Hades 2 beginner’s guide: Top tips to maximise your first few runs

Here are our top tips for beginners playing Hades 2

Image credit:Supergiant Games

Looking for Hades 2 top tips for beginners? Hades 2 can be a bit of a minefield, especially if you haven’t played the first Hades or are unfamiliar with rogue-like dungeon crawlers.

It isn’t necessary to play Hades before Hades 2 . In fact, there are many new systems the sequel introduces with a new protagonist, Melinoe. Whether you’re a returning fan looking for tips to tackle the new systems or it’s your first time playing a Hades game, we have you covered with a list of top tips to help you through your first few runs.

Check out the official Hades 2 reveal trailer here and see what adventures await Melinoe.Watch on YouTube

Arcana Cards

Arcana Cards require Ashes to unlock and Psyche to equip. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

You’ll need a steady supply of Ashes to unlock new Arcana Cards in Hades 2. These cards are essentially extra buffs.

We recommend aiming towards the Eternity Card first, as it will give you one Death Defy each run. This will essentially save you from death and put you back to 40% Health and Magick.

It’s a crucial ability to pick up fast and is the 12th Arcana Card. This means you will need to unlock a card from the first and second row first. You’ll also need a good pool of Grasp to equip multiple Arcana Cards at once (indicated via Melinoe’s portrait in the top right corner of the Arcana Card menu).

Upgrading Grasp requires Psyche , another resource you can get from runs or from exchanging Bones with the Wretched Broker. You can also get a large amount of Psyche from using the Tablet of Peace to recruit lone shades.

Prioritise Tools

Tools help you gather additional resources. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

Unlock the ’ Night’s Craftwork ’ Incantation at Hecate’s cauldron in return for one Moly (a bright yellow flower that can be picked from Erebus). This will allow you to unlock these initial tools at the sigil opposite Schelemeus:

• Silver Spade: Requires Silver x10. Dig for Mystery Seeds. These can then grow into different rare plants.
• Rod of Fishing: Requires Bronze x1, Fabric x2. Fish can be traded for Bones.
• Crescent Pick: Requires Ash x1. Can be used to gather Silver from ore.
• Tablet of Peace: Requires Psyche x5 and Silver x5. Can be used to recruit Lone Shades which gains a large sum of Psyche.

We recommend you focus on the Crescent Pick first, as it’s the easiest to initially unlock and will allow you to collect Silver from ores. Silver can then be used to unlock the Silver Spade and is needed for virtually all of the initial weapon unlocks.

The Tablet of Peace is a great second option as you should be able to gather enough Psyche and Silver to unlock it after a run or two. Then you’ll have the ability to gain lump sums of Psyche and upgrade your Grasp fairly early on.

Concentrate on resource gathering on initial runs

Resources or ‘Reagents’ are needed for most upgrade systems in Hades 2. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

Even the most seasoned rogue-like players will struggle to beat the bosses in their initial runs. With Incantations, Arcana Cards, tools and weapons to unlock, it’s better to focus on resource gathering for your initial few runs.

We recommend concentrating on Bones to both unlock and buy rarer resources from the Wretched Broker. His store can be unlocked via the ’ Summoning of Mercantile Fortune ’ Incantation at Hecate’s cauldron for 10 Bones.

You can then upgrade his store to stock even rarer components, like Nectar. This is important for both improving relationships and unlocking Keepsakes (more on this below).

Ashes and Psyche are also important to collect early to unlock and equip more Arcana Cards.

Always confide in Frinos

Frinos is the first character you’ll see when awakening from a run. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

This little froggie fella is adorable and deserves chin scratches. Later in the game, you can recruit familiars which will give you an extra boost and can even gather resources for you.

You can form relationships in Hades 2 with the Pantheon and wayward spirits. It’s worth conversing with them at the start of each run as this is how you’ll get little pieces of lore and also how you’ll track the development of your relationships.

There is an in-game way of seeing how many hearts you’ve earned with characters but this comes a bit later and will require you to get to the third area, past the first two bosses first.

