Supergiant Games’ Hades 2 is getting another massive patch in the form of the Warsong Update, bringing the god of war Ares into the fray. There’s also a new boss fight, more story content, and secrets for players to find as Melinoe continues to try and save Olympus.
Even with all these new features and changes, the developers aren’t done with early access just yet, with Supergiant Games confirming the studio is already working on the next major update. You can take a look at the trailer for the Hades 2 Warsong Update below:
Hades II – The Warsong Update Trailer – YouTube
I’m excited to dive and check out everything that’s been added here. I’ll freely admit, it’s surprising that the developers are planning at least one more major update considering just how much has already been added. Right now, Hades 2 is a vastly bigger game than its already-impressive predecessor, so what else does Supergiant have in store?
You can find the full patch notes for the game below, but just like last time with the Olympic Update, be warned, you’ll be scrolling for a while. These patch notes also contain some mild spoilers if you don’t want to know what other characters have been added to the game since the original early access launch.
Hades 2 Warsong Update – Highlights
- The Final Confrontation: Battle to the summit of Mount Olympus and discover what awaits…
- New Olympian: Meet the god of war himself, and choose from his many Boons
- New Familiar: Find one last animal companion to join your journey and aid you in battle
- Revamped Boons: Gain many powerful new and improved blessings from various Olympians
- Revamped Altar of Ashes: Activate several reworked effects, and each Card now has all-new artwork
- Revamped Resource Gathering: Worry no more about which resources you can collect
- Revamped Menus: Look for new and improved animations across many menu screens
- Expanded Story: Discuss the final confrontation and more with many different characters
General Gameplay
- You no longer prioritize Gathering Tools in the Training Grounds, though still can harvest any type of resource as long as you have unlocked each Tool; resource appearance rates adjusted as part of this
- Psyche can no longer be found as a Location Reward; Bones may now be found sooner instead
- All Guardians and Wardens with Guardian-style Life Bars now are resistant to the slowing effect of your Casts; previously this applied only to some of them
- Any damage resistance effects you have no longer affect any Armor you have
- Adjusted requirements for certain key events early on; as a result, it should be possible to reach the surface earlier than before
Nocturnal Arms and Abilities
- Witch’s Staff: Attack sequence is faster and the final strike is stronger; Omega Attack is stronger; reworked Special is a fast powerful shot that pierces foes
- Argent Skull: reworked Attack fires straight ahead; Omega Attack is stronger; Special now retrieves Shells in the surrounding area
- Black Coat: increased Omega Attack damage; your Dash no longer cancels channeling your Omega Attack and causes you to perform the move right after
Altar of Ashes
- All Cards now have unique illustrations; swapped or adjusted themes of several Cards, noted below
- Eternity: theme changed from Night; reworked — now makes everything slower while you channel Omega moves; note this effect is no longer on Silver Wheel (Hecate)
- The Messenger: reworked — your Casts briefly make you impervious and move faster
- The Swift Runner: your Sprint now also makes you phase through foes
- Night: reduced Grasp cost; theme changed from Death
- The Wayward Son: no longer provides doubled recovery at low Life; base recovery improved
- Death: theme changed from Eternity
- Persistence: theme changed from The Titan
- The Enchantress: theme changed from The Fates
- The Fates: theme changed from The Seer
- Grasp upgrade costs re-scaled as part of changes to resource gathering
Oath of the Unseen
- Added new Testaments for the final confrontation
- Vow of Shadow: adjusted various encounters with this
- Vow of Fangs: removed certain combinations of Perks that were unusually cruel…
- Fear requirements for some Testaments re-scaled to reduce jumps in difficulty; reduced Fear requirements in some cases
Boons and Blessings
- Added Ares, with many of his own blessings, including a new Duo with each other primary Boon-giver
- Zeus: his Blitz Curse now activates at the end of the duration if not activated by dealing damage
- Storm Ring (Zeus): slightly reduced rate of lightning strikes
- Thunder Rush (Zeus): no longer requires Magick to strike foes with lightning; formerly Thunder Sprint
- Electric Overload (Zeus): reworked — your chain-lightning effects are stronger and bounce to more foes· Toasting Fork (Zeus): cut from game; replaced with…
- Arc Flash (Zeus): new! Your Omega Moves activate your Blitz effects and make them stronger
- Romantic Spark (Zeus x Aphrodite): reduced damage bonus
- Hera: the Queen of the Olympians now has Boons of all four elemental affinities, not solely Earth
- Engagement Ring (Hera): reworked — now deals immediate damage for each foe in the binding circle
- Bridal Glow (Hera): reworked — upgrades a random Boon to Heroic Rarity and gives it bonus Pom Lv.
