{RECOMMENDED} Hades Guides Compendium

# General

[Updated basics guide for the Any Heat category](https://docs.google.com/document/d/16aaLsNytmQFv9JCJN4huTzGqQAREDGezD_fkQe5b4Ms/edit) / [video format](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bxwSsTPubI) - overview for any heat by [SleepSoul](https://www.speedrun.com/users/SleepSoul)

[Chamber/Spawn Manipulation guide](https://zacharywebsites.wixsite.com/chamber-guide-3) - guide going over how to manipulate spawns in combat by [BIGP](https://www.speedrun.com/users/BIGPthegoat), [Oshimia](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Oshimia), and [02chewy](https://www.speedrun.com/users/02chewy). This version combines  [BIGP's chamber guide 2.0](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR6NaU9v1-raeibkl4jBOxsYyBGfwq6w9g-HvOkzEXFM9RaxKP9TSE1ZioMmR4p-taL-sQjFbcqOe2A/pub#h.fuo3m3i0n2cn) and [02chewy's chamber ID guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR8rJWvbKMTe5oRS5gkf7KHdTw5jkGHfy48UQIaWvGq_imjTCt9Sxrf6emKh2w4RH3m1Yd0oAjFrekE/pub)

[How to Aim and Use Meg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Iovk-sbe8) - video guide by [SatanIsAChillGuy](https://www.speedrun.com/users/SatanIsAChillGuy). Relevant to note the Asphodel witches meg in particular is outdated.
Link to Hades Speedrunning discord message with updated meg: [4 Witch Meg](https://discord.com/channels/940392249844465694/1232563075916234752/1232563075916234752)

[Hades Speedrunning Glossary](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FX-AqLhWwGBnnvH-wYkTQGKZkAOopEzv2efsMVfGH4U/edit?usp=sharing) -  aiming to document all* the abbreviations and jargon that our community likes to use. This is probably useful primarily as a resource for new runners, but even experienced runners might find something new in there. Compiled by [ananke](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Ananke), hell, [SleepSoul](https://www.speedrun.com/users/SleepSoul), [Museus](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Museus), Kalobi, and many others

# Weapon/Aspect specific

## Sword

[Sword](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GvdbSS3DrM0LHzZWWmWHt15Z87LFNUf-xUmH1_BMLps/edit?usp=sharing) - Sword weapon overview by [trash_lapras](https://www.speedrun.com/users/trash_lapras)

[Zagreus Sword](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJh38lkaq8c) - video format, Aspect of Zagreus overview by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

[Arthur Speedrun Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vIWO9-pGrs6_Ez2CHZQr_ICs7ViEybxavvtVAUwKMCU) - Guide to Aspect of Arthur sword by [Nalei](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Nalei)

## Spear

[Spear](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W2XyhC7JB1eZNtvHk0NrHl0F2vbN7om9BdNknkUUX34/edit) - Spear weapon overview by [trash_lapras](https://www.speedrun.com/users/trash_lapras)

[Achilles Spear](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eAOEli9KqJOVyPD7U-6D1o1yZx1tDMQWLDcMJr8G84E/edit) - Aspect of Achilles overview by [185](https://www.speedrun.com/users/185In)

[Achilles Spear Mechanical Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/18uZziGYDyVCwc-XgcveoY8MXp6Lwq0BD6xDV38cuYWo/edit#heading=h.pkvqdq6q4ms5) - An addendum to 185's guide by [CardDweeb](https://www.speedrun.com/users/CardDweeb). Covers more nuanced mechanical matters e.g. specific enemy clearing tips, flurry jab mechanics, etc.

[Achilles Spear explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg6gYNtzdng) - Video format, Aspect of Achilles overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

## Shield

[Beowulf Shield](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H7EOP28oyu6t8KrBEfnrN-dQc6H_ssvAyYz3C1O2JOI/edit) - Aspect of Beowulf overview by [Papertronics](https://www.speedrun.com/users/PaperTronics)

[Beowulf Boon Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B7qCbSaBgREflZ3Wm_5vXf95f8RLHwav-KbjUJifY0k/edit) - Guide to boon decision making on Beowulf by [kirrbyy](https://www.speedrun.com/users/kirrbyy)

[Beowulf Shield Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LI1QIsV7bg) - Video format, Aspect of Beowulf overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

[Zeus Shield Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdY7-xPn444) - Video format, Aspect of Zeus overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

## Bow

[Hera Bow](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IHgXN-_iYn3G2BWUJ05GSi0Qm4j4FsE0yPNM3stKpOE/edit) - Aspect of Hera overview by [Croven](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Croven) and [cgull](https://www.speedrun.com/users/c_gull)

[Hera Bow Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jMBdPF86nQ) - Video format, Aspect of Hera overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

[Rama Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/12I4fjG04we8_CoH9eeEXKQGcDJ37D6HW0PTNmWru0zA/view#heading=h.yeqba8orna5g) - Aspect of Rama guide by [scalarmotion](https://www.speedrun.com/users/scalarmotion)

[Rama Bow Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgYNG1JM-_s) - Video format, Aspect of Rama overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

[Zagreus Bow build path](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/jbgyr) - Aspect of Zagreus build path overview by [Oshimia](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Oshimia)

## Fists

[Ananke's Fists Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPvQPqeeFE--dGgK62iVHx6Gwy7c8trb75RkEd9uK0I/edit#heading=h.xevsj9s4pz8n) - In depth guide for *all* fists aspects by [Ananke](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Ananke) with help from [CherryDad](https://www.speedrun.com/users/CherryDad), [Drk](https://www.speedrun.com/users/DrkFrst), [HeckMayster](https://www.speedrun.com/users/heckmayster), [Tounis](https://www.speedrun.com/users/tounis), and [SleepSoul](https://www.speedrun.com/users/SleepSoul)

[A beginner's Guide to speedrunning Demeter fists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4tdISdlj5A) - Video format, Aspect of Demeter overview followed by narrated demonstration run by [HeckMayster
](https://www.speedrun.com/users/heckmayster)

[Gilgamesh Tech playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLADg6U0tUZq6db6bZgNBOSYehKl1aK9aU&si=-gtfdZFWa0Q1i9er) - video playlist demonstrating various Gilgamesh techniques/strats by [CherryDad](https://www.speedrun.com/users/CherryDad)

## Rail

[Wmic's Eris guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/13lSPIUsiJGr5vApeon6ayX9N4-UlvGHWrCGdYAxhvHM) (2023) - Aspect of Eris overview by [Wmic](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Wmic). The most modern Eris guide.

[Eris Rail](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12mccSl9SRsrval1qJO_UwIoyylflzbRU/view?usp=sharing) - Aspect of Eris overview by [Lili](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Lili). One of the earliest in-depth guides we have. It's a bit old but still a lot of good info here

[Hestia Rail](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1019DSLlyHwg7_oIiN3Il-NUYdHEbl783G7ZvstFSCD4/edit?usp=sharing) - Aspect of Hestia overview by [Zyruvias](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Zyruvias)

[Hestia Rail Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie5e_6fIFms) - Video format, Aspect of Hestia overview followed by a narrated demonstration run by [duunk0](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Duunk0)

# High Heat

Be sure to check the pinned posts in the #high-heat channel for more info.

[Extreme Measures 4 guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/126vagPhjSWQMR1x8O9tJT3neweSTdUUfw2pNVjqX7lU/edit#) - detailed guide by [NephiOH](https://www.speedrun.com/users/NephiOH)

# Fresh File

Be sure to check the pinned posts in the #fresh-file channel for more info.

[Hades Fresh File First Run Guide](https://scientific-paprika-b40.notion.site/Hades-Fresh-File-First-Run-Info-2d647029f5c34252acbd38ad5e54b221) - first run guide by [sofPOG/sophie](https://www.speedrun.com/users/sofPOG)

[Hades Fresh File First Run Combos Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oh9SzY6ATt3mlwUj5988XrEdepX1qhpEMwlWvUXcNA/edit?usp=sharing) - supplement to sophie's above guide with info on how to implement combos for efficiency etc by [Retr0Spektre](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Retr0Spektre)

[Fresh File guide [JP/日本語]](https://note.com/185in/n/n9db3c3838af8) - Fresh File guide in Japanese by [185](https://www.speedrun.com/users/185In)

[Fresh File To Credits Bow Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IDDsaoZ_DSCk2TMg8UjDB4RLXc7IKvL9t-2GM9q2nx0/edit) - Fresh File To Credits is a category where you need to clear 10 runs from a new save as quickly as possible. This is a guide aiming to clear FFTC with focus on the bow by [pseudonym7777](https://www.speedrun.com/users/pseudonym7777)

[Fresh File First Run 101](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXTIPUfkGR0) - video format by Pryde

[Fresh File Tips playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOfMZlvgJQzo6WFjC2SgbeyXsY7wwPEC9) - YouTube playlist by [Vorime](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Vorime)

[Fresh File In Depth Guide for Bow](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/ha5fo) - Fresh File bow guide by [Museus](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Museus)

[Fresh File In Depth Guide for not first run Sword](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/0oado) - non-first run Fresh File Sword guide by [Museus](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Museus)

# Routed

Be sure to check the pinned posts in the #routed-runs channel for more info.

[Introduction to routed runs](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/jxpkj) - overview by [Museus](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Museus) and [SatanIsAChillGuy](https://www.speedrun.com/users/SatanIsAChillGuy)

[Routed Speedrunning Basics - How to Run a Route](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHdt35TDvNY) - video form by [cgull](https://www.speedrun.com/users/c_gull)

[Overexplained Routed Speedrun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBRTQkoOZ4k) - real time overxplained of a routed run by [cgull](https://www.speedrun.com/users/c_gull)

# Game Mechanics

[Enemy HP, Armour, and Difficulty values used to determine spawn numbers](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M8uSUx4vW6TZHHb8z7SbGL4uWxcME7aB3LAIikfpmoM)

[Room Generation, Biome Depth](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSl9RGGyPbNqCnTLymtrjMTgj7GHwE5RFgKflncW_IXkALnzzzawtNdne5hhMDPM7SNN9I9Nhi-s2YK/pub) - Detailed information on which rooms can be offered at variable depths in a biome, and a primer on how room generation + room forcing for midshops/midbosses works.

[Probabilities, minimum biome depth, cooldown spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vR8OWqTyJ_EbqVTBomnBsjyntsFZU9XfCVAhj0tWXQaS2zOmdYeEme0vwpu72c7be0eopkRMzULZsdK/pubhtml) - Supplement to above room generation guide, Probabilities, minimum biome depths, and cooldowns for Chaos, Erebus, Well Shop, Purging Pools, and Infernal Troves on a per biome basis (with chamber 1 special case)

[Hades bugs and other unintuitive behavior](https://docs.google.com/document/d/12CDUZVhVIqKtDbQYPS1-4nZEm4pVQm4QG8BxHkquWDQ/edit) - collection of bugs, glitches, and other unintuitive behavior

# Peripherals

[Resources](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/resources) - tools, modpacks, game saves, splits, etc.

[Save File Information](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/uj036)

[Sub-6 Speedrunning sheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d56DvDTE8WvQsMRQFs1pLbNpMBHy2CLYss69EL-8bMU) - spreadsheet tracking sub-6 IGT speedruns

[Savestate Practice Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A0uXJiWNBY) - Video walkthrough to creating savestates by [Vorime](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Vorime)

[Streaming/Recording Runs](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/ac52u) - guide to streaming and recording your runs by [Museus
](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Museus)

[cpecific Hades Wiki](https://cpecific.github.io/hades-wiki/) - quick access wiki for boon/weapon info

[Hades Megasheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Py-bKw-IYzFqmsWvN1beBF4YEqU_vkVvB9F4OcVOdg8/edit#gid=0) - spreadsheet with info on boon/weapon stats, etc

[Introduction to Livesplit](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/tvxz3)

[Colorblind Mod - Installation and Configuration](https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/u2h9m)

[How To Separate Audio In OBS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxakQpzaBuw) - easy windows plugin for obs to split your game audio from spotify, discord, etc

Beginner Guide for Any Heat [TST]

Colorblind Mod - Installation and Configuration

The Colorblind Mod was created by PonyWarrior to improve accessibility for players with color blindness or other visual disabilities. It adds a colored outline to enemies to help with visibility and contrast. The color can be customized, and can even be different for each biome. This is the only mod currently legal to use for leaderboard runs, with the conditions that SpeedrunMode is enabled. More information on this setting is in the Configuration section.

# Installation

To get started installing the Colorblind Mod [download the .zip file here](https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/nrdoi). This will include the following files:

    -   Mods/ColorblindMod/
    -   Mods/ModUtil/
    -   modimporter.py

[A video tutorial on how to install mods is available from PonyWarrior here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0ij7MgOrI)

If you prefer text instructions, follow these steps:

If you don't already have Python installed, download it from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/) and install it.

Once you have downloaded the `ColorblindMod.zip` file, open up your Hades game directory. You can find this by launching Hades, then opening Task Manager, finding the Hades process, right-clicking on it, and selecting Open File Location.

Unzip the files into the `.../Hades/Content` folder. You should now have the standard folders such as `Scripts` and `Game` as well as a new folder called `Mods` and the `modimporter.py` script.

Run the `modimporter.py` script to install the mods, then load into your game. Whenever you want to uninstall the mods, simply delete the contents of the `Mods` folder, and run the `modimporter.py` script again.

