Few things in life can match the thrill of crushing your old time and setting a new PB (personal best time) after hours of speedrunning a game. Hades 2 has an amazing speedrunning community, and thanks to how easily accessible it is, jumping into your first speedrun isn't a difficult task either.
Within Hades 2 speedruns, you'll usually want to choose what category you want to play in, but for the purposes of this guide, we'll be looking at how to get started with Unseeded Any Fear runs, which just means beating the game as fast as you can using any amount of Fear from the Oath of the Unseen in a randomized run.
Hades 2: How To Build Aspect Of Artemis Blades
The Sister Blades' Aspect of Artemis can be tricky to build. Here's our guide to get the most damage out of Lim and Oros.
What To Do Before Your First Hades 2 Speedrun
Setup You'll Need To Do First
- Turn on the in-game timer
- Get recording software going if you plan on submitting a run to the leaderboard
- Choose Fear modifiers
Before you start your first run, you'll have to turn on the in-game timer first. Here's how to do that in three easy steps:
- Open up the Pause menu and head into Options.
- Under the "Gameplay" tab, check the box next to "Timer Display," and exit the Pause menu.
- Now, when you start your run, there will be a timer at the top right of your game.
If you plan on submitting a run to the Hades 2 leaderboard, you'll have to take a few extra steps and make sure you're folllowing a few additional rules before you start your first speedrun. First, get your favorite screen capture software like OBS to record your gameplay. You don't need sound, although sound will make watching your replay much more enjoyable. After that, turn on the recording software and record a run where Melinoe dies or succeeds. Regardless, you have to show the previous run's ending before you move onto your speedrun. This is just to show that the run you want to submit is a fresh one without any form of RNG manipulation.
Once all of that is done, you can start your run. After you beat Chronos, make sure you show your end screen and the Victory screen for good measure and you'll be good to submit the run.
Fear Modifiers
Since you're running in Any Fear and can use any number of vows in your run, it's usually advised to take max Vow of Fury so enemies will move faster toward you and spawn faster. Besides that, you can use anything that may help your time.
Some runners use Vow of Forsaking to remove unwanted boons from their runs and make it easier to find the boons they want. However, after Early Access Patch 2, Vow of Forsaking has become a more risky option to take since it won't help you find Legendary or Duo boons.
What Weapon Should You Use In Your Speedrun?
Run With What's Comfortable To You
- Fastest weapons are Medea Skulls, Moros Flames, and Charon Axe
- Consider what weapon you enjoy the most, and plan your keepsakes to get your build off the ground
You can speedrun with any weapon and any aspect, but currently the fastest weapons to use are Medea Skulls, Moros Flames, and Charon Axe. As of version.92350, Medea Skulls are currently the fastest weapon in the game and hold the current Any Fear world record time.
Once you choose the weapon and aspect you want to run with, plan what keepsakes you want to bring with you. Keepsakes practically assure that you'll get the god associated with the keepsake in your run. If you know what boons are core to your weapon then start with that god's keepsake so you can start your runs on the right foot. Once you have the boons you need, swap to a keepsake that increases your damage like the White Antler or Blackened Fleece.
Arcana Cards And White Antler
If you watch the fastest speed runners in Hades 2, you'll notice that their max life is at exactly 30 HP. This is done so runners can use the White Antler keepsake and activate its effects without having to wait to take damage first. It also requires a very specific Arcana card setup where the Centaur Arcana card isn't unlocked and thus, can't be activated and ruin this build.
While you could recreate these runs (there are also places to download maxed files without the Centaur unlocked), it's also encouraged to test different Arcana card configurations based on your weapon, aspect, and playstyle.
What To Do During Your Speedrun To Go Faster
Small Habits, Fast Times
- Always take free rooms or faster rooms (NPC > Store > Chaos > non-menu rooms > every other room)
- Ignore anything that will cost you time
- Pause to stop the timer when you need to think
- Stay near doors or corners to force grouped up spawns
Start your run on either the surface or the underworld and do your best to finish the game as fast as you can. While you'll be playing the game close to how you normally would, there are a few adaptations you'll want to add to your playstyle so you can go even faster.
First, always take any "free rooms" when they're offered to you. These rooms will stop the timer or be so short that they barely take any time to complete at all. Rooms that fall into this category are NPC rooms, Charon's store, Chaos portals, and break rooms. Rooms with minor finds can also become free rooms if Nemesis, Artemis, or Icarus show up since these characters stop the timer when they appear.
Chaos portals are particularly important to some runs because they're both a free room and a powerful buff that can make the rest of your run easier. Just be careful because Chaos Portals will stop spawning after you leave Oceanus, unless you buy the Spark of Ixion item from the Well of Charon.
Second, ignore everything that can waste time in your run. This means you'll want to avoid collecting resources or talking to NPCs where you can. While the act of gathering materials or talking to NPCs stops the clock, running toward the material or NPC will usually cost you precious seconds. If you plan on submitting the run for review, you also can't open the Book of Shadows or your Inventory due to an exploit revolving around those menus.
If you ever need time to think or a moment to figure out what to do, pause the game to stop the timer so you can plan your next moves accordingly.
Finally, stay close to the exit doors and walls of the room you're in when enemies are spawning. Ideally, you'll be right next to the exit after you finish off the last enemy to save time. Additionally, enemies will usually spawn on your screen, and sticking close to walls and doors fills most of your screen with places where the game can't spawn those enemies. This naturally groups up enemy spawns so you can clear them faster.
After you beat Chronos, your final in-game time will be your final run time. After that, just keep practicing more runs and figure out the best way to start cutting down your time. Good luck in all of your future runs!
Hades 2
- Released
- September 25, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Supergiant Games
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