- Nasty Comeback (Hera): cut from game; replaced with…
- Extended Family (Hera): new! Your Olympian damage is stronger for each Olympian you met this night
- Proper Upbringing (Hera): increased activation requirement to include all four elements
- Breaker Rush (Poseidon): reworked — whenever you Sprint, damage and knock away the first foe you run into; formerly Breaker Sprint
- Geyser Spout (Poseidon): reworked — your Omega Cast gains Power and knocks foes away
- Buried Treasure (Poseidon): now also drops Bones, not Ashes or Psyche; formerly Ocean’s Bounty
- Flood Control (Poseidon): cut from game; replaced with…
- High Surf (Poseidon): new! Hit surrounding foes with a splash as they strike, but prime some Magick
- Phoenix Skin (Apollo x Hestia): cut from game; replaced with…
- Warm Breeze (Apollo x Hestia): new! Whenever Dodge or Daze makes foes miss, restore some Life
- Demeter: her Gust effects no longer destroy trees in Erebus or other such obstructions
- Local Climate (Demeter): reworked — your Omega Cast is stronger; bonus doubled in the binding circle
- Plentiful Forage (Demeter): now restores Life whenever you gather any resource
- Rare Crop (Demeter): cut from game; replaced with…
- Steady Growth (Demeter): new! Whenever you clear enough Encounters, a Boon gains Rarity
- Secret Crush (Aphrodite): now also affects Omega Attack
- Tough Gain (Hephaestus): reworked — whenever you take damage, shrug some off and restore Magick
- Flash Fry (Hestia): no longer requires foes to have Scorch to explode when slain; no longer requires a Scorch-related Boon to be offered; formerly Natural Gas
- Burnt Offering (Hestia): reworked — gain max Magick whenever you collect Ashes, and gain some now
- Mean Streak (Hermes): damage bonus no longer automatically ends after Encounters
- Tall Order (Hermes): updated elemental requirement; slightly increased damage bonus
- Travel Deal (Hermes): new! Your first purchase each Location costs less; another item appears after
- Saved Breath (Hermes): cut from game; replaced with…· Winner’s Circle (Hermes): new! You channel your Casts faster and your Casts expire faster· Witty Retort (Hermes): cut from game; replaced with…
- Hasty Retreat (Hermes): new! Gain more Dodge chance and move speed the more Boons you have
- Greater Evasion (Hermes): cut from game; replaced with…
- Stutter Step (Hermes): new! You can Dash more frequently· Midnight Oil (Hermes): cut from game; replaced with…
- Success Rate (Hermes): new! Your chance-based effects are more likely to occur, except Dodge or Daze
- Close Call (Hermes): cut from game; replaced with…
- Paid Dues (Hermes): new Legendary! Whenever you take damage, you lose Gold before you lose Life
- Mental Block (Athena): reduced duration of Impervious effect
- Righteous Pike (Athena): new! Whenever you use enough Magick, several foes are struck by spears
- Killing Stroke (Artemis): new! Your Specials may deal Critical damage, but you prime some Magick
- The Marked Curses inflicted by Artemis and Raki the Raven now will never choose the same target
- Unseen Ire (Hades): the Dark effect and its damage bonus no longer expire after you strike📢 Barren (Chaos): reduced Curse duration
- Neurotic (Chaos): no longer slows your Dash but still makes it use Magick; formerly Hobbled
- Life Savings (Narcissus): now gives Lotus instead of Deathcaps· Wealth from the Dead (Medea): you now automatically absorb bonus Gold from slain foes on approach
- Supply Drop (Icarus): slightly reduced frequency of drops, and provides one fewer Pom Slice
- Adjusted names and elemental affinities of some Boons· Additional minor adjustments to some bonuses from Rarity and Poms of Power
- Further clarifications to descriptions for various Boons· Other minor fixes and adjustments
Daedalus Hammer Upgrades
- Spiral Knives (Blades): cut from game; replaced with…
- Hidden Knives (Blades): new! Specials are stronger and Omega Special fires more shots than usual
- Fetching Array (Skull): Shells now also automatically return faster; removed penalty to total Shells
- Looming Ignition (Skull): now also affects your Omega Attack; reaches full strength faster
- Possessed Array (Skull): increased Magick cost
- Rocket Bombard (Skull): cut from game since this effect is now innate; replaced with…
- Boosted Ignition (Skull): new! After your Dash or Specials, your Attacks are faster and gain Power