# Configuration
Navigate to the `.../Hades/Content/Mods/ColorblindMod` folder and open "colorblind.lua" with Notepad or another text editor. At the top of the file, there will be a block of code that says


local config = 
{
    ExcludeTraps = true,
    ExcludeMiscs = true,
    -- Exclude very specific things like fury assists in the meg fight
    -- Also override ExcludeTraps and ExcludeMiscs to true
    SpeedrunMode = true,
}



For runs to be leaderboard-legal, these options must remain as they are. If you are not interested in submitting your runs:
    `SpeedrunMode` can be set to `false`, to outline the assisting Furies during the Extreme Measures 1 boss fight.
    If `SpeedrunMode` is disabled, `ExcludeTraps` can be set to `false` to outline traps.
    If `SpeedrunMode` is disabled, `ExcludeMiscs` can be set to `false` to outline pots.

Below that, there is another block of code:



local Outlines =
{
    -- Fallback if the biome name is somehow nil
    Default =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
    Tartarus =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
    Asphodel =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
    Elysium =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
    Styx =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
    -- Only for Greece, dad fight is in Styx
    Surface =
    {
        R = 50,
        G = 50,
        B = 255,
        Opacity = 0.8,
        Thickness = 1,
        Threshold = 0.6,
    },
}


This section can be configured to change the outline for each biome. It is recommended to leave Opacity, Thickness, and Threshold as they are. [RGB values can be tested here](https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_rgb.asp) and set for each biome. Default will only be used if something goes wrong, so there is no real need to change that color.

Começando Speedrun em Hades [PT-BR]

Texto original disponível em <https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/a4gee>


Feito por Jerds <https://www.speedrun.com/user/Jerds>


Tradução e adaptação por QueerVil <https://www.speedrun.com/user/QueerVil>

Aqui são informações de alto nível para você começar a fazer speedrun em Hades

----------------------
Iniciando
-----------------------
Você chegou no lugar certo para começar sua pesquisa!
Os primeiros passos são: Olhar speedruns da leaderboard, buscar as seções Resources, ler qualquer guia aqui. Pode conferir também #speedtech no Discord <https://discord.com/invite/zN7cc8Z>, ver speedrunners na Twitch.

Ultimamente, você precisará praticar a ir cada vez mais veloz e tentar gravar suas runs para sentir-se confortável.

Se você já tentou todas as opções acima e ainda assim tem perguntas, sinta-se livre para falar com os speedrunners nos chats ou o pessoal no Discord. A comunidade de speedrun de Hades é extremamente amigável e solidária.

-------------------------------
Gravando e Enviando Vídeos
-------------------------------

Todas speedruns que você gravar para envio aos leaderboards precisarão do vídeo completo da run, onde você mostra a vitória no fim da run.

1. Use programas gratuitos (como o OBS <https://obsproject.com/pt-br>)  ou um serviço de streaming para gravação de runs. Você pode cortar vídeos locais facilmente editando em softwares gratuitos como OpenShot ou Windows Photos

2. O vídeo deve ser configurado para estar numa plataforma permanentemente (por exemplo, YouTube, Twitch). "Transmissões recentes" na Twitch serão futuramente deletadas, então não serão aprovadas.

3. Faça o Timestamp do começo da run se for parte de um vídeo maior.

4. Não cubra informações vitais com a câmera. Não é necessário som na sua submissão, mas é preferido.

5. Usar LiveSplit <http://livesplit.org/downloads/> para mostrar os seus time splits e recordes é opcional para enviar runs, mas é uma ferramenta útil para gravar e melhorar seu tempo. É muito útil para a RTA (Real Time Attack - Categoria para o tempo real). Não há guia de como configurar LiveSplit nas lista de Guias

-----------------------------------------
Como são Seeds e como funcionam
-----------------------------------------

Uma seed é um estado inicial pré determinado para uma escapada. RNG para a sala começa a partir da 2ª sala.

1. A opção "Desistir" aparece no menu de pausa após levar dano numa sala. Desistir fará você retornar para a Casa de Hades, mas sua próxima run usará a mesma seed.

2. Morrer (ou vencer o Hades, que acaba levando a uma morte) gerará uma nova seed para sua próxima run

3. Categorias Unseeded  necessitam que você mostre sua morte ou vitória anterior antes de começar a próxima run. Isto confirma que uma seed aleatória está sendo usada.

4. Arquivos de Save para boas seeds são sempre postadas na categoria Resources na sidebar. Mods (assim como EllosStartingBoonSelector em NexusMods) podem ser usados para selecionar manualmente seeds

---------------------
Informações gerais
---------------------

1. IGT significa In Game Time (Tempo dentro do jogo), e você pode mostrar o timer através das configurações do jogo. Categorias como Any Heat usam IGT.

2. RTA significa Real Time Attack (Tempo real), que é uma medida de tempo real. Fresh File e a categoria All Weapons usam RTA. Runners frequentemente mostram, gravam e comparam seus tempos usando LiveSplit. Há um guia para configurar LiveSplit na seção de guias <https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guide/tvxz3>.

3. Qual é um bom tempo? Depende da categoria que você irá participar. Para Any Heat, comece tentando abaixo de 15 minutos no IGT. Se você deseja calcular o RTA para Any Heat (as a personal challenge or for race practice), tente por algo abaixo de 25 minutos. De qualquer forma, não há ponto de corte para qualquer tempo enviado na leaderboard. 
(QueerVil: Atualmente o recorde de IGT é de 5m27s, e o RTA é de 15m18s. Na minha humilde opinião, é melhor tentar nesses tempos mencionados para não se estressar tanto e ir cada vez diminuindo seu tempo.)

4. A “melhor arma” ou aspecto é usada para evoluir constantemente, e também é um aspecto de preferência pessoal (você precisa saber usar e se divertir). Se você conferir as leaderboards você pode ter uma boa indicação do que é usado melhor.

-------------------------
Ficando mais veloz
-------------------------

1. Pegue salas “grátis”! Cada Bioma tem um potencial de 3 salas gratuitas. A lojinha intermediária, que é quase sempre garantida, NPC ou salas de  História (Sísifo/Eurídice/Patroclus) ou uma fonte. Sempre que ver uma lojinha, você deve pegá-la. Toda vez que ver um NPC, pegue a sala. Fonte é uma sala com baixa probabilidade, mas se você pegar, poupará muito tempo. E você deve pegar Caos sempre que possível.

2. Cada câmera tem um valor de dificuldade baseado na profundidade do atual bioma. Cada inimigo vale uma certa quantidade de pontos, e inimigos aparecem até que esta quantidade de pontos da sala é preenchida. Salas de Elite tem um valor de dificuldade maior, porém elimina inimigos de baixo valor da jogada. Isso os torna mais rápidos na média, mas com sorte suficiente, salas normais tem o tempo mais rápido possível. 

3. Na Estige, sempre escolha a sala do Miniboss primeiro. Eles são incrivelmente rápidos, e poupam muito tempo ao contrário das salas normais. Para sua segunda escolha, pegue o outro miniboss, a não ser que uma sala normal esteja oferecendo uma benção que você realmente precisa. 

4. Cheque o Poço de Caronte sempre que o avistar. Achar a Luz de Ixion pode te poupar cerca de 20 a 30 segundos, especialmente no Elísio. Aumentos de dano são sempre ótimo, especialmente em build de Tiro. A diferença de apenas uma Trança ou Pedra de Prometeu faz com o Tiro seja perceptível após a compra.

5. Aprenda o que seu aspecto escolhido faz de melhor, e tenha certeza de tirar vantagem disso. Por exemplo, na Espada de Nêmesis, Lança de Aquiles, ou Canhão de Eris, mantenha seu buff ativo sempre que possível

6. Pausar quando tomar decisões (comprar na lojinha, escolha de salas) poupa muito tempo na categoria IGT.

7. Tenha certeza que você está fazendo algo concreto durante sua run, e não algo extremamente aleatório. Na maioria dos casos você quer pegar uma benção Lendária ou Duo, e depois uma secundária depois que você começa isso. Por exemplo, nos Punhos de Deméter, você irá querer pegar a benção Fim Misericordioso,com Reflexão Mortal como secundária.

8. Configuração do Espelho: Para novos runners, a configuração recomendada é: Presença Sombria, Vitalidade Ctônica, Desafio à Morte, Reflexo Maior, Sangue Fervente, Alma Infernal, Bolsos Fundos, Pele Grossa, Queridinho da Família, Vidência Obscura, Legado Divino, e Persuasão Destina.
Haverá diferenças dependendo da build ou nível de habilidade - como trocar Presença Sombria por Presença Ardente ou Pele Grossa por Alta Confiança.

(QueerVil: Tudo depende da arma que você irá utilizar, por exemplo, punhos necessita de uma build com Ares e Athena, que precisará de uma configuração diferente de espelho.)

9. Configuração de Calor: Medidas Extremas 2 faz com que a luta com Lernie fique mais rápida por conta das cabeças agrupadas. Horas Extras Forçada faz com que inimigos nasçam mais rápido, mas há um risco maior.. Quando for fazer categorias como All-Weapons ou races (que usam RTA) Prazo Apertado remove as câmeras de sobrevivência. Entretanto, em categorias com IGT há um benefício das câmeras de sobrevivências por conta da pausa no timer

10. Para companheiro(a), recomendamos Meg.

(QueerVil: O chamado da Meg é extremamente rápido e útil, ao contrário das outras)

Jerds agradece ShipGoSync, Museus7, Wriste13 pelas contribuições!

QueerVil agradece toda a comunidade de Speedrun do jogo Hades

Tradução feita dia 21/4/2021

Fresh File In-Depth Guide | Bow

The bow route uses a 3rd-run format, with some major departures from the old 3rd-run route. Namely, there is no darkness farm required, and you don’t use Stygius. In the best case scenario, this route might be able to reach times as low as 23 minutes, but we need to do some more testing to figure out just how fast it can go. Below is a guide in extreme detail on how to optimize your preparation for the run.

# Sword Technique

Because we are only going to be using the Sword for the very beginning of Tartarus, this section will not be a complete guide on Sword. 

There are 3 main attacks that we will be using on the Sword: Special, Cast, and Dash-strike. These can be tied together in various combinations depending on which enemy you are facing. 

 - Special -> Dash-strike -- This is the OG sword combo. It is fast, mobile, and will deal 80 damage in a very short amount of time.
 - Cast -> Dash-strike -- This is the new and improved sword combo. It still does 80 damage, but it does it even faster.
 - Cast -> Dash-strike -> Special -> Dash-strike -- This combo will very quickly tear down a Thug.
 - Special -> Cast -> Dash-strike -- I use this combo a lot. It adds almost no extra time to your Special -> Dash-strike combo, but it almost doubles the damage output.

At all times, make sure you are keeping track of where you’re going next. At the end of your combos, your dash is going to be on cooldown. Few things are as annoying as realizing you’re on the wrong side of the room and your single dash is on cooldown.

# Bow Technique

With the increased damage and reduced recovery time that Bow got in 1.0, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

There are 3 attacks that we use on the Bow: Dash-strike, Special, and Cast. Here are some tips on how to use them effectively:

 - Special does the most damage when you shotgun the enemy. A great way to use this attack is to stand directly next to a summoning circle, and special as soon as the enemy is vulnerable. Preferably, shoot them in the back, as it does significantly more damage - especially with Exposed.
 - Dash-strikes do less damage per hit, but are far more mobile and charge faster. Try to Power-Shot as much as possible.
 - Your Special has a short cooldown before you can use it again. To get the most damage you’ll want to alternate dash-strikes and specials as quickly as possible. Stay as close to the enemy as you can, and just keep the combo going.
 - If you have a cast with some damage on it, like Athena or Aphrodite, use it whenever you can to apply Exposed/Weak.


# Run 1

## Chamber 1
Dash as quickly to the door as possible. You will want to time your dashes - mashing the dash button wastes a lot of time and energy. You’ll want to dash somewhere around 95-105bpm. [Check your timing on this website](https://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm), and then practice in-game until you do not miss any dashes. With perfect timing, you can get to the first door in under 4 seconds.

## Chamber 2 - Athena Room
Nothing in Fresh File is more iconic than the Athena Room. You will clear this room dozens, if not hundreds of times. Everything about this room is predetermined - things will play out the exact same, no matter what your seed is. That means with enough practice we can optimize it perfectly.

There are 4 waves to the Athena room.

 1) **One Thug.** As soon as you enter the room, a Thug will be sitting in the middle. Dash two times towards it, then cast. As your cast is traveling towards the Thug, dash-strike. You’ll probably need to dash and then strike, to get the little extra reach. Then special, and dash-strike again to kill it.

 2) **Two Thugs.** As the two thugs spawn, stand directly between them. Let each of them hit you twice, for a total of 40 damage, adjusting your position as needed so you take all 4 hits. As soon as the 4th hit lands, Dash straight right, Special, then Dash-strike straight left. If you do it properly, the thugs will both die immediately.

3) **Three Witches.** These witches can spawn in a different order, depending on your position in the room, but the locations will always be the same - two at the bottom, one at the top. To kill them, you’ll want to Cast and then Dash-strike as they spawn. If you miss, or lose your cast, you can substitute a Special instead.

