In case you’re curious why Achilles and Patroclus’ keepsake is an ant, it’s because the word “myrmidon” comes from the Greek word “myrmidos” meaning ant. The reason for this is a myth that states that the island of aegina was plagued by Hera because the island was named after a lover of Zeus. The plague killed almost all the human inhabitants and when the king pleaded to the gods for a way to repopulate the island, Zeus took the ants on the island and turned them into humans and called them myrmidons. These myrmidons were also the soldiers that joined Achilles and Patroclus on their campaign to Troy.
I like using Fidi against Hades because Dusa doesnt stop attacking during the cutscenes after Hades get beat, its funny to imagine Hades giving a speech to Zag while being pelted with rocks.
Mort is my favorite for the sheer damage, also it made me better with timing my attacks. He's perfect for armoured minibosses (Doomstone, Gorgon head, giant Soulcatcher), great in Styx rooms, and honestly against bosses too. There's always a window of time when the boss in standing still (Hades' laser attack or Theseus summoning the gods). The fight against Theseus is over in two seconds with Mort lol
I hear everyone saying that hitting the bosses with Thanatos is difficult, but I have to disagree, every boss has a moment where they remain stationary, barring maybe Asterius, but it's easy enough to get him to charge you underneath Than's circle.
@@franshookie2447 Plus Theseus' lines when you summon Thanatos on him just double the satisfaction. "Why is Death on your side?!" "What is Death doing here?!" Sometimes Than would say, "I'm back, King Theseus," implying that he was the one who took Theseus to the Underworld and is now back to kill him again 😬
I like the Antos companion just for the fact that it's guaranteed hits. There's no trying to line up things (Batty) or trying to keep enemies inside the area (Mort), you just pop it and the enemy gets hit. Shady is a close contender for me, but I've really been enjoying Antos.
Good vid! Shady is also S tier because the bosses all react hilariously when he gets dropped on them :) Also it comes clutch in Styx sometimes when you have extra uses, I'll call him just to be able to pay for wells or Charon shiz
Tip for using the Meg companion. It runs perpendicular to the direction you’re facing. For instance if you want to hit Thesius and Asetrios at the same time just tap Up on the D-pad before you use companion and it’ll run horizontally.
@@ozanmrcan On controllers there can be “stick drift” or dead zone issues that make it more difficult to determine which plane you’re casting your companion. Pressing Up on the directional pad guarantees true north so that Meg will hit on a horizontal plane.
I cant wait to watch this in 20 years when I finally unlock some of these haha. I legit am like 30 hours into my new save and I totally forgot these even existed
i use antos a lot, and i can confirm if theres only one enemy, both achilles and patroclus will hit that enemy. i tend to use it right at the start of hades phase 2/3 (depending on if im doing EM4 or not) so its an easy 3000 damage immediately
@@luiggivm I keep vacillating between always taking epic and trying to pom stack white qualities and I've had it go well on both and go bad on both so I could really use the demystification, personally.
I would say it depends on the boon, for example with athena's dash the rarity really doesn't matter because you take it for the deflect. But it also depends on how important the boon is for your build, for example zeus's attack when you are playing with the rail. And as for poms, I usually avoid going for more than 3 on the same boon, specially if it's white rarity, since the increase gets progressively lower the more poms you have on the boon. That said, if I do get a white rarity on an important boon I try to get 1 or 2 poms on it.
Using skelly on hades can help mark hades for critical damage with Artemis. Its a very niche benefit but he is the only companion I have right now so he helps a little but definitely not as good as the other companions.
Wow, I aways use Mort since I can basically skip the second half of the Theseus fight (unlike most bosses who damage cap at every one third, Theseus and Bull are capped at half health, so the 3500 will be dealt in full) So, basically I like mort because I hate Theseus, lol
Hey! Thanks for the reply. Mort is also surprisingly good on hydra with extreme measure, since the room is way smaller. Sometime, I could get 4 of the heads in the attack range. A bit impractical, but very satisfying.
In boss fights it's pretty easy to use antos at the right time so you'll hit the same boss twice Finish lernie of at the end, hit hades twice and one of the champs after the other is defeated
Something I wanted to mention about the Antos companion is that it cannot miss. Which means it is good against mini-bosses that teleport as well as the Hades fight, because he has a habit of randomly charging.
i super love ur Hades vids, extremely helpful in decision making on which boons, upgrades, keepesakes, etc. to choose and which are the ones to experiment with. esp. for the beginners like me!!!
Nice video, my personal favourite is companion mort ,makes barge of death middle management super easy,just pop it while its spawning and watch the armour go down lol. Also use it at the start of champion fight to hit them both , doesent work for the em fight tho. And hades when he starts filling his second life bar i pop it aswell .
Thank you so much for your videos, I managed to beat the game for the first time with a 41:32 two days ago and 31:42 yesterday after putting in some work learning how the game really functions.
I kinda disagree with the Mort rating. Late late game C sure but early-late game as you're progressing it's really easy to get and one of the best Companions vs Theseus. Can get them to 50% then use this and boom fight is over. That fight's the most annoying to me cause of his shield early on so this helps a lot. Early on you don't wanna waste Ambrosia's either so you'll get 1-2 uses outta it. Can precast it on Hydra while he's invuln then on Theseus. Both very good skips early to late game.
Yo just here to congratulate you to your 15k subs! That's awesome. Haven't watched a video of yours in a while (got bored of Hades :3 ) and it's great how much you've grown. Very deserved. I still remember congratulating you for 1k subs or something like that not even a year ago. Your hair seemed to haven gotten grayer. But maybe that's just the lighting. :D
Very satisfied to see shady on the s tier! The moment i got him i maxed his level and always used it in every run. I kinda suck at dodging so whenever i get the boons i need for a run, i always switch to demeter in elysium or the temple and try to get the boon that increases the heals that you get in preparation for hades
I've gotten to a point where I'm almost constantly spamming dash strike, especially with the twin fists which have become my best weapon, paired with Athena's Divine Dash
Shady is amazing for runs where i'm struggling to stay alive (like that 32 Heat run) to get some clutch healing, but for regular lower Heat stuff i just love to use Fidi. Dusa is precious and it like how long the companion stays with you clearing stuff off screen or petrifying enemies.
