The best keepsakes in Hades 2 do more than just give you a fancy skill or keep you from dying at the right moment. They change how you approach some of the roguelike game’s toughest battles and give you the means to overcome challenges you might’ve been stuck on for ages. Your cabinet has a lot of room for curios, but our Hades 2 keepsake guide breaks down which ones are worth your time (in no particular order).
Luckier Tooth (Schelemeus)
Luckier Tooth is essentially a free Death Defiance, only it works even better than Death Defiance and doesn’t use any of your Defiance charges. When your HP falls to zero, Luckier Tooth kicks in and revives you with 51 HP. That’s a pretty substantial amount of HP – one more than you start most runs with – and more than you get from regular Death Defiance. Definitely consider taking this one when you’re up against a new boss for the first time.
Silken Sash (Arachne)
Arachne’s sash gives you a small bit of armor protection when you start a run. If you exit a location with at least one armor intact, you get +2 armor when you enter the next location, and if not, you just get +1 again. Whatever armor effect you have intact also stacks with any additional Arachne clothes you might get if you meet the itsy bitsy weaver in Erebus.
The Silken Sash might not seem like much in your first handful of locations, but if you play cautiously, it’s an excellent way to end up with a lot of armor. That means you stay alive longer, even when you make mistakes.
Knuckle Bones (Odysseus)
Odysseus’ Knuckle Bones make an excellent pick for the early- and mid-game in particular. This keepsake reduces how much damage you take from Guardians by 15 percent and makes all Guardians start a battle with five percent less health than normal. Those sound like playground numbers, but every little bit helps. More importantly, they get higher as the keepsake’s rank goes up.
Sure, it’s basic, but it helps get the job done.
Silver Wheel (Hecate)
Hecate’s Silver Wheel is an excellent boon, though it’s easy to overuse it on accident. The Silver Wheel restores your magick after a second or two, and it has a cap on how much you can replenish in one run. That cap increases each time the keepsake’s rank increases. That deep pool of magic means you can use omega attacks without really having to think about it – and that’s sometimes a bad thing. Using too many omega attacks early means you’re out of metaphorical magic juice later.
It’s less of a problem once you unlock the option to swap keepsakes, though. You can just grab it from the cabinet after defeating a Guardian.
Aromatic Phial (Narcissus)
Aromatic Phial isn’t quite as useful all the time as some of the other keepsakes we’ve listed, but it certainly comes in handy if you often find yourself worse for wear after a boss fight – and once you unlock safe rooms for each zone. Narcissus’ little present increases the amount of HP a healing well restores, bumping it up to 20 percent. That oughta keep you on your feet in the next zone.
Ghost Onion (Dora)
Ghost Onion is Dora’s version of Hecate’s Silver Wheel, but with a much lower starting cap. It restores your HP when you leave a location, with a starting cap of 50, which, if you get hit a lot, is probably not going to last long until you raise the keepsake’s rank. Also like with Hecate’s Silver Wheel, you can get around this issue by picking it up later in a run from a keepsake cabinet.
Engraved Pin (Moros)
Moros’ keepsake is excellent, with a pretty big caveat. It brings you back to life if you reach zero HP and restores your health to 30 – if you manage to clear a location of all enemies within 10 seconds of the keepsake activating. You’re impervious to damage during that 10 seconds, but it’s still a pretty big ask. It’s also just not a feasible way of protecting yourself from Guardian bosses.
What about Boon keepsakes?
Boon keepsakes kind of live in a category on their own. They aren’t awful by any means, but which one is best really depends on what build you’re aiming for. If you like scorch, keep Hestia’s boon around for at least one region, and the same with Poseidon and the rest. You can rarely go wrong with a Zeus or Demeter boon, so if you’re angling for a strong start to a run, snag one of those from your cabinet before heading into Erebus.
You might even get lucky and have a chance to upgrade their rarity.
If you're after more Hades 2 help, check out our Hades 2 beginner guide and list of all the Arcana cards you can activate, handy for any fight, even the early Hecate boss battle.
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replyJosh Broadwell posted a new article, Best keepsakes - Hades 2
