How do you beat Chronos in Hades 2? The God of Time himself is your final boss waiting for you in Tartarus. You may recognize this area from the first game, but Chronos is unlike any other boss you’ve faced so far.
We’ve spent many hours with Hades 2 early access, and you can read our Hades 2 review to see what we thought of it. Chronos is just one of the many Hades 2 bosses, but he presents quite the challenge. We’ve got all you need to know on how to beat him once and for all.
How to beat Chronos in Hades 2
Chronos is an arrogant, petulant god set on turning back time – in his opinion, the only good realm of existence was the one in which he had total control over everything. Yeah, figures. Facing Chronos is the ultimate test of skill in Hades 2, and he serves as the final boss and the way out of Tartarus won’t be clear until he’s been demolished. Note that if you want to pause this fight, the screen will go dark and Chronos will laugh, “No, you do not control the flow of time. Not here,” or, “Your power is formidable, but no.” There is a Crossroads upgrade you can craft that enables you to pause during this fight, but we aren’t sure it’s worth the effort. Concentrate, settle in, and take down the Titan of Time.
Chronos fight phase one
Chronos has some abilities that are difficult to read and even more difficult to evade. He wields a scythe that can alter the battlefield and leave behind a rift that detonates, causing huge damage after a short time. Chronos can also send his scythe flying in a half-moon-shaped sweep which will soon deplete your health as it also triggers a wall of projectiles that can damage Melinoe, too.
Arguably Chronos’s most difficult attack to evade is the wall of air he conjures, which drags Melinoe into its path and depletes her health rapidly. This is the most important one to avoid, so if you spot him taking a moment, it’s likely he’s about to unleash this. Run away. Fast.
To remain as safe as possible in the Chronos boss fight, stand either directly behind him or as far away as possible. If you’ve taken the Argent Skull into the fight, staying away should be easy and you can launch the projectiles at him from a safe distance. With most other weapons, you’ll probably want to stand behind him and keep an eye out for signals that he’s about to attack. Chronos can teleport, and this is signaled by a bubble that he conjures, and he can dash large distances two to three times in quick succession. The key to beating Chronos is to remain patient, don’t try to rush in, and deal huge amounts of damage.
Chronos fight phase two
After fully depleting his health bar, don’t relish in your victory for too long, as Chronos has a second phase that sees all of his health replenished and new attack patterns emerging. Here, the arena will also contribute to your downfall if you don’t stay alert and aware of your surroundings. Most of the arena will be dark with only one area dimly lit. You must stay in the light areas, otherwise you’ll be hit for 999 damage. In other words – a one-hit kill.
Chronos will also summon deadly beams of light which take the shape of the hands of a clock, as well as bubbles that will stun Melinoe and freeze her in place, leaving her vulnerable to attacks. Luckily, Chronos isn’t too difficult to lay damage into if you remain aware of the battle arena and light beams, and should fall relatively easily once you learn the patterns of the fight. It might take a few attempts, but there’s nothing sneaky here.
The arena is smaller, so remain behind Chronos for the safest spot. Thankfully, after you deplete his health bar for the second time he’ll remain down and you’ve successfully defeated the God of Time.
Hades 2 Chronos fight best build
The best build to face Chronos centers around Boons collected from Apollo and Hermes. Apollo can make your attacks stronger, and Hermes will make your approach faster. Evading Chronos’s attacks is vital to success in this fight, so speed is hugely important. Some of Apollo’s Boons can also inflict Daze, which boosts the damage dealt.
These Boons pair well with those offered by Aphrodite. She can make enemies weak, meaning they will hit you less hard, and she can also increase your damage output against nearby enemies. If you remain behind Chronos for the fight’s duration, this could mean you take him down much faster.
The Aspects on offer for the Argent Skull mean that it’s easily the best weapon to approach Chronos with. You can hit from up close to instantly get your skulls back, meaning attacking can be almost unlimited. We’d recommend getting as many Aspects for the skull activated before taking on Chronos, for a slightly easier time.
There you have it, the God of Time has been vanquished. What’s next in Hades 2? We’ve got more on the best Hades 2 weapons, and whether or not you can expect to find Zagreus in Hades 2. We’ve also got guides to some of the other bosses, like Hades 2 Scylla and the Sirens – who arguably have the best soundtrack in the game.