Hades Beginner's Guide | Gameplay Tips & Tricks

Here are some beginner's tips & tricks to get you started in Hades.

Game Guide by TauxicPandA on Sep 25, 2025

This guide will help with everything you need to know as you begin your journey in Hades, starting from the core gameplay mechanics and all the way to how combat and Boons work in Hades.

Core Gameplay Mechanics

Hades offers a challenging, fast-paced experience with numerous deaths, but within a game loop that combines combat, random encounters, procedurally generated Dungeons, light exploration, and character interactions.

You make progress each time you restart. Each run varies in room order, rewards, and enemies, featuring combat against groups of enemies and rewards such as Gold, Gems, Keys, Darkness, or special items, including divine Boons.

Hades Beginner's, Guide, Gameplay Tips & Tricks

Fight through rooms to reach the Dungeon bosses. Defeating them advances you to new regions. The goal is to get to the land of the living by surviving all four increasingly complex Dungeons, each with unique traps, hazards, and enemies in Hades.

Mirror of Night Upgrades

When you die, you return to the House of Hades to start over. Like any roguelike, you can unlock upgrades for future runs. The Mirror of Night grants passive upgrades for Darkness, such as bonus damage from behind or an instant revive at zero hit points.

You can also unlock more upgrades with Chthonic Keys, which are also used to open new weapons in Zagreus' armory. These keys and Darkness are vital early-game resources.

Eventually, you'll unlock variant upgrades, like dealing extra damage to unattacked enemies rather than backstab damage. Focus varies by play style, but Chthonic Vitality and Greater Reflex are good starting points. With five more Chthonic Keys, Boiling Blood boosts your cast's power in Hades.

Keepsakes and Helpful NPCs

Keepsakes are items that offer passive buffs, obtained by giving gods and NPCs Nectar found during runs. These buffs improve Boon rarity, deal extra damage when low on health, or provide instant revives.

Speak with everyone you meet—characters can offer story info, aid, or items. Sisyphus in Tartarus can restore health or give Darkness or gold at Charon's Well. When you see an exclamation point etched in stone, choose it in Hades.

Hades Beginner's, Guide, Gameplay Tips & Tricks

House Contractor Upgrades

You can upgrade the House of Hades with some cosmetic renovations and others offering helpful additions. Your first free upgrade is a fountain in Tartarus that restores health. For paid upgrades, consider the Faded List of Minor Prophecies to earn extra resources early on.

Basic Combat Mechanics

Farming Darkness early unlocks all weapons and bonus effects. Combat involves three attacks and a dash: a basic attack with multiple functions (like bashing or charging), a special AoE attack, and a casting shard for damage and healing.

The dash grants brief invulnerability, quick movement, gap crossing, and teleportation through walls/enemies—avoid fiery flagstones in Asphodel.

Enemy attacks can be interrupted unless the character is armored (indicated by gold). Use your attack to destroy projectiles from enemies like Witches or Spreaders in Hades.

Use the environment to your advantage: turn hazards like spike traps or barrels against enemies, bash foes into walls, or corner them near pits. Destroy columns to hurt enemies without harming Zagreus.

In each Dungeon, choose paths based on your needs—farming Darkness, gaining health, or picking a hammer—if available, as Daedalus Hammers upgrade weapons and boost attack bonuses for longer runs.

Hades Beginner's, Guide, Gameplay Tips & Tricks

Understanding Boons

Boons are essential to Hades because they can change how you play. About a dozen, with three choices for each god. Some changes strike, while others make them stronger or faster.

It depends on your tool and goals, but there isn't always a wrong choice. You'll understand their impacts and how they work together as you play more. When choosing Boons, consider how you prefer to play and engage in combat in Hades.

Artemis and Ares deal damage, Athena has Divine Dash, Zeus is great at dealing damage over a large area, Dionysus stuns and does damage over time, and Poseidon makes knockback effects stronger.

Duo Boons and Godly Trials

Upcoming Boons are marked by doors featuring a god's symbol, such as a shield for Athena or a wine cup for Dionysus. Some doors show two symbols, but these don't offer high-level duo Boons; instead, you choose which god's Boon to take first, displeasing the other.

This results in a wave of enemies buffed by the rejected god before the second Boon. Only pick these doors if you're prepared for a tough fight.

Hades Beginner's, Guide, Gameplay Tips & Tricks

God Mode

God Mode helps you learn helpfully. This setting can be turned on or off at any time, reducing damage by 20%. This amount goes up by 2% for every death, up to a maximum of 80%. It doesn't stop progress or achievements, so it's great for your first run in Hades.

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