Gather to hear the tragedy of Zagreus, son of the God Hades and prince of the Underworld. He dared to leave his father’s house. Now, he is condemned to a never-ending escape from the lands of the dead. The curse bestowed upon him forces him to die and begin this arduous task again.
No, this is not a poem by Homer, Hesiod, or Euripides. Instead, Hades is a game by Supergiant Games studio that, after almost two years in early access, was finally released on PC and Switch to great success. That time in the oven, under the watchful eye of gamers, was worth it. What came out was a new, hot title that would water the mouths of gamers worldwide.
Best of all is the faithful interpretation of the myths we see in these gods. The flirtatious attitudes of Aphrodite, the relaxed personality of Dionysus, and the coldness of Demeter, as well as the selfishness and jealousy that characterize this pantheon, are perfectly reflected in the game systems, designs, and voices.
Plus, we have to give credit to the designs and vocal performances! The Hades characters are incredibly engaging and have some of the best voice acting we’ve heard lately. If we want, we can even forge romantic relationships with several of the characters… at the same time.
This brings us to the one and only; everyone’s wifey: Aphrodite.
In this Aphrodite Hades Guide, we’ll learn how to max out your relationship with her and get her blessings.
The TL; DR
I get it. You just respawned in the Underworld and wanted to quickly gather your gear before heading out. No time for long reads. Here’s a quick gist:
While making your way out of the pits of the Underworld, you’ll often come across a flirty Aphrodite. First, ensure you always answer her Call to receive her Weak and Bewitched boons. Then, take advantage of the opportunity to gift her nectar and ambrosia to max out your relationship. After that, who knows what might happen when you reach Olympus?
Games Like Hades
|
|
|
|
4.6
|
4.1
|
4.2
|
The Full Aphrodite Guide
Who Is Aphrodite?
Aphrodite is the cute one of the family, with a thousand and some Instagram and TikTok followers.
Her abilities are mainly defensive, Weak being one of the most valued. This blessing reduces the damage done by enemies. When you’re new to the game, it can be valuable. Her blessings become especially handy with some weapons, such as fists that are melee, which does not give much room to dodge. Weak is more than welcome in this case.
How to Max Out Your Relationship with Aphrodite?
To increase affinity, there are three systems to use:
- Give them nectar
- Give them ambrosia (an end-game item)
- Talk several times with each character.
Keep the following considerations in mind:
- You can befriend all the Gods.
- You will meet them at random when you find their blessings.
- By giving them nectar, each one will give you their Remembrance.
It’s nice to have friends. But that’s not the only perk you will get from maxing out your relationship with the Gods. Doing so gives us rewards, most often in the form of Souvenirs, accessories that give advantages when worn. One handy reward is blessings.
Why Choose Aphrodite?
They say with love, you can move mountains. But can we escape the Underworld?
Aphrodite is a fascinating goddess because she turns you into a very high damage-dealing tank when you properly collect her boons. In addition, she has some of the most beginner-friendly boons in the game to immediately impact your run.
When the devs have to reduce the drop rate of a character’s boons to balance playability, you know they are good.
If you need a good defense or are still working on your dodge technique, Aphrodite is your go-to girl.
She has a couple of incredible blessings, which can add a lot if we grab it early, or the legendary that leaves enemies enchanted.
I don’t like her thrower and her summoning. It can do much damage in a concise area. The second one against some bosses or mini-bosses is practically useless. Because of these things, they are alright. They can deal a lot of damage, but it can also feel that they have little impact. It’s a strong character for newcomers, but it becomes less effective as we improve in the game.
Recommendations
- While Aphrodite can’t add several charges of Weak together, being more defensive, she’s good with melee weapons and/or slow attacks. That’s why the first notable attack complements well with her, especially the Zagreus aspect, as it gives us dodge, boosting our defenses even more.
- Aphrodite has the power to cause Weak and Bewitched. As the name suggests, Weak weakens enemies (defense or attack, depending on the blessings). Bewitched makes the enemies fight on your side.
All of Aphrodite’s Boons and Why Use Them
Damage Dealers
Let’s start with her four basic wounds Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, Crush Shot, and Passion Dash.
- Heartbreak Strike: Your Standard attack deals more damage and leaves enemies Weak.
- Heartbreak Flourish: Your Special attack deals more damage and leaves enemies Weak.
- Crush Shot:Â Your Spell attack scatters in a reduced range, leaving enemies Weak.
