In Hades 2, there are few mechanics as important as the boons the Godly residence of Olympus bestows upon Melinoe. Boons can drastically change the direction of any given run and drastically alter the players’ approach to combat. Although boons are largely based on personal preference, some stand out among the rest.

There are two ways to obtain boons in Hades 2, you can either complete encounters with boons as a room reward, or you can purchase the buffs from Charon along Melinoe's journey. Veterans of the original Hades title will various returning deities, such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo. This second installment introduced plenty of new Gods and Goddesses, such as Hestia and Demeter. Although crafting the perfect Hades 2 build is near impossible, these are some boons that you should look out for.

8 Mean Streak - Hermes

The God of Haste can give Melinoe a near-permanent damage buff.

Hermes’ boons in Hades 2 usually increase Melinoe’s mobility while decreasing the speed of her enemies. Mean Streak is a particularly unique boon for the God as it is a purely offensive buff. With this boon active, each time you slay a foe, your damage is increased for the next 30 seconds. If you are using a quicker weapon available to Melinoe, such as the Sister Blades, then it is a free permanent damage boost.

At the common rarity, this damage increase only rises by 1%, but scales up to 3% at Heroic. This might seem miniscule, but damage quickly racks up in Hades 2. Whenever paired with basic attack buffs, such as Volcanic Strike, you can quickly clear out rooms at significantly faster rates. Bosses in Hades 2 also summon additional enemies quite often, so this is a quick way to get a damage boost in the game’s hardest encounters as well.

7 Scoot Sprint - Hestia

This fiery dash is both an offensive weapon and a defensive shield.

In of Sprint-based boons, Hestia’ Scoot Sprint is the best option available. This boon is so effective because it works as an offensive weapon and defensive layer. Dashes are great for immediately avoiding damage, but they still leave Melinoe vulnerable to incoming projectiles.

Scoot Sprint destroys nearby projectiles and inflicts the scorch status effects on the foes that fired. Scorch is a curse that damages the afflicted foe with 40 fire damage every second, making it a great way to deal supplemental, persistent damage.

This ability also turns your sprint into an offensive weapon. Not only are you able to deflect incoming missiles, but you are more open to aggressively pushing in on bosses and other enemies. The ability to dash through projectiles is significantly underrated, especially on early bosses such as the Witch Heistress Hecate. Whenever paired with either Natural Gas or Smolder Ring, the scorch effect becomes even more deadly.

6 Wave Strike - Poseidon

Poseidon allows you to bend the battlefield to your will with this knock-back attack.

There’s heavy competition whenever it comes to the best basic attack boon, but Poseidon's is hard to beat. Most of the ocean God’s boons give very useful crowd control abilities through his signature knock-back effect. Knock-back pushes enemies away while still dealing significant damage.

This crowd control tactic can quickly equalize the field since players are very often outnumbered by their foes. Being able to buy room to breathe, or to corner enemies in one section of the map, is an incredible asset.

Most of Poseidon’s boons work best with slower, heavier builds based around the Moonstone Axe. The biggest drawback of this hulking weapon is the slow attack speed. You can either choose to cut the cooldown timer with Hermes’ speed abilities, or you can use Poseidon’s knock-back to create space. Supplementing this boon with Crashing Wave also allows you to take full advantage of environmental damage, punishing enemies for sticking too close to walls.

5 Healthy Rebound - Aphrodite

Enter into all your encounters with max health.

There are relatively few healing options in Hades 2, but one of the best comes from the Goddess of love. Aphrodite’s boon allows you to restore maximum health whenever you exit a location, so long as you have not lost the designated amount of health already. This gives players significantly more leeway to take damage without consequences.

The designated amount of health depends on rarity. For the common version of this boon, you need to keep at least 80% of your health for a max heal. For the Heroic version, you only need 50%.