4) **Three Witches, One Thug.** This is the final wave, and is the most tricky to get right. The best way to clear this wave is to stand directly above the Thug as it spawns. As soon as it’s vulnerable, Special, then Cast, then Dash-strike through it, down to wear the two Witches are spawning. With the correct angle, you can catch the Witch on the left with your Dash-strike as well. Then Special both Witches and the Thug, and then Dash-strike the Witch on the right. All three of these enemies should now be dead. Now dash straight up once, Cast at the final Witch, and then Dash-strike to finish the room right next to the exit.

Here is a video of a semi-perfect clear of the Athena Room: https://youtu.be/R-jEtIjCVzA If you do it properly, and enter the room in less than 4 seconds, you can finish the Athena Room in under 28 seconds in-game time, and about 58 seconds real-time.

Take the Athena Cast, and then see what the next reward is.

## Chamber 3 - Key Reward
If your reward for chamber 3 is a Key, clear the room. This chamber is not set, so you’ll just have to use the combos listed above to clear the room efficiently. Pick up your Key, walk through the next door, and die as quickly as possible. With efficient combat and damage, you can reach your first death in as little as 1:25 real-time.

## Chamber 3 - Darkness Reward
If your reward for Chamber 3 is Darkness, just die as soon as possible. Because of the 40 damage taken in the Athena Room, you only need to take 10 damage to die. If you find a Thug, or two spike traps, you can reach your first death in as little as 1:08 real-time.

# Between Run 1 and Run 2**

## Pity Darkness
If you try to access the Mirror of Night without having any Darkness, you get 10 free darkness. Take this darkness and immediately put it into Shadow Presence, for the extra 10% backstab damage.

## Bow
If you were able to pick up your first Key in Run 1, you should go and equip Bow now.

# Run 2

The first boon of Run 2 is always Zeus. He will offer some combination of Attack, Special, Cast, and Dash. You should take Special if it is offered, and Cast if it is not.

If you have already unlocked the Bow, die as quickly as possible. There is some thought required to this. If the first chamber has 4 Numbskulls, kill them as quickly as possible and die in Chamber 2 instead. If the first chamber has 2 Thugs, just die in the first chamber. Anything in between and you’ll have to try to decide which way is faster.

If you have not already unlocked the Bow, clear rooms until you find a Key, pick it up and then die.

With good RNG, you can reach your second death following either path at about 2:25 real-time.

# Between Run 2 and Run 3

## Fountain
After your second run, the Contractor offers you Tartarus Fountains for free. These are not guaranteed to appear, but save you a ton of time if they do, so unlock them.

## Bow
Make sure you have the Bow unlocked and equipped.

# Hammer

The first offering of Run 3 is always a Hammer. Your priority for this should be the following, in order:

 - **Charged Volley**: This is an absolutely insane amount of damage, especially if you charge it while enemies are spawning

 - **Twin Shot**: This was the only good Bow hammer for a long time. It will buff your Dash-strike damage a fairly significant amount.

 - **Concentrated Volley**: This Hammer offers plenty of damage, as long as you are able to shotgun the enemy properly. The more arrows you hit, the harder the damage ramps.

 - **Relentless Volley**: While it does not offer as much damage as Charged Volley or Concentrated Volley, Relentless Volley is still a very solid buff. Just make sure you keep in mind that your Special animation is longer, so you’ll be more vulnerable.

 - **Point-Blank Shot**: This is the only other Hammer worth taking. You’ll be in melee range of enemies at all times, thanks to having to shotgun them with your special, so this is just a free buff to your attack.

If one of the above hammers is not offered, just reset. Playing without them will be a slow and painful process, that you can avoid by just starting over. With a setup time of under 3 minutes, there’s no real reason not to.

# Build

The best build for Bow on Fresh File is the tried and true AAA. Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena. Which goddess goes where will decide on your Hammer and playstyle.

## Attack
Your Attack does not matter quite as much as your Special, but is still a lot of damage. My typical go-to is either Artemis or Aphrodite - whichever is not on your Special. This will open up Heart Rend, which is a lot of extra damage.

## Special
Your Special is likely to be the bulk of your damage, and will depend heavily on which Hammer you were offered.

 - If you have Charged Volley, Aphrodite Special will absolutely melt anything you point it at.

 - If you have Relentless Volley, the longer animation will leave you a little vulnerable, and that makes the Deflect from Athena Special extremely valuable.

 - If you have Concentrated Volley, your base damage will not be high enough to really benefit from the consistency of Aphrodite Special, so you will want Artemis Special instead.

None of this is definitive - if you want to put Aphrodite on Concentrated Volley, you can, and you’ll probably have a decent amount of success with it. This is just what I’ve found to be the most comfortable with my play-style.

## Cast
Your cast is an open slot, and you can put whatever you want on there. I generally try to put Athena or Poseidon on there, to open up Sweet Nectar or Parting Shot, but it’s entirely up to you.

## Dash
There are two options for Dash on Bow. If you do not have an Athena core boon, you should take Athena Dash. Parting Shot, the Athena/Aphrodite duo, is very strong on Fresh File. The Backstab modifier is a lot of extra damage, and with only 10% Backstab in the Mirror, you’ll want all the buffs you can get.

**Enjoy your time running Fresh File, the official best Hades Speedrunning category.*

Fresh File In-Depth Guide | Sword (Not First Run)

If First Run isn’t your thing, there’s great news. There are 4 other routes that can be used, that can still get great times. These were mostly developed during the Nighty Night and Blood Price patches. Below is a guide in extreme detail on how to optimize your preparation for the run.

# Sword Combos/Technique

This section is meant to be an intro to Sword mechanics. There is far too much to go into in a single section of a guide. Hopefully soon there will be a full guide on how to use the Sword effectively, but this will give you a solid starting point.

There are 3 main attacks that we will be using on the Sword: Special, Cast, and Dash-strike. These can be tied together in various combinations depending on which enemy you are facing. 

 - Special -> Dash-strike (-> Dash-strike) -- This is the OG sword combo. It is fast, mobile, and will deal 80/110 damage in a very short amount of time.

 - Cast -> Dash-strike (-> Dash-strike) -- This is the new and improved sword combo. It still does 80/110 damage, but it does it even faster.

 - Cast -> Dash-strike -> Special -> Dash-strike -- This combo will very quickly tear down a Thug.

 - Special -> Cast -> Dash-strike (-> Dash-strike) -- I use this combo a lot on many weapons. It adds almost no extra time to your normal combo, but it gives you an extra 50 damage.

 - Special -> Immediate Dash -- Hitting the dash button immediately after specialling will cause you to dash and then special where you finish dashing. It can be incredibly useful for clearing out enemies that would otherwise interrupt your special animation, such as numbskulls or witches. 

At all times, make sure you are keeping track of where you’re going next. At the end of your combos, your dash is going to be on cooldown. Few things are as annoying as realizing you’re on the wrong side of the room and your single dash is on cooldown.

With Dash-Strikes, your window to buffer a dash-strike is somewhat large. You can get away with hitting dash and attack at the same time, but separating the inputs can give you quite a bit more control. For example, there are many cases where an enemy is _just_ out of reach of your dash-strike. If you complete a full dash and _then_ attack, you will get some extra reach to your dash-strike.

# Run 1

## Chamber 1

Dash as quickly to the door as possible. You will want to time your dashes - mashing the dash button wastes a lot of time and energy. You’ll want to dash somewhere around 95-105bpm. Check your timing on this website https://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm , and then practice in-game until you do not miss any dashes. With perfect timing, you can get to the first door in under 4 seconds.

## Chamber 2 - Athena Room

Nothing in Fresh File is more iconic than the Athena Room. You will clear this room dozens, if not hundreds of times. Everything about this room is predetermined - things will play out the exact same, no matter what your seed is. That means with enough practice we can optimize it perfectly.

There are 4 waves to the Athena room.

1) **One Thug** As soon as you enter the room, a Thug will be sitting in the middle. Dash two times towards it, then cast. As your cast is traveling towards the Thug, dash-strike. You’ll probably need to dash and then strike, to get the little extra reach. Then special, and dash-strike again to kill it.

2) **Two Thugs** As the two thugs spawn, stand directly between them. Let each of them hit you twice, for a total of 40 damage, adjusting your position as needed so you take all 4 hits. As soon as the 4th hit lands, Dash straight right, Special, then Dash-strike straight left. If you do it properly, the thugs will hit each other, take “body slam” damage, and die.

3) **Three Witches** These witches can spawn in a different order, depending on your position in the room, but the locations will always be the same - two at the bottom, one at the top. To kill them, you’ll want to Cast and then Dash-strike as they spawn. If you miss, or lose your cast, you can substitute a Special instead.

4) **Three Witches, One Thug** This is the final wave, and is the most tricky to get right. The best way to clear this wave is to stand directly above the Thug as it spawns. As soon as it’s vulnerable, Special, then Cast, then Dash-strike through it, down to where the two Witches are spawning. With the correct angle, you can catch the Witch on the left with your Dash-strike as well. Then Special both Witches and the Thug, and then Dash-strike the Witch on the right. All three of these enemies should now be dead. Now dash straight up once, Cast at the final Witch, and then Dash-strike to finish the room right next to the exit.

Here is a video of a semi-perfect clear of the Athena Room: https://youtu.be/R-jEtIjCVzA

Take the Athena Attack, then go through the door.

## Chamber 3

Just die. You only have 10hp, 2 spike traps or a hit from a thug will do you in.

# Between Run 1 and Run 2

## Pity Darkness
If you try to access the Mirror of Night without having any Darkness, you get 10 free darkness. Take this darkness, but don’t spend it on anything.

# Run 2 - The Routes Diverge
The first boon of Run 2 is always Zeus. He will offer some combination of Attack, Special, Cast, and Dash. You should take Special if it is offered, and Cast if it is not.

From here, you have a few options:
 - 80 darkness - Death Defiance, Two Dashes
Take every darkness room, check wells for Tinge of Erebus, and midshop for darkness. Keep an eye out for Poseidon’s Sunken Treasure boon, which can give you 10-20 darkness. Die when you hit 80 darkness, then buy a second dash and a death defiance.

 - 50 darkness - Two Dashes
To do this, take every darkness room, check wells for Tinge of Erebus, and midshop for darkness. Keep an eye out for Poseidon’s Sunken Treasure boon, which can give you 10-20 darkness.  Die when you hit 50 darkness, buy a second dash.

 - 30 darkness - Death Defiance, 4th Run
Check if the first room of your 2nd run is darkness. If it is, clear it, then die. If it's not, just die. On your 3rd run, farm up to 30 darkness, then die. Keep an eye out for Poseidon’s Sunken Treasure boon, which can give you 10-20 darkness. Buy a death defiance, and go on 4th. Be on the lookout for Hermes, for a second dash.

 - 0 darkness - 4th Run
Die immediately on your 2nd and 3rd run. Go on 4th run, search for Hermes for a second dash

## Nectar
In any of the darkness farming routes, if you see a Dionysus boon, you can try to get Premium Vintage, which will provide you with a nectar. You can trade this in for a keepsake to help your run a bit.

**Cthonic Coin Purse - Hypnos**
Hypnos can provide you with the Cthonic Coin Purse for 100 extra starting obols. This can be super helpful for many things throughout a run, such as buying an extra boon in Tartarus to bring your build online faster, buying HP for survivability, or buying items in wells where possible.

**Lucky Tooth - Skelly**
If you pick up a key, you can unlock the Bow, then get the Lucky Tooth from Skelly. This can be used to give a 50 hp Death Defiance. In many cases, this will upgrade before the Heroes fight, so if you lose a DD somewhere in the first part of the run, you’ll get it back.

**Old Spiked Collar - Cerberus**
Cerberus gives you the Old Spiked Collar, which can be used to get an extra 25 starting HP. This helps a lot with survivability, especially early on.

# Final Prep

## Fountain
After your second run, the Contractor offers you Tartarus Fountains for free. These are not guaranteed to appear, but save you a ton of time if they do, so unlock them.

# The Run
## Hammer
If you are running a 3rd Run route, you will always start with a hammer. There are essentially four tiers of hammers. The “take and run” hammers, the “pretty solid” hammers, the “don’t take ever” hammers, and everything else.

## Take And Run
   **Double Edge** All of your dash-strikes will hit twice, which is literally double damage. This is the best hammer you can get on Sword.

  **Double Nova** Your special is pretty hefty damage, just keep in mind that your animation will be longer with Double Nova. If you don’t get Double Edge, this is almost as good.

## Pretty Solid
  **Breaching Slash** This is a great hammer when you see armoured enemies, but otherwise doesn’t do much for you.

  **Piercing Wave** This hammer extends your range by a solid amount and gives you an extra 30 damage, which is super helpful for both clearing and bossing.

## Don’t Take Ever
  **Cursed Slash** Because you’re going to be mostly dash-striking, you won’t get much benefit out of the healing that Cursed Slash offers. The 60% cut to your health hurts a lot, without any healing to balance it out.

  **Flurry Slash** There’s a strange interaction with Flurry Slash where it tries to take priority over your dash-strikes. Taking this hammer will probably ruin your combo pattern, with no real upside.

  **Dash Nova** The main selling point of dash nova is that you get a free dash while you’re specialing. Unfortunately, this can often leave you in a bad position. If you learn how to use the hammer it can be an okay choice, but the payoff for learning it is not worth the effort required to make it stop bricking your runs.