Hi Paul, I have been watching your videos recently and decided to chime in on my buddy Schelemeus. i've been playing the game a few hours a day for the past month, and I think that if you play the game blindly like me (without looking up quests and all the sorts) Skelly is the first companion that you are able to find unless you become extremely lucky. The reason I say this is because you see him after every run, and as long as you have nectar its really easy to just have a conversation with him rather than Achilles or Meg, who wouldn't be there every single time you need them to. I think that while yes, his Leg. Keepsake does not offer any offensive power, being able to just freely attack bosses such as Asterius and Hades himself without them focusing you is extremely useful, specially if you are still learning and unlocking the aspects and boons. It does suck that you can hit him though, since the first few times I ended up accidentally killing him myself. Keep up the good work!
I just want to defend good ol mort quickly, as some others have done, since if you use him right, he's a lot better than some others. You'll mostly be using companions against bosses and mort is brilliant at that, since most bosses are either slow (megagorgon, lernie) or have moments where they stand still and invincible so that if you time it right, than'll delete their health as they lose invincibility (furies, theseus, hades). So despite the delay, the massive damage and area more than make up for it especially when you time it right (Mainly writing this because HOW IS MORT IN THE SAME TIER AS RIB)
I never really liked Dusa's keepsake, only had her and skelly for awhile, so i actually do have one instance where skelly is useful, at least for anyone struggling to get their first clear. I was very hit or miss early on dealing with Theseus and Astereus until I learned to deal with Asterius first. But even then, depending on the weapon, I found Theseus's timing a pain. But with skelly, you can summon him right after the theseus phase shift and it will draw the entire wrath of the God he summons directly on top of skelly, giving you plenty of time to dish out most of Theseus's remaining health
@1:07, I call hooey that it targets "your closest foe". Every damn time in the butterfly room, it picks the onion head all the way across the room, instead of the *actual* threat!!
Here's my take: -Take Skelly to learn the Middle Management fight changes in Tartarus/Asphodel and then never again, he's just too squishy after Asphodel. It's sort of a shame that Bouldy is so hard to get considering how good it is for beginner/intermediate players but it's worth getting Meg is extremely powerful but can whiff pretty hard, even using the knowledge that the line draws perpendicular to the direction Zag is facing Thanatos is strong but too slow once you crank up Forced Overtime Antos is really strong and can even multi-hit if enemies stack, it just isn't the most reliable in the Hades fight between not being able to hit the same target twice (unless enemies cluster on Dad phase 1) and the potential to just go afrer his cast stones
I find that skelly summon can be helpful with zeus boons because he will pull enemies in close making sure they are taking the full brunt of every zeus boon you have and making sure that they are all in range of them. Another thing to point out is that he takes reduced damage from you (I don't know the exact percentage but I note that even booned up it takes longer to kill him than it does in prep room) he is most def not meta or anything but I thought it was worth mentioning
Agree on shady being s tier. Well i would put the mouse higher but may be because the way i use companions in a run. Plan a head when i want to do it ^^anyway great video mate
Rib can be quite useful when you're playing with Stygius and using the Daedalus Hammer that grants health on hit. That way you can deal damage and regain a sizeable chunk of life while they're all busy focusing on Skelly.
@@JawlessPaul Yeah, it can be pretty dope. But gathering all the conditions for the build to be effective is too much of a hassle, so in the end I would agree with your ranking.
Just wanna pop in and say since i got into the game via the epic game store sale your videos new and old have been very informative and entertaining thanks!
Personally I think Mort is really good. Part of this may be that I have almost only been putting heat into extreme measures. I think that the damage is insane and it is very easy to land against bosses if you use it at the right time. I mostly just forget about it in the fury sisters fight, for Lernie I use it in the final phase after the heads are killed, for Theseus I use it either when he he stops driving the Macedonian to taunt you (extreme measures, obviously) or in the beginning of Theseus's second phase. For Hades you can hit him when he is summoning the traps. I really wish that the Companion from Achilles was better against bosses because I Achilles and Patroclus are probably my favorite characters.
My first companion Skelly :) And I've used him a crap ton mainly in boss stages, against lennie easy phasy 2. Drop him down and jsut focus all the other heads, or against the champions when theseus drops below 50% have the god and him focus it, easiest kill you can get
I found Skelly super helpful, mostly on last ditch efforts against Hades or other bosses. It was the first companion I found, for the longest time, so I used only it for a good amount of time. MUCH more useful than Fidi in my opinion. I have Antos, but haven't used it... That's awesome Achilles & Patroclus come out!
@@p0oka261 Oh yeah, now that I'm 15 heat and above he's useless, and also useless even well before that & with close melee weapons (you end up slamming him too, lol). It's almost exclusively Meg or very rarely Fidi these days. Mort is... Meh. I'm working on unlocking Bouldy's, but I just found out you CAN (and have to) talk to BOULDY as well as Sisyphus...I had no idea you could talk to Bouldy until the other day, over 200hrs into the damn game... ...should have given in and looked up a guide sooner, but just figured I hadn't been there enough times (granted, it's the one of 3 that I see the least). Yeah, not happy about that, lol.
I think Than's keepsake is pretty under appreciated despite the delay. It works really well with Middle Management enemies because it almost always hits both enemies (as long as you time it well).
Hot take, but I like to have Companions that cover weaknesses in the build I'm gonna be running. For example, I may not have very good sustained or group damage if running the Sniper Rail, so I take Rib to buy time or Fidi to clear numbers. Zeus Rail but not sure if I'll be able to deal with bosses? Mort, Meg and Antos. And for general "Im not sure what im doing im just having fun" I pick Shady.
