Hades 2: How to Unlock Both Animal Familiars
A cuddly friend for the underworld.
Hades II can oftentimes be an overwhelming experience, between deadly bosses, dangerous new enemies on the surface, and Chronos’ constant villainous interference. You’ll need every advantage you can get to come out on top, and with that in mind, it’s pretty easy to overlook one of the most useful — animal companions. Melinoë can have a cuddly animal familiar accompany her through the underworld. And it’s not just for show, as these pals provide a variety of benefits. Here’s everything you need to know about recruiting animal familiars in Hades II.
How to Unlock Animal Familiars in Hades II
Completing the incantation for familiars is easy, you might just need a couple of Oceanus runs to find the materials.
Before recruiting an animal familiar, you’ll need to play at least a few hours of Hades 2. Familiars are unlocked by completing the Faith of Familiar Spirits incantation, which is given to you by Headmistress Hecate. In order to get Hecate to teach you the spell, though, you’ll need to defeat her a few times in battle. Just keep playing through the Underworld normally, and eventually you’ll trigger a line of dialogue about familiars before the Hecate fight and unlock the incantation once you win.
At that point, remember to check the cauldron on your next trip to the Crossroads. There, you can complete the Faith of Familiar Spirits incantation using two Nectar and one Lotus. Nectar can be found as a reward during runs, or you can purchase it from the merchant for 30 bones.
Lotus is an ingredient that appears in Oceanus, and can be gathered anytime without tools. Completing the incantation will give you a Witch’s Delight, which you can give to an animal to recruit them. Once you’ve recruited multiple familiars, you can swap which one accompanies you at the training ground in the Crossroads.
How to Upgrade Animal Familiars in Hades II
Once Hecate talks about familiars you’ll unlock the incantation, but it might take a few times.
There are five familiars to find in Hades II, each with different benefits when you take them with you. Once you’ve completed Faith of Familiar Spirits, you’ll receive the Beast-Loved Morsel incantation under the alchemy tab, which lets you cook new Witch’s Delights. You’ll need to perform this incantation, which requires two Lotus and one Star Dust, multiple times to recruit and upgrade all available familiars.
The only way to receive Star Dust is by completing Chaos Trials, which requires yet another incantation. To get some as quickly as possible, make sure you use Chaos Gates each time they appear on your runs. Once you’ve completed enough Chaos curses, you’ll receive the Abyssal Insight incantation, which lets you start Chaos Trials from the Pitch-Black Stone in the Crossroads. Completing Chaos Trials grants Star Dust, which you can use to cast the Beast-Loved Morsels incantation.
You’ll finally get the ability to upgrade familiars by casting the Bravery of Familiar Spirits incantation, which unlocks automatically once you’ve used at least three Witch’s Delights. This incantation uses one Wool (from defeating Polyphemus on the surface), and three Wheat (grown from seeds found in the Fields of Mourning in the Underworld). Once it’s been cast, you can feed familiars again to upgrade one of their abilities each time.
All Animal Familiars in Hades II
Each animal familiar has three skills that can be upgraded with morsels.
Each of the five familiars in Hades II offers different benefits, so choosing one that complements your build or playstyle can make a big difference. Here’s where you’ll find each one of your journey and what they can do to help.
Frinos the Frog
Trusty Frinos is the easier familiar to recruit.
Frinos resides in Melinoë’s room, right where you respawn every time, making this the easiest familiar to recruit. In addition to Frinos’ upgradeable abilities, they can also absorb projectiles launched by most enemies, including Hecate’s projectile that turns Melinoë into a sheep.
Frinos Abilities
- Life Bond: Frinos increases your max health by 20. Upgrades increase the amount of health granted.
- Soul Bond: Frinos makes Lost Shades appear more often and lets you skip the minigame to compel them to drop Grasp. Upgrades make Lost Shades more likely to appear.
- Drive Bond: Frinos jumps on nearby enemies, causing 10 damage. Upgrades increase the damage this causes.
Raki the Raven
Raki is a good pick for builds that rely on critical damage.
You can find Raki in Erebus in the Underworld. Since they appear so early, you’ll likely run across them before you get the ability to recruit them.
Raki Abilities
- Vision Bond: Raki increases your chance to critically hit by one percent. Upgrades increase your critical chance further.
- Stone Bond: Raki makes ore outcroppings appear more often. Upgrades increase the chance they’ll appear.
- Wing Bond: Raki attacks enemies every ten seconds, dealing damage and Marking them, briefly increasing your chance to deal critical damage against them. Upgrades cause Raki to attack more often.
Hecuba the Hound
Hecuba can help you survive by stunning enemies and refilling your health.
Further along the Underworld path, you’ll find Hecate’s loyal hound, Hecuba. They appear in the Fields of Mourning, in the same room where you encounter Echo. In addition to their other abilities, Hecuba sometimes digs up items that restores your health or magick.
Hecuba Abilities
- Spirit Bond: Hecuba increases you maximum magick by 15. Upgrades increase your magick further.
- Earth Bond: Hecuba makes digging spots more likely to appear. Upgrades increase this chance.
- Guard Bond: Hecuba briefly stuns nearby enemies every ten seconds. Upgrades let them use this ability more often.
Toula the Cat
Toula grants a weak version of Death Defiance and deals quick bursts of damage.
Toula is the first familiar you encounter on the surface path. They appear on the docks at the start of the Rift of Thessaly.
Toula Abilities
- Heart Bond: Toula grants you an extra Death Defiance that restores 20 health. Upgrades increase the amount of health restored.
- Sense Bond: Toula makes fishing spots appear more often. Upgrades make them more likely to appear.
- Claw Bond: When you sprint into Toula, they attack nearby foes. Upgrades increase how many times they attack.
Gale the Polecat
Gale takes a while to find but offers a few helpful benefits.
Hecate’s second familiar, Gale, is likely the last you’ll recruit. They appear just before the boss room on the first leg of Mount Olympus.
Gale Abilities
- Veil Bond: Gale increases your movement speed and dodge chance by three percent. Upgrades increase this bonus.
- Nature Bond: Gale makes flora appear more often. Upgrades make even more appear.
- Wild Bond: Gale blocks incoming attacks and retaliates by dealing 250 damage. Upgrades increase the amount of damage they deal.
Hades II is available on PC and the Nintendo Switch 2.
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