Hades: tweak recommendations

Suggestions for how to play Hades, an excellent single-player roguelike game.

published 2023-Aug-25, updated 2024-Feb-16

This post is about the game Hades by Supergiant Games, and how to enjoy it better. Link: on Steam.

Things to Know

Hades can be hard. Believe in yourself. You'll get better, and then a lot better.

Failing is okay. Failing is good. Failure is success.

Seemingly-insurmountable bosses become easier with experience and practice.

An incomplete run is still a successful run. It rewards you with various forms of progress:

Guides

First off, I recommend the official Discord server for Hades / Supergiant Games. The link is available in the game's main menu! There are dedicated channels for Hades discussion, with many helpful people, and useful pinned guides.

I found the following extremely informative and helpful: link. Advanced players should also read the following: link.

Speedhacks

Hades can be very fast-paced. When you're uncomfortable with its speed, or simply want a closer look at the movements for training purposes, it's useful to slow the game down via slowhacks. Hades also has some unskippable sequences which you can fast-forward by speedhacking. Read my post on speedhacking for how-to.

Macros

Some weapons and aspects are significantly easier with macros. All suggestions below are for gamepads. You can also adapt this for KBM.

I suggest using Steam Input to reconfigure your gamepad for Hades. Steam automatically "hooks up" to any gamepad, enabling additional functionality: global for desktop control, local for any given game. It allows to remap arbitrary keys, create button chords, macros, and more. Some gamepad manufacturers also provide their own software which can do similar things.

Different macros are suited for different weapons and builds. I recommend creating different profiles for different weapons. In Steam Input, this can be done via Action Set Layers or Action Sets. Configure hotkeys for switching between those.

Macro: Auto Dash

While held, repeat dash. Suggested interval: 300ms. Can safely replace the normal dash key.

Reduces button wear and tear. Reduces finger strain. Makes dash-attack spam easier and more consistent. Makes general movement easier.

When using the hidden aspect of the fists, I suggest switching to a config without this macro. The aspect has its own built-in auto-dash, with a different cadence.

Macro: Auto Attack

While held, repeat attack. Suggested interval: 32ms. Can be combined with Attack Reload on the same key.

Useful for the sword, spear, and shield. On the sword, this is like Flurry Slash. On the spear, this is like Flurry Jab. Those hammers are still useful because they also make your attacks faster.

Macro: Attack Reload

Attack, tiny delay, reload. Suggested delay: 64ms. Can be combined with Auto Attack on the same key.

Useful for Aspect of Hestia, without requiring an additional key if you already have Auto Attack. The delay is chosen to allow one non-empowered shot before the reload, if the weapon was not already empowered. Feel free to reduce it. Empowered shot executes regardless of delay.

See Dash Attack Reload Dash for even more powerful Hestia action.

Macro: Dash Attack

Dash, tiny delay, attack. Suggested delay: 50ms.

Useful for the bow (any aspect) and the sword (Aspect of Nemesis). Allows to consistently execute dash-attacks with one key. Significantly easier than timing two keys together. On other weapons, I prefer to combine Auto Dash with Auto Attack.

Set dash activation to "start press" rather than "regular press", which allows to dash-out early by hitting the normal dash key.

Macro: Attack Dash

Attack, tiny delay, dash. Suggested delay: somewhere between 50ms and 200ms, depending on the weapon. Enough to avoid a dash-attack.

Can be useful for Merciful End on weapons where a single dash-attack only applies Doom and fails to trigger Merciful End via Divine Dash. In my experience, the sword tends to behave this way. On weapons where a single dash-attack applies Doom and triggers ME, spamming dash-attacks is better. See Auto Dash and Auto Attack.

Macro: Dash Attack Reload Dash

Dash, delay, attack, delay, reload, delay, dash. Suggested delay: 50ms between each action. In Steam Input, this means increasing "fire delays": 50ms, 100ms, and so on.

Improved version of Attack Reload, specialized for Aspect of Hestia. Ensures that each shot is a dash-attack, triggering Hyper Sprint for Rush Delivery, and benefitting from dash-attack boons such as Chaos' Lunge and Artemis' Hunter Dash. Ensures that you always cancel the reload animation by dashing, keeping you safe.

The delays in the macro also allow you to turn towards an enemy for the shot, then quickly turn away for the subsequent dash.