If one of the good hammers listed above is not offered, you should consider resetting. Playing without them will be a slow and painful process, that you can avoid by just starting over. That said, darkness farming is pretty rough these days, so you might want to just play through the run for fun or practice.

If you are running a 4th Run route, you have the chance of seeing a second hammer in Elysium. If you have Double Edge, Breaching Slash is the best second hammer. Otherwise, you’ll want to follow the same decision path as above.

## Hermes
If you are running a 4th Run route, you’re eligible for Hermes in Asphodel. You really want to get Greatest Reflex (Extra Dashes), but Hyper Sprint or Quick Recovery are good backups.

## Build
You can make a couple builds work for Fresh File on Sword, but there are two that tend to get run most frequently.

## AAA - Artemis, Aphrodite, Athena

**Attack**
The bulk of your damage is going to be coming from Dash-Strikes. You’ll want Artemis to be on Attack for this reason.

**Special**
Your Special will be used less frequently than your Attack, but still a good amount. You’ll want to put either Aphrodite or Athena on it. Athena gives you Deflect and opens you up for Deadly Reversal, but Aphrodite gives you Weak and opens you up for Heart Rend. I generally put Aphrodite on Special, unless I get Athena first, and she offers me Special and no Dash.

**Cast**
Your Cast should be Aphrodite or Athena, whichever isn’t on your Special.

**Dash**
You should take Athena Dash until you’re comfortable running Fresh File, then try to make the transition to Artemis Dash.

## Merciful End - You Know The Drill
The plan with Merciful End is to get the duo and then just dash-strike as much as possible to proc it.

**Attack**
Ares ASAP

**Special**
You need Athena Special to be eligible for Merciful End, so make sure you take it.

**Cast**
Your Cast will really only matter until you get Merciful End, so put whatever you want on there. Artemis is a solid choice, for Deadly Reversal eligibility.

**Dash**
Athena


**Enjoy your time running Fresh File, the official best Hades Speedrunning category.**

How to Aim and Use Meg

I made a video guide going over how to aim and effectively use Meg while speedrunning! Find it here: https://youtu.be/G-Iovk-sbe8

Introduction to Livesplit

Livesplit is a timer used by speedrunners across many different games to keep track of their splits. It integrates with speedrun.com and allows you to compare against any runs that provide splits.

**An autosplitter has been made! Check the "When To Split" section for how to enable it.**

# Getting Started

Installing and running Livesplit is very simple.

 1) Download the .zip file provided here: http://livesplit.org/downloads/
 2) Extract the contents of the folder.
 3) Run Livesplit.exe

# Setting Up Splits

Once you have Livesplit installed, go to https://www.speedrun.com/hades/resources and download the splits for the category you want. These will be in a .zip file containing:

- <Category>Splits.lss -- This file holds all of your splits, icons, and times. It is the more important of the two files; if you lose this file, you lose all of your previous run data.

- <Category>Layout.lsl -- This file holds the layout that your splits are displayed in. This does not hold any of your run data, so if you lose it you can just make another.

- <Category>Layout_Chroma.lsl -- This is the same as the <Category>Layout.lsl file, but is set up to work with Chroma Key to make your splits transparent. If you want to do this, follow this guide made by DarkViperAU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiuxAyk7nN4 

For multiweapon categories, you can also download the Icons.zip file, to update your splits based on which Aspect you decide to run for each weapon.

For the Fresh File category, the folder contains a Splits file for each of the current routes.

Once you have the splits downloaded and extracted:

 - Double-click the <Category>Splits.lss to open the splits in Livesplit.
 - Right-click the running Livesplit window > Open Layout > From File… > Select the Layout file you want to use.

While running, make sure you have Global Hotkeys turned on. If they are turned off, there will be a red bar at the top of your splits. While they are off, you will not be able to split while in-game, and will instead have to click on LiveSplit in order to split.

# When to Split

If you are running a single-run (non-Fresh File) category such as Any Heat, you can use the autosplitter, made by Ellomenop and Sebastien. To use it, open your splits, right-click Livesplit and select "Edit Splits" and then click the Activate button at the top of the window that opens.

## Starting the Timer

For any category other than Fresh File, time starts when you gain control of Zagreus. This can be a little tricky to get started properly, however, so many people just start the timer when they click “Begin Escape” and subtract the extra time (usually about 6 seconds) when submitting.

For Fresh File, time starts when you create the save file.

## Split timings

There are two main options for splitting. When you kill the boss, or when you enter the door after the boss. Most people split as soon as the boss dies.

For Styx, you split when you open the door to the Surface.

For Hades, split as soon as possible after Hades dies (when the invincibubble appears)

# Submitting your run

Livesplit is not necessary for a submitted run. The main reason to run it is for convenience for both the runner and viewers. Therefore, if you have an issue with  your splits, just keep going. 

**No matter what happens with your Livesplit timer, after your run, go back and re-time it based on the video. Your time starts when the in-game timer appears and you gain control of Zagreus, and time ends as soon as the invincibubble appears around Hades.**

When submitting a run, you can submit your splits along with it by uploading them to https://splits.io and including the link. This will allow your run to be imported as a comparison for other people in Livesplit, and show each of your splits below the video on your run. It is completely optional.

If you have any questions or problems after reading this guide, feel free to ping me in the Discord - Museus#7777 - and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Introduction to Routed Runs

This guide was written by Museus#7777 and SatanIsAChillGuy#1312 and is intended to help you get started doing routed runs. It is by no means a complete repository of routing information, but it should be enough for you to be able to complete a run with a known route.

[Cgull also has a video explaining routed in the context of the recent Beowulf route here](https://youtu.be/AHdt35TDvNY)

# What is routing?
Routing is mapping and following a predetermined path through a run. If executed properly, the player will know every single thing that is going to happen in a run, down to the rarity of each boon offered. This can allow for incredibly optimized builds, chamber types, and enemy patterns. [Here is an example of a route being executed borderline perfectly, by Vorime.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpDS4RJIcE0)

When you walk through a door in Hades, a few things happen:
- A new seed is generated based on a combination of your current seed and how many times RNG has been used, and that new seed replaces your current one.
- The room you entered, including enemies and specific rewards, are generated
- The reward type, tile, Chaos/Erebus gates, and wells, are decided for the next room. For example, you might see Poseidon, but the rewards he'll give you haven’t been determined yet. 

At its core, RNG is not really random. It follows a set sequence of numbers, determined by your starting point, or the “seed”. For the duration of an encounter, every single thing that uses RNG increments your position in this sequence. However, when the doors unlock your position is reset to the beginning. From there, you can use specific manipulations to change what is going to happen in the next rooms.

# How do you manipulate RNG?
In order to properly manipulate RNG, it is incredibly helpful to see your seed and increments. Luckily, there is a mod that allows you to do this, included in the Hades Routing Mod Pack later in this guide.

Once you install this mod, you can clear a few rooms, and keep an eye on your increments after clearing the room. You’ll notice that in most cases (excluding Chamber 1, Sisyphus, and Tartarus Midshop) your RNG Uses will settle down and not change unless you do something specifically to increment them.

There are a few manipulations that we know have a fixed number of increments:
- A cast landing on the ground increments RNG by 1
- Breaking a pot increments RNG by 1
- Summoning increments RNG by 2 the first time you do it, and 1 each time after that
- Charon groaning at you increments RNG by 1
- Opening a well resets your RNG to a value of 12

There are others, but those are the most commonly used, because they are very fast, or easy to work into your pathing through the room.

# Is a routed run eligible for the leaderboards?
Yes! As of 1.0 we now have Unseeded and Seeded leaderboards for Any Heat, 32 Heat, 40 Heat, and 50 Heat. A routed run will fall under the Seeded category. The main difference between the two is that an Unseeded run requires a death to be shown before the run to prove there is no previous knowledge of the starting seed.

# What tools exist for routing?
There is a collection of mods and tools available to help do routed runs:

- [Save Manager](https://www.speedrun.com/tools/HadesSaveManager_v1.1_y6rdl.zip) for creating/loading save states
- [Hades Routing Mod Pack](https://github.com/Museus/HadesRoutingModPack/releases/tag/v1.1) which includes the RngDisplay and ShowChamber mods, with more on the way.
- [Paras Door Predictions](https://github.com/parasHadesMods/ParasDoorPredictions) to display all of the information for the next room, including rewards, enemy types, and exits
- [Ellos Boon Selector Mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/hades/mods/36) for setting your seed
- [Spreadsheet of the Route](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lB17UxBfV8diaUXFiHVg6Edt1HxobP9gFGebCw_vpr0/edit?usp=sharing) made by Paradigmsort. Would recommend making a copy for your own notes in case of weirdness.
- [Save State Pack](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1INBnDakH4fxR1LaLagYNhOWptUpKJj7L/view?usp=sharing) made by SatanIsAChillGuy for use with the above notes.

# How Do You Run A Route?

1) Install the above tools.
2) Read through the route to get an idea of what to look for as you go and start to get familiar with the manips.
3) Use the Boon Selector mod to select your starting seed, and make sure your mirror, keepsake, and pact match the route.
4) Start trying the route with mods. The mods above will help give you the information you'll need to help you stay on route. Use save states to your advantage if you mess up a room, just be aware that save states have been known to change rewards and some manips throughout the route. Don't worry though, rewards will ALWAYS be the same on a full start to finish run.
5) When you start to feel confident in running with the mod, start trying to run without! Remember, consistency comes first THEN speed. 
6) After you've completed a few full, start to finish runs, try optimizing! The rooms will always be the same, play around with how you clear enemies!

# Common Points of Failure
There are a few spots in the run that are especially difficult to get through.
- **Chamber 1**: There are a lot of shades running around in the very first chamber, all of the incrementing RNG on a fixed interval. Because of this, your timing has to be as consistent as possible in order to get the correct Chamber 2.
- **Tartarus Midshop**: There are also a lot of shades running around in Tartarus Midshop. Luckily, there is a very consistent pattern to how shades behave in this room, and there are various tricks to mitigate their increments.
    - There is a brief moment where no RNG increments happen. The background music will have a long pause (7 beats), followed by a loud chime. When that chime happens, there will be a window of a couple seconds to select your boon and run to the door, do your manips, and leave.
    - You can increase the duration of this window by killing shades in the room, at the expense of time. The most efficient way to do this, on Nemesis, is to dash three times, then use the Special+Dash combo to land in front of the shop items. Your Nova will clear a large group of shades, and you can immediately select the Hermes boon, then wait for the audio cue.
- **Survival Room**: This room has a lot of voiceline weirdness that happens, especially since it often leads into a Chaos gate, which has even more voiceline weirdness associated with it. There are two main approaches to dealing with this.
    - Wait out all voicelines before picking up the room reward, then do manips from a stable starting point
    - Pick up the room reward immediately and do manips as quickly as possible, once the doors unlock, so you can avoid some of the voiceline weirdness. You will generally have to add 1 increment to the normal manips, if you use this approach
- **Fountain Rooms**: Drinking from a fountain appears to eat the Summoning voiceline, if it happens within a couple seconds. Listen for whether Zag says something when you try to summon, and adjust your manips based on that.

# Things to remember:
- If you're off in your increments one of the following things probably happened
    - Voice lines incrementing RNG or in the case of Chaos voice lines, stopping RNG increments from updating. 
    - Shades increment RNG by walking around and also whenever Zagreus walks through them. 
    - Save states CAN cause some weirdness, especially when voice lines are involved
    - You picked up the reward too quickly, and there were some increments in progress when you did so. For example, rubble/pillars falling in can increment RNG if it falls after doors unlock.
- The most important thing is consistency. Some manips, especially in Tartarus, are time sensitive. Others just require you to wait a moment before doing the manips.

Save File Information

While you are allowed to use your own save for speedruns, it is strongly recommended to instead use a maxed out save file.

# Available Save Files

**Ellomenop** has posted a save that has all of the run history scrubbed from it except for 50 empty runs. This allows you to have your own times and clear history, but with everything unlocked. This also solves a problem that larger saves have, where the game hitches every time it auto-saves. Over the course of a run, this hitching can cost a lot of time.

**Haelian** has posted his save that has been around basically forever. Having this save available got a lot of runners started, but because of the extensive run history, there is a very noticeable hitch whenever the game auto-saves.

# Save File Location

On Windows, save files are stored in **My Documents\Saved Games\Hades**
On Mac, save files are stored in **~/Library/Application Support/Supergiant Games/Hades**

# Loading a Save

 1) Choose which profile you want to load the file into
 2) Copy your "Profile#.sjson"  and "Profile#.ctrls" files for your primary profile, and rename them to the number you want.
 3) Copy the Profile#.sav for the save you want to load, and name it to the number you want.

For example, if your primary save is Profile 1, and you want to load the scrubbed save in Profile 2:
  1) Navigate to your platform's Save File Location. 
  2) Copy Profile1.sjson and rename it Profile2.sjson
  3) Copy Profile1.ctrls and rename it to Profile2.ctrls
  4) Download the save from the Resources tab and extract the .sav file to your Desktop or another location.
  5) Rename the file Profile2.sav and copy it into your platform's Save File Location.

