Hades 2: Symbols on the doors Hades 2 guide, tips
During your expeditions in Hades 2, you will have to make frequent decisions about which chambers to go to next. On this page we have described what the symbols on the chamber doors mean and what rewards await you inside for completing the chamber.
Last update: 20 May 2024
During your expeditions to defeat Chronos, you will pass through many chambers and defeat numerous enemies. Every door leading to a subsequent chamber has a symbol indicating what rewards await you for completing that chamber. However, for a beginner player, the meaning of these symbols may be unclear. On this page we have described what all the symbols in the game mean and when you should prioritize them.
- Skull
- Boss
- Daedalus Hammers
- Boons
- Pom of Power
- Path of Stars
- Centaur Heart
- Soul Tonic
- Money
- Shop
- Encounter
- Nectar
- Bones
- Ash
- Psyche
- Chaos
- Roman numerals
Skull
Occasionally, there will be a tiny skull symbol underneath the symbol on the door. It means that there is a mini-boss behind this door, a unique, more difficult encounter exclusive to a given region. Although the fight is more difficult, the rewards are also more valuable - for example, boons from the gods have a higher rarity and at the same time better effect, and Pom of Power increase the level of gifts by two instead of one. Although mini-bosses can be dangerous, they are worth fighting - the combat strategy is easy to learn after a few tries, and the rewards are worth the risk.
Boss
At the end of each area there is a boss fight marked with a small red devil head symbol. It cannot be avoided, it is also always preceded by an empty room without any enemies. For defeating the boss, you will receive their unique upgrade material.
Daedalus Hammers
Daedalus Hammers are marked with the symbol of a hammer. These are the most important rewards in each run, as they drastically improve your weapon or change its properties. During the entire expedition, two Daedalus Hammers may appear - the first one in region one or two, the second Hammer in region three. They should be your priority almost every time they appear - expeditions without both Hammers usually don't go very far.
Boons
Boons are the most common rewards you will encounter. The game features many gods and mythological heroes who are ready to give you boons, each with different properties. The symbols of the boons always have a specific color and refer to the power of a given god - e.g. a golden thunderbolt for the boons of Zeus, a blue trident for the boons of Poseidon, a pink heart for the boons of Aphrodite.
Boons are always a good choice for rewards, but you should prioritize them especially if you do not yet have boons that enhance your basic moves, i.e. attack, special and cast. They also have different rarities - common, rare, epic, and heroic. Always try to take at least rare boons, unless you have no choice or really need the effect that a specific common boon has. Occasionally, you will also be able to replace your boon with another one of higher quality - then think about your build before you make a decision.
Pom of Power
Poms of Power are used to upgrade the boons of your choice that you already possess. They are marked, of course, with a pomegranate icon. These are useful rewards for scaling your damage output. The higher the level of a given boon, the less benefit you gain from each pom assigned to it.
In Charon's shop, you can occasionally come across a piece of pom for sale. A piece of pom enhances one randomly chosen boon.
Path of Stars
Marked by a silver crescent, these chambers give you hexes, special boons from Selene, Titan of the Moon. They function as special, powerful skills that you can use after spending a certain amount of mana. Once you have a hex, each subsequent Path of Stars will allow you to upgrade it in a variety of ways, such as reducing the Hex's cost or increasing its damage output while the Hex is not charged.
You always have three different hexes to choose from - the lower the hex is in the selection window, the more upgrade points you'll receive in each Path of Stars you encounter. If you obtained a hex early, in the first or second region, we recommend choosing the hex located at the bottom of the table. If you acquired a hex late, choose the one that suits you the most - the probability of meeting Selene again during this expedition will be slim.
Centaur Heart
Marked with a red and blue heart. Centaur Hearts give you a permanent bonus of 25 maximum health until the end of the expedition. They are not usually a priority, but you should get at least a few of them - we recommend that you have at least 150 health before the last fight.
Soul Tonic
Marked with a light blue round bottle. Soul Tonics give you a permanent bonus of 25 maximum mana until the end of the expedition. These aren't usually a priority, but increasing your mana will allow you to use Omega's powerful attacks more often.
Money
Marked with a gold coin. Collecting such a coin after the fight will give you 100 golden crowns. You can spend money in Charon's shops and Charon's wells - spend it as much as you want, because you will lose all your crowns at the end of the run. This room is a fairly low priority since you also get money from defeating enemies, and 100 crowns is worth less than boons and poms, as Charon sells them at a higher price.
