Part 25

Aspect of Hera: This aspect focuses on a powerful, bloodstone-boosted Attack. Infernal Soul is more reliable for bloodstone retrieval, as enemies typically drop bloodstones immediately upon defeat when hit by a fully charged Attack. Stygian Soul offers more frequent single-bloodstone shots without retrieval concerns, especially useful with Chaos or Artemis boons.

After using your bloodstone-boosted Attack, rely on your Special for sustained damage, ideally buffed with fixed-damage effects like Zeus's Thunder Flourish or Ares's Curse of Pain. Thunder Flourish is good if you have long waits between bloodstone uses. Curse of Pain can offer better damage per Special if you have a fully upgraded Aspect of Hera and/or a Hermes boon for increased Attack frequency.

An alternative is using Drunken Flourish with Trippy Flare and the Black Out legendary boon, but this requires enemies to move into your Festive Fog. Black Out synergizes better with Dionysus's Aid for boss encounters.

The Aspect of Hera provides a balanced approach, effective against both single tough enemies and groups. Its main drawback is the clumsiness of some Cast options compared to its best ones.

Complementary Upgrades (Aspect of Hera): Not Explosive Shot.

Complementary Boons (Aspect of Hera): Low-frequency Attack boon (Aphrodite, Athena, possibly Ares), Thunder Flourish (possibly Frost Flourish, possibly Divine Flourish). Refer to the Cast section for ideal Cast combinations, noting Trippy Flare is superior to Trippy Shot, but avoid Crystal Beam.

Aspect of Rama: This aspect's Attack charges slower and fires a piercing crescent projectile with increased damage. Its Special fires three low-damage projectiles that bounce once and inflict Shared Suffering for 7 seconds. Enemies with Shared Suffering take damage when any enemy is hit by your Attack, with 60% of Attack damage imparted at max Aspect level.

Shared Suffering is an excellent debuff, and attacking an afflicted enemy also deals additional damage to them. However, the Aspect of Rama has a slow-charging Attack that is prone to staggering, often requiring close-quarters combat to minimize charge-up time.

This makes the Aspect of Rama frustrating, lowering damage output and limiting power shot usage. The unique Repulse Shot upgrade is intended to prevent close-quarters overwhelm but requires an attack to be landed first, offering minimal utility compared to upgrades like the Eternal Spear's Flaring Spin.

It's best to ignore Repulse Shot and pursue other Attack upgrades. The Coronacht's upgrade catalog has better Special-oriented options than Attack-oriented ones, which is a nuisance here. Flurry Shot is incompatible with the Aspect of Rama.

Point-Blank Shot and Twin Shot are recommended, treating the Aspect of Rama as a close-quarters weapon.

You can attach Thunder Flourish to the Special for a fixed damage upgrade, but you only get one lightning bolt per enemy hit by the Special, not per arrow.