# Recovering a Run After "Give Up" or a Crash
  1) Navigate to your platform's Save File Location
  2) Rename Profile#.v.sav to _Profile#.v.sav
  3) Edit Profile#.sjson with Notepad; Remove the line "ValidCheckpoint = false"

# Save File Breakdown

    **Profile#.sav** - This is your main save, with all of your data up to this point.

    **Profile#_Temp.sav** This file holds your current run. If you Give Up, or Alt+F4/Crash during combat, this file is marked invalid, and you load into your main save.

    **Profile#.v.sav** - This file holds a flag that marks your current run valid or invalid.

    **Profile#.ctrls** - This file holds any changes you made to your control scheme

    **Profile#.sjson** - This file holds display/settings changes, and marks your _Temp.sav file invalid.

    **Various .bak files** - These are backups of the files they are named after.

Starting Speedrunning in Hades

This is some high level starting info to help you get started with speedrunning Hades. 

------------------
 Getting Started
------------------
You've come to the right place to start your research! 
First steps include: Watching speedrun videos from the leaderboards, check out the Resources section, read any guides here. You can also check #speedtech on the Discord, check out runners on Twitch. 
Ultimately, you will simply need to practise going fast and try recording your videos to get comfortable.   

If you've tried all of the above and still have questions, feel free to hit up runners who are streaming on chat or the friendly folks on Discord. The Hades Speedrunning community is extremely friendly and supportive.

-------------------------------------
 Recording and Submitting Video
-------------------------------------
All speedruns you record to submit to the leaderboards will require a video of the run in full, where you to show the Victory at the end of the run.

1. Use free programs (such as with OBS) or a streaming service to record your runs. You can trim local videos easily by editing free software like OpenShot or Windows Photos

2. The video must be setup to be permanent on the platform (eg YouTube, Twitch). "Recent Broadcasts" on Twitch will auto-delete, so will not be approved

3. Timestamp the starting point of the run if it is a part of a longer video

4. Don’t cover vital information with a camera. No sound is necessary for a submission, but it’s preferred

5. Using LiveSplit to show your time splits and records is optional for submitting runs, but it's a helpful tool for recording and improving your time.  It's very helpful for RTA categories especially. There is a guide on how to setup LiveSplit in the Guides list.

-----------------------------------------
 What Seeds Are and How They Work
-----------------------------------------
A seed is a predetermined starting state for an escape. RNG for room rewards kicks in after chamber 2.
1. The "Give up" option appears in the pause menu after taking damage in a room. Giving up will return you to the House of Hades, but your next run will use the same seed

2. Dying (or taking the exit after a victory, which leads to a death) will generate a new seed for your next run

3. Unseeded categories require you to show a death/victory before beginning the next run. This confirms a random seed is being used 

4. Save files for good seeds are often posted in the Resources section in the sidebar. Mods (such as EllosStartingBoonSelector on NexusMods) can be used to manually select seeds


---------------
 General Info
---------------

1. IGT means In Game Time, and you can display the timer through settings in game. Categories like Any Heat use IGT

2. RTA means Real Time Attack, which is a real time measurement.  The Fresh File and All Weapons categories (and races) use RTA.  Runners often display, record and compare real time using LiveSplit. There is a guide on setting up LiveSplit in the Guides index

3.  What is a good time to aim for?  This depends on the category you are trying.  For Any Heat, aim for under 15 minutes IGT. If you measure RTA for Any Heat (as a personal challenge or for race practice), then aim for under 25 minutes. However, there is no cut-off point for any times for leaderboard submissions

4. The "best weapon or aspect" to use is constantly evolving, and also a matter of personal preference (you need to be able to use it, and enjoy it after all). If you check the leaderboards you can get a pretty good indication of what is proven to work well.

-----------------
 Getting Faster
-----------------

1. Take free rooms! Every biome has the potential for 3 free rooms. Mid-shop, which is almost guaranteed, NPC  or "story" rooms (Sisyphus/Eurydice/Patty) and a fountain. Every time you see mid-shop, you should take it. Every time you see an NPC you should take it. Fountain is a low random chance, but if you get it, it saves a ton of time. You should also take every Chaos gate you see

2. Each chamber has a difficulty value, based on your depth in the current biome. Each enemy is worth a certain number of points, and enemies spawn until that value is reached. Elite rooms have a higher difficulty value, but also remove many low-value enemies from the pool. This makes them faster on average but, with enough luck, normal rooms have the fastest possible time

3. In Styx, you should ALWAYS take a miniboss first. They are incredibly fast, and will save you a lot of time over the larger rooms. For your second path, take the other miniboss, unless a normal room is offering a boon that you really need

4. Check Wells every time you see them. Finding a Light of Ixion can save you upwards of 20-30 seconds, especially in Elysium. Damage boosts are always great, especially on cast builds. The difference just a single Braid or Prometheus Stone makes on Zeus Cast is noticeable immediately after buying it

5. Learn what your chosen aspect does best, and make sure you are really taking advantage of it. For example, on Nemesis Sword, Achilles Spear, or Eris Rail, keep your buff online as much as possible.

6. Pausing when making decisions (shop purchases, room choices) saves a lot of IGT

7. Make sure you are building toward something, and not just duct-taping the run together. In most cases you want to pick a Duo/Legendary to aim for, and then a secondary for once you get that. For example, on Demeter Fists, you can aim for Merciful End, with a secondary Deadly Reversal.

8. Mirror Setup:   For new runners, the recommended Mirror setup is: Shadow Presence, Cthonic Vitality, Death Defiance, Greater Reflex, Boiling Blood, Infernal Soul, Deep Pockets, Thick Skin, Family Favorite, Dark Foresight, Gods' Legacy, and Fated Persuasion. 
There are a few changes that can be made depending on build and skill level - such as Stygian vs Infernal, or High Confidence vs Thick Skin

9. Heat Setup:  Extreme Measures 2 makes the Lernie fight faster by grouping the heads closer together.   Forced Overtime makes enemies spawn faster, but is also much riskier.  When running real-time (RTA) categories like All-Weapons or races, Tight Deadline removes survival rooms.  However, in-game time (IGT) categories benefit from survival rooms because they pause the timer

10. For the summon keepsake, we recommend using Meg.

_____________________________________________________________
Thanks to ShipGoSync, Museus7, Wriste13 for contributing.

Streaming/Recording Runs

The most popular way to stream and record runs is to use OBS Studio. It is free, open-source, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can download it here: https://obsproject.com/

# Auto-Configuration Wizard

When you open OBS for the first time, you will be prompted with an auto-configuration wizard. If, at any point, you want to run through the wizard again, you can do so by creating a new profile. It will walk you through the process of setting up streaming and recording. You'll need to decide whether to optimize streaming (lower quality, faster encoding) or local recording (higher quality, slower encoding).

## Video Settings

 - The default `Base (Canvas) resolution` should be fine - making it the same resolution as your monitors will let you adjust your scenes without needing to resize too much stuff.
- 60fps looks very smooth but needs a higher bitrate. If you are local recording, that's fine, but if you are streaming you might want to drop it down to 30fps.

## Stream Information

- Connect your account or use a Stream Key, whichever you prefer.
- Check the `Prefer hardware encoding` box. This will use your GPU to encode your stream instead of your CPU
- Check the `Estimate bitrate with bandwidth test` box. We'll tweak this value later, but it's good to get a baseline

## Finishing up

Once the bitrate test is completed, click `Apply Settings` and the wizard will close.

# Tweaking/verifying settings

The default settings are usually good enough, so this step isn't absolutely necessary, but it will help clean up your VODs a bit. Click the `Settings` button in the bottom right to get started. We're going to go out of order a bit, but each heading below corresponds with a tab on the sidebar.

## Video

The first step is to make sure your video resolution is set properly. Hades is a very bitrate-intensive game, with all the flashing, lava,  particle effects, etc. Your best bet is most likely to drop your `Output (Scaled) Resolution` to 1280x720 to help offset the bitrate needed to look crisp. Most people will be watching in a smaller window anyway, so you don't need to worry about your video getting blurry because of the lower resolution.

Again, if you are mostly just local recording, 60fps will look very smooth, but for streaming you might want to drop it to 30fps.

## Output

 - Change `Output Mode` to Advanced

 ## Output > Streaming 

 - Make sure the `Encoder` is set to your GPU. If you have an NVIDIA card, this will be one of the NVENC options. Either should be fine. H.264 is the standard encoder. HEVC is newer and should give better quality at a lower bitrate. If you have AMD, you might have an AMF encoder. I don't have an AMD card, so I'm not positive how that works. Either way, you should only use the x264 encoder if you have no other options, as that will make all of your encoding go through the CPU.
 - `Rate Control`: CBR (constant bit rate) is usually the way to go. It will result in larger-than-absolutely-necessary files, but it will make sure that your video stays clear the entire time. VBR (variable bit rate) is a good option if you have limited disk space, but I've noticed my VODs tend to get a little blurry during combats, especially in Asphodel.

## Output > Recording

 - `Recording Path`: Set this to where you want your VODs to be stored.
 - `Recording Format`: Make sure this is set to `mkv`. MP4 can become corrupted/useless in the case of a crash, but mkv will just stop wherever the crash happened.

## General

The only thing to really look for here is `Automatically record when streaming`. If you have the disk space, it's strongly recommended to always local record. If you are only streaming and your internet drops, or your streaming platform goes down, your run will be invalid. Local recording means that you'll always have a valid run, no matter what happens to your stream.

Once all these changes are made, click OK.

# Setting up your scenes

## Provided Scenes

A set of scenes for 1440p, 1080p, and 720p is provided at https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/ibg68. They contain Hades Game Capture, Hades Audio Capture, 30% opacity gamepad, and transparent Livesplit sources. **Only the Game Capture is required**; the other sources are for your own convenience. To use the provided scenes:
 - Download the .zip file containing the scene. Extract it anywhere, as long as you know where it is.
 - In OBS, go to `Scene Collection` at the top, and click `Import`.
 - Choose the `Hades_OBS.json` file you extracted, and click `Import`.
 - Go to `Scene Collection` and select `Hades`.
 
At the bottom of the OBS window, there will be a `Scenes` box and a `Sources` box. In the `Scenes` box, choose your `Base (Canvas) resolution`. The sources should be properly sized to your preview window. **Whatever is shown in the Preview Window is what will appear on your VOD.** Each of the on-screen components is locked by default, but you can unlock them to move them around and resize them by clicking the padlock next to them. If you need to change the opacity of the gamepad or the transparency of Livesplit, right click on the source and go to `Filters`. There you can tweak the Color/Chroma Key filters.

## Manual Scenes

If you don't want to use the provided scenes, or they don't work for you, you'll need to add a Game Capture source to your scene, and point it at Hades. If you have other audio playing on your PC and don't want it in your VOD, you can either use [Voicemeeter](https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/) to separate the audio PC-wide, or the new `Application Audio Capture` source to separate the audio in OBS. The Gamepad and Livesplit sources are optional. Gamepad is added by using a Browser Source pointing at `https://gamepadviewer.com/?p=1` and Livesplit is a Window Capture.

# Recording

That should be all the setup required! Just click `Start Recording` or `Start Streaming` and you should be good to go.

# Clipping Runs

The most commonly used program to clip your runs is LosslessCut. It is free, open-source, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can download it here: https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/releases/latest

Once you download it, extract it to a new folder somewhere you'll remember, and launch the program.

## Using LosslessCut

When LosslessCut launches, you'll be greeted with mostly blank window. To get started, either click `File > Open` to select your VOD, or drag-and-drop the file into the window. This will open the VOD in LosslessCut, adding a timeline at the bottom of the window, and a list of segments on the right.

Seek through the video via the timeline until you find the spot where you want your VOD to start. For Hades, this is usually right before your pre-run death. When you've found the right spot, click the `Split Segment at Cursor` at the bottom of the **Segments to export** sidebar. This will split the VOD into 2 pieces.

Then, seek to where you want your VOD to end, and do the same thing. You'll be left with 3 segments - the stuff before your run, your actual run, and then the stuff after you run.

On the right side, in the **Segments to export** sidebar, right click the segment containing your run (usually #2) and click `Select only this segment`.

Once you have only your run selected, click `Export` in the bottom right corner. This will pop up a window with export settings. You'll probably want to use mp4 as the Output container format, and then change the `Save output to path` and `Output file name` settings as needed. Once the settings are correct, click `Export` again to trim your VOD.

You will be left with a file at the path you specified, trimmed to the segment you selected. You should be able upload this to YouTube without any problems.

Zagreus Bow build path

# Meta

The “meta” for Zag bow is not set in stone, but the most common start is to take Twin Shot hammer and Poseidon Tidal dash then see what build path opens up as you play. The simplest to build on is probably the crit build path which basically means you take Artemis attack and Hunters Mark when they show up. While simple it gives you decent damage to get through most of the game.

# Hammers

Recommended start is Twin Shot to really take advantage of the crit chance, with Triple Shot being a viable alternative. Twin shot has much better single target damage than Triple, except where you can attack larger bosses up close and take advantage of all three arrows. Triple shot can be better in rooms with lots of smaller enemies, giving you better range and allowing you to target enemies in multiple locations. Personally I find Twin Shot results in better times as it can make it much easier to hit the breakpoints of larger enemies and clear rooms with just a few larger enemies very quickly. A breakpoint is the total damage you need to deal to kill an enemy or break their shield. As much as possible you want a single attack to be high enough damage to hit an enemy's breakpoint. Twin Shot has the added advantage of being two attacks at once, meaning that with enough damage you can hit the breakpoints for both the shield and the health in a single attack.

