Among the six weapons included among the Nocturnal Arms, none play quite like Zoraphet, the Moonstone Axe. With wide, slow swings that hit like a truck – and an Omega Attack that's incredible out of the gate – the best Moonstone Axe build in Hades 2 takes full advantage of the weapon's potential to deal nuclear close-range damage.
Complete Hades 2 Achievement Guide
Follow this guide to learn how to unlock every Hades 2 achievement, with full explanations for all 50 achievements.
There are a lot of things to consider before and during runs to maximize efficiency with the Moonstone Axe and push its damage to soaring heights without sacrificing survivability.
Follow this guide to the best build for the Moonstone Axe in Hades 2 to learn the best Keepsake, Aspect, and Arcana to equip before your run, the best Moonstone Axe boons to get during a run, and other tips to annihilate all but the most powerful foes on your way through either route.
Best Moonstone Axe Keepsake, Aspect, & Arcana
Best Moonstone Axe Aspect in Hades 2: Aspect of Thanatos
- Your Attack is faster (30% at Legendary) and each strike grants 1 Mortality until you take damage.
- Mortality grants +2% Crit Chance for Omega Moves (up to 16% max).
Best Keepsakes for Moonstone Axe in Hades 2: Beautiful Mirror, Adamant Shard, Engraved Pin
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Best Starting Keepsake: Beautiful Mirror
- A boon of Aphrodite is likely. You can Rarify her blessings once this night.
- At 3-Star quality, you can Rarify Epic blessings into Heroic ones.
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Keepsake for Region Two: Adamant Shard
- A boon of Hephaestus is likely. You can Rarify his blessings once this night.
- At 3-Star quality, you can Rarify Epic blessings into Heroic ones.
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For the Rest of the Run: Engraved Pin
- When you first fall to 0 Life in a Location, become Doomed.
- Clear the room within 10 seconds to recover Life
- At 3-Star quality, you will recover 60 Life upon clearing Doomed.
Best Arcana Cards for the Moonstone Axe in Hades 2
|
Arcana Card |
Grasp Cost |
Effect (Fully Upgraded) |
|---|---|---|
|
The Sorceress |
1 |
Your Omega Moves are 30% faster |
|
The Wayward Son |
1 |
After you exit a Location, restore 5 Life |
|
The Huntress |
2 |
While you have less than 100% Magick, your Attack and Special deal +50% damage |
|
Eternity |
3 |
While you Channel your Omega moves, everything moves slower for 1.2 Sec |
|
The Moon |
Activate any surrounding card |
Your Hex also charges up automatically as though you used 3 Magick every 1 Sec |
|
The Furies |
1 |
|
|
The Unseen |
5 |
You restore 10 Magick every 1 Sec |
|
Death |
4 |
You have +3 Death Defiance |
|
The Centaur |
Activate cards that use 1 Grasp through 5 Grasp |
You gain +5 Life and Magick when you pass through 5 Locations |
|
The Enchantress |
3 |
You have +3 Change of Fate Dice and can alter Location rewards |
|
Excellence |
5 |
Any Boons you find have +50% chance to include Legendary or at least Rare blessings |
|
The Queen |
Activate no more than 2 cards that use the same amount of Grasp |
Any Boons you find have a +10% chance to include Duo blessings |
|
The Champions |
4 |
You have +3 Change of Fate Dice and can alter Boons and other choices |
|
Divinity |
Activate all 5 cards in any other row of column |
Any Boons you find have +15% chance to include Epic blessings |
Best Moonstone Axe Boons in Hades 2
Best Moonstone Axe Attack Boon: Flutter Strike
- God: Aphrodite
- Effect: Your Attacks deal more damage to nearby foes.
Best Moonstone Axe Special Boon: Sworn Flourish
- God: Hera
- Effect: Your Specials deal more damage and inflict Hitch.
Best Moonstone Axe Cast Boon: Arctic Ring
- God: Demeter
- Effect: Your Casts inflict Freeze and repeatedly deal damage to foes in the binding circle.
Best Moonstone Axe Sprint Boon: Nitro Boost
- God: Hermes
- Effect: Your Sprint is 15% faster and gives you a barrier that ignores instances of damage.
Best Moonstone Axe Magick Regain Boon: Glamour Gain
- God: Aphrodite
- Effect: You automatically inflict Weak on nearby foes and gradually restore Magick near them.
Other Moonstone Axe Boons (Defensive)
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Hasty Retreat
- God: Hermes
- Effect: Gain Dodge chance and move speed that increase the more Boons you have.
-
Trusty Shield
- God: Hephaestus
- Effect: Whenever you enter a Location, gain Armor for that location, but you Prime 30 Magick.
-
Blood Spree
- God: Ares
- Effect: While you have less than 40 Life, your Attacks and Specials restore Life.
