch, look for many new UI icons as well as weapon-related balance changes aimed at enhancing core combat and related choices,” the team wrote. “Your feedback and volunteered gameplay data help inspire our changes, so thank you for playing!”
Top-level changes include players now encountering one additional Olympian each night as they did in Hades 1, which means more Boons for you. Ash and Psyche rewards have been improved in Oceanus and the Rift of Thessaly, and fishing points have become more predictable. Death Defiance invulnerability lasts longer now as well, and Selene’s Boon is cheaper to buy from Charon’s Shop.
On the weapon-balancing front, lots of equipment just got stronger. That includes Melinoë’s Nocturnal Arms and their abilities: Witch’s Staff, Sister Blades, Umbral Flames, Moonstone Axe, and Argent Skull. Several of their Aspects, which upgrade and enhance each weapon in different ways, were reworked too. Argent Skull now earns Glory faster when using Omega Cast and has a much more responsive Omega Special. There’s also a long list of Daedalus Hammer upgrades that have been changed or completely replaced.
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Perhaps most importantly for players still working on their first successful run of the Early Access version, Chronos should be slightly easier to beat now. One of his huge AOE attacks will no longer hit Melinoë when she’s seemingly in a safe zone, along with other “various fixes and adjustments.”
Infernal Cerberus received minor adjustments, while Polyphemus’s Mutant Sheep attack was made weaker. Eris’ grenade attacks should be less chaotic and the Hippo self-destruct is less likely to randomly kill you. But my favorite patch note of all is the following: “While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossroads, you may now snap out of it sooner.”
Here are all the latest Hades 2 patch notes:
Hades 2 Early Access Patch 2 Notes
General Gameplay
You now can encounter up to one additional Olympian each night (as in the previous game)You now are likely to find one more Boon or other major reward while in ErebusIncreased invulnerability duration after your Death Defiance effects activateImproved rewards of Ash and Psyche can now be found in Oceanus and the Rift of ThessalyYou now can press-and-hold to harvest repeatedly from Crescent Pick OutcroppingsToula should now stay closer to you in Encounters, especially in the Fields of MourningNemesis no longer offers Death Defiance items if you do not need to refill the effectReduced Gold cost of Selene’s Boon when available in Charon’s ShopMinor adjustments to the order in which Olympians may first appear early onNormalized chances of finding Fishing Points in various regions
Nocturnal Arms & Abilities
Witch’s Staff: Special knocks foes away, but is slightly slower; Omega Special is fasterSister Blades: Special staggers standard foes longer; Attack visual FX better match the hitboxUmbral Flames: Attacks are stronger and faster; Omega Attack channels faster and uses less magick; Special gives a speed boost, but has reduced damage; Omega Special can be channeled while movingMoonstone Axe: reworked Special provides a lingering barrier; Omega Attack channels slightly faster; Omega Special channels fasterArgent Skull: Omega Attack channels faster and hits a larger area
Aspects of the Nocturnal Arms
Witch’s Staff (Circe): adjusted activation and duration of Serenity effect; Serenity now adds Omega bonus damage that scales with this Aspect’s rankWitch’s Staff (Momus): reworked; each of your Omega Moves automatically fires several times in succession from where you use themSister Blades (Artemis): you will Block again if the effect recharges while you are channeling; Block now takes priority over Dodge and similar effectsUmbral Flames (Eos): reworked; Omega Attack now fires a slow shot that occasionally creates damage blasts and also copies your SpecialsMoonstone Axe (Melinoë): reworked; now adds Power and Max LifeMoonstone Axe (Thanatos): reworked; faster Attack adds Critical chance to Omega movesArgent Skull (Persephone): you now earn Glory much faster, but only by using your Omega Cast; improved control responsiveness during Omega Special
Keepsakes
Moon Beam (Selene): increased bonus to Path of Stars upgrades
Daedalus Hammer Upgrades
·Marauder Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…·Rapid Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks become faster·Double Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…Wicked Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks gain bonus PowerDouble Cataclysm (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…Mirrored Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks hit twice, but you take more damageRapid Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega SpecialDual Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special; reduced range; renamed from Double MoonshotShimmering Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega SpecialAetheric Moonburst (Staff): increased Magick restoration from Power ShotsConcentrated Flurry (Blades): cut from game; replaced with…Melting Dart (Blades): new! Your Special destroys a large percentage of a foe’s ArmorFlick Knives (Blades): new! Your Dash-Strike also fires several Special knives in a fan patternRapid Onslaught (Blades): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder SliceHook Knives (Blades): slightly reduced speed of knives returning to youFurious Fire (Flames): cut from game; replaced with…Mega Spark (Flames): new! All your Attacks travel farther and deal more damageInverted Spark (Flames): new! Dash to make shots from Attacks reverse direction and hit foes againLeaden Spark (Flames): new! Your Attacks knock foes away and have bonus PowerSustained Spark (Flames): also increases move speed, instead of reducing; formerly Sustained FireMelting Coil (Flames): no longer fires straight; also affects Omega Special; formerly Melting Comet Origin Coil (Flames): also affects Omega SpecialRapid Slash (Axe): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder SlashGiga Cleaver (Axe): removed two-stage channeling (it always double-fires but uses more Magick)Dashing Heave (Axe): removed damage bonus; instead, it now hits twice Sidelong Crash (Skull): cut from game; replaced with… Mega Driver (Skull): new! Your Specials travel farther and you take less damage while using themColossus Driver (Skull): also affects Omega Special