- Counter Barrage: now launches more rockets, more often· Adjusted names and descriptive text for several Daedalus Hammer upgrades
Keepsakes
- Added a new Keepsake now that Ares decided to show up, which you can gain in the customary way
- Silver Wheel (Hecate): reworked — adds to your Magick limit for the rest of the night
- Fig Leaf (Dionysus): now can only affect one Encounter per Region, but still works if you unequip it
- Engraved Pin (Moros): now counts as a Death Defiance effect
- Evil Eye (Nemesis): now targets Prometheus if his Eagle Aetos is the one to vanquish you
Animal Familiars
- Gale the Polecat: new! Grants Dodge chance and move speed, blocks damage a few times per Region
- Toula the Cat: attacks more times successively; falls asleep faster (so she can wake back up faster!)
Resources and Reagents
- Added several new collectable resources found around the final confrontation
- Removed Deathcaps from the game as part of broader changes to resources described further above
Well of Charon
- Yarn of Ariadne: no longer consumed when meeting Hades, on whom this has no effect
Shrine of Hermes
- Fresh Sustenance MAX: reduced Life recovery
- Reduced chance of offering Minor Finds over other types of items
Foes and Dangers
- Added a variety of foes for the final surface Region, including new Wardens and a new Guardian
- Prometheus: adjusted behaviors; reduced damage for several moves; now sometimes foresees and dodges attacks, yet overall should be somewhat less punishing than before
- Aetos: reduced viciousness to some extent…
- Sky-Dracon: slightly reduced tracking speed
- Auto-Seeker: slightly reduced tracking speed
- Eris: improved previews of her various attacks
- The Yargonaut: new! Warden added to the Rift of Thessaly
- Charybdis: adjusted Tentacle behaviors; reduced overall difficulty
- Harpy Talon: slightly reduced radius of ranged attack
- Stickler: reduced damage
- Seesword: increased damage
- Blasket: reduced damage· Infernal Beast: slightly increased Life
- Scylla: slightly increased Life
- Hellifish: new! Warden added to Oceanus
- Lurker: gained a defensive back-step maneuver after getting hit
- Headmistress Hecate: slightly increased Life
- Root-Stalker: adjusted behavior of tail; grew a second one
- Various other minor changes to foes and combat encounters
Special Encounters
- Reworked Heracles combat encounters — vanquish specially-marked foes for a bounty in Gold
- Aetos will no longer swoop in to attack more than once prior to facing Prometheus
- Slightly increased appearance rate of Moon Monuments and Unseen Sigils on the surface
- Slightly increased difficulty of Moon Monument foes
- Moon Monuments no longer offer Path of Stars rewards if your Hex is fully upgraded
- Athena more consistently vanquishes Revenants from the Vow of Return (Oath)
- Minor adjustments to Artemis, Heracles, and Icarus appearance rates on the surface route
- Two Arachne Cocoon encounters can no longer occur very close together in some cases
- Family Disputes, formerly called Trials of the Gods, now can include Ares; several Olympians put up more of a fight than before…
Level Design and Environments
- Added the final confrontation on the surface route and various new Locations within it
- The Olympus Region has one fewer Location to traverse before the Guardian
- Encounters in the Rift of Thessaly that had too many waves (of foes) should now be more reasonable
- Optional rooms in Ephyra become more likely if you haven’t found many that night
- Reduced damage of Lone Shades freed from Ephyra Pylons
- You now must use the Fountain if you haven’t already done so prior to leaving the Ephyra main square
- Resources can appear in more places in the Ephyra main square
- Removed Bat Cage nearest to the initial entrance to the Ephyra main square
- Added another Location that can randomly appear in Erebus
- Added another Location that can randomly appear in Oceanus
- Added another Location that can randomly appear in Ephyra
- The final battle prior to the Guardian of each of Region should no longer get replaced by Fountain chambers or character encounters
- Adjusted resource points in some Locations, especially those close enough to exits that you could leave by accident while trying to harvest
Chaos Trials
- You now reappear before the Pitch-Black Stone upon returning from a Chaos Trial
- Trial of Thunder: new! Zeus-themed Trial set in Erebus