I just made a comment about using Skelly's Rib with the rail/ gun, too. It's super useful to have the boss focus him & u can just unload into the boss from behind esp if u have boons that increase that dmg
Pretty sure skelly was my first keepsake, was useful for awhile because I had nothing else. Sometimes you gotta work with what you got instead of the perfect combination of endgame stuff. You gotta use something until you get there! I used than forever to insta phase the final phase of all bosses, really easy to hit bosses with it once you're used to it tbh. Especially helped with thesius final phase which can be harry until you get really good at it. If you take Artemis call and wait for a full charge, than and artemis do the last 2 phases!
jo about the skelly keepsake, i use it, when i'm going for my most fun build i call it the "hold Leftclick dont move and beat hades while going afk" what you need for it is "Verfluchter Schnitt" (google translator) -> damn cut (hold attack and deal 25 base dmg) "Schlitzgestörber" (google translator)-> rascal (your attack heals 2 per hit starting off with -60% total health) while using the zagreus sword variante maxed out with additional 15% attack speed plus dmg wich transforms you into a busted draintank, espacially, when you died a couple times, playing on godmode with 100 % dmg reduction, its the most broken thing i found so far. and skelly, can help you scale in situations, where that busted build is not jet on its peak, maybe when you didnt manage to pick up enough items before specific boss fights cause it allows you to get back to 100 % health, so just a safety net
If I had to rank the companions system I'd give it like a 1/10 for doing a terrible job of reminding me it exists and an even worse job of training me to use it
The game actually does remind you to use them in more dangerous fights it will Flash and say that the charm is ready in the upper left-hand of the screen and I think it makes some kind of dog squeaky toy noise as well. It took me so long to unlock the summons that I kept forgetting to use them for the longest time before I finally started using them every run in important situations.
I agree with this. I really don't think I would've realized they existed if not for YT vids & seeing streamers with them. If u can beat the game over & over, max out the weapons, etc & never engage with a game system, the devs should do something to help us realize it's there. I'm glad there is tons of content but honestly I wish the dev time had gone into another area/ zone & a few more encounters rather than pets
There is often a notification in harder fights saying "press (whatever your companion button is) for support" and their appearance on the keepsake screen is pretty dramatic, finally showing you what was behind the barriers all that time, and the giver will tell you about them, so you're pretty encouraged to try them out. That's just my opinion tho
Skelly is really good to use during alot of trial of the God's rooms, having the aoe attacks focus on skelly is really good for making sure you can kill the enemy's fast and not take damage.
Skelly's may not be great but because you can also damage it you can use it to get health regen from the boon that gives you health when you hit with an attack. just wanted to point that out. its the only keepsake i have rn and it kinda saved my ass when i learned this so i feel it deserves a mention here, lol
FYI, the segment on the tracking bar says Meg, but should be subdivided into "Mort" and "Shady" as well. One tip I heard with Mort/Than is as soon as region 3/Elysium boss battle starts, summon him to get a clear hit! *OTOH, don't use it against the punishment pact that gives minions a blue heart/life bar!*
Somewhat older guide I know, but still useful. One more thing about Fidi I found out in my second save file. WARNING: Some minor story spoilers ahead for anyone who has not seen all or most of the story yet. While Dusa is fired from her job, she will not appear if you take Fidi as your companion and then try to summon her. Zagreus will comment on it when she does not appear ("Is Dusa really gone?")
so weird that I got companion Shady 1st, I didn't know it was hard to get lol. I actually got Megaera's 2nd last, but Thanatos was the last 1 I was missing for a long time. I just didn't have him show up very often in the house to continue his story/relationship which was annoying, I think the same thing was with Meg's as well. She just wasn't iin the lounge very often to talk to. Shady is def the one I usually use though, I just like the extra health and stuff spawning, I haven't gone past 10 heat yet since I'm pretty new to the game and only got it like 10 days ago or so, but when I do get to higher heats I'd probably take one of the higher dmg companions for bosses or whatever or for speed running if I ever do that
I didn't know what the requirements were exactly for the companions, but I just figured like everything else in this game you unlock them as you progress storylines with the different characters. So because Sisyphus, Eurydice & Patroclus are all gated behind getting their rooms within a dungeon run, I'd always pick their rooms if I could because I figured their stories would be the hardest to progress because of where they were located. I just always talked to Sisyphus and gifted him nectar whenever I could because I didn't know when I'd see him again, also got really unlucky with Thanatos and Meg I think, because they were rarely in the house
Shady was the second for me, barely getting edged out by Rib. I probably could have gotten Battie earlier, but I wanted to do Thans quest before hers, but then I did her storyline anyway because he was busy progressing the Hypnos storyline.
Companion Rib is pretty good against Theseus though. It’s easy to get, and it can be used against Hades right off the bat. Also, while it’s down your opponent will turn their back to you, guaranteeing backstab damage for the duration. The big letdown to it is that you yourself can damage Skelly... Big enough drawback that it ain’t A tier. But I’d say it belongs in B tier instead of C.
Especially with the rail/ gun, Skelly Rib companion is pretty good bc having the boss focus on him for long enough for u to unload & get backstab is a ton of dmg
Man sometimes the amount of Dialogue plays against the game, i got a super sad cutscene with my mom then when i got back hades was talking about orpheus, it really sucked i wanted to hear what he would say. Thankfully nyx acknowledged it.
I'm usually in the temple of Styx before I even remember I HAVE my companions so most of the time I finish runs only maybe having used them against hades or satyr tunnel bosses
The moment theseus and asterius battle starts they are standing together in the middle of the stage, so I just hit them both with Mort and boom, half the battle done, in the beginning they pretty much stand still so its easy to do it, I also think Mort is pretty effective agains the last stage of lernie and most of the furies specifically tisifone.
i only ever use companions for mini bosses or bosses, and thats why antos is my pick. one hit to take down the armor, the other for health, or hit the double mini bosses on the right pact. Otherwise on biome bosses, i time such that there is only the the boss itself, and then its easy i.e. I only need to get all the bosses to 1/3 health and then its over with (don't need to deal with any final phase of any boss fight ever again).
