The title currently showing the world how well indie games can sell, Hades, has actually been around for quite a while. The title was released into Early Access back in December 2018 and was actually “locked” to the Epic Game Store for an entire year.

That said, this Greek Mythos roguelike masterpiece has been out on Switch since September and even longer on Steam. There has been plenty of time for people to get good at efficiently cleaning out mobs of enemies, maximizing movement to save time, and even blitzing through boss fights in less than a minute. For those feeling up to the challenge of speedrunning Hades, it’s actually quite easy to start if someone has a hefty save file they built up by escaping the underworld plenty of times. If not, there are 100 percent saves available for download.

Updated August 27th, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: Hades was always a very popular speedrunning game, even from its Early Access days. And, that still applies nowadays, with YouTubers and Streamers still constantly coming out with new World Record attempts, tier lists on which Boons or Weapon Aspects are the best, and more.

Additionally, Hades Speedrunning is pretty approachable for new people too, especially compared to a lot of other games, thanks to its enjoyable combat and design based around replayability. So, with the game recently releasing on all modern consoles as well as the Xbox Game Pass, we figured it was as good a time as any to take another look through the most well-known speedrunning tips and let you know all about them.

12 Versatility Matters

Sure you can run certain “seeds” in Hades where you’ll test it beforehand and see what your Boon handouts will be. But, even then, there are still a lot of variables in Hades that might require you to switch up Zag’s build on the fly.

If you can’t adjust to a necessary Daedalus Hammer Upgrade or specific Boon not showing up, then you’re going to run into some trouble both speedrunning Hades and just enjoying it in general.

11 Learn About Dodge Chance & Use It Well

The Dodge Chance stat in Hades is often massively undervalued by casual players, but the hardcore veterans and speedrunners know just how useful pumping this buff can be. Basically, Dodge Chance works like you would think it does, when you get hit you have a certain chance to avoid the damage being applied, based on your current Dodge Chance percentage.

That said, even though there are quite a few ways to increase Dodge Chance through the use of the Lambent Plume Keepsake, the Twin Fists of Malphon, some of Hermes Boons, and the Ruthless Reflex Mirror of Night ability, you can never really get “100 percent Dodge Chance”. The game might say you have 100+ Dodge Chance, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible, as there seems to be some sort of hard cap to it in the code of the game. Still, it’s a stat you’ll want to become very familiar with if speedrunning Hades seems like a fun thing to try.

10 Figure Out How Hades’ Seed & Give Up Option Works

First and foremost, potential speedrunners need to know how “Seeds” work in Hades. Hades is a roguelike, and like most other games in that genre, it means that a lot of its mechanics are randomized per run. From the layout of each chamber to the rewards after each Encounter, every run of Hades is widely different unless players lock in a “Seed.”

Normally, in other games that use “Seeds”, you could just enter the code associated with your run to generate the exact same variables again and again. But, why would you do this? Well, if, for example, you have a ridiculously lucky run but don’t think that you’ll make it all the way through due to some early mistake, you can use the “Give Up” option in Hades’ pause menu and return to the Courtyard outside Zagreus’ room without resetting the run’s Seed and, therefore, its rewards.

9 Memorize What Boons Are Required For Other Boons To Appear

Using Duo Boons or Legendary Boons is kind of mandatory for a decent speedrun. In fact, most if not all of the most overpowered builds for Zagreus have either a Duo or Legendary Boon at their core. But, in order for either of these Boon-types to show up, you have to fulfill certain prerequisites:

Picking a build, a favorite Legendary Boon, or a favorite Duo Boon means that you should probably memorize or keep nearby a list of what their prerequisites are so that you can manipulate the game as much as possible to get these ungodly powerful Boons to show up all the time.

8 Personal Weapon Preference Still Matters

Hades is one of those rare games where personal preference can still play a big part, even in speed runs. Some games have a 100 percent ironclad way to speedrun them and using any other method is worthless. But, Hades has so many variables at play that an Adamant Rail speedrun run can sometimes be twice as fast as a Stygian Blade run and vice-versa, especially keeping the game’s Aspect system in mind.

Don’t throw personal preferences such as favorite Keepsakes, Boons. or Companions out the window when running Hades, as there’s no need. Though, that said, some Weapon Aspect and Boon combinations are still leaps and bounds above the rest.

7 Pause As Soon As Room Reward Preview Pops Up

To sum this one up quickly, if the game is paused, the timer stops. Therefore, speedrunners should pause Hades as soon as the room rewards appear after a room is cleared in the little glass bubbles above the doors leading to the next Encounter.