Hexes of Selene
Wolf Howl: reduced Magick-spend requirementTwilight Curse: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced foes afflicted; reduced cast timeNight Bloom: reduced Magick-spend requirement, effect duration, bonus damage, and cast timeLunar Ray: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced damage; reduced cast timeMoon Water: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement; slightly reduced healing Dark Side: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement
Foes & Encounters
Chronos: various fixes and adjustments; there should be fewer cases where he’s patently unfairInfernal Cerberus: minor adjustments to some attack patterns in the first phase Eris: grenade attacks no longer wildly bounce aroundPolyphemus: reduced effectiveness of Goldwrath: reduced accuracy and tracking of beam attackQueen Lamia: slightly increased Armor; increased speed; other minor changes Reed-Stalker: increased projectile speed and target distance; reduced rotation speedMourner: slightly increased rotation speed; slightly increased speed while attackingLamia: slightly increased life and Elite armorDire Shambler: reduced tracking speed between attacksHippo: self-destruct area should more closely match the visuals
Level Design & Environments
Burning Oil Slicks in the will extinguish after Encounters, though may be reignitedAdjusted Oil Slicks in some locations in the Minor fixes to several locations
Fated List of Minor Prophecies
Clearing Original Sins no longer requires choosing the very rare Barren curse from
Chaos Trials
Trial of Heartache: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changesTrial of Haste: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changes
Oath of the Unseen
Vow of Forsaking: no longer helps ensure you quickly get Duo and Legendary Boons
Menus & UI
Added many new UI icons for Keepsakes, Weapons, Well of Charon offerings, and moreInsight Into Offerings (Cauldron) now also lets you check each Olympian’s list of offerings in the Book of Shadows while choosing their Boons (or the equivalent with other characters)With the prior change, adjusted default key binding for Rarify; some custom bindings have been resetAdded a warning when you are down to your last use of Death DefianceOpening the Book of Shadows should show entries for nearby characters more reliablyRemoved the Unused Grasp notification when exiting the Altar of Ashes while at a high Grasp limitUpdated Pitch-Black Stone screen to use Aspect-specific iconsAdjusted input action bar layout at the bottom of the Boon Screen and similarAdded borders to icons for Selene Hexes on the Gifts of the Moon screenAdded informational pop-up when using F10 to report bugsOther minor changes
Art & Visual FX
Reduced some full-screen flashing or strobing, such as from time-slow effects
Music & SFX
Added SFX for when certain active abilities such as Serenity are ready to useUpdated placeholder SFX for various Keepsakes Updated SFX for projectile collisions with Umbral Flames (Moros)
Voice & Narrative
Unique voice lines should play more reliably when certain incantations are revealed in the Cauldron·Added voice lines when using Phase Shift (Selene) vs. (or trying to…)More voice lines should play when confiding in Frinos in certain contexts
Miscellaneous
While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossroads, you may now snap out of it soonerYou now can fully control the game using keyboard only if you rebind Attack and SpecialAll timers now pause while in the presence of Charon An Anvil of Fates will no longer be offered in if you have not found a Daedalus HammerIn the Flashback, adjusted timing of hint for players who don’t realize they are in controlReduced requirements for the incantation Power to Pause and Reflect to be revealed Melinoë now respawns in the center of her magick circle near her tent (she was a bit off before…)Improved compatibility with more types of controllersUpdated text for various upgrades and abilities
Bug Fixes
Fixed Double Up (Poseidon) sometimes doubling Mystery Boons; clarified descriptionFixed Nightmare resources dropping unexpectedly in Chaos TrialsFixed Omega moves occasionally becoming unresponsive after being chomped on by Fixed deadliest attack of occasionally hitting when Melinoë was in a supposedly safe pointFixed Umbral Flames Attack preventing Magick regeneration before channeling Omega AttackFixed The Queen and Judgment (Arcana) appearing active while no others Arcana are activeFixed Hearth Gain (Hestia) no longer restoring Magick if chosen as a Sacrifice BoonFixed certain later Oath Testaments for the Sister Blades sometimes not appearing as expectedFixed cases where you could go out of bounds using the Argent Skull in the battle vs. Fixed more cases of some visual effects vs. lingering between phases or after the fightFixed Toula unceremoniously vanishing after you vanquish ChronosFixed additional issues with Sun Worshiper (Apollo)Fixed additional issues with Dark Side (Selene)Fixed additional issues with Twilight Curse (Selene)Fixed a visual issue where could appear to slide after snared by your CastFixed Spark of Ixion (Charon) causing a to appear inFixed Golden Boughs sometimes not marking all available rewards in theFixed several narrative events that could play out of sequenceFixed Odysseus rather rudely walking away while in conversation with NemesisFixed sometimes leaping away forever Fixed Melinoë’s voice reverting during her return sequence despite certain enchantmentsFixed incorrect portrait in the Book of Shadows Fixed incorrect music playing in some Chaos Trials, or not playing as intended in some instancesFixed rare cases of a looping sound playing indefinitely Fixed a rare instance when objectives in the Training Grounds could overlap Fixed several minor issues on the Victory Screen that shows when you prevailFixed additional miscellaneous issues when playing in ultrawide resolutions Fixed a rare crash in which the effect of Winter Harvest (Demeter) could repeat forever Fixed various other rare crashesFixed several text errorsOther minor fixes
It’s clear Super Giant Games is meticulously monitoring every aspect of the game ahead of its full launch on PC and console in 2025. The studio said the next update will re-balance Boons. Until then, there’s plenty for players to dig into and begin testing with Patch 2.
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