Bouldy keepsake falls off at high heat when you are taking full lasting consequences and stubborn defiance, making its healing useless. Other than that it’s really good, especially for newer players who will appreciate the darkness to buy mirror upgrades and healing to... not die
I use Mort during the champions fight because when Theseus is summoning a god he is not protected by a shield and he is in that position just long enough for Thanatos to deal damage
Working on finishing the remaining 3 quest lines but I have battie, mort and rib atm. I just stick with battie for now but once I get shady I’ll use that probably every time
Hi, loving your videos but I am bit new and game and I wanna learn all story of the game but unfortunately, there is no video about the complete story. İt would be really nice if you make one :) (Greetings from Turkey)
@@aybarslan alright so basically the story starts because Zagreus wants to escape the underworld to go to Olympus but as you play more you start to discover that nyx isn’t your mother and find out Persephone is so you escape to find her, after that you have to beat hades 10 times (each time you beat him) you go to Persephone garden and speak briefly with Persephone before you die after the 10 won runs Persephone comes back to the underworld and ( btw the olympians don’t know about zagreus true intentions to rescue her mother) so zagreus needs to continue “escaping” to not raise suspicion within the olympians also you can expand some story with a few characters
In my perspective morti is definitely not that bad on bosses, considering most of them have a phase in which they stand still (megeara and alecto preparing for phase 3, tisiphone you don't even need to aim in phase 3, hydra is usually still, theseus in third phase, hades' beam, etc). I get the overdamage thing, but in my experience meg keepsake will always leave the boss with 15% health or so, while than will just kill them (considering even that you are in a high heat run and you have Calisthenics Program, thanatos can get more value).I'm not saying it's better than meg, I just argue that is probably a B tier (it doesn't deserve to be in the same tier as skelly imo). Also, in really high heat runs, in which you have maxed Lasting Consequences (or just high heat with guan yu), bouldy is probably a C tier. Just saying that because you pointed out that meg is S in speedruns, so maybe it's a good idea to point out that bouldy is at least not S tier on that situation.
In case you’re curious why Achilles and Patroclus’ keepsake is an ant, it’s because the word “myrmidon” comes from the Greek word “myrmidos” meaning ant. The reason for this is a myth that states that the island of aegina was plagued by Hera because the island was named after a lover of Zeus. The plague killed almost all the human inhabitants and when the king pleaded to the gods for a way to repopulate the island, Zeus took the ants on the island and turned them into humans and called them myrmidons. These myrmidons were also the soldiers that joined Achilles and Patroclus on their campaign to Troy.
Yes! Amazing comment right here!
This is outstanding 💯
Love me some, myths und story time!
A man of culture I see!
I like using Fidi against Hades because Dusa doesnt stop attacking during the cutscenes after Hades get beat, its funny to imagine Hades giving a speech to Zag while being pelted with rocks.
Haha that's a good point! 🤣
*Hades giving the most emotional speech to Zagreus*
Dusa: That is interesting but i sure don't care :)
Mort is my favorite for the sheer damage, also it made me better with timing my attacks. He's perfect for armoured minibosses (Doomstone, Gorgon head, giant Soulcatcher), great in Styx rooms, and honestly against bosses too. There's always a window of time when the boss in standing still (Hades' laser attack or Theseus summoning the gods). The fight against Theseus is over in two seconds with Mort lol
Fair point!
“WHY IS DEATH HELPING *YOU*?!”
I just unlocked Mort. I saved it till Hades, but when I tried to use it, the game told me unable to use. Does anyone know why this would be?
@@gretre4560 You can't use most legendary keepsakes against Hades, except Shady, until a later point in the game.
@@augustarcana Thanks! I figured that out finally lol
I hear everyone saying that hitting the bosses with Thanatos is difficult, but I have to disagree, every boss has a moment where they remain stationary, barring maybe Asterius, but it's easy enough to get him to charge you underneath Than's circle.
Fair enough! I bet one could grow accustomed to the timing of it!
I use Than there when Theseus is in a vulnerable state when he's calling a god. That finishes him off in an instant
@@franshookie2447 Plus Theseus' lines when you summon Thanatos on him just double the satisfaction. "Why is Death on your side?!" "What is Death doing here?!"
Sometimes Than would say, "I'm back, King Theseus," implying that he was the one who took Theseus to the Underworld and is now back to kill him again 😬
Agree, he always works for when Hades turns into his laser machine
@@K_H_P_ I cannot wait for "I'm back, King Theseus" - honestly so long as Theseus suffers I'm happy
I have a crush on Than so I use Mort despite the delay LMAO
Same, simping for Than beats viability
@@ShearsOfAtropos ah a fellow simp. nice to know I'm not alone LMAO
Than: :D
Than front view: D:
yessss. my simping started in Smite. became a bigger simp in hades
@@LaydleBagel than is hot in every game
Bastion ost in the background, Spiderland on the hoodie, Companion Shady at the S tier... Now that's a man of culture!
Haha! It really all came together didn't it? 🤣
Most definitely haha
I like the Antos companion just for the fact that it's guaranteed hits. There's no trying to line up things (Batty) or trying to keep enemies inside the area (Mort), you just pop it and the enemy gets hit. Shady is a close contender for me, but I've really been enjoying Antos.
Same plus it’s also very flavorful and it always feels nice to see Achilles and Pat fighting together. I love them.
@@andreluissoriano people are simping over than but I just want to spend dome quality time with those two😭
Yeah! I need to use antos more.
I think we can all gather in these replies to simp for Achilles and Patroclus. :)
I feel like I must use Antos wrong, yesterday I tried to kill Lernie with it and Achilles and Pat missed. Like straight up missed.
Good vid! Shady is also S tier because the bosses all react hilariously when he gets dropped on them :)
Also it comes clutch in Styx sometimes when you have extra uses, I'll call him just to be able to pay for wells or Charon shiz
Yeah, dropping boulders on enemies is some excellent Wylie Coyote humor. 🤣
Tip for using the Meg companion. It runs perpendicular to the direction you’re facing.
For instance if you want to hit Thesius and Asetrios at the same time just tap Up on the D-pad before you use companion and it’ll run horizontally.
Yes!
what? what does dpad do
@@ozanmrcan On controllers there can be “stick drift” or dead zone issues that make it more difficult to determine which plane you’re casting your companion. Pressing Up on the directional pad guarantees true north so that Meg will hit on a horizontal plane.
@@parzival_35f32 oh ok i didn't even know you can move with dpad lol never tried thanks
I actually love companion mort because it’s easy to hit Hades, Theseus+Asterius, and annoying bosses on Styx.
Fair enough! :)
I cant wait to watch this in 20 years when I finally unlock some of these haha. I legit am like 30 hours into my new save and I totally forgot these even existed
They really take forever to unlock. LOL
i use antos a lot, and i can confirm if theres only one enemy, both achilles and patroclus will hit that enemy. i tend to use it right at the start of hades phase 2/3 (depending on if im doing EM4 or not) so its an easy 3000 damage immediately
Nice! Yeah antos is some nice boss damage for sure
I've got an idea for a video: How important is rare/epic for a build? Specific boons? Etc. How does it compare to pom stacking?
