• Guide

Hecate boss guide - Hades 2

Hades 2's Hecate boss fight is your witch training graduation ceremony.

Josh Broadwell

May 10, 2024 12:05 PM

1

The Hades 2 Hecate boss fight is your first big test in Supergiant’s roguelike game, but it’s a learning experience more than anything. Hecate is tough at first, though the fight also teaches you how to predict attacks and plan your movements to stay safe, knowledge that’ll make the next areas a bit easier to survive.

But first, our Hades 2 Hecate guide breaks down what you need to know to survive this fight, including Hecate’s attacks and the best boons for the job.

Hades 2 Hecate boss guide

The Hecate fight has three phases, though the witch’s attacks remain mostly the same in each.

• Staff strike: Hecate uses this when you’re near her. She waves her staves and generates two arcs of flame in front of her. You can dash behind her when the attack starts to avoid damage and land some extra hits
• Flame circle: Hecate sends a wave of flame in a large circle around her, and it retreats a second later. Remain outside the wave boundary to avoid damage, but follow it closely when it returns so you can land attacks before Hecate starts moving again
• Triple divide: Hecate creates two shade versions of herself, and the three witches will send forth flames. You can still damage the real Hecate – if you can find her.

Hecate first phase

Hecate’s first phase is fairly straightforward and sees the ruler of the Crossroads use her three basic attacks until you reduce her health by about one-third its maximum amount. Play it safe until you feel comfortable with Hecate’s patterns and how to escape her attacks. Once you’ve got it down, though, you should rush in and unleash as many strikes as you can.

Hecate second phase

Hecate kicks this phase off by summoning an impenetrable shield and about a dozen weaker witches. Hecate may fire spheres of magic at you, and the lesser witches will launch purple balls of energy at you. Dash around and defeat the witches to remove Hecate’s shield.

Hecate’s attacks remain mostly the same in the second phase. She may replace the flame circle or triple divide attacks with a stream of magic bullets.

This phase ends when you reduce her health down to roughly one-third of its total.

Hecate third phase

Hecate starts the final phase by turning you into a sheep and re-summoning her lesser witches. She fires a large magic orb at you, and as far as I’m aware, it’s impossible to escape. Sheep Melinoe moves slowly, can’t attack, but can dash. Hecate sometimes uses a cast of her own and creates a magic circle that explodes after a few seconds, but after the fourth time I defeated her, she stopped using this attack.

Either way, don’t stop moving. You should have enough time to reach near the edge of the magic circle and dash before it explodes, and if you keep moving and dashing when the lesser witches attack, you should be able to finish this section unscathed.

Hecate switches things up a bit for the final section. She uses triple divide more frequently, and the three witches use the flame circle attack instead of firing magic bullets. Hecate will also fire a large wave of smaller flame arcs that return to her. They only fan out in front of her, so with some quick thinking, you can get behind her and attack while the magic is still active.

Best weapons for Hecate fight

Hecate is essentially a training ground, a way to familiarize you with Hades 2’s boss fights, so you can get by with any weapon once you know how to use it well. Hecate’s mix of ranged and up-close attacks means you’re never at a disadvantage, even with the Moonstone Axe.

Choose the Witch’s Staff if you want to play it safe. Its strong special and ranged omega attacks let you fight from afar without having to worry about Hecate’s flames getting too close. The Umbral Flames are a close second for this combat style, especially if you upgrade its already-powerful special.

The Sister Blades are my top pick for a speedy boss fight. Focus on Boons that upgrade your regular attacks, dash in, attack as often as possible, and retreat when Hecate strikes back. You’ll need to pay closer attention to her attack cues and find safe spots, but clearing the fight in half the time makes it worth the risk once you’re comfortable enough to try.

Best Boons for Hecate fight

Most Boons work well for this first boss battle. Aphrodite’s weakness-inflicting Boons are solid picks if you’re taking too much damage from Hecate. Most of Hephaestus’ Boons are useful as well, especially:

• Smithy Sprint: Causes small explosions when you sprint (good match with Sister Blades)
• Volcanic Strike: Attacks cause explosions that deal 200 damage
• Volcanic Flourish: Special creates a blast that deals 400 damage in an area

My best run against Hecate happened with a combination of Artemis’ Boons that mark an enemy, Hestia’s scorch-causing boons – any will do, though Flame Strike is the easiest one for stacking scorch quickly – and Demeter’s Arctic Ring made short work of the seasoned witch.

Best keepsakes for Hecate fight

You probably won’t have any keepsakes the first few times you face Hecate, since Nectar – the means by which you unlock keepsakes – only becomes available after you set out half a dozen times or so. Later on, though, these should help give you a bit of an edge.

Odysseus’ Knuckle Bones is our top pick for the Hecate fight and, if you can swap keepsakes later in a run, before entering any region whose Guardian is troubling you. Knuckle Bones shaves the next Guardian’s HP down by five percent and makes Melinoe take 15 percent less damage.

Hecate’s own Silver Wheel is another good choice. It restores your magic a set number of times. It’s useful if you have Boons that upgrade Melinoe’s omega attacks and can help make the fight go a little faster. That said, you really don’t want to use many of its charges this early fight unless you’re having a difficult time dealing with the headmistress.

If you lose to Hecate, consider taking Nemesis’ Evil Eye with you the next time, as it increases the damage you deal to the enemy who last defeated you. It’s also useless for the rest of the run, but hey, at least you made it past Hecate.

If you're after more Hades 2 help, check out our Hades 2 beginner guide and list of all the Hades 2 Arcana cards you can unlock.

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.