Part 19

Learn about Hades' Aspect of Achilles for Cast builds and the Aspect of Hades' Punishing Sweep. Maximize your damage with these powerful weapons.

The Aspect of Achilles offers a substantial damage boost to your Casts, making it superior to the Aspect of Poseidon for Cast-buffing, especially with Non-Sticking Casts. Unlike the Aspect of Poseidon, it does not require unsticking bloodstones with its Special. While Non-Sticking Casts provide the best Duo combinations, you won't miss much by forgoing the Aspect of Poseidon's dislodging Special. Using Raging Rush to rebuff yourself can be a nuisance, as you must deplete all 4 boosted techniques before recharging. However, the significant damage boost makes this the definitive weapon for Cast-heavy builds.

Without an exceptional Cast configuration, damage can be underwhelming. Raging Rush can empower your Attack as a last resort if boon offerings are poor. Utilizing god-specific Keepsakes to maximize Cast configurations is recommended until switching to the Lucky Tooth or Distant Memory before Styx, as other weapons are better for non-Cast-spamming approaches.

Complementary upgrades: Mostly irrelevant unless using Raging Rush to buff your Attack, which wastes its potential. Serrated Point is not recommended.

Complementary boons: Casting boons, defensive Dash boons (Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter), defensive Special boons (Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, possibly Dionysus with Numbing Sensation), and Attack boons focusing on percentage damage increase to synergize with Raging Rush (Aphrodite, Demeter, Artemis, Athena).

The Aspect of Hades transforms the Eternal Spear's spin attack into Punishing Sweep, greatly expanding its radius and applying a 10-second debuff that increases damage from Attack and Special moves. At max Aspect level, this debuff provides a +150% damage increase.

The Eternal Spear is generally not a strong weapon, with most aspects being mediocre at various tasks. The Aspect of Hades is the only one that significantly improves its area-of-effect capabilities. It features a greatly increased spin attack radius (Punishing Sweep) and an incredible debuff that empowers close-range combat.

The main challenge with the Aspect of Hades is executing the spin attack safely. Despite its brief charge time, you are vulnerable. Even with the increased range, you must be close to enemies. Getting staggered during the charge is common, but several tricks can help:

• The Punishing Sweep can hit enemies through walls and barriers, allowing you to attack from cover (press the cover button to crouch behind walls or objects). This is particularly useful in Elysium and against Hades's beam attacks.
• You can execute a dash immediately after releasing the Sweep. This projects the spin's radius forward through the dash, extending your reach.

Eternal Spear upgrades can significantly aid in safely executing Punishing Sweeps:

• Massive Spin: Maintains additional distance.
• Flaring Spin: Makes you sturdy (prevents stagger) while charging and can stagger nearby enemies with its flare effect.
• Quick Spin: Reduces charge time.

The ideal upgrade configuration is Massive Spin plus either Quick Spin or Flaring Spin. Flaring Spin is preferred for preventing stagger and its improved flaring effect damage from a post-release patch. Quick Spin is favored for spin attack spammability.

Your Special is rarely needed, as it lacks the speed and radius to complement the Sweep's strategy. You can try applying a debuff boon to your Special to activate Privileged Status (note: the Punishing Sweep's debuff does not trigger Privileged Status), but it's more effective to stack debuffs on your Dash and Attack and spam them. Recommended boons include Demeter, Aphrodite, and Athena (with Expose) for Dash/Attack, and Zeus (with Jolt) as an option for Attack. A favored alignment is Heartbreak Strike/Mistral Dash, as Mistral Dash's forward gust complements the Spear's reach.