Most people do not escape on their first run in Hades, and the game is designed that way: every death sends Zagreus home with resources, new conversations and permanent upgrades. The question is not whether you will die, but how quickly each death turns into a stronger next run.
This guide is about the first Hades. Hades II has a different protagonist, map and upgrade systems. For which boons to take, see the boon build guide; for weapons and aspects, the weapon aspect guide. This page covers everything around them.
How to escape for the first time
If you only read one section, read this one. Each row is something that makes a first escape noticeably more likely.
| What to do | Why it works | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Use the Shield of Chaos or the Heart-Seeking Bow | Holding Attack with the Shield blocks every attack from the front except traps and area attacks; the Bow fights from range | Bow costs 1 Chthonic Key, Shield 3. The starting Stygian Blade is fine for learning |
| Take Athena whenever she appears | Divine Dash lets every dash Deflect attacks; Athena's Aid makes you Invulnerable on your Call | Pair her with one damage god, such as Aphrodite (Weak) or Zeus (lightning that needs no aim) |
| Buy Death Defiance first | Each rank brings you back once at 50% health when your life runs out | Ranks cost 30 / 500 / 1,000 Darkness |
| Add Greater Reflex, Chthonic Vitality and Shadow Presence | One more dash, health back after every chamber, +50% damage from behind | 50, 70 and 100 Darkness for all ranks |
| Give Nectar to everyone once | The first Nectar a character receives gives you their keepsake | Old Spiked Collar (+health) and Lucky Tooth (one extra revive) are the safest early picks |
| Buy the Fountain Chambers | A guaranteed place to heal in each region | Tartarus is free; Asphodel 20 and Elysium 40 Gemstones |
| Turn on God Mode if you want to | 20% damage resistance, +2% per death, up to 80% | No achievements or story are locked |
Spend your Obols before you die. Charon's Obol is the only currency you lose on death, so if a run is going badly, buy the Centaur Heart or the boon in the next shop instead of saving.
How a run works
An escape attempt runs through four regions. The first three are a chain of chambers that ends in a boss; the last is laid out differently.
| Region | Length | Boss | Bounty (first win with each weapon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tartarus | Boss at chamber 14 | One of the Furies: Megaera at first, later Alecto or Tisiphone | Titan Blood |
| Asphodel | Chambers 15–25; boss at 24 | The Bone Hydra | Diamond |
| Elysium | Ends at chamber 37; boss at 36 | Theseus and Asterius together | Ambrosia |
| Temple of Styx | A hub with five wings of small chambers | Hades, on the surface beyond the exit | Titan Blood |
After each of the first three bosses comes a stairway with a fountain, a Well of Charon, a Pool of Purging and, once bought, the keepsake case. In the Temple of Styx, rewards only appear in the last room of each wing. One wing holds the Satyr Sack; give it to Cerberus to open the exit. Charon's shop in the Styx hub stays open until you leave, which makes it the last chance to spend Obols before Hades.
You will also meet friendly shades on the way: Sisyphus in Tartarus (Obols, health or Darkness), Eurydice in Asphodel (boon upgrades) and Patroclus in Elysium (a stronger Well of Charon item, including one that restores your used Death Defiances). Thanatos sometimes appears at the start of a fight and competes with you for kills; beat or tie his score for a Centaur Heart.
Chamber rewards: what the symbols mean
Every exit door shows the reward of the next chamber before you enter. Reading those icons is the first real skill in Hades.
| Door shows | Reward | When to take it |
|---|---|---|
| Gold laurel + a god's symbol | A boon from that god | Whenever it is a god you want, or you have few boons |
| Gold laurel + pomegranate | Pom of Power: +1 level to a boon | When you already have a strong boon to level |
| Gold laurel + hammer | Daedalus Hammer: a weapon upgrade | Almost always. Only two per run normally |
| Gold laurel + coins | Charon's Obols | Before a shop, or when you are saving for a specific item |
| Gold laurel + heart | Centaur Heart: +25 max health for this run | When your health is low or the region is dangerous |
| Blue laurel + Darkness / Gemstone / Key / Nectar | Permanent resources | When the run is going badly, or you need a specific unlock |
| Skull under the reward | Mini-boss or harder chamber | Better reward (higher boon rarity, 50 max health from a Heart), more risk |
| Two gods' symbols + skull | Trial of the Gods | Pick one god; the other sends tougher waves, then forgives you with a boon |
| Charon's sign | Charon's shop | Boons 150, Poms 100 and Centaur Hearts 125 Obols |
Two less obvious rules help. First, the game balances permanent and run rewards on its own. According to the wiki's reading of the game scripts, each region aims for a share of permanent rewards — about 45% in Tartarus, 40% in Asphodel and 33% in Elysium — so taking a blue door now makes the next doors more likely to be gold, and the reverse. You cannot avoid permanent rewards entirely; you can only decide where they land.