Secondary hammers depend on personal play style, but Point-Blank Shot, Flurry Shot, Perfect Shot, Chain Shot and Explosive Shot (listed in order of my preference) are all perfectly viable. While I prefer to play with Twin Shot and Point-blank Shot, Twin Shot + Flurry Shot has some fantastic DPS that can deal with most things in the game without difficulty.

# Shackle Start

As Zag Bow has crit chance built in it is very adaptable and benefits a lot from the extra damage provided by the Shackle trinket. I wouldn’t recommend this build path for someone who isn’t already experienced with the weapon as you will need to adapt to the boons that show up in your run, and you won’t have the AOE of TDash to get you through the smaller enemies in Tartarus. To counter that you may wish to take Flurry Shot as your first hammer, but doing so will lose you a lot of extra damage from either Twin or Triple Shot. This can easily pivot into any of the other build paths depending on the boons that show up in your run, but it can be difficult to give up the extra damage provided by Shackle. You can also just luck into a Poseidon start to get TDash through Tartarus anyway.

# Starting Boon

TDash start (Tidal Dash from Poseidon). No question. Without either the AOE of TDash or the rapid attack speed of Flurry Shot Tartarus small enemies take up a lot of time. If for some reason you don’t want to start with TDash you might find you need Flurry Shot as your first hammer to exit Tartarus in reasonable times. Depending on the rarity of your starting boon getting one or two poms into your Dash early can make hitting Tartarus breakpoints much easier making clearing out rooms of witches/pests/numbskulls/crystals easier (and quicker).

# High % Damage path

Take a high % attack boon. Epic Aphrodite being preferred as the highest % boon you can be given in the game, but almost any Epic attack % boon should be acceptable. Aphrodite also has the advantage of opening up the Heart Rend Duo if you can pick up a core boon from Artemis, which will give your critical effects more damage and Sweet Nectar with Poseidon (which you probably already have) to make getting extra pom damage easy. Another possibility is Epic Divine Strike from Athena to try and get Deadly Reversal with Artemis, further increasing your Critical chance. For this build you will want to put a couple of poms into your attack as well as your dash. If you don’t like to play the bow without Flurry Shot this may be the easiest path to take, giving you consistent damage with every shot. It’s worth noting that Hunters Mark procs on any source of critical hit, so getting Hunters Mark from Artemis will also benefit from any critical strikes from your normal attack.

# Crit Build Path

Take Artemis attack as soon as available, this gives you huge crit chance, and if you can pick up Hunters Mark you will easily have in excess of 60% crit chance per shot (on a marked enemy). This build really benefits from either Triple Shot or Twin Shot. Twin Shot doubles your crit chance giving you a minimum 60% chance of at least one crit with just Arty attack, going up to over 100% with Hunters Mark. Triple Shot gives you higher crit chance, and you can take advantage of this against larger bosses, but is otherwise difficult to apply to individual enemies. This build path has the benefit of not needing any poms in the attack boon, meaning you can dump all of them into your dash, or any other FDS boons you find along the way. It's quite easy to start with a crit build and expand into a crit-FDS build as you progress.

One point of interest for this build is that it benefits a lot from having Artemis’ Hunter Dash adding damage to your dash strikes, giving you huge early crit damage. The problem with taking that is you don’t have the AOE of TDash to get you through Tartarus and can lose a lot of time that way.

It’s worth taking a core Aphrodite boon when using this path to again open up Heart Rend. You *can* open up Deadly Reversal with Athena on special, but this isn’t recommended as you aren’t likely to reflect many attacks without either Athena attack or dash. You can mitigate this by taking Holy Shield or Phalanx Shot to give yourself extra opportunities to reflect attacks, but by this point you’ll need so many boons it’s not worth aiming for.

# FDS (Flat Damage Soup)

FDS builds refer to any build that takes boons with as much flat damage (as opposed to % based boons) as possible. Starting with Tidal Dash (with common dash damage of 35) you already have the basics of a build like this, then you can pick up Ares/Zeus attack or special boons, almost any cast and vengeance boons. FDS boons can be picked up while working on a “main” build as secondary extras so you will often find you have at least a partial FDS build by the end of a run. One disadvantage of a build like this is that you need poms everywhere with nearly every flat damage boon scaling very well with extra poms. Often, it’s a good idea to pick a main source of damage, like TDash, and dump about five poms into that. But don’t roll to put poms in it and instead put them in whichever is your main source of damage when given the option for your pom. Secondary boons from Zeus and Poseidon are particularly good and scale well towards the end of a run.

Duos for FDS builds are good, and can usually be opened up with other build paths as well if you luck into the right gods. The simplest Duos are probably Sea Storm and Vengeful Mood. To open up Sea Storm you will need a core Zeus boon and *another* core Poseidon boon after the dash, the most useful probably being Poseidon cast. For Vengeful mood you will need a core Zeus boon, a core Ares boon *and* a revenge boon from any of the gods that offer them (Ares, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite).

# Chaos

Critical hits benefit from having higher damage, so any attack/dash strike boons are very helpful. Assault boons also help you to hit break points of smaller enemies and shouldn’t be passed up if you can’t get straight up attack damage.

# Hermes

As with every weapon in the game getting Rush Delivery (RD) can massively increase your damage output. The optimal boons from Hermes are Hyper Sprint (with Greater haste as a weaker alternative) to start, with Rush Delivery as your second boon. If you can’t get those then taking + dashes can help you move around the various biomes much quicker and improve your time that way. It's worth remembering that if you have common Hyper delivery and you take too long to charge a shot you can lose your speed boost and so lose any extra damage from RD. Minimum charge short range shots are the easiest to maintain damage with.

For the best RD chances you should never take a call boon before your second Hermes as this increases the number of boons that Hermes may offer you. You can also start with the mirror option of “Stygian Soul” to remove Greater Recall from the boon pool further (slightly) increasing your chances of RD, it also makes getting the legendary "Bad News" possible. Bad news is slightly bugged and doesn't work as the description suggests, instead it makes enemies receive 50% more damage from **all** sources as long as they do not have a cast in them. Rush Delivery is still better, even common RD, because RD can take advantage of cast bonuses and Ichors that you can find in wells to boost your speed.

If you’ve picked up Flurry shot somewhere along the way and you don't manage to pick up RD or dashes then a useful alternative can be rare/epic Swift Strike, but it's not very useful without Flurry Strike as it only applies to standing strikes (meaning attacks from a standing position, not after a dash). Common Swift Strike is not often worth taking over something else that could be helpful.

# Mechanics

Different build paths have slightly different ways to play. If you take Tidal Dash to start you will have a very aggressive playstyle, dashing directly into enemies so that you can take advantage of the dash to kill most small enemies before ever firing a shot. If you have a less protective dash (or no dash) you will maintain more of a distance and try to conserve your health.

Generally you will want to dash strike to attack. This is where you press attack and dash at the same time (or at least, before you stop moving from your dash), keep holding attack after you finish moving to charge your shot, aim at the enemy and release. After just a little practice this can be very smooth and fluid. You should not be using special very often, if at all. Casts can be useful and quick sources of damage, you can cancel the casting animation by dashing immediately after you cast. Firing off a cast as you dash towards an enemy before you hit them with your main damage rotation can be a good way to get that extra bit of damage you need to hit breakpoints when your build is a little weak.

While Zagreus Bow is technically a ranged weapon you will find that you often want to treat it like a melee weapon, getting in close before you attack and then moving on quickly. The further away you are from the the enemy the longer it's going to take for the arrow to reach them. Movement and mobility are just as important for the bow as any other weapon, and you're going to want to dash close to an enemy, kill them and then move on. You may find that dashing somewhere central and firing off shots in many directions (turreting) is better for dealing with groups of small enemies, especially when you have Flurry Shot.

Breakpoints are very important, you don't want to fire three shots at an enemy when one will do, but as there are so many different build paths it's difficult to give guidelines other than very general ones. So, after you get your first boon/hammer any unarmored small enemy in Tartarus (numbskulls/pests/witches/crystals) shouldn't take more than one attack to kill. An attack can be one damage rotation, so if your first boon was TDash an attack would be dash into the enemy and fire off a single shot, although a single TDash is usually enough to kill small enemies in Tartarus. If you got hammer a single twin shot should be enough, or any attack boon should scale enough to kill small enemies. This should remain true throughout your run and if you find it's taking more than one shot to kill easy enemies it's a good sign that your build isn't strong enough to get a good time.

Larger enemies, like unarmored thugs, usually take two damage rotations, and if you had an unlucky start and got bad rarity for your first boon, may take three. By the end of Tartarus you should be able to kill any unarmored enemy with a single attack. Armored enemies have a lot of extra health for you to deal with and may take several attacks.

You should always be paying attention to how many attacks it takes you to kill enemies so that you never use more than necessary. While "Attack it until it's dead" is very effective at killing individual enemies you will lose precious seconds in every room if you don't realise when to move on from something that's dead already.

In summary: get close, movement and mobility are crucial to good times, use the minimum number of attacks possible, play to the strengths of the build that you have.

# PseudoTech

There is also an animation cancellation tech found by Pseudo. When you do a dash strike the animation is cancelable by most actions *except* the standing strike. However, you *can* cancel it with a special, and *then* you can cancel the special with a standing attack. This is most noticeable with the Flurry Shot hammer. This gives a slightly faster attack rotation than you can otherwise achieve. It is not necessary for fast times, and most times currently on the leaderboard do not use it. This also works on Hera, Chiron and Rama. It's harder to use on Hera because of everything else you have to concentrate on. Chiron works exactly the same but requires playing Chiron. Rama also works, but the timings can be different. 

Here is a video from Pseudo explaining the tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDe40Koqjg


Here is a video from Steps demonstrating its use with Flurry shot against the Furies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G3ScQFB9Ws

一 {OUTDATED} Hades Speedrunning FAQ

MODERATOR NOTE: Some of the sections here are outdated information. For build options, please check the Hades Guide Compendium guide.

Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to this guide (Museus#7777, Jerds#1677, Wriste13#7561). Message guardianRoborn#9749 for additions or corrections. To view this guide as a Google Doc (recommended), see here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MhZZAD5lcz3FyU9MGiWEWfnO3Zve0KXb0NQhyGuG0xA/edit?usp=sharing

------------------------------------
What do I need to start running?
------------------------------------

First of all, welcome! All Hades speedruns require you to submit a video that shows a complete, uncut run that includes the Victory window at the end. Sound isn’t required, but is preferred. You can use a free program (such as OBS) to record your run. You can trim videos easily by editing with something like Windows Photos or Openshot. The video must be set up to be permanent on the platform (e.g. YouTube, Twitch). Recent Broadcasts on Twitch will auto-delete, so will not be approved. Timestamp the run if it is a part of a longer video, such as a Twitch VOD.

--------------------------------------------------
Can I use my normal game save to speedrun?
--------------------------------------------------

Hades, being a Roguelite, is hinged upon the idea of slowly improving both via practice and experience, but also by collecting in-game currencies and permanent power-ups (e.g. The Mirror of Night). Maxing these out is not necessary for speedrunning. Runners should feel comfortable hopping in right from their normal game file, which more than likely hasn’t farmed the tens of thousands of Darkness and other currencies needed to complete everything. 

However, for those that want that extra edge, you can download a complete game file off of the Speedrun.com Resources page. Once downloaded, make sure the file extension is “.sav” (if not you can just change it to .sav). The name of the file should be “Profile#” where the # is the number of the file slot you want the file in. Then copy it over to your Hades game by saving it to the proper folder. You should see your other game files there too, but make sure you back them up first! Where to save the file will depend on where you downloaded Hades to on your computer, but an example file path would be:
<C:\Users\Name\Documents\Saved Games\Hades>

----------------------------------------------------
Are there any mods typically used for running?
----------------------------------------------------

Currently, the leaderboard requires runs be done on an unmodded game. There are mods in place to assist with routing a Seeded run, or are used specifically for races. If these are things you are interested in, please feel free to ask about it on Discord!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
What is preferable between controller vs. mouse and keyboard?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no right answer to this, as it comes down to personal preference, but most people find it easier to use controller. For M+KB, turning off “aim at cursor” is recommended.

-------------------------------------------------------------
What run categories are there, and what do they mean?
-------------------------------------------------------------

The basic run categories can be seen on the Speedrun.com Leaderboard. The basic description of them and other relevant terms are as follows:

Any Heat: The most “basic” run, defined by a single successful escape attempt. Timing starts on gaining control of Zagreus (when the initial boon/hammer starts to appear) after “Escaping” and ends at final boss kill. This run can be either IGT or RTA, and either Seeded or Unseeded.

	- IGT: “In-Game Time,” i.e. timing using the game’s on-screen timer activated via the in-game options. Pausing, Survival Rooms, Thanatos Rooms, etc. pause the in-game timer.

	- RTA: “Real-Time Attack,” i.e. “actual” time of run from beginning to end measured with a separate timer (such as a splitter).

	- Seeded: A run that has been “mapped out” to some extent (often with the help of mods) by manipulating RNG and the game’s ability to reset runs while preserving seeds. Faster, but more work.

	- Unseeded: A “random” run with no mapping. Run videos must begin with a death recorded as a stop-gap to prevent seed manipulation.

