Hades 2 - How To Reach The Surface And Survive
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While playing Hades 2, you might notice a peculiar spot at the Crossroads--steps that lead to the outside world. However, you're barred from passing through, at least until you discover a method to escape. Here's our guide on how to survive once you reach the surface in Hades 2. We also discuss important facets, such as the barrier wards, the Shadow mote, and the Thalamus item.
Hades 2 surface world guide: How to reach the surface and survive
Reaching the surface in Hades 2 is a very convoluted process requiring multiple runs. That's because of various NPCs, interactions, incantations, and necessary resources. Here's a quick summary based on our playthrough:
- The gate that leads to the surface is found in Melinoe's room. Interacting with it early on tells you that there are wards in place.
- After multiple runs, we encountered Hermes. He mentioned that Olympus was under attack and that we should help.
- We continued doing more runs. Along the way, we spoke with Hecate, Hermes, and Moros.
- We then saw an incantation called Permeation of Witching-Wards, which kickstarts the journey to the surface.
Incantation: Permeation of Witching-Wards
This incantation spell and mote comes from Moros. Speak to him with the information from your conversations with Hermes and Hecate. It incantation requires the following resources:
- 1x Cinder - Dropped by Hecate whenever you defeat her in Erebus.
- 3x Moly - A yellow flower that you can pick up in Erebus.
- 1x Shadow - A special mote that needs to be crafted (more on this below).
How to get Shadow
You can craft Shadow by checking the Alchemy tab in the cauldron. The mote costs 30x Ashes, 30x Psyche, and 3x Fate Fabric.
Be reminded that this process requires you to spend some time in the dungeon before it can be completed. While the crafting process is underway, you won't be able to unlock other incantations in the cauldron.
The curse of the Chthonic Fate
Now that you've finished the Permeation of Witching-Wards incantation, it's time to unlock the wards and go to the surface in Hades 2. Pick up the boon that you see and take out the enemies, then be ready for a twist.
Oops! It looks like Melinoe is afflicted with a curse caleld Chthonic Fate. Since she's part of Hades' bloodline, she can't stay in the surface world for prolonged periods. In fact, her health will get depleted over time, causing her to perish and respawn back at the Crossroads.
Incantation: Unraveling a Fateful Bond
To survive on the surface in Hades 2, you need to complete yet another incantation. This one is called Unraveling a Fateful Bond. Here's the gist:
- Do a couple of (failed) treks to the surface.
- When you respawn at the Crossroads, Moros will chide you for your attempts. However, he also grants you an incantation spell.
- Unraveling a Fateful Bond requires the following materials:
- 2x Lotus - These pink flowers come from the Oceanus region.
- 2x Moss - This comes from the surface world. You should find one along the cliffside area as you step outside (i.e. the first room). Just do a couple of runs to gather these.
- 2x Nightshade - You need the Silver Spade gathering tool. This lets you dig up mounds of dirt in Erebus to acquire Nightshade Seeds. Plant these seeds in your garden plots in the Crossroads and do a few runs until you can harvest them.
- 2x Thalamus - This one can be a bit of a doozy (more on this below).
How to get Thalamus
If you check your inventory, it says that Thalamus comes from the depths of Chaos. This means you have to head to the Underworld to find a Realm of Chaos room. This is denoted by a plate on the ground, with an ornate symbol resembling two eyes. Because this instance is completely random, there's no telling how many runs you need before you can spot one.
Assuming you stumbled upon a Realm of Chaos, talk to Primordial Chaos to receive an Origin seed. Sometimes, mounds of dirt might be in the Realm of Chaos. You can also use the Silver Spade to dig for Origin seeds.
Plant these Origin seeds back at the Crossroads. Then, complete a few encounters/rooms in the dungeon until they can be harvested. Once you have all the necessary ingredients, complete the Unraveling a Fateful Bond incantation. This will let you survive the Hades 2 surface world.
Surface world: City of Ephyra
Now that you can reach and survive the surface in Hades 2, it's time to explore and go on dangerous treks. Without diving into major spoiler territory, here's what you can expect:
- The first major zone is the City of Ephyra. Here, you can gather more resources, such as Bronze for your Nocturnal Arms weapons and gathering tools.
- The exit is blocked by a barrier. To remove the barrier, you must enter rooms and destroy six pylons.
- Each pylon you destroy unleashes multiple spirits that attack enemies.
- Note that there are smaller chambers in these areas, which also have goodies.
- Because there are multiple rooms with Olympian sigils, this is a great way to improve your relationship via gifts or plan your ideal build with the best boons.
Surface world: Rifts of Thessaly
Upon defeating the boss in the City of Ephyra, you'll reach a zone called the Rifts of Thessaly. This is basically a section where you have to complete encounters while aboard a ship. One key difference here is that each ship has an initial batch of enemy mobs. Once defeated, you can select from the available boons. However, doing so also causes another batch of hostiles to spawn.
At the very end, you'll fight another boss (and we don't want to spoil the details here). But Melinoe's journey will also end abruptly--the next zone is still inaccessible during the early access period.
In any case, that does it for our Hades 2 surface world guide. We hope that all these tips and information help you reach and survive on the surface in Hades 2.
Hades 2 stars Melinoe, the Princess of the Underworld. This roguelike game promises challenging encounters as you keep retrying until you can have the perfect run. If you want more tips and tactics, you can head over to our guides hub.