Incantations

Incantations can be brewed at Hecate’s cauldron. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

Incantations are spells you can concoct at Hecate’s cauldron. This will unlock after your first run and new Incantations will show up on your menu as you progress. To brew these spells requires different ingredients.

The first three Incantations we recommend focusing on are:

• Night’s Craftwork: Allows you to unlock tools for gathering more resources.
• Summoning of Mercantile Fortune: Unlocks the Wretched Broker’s shop where you can exchange Bones for other resources. Once upgraded with the Kinship Fortune Incantation, he will stock more exotic items like Nectar.
• Fated Intervention: Unlocks The Fated List which offers side-quests.

More Incantations will become available as you brew and go on runs. We also recommend the Woodsy Lifespring Incantation as this will summon a safe area occasionally during a run. In this area, you get to revive lost health at a pool and there are usually one or two resources to gather. This can literally be a life-saver during a run and offers a nice little reprieve. Plus, there’s a cute cat you can pet in the area.

These safe areas are disguised behind a Sigil so there’s no way of knowing when they’ll pop up. You’ll additionally gain whatever the Sigil on the door was for free.

Dont worry about picking the right Boons at the start

Boons will randomly rotate for each God, as well as the rarity of each Boon. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

Each God has a host of Boons that will randomly rotate. You can only pick one of three. These can then combine with other God’s Boons and scale with rarity.

Don’t worry too much about the ‘right ones’ as you’re just starting to figure out which playstyle you like and this will likely change with each run. Aim to try a mix of them all and figure out the combinations that work best for you.

If in doubt, check out our best Boons list for a guide of all Boons potentially on offer and what we found works best for us.

As a rule of thumb, you can also prioritise the rarer Boons. These will be labelled as such (from common, rare, epic, legendary to heroic) and highlighted in the rarity colour. There will usually be a choice between improving Attacks or Casts, choose whichever you’re using more of.

The Fated List

Completing prophecies on The Fated List is a good way of aquiring additional resources. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

The Fated List is a set of mini-quests you can fulfil for useful rewards like Nectar, Bones and more. As such, it’s a good idea to unlock The Fated List as early as possible, so you can tick the quests off as you go along. A lot of these quests are ones you’ll naturally progress through as you play, such as The Invoker quest which asks you to brew 10 Incantations.

To unlock The Fated List, you must first brew the Fated Intervention Incantation at Hecate’s cauldron and wait to be approached by Moros.

Gifting and Keepsakes

You can access your Keepsakes at this chest, near Schelemeus’s training ground. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

Certain characters can be given Nectar to increase their relationship with Melinoe.

When gifting Nectar to gods, aproach their symbol and choose the ‘Gift’ prompt before accepting a Boon. Make sure you give the Nectar before accepting a Boon as the option to do so will dissapear otherwise.

Certain Gods and merchants like Arachne are trickier than others to get their Keepsakes as they will only appear in random encounters or as you progress through the main story. Look out for Artemis, Hermes and Primordial Chaos in particular and make sure you have at least one Nectar on hand at all times in case you run into them.

Luckily, Nectar isn’t as rare in Hades 2. Nectar can be purchased from the Wretched Broker in return for 30 Bones and will usually restock after every run. Otherise, you can collect Nectar from completing Nectar Sigils on a run.

Usually, characters will give you a Keepsake in return for an initial gift of Nectar. Keepsakes are an additional way of adding buffs to your run and can be swapped out each time. To do so, interact with the crate opposite the weapon pool .

Keepsakes will level up and increase their bonuses the more you use them on runs. We recommend giving Nectar to Dora first, to get the Ghost Onion Keepsake . This will allow you to heal in between locations for up to 50 health initially and can be used multiple times until you reach that total. This is a tremendous buff to get early on in a Hades 2 playthrough and should help you as you get your bearings in Erebus.

Schelemeus should also be a priority as he will gift you the Luckier Tooth which is essentially an extra death defy.

That rounds off our top tips for Hades 2 beginners. For more Hades 2 content, see our guides to the best Boons , best weapons and more.

Hades II

PC , Nintendo Switch , Nintendo Switch 2

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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