What I love about Arthur is that how it was implemented represents how these styles of very large two handed swords were used in real life… as an area denial weapon.
I liked the way you described your thought process and your breakdown of each weapon and your demeanor overall, subbed and thanks for taking the time to make this list.
Honestly with Arthur I'm torn between C and B because I find the defensive perks of it really nice and in a niche case, its arguably the best aspect for a Boonless run.
@@CptnCardboard Exactly. You can go far with it even without having anything on your attack. It's route's are easy too; you can take Aphrodite's attack and her supporting boons or add to it some of Athena's support boons such as dash, call, and bronze skin. Or you can take any of Aphrodite's, Athena's, or Demeter's attack and just take whatever is offered to you randomly and you'll still have a safe run due to it's high base dps and defensive safe capabilities. I actually disagree with most of his rankings. Like Hestia and Lucifer are on the same tier? Really? Anyways, it's his opinion in the end...
Just bought the game on a steam sale yesterday and have been having a blast, this video came at literally the best time possible for me lol. Definitely enjoying the bow the most along with the shield so can't wait to try a few of these upgrades!
@@CapybaraLord75 Speed runs and higher heat keep the game interesting for a long time. There are still 4 achievements I haven’t got yet. I’m sorry to hear that. If you have a steam account, I’d be happy to gift you the game ☺️
Honestly, Guan Yu Spear's spin attack is underrated for it's damage, the healing gives the instinct that it's a sustain utility ability but really it just does really high damage and enables the attack to work with boons that desire multihits like Zeus or Dionysus.
The problem I had with Guan Yu was that when fighting bosses and unstaggerable enemies, the spin attack doesn't really get a change to deal significant damage. It starts to just pass over enemies without doing much. If you want multiple instances of fast damage, the aspect of Zeus aegis is probably a much safer option, and it generally seems to do better as well damage wise.
The problem is, to utilize the spin well, you kind of NEED quick spin. Requiring specific hammers to make certain builds even work makes them far less viable imho. I almost never use the spins unless I'm offered quick spin in Tartarus or I know I can use it safely to top off my health. The risk is just often not worth it without quick spin imho.
@@TheBlueArmageddon You think? I found it one of the very easiest weapons to get a win with, and I was using the spin attack constantly, without the speed hammer! I'll have to try it at high heat and come back, but my feeling from reading comments here is just that people aren't using the spin *enough*! (Same goes for Hades spear tbh... that thing with the hammer that increases spin AOE+damage, or spin speed, just feels busted when using spins as the main form of attack! I'm surprised someone would claim that people shouldn't be using spins... I wonder whether they're properly practiced in using *dash* to release a spin, rather than letting go of attack?)
I LOVE the Aspect of Zeus. To me, it works best with Dionysus boon. Just through it, let it build stacks, and you can run away from your enemy while the DoT finishes it off. I find it VERY safe. Run away and let your shield do the work. But honestly it's a great aspect for a lot of things. If you pair it with Artemis Support Fire you have a pretty good DPS, if you have Aphrodite you can proc your Weakness pretty often and it can be really strong with the boon that adds a chance to charm your enemies. Hades has a great synergy with it too for stacking Doom effects on the target... Imo, it's a very good and very safe aspect.
Ironically enough i just beat the game at lfairly high heat with the exact same artemis combination combine it with the hammer talent that replaces your bull rush with a projectile and any fight becomes a piece of cake
Just wrote a comment about that. I concur. And with personal playstyle. I feel all weapons can be potent. And the fine tuning for later unlocks become more potent when being mindful of your mirror loadout
@@Adam4ge ? Weapons like guan Yu and aspect of chaos are way worse as lower blood then something like aspect of Poseidon or Achilles. That’s all I be saying.
The ones that are good at low Titan's Blood investment (levels 1-2) IMO are: - Aspect of Arthur sword (only gain defensive benefits) - Aspect of Gilgamesh fists (main damage doesn't go up by much) - Aspect of Hera bow (certain casts don't care at all about the bloodstone drop time as they don't get stuck, and you can also use Stygian soul to make that a non-factor too) - Aspect of Lucifer railgun (you don't get too much damage increase per level) - Aspect of Poseidon sword (cast bonus is still pretty good at low levels, the special causing bloodstones to drop is really nice & doesn't change with levels) - Aspect of Achilles spear (a 30-60% increase in attack and cast damage is still a ton) Special mentions go to Aspect of Zagreus bow and fists, because it only costs a total of 5 Titan's Blood to max out this aspect on a weapon (rather than 15 or so).
I agree with your ranking, although I would clarify that lower tiers don't make them bad weapons, just harder to use weapons. Part of the fun of Hades (once you get good) is to make the game harder for yourself. And Having weapons that are harder to use because they dont have as many great abilities or the abilities are harder to match up with defiantly hits that goal.
Yeah, I just did my very first run with it (ignored it for the longest time because I thought I would be very slow with it). And even though it was 12 heat, I got the hang of it fairly fast and it was, dare I say it, kind of an easy run. Went with a Zeus/Dionysos build and even though there was some luck involved in getting their Duo as well as Dio's legendary, I was surprised at how much fun it was. Would definitely recommend.
@@nidebau Yeah. And the zeus shield aspect combined with hermes' greater haste (increased movement speed) + rush delivery makes it ridiculously strong. Try it (if you haven't already used that combo.) Deploying the zeus shield as a turret drone and making it chase you is so satisfying. It's great for melee or iso combat. And the block ability (of all the shields) gives it a bigger margin for error especially on high heat (40+).
It's really good for most situations! I would say that if you have forced overtime (increased speed) and EM4 on it has a hard time keeping up with the enemy movements.
Awesome vid. One caveat is that if you’re in low heat or before the pact a few of the lower tier aspects can do well. Arthur can facetank enemy attacks and can win easily. My highest win rate unless I do something stupid. Talos is good at no heat when you can pull enemies and one on one them. The hammer with long range helps too.
I think if someone is good at dash attacking sequences with excalibur it can be S. Especially if you get bonus backstab damage stacking effects. It's good with areas on the attack on zues on call. Take chaos boons and charon items and whatnot to boost backstab damage. You're now doing like 1700 dmg sequences if you get lucky on the 3rd attack's crit.
I just recently started playing Hades and have been enjoying your older videos but never sure what is out of date or not. Thanks for doing an updated list. :)
Not sure why I didn’t watch this earlier, but it was really fun to hear your more recent thoughts on all of the aspects - thanks for doing this! And unlike many other tier lists I’ve seen, yours made me feel better about liking the weapons that I do! You’re so right that we all find different things fun in Hades, and it’s fascinating how people can enjoy the same aspects for a variety of reasons. I personally don’t care about speed or heat or vast amounts of damage, just about how engaged I am while using a weapon; the more options I have or the more deliberately I can do things, the more fun - so to me Hades spear (spin, attack, special in different combinations depending on the room), Zeus shield (controlling the blitz disc), Hestia rail (reloading and aiming on kbm), Lucifer rail (placing the hellfire and blowing it up) are some great weapons. Others I hardly ever use, even though they’re very very strong and much more reliable. Pretty weird preferences, but it is what it is!
one thing i did with aspect of hera is the artemis and ares hunting blades duo boon - so you just los the blade rifts into the bow and they track on the enemy once they hit - that was my first winning build
I do agree that the slow charge up is a huge debuff especially in max forced overtime, but I really like Arthur insane damage, I usually time it so enemies spawn on the sword swings so they die quickly and I don't really mind the slow charge up it teaches you spatial awareness and when's the right time to strike instead of just rushing in blindly, it's a refreshing weapon for me since I usually do a quick run with Achilles spear or Zagreus fist plus the plume lol
27:55 Once, I got Eres Rail with Zeus attack, then I took Poseidon special and dash, got Sea Storm, sold Poseidon special, got Artemis special, and had the Cluster Rockets combo.
Just wanna say I beat Hades for the first time tonight after hearing you mention using Ares on the shield throw. The run was super scuffed to start but I pieced it together and won first time with the build. Now to beat the game not as a coward using some of these aspects lol
@@kobarsos82 It's actually nuts. I did it again on my first heat and did a no-deaths run for only my 2nd time beating it. I almost beat Hades last night with a spear build, so hopefully I'll beat it with melee soon to feel like I really earned it lol
I got lucky during my aspect of arthur first run. Also was the first time that I've ever tried that boon where you get bonus damage with your coins (ended with 1500 coins or so), and the damage output combined with chaos and zeus' boons were absolutely ridiculous.
