Plenty of characters want Melinoe to succeed in Hades 2. However, apart from the usual conversations about the task at hand, you can actually learn more about them. In some cases, they might even be a little flirtatious. Here’s our guide on how to romance characters in Hades 2.
How to romance characters in Hades 2
The Hades 2 romance mechanics are somewhat straightforward, but there are a few caveats. This is primarily due to randomness in your runs (i.e. lacking the items you need or some characters not showing up).
Unlocking the Book of Shadows via the Empath’s Intuition Incantation
The Book of Shadows contains information on characters, enemies, items, and locations. However, a particular upgrade lets you see more info about your allies. This is done by completing an Incantation called Empath’s Intuition, which requires:
1x Fate Fabric – This can be purchased from the Wretched Broker NPC at the Crossroads.3x Myrtle – These flowers are collected in the Fields of Mourning region (i.e. third zone in the Underworld).
Note that the Empath’s Intuition Incantation might not appear within the first few hours. As such, you probably need to progress further, doing multiple runs and retries until it shows up. In fact, it’s possible to start handing gifts to characters without knowing your relationship level with them at a glance.
Book of Shadows relationships/affinity
Once the Incantation is completed, you should see more information about your allies, including characters that you can romance in Hades 2. Here’s a quick summary:
Each heart symbolizes romantic interactions, which you can start by gifting Nectar.The first heart has a gift/present icon, which means it’s when the NPC gave you a Keepsake. You can learn more about these accessories in our Keepsakes guide.Hearts without symbols are interactions brought about by giving an NPC Nectar.Those with a silver bottle (i.e. Bath Salts) are from interactions in the hot springs.The ones with two fish (i.e. Twin Lures) are from fishing.Lastly, you can give Ambrosia to a romanceable character, too.
Hades 2 romanceable characters
There are dozens of supporting characters in the game, and many of them accept gifts. However, we’d like to offer a distinction on which characters can be romanced:
Most characters, including Olympian gods and dungeon NPCs, accept Nectar as a gift. However, they have fewer unique interactions with Melinoe.Others (i.e. those at the Crossroads hub) have more unique interactions, since you can also give them Bath Salts and Twin Lures.
Based on the above distinction, these are the characters that you can romance in Hades 2:
HecateOdysseusNemesisDoraMorosEris
Important: If you’re planning on giving gifts to characters at the Crossroads, we should mention that some might not always be available. You could go to Melinoe’s room and back to the main area to check if they reappeared. If not, you have to do a run so you can respawn at the Crossroads again.
Nectar gifts
The most common gift you can give to NPCs is Nectar. The first time you gift this to a valid character, you should receive their Keepsake (in most cases). Subsequent interactions also require Nectar, unless an NPC tells you that they don’t need it at that moment. They’ll return the item so it doesn’t go to waste. In any case, you can learn more about this in our Nectar sources guide.
Bath Salts and the hot springs
Later, you’ll unlock an Incantation called Rite of Vapor Cleansing. It requires the following:
2x Moly – Pick up these yellow flowers while in Erebus.2x Lotus – Pick up these pink flowers while in Oceanus.2x Nightshade – You need to unlock the Silver Spade gathering tool first. This lets you dig up curious-looking mounds of soil in Erebus to obtain Nightshade Seeds. Then, you have to plant these at the Crossroads garden. This is followed by doing a few encounters in dungeons until you can harvest it.
Once the Rite of Vapor Cleansing is completed, the hot springs becomes accessible. You’ll receive 1x Bath Salts for this, and you can purchase more from the Wretched Broker (limited to one item per visit to the Crossroads). If an NPC can accept Bath Salts as a gift, they’ll join Melinoe for a dip at the onsen.
Ambrosia and the tavern
Eventually, you’ll be able to complete another Incantation called Rite of Social Solidarity. It requires the following:
2x Nectar – You can check our Nectar guide to learn about where you can find this item.2x Garlic – This one is a bit more complicated since you can only dig these in the City of Ephyra. You can learn more about this in our surface world/wards guide.
Assuming you’re able to complete this Incantation, you’ll be able to construct the Crossroads Taverna. This nets you 1x Ambrosia and you may also purchase this item from the Wretched Broker.
Twin lures and fishing
The next step if you want to romance characters in Hades 2 is to invite them to go fishing. First, you have to complete an Incantation called Rite of River-Fording. It requires:
2x Cattail – Similar to Nightshade and Garlic, you need the Silver Spade to dig for seeds. These can only be found in the Oceanus biome.4x Driftwood – This item is somewhat hard to find. Just like Garlic, you have to go to the surface world and survive the trek. Eventually, you’ll reach the Rifts of Thessaly, where this resource appears.
Upon collecting all the resources, go ahead and complete the Incantation. This constructs the fishing pier and grants you 1x Twin Lures. Naturally, you can purchase more Twin Lures from the Wretched Broker. Gift the Twin Lures to a character to ask them to go fishing with Melinoe.
That does it for our Hades 2 romance guide. We hope the information aids you in buddying up and improving your relationships with other characters.
Hades 2 stars Melinoe, the Princess of the Underworld. This roguelike game promises challenging encounters as you keep retrying until you can have the perfect run. If you want more tips and tactics, you can head over to our guides hub.
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