-
Divine Dash
- God: Athena
- Effect: Your Dash deals 10 damage to foes in your path and can momentarily Deflect.
Other Moonstone Axe Boons (Offensive)
-
- God: Aphrodite
- Effect: Whenever you inflict Weak, also randomly inflict 3 Curses from other Olympians.
-
Secret Crush
- God: Aphrodite
- Effect: Your Attacks gain Power, but you Prime 20 Magick.
-
Extra Dose
- God: Apollo
- Effect: Your Attacks gain Power, but you Prime 20 Magick.
-
Weed Killer
- God: Demeter
- Effect: Your Omega Attack deals more damage, but uses +10 Magick.
-
Racing Thoughts
- God: Hermes
- Effect: Your Omega Moves are faster.
Other Moonstone Axe Boons (Utility)
-
Lucid Gain
- God: Apollo
- Effect: Whenever your Casts expire, restore Magick.
-
Gigaros Dash
- God: Hades
- Effect: Your Dash strikes surrounding foes with a punishing sweep that inflicts Scorn.
-
Rallying Cry (INFUSION)
- God: Ares
- Effect: While you have at least 8x Earth, any of your damaging effects from Olympians are 50% Stronger.
-
Night Bloom
- God: Selene
- Effect: Your Hex raises the last susceptible foe slain this Encounter to fight for you for 12 Sec.
Best Moonstone Axe Daedalus Upgrades in Hades 2
-
Priority #1: Psychic Whirlwind
- Effect: Your Omega Attack fires around you, leaving you free to move and strike at the same time
-
Priority #2: Executioner's Chop
- Effect: The final move in your Attack sequence hits 2 times, but uses 20 Magick.
-
Priority #3: Hell Splitter
- Effect: Your Attack has +300 Power, but the 3-strike sequence becomes only the final chop
-
Priorty #4: Colossus Slash
- Effect: Your Attacks have +10 Power and you take -20% damage while using them.
-
Priority #5: Furious Whirlwind
- Effect: You channel your Omega Attack faster, and move 50% faster while it is active.
-
Priorty #6: Rapid Hack
- Effect: Your Attack is 30% faster.
Moonstone Axe Build Playstyle & Tips
Upgrading Flutter Strike & Getting Daedalus Hammers is Priority #1
The most crucial elements to this build are Aphrodite's Flutter Strike and any of the top three Daedalus Hammer upgrades seen above.
With the Beautiful Mirror keepsake equipped for the first region of your run, you should run into an Aphrodite boon quickly (if not in the first room). Use your Change of Fate dice to reroll Aphrodite's blessings until Flutter Strike appears, then Rarify it.
In the second region, swap to the Adamant Shard to fish for the Trusty Shield defensive boon. This gives Melinoë armor in each location at the cost of a small amount of Magick, but over an entire run, it will save you a significant amount of Life.
For the rest of the run, prioritize Daedalus Hammers over all other upgrades. You cannot reroll Daedalus Hammers, so follow the ranking listed above for boons you should prioritize. In general, Psychic Whirlwind should be your top choice.
The combined strength of a Rarified Flutter Strike and Psychic Whirlwind is enough to make Melinoë deal jaw-dropping amounts of damage without any other help. As long as you don't replace Flutter Strike, just about any other God's Boons can be made to work with this build.
Rely on Omega Attacks Until You Upgrade Your Attack With Hammers
The Omega Attack on the Moonstone Axe makes Melinoë rapidly spin-attack, dealing damage in a small area around her. If you can get Flutter Strike on your first room of the run, this Omega Attack is able to destroy most enemies in the first two regions with just two or three hits.
Until you get Daedalus Hammer upgrades that improve your Attack (and not your Omega Attack, like Executioner's Chop), you can almost exclusively rely on the Axe's Omega Attack for damage and mobility to quickly clear rooms.
Engraved Pin Can Save A Run - Abuse It
Though you should have three Death Defiances as you start a run with this best Moonstone Axe build in Hades 2, the Engraved Pin is a crucial element to making it through late-game regions. This is especially true of the Surface route, which features more bosses that are difficult to deal with at close range.
If you reach 0 Life with the Engraved Pin, you will have 10 seconds to finish the encounter before you use one of your Death Defiances (or die). During these 10 seconds, Melinoë takes no damage and can absolutely wail on enemies with no consideration for her defense.
Use this to your advantage against bosses. Try your best to avoid their most damaging moves (especially with the Vow of Rivals active), but if you become Doomed, charge in and annihilate their HP bar.
More often than not, the uninhibited rush of damage Melinoë can deal during this period will annihilate most bosses. As long as they are in their final phase, she should survive without using a Death Defiance.
Hades 2
- Released
- September 25, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Teen / Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Supergiant Games
- Prequel(s)
- Hades
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- PC Release Date
- September 25, 2025
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