I actually just started playing this a month ago, I’m a casual and don’t usually get into the analysis part of games but after clearing it a couple times I realized the breadth of how deep this game goes. You by nature seem to be more of a zoner and that goes against my hybrid- “rush down “sensibilities lol😂 but I did feel like the spear was the best of both worlds. I’m definitely going to look into everything over the next few months. Thank you for making this and sharing your opinion
Great list. I thought it was interesting you mentioned Crush Shot for Beowulf and Trippy Shot for Hera - I always go for the reverse. Eris Zeus is definitely the king. Anyone who’s reading this and wants a fun watch - go find the colab between JP and Haelian. Cracks me up every time.
I actually used the Achilles spear on my second successful escape, though funny enough, I used it as an attack-focused crit weapon with Artemis boons and Flurry/Triple Jab. Still not used to the cast playstyle, but I’ll try to make it work. Even without that in mind, Achilles aspect is fun to use, and I actually managed a faster time with it compared to my first successful escape with Malphon.
I would definitely switch Chaos and Nemesis, getting the damage numbers high enough with Nemesis to make the danger worth it is very boon-dependent. However, I would put Demeter in S for its ability to pump out massive numbers with a fair few builds, especially because it can effectively merge the two playstyles of status curse builds and percentage based damage increases. The attack is great at building up status and the special can get to huge numbers. Personally, I haven't had a problem taking a lot of damage using the fists because most of my enemies are dead at that point, but that's just me.
I have only beat hades on like a 24 heat run so I'm not as good as some other people but I think the Zeus shield should definitely be S Tier. Just based off so many people who completed the game on all heats use that weapon for it and if you get the Zeus Posdien Duo Boon with that shield boon everything knocks back especially if you have tidal dash and you can kill hades in like 30 seconds if you have enough lighting upgrades on Zeus
My last build was an Eris build with Zeus on attack and special. Had his legendary and the thing that makes lighting bounce more. Got posiden on dash and a lot of his tier 2's. Got the 2 hammers being missle special and CLUSTER BOMB. So 5 ROCKETS, WITH ZEUS THUNDER, HIS LEGENDARY AND SEA STORM AS WELL. and a ton of other zeus/posiden boons. Got a couple things from hermes. That was my best run, ever Edit: I did that with knowing nothing about the Railgun btw. This was all luck. I'm newish to the game and had no idea of the power of Eris and the Cluster Missile and Zeus on it
I think you've got a slight bias against the shields. Which is fine. They tend to be a slower but safe playstyle. Which makes them beasts in the early game that others then need to catch up to. On my 2nd time through the game, I got through the final boss much much earlier than the game intends you to be able to with Chaos aspect; it just makes things so easy and safe when you don't have your mirror filled out or keepsakes to help. And is one of the few builds where Dio looks great, cuz stacks happen easy.
Thank you for the video. And IMHO, truer words have never been spoken on the subject. To add to that, I feel like some of the low tier aspects (looking at Guan Yu in particular) could've been real joy with a bit of adjustment ... but alas. I mean the way Guan Yu slows you down in every way is probably punishment enough. But to limit _all_ health related items as well, it's just not that fun. It just feels like a missed opportunity. I'm sure there are brilliant mods out there tweaking these though. All in all, enlightening video.
Just got this on the holiday sale and all the guides on the channel have helped me alot. That and finding out there is automatic dmg reduction in God mode.
Finally beat Hades with Beowulf after a VERY LONG TIME! and the trick was Area Doom and Blade rift on cast. At hit it would create 3 huge blade rifts and doom! Plus some Artemis and Athena ! S TIER FOR SURE!
Firstly, I fully agree with the assertion that the bow is by far the strongest weapon in the game. My personal favorite (and very specific) build with it is Aspect of Chiron with the Daedalus hammers Relentless Volley (+4 shots to special) and Concentrated Volley (special deals +3 base damage for each consecutive hit to a foe), and Artemis's support fire and pressure points boons. Add on a powerful special boon and it can do a lot of damage very quickly. Of course, this requires two specific hammers, but even with only one of them it's still decent damage. My one problem with aspect of Eris on the rail is that it doesn't synergize with one of the other most broken hammers. Hazard bomb should never be underestimated. The damage buff to the already powerful special is massive, and it increases the radius of the explosion. Throw on a special buffing boon with a high percent damage increase like Poseidon or even better Aphrodite for some reason and it can wipe a massive amount of enemies out of existence in a single strike. It also does considerable damage to bosses and has a wide enough area of effect that it isn't hard to land a hit even considering how much some of them move around. The main downside is that if you get caught in the blast, you take some damage, which result in it not being great with Eris.
Honestly i mostly use the bow to clear out a lot of weaker enemies like the walking urns or flying skulls Also explosive throw is a really good hammer upgrade for the spear, using that (or the rocket launcher on adamant rail) i got hades down to like 5% health (and still died)
Wild, I used Beowulf like twice, didn’t like it all, and never picked it up again. It felt like Hera with extra steps to me, but maybe I need to give it another try
I agree with you in every aspect. However, based in my personal experience I'd put Zagreus Spear in S tier because of its versatility and the bonuses damage and range works for me. With Vicious Skewer (so i get rid of spin attack) and flurry jab/triple jab I feel like I can obliterate anything in screen with special, retrieve, dash attack plus holding attack button
very nice video! one thing got me puzzled, regarding the spear aspect of Guan Yu, why the spinning attack was not mentioned? It creates a projective similar to zeus shield special, but which also heals on hit. So I thought it is the strongest move of this particular aspect and probably the reason this spear got such harsh penalties. I am a noob in hades though, this is why it made me so interested how the spinny spear can do at higher heat levels
I think chaos shield should be higher. I recently got a build where I had ares on special and Athena on attack with merciful end. So bull rush, into doom special, into bull rush merciful end proc and enemies would just melt. Add that to Impending doom and dire misfortune and you have an insane build that melts most things in the game.
Hestia has always been easy mode for me. Especially if I manage to get Explosive Fire, Ricochet Fire or even Piercing Fire on it early... rooms and bosses are cleared in seconds. Something about the "Chk-chk boom" that is so satisfying 🤓 I'll have to spend more time with the fully upgraded bow aspects and also that Achilles spear. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, the bows are busted. I've spent most of my time playing with them or the fists, or the aspect of chaos. Been really sleeping on the aspect of achilles, I'll have to try that!
I guess it is also quite tactical You reel enemies in and deal damage and they go flying before they can deal damage But I just saw the goofy Ness potential
Arthur is the only weapon I was able to just out slug hades with (just tank all the damage he dealt). Granted at low heat. Also required specific boons and hammers. Still though that was probably my favorite run.
Lucifer in A tier is the one that hurts For me it's at best a C tier. Like you said, it should be in it's own league, definitely not a rail. Glad to see Achilles's Spear in S tier. It is insanely easy to get a broken build on it and it's so much fun. People don't give it enough credit.
Been enjoying your Hades videos! I recently started playing and I am 100 hours into the game.Still on low heat so perhaps my opinions aren't really valid once you get higher. I haven't tried all the aspects yet. I would put Zag sword on B tier. I think the attack speed makes a difference when staggering enemies. Definitely better than Guan Yu. Would probably bump up Arthur, just owned everything on my run with it. I also like the Zag rail, would put it a tier higher. I think I would also put Talos up one. Really good at taking out enemies one by one, and gives the gloves the range they lack. With exception of Guan Yu, I really like the spears due to their speed and reach. I think I like them more than you do. Anyway, thanks for another interesting video!
