Hades Boon Rarity: Guide to Standard and Special Boons

Hades Boon rarity guide will help you get a grip on all the godly buffs offered by Olympus' mightiest.

Hades is the latest game from developer Supergiant Games, known for indie classics such as Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre. The isometric roguelite has players take the role of Zagreus, son of Hades, as he attempts (many, many times) to escape the underworld. Throughout his quests, he receives assistance from his extended Olympian family through the form of various Boons.

These Boons have a ton of variance. Each God offers specific powers that Zagreus can acquire throughout each run — Zeus's Boons will add lightning powers to attacks and specials, Aphrodite's will make enemies weaker or turn them against each other, etc. On top of this, each Boon has a rarity and level. Think of rarity as a tier or general power level of that Boon.

A Boon's level is its strength level relative to its rarity. Regardless of rarity, each Boon acquired starts at Level 1, and its power can be upgraded through Poms of Power throughout the run.

Below is our guide to understanding Boon rarity in Hades.

Hades Boon Rarity: Standard Boons

There are four rarities of standard Boons:

• Common (White)

• Rare (Blue)

• Epic (Purple)

• Heroic (Red)

There are many different factors that play a role in the chances that a player encounters a Common, Rare, or Epic Boon. Heroic Boons, though, are a little more difficult to obtain. To obtain a Heroic Boon, the player must do one of three things:

• Be offered a Heroic Boon in exchange for an Epic when acquiring a new Boon

• Encounter Eurydice in Asphodel and choose Ambrosia Delight

• Cultivate a Boon up to Heroic after accepting Demeter's "Rare Crop" Boon

Ambrosia Delight upgrades two random Boons to the next rarity. So, to get a Heroic through this method, one must have at least one Epic Boon and hope that Eurydice picks it for an upgrade.

Rare Crop is a Boon from Demeter that will randomly select one, two, or three (depending if Rare Crop is Common, Rare, or Epic) Boons and turn them into Common Boons. These now-common Boons will gain one rarity level for each encounter cleared after. So, it would take the player nine encounters to level them up to Heroic.

Hades Boon Rarity: Special Boons

There are also a number of Special Boons available:

• Duo

• Legendary

• Chaos

• Bouldy

Duo Boons combine the powers of two gods, and require Zagreus to possess certain Boons from each before being offered a Duo Boon.

Legendary Boons are the most powerful in the game. These also require Zagreus to have specific Boons from one god.

For guides on which Boons are needed to acquire Duo and Legendary Boons, check out the Hades Gamepedia.

Chaos Boons first require players to encounter a Chaos Gate and enter by sacrificing some of their life. Chaos Boons will temporarily make Zagreus' run more difficult — increasing his damage taken, enemies encountered, trap damage, etc. over the course of a limited number of encounters. The rewards are usually worth it and will make him much more powerful after surviving through those encounters.

Bouldy Boons require players to encounter Sisyphus in Tartarus a number of times before being able to speak with his boulder. Zagreus will then be able to gift Bouldy nectar once per each run, which will reward him with a Bouldy Boon that provides a random buff.