Arcana Cards and Arachne’s outfits can give minor healing, granting up to +4 healing for each successful room clear, but none match up to Healthy Rebound. The only other healing ability that comes close to matching Aphrodite’s gift is Selene’s Moon Water, although this only has three charges that can only be refreshed by visiting the fountains at the end of each zone. If you’re looking for pure healing, then Aphrodite is your best bet.

4 Bridal Glow - Hera

Hera’s rare boon provides a substantial buff, but only for a limited time.

Hera’s Bridal Glow boon is not as intrinsically powerful as other boons on this list, but it can significantly increase the power of the boons you already have. With bridal glow active, two random boons you’ve already gained instantly become heroic for a set number of encounters. At higher rarities, the number of encounters this buff lasts increases, maxing out at ten total encounters. At either Epic or Heroic rarity, you can likely go two entire zones with maxed-out boons.

Since the number of encounters this Heroic upgrade lasts depends on the rarity of the boon, it's best to only pick up Bridal Glow at their Rare or Epic status.

Hera contains a vast amount of immensely useful boons in Hades 2, although this is offset by how rare her appearances are. If you manage to find Hera before a difficult boss battle, then you can confidently enter with some of the best buffs in the entire game. Even though the boons begin to decrease in rarity after the set number of encounters has been reached, the positive far outweighs the negative.

3 Fire - Artemis

Artemis’ arrows never miss.

Artemis is unlike the other Gods and Goddesses in Hades 2. Instead of forcing Melione, the Princess of the Underworld, to fight on her own, Artemis s in with her sister. Much like the help she provides in the encounter, Fire gives another, constant source of damage to Melinoe.

With Fire active, each hit attack or special also fires a seeking arrow that strikes the same target. The damage this seeking arrow gives is by no means devastating, maxing out at over 20 total damage, but it is enough to finish off already weakened foes.

Artemis’ Fire boon works best with quick builds that prioritize attack speed over burst damage. Pairing up this damage supplement with Hermes’ Swift Strike, you can begin to see just how much damage these arrows can start to rack up. Taking any of Artemis’ boons which also give the Marked status effect is also a great way to increase your critical strike chance, which can help take down even armored enemies much faster.

2 Tranquil Gain - Demeter

Restore your Magick by taking a quick breather.

Magick is an essential resource in Hades 2. Each time you cast or use an Omega ability, your Magick bar is drained, with some boons consuming even more Magick per target. If you don’t prioritize increasing your maximum Magick limit, then you can quickly find your Magick completely depleted in a matter of seconds. Tranquil Gain fixes this by allowing Melinoe to rapidly gain Magick back after standing still for one second.

Although there is rarely a perfect time to stand completely still in Hades 2, try to wait for a break in attacks or dash to the edge of the room to gather your Magick.

It may not seem like a great idea to stand completely still in the middle of an encounter, and it certainly isn’t beneficial to try and tank attack, but you might be shocked to see how much Magick three seconds regains. Even at its lowest rarity, Tranquil Gain gives back 25 total Magick every second you stand still. If you taking on a boss which requires range, such as Scylla and the Sirens, then this is a massive benefit.

1 Tough Trade - Hephaestus

Don’t let your enemies’ attacks go unpunished.

Although the goal in Hades 2 is to absorb as little damage as possible, taking damage is inevitable. Hephaestus’ Tough Trade boon at least adds some ive utility to receiving damage and doesn’t allow your foes’ strikes to go unanswered.

With Tough Trade, anytime that you are damaged during an attack or special, the eventual attack increases in damage. This buff isn’t minor, as the common rarity alone grants an additional 100% damage increase to your strike.

Many times in Hades 2, you’ll find that Melinoe is most vulnerable while setting off attacks of her own. By pairing Tough Trade with another powerful basic attack boon, such as either Poseidon’s Wave Strike or Hephaestus' own Volcanic Strike, you can generate massive amounts of damage with just a basic attack.

If you’re looking to take out bosses quickly, then pairing this with Odysseus’ knucklebones Keepsake is an incredible way to both negate boss damage while dealing even more punishing hits yourself. With this specific build, tanking damage might be a viable strategy in Hades 2.