It's crazy how I got out of hell twice with the zagreus sword and can't seem to do it with any other weapon lol Guess I gotta pracrice the other weapons moves
Sword - Zagreus aspect is actually my favorite aspect for this weapon. I find the extra movement and attack speed to be really nice especially when combined with Hermes. I agree with Arthur's aspect. I like the benefits it gives but it's just too slow for my liking. Spear - You didn't even mention the sweeping attack of the last spear. The fact that it moves away from you and heals you when it does damage is amazing. Yes the downsides suck but that sweeping attack makes up for it in my opinion. In 100 runs I haven't touched Achilles spear but I'm have to give it a try next time I use it. Shield - I agree with you on the shields. Beowulf's aspect being a cast Shield makes it every better and being able to loud all your blood into it before bullrushing is a lot of fun. Feels like you are slapping a claymore to the front and running at your enemies lol. Bow - Yeah all the Bows are amazing. I don't know which one is my favorite because they are all so much fun to use. Definitely the right choice in putting them all at S tier lol. Claws - I find myself being much more aggressive with the claws than the other weapons. I also usually end up going with a Special build so those two weapons are my favorites of the group. Rail - I would have put Hestia at C tier personally. The extra damage from reload just isn't that good or interesting in my opinion. It's not bad but it slows everything down so much. I'm trying to get used to Lucifer because it seems cool but it's such a change that it's taking some work lol.
Hestia Rail is one of the easiest weapons to crank up the heat. One of the best weapons for high-heat no-hit runs, even. I find it almost as good as Eris Rail. The major problem of Hestia Rail is not power, but boredom.
as a Varatha main, I'll tell you right now, Spear Spin + Dash, absolutely wrecks. Just make sure you get some distance in BEFORE you charge it, and you'll be fine.
How to easy dash upper? Dash attack is easy but I don't use the upper variant since I feel I need to do some claw grib hold on my controller... very uncomfortable. There need to be another way. Just getting into this gem of a game so thank you for this list. Still pushing for my first escape. Escape 33 got me almost there until I discovered there is a second fase/wind in the Hades fight 😅 That totally destroyed me. Just learned from this video how I can use my titan blood as well haha. Didn't knew what it was for. Same goes for the big nectar bottle, don't know the use for that either.
Some runs where I use dash upper I actually remap the buttons. It's pretty easy to do. It seems annoying but you are right, it's pretty tough to do it consistently. I'm glad the video was helpful!
Mate i just love the bow of hera Poseidon flurry shot attack + Artemis cast is just crazy Or you can just be crazy yourself and get flury twin shots Poseidon + Artemis cast with hermes legendary boon that allow you to get back casts immediately.........now imagine mirage shot in this madness Which even without it i literally cornered hades in second phase with this build 🤣, it was the best run ever for me
My first escape with the sword was with nemesis I had pressure points and the hammer that heals 2 when you attack and the 150 dash strike hammer I had the demeter laser cast with boons to make them fire longer It was insane I probably wouldn't have died even once if i was a little better and my weapons were upgraded I was dealing like 900 damage on some hits because I had Posiedons wall slam boons with basically no titans blood upgrades 😂
Arthur Sword is goated though it’s got to be A tier at least. On low heat it doesn’t have much point as most weapons are faster and can kill enemies quickly but on high heat the aura bubble is extremely useful since you can disable traps(like magma in asphodel) along with slowing down projectiles which often times are spammed when facing encounters with jury summons. Also if you build the sword around crits you can easily deal around 1,500 damage on the final hit of combo. Along with its range being much better then normal swords since it’s really difficult to defeat extreme measures 4 hades when you have to stand directly next to him. Plus the swing radius of the sword is insane you can easily hit 2-4 enemies in one swing. A TIER MINIMUM!
I'm personally not a fan of aspect of Zeus shield, but that's probably because the first time that I used it, I only had it at lvl 1, and I still hadn't figured out build synergy. I had Demeter's cast (which honestly isn't very good) and right before Meg, I visited Chaos. He had a really strong boon (I forget which one), but the curse was that you take damage every time you use a standard attack. Trying to fight Meg with no standard attack, the worst cast for that fight, and the aspect of Zeus shield which I really wasn't used to was rough. I took a lot of damage, and it crippled me too much to get much further in that attempt. Maybe now that I understand the game better and have it leveled up all the way, I should give it another chance, but I'm way more comfortable with the aspects of Chaos and Zagreus so I'll probably just stick with one of those two. Beowulf is also quite strong, but I hate how slow it is.
Man I dunno I just adore Arthur. It is slow as a turtoise, but the meaty swings, the synergise with Aprhodite's weak and huge persenrage boosts, I feel like I can consistently steamroll early game and just bathe in HP for the lategame. Nemesis supposedly has similar meaty swings with the crits but I feel like I am constantly on death's door with how it wants to play
Agree with all this except.... Your guan Yu position sea storm build was one of your best builds ever (A TIER). And you can recover health by throwing the spinning charge shot.
I would agree on everything except Aspect of Hades. That aspect only needs a single hammer to overcomer its biggest downside, and then it becomes incredibly powerful with dash builds.
Surprised Zag Sword is so low, it's what I've gotten most of my successful high heat sword runs on. It makes Hermes speed boost boons feel so much more impactful and since he's the one Olympian you're guaranteed to run into, it's not hard to find those core boons. It does seem pretty boring compared to the other swords though
I've been toying with Zag sword a lot lately. I like Drunken strike, Passion Dash, Deadly Flourish, and Curse of Vengeance. Then try to get as many duos as possible, they all play off each other really well
Aspect of Zag deserved a better place in this tier list for sure. with Herme's keepsake and his high tier boons you can quite feel the swiftness on your move/attack speed.
The weapon is sub-par compared to the other weapons to start with, and then all you get is 15% bonus attack speed and move speed. Just doesn't give a whole lot. You should probably use the dash attack anyway, which isn't affected by attack speed.
@@JawlessPaul That's fair, it's definitely one of the most underwhelming of the weapon aspects. The movement speed boost is really nice with stuff like Hyper Sprint, but compared to innate crit damage, extra cast damage and the ability to disable traps... It just feels kind of meh in comparison
I feel like this tier list really needs an S+ tier, or for most things to be one tier down. The highest tier should be reserved for weapons that break the power band. For example, all the bows are great, but Rama straight up beats both Chiron and Zagreus at their own game. Zagreus has good attack and Chiron has top tier special, but Rama has the best of both worlds and can make use of literally any set of boons in the game.
I think agree with the list pretty much all of it maybe just Arthur might fit In b but debatable. I used to really hate the bow when I first started playing and gravitated towards the shield because it seemed like the best way to stay safe. But as you said once you get the bow power shot down it's like playing a different game. Cheers great video! @JawlessPaul
9:30 Bit of a noobie, but my second clear was with this weapon! I got an insane build (fast charge hammer, big AoE hammer, attack speed from Hermes, Athena boon on attack) and by the time I made it to Styx I could just spam the charge attack whenever I had a spare second and it would hit the whole room with a big ol' boop. Tons of fun, and was great VS last boss as well for cleaing out grabby pottery. (My build was pretty borked at that point so I think any weapon would have worked, but still!)
I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. If you mean typing out everything that I say in the video, that would be like writing a blog about a video that I had made. I'd rather just have people watch the video! 😅
The Zag Bow is easily the best weapon in the game. Combine it with Flurry Shot and you just broke the game. I thought you were a tad hard on the Zag Shield. There's an argument to be made that it should be the starting weapon - for it really teaches you how to Dash Strike. Excellent list. Now rank the common enemies lol.
i guess im more surprised that you had achilles spear in the bottom half of s tier instead of the top half. you seem to like it a lot , i guess just shows you how many great weapons there are
the hades aspect in B baffled me, I use it all the time and find it very easy to manage - you just have to learn how to master it, but to each their own i guess
I definitely can see how some people like it, I just generally do worse with the spins and I find the spin to be a bit of a noob trap. However, it's a high skill ceiling ability that can be used to great effect in the hands of a good player, which you must be! :)
Up front I'm halfway through your vid. Enjoying it. However I do feel this breakdown is good for where you are in terms of progression. Some weapons are better over others earlier on. Cast trigger weapons early game are crap vs anything else. (Once cast bonus on mirror is maxed its much better then) Shield early on was so strong for me. Late game it's not as efficient as other builds.(some variants much easier to pull off even late game- goes for anything to be fair. Ones Playstyle is also a big factor.) Range weapons on controller for me was so much harder to get use to. It's awkward. Would like to hear your thoughts on weapons based on zag mirror progression My 2 cents :) love this game. Hope Hades 2 is just as good. Perhaps co op.. ?