Learning how to do this frame-perfect and using it often does actually give you a ton more time to think about your path going forward in a run and also helps keep the pressure off so you don’t accidentally take the Daedalus Hammer door when you meant to take the Boon one.

6 Thanatos Rooms Are Better Than You’d Think

Now, it might seem like Hades’ “special” chambers ruin speed runs, but they don’t. The clock actually pauses for many different activities, such as when Zagreus fishes (something he’s surprisingly good at), during a Survival Room, or in the little rest areas between two Biomes where Zag can peruse the Well of Charon or switch Keepsakes.

It pauses during Thanatos Rooms as well, meaning these rooms are actually a Godsend rather than a curse since they still technically count as an Encounter leading up to the boss room. It is pretty easy to out-kill Thanatos (most of the time), and if Zag beats him, he’s rewarded with a Centaur Heart on top of the reward the room already promised ahead of time.

5 Never Go Higher Than Extreme Measures +2

Extreme Measures is a Pact of Punishment option where players can get some extra Heat increase in exchange for making the bosses of each biome harder (The Fury Sisters, Lernie, Theseus/Asterius, and Hades). With each rank up, Extreme Measures adds an additional mechanic or aspect to each boss fight, starting with the Fury Sisters and continuing from there. In order:

So, if you’re trying to speedrun with a certain amount of Heat enabled, keep Extreme Measures at +2, as the +3 and +4 levels are just never worth it, no matter how good you think you are.

4 Forced Overtime +2 Isn’t Worth It, But +1 Just Might Be

Forced Overtime is another Pact of Punishment option, but this one is risky even on its lowest settings. What does turning it on increase exactly? Well, the overall speed of the enemies by about 20 percent and 40 percent depending on the level. This increase applies to a lot of things, such as

While it sounds like making enemies spawn faster would save a lot of time, Hades is already chaotically fast-paced, even more so with the Pact of Punishment, and this is just a step too far.

A lot of enemies are just straight up twice as hard to kill with a 40 percent speed increase or have attacks that you almost have to start trying to dodge before they even start using them. The 20 percent increase at Forced Overtime’s first rank is doable and even recommended for speed runs, but the 40 percent increase is not.

3 If Trove Rooms Are Annoying, Use The Tight Deadline Heat Option

The last thing we’ll be talking about specific to the Pact of Punishment is Tight Deadline, an option that is basically catered for speedruns. Essentially, with every level of Tight Deadline:

A time requirement to beat each Underworld Region, starting at nine minutes and adding an additional five minutes whenever you reach a new biome. Every rank increase decreases that initial nine-minute timer by two minutes. When that timer runs out, Zagreus starts taking consistent damage per second, and that damage is pretty sizeable too.

The timer pauses during most actions where the game’s innate timer pauses as well, such as when Zagreus is picking a boon, fishing, or in a non-combat NPC room such as Sisyphus’, Patroclus’, or Eurydice’s. So it’s safe to say that this is a pretty harsh Pact of Punishment option (though the first rank is pretty generous). And, for their own safety, speedrunners seem to keep it on Rank Two maxed.

But, the neatest feature of this option isn’t the timer or even the Heat increase, it’s the fact that while enabled, those Trove Rooms where Hades sends infinite enemies after you for a set amount of time, will no longer appear. These Encounters were always annoying, and they’re actually pretty insanely difficult depending on what Pact of Punishment modifiers you have enabled, so it’s good that there’s an option that just straight up takes them out of the possible variables.

2 Count Those Chambers To The Next Boss Fight

While there are a ton of variables in Hades and many properties are randomized in each and every run, there are still some consistencies players can rely on. One big consistency is the number of Chambers until the boss. Typically,

This isn’t counting Chaos rooms, as well as a few other specific situations, but for the most part, this number is ironclad.

Therefore, it is important to count your completed chambers so that you can accurately make decisions anticipating the upcoming boss fight. You don’t want to grab a Chaos Boon that hurts you for dashing right before the big fight against Megara, right?

1 Figure Out A Build & Stick To It

Lastly, decide on a build. As Hades is a very versatile game, players should know what they’re aiming for during a speed run. If someone’s using the fists, it’s probably a good idea to look for Zeus boons or use Demeter ones for backup. Using the Poseidon Aspect of the Stygian Blade? Buff that Cast and pray you get Artemis’ Exit Wounds Boon.

Figuring out a build ahead of time, grinding out the Nectar to get the right Keepsakes, and learning which Boons are great on which weapons are so useful for a Speedrun. Luckily, we have a guide that does just that! This is sort of the opposite recommendation from being Versatile, in that we’re recommending players know their builds ahead of time, what to look out for, and how to manipulate the game to make that build a possibility.

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