- Trial of Glory: new! Hera-themed Trial set on Olympus
- Trial of the Fall: new! Demeter-themed Trial set in the Mourning Fields
- Trial of Slaughter: new! Ares-themed Trial set in Ephyra
- Trial of Destiny: new! Chaos-themed Trial set on Olympus
- Trial of Strife: new! Eris-themed Trial set in Thessaly
- Minor fixes and changes to several Trials
Crossroads Renewal Project
- Updated Crossroads main grounds with new points of interest; the taverna now is easier to traverse
- Artemis now sometimes provides musical accompaniment in the Crossroads
- Added numerous new unlockable decorative items once the Renewal Project is available
- Some decorative items now unlocked from a new spot in the taverna· Various forms of wildlife now may appear throughout the Crossroads
- Some groups of Shades in the Crossroads now have captions when you Salute them
- Recently-pacified Shades that appear in the Training Grounds now have varying appearances
- Melinoë will sometimes cover up the family portrait in her tent after brooding too much
- Odysseus will sometimes offer resources you may need; can sometimes be found seated in the taverna
- Eris will no longer litter in the midst of conversation with others
- The witch attendants of Hecate now are absent when she is
- Improved presentation around plants that can be harvested in the Garden
- Supply Shipments no longer prompt you to interact as frequently
- The moon now shows different phases in the Training Grounds vista scene
Cauldron Incantations
- Rage of the Elements: new! Lets you activate the statues on Olympus to defend you
- Path to Desired Blessings: new! Lets you track requirements for Boons listed in the Book of Shadows
- Acceptance of Another Fate: new! Salute the Oath of the Unseen to reset that night’s random events
- Shuffling of Noted Ballads: new! Lets the Music Maker make music choices for you if you wish
- Deathly Fortune: now introduced later and no longer lets you exchange plants for Bones (only fish…)
- Psychic Slivers of Clarity: removed from the game as part of resource system changes
- Bones of Arcane Wisdom: now makes Bones raise Magick limit rather than adding Armor; formerly Bones of Burnished Bronze
Fated List of Minor Prophecies
- The Arms of Night: new! Rewards you for unlocking each of the Main Weapons
- Master of War: new! Rewards you for choosing various Boons of Ares
- Storm in the Heavens: new! Rewards you for prevailing on the surface route
- Sword of the Night: new! Rewards you for clearing the surface route with each Main Weapon
- Power Beyond Legend: new! Rewards you for choosing all Legendary Boons; these are no longer included with each Olympian’s Boon prophecy
Book of Shadows
- Added new entries for various additions in this update
- Updated relationship status display for relevant characters after the Incantation Empath’s Intuition
Menus and UI
- Updated Main Menu to reflect this Major Update
- Added art for all Arcana and adjusted layout in the Altar of Ashes screen· Added animations for the Crossroads Cauldron screen
- Added animations for the Pitch-Black Stone screen
- Added animations for the Wretched Broker screen
- Added animations for the Fated List screen
- Added animations for the Inventory screen
- Added art for the Crossroads Renewal screen
- Added art and adjusted layout for the Music Maker screen
- Added art and adjusted layout for the Archived Trivia screen
- Added art and adjusted layout for the Past Deeds screen
- Added art for the Gifts of the Moon screen· Added animations for info banners, such as when entering Locations or vanquishing Guardians
- Added animations to the Main Menu and related sub-screens such as the Pause menu
- Updated art and animations for Book of Shadows prompts
- Updated art and animations for Fated List prompts
- Updated art and animations for Incantation Learned and similar prompts
- Updated look of many in-world status icons
- You now can see your Change of Fate count when choosing Boons
- You now can exchange resources for Prestige more freely, with a new warning if you still need them
- The Victory Screen now has theming differences depending on which route you cleared
- Improved feedback in the Altar of Ashes for when you fully upgrade your Grasp
- Improved presentation when multiple Incantations are revealed at once in the Crossroads Cauldron