Reflecting now. It's a pretty hard breakdown to do. And that's a good thing. Game is pretty well balanced. Many builds. Some skills I find are staples for many builds. Like Athenas dash for eg
How high up are the cast stones though? They are pretty low. I feel like people can unlock them pretty early, like... Within the first 2 to 3 hours of play? I think most people ignore cast for too long, which is why I kind of overemphasize them. Cheers!
@@JawlessPaul Agreed. Even I left it for long. I think I had a few builds in mind for context that I didn't reference lol. Loading up max casts on bow with dionysus cast. Super fun
Arthur missing B tier is sadness. Is it slow? Yes, but IMHO the defensive abilities make up for it enough to give it a variety of builds with that in mind. Crits are spicy, backstabs are great, you can go all in on AOE fields, and it is a solid go to for players trying learn specific fights (like pushing for EM 3 for the first time as an example) given the extra tankiness and that it forces you to go slower than you might be inclined. It’s not the best sword aspect by a long shot, but compared to Zag spear and Zag Rail I think it is no contest.
They are all great. I think Bow has a lot of amazing options and once you figure out the rythm of it, it's one of the strongest weapon, perhaps just behind the rail.
It's always funny to me how different folks can play and experience the game. You have Arthur as the 6th worst weapon in the game, better only than 4 Zag aspects and Guan Yu. Yet it's the weapon I used to clear 32 heat and in my opinion, in my hands, and in my experience, it's the best weapon aspect in the game. It effectively provides more than double the normal number of hit points if you're fighting within the aura (since it also gives +50 health), as well as automatically getting a duo boon (slower enemy projectiles) and trap immunity on top of it, while having the highest base damage of any weapon in the game. And sure, it's slow, but you can dash during the attacks and abuse i-frames and ruthless reflex to be even More tanky while you chunk down enemies. Crazy to me how low some folks rate it, especially compared to Nemesis which imho is ok but not great. To each their own though!
Oh, I know MANY people who love Arthur. I think the slow pace of the weapon just doesn't fit my playstyle. I try to adjust when I use it but it's tough! 😅
I just have been playing non stop for the past two week And now doing 20ish heat. think it’s a mistake to always go for the most op weapon. I did that in souls games and realized it took the struggle out of the game. Idk past the Zag upgrades honestly I a lot of stuff is too much, especially that bow seeker and the reload gun. Playing that way all the time would make me feel too safe on a run. I thankfully learned to stop using double dash and death defiance all the time too. In some ways the alternatives are better in ways though so may go back to the others hehe
That being said that’s really the only big upset I see. Maybe chaos should be A tier, but that’s about it. Zeus and chaos shield both kind of do similar things IMHO because they play well with one-hit-wonder boons like Zeus bolts or Ares doom, but chaos is more about shotgunning a variety of enemies whereas Zeus just makes an area of Do Not Touch
Well if your asking for BIG DAMAGE like REALLY BIG DAMAGE go for Arthur and yes its slow but your basically a tank that has high health,high damage resistance and high damage its good if you time it right but for me its S tier plus you can get boons that can increase attack speed,health and damage,and its easy to get and basically the bow suck beacause low damage in a game where you fight hordes of enemy in close range bow is just weak
Haha I love your enthusiasm. You should check out some of my bow runs, some of the most busted builds I've ever had. Arthur just puts me in danger too much. Same problem as the other swords but slower
What I love about Arthur is that how it was implemented represents how these styles of very large two handed swords were used in real life… as an area denial weapon.
Interesting! I hadn't thought of that
And the best part is that it was just as bad IRL as it is in-game.
I liked the way you described your thought process and your breakdown of each weapon and your demeanor overall, subbed and thanks for taking the time to make this list.
Cheers! Thank you for the kind words!
Honestly with Arthur I'm torn between C and B because I find the defensive perks of it really nice and in a niche case, its arguably the best aspect for a Boonless run.
Arthur is A tier. It can do such huge chunks and damage and provides so much defensive utility that it's fantastic for having safe runs
@@CptnCardboard Exactly. You can go far with it even without having anything on your attack. It's route's are easy too; you can take Aphrodite's attack and her supporting boons or add to it some of Athena's support boons such as dash, call, and bronze skin. Or you can take any of Aphrodite's, Athena's, or Demeter's attack and just take whatever is offered to you randomly and you'll still have a safe run due to it's high base dps and defensive safe capabilities.
I actually disagree with most of his rankings. Like Hestia and Lucifer are on the same tier? Really? Anyways, it's his opinion in the end...
@@CptnCardboard except those big chunks are actually painfully low dps
It is my favorite
You can like it and I admit it’s fun but it’s 100000% a noob trap and a mid/low tier aspect
Just bought the game on a steam sale yesterday and have been having a blast, this video came at literally the best time possible for me lol. Definitely enjoying the bow the most along with the shield so can't wait to try a few of these upgrades!
500 hours later and it’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed a game! Enjoy the story and crazy different builds.
Good luck! we'll see you at the top!
I recommend hera's bow with aphrodite's cast. It shreds enemies
@@davidthompson9504 wow 500 hours! Do you have content left? I would apreciate a game like that now, my father is having a bad time with money
@@CapybaraLord75
Speed runs and higher heat keep the game interesting for a long time. There are still 4 achievements I haven’t got yet. I’m sorry to hear that. If you have a steam account, I’d be happy to gift you the game ☺️
Honestly, Guan Yu Spear's spin attack is underrated for it's damage, the healing gives the instinct that it's a sustain utility ability but really it just does really high damage and enables the attack to work with boons that desire multihits like Zeus or Dionysus.
It's strong but a bit risky is all
The problem I had with Guan Yu was that when fighting bosses and unstaggerable enemies, the spin attack doesn't really get a change to deal significant damage. It starts to just pass over enemies without doing much.
If you want multiple instances of fast damage, the aspect of Zeus aegis is probably a much safer option, and it generally seems to do better as well damage wise.
The problem is, to utilize the spin well, you kind of NEED quick spin. Requiring specific hammers to make certain builds even work makes them far less viable imho. I almost never use the spins unless I'm offered quick spin in Tartarus or I know I can use it safely to top off my health. The risk is just often not worth it without quick spin imho.
The health penalty is just WAY too severe
@@TheBlueArmageddon You think? I found it one of the very easiest weapons to get a win with, and I was using the spin attack constantly, without the speed hammer!
I'll have to try it at high heat and come back, but my feeling from reading comments here is just that people aren't using the spin *enough*!
(Same goes for Hades spear tbh... that thing with the hammer that increases spin AOE+damage, or spin speed, just feels busted when using spins as the main form of attack! I'm surprised someone would claim that people shouldn't be using spins... I wonder whether they're properly practiced in using *dash* to release a spin, rather than letting go of attack?)
I LOVE the Aspect of Zeus. To me, it works best with Dionysus boon. Just through it, let it build stacks, and you can run away from your enemy while the DoT finishes it off. I find it VERY safe. Run away and let your shield do the work. But honestly it's a great aspect for a lot of things. If you pair it with Artemis Support Fire you have a pretty good DPS, if you have Aphrodite you can proc your Weakness pretty often and it can be really strong with the boon that adds a chance to charm your enemies. Hades has a great synergy with it too for stacking Doom effects on the target... Imo, it's a very good and very safe aspect.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Obviously this is a game that has a lot of possibility and a lot of people have different playstyles from me.
Ironically enough i just beat the game at lfairly high heat with the exact same artemis combination
combine it with the hammer talent that replaces your bull rush with a projectile and any fight becomes a piece of cake
I paired it with hunting blades and extra casts and it was really funny just throwing them all out and then blocking and watching it clear the screen
Yess im gonna need that been getting back to Hades . The hades 2 hype is real.
Been seven months and I’m still hyped
You should make a low blood tier list as well. It takes a long time to max out the Titan blood and some weapons would be better or worse at that stage
Just wrote a comment about that.
I concur. And with personal playstyle. I feel all weapons can be potent. And the fine tuning for later unlocks become more potent when being mindful of your mirror loadout
@@Adam4ge ? Weapons like guan Yu and aspect of chaos are way worse as lower blood then something like aspect of Poseidon or Achilles. That’s all I be saying.