Fresh File: a more classic “Any%” run, which begins with the creation of a brand new file and ends on final boss kill. Typically takes place over multiple escape attempts, so is strictly Unseeded and RTA.

3 Weapons & All Weapons: A marathon run of escape attempts back to back. 3 Weapons lets you choose which 3 weapons you’d like to use, while All Weapons uses each of them once. Unseeded and RTA.

32 Heat, 40 Heat, & 50 Heat: The general “high heat” categories, where the category name dictates the amount of heat enabled for the run. Heat amount and choices heavily impact playstyle. These runs can be either IGT or RTA, and either Seeded or Unseeded.


-----------------------
How do Seeds work?
-----------------------

A “Seed,” in the context of Hades, refers to the starting parameters of a specific escape attempt.
For Hades, a specific seed will mostly determine the rooms, boons, and enemies that will be encountered on a run. The "Give up" option appears in the pause menu after taking damage in a room. Giving up will return you to the House of Hades, but your next run will use the same seed. Speedrunners take advantage of this to route runs, manipulating RNG to produce repeatable results that can then be practiced and refined. Dying (or taking the exit after a victory, which leads to a death) will generate a new seed for your next run. Mods (such as EllosStartingBoonSelector on NexusMods) can also be used to manually select seeds.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
What Mirror of Night upgrades are recommended, and why?
-------------------------------------------------------------------

A very basic setup is as follows; this is going to be partially based on experimentation and personal preference. Certain builds may also make substitutions.

Shadow Presence
    - Reliable damage if your positioning is good
    - Use Fiery Presence if you’re using a weapon that doesn’t care or can’t backstab, like the Rail
Chthonic Vitality
    - Reliable healing, more than likely more healing than Dark Regeneration because we want to be taking 
       basically anything other than Darkness
    - Synergizes with High Confidence, if you take it
    - Extra room-by-room healing more likely to keep you above HP threshold needed for Chaos Gates
Death Defiance
    - Often a strat to sacrifice health/DDs on final boss for speed, can do that better with multiple DDs in final 
       fight vs. Stubborn Defiance
Greater Reflex
    - More dashes is basically just better, and more forgiving than Ruthless Reflex
Boiling Blood
    - More damage > not more damage
Infernal Soul 
    - More upfront stones better for cast builds
    - Use Stygian Soul for non-cast builds, as it makes Demeter’s Ravenous Will better and prevents getting 
      offered the Zeus/Artemis Duo Boon Lightning Rod.
    - Beowulf Shield is it’s own consideration, but can use both effectively.
Deep Pockets
    - Money is more important early vs. late, so the +100 up front is more valuable
Thick Skin
    - More forgiving, but can use High Confidence based on personal preference or skill.
Family Favorites
    - Privileged Status not guaranteed for some builds, but can take it if using a build that gets it reliably
Dark Foresight
    - Boons are basically most important part of builds, so want to maximize availability
    - Synergizes with Fated Persuasion
God's Legacy
    - Duo Boons and Legendaries are basically the crux of a build, so self explanatory
    - Use God’s Pride if not looking for any Duos or if Duos are not entirely core, because its a better high roll 
      potential
Fated Persuasion
    - Getting the right boon is crucial, especially when we can force gods with keepsakes

--------------------------------------------------
What Keepsakes are recommended, and why?
--------------------------------------------------

What specific Keepsake to take is going to depend entirely on what Build you are going for, and how a run is going up until the point you take it. General guidelines are as follows:

Tartarus: More damaging part of your goal duo (e.g. Ares when going for Merciful End)

Asphodel: Second god of your goal duo (e.g. Athena when going for Merciful End)
   -     If you found your second god naturally in Tartarus, you can take a god’s keepsake for good support 
         boons for your build, or optionally skip right to taking coin purse/hourglass.

Elysium & Styx: The general strategy is to take Coin Purse in Elysium and Acorn in Styx. More money is good for more boons, and Acorn lets you burst down Hades faster. It also lets you keep up High Confidence longer, if you’re using it.
   -       Both of these can be replaced with Hourglass in mid-biome, if the well has something very useful (like 
           extra casts or Braids on a cast build).
   -       Due to the Hades Keepsake nerf, it is no longer an instant take in the later biomes. It can still be used 
           to some benefit, but now another keepsake + a good call (like Zeus’s) is typically better.


For Companions, Meg is the popular choice. Using her can be tricky, but the beginner advice is to try and line yourself up perpendicular to the line you want the damage to fall on.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Is there any rule or recommendation for what Heat to use?
----------------------------------------------------------------

Extreme Measures 2 makes the Lernie fight faster by grouping the heads closer together. Forced Overtime makes enemies spawn faster, but is also much riskier. FO2 is rarely used, and some slower weapons might not want to use any FO at all. When running real-time (RTA) categories like All-Weapons or races, Tight Deadline removes survival rooms. However, in-game time (IGT) categories benefit from survival rooms because they pause the timer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you cheese a run using the final story escape attempt where Hades lets you past?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rules state the final victory screen must be recorded for a run to be valid, and the final story fight does not provide one, so no, this run is not allowed.

--------------------------------------------------------
Are there any general speed techniques or advice? {OUTDATED}
--------------------------------------------------------

See the "Starting Speedrunning in Hades" Guide for basic tips from the top runners!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
What Weapon or Aspect should I run? Is there any basic build advice? {OUTDATED}
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

What weapon to run is strictly down to personal preference. Doubtless while playing you’ve gravitated towards one you liked. The weapons are all balanced close enough that speed is mostly a factor of execution. For Aspects, there is typically one or two per weapon that is preferred, but again a big part of success comes from execution. There is also plenty of work being done to experiment with other Aspects and builds, so doubtless things can change.

For the sake of at least providing a starting point, as well as example builds and basic advice, the following is from the general guide for the “All Weapons” category, which obviously attempts to make best use of each individual weapon. There are preferred aspects for each of the six weapons that are generally considered “best.”

Sword
Nemesis Sword is considered the general best. You’ll want to start with Artemis keepsake, taking either the dash or attack, and going Aphrodite in Asphodel. You’ll usually want Aphrodite on special, and then you’ll go for Heart Rend. Finding extra dashes from Hermes is excellent as well, and dash-attack damage/attack damage from Chaos makes the build excellent. Double Edge is a must-have hammer.

Spear
There’s really only one spear: Achilles Spear. It takes Zeus cast, and involves continuously refreshing your special buff as you cast/attack. Quick Reload makes the build way easier, since Achilles has no way of extracting casts from enemies otherwise (which makes bossing slow). However, it is also a hybrid weapon, meaning you can use hammers like Flurry Jab and Serrated Point (Flurry being considered generally better), and build traditional attack set-ups like Artemis.

Shield
Beowulf is established as the go-to shield pick. The most popular approach to playing Beowulf is starting Dionysus cast and going for Mirage Shot, Scintillating Feast, and/or Snow Burst. Prioritizing Chaos Gates for extra casts is huge, as is and levelling your cast whenever possible. Charged Shot, Sudden Rush, and Ferocious Guard are excellent hammers.

Bow
The most reliable and fastest bow is Hera. Hera has the most options, being able to use Aphrodite, Athena, and Poseidon casts effectively (Aphrodite is the best however). Snow Burst is effective, as with Beowulf— hammers don’t matter as much, although Triple/Twin Shot are both excellent picks, while Charged Volley is the most desirable pick, since it gives a lot of base supplemental damage. Quick Reload from Hermes is extremely useful.

With Aphrodite cast, you want Snow Burst for Privileged Status. Parting Shot is also fine if you happen to pick it up. With Athena cast, you want to force Aphrodite in Asphodel for Parting Shot. Since Athena’s cast backstabs from the front with Hera, this adds a monumental amount of damage, and can phase Hades instantly if you’re strong enough. With Poseidon cast, finding Mirage Shot by forcing Artemis in Asphodel is how the build scales, focusing more on room AoE than boss damage. Although, with Mirage Shot and (if you’re lucky) Wave Pounding, your boss DPS will still be excellent.

Fists
Demeter Fists are literally the only sensible option. The special has a ton of base damage, which works to supplement what you’re missing until you find Merciful End. Since Athena is required on special, there isn’t much variety in the build—just make sure to get Ares on attack, and Athena on dash at some point, which will set up for an ideal Merciful End. Explosive Upper is the most desirable hammer, and most of the attack hammers do something useful except for Heavy Knuckle, which you should avoid. Most of the special hammers are useless, although Flying Cutter technically does something, and Kinetic Launcher has shown promise as a damage-dealer.

Rail
Eris Rail is widely considered the strongest aspect, and has lots of options to help it go fast. The “main” build starts with Zeus attack, and angles for Poseidon (for Dash, Breaking Wave, and Hydraulic Might) and Artemis (or Special, Pressure Points, and Hunter’s Mark). Zeus pick-ups include Call and Billowing Strength, as well as picking up his Jolted status effect. The ideal hammer combo is Cluster Bomb and Rocket Bomb, but Targeting System or Delta Chamber are also high tier.

Eris is a strong enough aspect that many different boons can work with it, so it has both a low skill floor but a high skill ceiling.

一 {OUTDATED} Speedrunning Basics Guide: Text Version

MODERATOR NOTE: Some of the sections here are outdated information. For build options, please check the Hades Guide Compendium guide.

NOTE: This is the text version of my speedrunning basics video, linked here: https://youtu.be/z3Mmoo4oTKU

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Introduction
2. IGT vs. RTA
3. Companion Choice
4. Categories
5. Aspects
6. Mirror
7. Heat
8. Free Rooms
9. Enemy Spawn Manipulation
10. Build Overviews {OUTDATED}
11. Improving Speed
12. Outro



|| 1. Speedrunning Basics: Introduction ||

Welcome to my speedrunning basics guide. The goal of this guide is introduce any Hades player to speedrunning the game. The information will cover a lot of the fundamentals, focusing on general information and tips for improving speed. We’ll also go into an overview of the builds we use for each weapon. We won’t go too far in depth, but this should be enough to get anyone started, and should help make watching other speedrunning streams a little more understandable. 

This guide will also assume that you’ve beaten Hades a few times, and have a basic understanding of what each god does, as well as how duo boons work. If you don’t know how they work, I’ll cover that briefly in a later section, but check the Wiki for more detailed information.

|| 2. IGT vs. RTA ||

Briefly: IGT stands for “in-game time,” which uses the game’s in-game clock. It pauses at certain areas, such as mid-biome areas, and boon menus.

RTA stands for “real time attack,” which just means real-world time. No timer pauses, it goes when you go, and stops when you stop.

|| 3. Companion Choice ||

For Any Heat and All Weapons, we always take Battie, Meg's companion. Everything else either doesn't do enough damage, or doesn't come out fast enough.

|| 4. Categories ||

The most common category is Any Heat, where a player defeats Hades one time, as fast as possible. Any Heat is timed using the in-game clock, which you can activate in the menu. 

A good goal to aim for is sub-10 minutes in-game. If you’re interested in real time, 20 minutes is a good benchmark.

The next most-popular category is All Weapons, where the player beats Hades once with every weapon, a total of six times. Unlike Any Heat, this category is timed using real time. A good goal to aim for is sub-2 hours and ten minutes.

Other categories are Fresh File and 50 Heat. You can find these on the speedrun website, but this guide isn’t really relevant to either of them.

You can find the categories here: https://www.speedrun.com/hades/

|| 5. Aspects ||

I should preface by saying that Hades is not a completely solved game. Everything from here on out is based on the best information we have, but a lot can easily change with balance patches and new discoveries.

That said, each weapon has its own preferred aspect. If you want to get into speedrunning, the aspects I’m about to list are naturally fast, and easy to get into. It’s worth noting though that almost every aspect has the capacity to go fairly fast.

   1)	Sword prefers Poseidon or Nemesis
   2)	Shield prefers Beowulf 
   3)	Spear prefers Achilles 
   4)	Bow prefers Hera 
   5)	Fists prefer Demeter 
   6)	Rail prefers Eris (also probably the fastest weapon in the game)

We’ll talk about some good builds for these weapons later. If you happen to like any of these aspects, you’re in luck – they’re usually the ones you’ll see in All Weapons runs.

|| 6. Mirror ||

If you can, you should have a maxed mirror available. This may take some time, and if you want to play the game with every resource available, you can find some maxed save files on the speedrun resources page, found here (https://www.speedrun.com/hades/resources) under “Saves.”

This is what a general optimized mirror looks like: https://i.imgur.com/YuzVUPC.png 
This mirror will work for pretty much any weapon. 

Variables include:

   1)	Trading Thick Skin for High Confidence if you’re feeling safe
   2)	Trading Gods’ Legacy for Gods’ Pride if you don’t want particular Duo Boons/Legendaries
   3)	Trading Infernal Soul for Stygian Soul to avoid Lightning Rod
   4)	Trading Shadow Presence for Fiery Presence depending on the weapon

|| 7. Heat ||

While it tends to make the runs a little more dangerous, some heat settings actually speed up our runs.

