Part 9

Learn about Hades II Dash Boons like Thunder Dash and Tidal Dash, plus the Ares Call. Get details on damage, effects, and build synergy.

Thunder Dash

Thunder Dash can strike enemies in front of you if none are behind, offering utility for melee builds. Its most useful attribute is staggering non-armored enemies as you approach, potentially saving melee builds from taking damage. For significant direct damage, Thunder Dash requires heavy investment in Zeus boons, specifically the Splitting Bolt Legendary boon.

Tidal Dash

Tidal Dash deals 35 damage and causes Knockback at the end of the dash. It's a reasonable choice for ranged builds when other dash options are less useful, especially for utilizing wall slam damage in areas like the Satyr Tunnels. However, this strategy is damage-prone. Tidal Dash is generally pointless against bosses and actively harmful to melee builds by scattering enemies. For speedrunning, Tidal Dash can be the basis of a rapid-clear strategy when stacked with boons like Sea Storm, wall slam enhancers (Typhoon’s Fury, Breaking Wave, Second Wave), and the Rupture effect from Razor Shoals.

Hunter Dash

Hunter Dash offers a +50% damage bonus to dash strikes. However, dash-striking is often dangerous for ranged builds, and the damage bonus is usually not worth overhauling your strategy. It also fails to unlock several Artemis Duo boons, including Mirage Shot and Deadly Reversal. Hunter Dash can be useful for melee builds where dash-striking is significant, provided Deflection, Weak, or Chill are not needed or available. Other dash effects, like Dionysus's Drunken Dash, can offer comparable utility for ranged weapons.

Calls

Ares Call: Turns you into an invulnerable blade rift for 1.2 seconds, dealing 30 damage every 0.1 seconds to all enemies in a radius. The maximum duration is 5 seconds. Ares is the best pure-damaging Call boon due to invulnerability and the potential for high damage rates with the Vicious Cycle Greater Call boon. Even without Vicious Cycle, upgrades like Black Metal (area of effect increase) can boost effectiveness. Without Legendary or common upgrades, Ares's Aid is less effective than the Calls of Dionysus, Athena, and Aphrodite.

Dionysus Call: Continuously inflicts Hangover (15 damage / 0.5 seconds, for 4 seconds) around you for 1.5 seconds. The maximum duration is 9 seconds. Dionysus's Call is best used partially within the God Gauge rather than waiting for the Greater Call. Using it for 1.5 seconds is enough time to build 5 stacks of Hangover. A Greater Call wastes duration without adding more stacks and prevents using individual Calls in succession as stacks wear off. Each individual Call yields debuffs from Hangover and significant damage over the four-second Hangover period (600 damage per affected opponent with five stacks from a Level 1 Common boon).