- Improved text descriptions for Animal Familiar upgrades
- Adjusted Godhood Gained presentation after failing in God Mode; the presentation no longer occurs once you reach the damage resistance limit
- Damage numbers that come from environmental effects and traps now have a distinct color
- Updated prompts on a number of menu screens· Various other fixes and improvements
Art and Visual FX
- Updated environment art in various places in the Crossroads
- Updated the look of Shades in various Regions, including ones you can pacify with the Tablet of Peace
- Updated some visual FX for improved clarity in the heat of battle (this work is ongoing)
- Updated visual FX for Scalding Vapor (Poseidon x Hestia)
- Updated visual FX for when foes with Armor are struck· Updated teleportation visual FX for Animal Familiars, Artemis, and others
- Updated some visual FX for Umbral Flames (Moros)· Updated presentation during narrative flashback sequences
- Updated narrative background art in Erebus
- Added narrative background art for Selene
- Added character animations for Hermes
- Added alternate portrait for Melinoë
- Added alternate portrait for Odysseus· Adjusted portrait for Zeus
- Adjusted portrait for Artemis
- Added death animations for Charybdis Tentacles
- Various other minor visual improvements
Voice and Narrative
- Added more than 2,000 new voice lines, including new dialogue events for many characters
- Added more narrated Homer outcomes after a successful clear
- Chronos will give you a piece of his mind in more situations when leaving Erebus
- More characters react to resource-gathering and other interactions
- Numerous minor adjustments to requirements and content for various events
Music and Sound FX
- Added new music pieces for the final confrontation and the lead-up to it
- Added music theme for Icarus
- Added music theme for Echo
- Added a song from Artemis
- Added unlockable versions of each of these to the Music Maker· Added new victory music stingers for each of the two routes
- Music from the Music Maker now grows softer during dialogue events· Added new sound effects for the Main Menu
- Added new sound effects for the Crossroads Cauldron
- Added new sound effects for the Wretched Broker
- Updated sound effects for Staff Special
- Updated sound effects for some foes and encounters· Other minor changes and improvements
Settings
- God Mode Limit: new! You now can reduce the effect of God Mode if you wish
Miscellaneous
- Updated Development Roadmap to reflect our progress and plans for the next Major Update
- Clear times in the Past Deeds screen for the Surface route have been reset now that it is extended
- Adjusted presentation when Death Defiance effects activate
- Adjusted presentation when leaving the Training Grounds for the night
- Adjusted presentation when trying to attack while out-of-Shells with the Argent Skull
- Some Wardens’ Life Bars now follow their movements more closely· Improved timing of Polyphemus knockout sequence
- Minor improvements to Charybdis fight intro
- Improved presentation choosing Boon Boon Boon (Echo)
- Added several Commendation messages that may appear on the Victory Screen
- Added more error messaging we hope no one will ever see
- Updated Credits with several additional contributors
- Updates and fixes to translations in all languages
Bug Fixes
- Fixed Rapture Ring (Aphrodite) not damaging foes at the edge of the binding circle
- Fixed Moon Monuments sometimes appearing unexpectedly if you had no Hex of Selene
- Fixed Icarus missing his targets unexpectedly (unless you’re his father and expect disappointment)
- Fixed optional rooms in Ephyra counting against Encounters needed to clear Chaos Curses
- Fixed unexpected delays prior to pre-fight dialogue against Hecate, Polyphemus, and Eris
- Fixed Gameplay Timer not pausing in some instances while pacifying Lost Shades
- Fixed Moonstone Axe (Thanatos) full-charge sound re-playing when entering new Locations
- Fixed Nemesis sometimes getting stuck wandering the Mourning Fields· Fixed Evil Eye (Nemesis) switching targets after clearing Chaos Trials· Fixed Dual Moonshot (Daedalus – Staff) sounds not playing for each shot
- Fixed foes playing hurt sound effects when taking damage to their Armor rather than their Life
- Many other minor fixes
Hades 2 is currently available in early access for Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