This is what a typical Pact of Punishment looks like: 
https://i.imgur.com/FLvFbKZ.png

   1)	Extreme Measures 2 (EM2) makes the Lernie heads closer together
   2)	Forced Overtime (FO) causes enemies to spawn faster
   3)	Tight Deadline (TD) deactivates Survival Rooms in Tartarus

A couple notes on the Pact: Turn off EM2 if you find your runs ending at the Lernie fight in Asphodel. Forced Overtime can go up or down depending on how comfortable you are with your weapon. And Tight Deadline gets turned off if you are playing for in-game time (IGT), since Survival Rooms stop the in-game clock.

If any of these heat settings make you uncomfortable, keep in mind that you can easily play and practice without them.

|| 8. Free Rooms ||

Each biome has a set amount of chambers between the first active combat room and the final shop, which always leads to the boss. 

   1)	Tartarus has 12 Chambers
   2)	Asphodel has 6 Chambers 
   3)	Elysium has 8 Chambers
   4)	Styx has a variable amount due to Sack RNG

Usually you have to fight through combat encounters to progress in any given biome, but the game also has free rooms. Here’s what they are, so you can look for them:
   1)	Mid-shop
    a.	Always take; usually the first shop in the biome
   2)	Fountain rooms
    a.	Out of your control; can’t get fountain rooms in Miniboss Rooms or Trials
   3)	Miniboss Rooms
    a.	Not exactly free, but usually quite fast; do not take over actual free rooms
    b.	This rule also applies to Miniboss rooms in Styx
   4)	Story Rooms
    a.	Always take; great rewards
   5)	Chaos Gates
    a.	Always take unless in the last room of a biome (e.g., chamber 12 in Tartarus), since it extends the biome length
    b.	Check all Wells of Charon for Light of Ixion, which gives a Chaos Gate; costs 55 gold

If you encounter multiple free rooms as an option, take the one that benefits your build the most.

|| 9. Enemy Spawn Manipulation ||

Now that you know a little about how to navigate the rooms, let’s talk briefly about navigating the encounters.

When you approach a room, determining the most efficient way of clearing the enemies is your first priority. 

The answer will vary by weapon and build, so there’s no real catch-all answer. The most generalized piece of advice I can give is to keep in mind where you’re going to end up. Try to make sure that by the time you’ve killed the last enemy, you’ll be where you want to go, whether it’s at a Well of Charon, the next chamber doors, or a chaos gate.

You can use the enemy spawn indicators to help guide your next series of movements. The spawns will show you both where they’ll appear, and what kind of enemy they’ll be based on the size. Try to use this information to clear the room as efficiently as possible.

In addition to all of this, you can manipulate where enemy spawns happen. It can get a little complicated, but for the most part, enemies won’t spawn too far out of camera. So between waves, hugging a wall to centralize the incoming spawns is a great way of controlling the board.

Here’s a little visual example of what that can look like: https://i.imgur.com/H8KgqHJ.png

As you play the game, you’ll start to recognize the different chambers in each biome, the room layouts, the combination of enemy spawns. If you find yourself watching any speedrunner’s streams or videos, you can watch for this kind of manipulation and see how they do it. It’s a skill that will really only come with experience, and if you’re watching out for it, so keep the enemy spawn patterns in mind when you’re watching someone else’s play, or analyzing your own.

|| 10. Build Overviews || {OUTDATED}

There are three general kinds of builds that exist in the All Weapons/Racing scene at this moment: 

   1)	Zeus builds, for weapons that like on-hit damage like Eris rail 
   2)	Cast builds, which vary by the weapon 
   3)	Merciful End, specifically for Demeter fists.

Almost every speedrunning build wants some kind of duo boon or legendary, so keep in mind the ways you can boost duo/legendary boon rarity:
   1)	Gods’ Legacy
   2)	Yarn of Ariadne from Charon’s Wells
   3)	Refreshing Nectar from Eurydice
   4)	Rarity boosts from keepsakes 
   5)	Rarity boosts from Chaos boons

Likewise, all legendaries and duo boons have some prerequisites. You can open up the in-game codex and check if you’re not sure. The Wiki may also have rough information, although it’s still in the process of being updated (https://hades.gamepedia.com/Hades_Wiki).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Zeus attack build is used on Eris rail. Here’s the core of the build:
   1)	Zeus Attack (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Poseidon’s Dash (keepsake in Asphodel, if you didn’t find it in Tartarus)
   3)	Sea Storm (Zeus/Poseidon duo boon; core)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
       i.	Splitting Bolt (Zeus Legendary)
      ii.	Billowing Strength (Zeus Boon; Call required)
     iii.	Breaking Wave (Poseidon Tier 2 Boon)
     iv.	Greater Reflex (Hermes Boon)
Ideal Hammers for the build include:
   1)	Rocket Bomb
    a.	Combine with Targeting System or Cluster Bomb
   2)	Delta Chamber

The playstyle involves a lot of dash-attacking into enemies, especially with Poseidon Dash/Sea Storm. Maintain your buff by firing off your specials during your reload. Take Hades Keepsake in Elysium/Styx for faster room clears and better boss damage. It also activates Billowing Strength.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cast build weapons are Poseidon Sword, Achilles Spear, Hera Bow, and Beowulf Shield. For every one of these builds, pomming your casts AGGRESSIVELY is extremely good. 

Poseidon Sword and Achilles Spear both use Zeus’s cast. 

Here’s the core of Poseidon Sword’s build:
   1)	Zeus Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Poseidon’s Dash (keepsake in Asphodel, if you didn’t find an attack in Tartarus)
   3)	Sea Storm (Zeus/Poseidon duo boon)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Flurry Cast (Hermes Boon)
     ii.	Exit Wounds (Artemis Boon; not required, but VERY powerful; find if you can)
     iii.	Snow Burst (Demeter Boon; great supplementary DPS)

This weapon doesn’t rely on hammers, but Double Edge helps the most. Super Nova 

The playstyle involves using Zeus cast to clear rooms, and chasing down those casts. Weave in specials and dash-attacks to finish off weakened or small enemies. Cycling dash-attacks with your damage rotation (casting, dislodging, dash-attacking, repeat) will increase your boss damage too. Try to keep track of your casts, but if you lose one, see if you can get along without them, since it can eat a lot of time to retrieve them.


Here’s the core of Achilles Spear:

   1)	Zeus Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Artemis Attack (keepsake in Asphodel; if you found Aphrodite’s attack, it works too)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Quick Reload (Hermes Boon; basically CORE, but hard to guarantee)
     ii.	Poseidon Dash (Poseidon Boon; can transition to Sea Storm)
     iii.	Hunter’s Mark (Artemis Tier 2 Boon; strong room clear)

Ideal Hammers for the build include:

   1)	Flurry Jab
   2)	Serrated Point

Finding Quick Reload will make boss fights much easier. If you can’t find it, supplementing your boss damage with Flurry Jab or Serrated Point can help. It’s worth noting, however, that a lot of Achilles runs are very cobbled together, since the weapon is pretty unreliable due to the sorts of things it depends on. Otherwise, the playstyle is similar to Poseidon Sword: throwing your casts, chasing them down, and using your attacks wisely.

Important to note: The Achilles Spear buff will not REFRESH until you’ve used all four charges.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s the core of Beowulf Shield:

   1)	Aphrodite Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Snow Burst (Demeter; keepsake in Asphodel)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Hypersprint (Hermes Boon; unlocks Rush Delivery)
     ii.	Artemis Attack (Artemis Boon)
     iii.	Fully Loaded (Artemis Legendary)

Ideal Hammers for the build include:
   
   1)	Charged Shot (NOT Charged Flight)
   2)	Ferocious Guard
   3)	Breaching Rush
   4)	Sudden Rush (hard to get used to)

Playstyle is difficult to articulate, and it’s best to watch it live. However, taking Privileged Status and Fiery Presence will make things easier. Fiery Presence one-shots a lot of things in Tartarus with dash-attacks. You can load you casts while rushing, and you can pick up your fallen casts by rushing through them. Scale casts with Chaos gates, poms, and Charon’s well items using Bone Hourglass.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hera bow can use three casts: Athena cast, Aphrodite cast, and Poseidon cast. Athena cast and Poseidon casts are the dominant ones at this time, however.

With Athena Cast, you build:
   1)	Athena Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Aphrodite core boon (keepsake in Asphodel; Attack, Special, Dash, or Call)
   3)	Parting Shot (Athena/Aphrodite Duo Boon)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Blinding Flash (Athena curse; backstab bonus)
     ii.	Fully Loaded (Artemis Legendary)
     iii.	Exit Wounds (Artemis Boon)
     iv.	Snow Burst (Demeter Boon)

With Poseidon Cast, you build:
   1)	Poseidon Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Artemis Attack/Special/Call (keepsake in Asphodel)
   3)	Mirage Shot (Artemis/Poseidon Boon)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Wave Pounding (Poseidon Tier 2 Boon)
     ii.	Breaking Wave (Poseidon Tier 2 Boon)
     iii.	Fully Loaded (Artemis Legendary)
     iv.	Exit Wounds (Artemis Boon)
     v.	Snow Burst (Demeter Boon)

With Aphrodite Cast, you build:
   1)	Aphrodite Cast (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Snow Burst (Demeter; keepsake in Asphodel)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Sweet Surrender (Aphrodite Tier 2 Boon)
     ii.	Artemis Attack (Artemis Boon)
     iii.	Fully Loaded (Artemis Legendary)

Ideal Hammers for this weapon (across all builds) include:
   1)	Triple Shot
    a.	Pairs nicely with Point Blank Shot
   2)	Charged Volley
   3)	Twin Shot (less preferable)

Playstyle varies somewhat depending on the cast. Athena Cast will backstab from the front with Parting Shot, so make sure to hit enemies head-on. Poseidon Cast will carry enemies in its wake, meaning that lining up groups of enemies in rooms is essential to using it effectively. Aphrodite Cast is slightly outdated, but it’s still powerful and capable of clearing rooms and bosses. Make sure to load only as many casts as you need to save time. Snow Burst is good on every build – the explosions can kill smaller, annoying enemies, allowing you to focus on larger targets.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merciful End is used on Demeter Fists. It’s a powerful duo boon between Ares and Athena, but it’s wildly inconsistent. Requires Ares Attack and Athena Special.

Here’s the core of Demeter Fists:
   1)	Ares Attack (keepsake in Tartarus)
   2)	Athena Special (keepsake in Asphodel)
   3)	Hades Keepsake (used in Elysium/Styx)
    a.	Bonus boons include:
      i.	Athena Dash (Athena boon; Basically required though)
     ii.	Impending Doom (Ares Tier 2 boon; increases power)
     iii.	Dire Misfortune (Ares Tier 2 boon; strong early)
     iv.	Billowing Strength (Zeus Boon; requires an Aid)

Merciful End Demeter Fists end-game looks like a lot of dash-attacks, activating Merciful End with Athena’s Dash. Save your rerolls only for Merciful End-related boons. Athena’s Dash and Impending Doom are both extremely important for the build to work as well as it can. Resetting runs to get a natural Athena out of Tartarus is not uncommon.

|| 11. Improving Speed ||

There are a two kinds of speed you’ll want to improve during your practice: the moment-to-moment gameplay, and decision-making. Moment-to-moment speed comes with good execution of game mechanics – knowing where to dash, dealing your damage efficiently, etc.

The kind of speed I want to focus on is the decision-making. If you’re racing, doing an All Weapons speedrun, or otherwise playing for real-time, the speed at which you make decisions matters a lot.

There are three basic questions you should ask and answer for yourself in advance of an important decision: 
   1)	What do I want? 
   2)	What am I willing to spend in order to get it? 
   3)	What will I do if I don’t get it?

The first 1) question is probably the simplest. Knowing what you want in advance (for instance, you enter a room that offers Poseidon; you know you want his dash, and you look for it) will save time deliberating in advance.

The second 2) question depends a lot on your current resources. Supposing again that you enter a Poseidon room looking for his dash, and he doesn’t offer it, you need to determine how important it is to your build. If it’s a luxury, or still good but not entirely core, it might be worth rolling for once if you have an abundance of rerolls (4 or 5, for instance). If it’s extremely important, rolling up to 2 times is not uncommon. If you don’t get what you want, have the self-control to settle for something that doesn’t hurt your build, and hope to get another shot at the desired boon later on.

The third 3) question is hardest to get used to. I’ve talked a little about this in the previous paragraph, but I want to emphasize the willingness to move on from a boon that isn’t cooperating. One tendency we might have as players is to take the most optimal choice in every situation, even if the benefits are marginal. Learning to recognize when a decision isn’t important is a critical skill for playing RTA categories, and leaving those decisions behind helps with that. As you practice more, you’ll be able to recognize what options benefit you the most, and what future build paths open and close based on your choices.

This comes with time and experience though. I recommend watching high-level runs and streams

|| 12. Closing ||

Keep in mind that these builds are general guidelines, and are by no means finalized in terms of what’s best. On top of that, due to the randomness of the game, your builds are inherently dynamic and you’ll be cobbling a lot of stuff together on the fly. Making the most of what the game offers you matters a lot, and sometimes priorities will change. So don’t take these builds as the definitive “best” builds in the game right now – rather, use them as baselines to practice on, and get used to playing quickly.

Of course, the best way to improve is to practice, and to watch other players. The speedrun leaderboard has a host of fast runs from excellent players, in old and current patches. Each of those players also stream fairly regularly on Twitch, so catching them live and watching their play is a great way to improve your own. They’re also incredibly helpful, so feel free to ask any questions you may have.

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