Hades: Final boss - Temple of Styx - boss, how to defeat Hades guide, tips

This page of the Hades game guide contains the description of the duel with the final boss from the Styx Temple biome. We tell you how to prepare for the fight and how to defeat Hades.

Last update: 31 August 2021

On this page of the Hades game guide, you will find a walkthrough of the final boss battle in the Temple of Styx biome. The following guide explains how to unlock the passageway guarded by Cerberus, how to prepare for the battle against Hades, what attacks the final boss has at his disposal and how to deal damage to Hades in the two main stages of the battle.

• The final boss in the Temple of Styx - general information
• Hades - the first stage of the battle
• Hades - the second stage of the battle

The final boss in the Temple of Styx - general information

 

The final boss of the game is the eponymous Hades that resides in the Temple of Styx. Compared to the bosses in the previous three biomes, the option to face him in battle is unlocked quite differently. When you reach the Temple of Styx for the first time, you will discover that Cerberus is guarding the passage to the boss' location.

 

You don't have to fight Cerberus. Instead, you will need to get the Satyr Snack in one of the chambers of the Temple of Styx (be prepared to explore 3 or 4 of the 5 available chambers). You will need to bring this object to Cerberus and the huge animal will come down from the bridge and allow you to venture towards Hades' whereabouts. You can immediately proceed to the final showdown or you could remain in the temple for a while longer and perform other optional activities.

Preparing for the final fight is key and you will be able to make your final purchases in the central area of the Temple of Styx, where you will find Charon's shop, except that it will be larger than usual. Most of the items in Charon's shop are unfortunately very expensive and you have to face the fact that you may be unable to afford them if you haven't been saving up gold through all or most of the game.

Important note - our boss fight guide mainly focuses on listing Hades' attacks and providing general tactics to use during the fight. It's impossible to post a step-by-step description of how to defeat the final boss, because the game is highly randomised and each encounter is at least somewhat unique. This is affected by factors such as weapon choice, the boons and upgrades that you found or purchased, the weapon aspects and abilities you unlocked, and the length of your health bar and regeneration ability.

Hades - the first stage of the battle

 

One of the most difficult factors during the game's final battle is that you must reduce the final boss' health bar to zero twice. The two stages of the final battle differ in the unique attacks used by Hades, although they also have many aspects in common.

Hades will use a giant spear to perform basic attacks. One of Hades' most frequent attacks is a powerful spear thrust.

 

Much more dangerous are the spear-spinning attacks. They have a very large range. If you use a ranged weapon or, for example, the Eternal Spear, then you will have a lot of time to move away from the boss before he launches this attack. In case you are using, for example, the Stygian Blade or the Twin Fists, you have to be much more careful and start to escape (dash away!) as soon as the boss indicates said attack.

 

Hades often shoots Zagreus with skulls and you will need to try and protect yourself by quickly dashing to the side.

If he gets hit by the skull, you will receive the Boiling Blood debuff. It causes the character to receive double damage for a certain amount of time. It's a good idea to move away from the boss and completely avoid fighting while waiting for the status to end. Otherwise, you can very easily lose huge chunks of health.

 

If the skull misses, then it will remain in the arena and the countdown to its detonation will begin. We recommend destroying the skulls, as their explosions cause shock waves. You have to dash flawlessly to avoid colliding with the wave or accept taking some damage.

 

From time to time, Hades becomes invisible. You need to seek out footprints in the snow similar to those pictured above or simply dash around the arena a lot. The boss makes a big swing with his weapon as he becomes visible again and you should try to dash at least once before that happens.

 

You should have the opportunity to attack Hades each time he misses an attack. You will have more time to attack if you're fighting at range, because you won't have to get close to the boss again.

You can use any type of attacks - regular, special, casts and summons (if you have any available). Of course, it is worth starting with the attacks that allow your character to deal the most damage possible.

 

The boss is able to summon regular monsters to the battle arena and for the duration of this action, he will become temporarily invincible. You can try to eliminate Hades' minions, but keep in mind that many of them will be wearing armor and therefore killing them won't be easy.

Alternatively, you can just dash more often and keep trying to focus on the main opponent.

Hades - the second stage of the battle

 

You will proceed to the second stage of the fight once Hades loses all of his health for the first time. An additional, optional conversation might occur at this point. The boss' entire health bar will regenerate and you'll have to lower it to zero again.

 

The boss' most critical new attack is launching wide beams of energy. Moreover, this attack will gain strength as the fight continues, i.e. more and more beams will appear.

Try to hide behind indestructible obstacles, but keep in mind that the beams are moving and it may be necessary to change your positioning to avoid getting hit.

 

The boss' second main attack is summoning green vases onto the arena. If any of them is destroyed (this can also be caused by the boss' attacks), then a green stain will appear on the ground with the hands of the dead sticking out. You must avoid these, because if you come into contact with them, you will take damage and become temporarily stunned.

It might be a good idea to intentionally destroy the vases from a safe distance, for example, by using ranged attacks, casts or area of effect summons. This will make it easier for you to continue moving freely around the arena.

 

Hades' final new attack is executing a series of swings with his spear. The safest thing to do in this situation is to move away from the area of the boss' attack. Look for an opportunity to attack him as soon as he completes this sequence.

 

After learning all of the boss' new moves, you just need to continue slowly chipping away at his hit points and counter all of his unique attacks correctly (including those "returning" from the first stage of the battle). This will allow you to achieve the sought-after victory.