The ones that are good at low Titan's Blood investment (levels 1-2) IMO are:
- Aspect of Arthur sword (only gain defensive benefits)
- Aspect of Gilgamesh fists (main damage doesn't go up by much)
- Aspect of Hera bow (certain casts don't care at all about the bloodstone drop time as they don't get stuck, and you can also use Stygian soul to make that a non-factor too)
- Aspect of Lucifer railgun (you don't get too much damage increase per level)
- Aspect of Poseidon sword (cast bonus is still pretty good at low levels, the special causing bloodstones to drop is really nice & doesn't change with levels)
- Aspect of Achilles spear (a 30-60% increase in attack and cast damage is still a ton)
Special mentions go to Aspect of Zagreus bow and fists, because it only costs a total of 5 Titan's Blood to max out this aspect on a weapon (rather than 15 or so).
Not exactly what you are saying but this video sor of addresses what you are asking for: ua-cam.com/video/2l-wfH1aRWQ/v-deo.html
@@JawlessPaul just read this. Preciate it man!!
I agree with your ranking, although I would clarify that lower tiers don't make them bad weapons, just harder to use weapons. Part of the fun of Hades (once you get good) is to make the game harder for yourself. And Having weapons that are harder to use because they dont have as many great abilities or the abilities are harder to match up with defiantly hits that goal.
Definitely! I agree that they are harder to use, though there are some that just have busted damage numbers.
Your opinions on the weapons is exactly what I wanted to hear actually. Just now getting back into hades!
Thanks brotha
I'm surprised zeus aspect of chaos shield wasn't S tier. It's extremely versatile.
Yeah, I just did my very first run with it (ignored it for the longest time because I thought I would be very slow with it). And even though it was 12 heat, I got the hang of it fairly fast and it was, dare I say it, kind of an easy run. Went with a Zeus/Dionysos build and even though there was some luck involved in getting their Duo as well as Dio's legendary, I was surprised at how much fun it was. Would definitely recommend.
@@nidebau Yeah. And the zeus shield aspect combined with hermes' greater haste (increased movement speed) + rush delivery makes it ridiculously strong. Try it (if you haven't already used that combo.) Deploying the zeus shield as a turret drone and making it chase you is so satisfying. It's great for melee or iso combat. And the block ability (of all the shields) gives it a bigger margin for error especially on high heat (40+).
It's really good for most situations! I would say that if you have forced overtime (increased speed) and EM4 on it has a hard time keeping up with the enemy movements.
Zeus shield with hangover damage is so fun
@@TheLazarusOperation yeah, poison damages works really well since it's so easy to apply multiple stacks using the special.
Awesome vid. One caveat is that if you’re in low heat or before the pact a few of the lower tier aspects can do well.
Arthur can facetank enemy attacks and can win easily. My highest win rate unless I do something stupid.
Talos is good at no heat when you can pull enemies and one on one them. The hammer with long range helps too.
i agree with you on pretty much everything dude, and as usual .. your videos are a treat for me .. thank you for your consistent and awesome effort
Thanks Mostafa! I appreciate you, my friend!
I think if someone is good at dash attacking sequences with excalibur it can be S. Especially if you get bonus backstab damage stacking effects. It's good with areas on the attack on zues on call. Take chaos boons and charon items and whatnot to boost backstab damage. You're now doing like 1700 dmg sequences if you get lucky on the 3rd attack's crit.
Yes! I think there is a high skill ceiling for Arthur. I need to get gud with it! 😊
I just recently started playing Hades and have been enjoying your older videos but never sure what is out of date or not. Thanks for doing an updated list. :)
Not sure why I didn’t watch this earlier, but it was really fun to hear your more recent thoughts on all of the aspects - thanks for doing this! And unlike many other tier lists I’ve seen, yours made me feel better about liking the weapons that I do! You’re so right that we all find different things fun in Hades, and it’s fascinating how people can enjoy the same aspects for a variety of reasons. I personally don’t care about speed or heat or vast amounts of damage, just about how engaged I am while using a weapon; the more options I have or the more deliberately I can do things, the more fun - so to me Hades spear (spin, attack, special in different combinations depending on the room), Zeus shield (controlling the blitz disc), Hestia rail (reloading and aiming on kbm), Lucifer rail (placing the hellfire and blowing it up) are some great weapons. Others I hardly ever use, even though they’re very very strong and much more reliable. Pretty weird preferences, but it is what it is!
I like it! Variety is what makes this game great!
great list! as an artemis lover, putting her special on Aspect of Zeus Sheild’s special is soooo good! you just tearrrr thru enemies
Thanks! Yes, I think putting Artemis crit on anything can be super fun! :)
one thing i did with aspect of hera is the artemis and ares hunting blades duo boon - so you just los the blade rifts into the bow and they track on the enemy once they hit - that was my first winning build
Good balanced rating list! And you're making me reconsider some of the bow aspects
I do agree that the slow charge up is a huge debuff especially in max forced overtime, but I really like Arthur insane damage, I usually time it so enemies spawn on the sword swings so they die quickly and I don't really mind the slow charge up it teaches you spatial awareness and when's the right time to strike instead of just rushing in blindly, it's a refreshing weapon for me since I usually do a quick run with Achilles spear or Zagreus fist plus the plume lol
Nothing you said contradicts the video. It’s a fun aspect that isn’t quite A-tier
27:55 Once, I got Eres Rail with Zeus attack, then I took Poseidon special and dash, got Sea Storm, sold Poseidon special, got Artemis special, and had the Cluster Rockets combo.
That's an incredible combination. Truly busted :)
Just wanna say I beat Hades for the first time tonight after hearing you mention using Ares on the shield throw. The run was super scuffed to start but I pieced it together and won first time with the build. Now to beat the game not as a coward using some of these aspects lol
ah yeah its one of the easiest ways to get the first wins in the game. I remember recommending the same to a friend.
@@kobarsos82 It's actually nuts. I did it again on my first heat and did a no-deaths run for only my 2nd time beating it. I almost beat Hades last night with a spear build, so hopefully I'll beat it with melee soon to feel like I really earned it lol
Nice work! 😎
@@JawlessPaul thank you! 😁
I got lucky during my aspect of arthur first run. Also was the first time that I've ever tried that boon where you get bonus damage with your coins (ended with 1500 coins or so), and the damage output combined with chaos and zeus' boons were absolutely ridiculous.
I actually just started playing this a month ago, I’m a casual and don’t usually get into the analysis part of games but after clearing it a couple times I realized the breadth of how deep this game goes. You by nature seem to be more of a zoner and that goes against my hybrid- “rush down “sensibilities lol😂 but I did feel like the spear was the best of both worlds. I’m definitely going to look into everything over the next few months. Thank you for making this and sharing your opinion
Absolutely! Thanks for the kind words. I know I could speak a little faster for sure 😂
Great list. I thought it was interesting you mentioned Crush Shot for Beowulf and Trippy Shot for Hera - I always go for the reverse.
Eris Zeus is definitely the king. Anyone who’s reading this and wants a fun watch - go find the colab between JP and Haelian. Cracks me up every time.
Yes! I love crush shot on Hera as well!
I actually used the Achilles spear on my second successful escape, though funny enough, I used it as an attack-focused crit weapon with Artemis boons and Flurry/Triple Jab. Still not used to the cast playstyle, but I’ll try to make it work. Even without that in mind, Achilles aspect is fun to use, and I actually managed a faster time with it compared to my first successful escape with Malphon.
Right on! yes, the attack is indeed buffed as well! I just really like the boost for cast :)
This is great timing. Just got back into Hades last night with my wife. Put a ridiculous amount of hours on PC and doing a fresh save on Xbox.
Nice! Hope you two enjoy the game together!
I would definitely switch Chaos and Nemesis, getting the damage numbers high enough with Nemesis to make the danger worth it is very boon-dependent. However, I would put Demeter in S for its ability to pump out massive numbers with a fair few builds, especially because it can effectively merge the two playstyles of status curse builds and percentage based damage increases. The attack is great at building up status and the special can get to huge numbers. Personally, I haven't had a problem taking a lot of damage using the fists because most of my enemies are dead at that point, but that's just me.
Fair points!
