• Guide

How to get the fishing rod - Hades 2

How to unlock the rod of fishing and cast a line.

Josh Broadwell

May 23, 2024 7:35 PM

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Fishing in Hades 2 is your ticket to more bones, and lots of them, without having to do much extra or pick a weapon you don’t really want to use. The downside is that you won’t unlock the fishing rod for a while. Unlike Zag’s rod, you have to put in a bit of work for this one.

Our Hades 2 fishing guide explains how to get the fishing rod and what to do with all those fishies once you’ve got them.

Hades 2: How to unlock the fishing rod

Melinoe’s fishing rod is one of the tools you can unlock from POOL OF NIGHT, but unlike every other tool, its unlock requirements include bronze. Getting bronze is a process in itself, one that takes you through the Underworld multiple times and aboveground to the City of Ephyra.

After you first encounter Hermes in the Underworld, a chain of events unfolds where Melinoe speaks with Hecate about traveling to the surface. Melinoe comes up with an incantation – Permeation of Witching-Wards – and once you have everything for that, you can break through the wards leading up and reach the surface.

The process of unlocking the incantation may take several runs through the Underworld. Just keep speaking with Hecate, Hermes, and – when he shows up at the Crossroads – Charon, and it’ll eventually show up.

You’ll need seeds from a Chaos portal, so prioritize the pick during your runs.

Things get a bit tricky on the surface. Melinoe can’t survive for long, not until completing another incantation – Unraveling a Fateful Bond – so you’ll have to rush to complete the first two encounters. Once you’re inside the walls of Ephyra, you may encounter some bronze deposits. They’re pretty rare in my experience, so make sure to prioritize the pick before heading up.

With bronze in hand, you can finally unlock the fishing rod. Fishing just involves pressing the tool button at a fishing spot and waiting for the bobber to fully submerge for a quick second. Press the button again, and Poseidon’s your uncle.

Hades 2: Where to fish

You can fish anywhere there’s a ripple in the water. Most regions have at least one location with a fishing spot, and if you’re concerned about missing them, you can use the Reagent Sensing incantation to make the game point a fishing spot out to you. Prioritize the fishing rod before starting a run if you really want to make sure you find a spot.

If you use the Rite of River-Fording incantation, Melinoe will restore the Crossroads’ fishing pier. Like the Taverna, this area exists to improve your relationships with other characters. You’ll need Twin Lures – bought from the Wretched Broker or found during Underworld runs – to invite another character, and fishing with them unlocks a nice little story scene.

So far, we’ve been able to invite these characters along:

• Moros
• Hecate
• Odysseus
• Nemesis

Hades 2: What to do with fish

The only thing you can do with fish – in Hades 2’s early access version, anyway – is sell them to the Wretched Broker for bones. You can a pretty decent amount for each fish, up to 30 bones depending on how rare the scaly lil’ thing is, so it’s an excellent way to supplement your bone income without giving up potentially important reagents.

The cat familiar will fish for you, and give you an extra death defiance charge, so make sure to be kind to them when you encounter them in Erebus and the Rift of Thessaly.

If you're after more Hades 2 help, check out our Hecate boss guide and Scylla boss guide, and take a glance at our picks for the best Keepsakes to make your runs a little easier.

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.