OMG, I would love to see that!!!
@@luiggivm I keep vacillating between always taking epic and trying to pom stack white qualities and I've had it go well on both and go bad on both so I could really use the demystification, personally.
I would say it depends on the boon, for example with athena's dash the rarity really doesn't matter because you take it for the deflect. But it also depends on how important the boon is for your build, for example zeus's attack when you are playing with the rail. And as for poms, I usually avoid going for more than 3 on the same boon, specially if it's white rarity, since the increase gets progressively lower the more poms you have on the boon. That said, if I do get a white rarity on an important boon I try to get 1 or 2 poms on it.
I almost never take poms, until styx.
@@shannonhill3356 bruh
Skelly keepsake is a free win in Erebus Gates.
Interesting idea!
@kiekebe if you buy it from the house contractor, you unlock a gate like the chaos one where you defeat a wave of enemys with out getting hit.
Using skelly on hades can help mark hades for critical damage with Artemis. Its a very niche benefit but he is the only companion I have right now so he helps a little but definitely not as good as the other companions.
that's an interesting strategy!
Wow, I aways use Mort since I can basically skip the second half of the Theseus fight (unlike most bosses who damage cap at every one third, Theseus and Bull are capped at half health, so the 3500 will be dealt in full)
So, basically I like mort because I hate Theseus, lol
Fair point! I need to try it!
Hey! Thanks for the reply.
Mort is also surprisingly good on hydra with extreme measure, since the room is way smaller.
Sometime, I could get 4 of the heads in the attack range. A bit impractical, but very satisfying.
Sounds sweet!
I like the detail in the Antos summon where Patroclus has a Myrmidon bracer but Achilles doesn't, probably because he gave it to you.
That is a detail I never noticed!
In boss fights it's pretty easy to use antos at the right time so you'll hit the same boss twice
Finish lernie of at the end, hit hades twice and one of the champs after the other is defeated
Nice!
I like this guy. Could listen to him break down every game I play tbh. Great vids
Thanks Mike!
Dude, respect for Bastion OST! Darren Korb is da boss of music, and Terminal March is such a masterpiece
Yeah! It's so good!!
USE SKELLY TO HEAL YOURSELF WITH GUAN YU OR CURSED SLASH . That's the best i could think of.
Nice!
Something I wanted to mention about the Antos companion is that it cannot miss. Which means it is good against mini-bosses that teleport as well as the Hades fight, because he has a habit of randomly charging.
i super love ur Hades vids, extremely helpful in decision making on which boons, upgrades, keepesakes, etc. to choose and which are the ones to experiment with. esp. for the beginners like me!!!
I'm glad it's helpful Ethan!
This helped alot yo ! Looking forward to seeing more content from you when Hades 2 drops 👌🏾
Thank you, friend! Glad you found the video helpful!
Nice video, my personal favourite is companion mort ,makes barge of death middle management super easy,just pop it while its spawning and watch the armour go down lol. Also use it at the start of champion fight to hit them both , doesent work for the em fight tho. And hades when he starts filling his second life bar i pop it aswell .
Yeah! I've seen a lot of Mort lovers here! Awesome!
Thank you so much for your videos, I managed to beat the game for the first time with a 41:32 two days ago and 31:42 yesterday after putting in some work learning how the game really functions.
Right on! And well done!
I kinda disagree with the Mort rating. Late late game C sure but early-late game as you're progressing it's really easy to get and one of the best Companions vs Theseus. Can get them to 50% then use this and boom fight is over.
That fight's the most annoying to me cause of his shield early on so this helps a lot.
Early on you don't wanna waste Ambrosia's either so you'll get 1-2 uses outta it. Can precast it on Hydra while he's invuln then on Theseus. Both very good skips early to late game.
Fair enough!
At the very least, there's no way Mort is the same tier as Rib. :P
i'm going to have to try this out because that fight is still one of the most inconsistent for me.
Yo just here to congratulate you to your 15k subs! That's awesome. Haven't watched a video of yours in a while (got bored of Hades :3 ) and it's great how much you've grown. Very deserved. I still remember congratulating you for 1k subs or something like that not even a year ago. Your hair seemed to haven gotten grayer. But maybe that's just the lighting. :D
Haha! Thank you Grouch! The hair is probably a bit greyer!
Very satisfied to see shady on the s tier! The moment i got him i maxed his level and always used it in every run. I kinda suck at dodging so whenever i get the boons i need for a run, i always switch to demeter in elysium or the temple and try to get the boon that increases the heals that you get in preparation for hades
I've gotten to a point where I'm almost constantly spamming dash strike, especially with the twin fists which have become my best weapon, paired with Athena's Divine Dash
40 runs in, 4 wins, and no companions yet. Took me awhile to figure out you could give nectar to the Bouldy lol
... you can???
That's pretty much the path I've taken. Got first wins in the late-30s, just got Dusa's companion at run 54 (was late pushing the nectar on everyone!)
Giving necter to bouldy actually gives you boons, it's also unlocked later so you might have just unlocked that option.
Indeed!
Nice!
Loving the bastion music in the background! Lol
Dude that music is so good!
Love hearing Faith of Jevel in the bg. A real classic Darren Korb track!
Dude it's so good!
Shady is amazing for runs where i'm struggling to stay alive (like that 32 Heat run) to get some clutch healing, but for regular lower Heat stuff i just love to use Fidi. Dusa is precious and it like how long the companion stays with you clearing stuff off screen or petrifying enemies.
Totally!
Also, Skelly can't be summoned for one particular (secret) boss.
Boss spoilers:
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.
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the tiny vermin or charon lmao
I didn't know that!
Really?? Not the TV either?
Yes because.
He works for Charon
@@aezer0th yes and
he has a charon coin in his mouth
Love the Bastion song, nice callback Paul!
Oh yeah! Love those tunes!
