Hades 2: 10 Best Arcana Cards

Summary

• There's nothing like having an extra life, and the card Eternity will give you that.
• The Wayward Son and The Titan will boost your health and magic, which is always welcome.
• Do you want Duo Boons? The Queen will give you a hand with that.

One of the first combat features you may come across in Hades 2 is the Arcana Cards, activated by the ash you collect in your journey to the Underworld and the House of Hades. A few cards, such as Cinders, require the prizes dropped by the guardians.

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It might be tempting to activate all of the best Arcana Cards at once, but to do so you need to get your hands on some Grasp. The more Grasp you have, the more Arcana Cards you can activate. Until then, you need to pick and choose the best cards to give you the best chances of success.

The following contains spoilers for Hades 2. Given that the game is in Early Access, some details may be subject to change.

10 The Wayward Son

The Second Arcana Card

If you find that you’re getting hit a lot as you battle your way down into the Underworld, you might want to consider investing in the Wayward Son card. This card is relatively cheap too, only costing a single Grasp. For every location you exit, you gain two health - if your life is lower than 30 percent, you gain twice that.

Although two health may not seem like a lot, it can help keep you going, and, over time, it does add up to make a significant difference.

9 The Titan

The Seventh Arcana Card

The Titan is a simple Arcana Card, but it should be one of the first that you aim for. This card grants you a 20 health boost and a 20 magic boost. Both of these will stick with you for as long as you have the card active.

If you apply some Moon Dust to this card to further upgrade it later on, then you can raise that boost significantly. The more health you have, the safer you will be, and the further into the Underworld and the House of Hades you can go.

8 Eternity

The Twelfth Arcana Card

Unless you’re really confident in your fighting skills, Eternity is probably one of the best Arcana Cards that you can get your hands on. Thankfully, you can also get this Arcana Card relatively early on. This card gives you a single death defiance, though it costs four Grasp to activate.

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If you upgrade it with Moon Dust, you can increase the number of Death Defiances you have readily available. Although a Death Defiance won’t heal you to full health, it may give you that extra push you need to see the death of Chronos.

7 The Centaur

The Thirteenth Arcana Card

As soon as you’ve beaten Hecate and have managed to claim a Cinder, do not hesitate to unlock the Centaur card. This Arcana Card has a zero grasp requirement and automatically applies every five chambers, gradually increasing your health and your magick by three.

If you want any shot at being able to hunt down Chronos, this needs to be a priority Arcana Card. If you apply Moon Dust to this card, you increase the amount of health and magick gained to five. It all adds up over time - the more health you have, the more likely you are to see your family freed.

6 Strength

The Fifteenth Arcana Card

When you have the Strength Card activated, costing five Grasp, you can mitigate the damage that has been done to you. When your health is at 30 percent or less, you start to take 30 percent less damage and deal 30 percent more. Five Grasp for this card is definitely a high asking price, but it’s worth it.

During fights with the Guardians, if you don’t have the right Keepsake equipped, that mitigated damage can make or break your fight. Melione is all about strategic maneuvering, but sometimes a bit of brute force and a lucky card is all you need to prevail.

5 Excellence

The Nineteenth Arcana Card

Excellence is a pretty great Arcana Card to get your hands on early, given that it raises the chance of your boons being rare by ten percent. While that’s not the highest tier of rarity, anything and everything helps in the long run, and it’s certainly better than sticking with your common boons.

It does require five Grasp to activate, however, which is a pretty hefty cost. Thankfully, by the time you get to this point, you should have access to the Tablet of Peace, which makes gathering Grasp pretty quick and easy.

4 The Queen

The Twentieth Arcana Card

If you’re looking forward to testing out the Duo Boons then you needn’t look further than the Queen Arcana Card. Whenever possible, this card will give you a six percent chance of obtaining a Duo Boon. In order to activate this card - aside from needing no Grasp - you can’t have three or more activated Arcana Cards that use the same number of Grasp.

Once that condition has been met and you’ve unlocked the card with one Cerberus Tear and 40 Ash, you will be absolutely golden.

3 The Seer

The Twenty-First Arcana Card

For this Arcana Card, you’ll be granted two Changes of Fate. You can use these to change the room rewards before you enter. Once this Arcana is activated, it will automatically be applied, so you won’t need to gather up any Grasp to use it.

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The Seer is one of the few Arcana Cards that require you to have an extra ingredient aside from the Ash. For this Arcana, you'll need to get your hands on some Wool, which is only obtainable on the surface after you defeat Polyphemus.

2 Divinity

The Twenty-Fourth Arcana Card

Divinity will probably be one of the last cards you are able to get your hands on, but it’s worth going for. This Arcana Card allows you to increase the rarity of your boons, giving them a ten percent chance to be Epic. The only downside is that before you can get it, you’ll need to defeat Eris and claim the Golden Apple.

Unfortunately, Eris is probably one of the harder fights in the game, so it’ll be a notable challenge. Even still, it’s worth undertaking to make your fight against Chronos easier.

1 Judgment

The Twenty-Fifth Arcana Card

The Judgment Arcana activates three of your random, inactive Arcana Cards (without using up Grasp) every time you defeat a Guardian. It has a zero grasp requirement and is automatically applied every time you descend into the Underworld.

Of course, this wonderful, powerful Arcana Card has one serious caveat: to activate it, you need to have defeated Chronos at least once and claimed some “Z Sand,” aka Zodiac Sand. Once you get your hands on that sand, though, every other descent to the underworld should be a breeze.

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