Athena dash makes fists the best weapon in the game imo. No other weapon benefits more from it
I have only beat hades on like a 24 heat run so I'm not as good as some other people but I think the Zeus shield should definitely be S Tier. Just based off so many people who completed the game on all heats use that weapon for it and if you get the Zeus Posdien Duo Boon with that shield boon everything knocks back especially if you have tidal dash and you can kill hades in like 30 seconds if you have enough lighting upgrades on Zeus
I definitely think Zeus shield is solid!
My last build was an Eris build with Zeus on attack and special. Had his legendary and the thing that makes lighting bounce more. Got posiden on dash and a lot of his tier 2's. Got the 2 hammers being missle special and CLUSTER BOMB. So 5 ROCKETS, WITH ZEUS THUNDER, HIS LEGENDARY AND SEA STORM AS WELL. and a ton of other zeus/posiden boons. Got a couple things from hermes.
That was my best run, ever
Edit: I did that with knowing nothing about the Railgun btw. This was all luck. I'm newish to the game and had no idea of the power of Eris and the Cluster Missile and Zeus on it
That is such an incredible combination!
random thought, but loving the cult of lamb music in the background. Great video!
Thanks! I was obsessed with that soundtrack for a long time!
I think you've got a slight bias against the shields. Which is fine. They tend to be a slower but safe playstyle. Which makes them beasts in the early game that others then need to catch up to. On my 2nd time through the game, I got through the final boss much much earlier than the game intends you to be able to with Chaos aspect; it just makes things so easy and safe when you don't have your mirror filled out or keepsakes to help. And is one of the few builds where Dio looks great, cuz stacks happen easy.
Fair point! I think I'm thinking about damage and dominance rather than consistency at low heat
Thank you for the video. And IMHO, truer words have never been spoken on the subject.
To add to that, I feel like some of the low tier aspects (looking at Guan Yu in particular) could've been real joy with a bit of adjustment ... but alas.
I mean the way Guan Yu slows you down in every way is probably punishment enough. But to limit _all_ health related items as well, it's just not that fun. It just feels like a missed opportunity. I'm sure there are brilliant mods out there tweaking these though.
All in all, enlightening video.
Just got this on the holiday sale and all the guides on the channel have helped me alot. That and finding out there is automatic dmg reduction in God mode.
All the bows in S tier. You love to see it!
Haha yes! I can't put them anywhere else! 🤣
Finally beat Hades with Beowulf after a VERY LONG TIME! and the trick was Area Doom and Blade rift on cast. At hit it would create 3 huge blade rifts and doom! Plus some Artemis and Athena ! S TIER FOR SURE!
happy new year king
i've been playing for over two years and didnt realize about the extra Beowulf dashes, gotta try that
Yeah! You are in for a treat! Cheers! 😎
I think nemesis deserves to be higher up on the list, it can crank out some crazy damage.
I agree! However I die more often with Nemesis too 😂
Firstly, I fully agree with the assertion that the bow is by far the strongest weapon in the game. My personal favorite (and very specific) build with it is Aspect of Chiron with the Daedalus hammers Relentless Volley (+4 shots to special) and Concentrated Volley (special deals +3 base damage for each consecutive hit to a foe), and Artemis's support fire and pressure points boons. Add on a powerful special boon and it can do a lot of damage very quickly. Of course, this requires two specific hammers, but even with only one of them it's still decent damage. My one problem with aspect of Eris on the rail is that it doesn't synergize with one of the other most broken hammers. Hazard bomb should never be underestimated. The damage buff to the already powerful special is massive, and it increases the radius of the explosion. Throw on a special buffing boon with a high percent damage increase like Poseidon or even better Aphrodite for some reason and it can wipe a massive amount of enemies out of existence in a single strike. It also does considerable damage to bosses and has a wide enough area of effect that it isn't hard to land a hit even considering how much some of them move around. The main downside is that if you get caught in the blast, you take some damage, which result in it not being great with Eris.
Agree! Thanks for sharing some of your favorite builds :)
Honestly i mostly use the bow to clear out a lot of weaker enemies like the walking urns or flying skulls
Also explosive throw is a really good hammer upgrade for the spear, using that (or the rocket launcher on adamant rail) i got hades down to like 5% health (and still died)
Even after roughly a hundred hours of gameplay I haven't realized u can use aspect of achilles as a cast weapon lol
It's one of the most common way to go. Usually paired with hunting blades. That said i suck at Achilles spear even with hunting blades.
Wild, I used Beowulf like twice, didn’t like it all, and never picked it up again. It felt like Hera with extra steps to me, but maybe I need to give it another try
It is a bit harder to use than Hera but the damage is fantastic
I agree with you in every aspect. However, based in my personal experience I'd put Zagreus Spear in S tier because of its versatility and the bonuses damage and range works for me. With Vicious Skewer (so i get rid of spin attack) and flurry jab/triple jab I feel like I can obliterate anything in screen with special, retrieve, dash attack plus holding attack button
That's the spear for you. The spear is a really solid weapon regardless of the bonuses, especially if you find flurry jab.
@@JawlessPaul but I tried achilles´spear as you said and indeed, it´s a S tier and better than the Zagreus one
very nice video!
one thing got me puzzled, regarding the spear aspect of Guan Yu, why the spinning attack was not mentioned? It creates a projective similar to zeus shield special, but which also heals on hit. So I thought it is the strongest move of this particular aspect and probably the reason this spear got such harsh penalties.
I am a noob in hades though, this is why it made me so interested how the spinny spear can do at higher heat levels
The spear spin takes so long to charge up it. it just ends up being risky especially at high heat with faster enemies. Some can use it effectively
I think chaos shield should be higher. I recently got a build where I had ares on special and Athena on attack with merciful end. So bull rush, into doom special, into bull rush merciful end proc and enemies would just melt. Add that to Impending doom and dire misfortune and you have an insane build that melts most things in the game.
Merciful end is incredible, but that applies to pretty much any weapon. Thanks for the comment!
Hestia has always been easy mode for me. Especially if I manage to get Explosive Fire, Ricochet Fire or even Piercing Fire on it early... rooms and bosses are cleared in seconds.
Something about the "Chk-chk boom" that is so satisfying 🤓
I'll have to spend more time with the fully upgraded bow aspects and also that Achilles spear. Thanks for the video.
Yes! Hestia is a great weapon. I was able to do a damage free run with it a while back. Very good for staying safe!
The random kitty cat tail 26:55 is best aspect by far. SSS tier.
Edit: imagine having the delta chamber on Lucifer. Nuckin futs.
There is a hammer that gives you infinite ammo on Lucifer. It's pretty great but you lose the damage ramping
@@JawlessPaul ya, makes sense. What a wacky aspect. Exagryph itself is pretty wacky already.
yo this vid is good 4me as a new player ,cant wait to unlock all these weapon aspects 🤯🤙
Happy to see my favorite, Zeus Aspect of the Chaos Shield, rated A.
It's good!
Yeah, the bows are busted. I've spent most of my time playing with them or the fists, or the aspect of chaos. Been really sleeping on the aspect of achilles, I'll have to try that!
Its amazing try it possibly my favorite ! Takes a little to get used to but it slaps when you do ! I am also of the same opinion about bows and chaos.
Love putting Thunder Flourish on Lucifer. It makes it automatically detonate on contact with an enemy!
Agreed! It's nice to see the bombs explode themselves :)
Cult of the Lamb music 🔥
Yes! I love that soundtrack! Such a vibe!
the aspect of arthur is my favorite weapon in hades and im very glad its in c tier
Aspect of talos + Posiedon special is basically playing ping pong with your foes , highly recommend it if you are looking for a couple laughs
I love that build! So much fun to send everything flying!
I guess it is also quite tactical
You reel enemies in and deal damage and they go flying before they can deal damage
But I just saw the goofy Ness
potential
Arthur is the only weapon I was able to just out slug hades with (just tank all the damage he dealt). Granted at low heat. Also required specific boons and hammers. Still though that was probably my favorite run.
Lucifer in A tier is the one that hurts For me it's at best a C tier. Like you said, it should be in it's own league, definitely not a rail.
Glad to see Achilles's Spear in S tier. It is insanely easy to get a broken build on it and it's so much fun. People don't give it enough credit.
Haha, I've gotten some pretty amazing lucy runs lately. Super soaker and tazer runs are too fun!