Hi Paul, I have been watching your videos recently and decided to chime in on my buddy Schelemeus. i've been playing the game a few hours a day for the past month, and I think that if you play the game blindly like me (without looking up quests and all the sorts) Skelly is the first companion that you are able to find unless you become extremely lucky. The reason I say this is because you see him after every run, and as long as you have nectar its really easy to just have a conversation with him rather than Achilles or Meg, who wouldn't be there every single time you need them to. I think that while yes, his Leg. Keepsake does not offer any offensive power, being able to just freely attack bosses such as Asterius and Hades himself without them focusing you is extremely useful, specially if you are still learning and unlocking the aspects and boons. It does suck that you can hit him though, since the first few times I ended up accidentally killing him myself. Keep up the good work!
Fair point! I think someone else mentioned this before as well
I just want to defend good ol mort quickly, as some others have done, since if you use him right, he's a lot better than some others. You'll mostly be using companions against bosses and mort is brilliant at that, since most bosses are either slow (megagorgon, lernie) or have moments where they stand still and invincible so that if you time it right, than'll delete their health as they lose invincibility (furies, theseus, hades). So despite the delay, the massive damage and area more than make up for it especially when you time it right
(Mainly writing this because HOW IS MORT IN THE SAME TIER AS RIB)
I've only gotten 3 so far, can't wait for bouldy.
Good luck!
I never really liked Dusa's keepsake, only had her and skelly for awhile, so i actually do have one instance where skelly is useful, at least for anyone struggling to get their first clear. I was very hit or miss early on dealing with Theseus and Astereus until I learned to deal with Asterius first. But even then, depending on the weapon, I found Theseus's timing a pain. But with skelly, you can summon him right after the theseus phase shift and it will draw the entire wrath of the God he summons directly on top of skelly, giving you plenty of time to dish out most of Theseus's remaining health
I don't get it, he has a jaw.
Pikachu surprise face! 🤣
And he's not even called Paul...
Crazy stuff.
@1:07, I call hooey that it targets "your closest foe". Every damn time in the butterfly room, it picks the onion head all the way across the room, instead of the *actual* threat!!
Haha! 🤣
I’m close to 100 runs and I only just got Achilles to go see Patty.
Yeah! It takes a while for sure!
I'm already over 100 and don't even have both at full hearts
Here's my take:
-Take Skelly to learn the Middle Management fight changes in Tartarus/Asphodel and then never again, he's just too squishy after Asphodel.
It's sort of a shame that Bouldy is so hard to get considering how good it is for beginner/intermediate players but it's worth getting
Meg is extremely powerful but can whiff pretty hard, even using the knowledge that the line draws perpendicular to the direction Zag is facing
Thanatos is strong but too slow once you crank up Forced Overtime
Antos is really strong and can even multi-hit if enemies stack, it just isn't the most reliable in the Hades fight between not being able to hit the same target twice (unless enemies cluster on Dad phase 1) and the potential to just go afrer his cast stones
Good ideas!
I find that skelly summon can be helpful with zeus boons because he will pull enemies in close making sure they are taking the full brunt of every zeus boon you have and making sure that they are all in range of them. Another thing to point out is that he takes reduced damage from you (I don't know the exact percentage but I note that even booned up it takes longer to kill him than it does in prep room) he is most def not meta or anything but I thought it was worth mentioning
Cool strategy!
I love your Hades guides. They've helped me out a ton.
I'm so glad! Thanks for watching!
Agree on shady being s tier. Well i would put the mouse higher but may be because the way i use companions in a run. Plan a head when i want to do it ^^anyway great video mate
Fair enough! Cheers!
Rib can be quite useful when you're playing with Stygius and using the Daedalus Hammer that grants health on hit. That way you can deal damage and regain a sizeable chunk of life while they're all busy focusing on Skelly.
Cool strategy!
@@JawlessPaul Yeah, it can be pretty dope. But gathering all the conditions for the build to be effective is too much of a hassle, so in the end I would agree with your ranking.
Tips:
Skelly is a very important companion for glass Canon built... For examlle when you go artemis boon with low health built..
Interesting idea!
Hades: "Did a boulder just fall from the fricken SKY?"
Haha, "HELLOOOO!"
Just wanna pop in and say since i got into the game via the epic game store sale your videos new and old have been very informative and entertaining thanks!
That is great! Thanks for the encouragement,
Shout out to Shady for preventing me from using Death Defiance and triggering fun dialogue, especially when I go too ham during a Than room.
Haha, yes!
Personally I think Mort is really good. Part of this may be that I have almost only been putting heat into extreme measures. I think that the damage is insane and it is very easy to land against bosses if you use it at the right time. I mostly just forget about it in the fury sisters fight, for Lernie I use it in the final phase after the heads are killed, for Theseus I use it either when he he stops driving the Macedonian to taunt you (extreme measures, obviously) or in the beginning of Theseus's second phase. For Hades you can hit him when he is summoning the traps. I really wish that the Companion from Achilles was better against bosses because I Achilles and Patroclus are probably my favorite characters.
My first companion Skelly :) And I've used him a crap ton mainly in boss stages, against lennie easy phasy 2. Drop him down and jsut focus all the other heads, or against the champions when theseus drops below 50% have the god and him focus it, easiest kill you can get
He just dies too quickly when you start using forced overtime or hard labour. 250 health isn't really enough for a stationary target
It's a good strategy! He's good for learning boss fights
I found Skelly super helpful, mostly on last ditch efforts against Hades or other bosses. It was the first companion I found, for the longest time, so I used only it for a good amount of time.
MUCH more useful than Fidi in my opinion.
I have Antos, but haven't used it... That's awesome Achilles & Patroclus come out!
The biggest issue with him is that when you start doing higher heat runs with hard labour and/or forced overtime skelly dies in a matter of seconds
Right on! I love that everyone has a unique take!
@@p0oka261 Oh yeah, now that I'm 15 heat and above he's useless, and also useless even well before that & with close melee weapons (you end up slamming him too, lol).
It's almost exclusively Meg or very rarely Fidi these days. Mort is... Meh. I'm working on unlocking Bouldy's, but I just found out you CAN (and have to) talk to BOULDY as well as Sisyphus...I had no idea you could talk to Bouldy until the other day, over 200hrs into the damn game...
...should have given in and looked up a guide sooner, but just figured I hadn't been there enough times (granted, it's the one of 3 that I see the least). Yeah, not happy about that, lol.
Yeah unlocking bouldy is tough!
Skelly is decent earlier in the run if you're playing with a lot of backstab damage
I think Than's keepsake is pretty under appreciated despite the delay. It works really well with Middle Management enemies because it almost always hits both enemies (as long as you time it well).
