Hades: Your First Escape — A Beginner's Walkthrough

Understanding What Kind of Game This Is

Hades is a roguelite — you are expected to die repeatedly, and those deaths are the game's intended pacing mechanism. Every failed escape attempt earns resources, story progress, and relationship development with the House of Hades NPCs. Your first run will probably end in Tartarus. Your tenth run might reach Elysium. Your first successful escape — clearing all four biomes and defeating the final boss — typically happens somewhere around run 20–35 for most players. This is not failure. This is the game.

The Mirror of Night — Spend Here First

Between runs, the Mirror of Night in Zagreus's bedroom lets you spend Darkness (a purple resource dropped by enemies) on permanent upgrades. These carry across every future run. Your first purchases should be:

• Death Defiance (3 ranks) — Revive once per run with 50% health. The single most impactful upgrade for surviving early escape attempts. Buy all three ranks immediately.
• Greater Reflex — Unlocks a second dash. Your movement and evasion improve dramatically.
• Thick Skin — Flat maximum health increase. Simple, reliable, always valuable.
• Infernal Soul — After Death Defiance, unlock this for a second cast of your Cast ability in each chamber.

The Four Biomes

Each escape attempt runs through the same four zones in order:

• Tartarus — The starting biome. 12 chambers of standard enemies, ending with Megaera (one of the Furies). Her moveset is readable — the hardest part of Tartarus is learning the chamber enemy variety.
• Asphodel — Fire islands over lava. Enemies hit harder, and the lava floor deals contact damage. Boss: the Lernaean Bone Hydra, which splits into smaller heads on defeat — kill all heads before a new phase spawns.
• Elysium — Armored shielded enemies that require flanking or status effects to break guards. Boss: Theseus and Asterius together — the hardest fight in the game for most players. Prioritize Asterius first, then Theseus.
• Temple of Styx — Short final stretch of 4–5 chambers, then Hades himself. Hades has three health phases and hits extremely hard. Death Defiance saves are critical here.

Boons: Build Around One God

After clearing each chamber, you choose a Boon — a blessing from an Olympian god that enhances your Attack, Special, Cast, Dash, or Call. The key principle: build around one primary god per run. Mixing boons from four different gods produces weak, unfocused results. Boons from the same god stack synergistically and unlock Duo Boons (powerful combinations from two gods) and Legendary Boons.

For beginners, Zeus (chain lightning on hits) and Ares (Doom damage over time) are the most forgiving — both deal damage passively without requiring precise timing. Artemis (critical hit chance) is excellent if you're comfortable landing regular hits consistently.

Keepsakes and Gifting

Giving Nectar (dropped by enemies and found in chambers) to NPCs in the House of Hades earns their Keepsake — a passive bonus equippable before each run. Keepsakes level up as you use them. Priority gifts: give Nectar to Skelly in the training room early (his keepsake resurrects you), and to each Olympian god to unlock their Keepsakes (which help guarantee their Boons appear early in a run).

When You First Clear

Your first successful escape isn't the end — it's the beginning of the game's real narrative. The story only fully resolves after multiple successful escapes, and new dialogue, revelations, and relationship development continue across every subsequent run. Keep playing after your first clear. The best content is ahead.