How do you beat the Hades 2 Hecate boss? As the saying goes, it’s time for the student to become the master as Melinoë faces her mentor, Headmistress Hecate. Using the daughter of Zeus’ witchy powers and quick reflexes, you should be able to overcome this challenge with enough persistence.
However, Hecate isn’t going to make this easy for you. She has some rather devious tricks that make even the first Hades 2 boss fight one to remember. While you can’t progress beyond this point right now in the highly anticipated roguelike game due to the limitations of the technical test, there are plenty of challenges in this fight to overcome. The rest of the bosses will have to wait until the Hades 2 release date rolls around, but for those playing the Hades 2 technical test, here’s how you can defeat Hecate.
How to beat Hecate in Hades 2
The key to beating Hecate, the first Hades 2 boss, is to master dodging her attacks. Melinoë is invincible while she’s dashing, so you can use this to your advantage by phasing through Hecate’s deadly projectiles, getting behind her for a few sneaky stabs. We also highly recommend using charge-up attacks, particularly if you have Poseidon’s Fluid Gain boon, which restores 20 mana when collecting Spirit Bubbles that drop from defeated enemies. Hecate isn’t particularly vulnerable to any specific weapon, but anything that increases range will aid you in this fight.
New to Hades 2 is armor. If you run into Arachne on your journey through Erebus, she’ll offer you one of three enchanted dresses. These not only give you a unique perk but, more importantly, grant you additional armor points that allow Melinoë to take increased damage before her health points start to deplete.
Phase One
Hecate will always begin the fight by surrounding herself in an expanding ring of fire. This AoE spell goes quite far, but you can chase it back toward her and get some attacks in with the weapon of your choice as it draws nearer.
In the first phase, she has two main attacks. One involves swiping her staff to fire one or two projectiles simultaneously. You can dash to dodge these, then hit her a few times before she launches a second salvo. It’s your best opportunity to do some damage, and we recommend sticking to regular melee attacks as you can quickly react to any incoming blows.
Hecate can also make two copies of herself, and then all three of her forms cast a flamethrowing spell to fill the battlefield. Given that flames do damage over time, we recommend that you go on the defensive and focus on avoiding getting burned. When trying to attack these, the only one that will take damage is her true form. Hecate will glow green if you hit a clone version, and her health won’t deplete.
Phase Two
After damaging Hecate to around two thirds of her health, she will retreat to the center of the battlefield and conjure a barrier that makes her invulnerable to all attacks. She’ll also summon some spirits that shoot magic missiles at you, which you must kill to continue the fight. Hecate doesn’t make this easy as she casts runes on the ground that erupt into green fire after about a second. If you time your dashes and efficiently kill these ghosts, you can damage Hecate again.
In this second phase, she’ll still fire the projectiles from phase one, so you can use that as an opportunity to counter. However, she also begins using the area-of-effect spell with which she started the fight, only more frequently. As you chase this AoE attack back to the center, you have a second opportunity to hit her, as long as you don’t get greedy.
She can still split herself into three clones, but she will now fire small orbs in a wide arc rather than emit flames from each of them. This spell can be frustrating to avoid as the projectiles move faster, and there is more to keep track of on-screen. Just focus on dodging, and you should emerge unscathed.
Phase Three
The most dangerous part of the Hecate boss fight is at the beginning of the third phase, which is triggered when she has a third of her health left. Not only will she repeat her attacks from the start of phase two, but she also now casts a polymorph spell that will turn you into a sheep. It’s tough to avoid this spell as it homes in on you at a high speed. If you do become a sheep, you’ll no longer be able to attack, and your dodge range will be severely limited. It is possible to dodge the AoE attacks that follow, though. Once the polymorph spell has worn off, kill the ghosts again to begin the final phase properly.
She’ll continue the same projectile firing and AoE spells from phase two here, but instead of splitting herself into three, she fires several dozen boomerangs while tracking your position. These will bounce off the walls, so be careful where you stand. This attack is exploitable if you position yourself so that no boomerang waves will hit you on the way back. Keep attacking Hecate, and she’ll fall, ending this first boss encounter and clearing the area of Erebus.
With these tips, you should be able to make short work of the Hades 2 Hecate boss fight. It’s going to be quite the wait until this highly anticipated sequel comes out of early access. Once you’ve exhausted all you can, we have a list of the best PC games for you to catch up on. For those who want something brand new, these upcoming PC games will likely whet your appetite until the full Hades 2 release.