I was waiting for this so long, thx friend!
You are very welcome!
Great Video! Love watching your stuff!
Thanks friend!
Someone did a heat 55 on 1.0 [which I think is the highest for 1.0 now] with Antos
That's cool! I want to see it!
Took me approximately 40 runs to unlock Shady. It was a great quest line... This game is so much fun!
Hot take, but I like to have Companions that cover weaknesses in the build I'm gonna be running. For example, I may not have very good sustained or group damage if running the Sniper Rail, so I take Rib to buy time or Fidi to clear numbers. Zeus Rail but not sure if I'll be able to deal with bosses? Mort, Meg and Antos. And for general "Im not sure what im doing im just having fun" I pick Shady.
Interesting!
I just made a comment about using Skelly's Rib with the rail/ gun, too. It's super useful to have the boss focus him & u can just unload into the boss from behind esp if u have boons that increase that dmg
Pretty sure skelly was my first keepsake, was useful for awhile because I had nothing else. Sometimes you gotta work with what you got instead of the perfect combination of endgame stuff. You gotta use something until you get there! I used than forever to insta phase the final phase of all bosses, really easy to hit bosses with it once you're used to it tbh. Especially helped with thesius final phase which can be harry until you get really good at it. If you take Artemis call and wait for a full charge, than and artemis do the last 2 phases!
I like Dusa for when Hades summons minions. It's a good lifeline for when armored chariots come out.
Good point!
jo about the skelly keepsake, i use it, when i'm going for my most fun build i call it the "hold Leftclick dont move and beat hades while going afk"
what you need for it is
"Verfluchter Schnitt" (google translator) -> damn cut (hold attack and deal 25 base dmg)
"Schlitzgestörber" (google translator)->
rascal (your attack heals 2 per hit starting off with -60% total health)
while using the zagreus sword variante maxed out with additional 15% attack speed plus dmg
wich transforms you into a busted draintank, espacially, when you died a couple times, playing on godmode with 100 % dmg reduction, its the most broken thing i found so far.
and skelly, can help you scale in situations, where that busted build is not jet on its peak, maybe when you didnt manage to pick up enough items before specific boss fights cause it allows you to get back to 100 % health, so just a safety net
I’m new to this game and it’s so fun and addicting thanks for the great informational videos
You are welcome!
If I had to rank the companions system I'd give it like a 1/10 for doing a terrible job of reminding me it exists and an even worse job of training me to use it
Lol! 🤣
The game actually does remind you to use them in more dangerous fights it will Flash and say that the charm is ready in the upper left-hand of the screen and I think it makes some kind of dog squeaky toy noise as well. It took me so long to unlock the summons that I kept forgetting to use them for the longest time before I finally started using them every run in important situations.
I agree with this. I really don't think I would've realized they existed if not for YT vids & seeing streamers with them. If u can beat the game over & over, max out the weapons, etc & never engage with a game system, the devs should do something to help us realize it's there. I'm glad there is tons of content but honestly I wish the dev time had gone into another area/ zone & a few more encounters rather than pets
There is often a notification in harder fights saying "press (whatever your companion button is) for support" and their appearance on the keepsake screen is pretty dramatic, finally showing you what was behind the barriers all that time, and the giver will tell you about them, so you're pretty encouraged to try them out. That's just my opinion tho
Skelly is really good to use during alot of trial of the God's rooms, having the aoe attacks focus on skelly is really good for making sure you can kill the enemy's fast and not take damage.
That's a good point!
Skelly's may not be great but because you can also damage it you can use it to get health regen from the boon that gives you health when you hit with an attack. just wanted to point that out. its the only keepsake i have rn and it kinda saved my ass when i learned this so i feel it deserves a mention here, lol
Love this series, im new to the game and this is very helpful! Ty!
I am so glad! Cheers!
Rib + the chain shot Daedalus upgrade is really good because you can use skelly as a target for chain shots in boss encounters for the damage buff
Interesting! I like it!
FYI, the segment on the tracking bar says Meg, but should be subdivided into "Mort" and "Shady" as well.
One tip I heard with Mort/Than is as soon as region 3/Elysium boss battle starts, summon him to get a clear hit! *OTOH, don't use it against the punishment pact that gives minions a blue heart/life bar!*
Definitely not! :)
Somewhat older guide I know, but still useful. One more thing about Fidi I found out in my second save file.
WARNING: Some minor story spoilers ahead for anyone who has not seen all or most of the story yet.
While Dusa is fired from her job, she will not appear if you take Fidi as your companion and then try to summon her. Zagreus will comment on it when she does not appear ("Is Dusa really gone?")
How could I use Mag companion against Hades ?
Now my Mag has full haerts, hades has 4 hearts.
What's the event ??
It'll take a few more runs and lots of talking with Hades. Have you found it yet?
so weird that I got companion Shady 1st, I didn't know it was hard to get lol. I actually got Megaera's 2nd last, but Thanatos was the last 1 I was missing for a long time. I just didn't have him show up very often in the house to continue his story/relationship which was annoying, I think the same thing was with Meg's as well. She just wasn't iin the lounge very often to talk to. Shady is def the one I usually use though, I just like the extra health and stuff spawning, I haven't gone past 10 heat yet since I'm pretty new to the game and only got it like 10 days ago or so, but when I do get to higher heats I'd probably take one of the higher dmg companions for bosses or whatever or for speed running if I ever do that
That's amazing! You must have seen Sisyphus a lot!
I didn't know what the requirements were exactly for the companions, but I just figured like everything else in this game you unlock them as you progress storylines with the different characters. So because Sisyphus, Eurydice & Patroclus are all gated behind getting their rooms within a dungeon run, I'd always pick their rooms if I could because I figured their stories would be the hardest to progress because of where they were located. I just always talked to Sisyphus and gifted him nectar whenever I could because I didn't know when I'd see him again, also got really unlucky with Thanatos and Meg I think, because they were rarely in the house
Shady was the second for me, barely getting edged out by Rib. I probably could have gotten Battie earlier, but I wanted to do Thans quest before hers, but then I did her storyline anyway because he was busy progressing the Hypnos storyline.
Companion Rib is pretty good against Theseus though. It’s easy to get, and it can be used against Hades right off the bat.