Second, the floor-mounted Chaos Gate (it starts appearing after six escape attempts) costs health to enter and leads to Chaos, whose boons are strong but give you a curse for the next few encounters first. Skip it when your health is low; you cannot enter if you do not have enough health, even with a Death Defiance left.
What to spend each currency on first
Hades has seven permanent currencies. None of them is lost on death; only Obols are.
| Currency | Main source | Spend first on | Spend later on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darkness | Blue-laurel chambers; bosses once their bounty is collected (50 / 100 / 150 / 250) | Mirror of Night: Death Defiance, Greater Reflex, Chthonic Vitality, Shadow Presence | Remaining Mirror ranks |
| Gemstones | Blue-laurel chambers (5, or 10 in harder rooms) | House Contractor: Fountain Chambers, Keepsake Collection, Fated List | Infernal Troves, urns, decorations |
| Chthonic Keys | Chamber rewards, Charon's shop | Weapons: Bow 1, Shield 3, Spear 4; the first locked Mirror rows | Fists and Rail (8 each); deeper Mirror rows (65 Keys for all) |
| Nectar | Chamber rewards | One to each character for their keepsake | More gifts for relationships and favour quests |
| Diamonds | Bone Hydra bounty | Court Musician's Sentence (1), Contractor's Desk, Deluxe (2) | Fated Keys, Pitch-Black Darkness (3 each); Vanquisher's Keep (4) |
| Ambrosia | Theseus and Asterius bounty | Characters whose favour quest you have finished | Companions and their extra uses |
| Titan Blood | Furies and Hades bounties | Level 1 of the second aspect on five different weapons | One aspect that scales with level |
The diamond, Ambrosia and Titan Blood bounties are paid the first time you beat that boss with each weapon, and later for each Heat level. So the cheapest way to earn them is to rotate weapons, not to repeat the same run. The weapon aspect guide explains where Titan Blood should go.
The Fated List of Minor Prophecies (20 Gemstones from the House Contractor) deserves a special mention. It is a list of goals you will meet anyway — collect each god's boons, unlock weapons, free Orpheus — and over the whole list it pays 1,000 Darkness, 43 Titan Blood, 33 Diamonds and 68 Ambrosia, plus Gemstones. Buy it early.
Mirror of Night: the order to buy talents
The Mirror in Zagreus' room turns Darkness into permanent upgrades. Each talent has a red and a green version; only one is active, and you can switch between them freely. The green versions appear after Nyx talks to you about the Mirror, once you have collected at least 300 Darkness. Lower rows must be unlocked with Chthonic Keys.
This is a beginner order that keeps you alive first, with the running total of Darkness:
-
1
Death Defiance, rank 1 — 30 (total 30)
An extra life at 50% health. The single most important purchase in the game.
-
2
Greater Reflex — 50 (total 80)
+1 dash before you have to recover. Two dashes in a row get you out of almost any corner.
-
3
Chthonic Vitality, all three ranks — 70 (total 150)
Restores 1 health per rank when you leave each chamber, so 3 health per chamber at full rank. Over a run of about 40 chambers it adds up.
-
4
Shadow Presence, all five ranks — 100 (total 250)
+10% Attack and Special damage per rank when you hit foes from behind (+50%). The green version, Fiery Presence, gives +15% per rank against undamaged foes instead.
-
5
Infernal Soul and Boiling Blood — 100 and 250 (total 600)
Infernal Soul gives +1 Cast ammo per rank (two ranks). Boiling Blood gives +10% Attack and Special damage per rank to foes with your Cast ammo in them. They work together.
-
6
Death Defiance, rank 2 — 500 (total 1,100)
The second extra life. This is the point where most players' runs change from 'reaching Elysium' to 'reaching Hades'.
-
7
Thick Skin and Privileged Status
Thick Skin adds +5 max health per rank (625 Darkness for +50). Privileged Status gives +20% damage per rank against foes with two or more status curses (550 for +40%).
Death Defiance rank 3 costs 1,000 Darkness, and its green alternative, Stubborn Defiance (600), revives you at 30% health once per chamber instead. Deep Pockets (free Obols at the start of each run) is pleasant but does not keep you alive, so leave it for later. Once refunds unlock after a few escape attempts, one Chthonic Key returns all Darkness spent on the Mirror, so it is safe to experiment. The Mirror of Night and Heat guide covers every talent and how Heat works after your first escape.
House Contractor: what to commission first
The House Contractor, at the desk in the main hall, sells upgrades for Gemstones and Diamonds. Most of the list is decoration; these are the orders that affect your runs:
| Order | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Fountain Chamber, Tartarus | Free | Adds a healing fountain chamber to Tartarus |
| Keepsake Collection, Regional | 10 Gemstones | Swap keepsakes between regions (unlocks after the first boss) |
| Fated List of Minor Prophecies | 20 Gemstones | A list of goals with large rewards (see above) |
| Fountain Chamber, Asphodel / Elysium | 20 / 40 Gemstones | Healing fountains in the later regions |
| Underworld Fountains, Purified / Holy | 20 / 40 Gemstones | Fountains heal 10% / 20% more |
| Codex Index | 50 Gemstones | A list of every Olympian's boons in the Codex — useful while learning |
| Plunder, Lesser | 10 Gemstones | Chambers may contain an Infernal Trove, a timed bonus fight |
| Court Musician's Sentence → Contractor's Desk, Deluxe | 1 Diamond → 2 Diamonds | Frees Orpheus, then opens the reward upgrades below |
| Fated Keys / Pitch-Black Darkness | 3 Diamonds each | Key rewards also give a reroll; Darkness rewards also give +5 max health |
Gateways, Erebus (5 Diamonds) only matters after you have beaten Hades, because Erebus gates also need Heat from the Pact of Punishment.