Just got my first win with an aspect of Chiron bow 2 days ago, also have 2 more now with aspect of Hera bow and aspect of Achilles spear
Right on! Those are some of my favorite weapons :)
Been enjoying your Hades videos! I recently started playing and I am 100 hours into the game.Still on low heat so perhaps my opinions aren't really valid once you get higher. I haven't tried all the aspects yet. I would put Zag sword on B tier. I think the attack speed makes a difference when staggering enemies. Definitely better than Guan Yu. Would probably bump up Arthur, just owned everything on my run with it. I also like the Zag rail, would put it a tier higher. I think I would also put Talos up one. Really good at taking out enemies one by one, and gives the gloves the range they lack. With exception of Guan Yu, I really like the spears due to their speed and reach. I think I like them more than you do. Anyway, thanks for another interesting video!
Thanks for sharing your experience! :)
It's crazy how I got out of hell twice with the zagreus sword and can't seem to do it with any other weapon lol
Guess I gotta pracrice the other weapons moves
Yeah, they all have very different playstyles. Good luck!
Now I understand why I have been tearing up the heat levels with aspect of eris lol 😆
It's pretty strong!
Sword - Zagreus aspect is actually my favorite aspect for this weapon. I find the extra movement and attack speed to be really nice especially when combined with Hermes. I agree with Arthur's aspect. I like the benefits it gives but it's just too slow for my liking.
Spear - You didn't even mention the sweeping attack of the last spear. The fact that it moves away from you and heals you when it does damage is amazing. Yes the downsides suck but that sweeping attack makes up for it in my opinion. In 100 runs I haven't touched Achilles spear but I'm have to give it a try next time I use it.
Shield - I agree with you on the shields. Beowulf's aspect being a cast Shield makes it every better and being able to loud all your blood into it before bullrushing is a lot of fun. Feels like you are slapping a claymore to the front and running at your enemies lol.
Bow - Yeah all the Bows are amazing. I don't know which one is my favorite because they are all so much fun to use. Definitely the right choice in putting them all at S tier lol.
Claws - I find myself being much more aggressive with the claws than the other weapons. I also usually end up going with a Special build so those two weapons are my favorites of the group.
Rail - I would have put Hestia at C tier personally. The extra damage from reload just isn't that good or interesting in my opinion. It's not bad but it slows everything down so much. I'm trying to get used to Lucifer because it seems cool but it's such a change that it's taking some work lol.
Try Hestia with the butterfly and see how many rooms you can go hitless on. It's pretty great for that!
@@JawlessPaul super sick with butterfly
Hestia Rail is one of the easiest weapons to crank up the heat. One of the best weapons for high-heat no-hit runs, even. I find it almost as good as Eris Rail. The major problem of Hestia Rail is not power, but boredom.
as a Varatha main, I'll tell you right now, Spear Spin + Dash, absolutely wrecks. Just make sure you get some distance in BEFORE you charge it, and you'll be fine.
There are those who have mastered it for sure! It is very punishing to have it interrupted though!
How to easy dash upper? Dash attack is easy but I don't use the upper variant since I feel I need to do some claw grib hold on my controller... very uncomfortable. There need to be another way. Just getting into this gem of a game so thank you for this list. Still pushing for my first escape. Escape 33 got me almost there until I discovered there is a second fase/wind in the Hades fight 😅 That totally destroyed me. Just learned from this video how I can use my titan blood as well haha. Didn't knew what it was for. Same goes for the big nectar bottle, don't know the use for that either.
Some runs where I use dash upper I actually remap the buttons. It's pretty easy to do. It seems annoying but you are right, it's pretty tough to do it consistently. I'm glad the video was helpful!
Mate i just love the bow of hera
Poseidon flurry shot attack + Artemis cast is just crazy
Or you can just be crazy yourself and get flury twin shots Poseidon + Artemis cast with hermes legendary boon that allow you to get back casts immediately.........now imagine mirage shot in this madness
Which even without it i literally cornered hades in second phase with this build 🤣, it was the best run ever for me
it also works well with dionysis cast
Just started playing last week, and my favorite is Zeus shield.
Cheers! That's one of my favorites too!
@@JawlessPaul I hope you will do Hades 2 content in the future.
Took me 33 tries to beat Hade the first time. Did it with Zeus shield w/ Zeus boons. As a terrible dodger, it works for me.
Very nice! The zeus shield is incredible!
My first escape with the sword was with nemesis I had pressure points and the hammer that heals 2 when you attack and the 150 dash strike hammer I had the demeter laser cast with boons to make them fire longer It was insane I probably wouldn't have died even once if i was a little better and my weapons were upgraded I was dealing like 900 damage on some hits because I had Posiedons wall slam boons with basically no titans blood upgrades 😂
Nice! Sword is tough because of how close you have to get
Magnetic cutter might not be the best, but dammit, the physics shenanigans are just satisfying
Am I the only one who does a Scorpion impression when using magnetic cutter?
Definitely!
Oh definitely not 😂
Arthur Sword is goated though it’s got to be A tier at least. On low heat it doesn’t have much point as most weapons are faster and can kill enemies quickly but on high heat the aura bubble is extremely useful since you can disable traps(like magma in asphodel) along with slowing down projectiles which often times are spammed when facing encounters with jury summons. Also if you build the sword around crits you can easily deal around 1,500 damage on the final hit of combo. Along with its range being much better then normal swords since it’s really difficult to defeat extreme measures 4 hades when you have to stand directly next to him. Plus the swing radius of the sword is insane you can easily hit 2-4 enemies in one swing. A TIER MINIMUM!
I'm personally not a fan of aspect of Zeus shield, but that's probably because the first time that I used it, I only had it at lvl 1, and I still hadn't figured out build synergy. I had Demeter's cast (which honestly isn't very good) and right before Meg, I visited Chaos. He had a really strong boon (I forget which one), but the curse was that you take damage every time you use a standard attack. Trying to fight Meg with no standard attack, the worst cast for that fight, and the aspect of Zeus shield which I really wasn't used to was rough. I took a lot of damage, and it crippled me too much to get much further in that attempt. Maybe now that I understand the game better and have it leveled up all the way, I should give it another chance, but I'm way more comfortable with the aspects of Chaos and Zagreus so I'll probably just stick with one of those two. Beowulf is also quite strong, but I hate how slow it is.
Fair! I think there is a higher skill ceiling on Zeus. You can output some crazy damage with it :)
Man I dunno I just adore Arthur. It is slow as a turtoise, but the meaty swings, the synergise with Aprhodite's weak and huge persenrage boosts, I feel like I can consistently steamroll early game and just bathe in HP for the lategame.
Nemesis supposedly has similar meaty swings with the crits but I feel like I am constantly on death's door with how it wants to play
Gotcha! Yeah a lot of people love Arthur! I'm just strange I guess 😂
Agree with all this except.... Your guan Yu position sea storm build was one of your best builds ever (A TIER). And you can recover health by throwing the spinning charge shot.
Guan yu is such a struggle 😂
I would agree on everything except Aspect of Hades. That aspect only needs a single hammer to overcomer its biggest downside, and then it becomes incredibly powerful with dash builds.
Hades definitely has its place! Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Surprised Zag Sword is so low, it's what I've gotten most of my successful high heat sword runs on. It makes Hermes speed boost boons feel so much more impactful and since he's the one Olympian you're guaranteed to run into, it's not hard to find those core boons. It does seem pretty boring compared to the other swords though
I've been toying with Zag sword a lot lately. I like Drunken strike, Passion Dash, Deadly Flourish, and Curse of Vengeance. Then try to get as many duos as possible, they all play off each other really well
Aspect of Zag deserved a better place in this tier list for sure. with Herme's keepsake and his high tier boons you can quite feel the swiftness on your move/attack speed.
The weapon is sub-par compared to the other weapons to start with, and then all you get is 15% bonus attack speed and move speed. Just doesn't give a whole lot. You should probably use the dash attack anyway, which isn't affected by attack speed.
@@JawlessPaul That's fair, it's definitely one of the most underwhelming of the weapon aspects. The movement speed boost is really nice with stuff like Hyper Sprint, but compared to innate crit damage, extra cast damage and the ability to disable traps... It just feels kind of meh in comparison
I feel like this tier list really needs an S+ tier, or for most things to be one tier down. The highest tier should be reserved for weapons that break the power band.