Also, while it’s down your opponent will turn their back to you, guaranteeing backstab damage for the duration. The big letdown to it is that you yourself can damage Skelly... Big enough drawback that it ain’t A tier. But I’d say it belongs in B tier instead of C.
Fair enough!
Especially with the rail/ gun, Skelly Rib companion is pretty good bc having the boss focus on him for long enough for u to unload & get backstab is a ton of dmg
Paul: No one uses Mort
Me: *sweats in only using Mort*
I wonder if Skelly can be good with Lucifer, kinda in the same way the Athena call is really good with it.
Man sometimes the amount of Dialogue plays against the game, i got a super sad cutscene with my mom then when i got back hades was talking about orpheus, it really sucked i wanted to hear what he would say. Thankfully nyx acknowledged it.
Yeah, it's amazing how often it really works. It's jarring when the dialogue doesn't seem to sync with itself
I focused getting shady and only shady first... I still got him last.
Besides that lobster one. Didn't know that existed.
It’s an ant ...
@@slav1453 bummer, now it's less cool.
P.S. it's difficult to see on my tiny phone screen.
Yeah that Sisyphus quest is crazy long
@@JawlessPaul u r the best
Thanks for the video! I love Battie! I'm super far in and curious what event causes you to be able to use companions in the final boss. Epilogue?
If you've reached the credits judt keep doing runs eventually hades will let you. You don't need the epilogue
Yeah! It's just a dialogue event
Nice! Okay, will keep plucking along. Am near epilogue I think, as I have all the prerequisites. So will just keep doing runs. :D
Yay I got the dialogue prompt after 4 more wins!
droping boldy on hadies is also funny af
It is! :)
I beat 32 heat with nemesis sword and achilles spear completely forgetting that I can use them as allways.
Well done!
I'm usually in the temple of Styx before I even remember I HAVE my companions so most of the time I finish runs only maybe having used them against hades or satyr tunnel bosses
I use Mort at the start of boss fights for easy damage, since the bosses don't move right at the start :)
Nice!
Oh, The video starts with my favorite track from Bastion. ❤️
Sweet! I love that soundtrack!
The moment theseus and asterius battle starts they are standing together in the middle of the stage, so I just hit them both with Mort and boom, half the battle done, in the beginning they pretty much stand still so its easy to do it, I also think Mort is pretty effective agains the last stage of lernie and most of the furies specifically tisifone.
That works!
i only ever use companions for mini bosses or bosses, and thats why antos is my pick. one hit to take down the armor, the other for health, or hit the double mini bosses on the right pact. Otherwise on biome bosses, i time such that there is only the the boss itself, and then its easy i.e. I only need to get all the bosses to 1/3 health and then its over with (don't need to deal with any final phase of any boss fight ever again).
Antos is pretty great! It's a solid bit of damage!
Bouldy keepsake falls off at high heat when you are taking full lasting consequences and stubborn defiance, making its healing useless. Other than that it’s really good, especially for newer players who will appreciate the darkness to buy mirror upgrades and healing to... not die
Indeed! Money, health and darkness is just what you need for your first couple hundred runs :)
I use Mort during the champions fight because when Theseus is summoning a god he is not protected by a shield and he is in that position just long enough for Thanatos to deal damage
Good call!
Rib is all I have rn so I’m just going wild with the decoy ability
It's fun!
Your content is super good man, you should do this for other games.
I want to! But what game? 🤔
Working on finishing the remaining 3 quest lines but I have battie, mort and rib atm. I just stick with battie for now but once I get shady I’ll use that probably every time
Shady really helps with beating the game. The extra health and coin is incredibly useful!
I wish my teachers were so generous with their grading 😢
LOL
Awesome content for an awesome game, keep it up!
Thanks!
Hi, loving your videos but I am bit new and game and I wanna learn all story of the game but unfortunately, there is no video about the complete story. İt would be really nice if you make one :)
(Greetings from Turkey)
I can help but are you gonna play the game or do I go full story w/ spoilers ?
@@slav1453 i am gonna play the whole game but i dont mind spoiler. İnfact sametimes they give me more courage to play
@@aybarslan alright so basically the story starts because Zagreus wants to escape the underworld to go to Olympus but as you play more you start to discover that nyx isn’t your mother and find out Persephone is so you escape to find her, after that you have to beat hades 10 times (each time you beat him) you go to Persephone garden and speak briefly with Persephone before you die after the 10 won runs Persephone comes back to the underworld and ( btw the olympians don’t know about zagreus true intentions to rescue her mother) so zagreus needs to continue “escaping” to not raise suspicion within the olympians also you can expand some story with a few characters
@@slav1453 thank you very much, I appreciated :)
Yeah! I haven't done a story vid but you got a nice little summary below!
Hey man! Great video! Do you think you could make something like this for the calls?
Sounds like a blast!
In my perspective morti is definitely not that bad on bosses, considering most of them have a phase in which they stand still (megeara and alecto preparing for phase 3, tisiphone you don't even need to aim in phase 3, hydra is usually still, theseus in third phase, hades' beam, etc). I get the overdamage thing, but in my experience meg keepsake will always leave the boss with 15% health or so, while than will just kill them (considering even that you are in a high heat run and you have Calisthenics Program, thanatos can get more value).I'm not saying it's better than meg, I just argue that is probably a B tier (it doesn't deserve to be in the same tier as skelly imo).
Also, in really high heat runs, in which you have maxed Lasting Consequences (or just high heat with guan yu), bouldy is probably a C tier. Just saying that because you pointed out that meg is S in speedruns, so maybe it's a good idea to point out that bouldy is at least not S tier on that situation.
Fair point! The money is still pretty good! But true, the healing isn't as good. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
@@JawlessPaul Yeah, money will always be good, so C tier is kind of an exaggeration.
But thank YOU for making the video, I love your content!
I love using antos against Theseus and Asterius, just to break the loudmouth king’s spirit 😈
Haha, nice!
I have a video idea how about a guide to all bosses Extreme Measures and variants
Sounds like a good idea! I have a long list of vids to make! 😂
I actually love mort and use him all the time lol. I time it to maximize use.
Yeah I think if you practice the timing it is amazing 😊
@@JawlessPauldefinitely! Thanatos ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️