3 Hades 2 Keepsakes You Have to Unlock As Soon As Possible

With Hades 2 officially out in the world, gamers are diving in to the highly anticipated sequel. Like the first game, this roguelike requires continuous attempts towards your final goal. Each run, though it will often end in failure, helps you gather materials and experience to become stronger. The Boon system means that your abilities each night will be partly up to chance, depending on what the Gods and Goddesses have to offer. But the game also builds in a few ways to gain a bit more consistent control over what Melinoe can do. One of these methods are Keepsakes, powerful items you can acquire by building your friendship with the Gods and other beings you meet on your journies.

In Hades 2, Keepsakes offer a variety of useful effects. Some will increase the chances of getting Boons from a specific deity, while others will heal you or offer other beneficial boosts. At any given time, you can only equip a single Keepsake. However, you’ll later gain the ability to swap them out between runs. That means that having a rotation of the most useful Keepsakes will serve you well. After many, many hours attempting to kill Time, these are the Keepsakes I find the most consistently helpful, and the ones I would prioritize unlocking first in a new save.

How to Get Keepsakes in Hades 2 & How to Swap Them Mid-Run

You acquire Keepsakes in Hades 2 by gifting the Gods, Goddesses, and other supernatural beings you meet with Nectar. Generally speaking, the first time you give a new person Nectar, they will grant you a Keepsake in return. This means that some Keepsakes won’t be avialable until you meet certain characters who don’t appear until later in the game. However, many of the most useful ones are relatively easy to unlock early on. So, be sure to choose pathways that offer Nectar often to keep it in stock, so you can gift new acquaintances and earn Keepsakes in return. Once you unlock the Wretched Broker, you can also buy 1 Nectar per night, which I like to do whenever I have the Bones.

At first, you’ll have to keep the same Keepsake for the full night. However, you will eventually unlock a new Incantation that will help you swap them out. The Incantation is called Kindred Keepsakes and will unlock a special Keepsake Cabinet that will appear beside Fountains after each Guardian battle. This Incantation will unlock once you reach a certain point in progression, and will require 4 Limestone, 2 Moly, and 1 Lotus to cast. Once you do, you’ll find a Keepsake Cabinet near each Fountain between areas.

Best Keepsakes to Unlock Early & Why

Depending on your playstyle, you’ll likely have a few favorite Keepsakes once you get familiar with them. But in my opinion, these three Hades 2 Keepsakes have the most widely applicable uses, and they’re all able to be unlocked relatively early – if you know to do so. Before we dig into my top three, a quick honorable mention for Nemesis’ Evil Eye. This one can be helpful when you get stuck on a tough Guardian, as it increases the damage you deal to whichever foe killed you last. So, if you keep dying to a specific Guardian, it’ll come in handy. Okay, now on to my top three Keepsakes you absolutely should prioritize getting ahold of early.

3. Schelemeus’ Lucky Tooth

This grants you a bonus Death Defiance, which I personally find invaluable due to my penchant for, well, dying a lot in these kind of games. It’s one of the earliest ways you can earn a bonus Death Defiance, and as you level up the Keepsake through consistent use, it will restore even more Health when it revives you.

Unlock the Lucky Tooth by gifting Nectar to Schelemeus, the skeletal figure who hangs out in the training grounds area of the Crossroads. You can do this as soon as you unlock Nectar, making it an ideal early-game Keepsake.

2. Dora’s Ghost Onion

Can you tell I like to get healing wherever I can in a game like Hades 2? Your unusual Shade friend, Dora, is the key to unlocking the final essential early-game Keepsake – the Ghost Onion. This item restores your Health each time you enter a new area, granting you bonus extra healing. As you use it more, that healing will increase, so it scales with you.

Get the Ghost Onion from Dora by gifting her Nectar. Since she tends to hang out in Melinoe’s room, she’s easy to find, and this is another very straightforward Keepsake to unlock as soon as you get your hands on some Nectar.

1. Selene’s Moon Beam

Selene’s Hexes offer many powerful abilities, which can then be leveled up via her Path of the Stars Boons later on. Because these deal impressive damage and have a ton of tertiary effects, including healing or restoring your Magic, I like to get them early and often. The Moonboom ensures you’ll get an offer from Selene sooner and grants you bonus points to spend on her first Path of the Stars. That makes it essential for starting a new run, in my opinion.

To get the Moonbeam, use the Gift option when a Selene Boon appears to gift her Nectar. This is up to chance, since you’ll need to wait for a Selene offer to appear. But once it does and you give her Nectar, she will bestow the Moonbeam. Use it often to level it up and get more bonus points to improve your Hex. I like to have this one equipped at the start of a run, with the plan to swap it out later for something like Ghost Onion or Lucky Tooth. That way, I can get a powerful Hex ready to go, then improve my survivability as I get closer to the tougher boss fights.

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