For example, all the bows are great, but Rama straight up beats both Chiron and Zagreus at their own game. Zagreus has good attack and Chiron has top tier special, but Rama has the best of both worlds and can make use of literally any set of boons in the game.
Fair
I think agree with the list pretty much all of it maybe just Arthur might fit In b but debatable. I used to really hate the bow when I first started playing and gravitated towards the shield because it seemed like the best way to stay safe. But as you said once you get the bow power shot down it's like playing a different game. Cheers great video! @JawlessPaul
Amazing video thanks Paul :) a reason to install Hades again ♥
my favorite and go-to is always chiron bow
A super solid bow! 😎
@@JawlessPaul once again thank you for the video.
huh, I could not clear 32 heat spear until I tried Guan-Yu. First attempt clear.
That's awesome! I've tried that a few times and been so frustrated that I gave up 😂
@@JawlessPaul I must've gotten lucky :P great video!
Interesting about twin shot being so good. I understand it removes your range which is a bit of the point about the bow.
It removes about a quarter of the range or so. You still have a lot of range. Probably about the same as the spear thrust
9:30
Bit of a noobie, but my second clear was with this weapon! I got an insane build (fast charge hammer, big AoE hammer, attack speed from Hermes, Athena boon on attack) and by the time I made it to Styx I could just spam the charge attack whenever I had a spare second and it would hit the whole room with a big ol' boop. Tons of fun, and was great VS last boss as well for cleaing out grabby pottery. (My build was pretty borked at that point so I think any weapon would have worked, but still!)
It can happen! I'm glad you had a good run with it. Maybe it's just me who struggles with spin builds! 🤣
I could never get Lucifer to work for me. Sounds like I should go back and try again
Thanks for the video any chance to hace resume all the video on text wich are best aspect on each weapon and best boons combos??
I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. If you mean typing out everything that I say in the video, that would be like writing a blog about a video that I had made. I'd rather just have people watch the video! 😅
@@JawlessPaul haha sorry I watched the video but for example : rama goes with zeus attack and poseidon special
Kinda back into the game, just completed all achievements but I haven't finished the prophecies and theme unlocks
The Zag Bow is easily the best weapon in the game. Combine it with Flurry Shot and you just broke the game.
I thought you were a tad hard on the Zag Shield. There's an argument to be made that it should be the starting weapon - for it really teaches you how to Dash Strike.
Excellent list. Now rank the common enemies lol.
Haha, common enemies 🤭
@@JawlessPaul Hellenistic fodder?
i guess im more surprised that you had achilles spear in the bottom half of s tier instead of the top half. you seem to like it a lot , i guess just shows you how many great weapons there are
Haha, true! It could easily be at the top of S tier I think. SO much damage
14:17: I see you've been playing a fair bit of Dead Cells :D
Haha, I actually haven't played much dead cells at all! 😅
the hades aspect in B baffled me, I use it all the time and find it very easy to manage - you just have to learn how to master it, but to each their own i guess
I definitely can see how some people like it, I just generally do worse with the spins and I find the spin to be a bit of a noob trap. However, it's a high skill ceiling ability that can be used to great effect in the hands of a good player, which you must be! :)
Up front I'm halfway through your vid. Enjoying it. However I do feel this breakdown is good for where you are in terms of progression.
Some weapons are better over others earlier on. Cast trigger weapons early game are crap vs anything else. (Once cast bonus on mirror is maxed its much better then)
Shield early on was so strong for me. Late game it's not as efficient as other builds.(some variants much easier to pull off even late game- goes for anything to be fair. Ones Playstyle is also a big factor.)
Range weapons on controller for me was so much harder to get use to. It's awkward.
Would like to hear your thoughts on weapons based on zag mirror progression
My 2 cents :) love this game. Hope Hades 2 is just as good. Perhaps co op.. ?
Reflecting now. It's a pretty hard breakdown to do. And that's a good thing. Game is pretty well balanced. Many builds.
Some skills I find are staples for many builds. Like Athenas dash for eg
How high up are the cast stones though? They are pretty low. I feel like people can unlock them pretty early, like... Within the first 2 to 3 hours of play? I think most people ignore cast for too long, which is why I kind of overemphasize them. Cheers!
Agreed! It's very subjective
@@JawlessPaul Agreed. Even I left it for long. I think I had a few builds in mind for context that I didn't reference lol.
Loading up max casts on bow with dionysus cast. Super fun
Arthur missing B tier is sadness. Is it slow? Yes, but IMHO the defensive abilities make up for it enough to give it a variety of builds with that in mind. Crits are spicy, backstabs are great, you can go all in on AOE fields, and it is a solid go to for players trying learn specific fights (like pushing for EM 3 for the first time as an example) given the extra tankiness and that it forces you to go slower than you might be inclined.
It’s not the best sword aspect by a long shot, but compared to Zag spear and Zag Rail I think it is no contest.
My thoughts on Arthur are definitely not in the majority. Many really like the aspect.
I am addicted to the claws
What's the best weapon to focus on first?
They are all great. I think Bow has a lot of amazing options and once you figure out the rythm of it, it's one of the strongest weapon, perhaps just behind the rail.
It's always funny to me how different folks can play and experience the game. You have Arthur as the 6th worst weapon in the game, better only than 4 Zag aspects and Guan Yu. Yet it's the weapon I used to clear 32 heat and in my opinion, in my hands, and in my experience, it's the best weapon aspect in the game. It effectively provides more than double the normal number of hit points if you're fighting within the aura (since it also gives +50 health), as well as automatically getting a duo boon (slower enemy projectiles) and trap immunity on top of it, while having the highest base damage of any weapon in the game. And sure, it's slow, but you can dash during the attacks and abuse i-frames and ruthless reflex to be even More tanky while you chunk down enemies. Crazy to me how low some folks rate it, especially compared to Nemesis which imho is ok but not great. To each their own though!
Oh, I know MANY people who love Arthur. I think the slow pace of the weapon just doesn't fit my playstyle. I try to adjust when I use it but it's tough! 😅
Is it cult of the lamb music in the background?
It is! 😉
I just have been playing non stop for the past two week And now doing 20ish heat. think it’s a mistake to always go for the most op weapon. I did that in souls games and realized it took the struggle out of the game. Idk past the Zag upgrades honestly I a lot of stuff is too much, especially that bow seeker and the reload gun. Playing that way all the time would make me feel too safe on a run. I thankfully learned to stop using double dash and death defiance all the time too. In some ways the alternatives are better in ways though so may go back to the others hehe
You can always up that heat if you want to make it more challenging! Try for 40! 😁
@@JawlessPaul yeah true lol. Not there yet. I just got to rank 2 of the hades fight and realized how bad I am hehe😀
That being said that’s really the only big upset I see. Maybe chaos should be A tier, but that’s about it. Zeus and chaos shield both kind of do similar things IMHO because they play well with one-hit-wonder boons like Zeus bolts or Ares doom, but chaos is more about shotgunning a variety of enemies whereas Zeus just makes an area of Do Not Touch
Chaos shield is solid! I still like it.
Is there any "boon to weapon to attack" tier list?
Hmmm, there would be a lot of combinations...
Can we get a video where you use that stier rail and you show us the whole screen wiping
Here you go! I get cluster bombs at around 14 minutes! Enjoy! ua-cam.com/video/oUK9rgMypCY/v-deo.html
@@JawlessPaul have you used the same game save for 3 years
you seem to have 2 more keepsakes than im aware exist!? the harph and the one after. what are those and how did you get them? thanks!
It's a mod for the PC. It's called Olympusextra on Nexusmods. It adds Apollo and Hestia
In low heat, Mage is the best class, the weapon doesnt matter. I stumbled upon trippy Shot+ or Lightning Rod that kills everything
There are a lot of great cast based builds! :)
Well if your asking for BIG DAMAGE like REALLY BIG DAMAGE go for Arthur and yes its slow but your basically a tank that has high health,high damage resistance and high damage its good if you time it right but for me its S tier plus you can get boons that can increase attack speed,health and damage,and its easy to get and basically the bow suck beacause low damage in a game where you fight hordes of enemy in close range bow is just weak
Haha I love your enthusiasm. You should check out some of my bow runs, some of the most busted builds I've ever had. Arthur just puts me in danger too much. Same problem as the other swords but slower