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This article contains possible spoilers for Hades 2. If you haven’t played it yet, look away. Like in the game’s first installment, you can get Keepsakes upon gifting Nectar to an NPC for the first time. Hades 2 is still in the early access phase, but the most dedicated community members are already discovering all the new things you could achieve with your Keepsakes.
Players Share Which Keepsakes Are Worth It
A player called t33E took a moment to appreciate the new Keepsakes. They said: “Compared to the first game, these ones are so creative and they incentivize switching them around more often, which wasn’t really the case before. Most keepsakes were pretty lacklustre”.
Explaining how fun it could be to switch things up, they added: “Maybe you start the run with Arachne’s keepsake for some early armor and maybe to preserve an outfit if you run into her. Then you can switch to Circe to get an extra arcana card, maybe Narcissus if you want to heal and increase the rarity of a boon, or perhaps use an Olympian boon”. Skelly’s keepsake is called Luckier Tooth and adds 1HP more than its counterpart Lucky Tooth from the original Hades. That’s hilarious.
Another user, djaqk, raved about the Chaos’ Keepsake. They said: ” It [the Keepsake] switches after 8 encounters, it’ll always switch once before clearing the first area, and the 2nd random effect will stick the whole run even after removing the keepsake”. Of course, “Chaos being Chaos” means a guaranteed Purple rarity boon once you get the Keepsake to level 3. Basically, you’ll often get an absurd buff for the entire run, whether you remove the Keepsake or not.
This advantage is probably an oversight. Players fully expect it to be removed. HotcupGG said: “I fully expect it to get nerfed/fixed in the future so that the current buff is removed when the keepsake comes off”. For now, “once you take it [the Chaos’ Keepsake] off the current buff stays forever and can stack with any regularly acquired Chaos buffs”.
New Can Mean Better, Even For Keepsakes
Kind_Stranger_weeb named Narcissus’ Keepsake as their favorite. They explained that you get an “immediate heroic upgrade” after drinking from the fountain. The White Antler is another useful Keepsake. CarnivorousL said: “I basically shred through Erebus in under 5 minutes with Axe [Moonstone Axe] or the Argent Skull, especially if I luck into Aphrodite’s boons”.
A player called EffTooPauling said: “I often find myself starting with the Ghost Onion and then switching to a new keepsake depending on my current position after dealing with Hecate”. There is a downside: “You can’t do a Dodge build or Boonless build or even a Glass Canon build (a la Than’s keepsake) like you could in the first”.
Another thing to be aware of is that the Keepsakes might feel underwhelming at first. They have “more limited effects and briefer durations”. This is probably intentional. The idea is for the player to switch keepsakes between every area more actively.
Players also mentioned Black Fleece, Circe’s Keepsake, Eris’ Keepsake, and many more. There is a total of 27 Keepsakes. Trying them all is a feat in itself and it’s wonderful to see an array of options. The developers truly outdid themselves. We can’t wait to see the completed game.