- Passion Dash: Your Accelerate deals damage where you initiated it, leaving enemies Weak.
The reason why we are covering them all as a whole is that they all do mean damage. Also, they all inflict Weak.
Weak is a Status Curse that lasts for three seconds, and the enemy struck by it reduces their damage by 30%. This has a very significant impact on the game by giving you 30% more health so long as you keep Weak applied to the enemy.
Another point about Heartbreak Strike and Heartbreak Flourish is that they actually have the highest damage increase of any other boon in the game. So not only will you reduce the damage coming towards you when you strike an enemy with them, but they will also do more damage than any other boon.
Similarly, we have Crush Shot, which has the third highest raw damage output among casts, but it also blasts in a small shock wave in front of you when you fire it. It’s useful as a short-range shock and damage dealer.
The last damage dealer is Passion Dash. Though the damage is not very impressive, it’s an effortless way to apply Weak to enemies when you’re on a melee-focused build. Thanks to this boon, you can take other abilities on your basic attack and still reliably apply weak if you dash around your enemies. The radius is small, so it takes practice to reliably inflict Weakness with it.
Aphrodite’s Aid
With Aphrodite’s aid: your Call launches a self-targeting projectile that leaves enemies spellbound.
When you level this up, it actually increases its duration.
What’s really interesting is that since it deals a few 1000 damage in a single instance hit, you can stack damage buffs on it to do even more damage. So it’s actually a very, very solid damage dealer. It also turns enemies to your side, making it so they will attack their allies.
Another thing that I really like about it is it will interrupt bosses. They will interrupt bosses in the middle of their attacks and stop them from attacking you for a few seconds.
Dying Lament
When enemies fall, they wound other nearby opponents and inflict Weakness.
The radius is tiny, so foes have to be packed tightly together to actually have this boon do anything.
Its primary use is for handling Elysium’s flame chariots. And also for the small vermin that swarm you in the temple of sticks.
Wave of Despair
After taking damage, you wound enemies around you and inflict Weak.
Wave of despair is her revenge boon. It’s just like every other damage-dealing revenge boon. You damage nearby enemies and inflict your signature curse whenever you take damage.
Now, the damage rate is more significant than on Dying Lament. But the revenge damage is still pretty low, going up to about 100 damage, and again, it applies Weak, which is nice but only lasts for three seconds.
Different League
Resist some damage inflicted by nearby enemies.
Different League starts at 10% damage reduction and goes up to 15%. So when you level it up, it actually goes up a few percentage points as opposed to a few quarters of a percentage point.
This is a solid pick. You don’t need to take any weak abilities to unlock it. So if you’re looking to add some damage reduction to your build differently is a definite boon to pick up.
Life Affirmation
Life rewards from chambers are worth more.
This boon is fantastic if you find it early because it increases the maximum health you pick up as you go through the game. So you’re guaranteed to walk into the final boss with about 300 max health.
In addition, if you find other Aphrodite boons like Weak, you have more than 400 Health.
This is what I mean by Aphrodite, creating very tanky builds. Not because she helps you defend like Athena, but because she increases your health and reduces the damage coming into you. If you find this even as late as Elysium, sometimes this can still be very powerful.
Empty Inside
Effects that leave enemies Weak last longer. Requires Passion Dash, Crush Shot, Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, or Passion Flare.
With Empty Inside, our weak effects can have a longer duration. For example, it can go up to 10 seconds longer, which means we have a 13-second week effect.
On a slower attack, having it last for longer means that your privileged status and damage reduction will be active for longer, as well as the other buffed boons that you can pick up for Weak.
Broken Resolve
Weak effects are more powerful. Requires Passion Dash, Crush Shot, Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, or Passion Flare.
Broken Resolve is the single k strongest dedicated boon in the game.
The reason for that is that it makes your Weak effects more potent. So it will add a 10% to 15% damage reduction to your Weak effect. If you add 15% from this to your Weak 30%, you actually have a 45% damage reduction from two boons.
This is the best source of damage reduction in the game. I like Broken Resolve and recommend that you pick it up at any time you’re taking Aphrodite.
Blown Kiss
Your spell reaches farther and is more potent against unpunished enemies. Requires Crush Shot.
This is a solid choice, though not the best.Â
Sweet Surrender
Enemies affected by Weak are also more susceptible to damage. Requires Passionate Dash, Crush Shot, Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, or Passion Flare.