Shop
Marked with a brown bag. Charon always offers three items in his shops - boons, random boons in a bag, poms of power, healing items, Centaur hearts, soul tonics, etc. Make sure you have money before entering Charon's shop. To buy anything useful you should have at least 150 crowns, and getting everything from the store will cost about 300 crowns. If you are low on health, you can also visit the store, hoping that Charon will be selling healing items for 50 crowns.
In the store, you can also come across Nemesis. If you meet her here, make a decision quickly - Nemesis also came shopping, and if you hesitate, she will snatch one of the items on offer from under your nose.
You will also always encounter Charon's special, larger shop just before the door leading to the final boss, where you can spend all your remaining money. There you can get more powerful items and also one expensive material for permanent upgrades, e.g. Moon Dust. To get everything from his last store, you would have to spend about 2,000 crowns.
Encounter
Marked with the golden wings symbol. Encounter is a room devoid of combat, where you will meet a character inhabiting the current region. Each of these characters offers unique and very useful rewards. Different regions have different characters:
- Erebus - you will meet Arachne here. She will let you choose one of her dresses. This gown gives you a significant increase in armor (when you get hit, you lose armor instead of health) and provides a powerful bonus as long as you have armor. This encounter will help you survive the early game, and if you started the game with a keepsake from Arachne, it will earn you a lot of armor and give you access to the powerful bonus for a long time.
- Oceanos - you will meet Narcissus here. You will be able to choose one of three boons, consisting of various materials for improvements and enhancements - for example, a seed and a random boon or money and silver. Free rewards can strengthen you and speed up permanent progression.
- Fields of Mourning - you will meet Echo here. Her rewards are very useful, like restoring lost Death Defiances, granting a temporary chance to avoid damage, or duplicating the most recently collected reward. It's worth mentioning here that if you collected a Daedalus Hammer just before meeting Echo, you can duplicate it here, getting three hammers instead of two.
- Tartarus - you may remember this room from the first game. You will gain a unique, powerful boon here - it can be, for example, temporary invisibility and invulnerability after being hit, the ability to cast spells from a distance, heal yourself by attacking enemies, or even automatically deprive Chronos of 20% of his health at the beginning of the final fight. Go here whenever you can, without exception.
Nectar
Marked with a round bottle full of golden liquid. For clearing out the chamber, you will receive a bottle of nectar, which you can then give to NPCs to deepen your bonds. When you give nectar to a hero for the first time, you will receive their unique keepsake in return. Nectar is valuable, however, you can also buy it at the Crossroads from the Wretched Broker. During each stay at the Crossroads, he offers one bottle of nectar for the price of 30 bones.
Bones
Marked with the purple bones symbol. They are the main currency in the Crossroads, which you can spend at the Wretched Broker on a variety of items, some of which can only be obtained from him. For clearing out the room you will receive 50 bones. Visit these rooms if you feel you can handle the next challenges and need to purchase ingredients for incantations.
Ash
Marked with a gray ashes symbol. They are used to unlock new tarot cards, which give you useful bonuses to statistics when you equip them. For clearing out the room you will receive 5 ahses. Visit these rooms if you feel like you can handle the next challenges and need to buy more cards.
Psyche
Marked with a green liquid symbol. Used to increase Melinoe's Grasp, allowing her to equip more tarot cards. For clearing out the room you will receive 10 Psyche. Visit these rooms if you have reached the Grasp cap - but remember that you can obtain Psyche in much larger quantities with the Tablet of Peace tool and Frinos familiar, so visiting these rooms may be suboptimal.
Chaos
A hole emitting darkness that sometimes appears in the arena. Passing through the hole will cost you some health. On the other side is Chaos, where you can gather rare, unique materials and receive a boon from Chaos - these gifts have powerful effects, such as a huge bonus to damage dealt or replenishing significant portion of your health when moving between rooms. However, you must first clear out a few chambers with a specific handicap, such as slow movement speed or receiving damage when using a specific move.
Chaos is very worth entering if the hole appears near the beginning of the region. If you enter the Chaos too late, you may find that you will have to face the region's boss with an active difficulty, which could lower your chances of winning.
Roman numerals
Roman numerals symbols, from 5 to 1. They appear exclusively in Tartarus and show the path to the game's final boss, Chronos. Clearing out these chambers does not give you any rewards, but is the only way to reach the Titan of Time. Occasionally, next to doors with Roman numerals, you will also come across other symbols - these are optional rooms, which will not bring you closer to the final boss, but will give you substantial rewards that can help you during the confrontation with Chronos.