Keepsakes worth using early
A keepsake is a passive item you equip in the courtyard before a run. Each character gives you theirs the first time you give them Nectar, and keepsakes rank up after 25 and 50 encounters.
With the regional swap bought, a reliable beginner pattern is Owl Pendant in Tartarus to guarantee Athena, then Old Spiked Collar or Lucky Tooth from Asphodel on. Once you swap a keepsake out, you cannot switch back to it in the same run.
Boss tips in brief
| Boss | What to watch | Simple plan |
|---|---|---|
| Megaera (Furies, Tartarus) | Lunge and whip spin; volley and fire circles from 75% / 50% health; summons Wretched at 75 / 50 / 25% | Dash through the lunge, then punish. Clear the summons quickly so the arena stays open |
| Alecto / Tisiphone (later runs) | Alecto fills a Rage meter and speeds up; Tisiphone shrinks the arena at 50% and 25% | Against Tisiphone, stay near the centre before the walls close |
| Bone Hydra (Asphodel) | At 66% and 33% it becomes invulnerable and raises 3, then 6 extra heads | Kill the extra heads fast; area damage and Cast help. After three wins it starts appearing in coloured variants |
| Theseus and Asterius (Elysium) | Theseus' shield blocks frontal hits; at 50% he calls an Olympian you have not taken a boon from (never Hermes) | Focus one at a time; killing one enrages the other. Beating Asterius as a mini-boss earlier means he starts the final fight with 20% less health |
| Hades (beyond the Temple of Styx) | Skull Cast: if it hits, you take double damage while it sticks; destroy it within 5 seconds or it explodes across the arena. He turns invisible but leaves footprints. A full second phase follows | Arrive with Death Defiances unused. Break the skulls, kill his summons, and in phase two avoid breaking the vases yourself |
Artemis' projectile boons and piercing Daedalus Hammer upgrades ignore Theseus' shield, which is one reason the Bow handles that fight well. Athena's Deflect works on Hades' Skull Cast.
God Mode, honestly
God Mode is a difficulty option you can turn on at any time from the menu. It gives 20% damage resistance, which rises by 2% every time a run ends in death, up to 80%. Turn it off and you lose the resistance but keep the percentage for the next time you turn it on. It does not lock any achievements or story, and God Mode run records are kept separately.
Who should use it? If you play Hades for the story and the characters, there is no reason not to — the story only moves forward when you play runs, and God Mode makes them faster. If you want the satisfaction of beating the game unaided, leave it off; the Mirror alone will get you there, just more slowly. The honest downside is that very high resistance hides mistakes, so the habits you learn under it (tanking hits instead of dashing) may not carry over if you later raise Heat.
Common mistakes
- Putting early Darkness into Deep Pockets or rarity talents. Survival first: Death Defiance and Greater Reflex make far more runs succeed than 10 extra Obols.
- Taking a boon from every god. A run with two focused gods is stronger than one with five unrelated boons. The boon build guide explains which pairs work.
- Staying on one weapon. Bounties are paid per weapon, so switching weapons is how you earn Titan Blood, Diamonds and Ambrosia.
- Dying with Obols in your pocket. They are lost on death. Spend them in the last shop.
- Never giving Nectar. The first gift always returns a keepsake, and keepsakes are free power.
- Entering a Chaos Gate at low health. The health cost and the curse that comes first can end a weak run.
- Using Poms on boons that cannot level. Duo, Legendary, Hermes and Chaos boons do not gain levels; put Poms on your main damage boon.
Related guides
Once you can reach Elysium regularly, the details matter more: best boons and builds, weapon aspects and Titan Blood, and the Mirror of Night and Heat guide for what comes after your first escape. For whether the game is worth your time, read the Hades review.
★Honest Take: the first escape is a resource problem, not a skill wall
What surprises most new players is how much of the first escape is decided at home. Two ranks of Death Defiance, an extra dash, a health keepsake and fountain chambers turn a run that died in Elysium into one that reaches Hades with lives to spare. Skill matters, but the game deliberately lets resources make up the difference. The weak point is that Hades explains little of this: the Mirror's order, the meaning of the door icons and the per-weapon bounties are all left for you to discover. And reaching Hades is not the end — the story continues well past the first escape. If you only want that story, God Mode is a legitimate way to get it, not a defeat.