Foes are also more susceptible to damage. Just by having Weak, you’ll get a 65% increase in your total damage when you finally trigger Sweet Surrender.
Unhealthy Fixation
An effect that leaves enemies Weak. It has a +15% chance of leaving them spellbound. Requires Passion Dash, Crush Shot, Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish or Passion Flare + Inner Emptiness, Sweet Surrender, or Broken Resolve.
Finally, there’s Aphrodite’s legendary boon: Unhealthy Fixation. This one is tied with Divine Protection for the best legendary game boon.
This is because your Weak effects also have a 15% chance to charm foes for 4 seconds. This is incredibly powerful, especially if you have taken Weak on a fast-striking attack. It means that about one in seven attacks will completely neutralize your enemy.
Ideal Aphrodite Builds
Artemis/Aphrodite
One of the most profitable builds is Artemis/Aphrodite. Their combined boons will enhance your unique and attack combos with any weapon.Â
For this one, you’ll use Artemis as your base and grow with Aphrodite’s boons.Â
What is the aspect your weapon uses the most? That’s where Aphrodite should help out.
Let’s say you are using Aspect of Nemesis. This one attacks enemies with special attacks and then spams regular attacks. In this case, you should ensure Aphrodite helps with your special attacks.Â
Remember that most Aphrodite abilities inflict Weakness. Now, if you manage to get these ladies’ duo boon, it will increase your critical damage against Weak-inflicted enemies.Â
The critical numbers are crazy high thanks to this build, but it does not neglect defense. Your damage mitigation will stay up, thanks to Aphrodite’s defensive boons.
This build improves your weapons and perfectly balances damage and defense.
Athenas/Aphrodite
The second-best build is even better, but it limits your weapon usage. You should stick to the Heart-Seeking Bow with the Aspect of Hera.
This build resorts to store casts to perform deadly and quick bursts of damage. With this bow, you can store casts and unleash them with all fury once your charged attack is ready.Â
TIP: Dash quickly to the area where the casts ended up redoing the process.
The base for this build is The Parting Shot dual boon. This boon grants 35% extra damage all the time.Â
To start working on this build, always start with Athena’s Keepsake and receive her Phalanx Shot. Once you reach Tartarus, move on to Aphrodite’s Keepsake instead. Her boons, such as Passion Dash and Heartbreak Strike) will allow you to unlock Parting Shot.
Once that’s done, you just have to actually find Parting Shot. While at it, you could pick up Demeter’s Snow Burst and Athena’s Blinding Flash. They will help you load your casts faster and leave enemies exposed.
FAQs
Question: Can I Romance Aphrodite?
Answer: I can’t tell you how much it pains me to say this, but no. You can’t romance Aphrodite. The only romanceable characters are Thanatos, Dusa, and Megaera.
Question: How to Get Dual Blessings?
Answer: For them to appear, you must have the indicated blessings and then meet one of the gods again.Â
For example, suppose a blessing requires you to have blessings from Zeus and Artemis when you have the necessary blessings. In that case, you will be able to get their dual when you meet Zeus or Artemis again.
Question: What to do when you die in Hades?
Answer: Every time you die, you will return to Hades’ house. This is a central area where you can talk to characters, give gifts, exchange or buy from suppliers, and where we will spend all our resources, such as Titan’s blood, gems, or crystals, to unlock functions and skills that knows how to take advantage of its mechanics and make them part of a gripping narrative. It takes characters as well-known as those belonging to the Greek pantheon and gives them a new coat of paint.
Parting Words
Aphrodite, as a character, is an integral part of the development of Zagreus’s story. Without her, who would give us the half-flirty, half-snarky one-liners? She’s always fun to read (and nice to look at, but you didn’t catch me saying that).
Moving on to the technical department. Combat-wise, she hands you the best buffs in battle. With her Weak and Bewitched boons, you melt any enemy that comes your way. Either in aggressive or defensive mode, you can never go wrong with her blessings. Make sure you never skip her calls, as she is definitely one of the better side characters in Hades.
Hades is an exemplary game that knows how to take advantage of its mechanics and make them part of a gripping narrative. It takes characters as well-known as those belonging to the Greek pantheon and gives them a new coat of paint.
Games Like Hades
|
|
|
|
|
4.6
|
4.1
|
4.2
|
- Indies With Great Accessibility Features - June 19, 2023
- Other Games Like Factorio - February 3, 2023
- Hades Keepsakes Guide: How to Get and Exploit Keepsakes - December 24, 2022